Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Chinese teaching material readability assessment with contextual information

Readability of an article indicates its level in terms of reading comprehension in general. Readability assessment is a process that measures the reading level of a piece of text, which can help in finding reading materials suitable for readers. In this paper, we aim to evaluate the readability about the Chinese teaching material aimed at second language (L2) learners. We introduce the neural network models to the readability assessment task for the first time. In order to capture the contextual information for readability assessment, we employ Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) to capture hidden local features. Then we use bi-directional Long Short-Term Memory Networks (bi-LSTM) neural network to combine the past and future information together. Experiment results show that our model achieves competitive performance.
Control strategies for removing nitrogen compounds in wastewater treatment plants

This paper presents the application of different control strategies applied for wastewater treatment plants (WWTP). The main purpose is to evaluate its effectiveness/cost trade-off attending a set of criteria. The study has been performed by using the Benchmark Simulation Model No. 2 (BSM2) and the evaluation criteria have been selected taking into account the most relevant indicators provided by this benchmark scenario. More specifically, five strategies have been implemented and compared with the default closed loop control strategy (DCL) of BSM2 and between them. Results show that the control strategies that use the ammonia cascade controller provide better results in most of the evaluated criteria than the control strategies implemented by using only the oxygen controller. Ammonia controller improves the results in terms of effluent quality and operational costs due to the reported aeration energy savings. As a conclusion of this study the control strategy that uses the ammonia and carbon controllers has been selected as the most recommended for implementation.
Percutaneous ablation of renal masses measuring 3.0 cm and smaller: comparative local control and complications after radiofrequency ablation and cryoablation.

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this article is to compare the efficacy and complication rates of percutaneous radiofrequency ablation (RFA) and cryoablation in the treatment of renal masses measuring 3.0 cm and smaller. MATERIALS AND METHODS A retrospective review was performed of 385 patients with 445 tumors measuring 3.0 cm or smaller treated with thermal ablation from 2000 through 2010. Two hundred fifty-six tumors in 222 patients were treated with RFA (mean [± SD] tumor size, 1.9 ± 0.5 cm), and 189 tumors in 163 patients were treated with cryoablation (mean tumor size, 2.3 ± 0.5 cm). Major complications and efficacy as measured by technical success and local tumor recurrence rates were recorded. RESULTS There were five (1.1%) technical failures, including one (0.4%) among tumors treated with RFA and four (2.1%) among tumors treated with cryoablation (p = 0.17). Of the 218 tumors treated with RFA and with follow-up beyond 3 months, seven (3.2%) developed local tumor recurrence, at a mean of 2.8 years after treatment (range, 1.2-4.1 years). Of the 145 tumors treated with cryoablation and with follow-up beyond 3 months, four (2.8%) developed local tumor recurrence at a mean of 0.9 years after treatment (range, 0.3-1.6 years). For biopsy-proven renal cell carcinoma, estimated local recurrence-free survival rates at 1, 3, and 5 years after RFA were 100%, 98.1%, and 98.1%, respectively, compared with 97.3%, 90.6%, and 90.6%, respectively, after cryoablation (p = 0.09). Major complications occurred after 4.3% (10/232) of RFAs and 4.5% (8/176) of cryoablation procedures (p = 0.91). CONCLUSION RFA and cryoablation are both effective in the treatment of renal masses measuring 3 cm or smaller. Major complications with either procedure are infrequent.
Power System Stability Enhancement via New Coordinated Design of PSSs and SVC

In this paper, the assessment of new coordinated design of Power System Stabilizers (PSSs) and Static Var Compensator (SVC) in a multimachine power system via statistical method is proposed. The coordinated design problem of PSSs and SVC over a wide range of loading conditions is handled as an optimization problem. The Bacterial Swarming Optimization (BSO), which synergistically couples the Bacterial Foraging (BF) with the Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), is employed to seek for optimal controllers parameters. By minimizing the proposed objective function, in which the speed deviations between generators are involved; stability performance of the system is enhanced. To compare the capability of PSS and SVC, both are designed independently, and then in a coordinated manner. Simultaneous tuning of the BSO based coordinated controller gives robust damping performance over wide range of operating conditions and large disturbance in compare to optimized PSS controller based on BSO (BSOPSS) and optimized SVC controller based on BSO (BSOSVC). Moreover, a statistical T test is executed to validate the robustness of coordinated controller versus uncoordinated one. Key-Words: SVC; PSSs; Multimachine Power System; Coordinated design; Bacteria Swarm Optimization; Statistical Assessment.
A Social Motivation-aware Mobility Model for Mobile Opportunistic Networks

