Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Yield stress independent column buckling curves

Using GMNIA and shell finite element modelling of steel columns it is ascertained that the buckling curves for given imperfections and residual stresses are not only dependent on the relative slenderness ratio and the cross section shape but also on the magnitude of the yield stress. The influence of the yield stress is to some inadequate degree taken into account in the Eurocode by specifying that steel grades of S460 and higher all belong to a common set of “raised” buckling curves. This is not satisfying as it can be shown theoretically that the current Eurocode formulation misses an epsilon factor in the definition of the normalised imperfection magnitudes. By introducing this factor it seems that the GMNIA analysis and knowledge of the independency of residual stress levels on the yield stress can be brought together and give results showing consistency between numerical modelling and a simple modified Ayrton-Perry formulation. In this paper magnitudes of imperfections and residual stresses in relation to the Eurocode will be discussed. It will be shown that the use of equivalent imperfections may be very conservative if considered by finite element analysis as described in the current Eurocode code. A suggestion is given for a slight modification of the Eurocode formulations of imperfections leading to adequate inclusion of modern high grade steels within the four bucking curves.
Efficiency through disinformation

We study the impact of disinformation on a model of resource allocation with independent selfish agents: clients send requests to one of two servers, depending on which one is perceived as offering shorter waiting times. Delays in the information about the servers' state leads to oscillations in load. Servers can give false information about their state (global disinformation) or refuse service to individual clients (local disinformation). We discuss the tradeoff between positive effects of disinformation (attenuation of oscillations) and negative effects (increased fluctuations and reduced adaptability) for different parameter values.
Design and Analysis of Ferrite Magnet Flux Concentrated PMSM With Cross-Laminated Rotor Core Using Equivalent 2-D FEA

In order to improve the torque density of the magnetic flux concentrated permanent magnet synchronous motor utilizing a ferrite permanent magnet, it is important to reduce the leakage magnetic flux flowing through the rotor core. For satisfying the robustness of the rotating body and improving the torque density, we propose a structure in which two types of cores with different shapes are cross laminated. The proposed rotor structure consists of a core with a bridge that is necessary to maintain the rigidity of the rotor assembly, and a rotor assembly by cross laminating the segment-type rotor cores necessary for minimizing the leakage flux as well as improving the torque density. The complex three-dimensional (3-D) magnetic circuit of the cross-laminated rotor assembly has been modeled as a two-dimensional (2-D) model on the mathematical basis of an equivalent magnetic circuit. Using the equivalent 2-D model, the design of the cross-laminated rotor shape and the electromagnetic characteristics were examined comprehensively. At the same time, mechanical stresses due to centrifugal force and torque transmission between rotor core and shaft were examined. Finally, after the prototype was fabricated, the analysis and design methods were verified through no-load and load tests.
Functional Domains of the InsA Protein of IS 2

The InsA protein is a transcriptional regulator. It binds to the promoter region of insA and insAB * . To understand the molecular mechanism for the interaction between InsA and its binding sequence, the functional domains of InsA were identiﬁed. The glutaraldehyde cross-linking method and the two-hybrid expression system were used to study the protein-protein interaction of InsA. The results of these experiments showed that InsA forms homodimers. Deletion of the last 44 amino acid residues at its C terminus, but not the ﬁrst 12 or 57 residues at the N terminus, abolished the ability of InsA to form homodimers, indicating that the protein- protein interaction domain of InsA is located at its C terminus. Gel retardation assays revealed that deletion of the last 29 amino acid residues at its C terminus had no effect on the DNA binding ability of InsA. In contrast, deletion of the ﬁrst N-terminal 12 residues abolished the DNA binding capability of InsA. These results indicate that the DNA binding domain of InsA is located at its N terminus. Glutaraldehyde cross-linking assay. A glutaraldehyde cross-linking assay was also performed to determine whether InsA has the ability to form dimers. The cell lysates used for the glutaraldehyde cross-linking assay were prepared as fol- lows. E. coli JM109/DE3 cells (31) pT7-7 pT7insA, pT7InsA13– pT7InsA1–105, pT7InsA1–92, polymerase.
The 2014 of the International Sports Engineering Association Rotational traction behaviour of artificial turf

