Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Guaranteed cost control with poles assignment for a flexible air-breathing hypersonic vehicle

This article investigates the problem of guaranteed cost control for a flexible air-breathing hypersonic vehicle (FAHV). The FAHV includes intricate coupling between the engine and flight dynamics as well as complex interplay between flexible and rigid modes, which results in an intractable system for the control design. A longitudinal model is adopted for control design due to the complexity of the vehicle. First, for a highly nonlinear and coupled FAHV, a linearised model is established around the trim condition, which includes the state of altitude, velocity, angle of attack, pitch angle and pitch rate, etc. Secondly, by using the Lyapunov approach, performance analysis is carried out for the resulting closed-loop FAHV system, whose criterion with respect to guaranteed performance cost and poles assignment is expressed in the framework of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs). The established criterion exhibits a kind of decoupling between the Lyapunov positive-definite matrices to be determined and the FAHV system matrices, which is enabled by the introduction of additional slack matrix variables. Thirdly, a convex optimisation problem with LMI constraints is formulated for designing an admissible controller, which guarantees a prescribed performance cost with the simultaneous consideration of poles assignment for the resulting closed-loop system. Finally, some simulation results are provided to show that the guaranteed cost controller could assign the poles into the desired regional and achieve excellent reference altitude and velocity tracking performance.
Heap data allocation to scratch-pad memory in embedded systems

This thesis presents the first-ever compile-time method for allocating a portion of a program's dynamic data to scratch-pad memory. A scratch-pad is a fast directly addressed compiler-managed SRAM memory that replaces the hardware-managed cache. It is motivated by its better real-time guarantees vs. cache and by its significantly lower overheads in access time, energy consumption, area and overall runtime. Dynamic data refers to all objects allocated at run-time in a program, as opposed to static data objects which are allocated at compile-time. Existing compiler methods for allocating data to scratch-pad are able to place only code, global and stack data (static data) in scratch-pad memory; heap and recursive-function objects (dynamic data) are allocated entirely in DRAM, resulting in poor performance for these dynamic data types. Runtime methods based on software caching can place data in scratch-pad, but because of their high overheads from software address translation, they have not been successful, especially for dynamic data. In this thesis we present a dynamic yet compiler-directed allocation method for dynamic data that for the first time, (i) is able to place a portion of the dynamic data in scratch-pad; (ii) has no software-caching tags; (iii) requires no run-time per-access extra address translation; and (iv) is able to move dynamic data back and forth between scratch-pad and DRAM to better track the program's locality characteristics. With our method, code, global, stack and heap variables can share the same scratch-pad. When compared to placing all dynamic data variables in DRAM and only static data in scratch-pad, our results show that our method reduces the average runtime of our benchmarks by 22.3%, and the average power consumption by 26.7%, for the same size of scratch-pad fixed at 5% of total data size. Significant savings in runtime and energy across a large number of benchmarks were also observed when compared against cache memory organizations, showing our method's success under constrained SRAM sizes when dealing with dynamic data. Lastly, our method is able to minimize the profile dependence issues which plague all similar allocation methods through careful analysis of static and dynamic profile information.
Correlating different network topology layers in heterogeneous environments

Network Topology Discovery is the process to automatically generate a network topology. For example, by detecting the connected devices by sending messages on the wire. This paper focuses on the usage of the Link Layer Discovery Protocol for the discovery of the physical (Ethernet) topology and how to correlate that information with topology information of other layers. Both a theoretical and a partial practical approach of correlating the different layers is covered. In a modern network, protocols and technologies that do virtualization, aggregation and pruning of links and devices must be taken into account to be able to correctly correlate the different topologies. It is relatively easy to create a topology based on the information that LLDP provides. Tests in the production network of SURFsara showed that LLDP is configured on most of the devices which make it a useful protocol to do topology discovery in heterogeneous networks. The Simple Network Management Protocol is used to retrieve all topology information, which has proven to be a reliable method. The information found in the different Management Information Bases (MIB) can be linked back to a single interface index value, which makes it possible to correlate the information with other layers. Vendors tend to use proprietary solutions and they often place that information in a vendor-specific MIB. Although within this research the main focus is on the usage of standardized MIBs, vendor-specific MIBs should allow for the mapping of protocol information to the interface index.
Effect of the Milling Energy on the Milling-Induced hcp-fcc Cobalt Allotropic Transformations