In mobile opportunistic networks (MONs), human-carried mobile devices such as PDAs and smartphones, with the capability of short range wireless communications, could form various intermittent contacts due to the mobility of humans, and then could use the contact opportunity to communicate with each other. The dynamic changes of the network topology are closely related to the human mobility patterns. In this paper, we propose a social motivation-aware mobility model for MONs, which explains the basic laws of human mobility from the psychological point of view. We analyze and model social motivations of human mobility mainly in terms of expectancy value theory and affiliation motivation. Furthermore, we introduce a new concept of geographic functional cells, which not only incorporates the influence of geographical constraints on human mobility but also simplifies the complicated configuration of simulation areas. Lastly, we validate our model by simulating three real scenarios and comparing it with reality traces and other synthetic traces. The simulation results show that our model has a better match in the performance evaluation when applying social-based forwarding protocols like BUBBULE.
The effect of recombinant human TSH on 123I thyroid uptake after intravenous iodide contrast agent

BackgroundRecombinant human thyroid stimulating hormone (rhTSH) increases the thyroid radioactive iodine uptake (RAIU) in euthyroid and multinodular goiter patients. Furthermore, rhTSH is a well-known complementary tool in the management and treatment of differentiated thyroid cancer patients. ObjectiveTo evaluate the effect of rhTSH on RAIU in subjects without thyroid disease exposed to iodinated contrast agent during computed tomography (CT). MethodsNine euthyroid patients, seven female and two male, with ages ranging from 22 to 58 years, have signed a consent form approved by the hospital's Ethics Committee and had their TSH levels and RAIU evaluated in three moments: baseline (M1), 96 h after intravenous iodinated contrast agent (M2) and 24 h after intramuscular injection of 0.1 mg of rhTSH (M3). Each patient acted as his own control. ResultsThere was significant variation throughout the study of TSH (mean±SD): M1=2.39±0.92 μUI/ml; M2=2.54±1.28 μUI/ml; M3=7.54±2.96 μUI/ml (P=0.004) and of RAIU (mean±SD): M1: 8.76±2.4%; M2=6.54±1.77%; M3=18.75±8.24% (P=0.002). In both cases, there was a significant increment from M1 and M2 to M3. ConclusionIt was shown that a single dose of 0.1 mg of rhTSH, given 96 h after the exposure to computed tomography iodinated contrast media, enhances the RAIU in nine euthyroid patients 4 h after 123I administration. These results indicate that rhTSH could be useful for avoiding delay in the treatment of patients with 131I.
The effect of repeated fluoride recharge and storage media on bond durability of fluoride rechargeable Giomer bonding agent.

BACKGROUND For a restorative material or adhesive to exhibit caries inhibitive potential through fluoride release, it must be capable of fluoride recharge. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of repeated fluoride recharge and different storage media on dentine bond strength durability. METHODS Two self-etch adhesive systems (two-step) were evaluated: fluoride-rechargeable Giomer FL-Bond II and non-fluoride-containing UniFil Bond. For each adhesive 32 human dentine specimens were prepared for shear bond strength testing. The specimens were randomly allocated to one of four storage groups: Group 1 - 24-hour water ageing; Group 2 - four-month water ageing; Group 3 - four-month water ageing with weekly fluoride recharge (5000 ppm for 10 minutes); and Group 4 - four-month acid ageing with weekly fluoride recharge. RESULTS Weekly fluoride recharge over four months ageing did not significantly (p > 0.05) reduce the dentine shear bond strength of FL-Bond II or UniFil Bond. Storage media did not significantly (p > 0.05) affect bond durability. CONCLUSIONS The adhesion between fluoride rechargeable FL-Bond II and dentine maintained durability despite regular fluoride recharge over the four months ageing. Clinicians prescribing the fluoride recharge regime used in the present study to reduce recurrent caries incidence associated with Giomer FL-Bond II restorations can do so without compromising dentine bond strengths.
MEMS BISTABLE CLAMP WITH ELECTRICAL LOCKING AND RELEASE