Within artificial turf testing for player-surface interaction, traction is a key system property that needs to be measured for comfort, performance and injury risk. The purpose of this study was to modify a FIFA rotational traction test device to provide the full torque-angle time history and to use the modified device to compare the behaviour of five different football and rugby studs. A strain-gauge sensor and rotational sensor were incorporated to provide continuous measurement of the torque resistance and rotational angle throughout the rotation of the test disc. Data was collected on a standard laboratory made (3G) artificial turf surface. From the torque-angle plot, an initial high stiffness region followed by a lower stiffness region was identified and comparisons made between studs. In general, as stud length increased, the stiffness increased in both regions. Furthermore, as the stud length increased for both football and rugby studs there was a pattern of increasing peak torque but no clear trend for the peak angle. The actual foot rotation measured in subject testing is observed in general to be much smaller than the angular rotation required to produce the peak torque resistance from the mechanical testing, suggesting that the initial stiffness resistance behaviour may be a better indicator of the mechanisms involved in the traction mobilised by subjects. Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the Centre for Sports Engineering Research, Sheffield Hallam University.
A Two-Layer Steganography for Mosaic Images

A lot of data hiding schemes have been proposed to embed secret data in the plain cover images or compressed images of various formats, including JPEG, AMBTC, VQ, etc. In this paper, we propose a production process of mosaic images based on three regular images of coffee beans. A primary image is first mimicked by the process to produce a mosaic cover image. A two-layer steganography is applied to hide secret data in the mosaic image. Based on the low visual quality of the mosaic cover image, its PSNR value can be improved about 1.5 dB after embedding 3 bpp. This is achieved by leveraging the newly proposed polarized search mask and the concepts of strong embedding and weak embedding. Applying steganography to the mosaic cover images is a completely new idea and it is promising.
Interaction Between NF-KB- and Serum Response Factor-Binding Elements Activates an Interleukin-2 Receptor oc-Chain Enhancer Specifically in T Lymphocytes

We find that a short enhancer element containing the NF-KB binding site from the interleukin-2 receptor a-chain gene (IL-2Ra) is preferentially activated in T cells. The IL-2Rca enhancer binds NF-KB poorly and is only weakly activated by the NF-KB site alone. Serum response factor (SRF) binds to a site adjacent to the NF-KB site in the IL-2R enhancer, and both sites together have strong transcriptional activity specifically in T cells. Surprisingly, the levels of SRF constitutively expressed in T cells are consistently higher than in other cell types. Overexpression of SRF in B cells causes the IL-2R enhancer to function as well as it does in T cells, suggesting that the high level of SRF binding in T cells is functionally important. The a-chain of the interleukin-2 receptor (IL-2Ra) is a key surface protein that is expressed during the activation of T lymphocytes. Interleukin-2 (IL-2) is a major regulator of T-cell proliferation and death (23, 53, 54). The IL-2Rao protein is a component of the high-affinity receptor for IL-2 (62). The IL-2 receptor is expressed early in mouse T-cell differentiation on CD4- CD8- thymocytes, in which it may play a role in the expansion of thymocyte number (58). The IL-2Ra protein, and presumably its gene,
RIP Hb ¯ b : how other Higgs production modes conspire to kill a rare signal at the LHC

: The hadroproduction of a Higgs boson in association with a bottom-quark pair ( Hb ¯ b ) is commonly considered as the key process for directly probing the Yukawa interaction between the Higgs boson and the bottom quark ( y b ). However, in the Standard-Model (SM) this process is also known to suﬀer from very large irreducible backgrounds from other Higgs production channels, notably gluon-fusion ( gg F). In this paper we calculate for the ﬁrst time the so-called QCD and electroweak complete-NLO predictions for Hb ¯ b production, using the four-ﬂavour scheme. Our calculation shows that not only the gg F but also the ZH and even the vector-boson-fusion channels are sizeable irreducible backgrounds. Moreover, we demonstrate that, at the LHC, the rates of these backgrounds are very large with respect to the “genuine” and y b -dependent Hb ¯ b production mode. In particular, no suppression occurs at the diﬀerential level and therefore backgrounds survive typical analysis cuts. This fact further jeopardises the chances of measuring at the LHC the y b -dependent component of Hb ¯ b production in the SM. Especially, unless y b is signiﬁcantly enlarged by new physics, even for beyond-the SM scenarios the direct determination of y b via this process seems to be hopeless at the LHC.
Bcl3 Interacts Cooperatively with Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor Gamma (PPAR (cid:2) ) Coactivator 1 (cid:3) To Coactivate Nuclear Receptors Estrogen-Related Receptor (cid:3) and PPAR (cid:3) (cid:1) †