Cobalt is found to undergo hcp-fcc allotropic phase transformations whe n subjected to ball milling. The starting mixture of hcp + fcc cobalt develops i nto an almost pure hcp phase after short-term milling. However, for intermediate milling times, the amount of stacking faults accumulated in the hcp structure increases progressively, resulti ng in regions with local fcc stacking sequence embedded in the hcp phase. The stacking fault probability and the amount of fcc phase increase with the milling energy (i.e. the ball-to-powder weight ratio) and the milling time. Hence, the transformation of hcp into fcc after long-term milling is f ound to be closely related to the amount of stacking faults created in the hcp phase. However, after long-term milling the as-milled powders can be considered to be in an almost random close-packed stacking sequence state rather than in two unambiguously separated phases.
Multilevel modelling of complex survey data

Summary. Multilevel modelling is sometimes used for data from complex surveys involving multistage sampling, unequal sampling probabilities and stratification. We consider generalized linear mixed models and particularly the case of dichotomous responses. A pseudolikelihood approach for accommodating inverse probability weights in multilevel models with an arbitrary number of levels is implemented by using adaptive quadrature. A sandwich estimator is used to obtain standard errors that account for stratification and clustering. When level 1 weights are used that vary between elementary units in clusters, the scaling of the weights becomes important. We point out that not only variance components but also regression coefficients can be severely biased when the response is dichotomous. The pseudolikelihood methodology is applied to complex survey data on reading proficiency from the American sample of the ‘Program for international student assessment’ 2000 study, using the Stata program gllamm which can estimate a wide range of multilevel and latent variable models. Performance of pseudo‐maximum‐likelihood with different methods for handling level 1 weights is investigated in a Monte Carlo experiment. Pseudo‐maximum‐likelihood estimators of (conditional) regression coefficients perform well for large cluster sizes but are biased for small cluster sizes. In contrast, estimators of marginal effects perform well in both situations. We conclude that caution must be exercised in pseudo‐maximum‐likelihood estimation for small cluster sizes when level 1 weights are used.
Capacity of a mobile multiple-antenna wireless link with isotropically random Ricianfading

We analyze the capacity of a multiple-antenna wireless link with M antennas at the transmitter and N antennas at the receiver in a Rician fading channel when the channel is unknown at both the transmitter and the receiver. The Rician model is a nonstandard model with a Rayleigh component and an isotropically random rank-one specular component. The Rayleigh and specular components remain constant for T symbol periods, after which they change to completely independent realizations, and so on. To maximize mutual information over the joint density of T/spl middot/M complex transmitted signals it is sufficient to maximize over a joint density of min{T,M} real transmitted signal magnitudes. The capacity-achieving signal matrix is equal to the product of two independent matrices, a T/spl times/T isotropically random unitary matrix and a T/spl times/M real nonnegative diagonal matrix. If M>T, optimum signaling uses only T out of the M transmit antennas. We derive a novel lower bound on capacity which enables us to compute achievable rate regions for many cases. This lower bound is also valid for the case of purely Rayleigh-fading channels, where it has not been feasible, in general, to compute capacity, or mutual information. Our numerical results also indicate that the Rayleigh model is surprisingly robust: under our Rician model, up to half of the received energy can arrive via the specular component without significant reduction in capacity compared with the purely Rayleigh case.
Patients with irritable bowel syndrome and dysmotility express antibodies against gonadotropin‐releasing hormone in serum

Background The etiology of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and dysmotility is in most cases unknown. Organic, pathognomonic changes have not been described. We have previously demonstrated sporadic expressions of antibodies against gonadotropin‐releasing hormone (GnRH) in serum from these patients. The aim of this study was to screen for the presence of GnRH antibodies in healthy subjects and patients with gastrointestinal (GI) diseases.
Risk of vertebral fracture in women with rheumatoid arthritis.