 Bistable clamps with electrical lock and release mechanisms have been fabricated using deep reactive ion etched bonded silicon on insulator. The high aspect ratio and large contact area of the clamps makes it feasible to locate and hold optical components with large dimensional tolerances at high holding forces. The clamp forcedisplacement profile can be easily changed to match specific assembly requirements. Electrical functionality is achieved using paralleled bent beam electro-thermal actuators. Snapthrough over a 400 μm range and electrical release of test clamps has been successfully demonstrated.
β-CA-specific inhibitor dithiocarbamate Fc14–584B: a novel antimycobacterial agent with potential to treat drug-resistant tuberculosis

Abstract Inhibition of novel biological pathways in Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) creates the potential for alternative approaches for treating drug-resistant tuberculosis. In vitro studies have shown that dithiocarbamate-derived β-carbonic anhydrase (β-CA) inhibitors Fc14–594 A and Fc14–584B effectively inhibit the activity of Mtb β-CA enzymes. We screened the dithiocarbamates for toxicity, and studied the in vivo inhibitory effect of the least toxic inhibitor on M. marinum in a zebrafish model. In our toxicity screening, Fc14–584B emerged as the least toxic and showed minimal toxicity in 5-day-old larvae at 300 µM concentration. In vitro inhibition of M. marinum showed that both compounds inhibited growth at a concentration of 75 µM. In vivo inhibition studies using 300 µM Fc14–584B showed significant (p > .05) impairment of bacterial growth in zebrafish larvae at 6 days post infection. Our studies highlight the therapeutic potential of Fc14–584B as a β-CA inhibitor against Mtb, and that dithiocarbamate compounds may be developed into potent anti-tuberculosis drugs.
Novel characterization of MHC class II-negative population of resident corneal Langerhans cell-type dendritic cells.

PURPOSE The presence of antigen-presenting cells (APCs) such as Langerhans cells (LCs), an epithelial form of dendritic cells (DCs), in corneal tissue is critical for generation of immune responses, including graft rejection and herpetic keratitis. The purpose of this study was to characterize the distribution and major histocompatibility complex (MHC) antigen expression of corneal LCs. METHODS Normal and inflamed corneas were excised from BALB/c mice, and immunofluorescence staining for CD11c, CD11b, CD45, CD80 (B7.1), CD86 (B7.2), CD3, and MHC class II (Ia) was performed by confocal microscopy on wholemount corneal epithelium. RESULTS CD11c(+) MHC class II-positive LCs were found in the limbus and corneal periphery, but not in the center of the normal cornea. These cells were CD45 positive, exhibiting bone marrow derivation, and CD3 and CD11b negative, confirming a DC lineage. Additionally, these cells were CD80 and CD86 negative, reflecting an immature phenotype. In the central and paracentral areas, however, significant numbers of CD11c(+) LCs were detected that expressed no MHC class II. It is important to note that although the density of the LCs declined from the limbus toward the center of the cornea, they were always present. In the inflamed cornea, the expression of MHC class II and costimulatory molecules CD80 and CD86 was significantly enhanced, and present in all parts of the cornea, in contrast to the normal cornea. CONCLUSIONS The present study demonstrates for the first time the phenotype and distribution of MHC class II-negative LCs in the murine corneal epithelium. In the inflamed cornea, the LCs become activated as reflected by expression of B7 costimulatory markers. These changes in activation markers may provide additional information for devising novel immunomodulatory strategies.
Medical Image Segmentation using PCA and K-mean Clustering Algorithm