Estrogen-related receptors (ERRs) play critical roles in regulation of cellular energy metabolism in response to inducible coactivators such as peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPAR (cid:1) ) coactivator 1 (cid:2) (PGC-1 (cid:2) ). A yeast two-hybrid screen led to the identiﬁcation of the cytokine-stimulated transcriptional regulator, Bcl3, as an ERR (cid:2) coactivator. Bcl3 was shown to synergize with PGC-1 (cid:2) to coactivate ERR (cid:2) . Chromatin immunoprecipitation studies demonstrated that ERR (cid:2) , PGC-1 (cid:2) , and Bcl3 form a complex on an ERR (cid:2) -responsive element within the pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase 4 gene promoter in cardiac myocytes. Mapping studies demonstrated that Bc13 interacts with PGC-1 (cid:2) and ERR (cid:2) , allowing for interaction with both proteins. Transcriptional proﬁling demonstrated that sought to identify additional coregulators of ERR (cid:3) and found that Bcl3, a component of the cellular cytokine-induced inﬂammatory signaling cascade, is a potent ERR (cid:3) coactivator. Our results indicate that Bcl3 interacts cooperatively with PGC-1 (cid:3) to synergistically boost the activity of ERR (cid:3) and PPAR (cid:3) , resulting in an increase in the expression of target genes involved in cellular energy metabolism.
Microplastic identification in German beer – an artefact of laboratory contamination?

Recent studies have detected microplastic fibres and particles in some food groups including honey and beer. The aim of this work was to replicate a method for microplastic analysis in beer. Several methodologi-cal pitfalls were detected in the literature method, including the staining agent rose bengal used in microscopic analysis, which false-negatively excludes some synthetic agents including the beer filtration aid polyvinylpolypyrrolidone (PVPP). False positive results may occur for non-plas-tic compounds such as starch or kieselgur. Other pitfalls in the analysis include the considerable background contamination, which did not allow differentiation between beer samples from blank samples in our laboratory. Specialized cleanrooms are required, but even then contamination may occur, because cleanroom classifications focus on small particles and may exclude the relevant sizes of microplastic particles. We judge the previous nonvalidated literature methods that reported positive findings in foods as unsuitable for the purpose of microplastic identification and believe that the results were artefacts due to contamination. Especially because beer production includes a microfiltration step to remove yeast cells, microplastic contamination due to raw materials is highly unlikely. So far, a validated methodology for microplastic detection in foods or beverages is unavailable. einige synthetische Fasern einfärbt, inkl. des Bierfiltrationshilfsmittels Polyvinylpolypyrrolidon (PVPP). Falsch positive Befunde können bei einigen Nicht-Plastikbe-standteilen wie Stärke oder Kieselgur auftreten. Weitere Schwierigkeiten bestanden in der erheblichen Hintergrund-Kontamination, die eine Un-terscheidung der Bierproben von Blindproben in unserem Labor unmög-lich machte. Besondere Reinräume erscheinen für derartige Analysen notwendig, jedoch selbst unter diesen Umständen können Kontaminati-onen auftreten, da übliche Reinraum-Normen auf kleine Partikel ausge-richtet sind und die relevanten Teilchengrößen von Mikroplastikpartikeln nicht einschließen. Die in der Literatur publizierten, nicht validierten Me-thoden, die positive Befunde in Lebensmitteln berichteten, werden als für den Zweck der Mikroplastikidentifizierung nicht geeignet eingestuft und wir beurteilen die Befunde als Artefakte der Laborkontamination. Eine Mikroplastikkontamination ausgehend von den Rohstoffen ist ins-besondere sehr unwahrscheinlich, da die Bierherstellung üblicherweise einen Mikrofiltrationsschritt zur Entfernung von Hefezellen beinhaltet. Eine validierte Methode zur Mikroplastikbestimmung in Lebensmitteln und Getränken ist derzeit nicht verfügbar.
GPU-accelerated Segmentation of high-resolution Human Brain Images acquired with Polarized Light Imaging