project. We thank Merieux UK and SmithKline Beecham for funding purchase of the monitor marks; the staff of St Patrick's for their help; the doctors and staff of the participating practices for their cooperation; and Mr S Potter, chief pharmacist at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, for giving background information. 1 Lugosi L, Battersby A. Transport and storage of vaccines in Hungary: the first cold chain monitor study in Europe. Bull World Health Organ 1990;68:431-9. 2 Hunter S. Storage of vaccines in general practice. BMJ 1989;299:661-2. 3 Thakker Y, Woods S. Storage of vaccines in the community: weak link in the cold chain? BAfJ 1992;304:756-8. 4 Malone-Lee MC. Purchase and supply of vaccines for the childhood immuniston programme. London: NHS Management Executive, 1992. (EL(92)26. )
Some factors affecting the survival of airborne viruses.

Summary The response of aerosolized viruses to relative humidity depended greatly on the composition of the fluid from which the viruses were sprayed. For example, the removal of salts from the spray fluid diminished the loss of infectivity of Langat virus (a group B arbovirus) at intermediate relative humidities. Salts were less toxic towards aerosolized Semliki Forest virus (a group A arbovirus) but did cause some loss of infectivity at higher relative humidities after prolonged storage of the aerosol. Polyhydroxy-compounds reversed the virucidal effects of salts on arboviruses. The removal of protein from the spray suspensions of arboviruses caused rapid loss of infectivity in the aerosol at very high relative humidities but had no detrimental effect at lower relative humidities. Poliovirus and T coliphage, which possess no structural lipid, retained high levels of infectivity following aerosolization at relative humidites of 70% or above; at lower relative humidities they were inactivated rapidly. This rapid inactivation was increased further at lower solute concentrations of the spray fluid. The infectivities of aerosolized polioviruses and coliphages depended on the mode of rehydration during collection of the aerosols, but the infectivities of arboviruses in aerosols were unaffected by this. Atmospheric oxygen was not toxic to viruses in the aerosol state.
A Novel Microbiome Therapeutic Increases Gut Microbial Diversity and Prevents Recurrent Clostridium difficile Infection.

BACKGROUND Patients with recurrent Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) have a ≥60% risk of relapse, as conventional therapies do not address the underlying gastrointestinal dysbiosis. This exploratory study evaluated the safety and efficacy of bacterial spores for preventing recurrent CDI. METHODS Stool specimens from healthy donors were treated with ethanol to eliminate pathogens. The resulting spores were fractionated and encapsulated for oral delivery as SER-109. Following their response to standard-of-care antibiotics, patients in cohort 1 were treated with SER-109 on 2 consecutive days (geometric mean dose, 1.7 × 10(9) spores), and those in cohort 2 were treated on 1 day (geometric mean dose, 1.1 × 10(8) spores). The primary efficacy end point was absence of C. difficile-positive diarrhea during an 8-week follow-up period. Microbiome alterations were assessed. RESULTS Thirty patients (median age, 66.5 years; 67% female) were enrolled, and 26 (86.7%) met the primary efficacy end point. Three patients with early, self-limiting C. difficile-positive diarrhea did not require antibiotics and tested negative for C. difficile at 8 weeks; thus, 96.7% (29 of 30) achieved clinical resolution. In parallel, gut microbiota rapidly diversified, with durable engraftment of spores and no outgrowth of non-spore-forming bacteria found after SER-109 treatment. Adverse events included mild diarrhea, abdominal pain, and nausea. CONCLUSIONS SER-109 successfully prevented CDI and had a favorable safety profile, supporting a novel microbiome-based intervention as a potential therapy for recurrent CDI.
Overview of the Meraka wireless grid test bed for evaluation of ad-hoc routing protocols