Medical images are widely used by physician to find abnormalities in human bodies. However the image sometimes is corrupted with noise which normally exist or occur during storage or while transferring the image. Therefore need to improve the image quality, lowdown the computational complexity and signal to noise ratio to improve performance analysis of quantitative and qualitative capabilities of medical image so, there is need of segmentation. Segmentation is technique for partitioning image into meaningful sub regions or object with same attribute. Proposed method states Principle component analysis and K-means clustering method for segmentation of medical images and extracts meaningful part from medical image in efficient manner.
Soy isoflavones and glucose metabolism in menopausal women: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

SCOPE The aim of this meta-analysis was to investigate whether soy isoflavones, a type of phytoestrogen, would affect glucose homeostasis in menopausal women. METHODS AND RESULTS Studies concerning about the relationship between soy isoflavone treatment and glucose metabolism were searched on MEDLINE and WEB OF SCIENCE (updated through April 2015) and EMBASE (1990-April 2015). Seventeen randomized controlled trials (RCTs) with a total number of 1529 menopausal women were identified for meta-analysis. Soy isoflavones were found to show great significance for the improvement of glucose metabolism, though marked heterogeneity was found between studies. The overall results showed that the average difference in fasting blood glucose values between women assigned to soy isoflavones and women in placebo groups was -0.22 mmol/L (95% CI: -0.38 to -0.07 mmol/L) under a random-effects model. In addition, the effect of soy isoflavones on insulin was also significant: -0.43 μIU/mL (95% CI: -0.71 to -0.14 μIU/mL), as was the effect on homeostasis model assessment insulin resistance (HOMA-IR): -0.52 (95% CI: -0.76 to -0.28). CONCLUSION Although the results displayed a significant tendency in favor of soy isoflavones, it appears that genistein alone played an important role in improving glucose metabolism due to its low heterogeneity.
Conduction properties of thin films from a water soluble carbon nanotube/hemicellulose complex

We have examined the conductive properties of carbon nanotube based thin films, which were prepared via dispersion in water by non-covalent functionalization of the nanotubes with xylan, a type of hemicellulose. Measurements of low temperature conductivity, Kelvin probe force microscopy, and high frequency (THz) conductivity elucidated the intra-tube and inter-tube charge transport processes in this material. The measurements show excellent conductive properties of the as prepared thin films, with bulk conductivity up to 2000 S cm−1. The transport results demonstrate that the hemicellulose does not seriously interfere with the inter-tube conductance.
Abstract Convex Underestimation Assisted Multistage Differential Evolution

In differential evolution (DE), different strategies applied in different evolutionary stages may be more effective than a single strategy used in the entire evolutionary process. However, it is not trivial to appropriately determine the evolutionary stage. In this paper, we present an abstract convex underestimation-assisted multistage DE. In the proposed algorithm, the underestimation is calculated through the supporting vectors of some neighboring individuals. Based on the variation of the average underestimation error (UE), the evolutionary process is divided into three stages. Each stage includes a pool of suitable candidate strategies. At the beginning of each generation, the evolutionary stage is first estimated according to the average UE of the previous generation. Subsequently, a strategy is automatically chosen from the corresponding candidate pool to create a mutant vector. In addition, a centroid-based strategy which utilizes the information of multiple superior individuals is designed to balance the population diversity and convergence speed in the second stage. Experiments are conducted on 23 widely used test functions, CEC 2013, and CEC 2014 benchmark sets to demonstrate the performance of the proposed algorithm. The results reveal that the proposed algorithm exhibits better performance compared with several advanced DE variants and some non-DE approaches.
Direct vector control of induction motors based on independent estimation of resistance and flux

This paper deals with the direct vector control (DVC) of induction motors. It is well known that the estimation of rotor flux plays a fundamental role in the DVC and the estimation precision is significantly affected by the motor resistance. So estimation of resistance is indispensable in practice. For fast estimation of the resistance, it is necessary to slow down the convergence rate of the current estimate. On the other hand, for fast estimation of the rotor flux, it is necessary to speed up its convergence rate. It is very difficult to realize such a trade-off in convergence rates in the full order observer. In this paper, we propose to decouple the current observer from the flux observer so as to realize independent convergence rates. Simulation results of the proposed method show a superior performance in the torque and flux responses.
Impact of comorbidity and ageing on health-related quality of life in HIV-positive and HIV-negative individuals.