High-resolution three-dimensional polarized light imaging (PLI) is an approach pursued by the Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine at Forschungszentrum Jülich to map nerve fibers and their pathways in human brains. Sections of cut post-mortem brains are imaged with a microscopic device. A section is moved during the imaging within the microscope so that a mosaic of about 30 × 30 image tiles is created for a gross histological human brain section. These up to 900 tiles per section and about 1500 sections in total have to be handled in the 3D reconstruction of the brain. A way to accelerate this process is a previous segmentation of the image tiles which leads to black-and-white masks marking the brain and background pixels of the original tiles. Hence, all non-brain parts of the tiles can be ignored during the reconstruction. A region growing segmentation is developed and implemented for the PLI data. The challenge to adapt this algorithm to the given dataset is to automatize the choice of seeds needed as starting points for the growing process. Therefore, an automated method of seed determination has to be developed. It uses statistics of the whole brain based on the joint intensity histogram. This approach leads to a minimal fixed amount of required manual input which is independent of the number of image tiles to be segmented. The software is parallelized for the GPU cluster JUDGE, i.e. it combines two levels of parallelism, namely a multi-core implementation and the data parallel execution of appropriate subtasks on a GPU. This leads to a well scaling application that achieves the expected segmentation results.
The Piano Automaton as an Instrument for Algorithmic

The Piano Automaton ("Klavierautomat") was conceived and built by the Austrian artist Winfried Ritsch. It is a device to be mounted on any ordinary piano in order to turn it into a computer-controlled instrument. From an artistic standpoint, several aspects of this system seem interesting. As it connects an acoustic piano to a computer, it is apparently well suited for the performance of computer-generated algorithmic music. Moreover, it allows for several forms of "unhuman" musical expression because the Piano Automaton can not only play faster than a human pianist, it can also play many more keys at the same time – all 88 at once if necessary. And even though the music is computer-generated, there is no electroacoustic sound, but rather the acoustical and physical presence of a real piano. This paper describes the technical details of the Piano Automaton as well as the compositional concepts of several short generative Etudes that have been realised so far.
In what aspects can different network analysis techniques help readers to interpret the story differently? A SOCIAL NETWORK ANALYSIS OF THE ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF CHINESE CLASSICS “WATER MARGIN”

This paper aims to explore the possibilities and limitations of how different network analysis techniques could help readers understand the social network within the fictional world of Water Margin. Different methodologies are summarised from the review of four case studies. A comparative study will be implemented on those methodologies to select the optimal method for conducting the social network analysis. The optimal method will subsequently utilised and conduct different types of social network analysis. Table of
Security and E ciency of Percutaneous Microwave Ablation using Combined Computed Tomography and Ultrasound-Guided Imaging in Patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma: A Prospective Study

Wenpeng Zhao (  zwp215@163.com ) Beijing Ditan Hospital Jiang Guo Capital Medical University A liated Beijing Ditan Hospital Honglu Li Capital Medical University A liated Beijing Ditan Hospital Liang Cai Capital Medical University A liated Beijing Ditan Hospital Youjia Duan Capital Medical University A liated Beijing Ditan Hospital Xiaopu Hou Capital Medical University A liated Beijing Ditan Hospital Hongliu Du Capital Medical University A liated Beijing Ditan Hospital Xihong Shao Capital Medical University A liated Beijing Ditan Hospital Zhenying Diao Capital Medical University A liated Beijing Ditan Hospital Changqing Li Capital Medical University A liated Beijing Ditan Hospital
Evaluating Real-Time Hand Gesture Recognition for Automotive Applications in Elderly Population: Cognitive Load, User Experience and Usability Degree