BACKGROUND HIV-infected individuals may be at risk for the premature onset of age-associated noncommunicable comorbidities. Being HIV-positive, having comorbidities and being of higher age may adversely impact health-related quality of life (HRQL). We investigated the possible contribution of HIV infection, comorbidities and age on HRQL and depression. METHODS HIV-infected individuals and uninfected controls from the AGEhIV Cohort Study were screened for the presence of comorbidities. They completed the Short Form 36-item Health Survey to assess HRQL and the nine-item Patient Health Questionnaire to assess depression. Linear and logistic regression were used to investigate to which extent comorbidities, aging and HIV infection were independently associated with HRQL and depression. RESULTS HIV-infected individuals (n = 541) reported significantly worse physical and mental HRQL and had a higher prevalence of depression than HIV-uninfected individuals (n = 526). A higher number of comorbidities and HIV-positive status were each independently associated with worse physical HRQL, whereas HIV-positive status and younger age were independently associated with worse mental HRQL and more depression. The difference in physical HRQL between HIV-positive and HIV-negative individuals did not become greater with a higher number of comorbidities or with higher age. CONCLUSION In a cohort of largely well suppressed HIV-positive participants and HIV-negative controls, HIV-positive status was significantly and independently associated with worse physical and mental HRQL and with an increased likelihood of depression. Our finding that a higher number of comorbidities was independently associated with worse physical HRQL reinforces the importance to optimize prevention and management of comorbidities as the HIV-infected population continues to age.
Electrochemical Decolorization of Maxilon Red GRL Textile Dye

Aims: The aim of this research paper is to examine the efficiency of electrooxidation and electrocoagulation techniques to remove the textile dye Maxilon Red GRL from polluted water. Study Design: The study was performed by usingtwo graphite electrodes as anode and cathode for electrooxidation (EO) and a stainless steel electrode as anode and graphite as cathodefor electrocoagulation (EC).
Web based programming tool with speech recognition for visually impaired users

Today programming requires to be able to code textually, but it also requires to be visual. Therefore, both of these have left visually impaired users in a very difficult position when it comes for learning and applying programming. There are tools that enable visually impaired users to use computers, but none of them has been specialized to aid the visually impaired users in various programming issues. The aim of this project is to develop a web application, especially for visually impaired people to facilitate to learn programming concepts. Designed solution is an application, based on speech recognition, semantic analysis, user interaction, and braille engine, which can use as a smart programming tool for visually impaired and differently abled people. It's a method of implementing a new way to help and motivate disable people, to use latest technologies in Information Technology and software engineering aspects. Here, researchers are focusing on Java language because it is considered as simple rather than other languages that programmers use today. This research helps to all visually impaired people, who are interested in coding, by teaching programming concepts and empower them to achieve the best future by giving programming theories simply with coding examples. Guide the user gradually by giving voice commands what to do next, and what can you try out according to their skills. It is expected to address the research gap in code generation according to voice commands.
Cellular Network Traces Towards 5G: Usage, Analysis and Generation

Deployment and demand traces are a crucial tool to study today’s LTE systems, as well as their evolution toward 5G. In this paper, we use a set of real-world, crowdsourced traces, coming from the WeFi and OpenSignal apps, to investigate how present-day networks are deployed, and the load they serve. Given this information, we present a way to generate synthetic deployment and demand profiles, retaining the same features of their real-world counterparts. We further discuss a methodology using traces (both real-world and synthetic) to assess (i) to which extent the current deployment is adequate to the current and future demand, and (ii) the effectiveness of the existing strategies to improve network capacity. Applying our methodology to real-world traces, we find that present-day LTE deployments consist of multiple, entangled, medium- to large-sized cells. Furthermore, although today’s LTE networks are overprovisioned when compared to the present traffic demand, they will need substantial capacity improvements in order to face the load increase foreacasted between now and 2020.