— Driving a car represents a crucial aspect to keep independence, social life and wellbeing for elderly people. Due to the age-related cognitive decline, solutions aimed to help older adults to interact easily with the vehicle and to control the car sub-systems are required. Thanks to the technology advancement, a number of interaction modalities are available, including touch, voice and, most recently, gesture control. Systems based on gesture control allow the subjects to interact with the vehicle sub-systems (i.e., vehicle navigation tool) through easy gestures, thus avoiding the subjects to be distracted while driving. This represents an interesting feature for elderly people who often show limitations in attention. On the other hand, learning the use of new technologies, such as a new interaction modality, as for the gesture control based systems, could represent a critical issue, in particular for elderly people who often suffer of memory problems. The current study aims to investigate the usability, user experience and mental workload associated with the first usage of a new developed prototype of an in-vehicle system, based on gesture control, for elderly people. Results showed that a low usability degree, as well as a quite high mental workload, is associated to the usage of the proposed prototype. The inclusion of other interaction modalities, such as voice and touch controls, as well as the improvement in the gesture control system, i.e., by reducing the number of gestures needed, is required in future releases of the developed prototype.
In£uence of plant developmental stage on microbial community structure and activity in the rhizosphere of three ¢eld crops

Seasonal shifts in rhizosphere microbial populations were investigated to follow the inﬂuence of plant developmental stage. A ﬁeld study of indigenous microbial rhizosphere communities was undertaken on pea ( Pisum satvium var. quincy ), wheat ( Triticum aestivum var. pena wawa ) and sugar beet ( Beta vulgaris var. amythyst ). Rhizosphere community diversity and substrate utilization patterns were followed throughout a growing season, by culturing, rRNA gene density gradient gel electrophoresis and BIOLOG TM . Culturable bacterial and fungal rhizosphere community densities were stable in pea and wheat rhizospheres, with dynamic shifts observed in the sugar beet rhizosphere. Successional shifts in bacterial and fungal diversity as plants mature demonstrated that different plants select and deﬁne their own functional rhizosphere communities. Assessment of metabolic activity and resource utilization by bacterial community-level physiological proﬁling demonstrated greater similarities between different plant species rhizosphere communities at the same than at different developmental stages. Marked temporal shifts in diversity and relative activity were observed in rhizosphere bacterial communities with developmental stage for all plant species studied. Shifts in the diversity of fungal and bacterial communities were more pronounced in maturing pea and sugar beet plants. This detailed study demon-strates that plant species select for specialized microbial communities that change in response to plant growth and plant inputs. with a gradient optimized for the best resolution of 25–40% denaturant. For the analysis of community proﬁles the software package PHORETIXS TM 1 D ADVANCED GEL ANALYSIS software (Ver. 5.0, Nonlinear Dynamics Ltd) was used. Bands of similar migra-tion were identified and a matrix of presence/absence was calculated for sample comparison.
Synthesis of large‐scale non‐uniformly spaced 4D arrays using an IFT method

A fast pencil beam synthesis method for large-scale non-uniformly spaced four-dimensional (4D) arrays is presented in this study. It separates a non-uniformly spaced 4D array into several excitations dependent ‘conventional arrays’ with an identical array structure. Far-field radiation patterns of the two ‘conventional arrays’ correspond to the patterns at the centre frequency and the sidebands, respectively. An interpolation in a least square sense is then used to interpolate the non-uniform array structure with a uniform virtual array structure. Therefore, the iterative fast Fourier transform (IFT) method can be used to synthesise the two dependent ‘conventional arrays’ with a uniform virtual array structure. Owing to the efficiency of the fast Fourier transform, the proposed method is measurably faster than existing methods, especially for ultra-large-scale 4D arrays. Numerical examples including non-uniformly spaced 4D linear array (1024 elements) and non-uniformly spaced 4D planar array (32 × 32 = 1024 elements) are presented to validate the efficiency of the proposed method.