the performance of ad-hoc networking protocols has typically been performed by making use of software based simulation tools. Experimental study and validation of such predictions is vital to obtaining more realistic results, but may not be possible under the constrained environment of network simulators. This paper presents experimental comparisons of routing protocols using a 7 by 7 grid of closely spaced WiFi nodes. It firstly demonstrates the usefulness of the grid in its ability to emulate a real world multi-hop ad-hoc network. It specifically compares hop count, routing traffic overhead, throughput, delay and packet loss for three protocols which are listed by the IETF MANET working group. These are AODV, OLSR and DYMO Index Terms—ad-hoc networks, IEEE 802.11 standard, wireless grid test bed I.INTRODUCTION One of the key challenges for researchers in the field of wireless networking protocol design, is the ability to carry out reliable performance measurements on their protocol. Parameters that need to be evaluated are typically, scalability, delay, throughput and network convergence in the presence rapidly changing link quality and route optimization. Unfortunately most of the work done so far makes use of simulations which over simplify the physical layer and even aspects of the Medium Access Control layer. There is also a lack of consistency between the results of the same protocol being run on different simulation packages [1]. Mathematical models are useful in the interpretation of the effects of various network parameters on performance. For example, Gupta and Kumar [2] have created an equation which models the best-and worst-case data rate in a network with shared channel access, as the number of hops increases. However, recent work done by the same authors [3] using a real test bed, employing laptops equipped with Standard (" 802.11 ") based radios, revealed that 802.11 multi hop throughput is still far from even the worst case theoretical data rate predictions. This illustrates the importance of verification using physical test beds. A recent " Network Test Beds workshop " report [4] highlighted the importance of physical wireless test bed facilities for the research community in view of the limitations of available simulation methodologies. This was the motivation for the ORBIT project [5], which describes a wireless grid similar to the one that is discussed in this paper. The ORBIT mesh lab has a small 8x8 grid and a larger 20x20 grid, which makes use of 802.11 wireless equipment based on …
Medical errors related to discontinuity of care from an inpatient to an outpatient setting

AbstractOBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence of medical errors related to the discontinuity of care from an inpatient to an outpatient setting, and to determine if there is an association between these medical errors and adverse outcomes. PATIENTS: Eighty-six patients who had been hospitalized on the medicine service at a large academic medical center and who were subsequently seen by their primary care physicians at the affiliated outpatient practice within 2 months after discharge. DESIGN: Each patient’s inpatient and outpatient medical record was reviewed for the presence of 3 types of errors related to the discontinuity of care from the inpatient to the outpatient setting: medication continuity errors, test follow-up errors, and work-up errors. MEASUREMENTS: Rehospitalizations within 3 months after the initial postdischarge outpatient primary care visit. MAIN RESULTS: Forty-nine percent of patients experienced at least 1 medical error. Patients with a work-up error were 6.2 times (95% confidence interval [95% CI], 1.3 to 30.3) more likely to be rehospitalized within 3 months after the first outpatient visit. We did not find a statistically significant association between medication continuity errors (odds ratio [OR], 2.5; 95%CI, 0.7 to 8.8) and test follow-up errors (OR, 2.4; 95%CI, 0.3 to 17.1) with rehospitalizations. CONCLUSION: We conclude that the prevalence of medical errors related to the discontinuity of care from the inpatient to the outpatient setting is high and may be associated with an increased risk of rehospitalization.
Phosphorylation by Cdk1 Increases the Binding of Eg5 to Microtubules In Vitro and in Xenopus Egg Extract Spindles

Background Motor proteins from the kinesin-5 subfamily play an essential role in spindle assembly during cell division of most organisms. These motors crosslink and slide microtubules in the spindle. Kinesin-5 motors are phosphorylated at a conserved site by Cyclin-dependent kinase 1 (Cdk1) during mitosis. Xenopus laevis kinesin-5 has also been reported to be phosphorylated by Aurora A in vitro. Methodology/Principal Findings We investigate here the effect of these phosphorylations on kinesin-5 from Xenopus laevis, called Eg5. We find that phosphorylation at threonine 937 in the C-terminal tail of Eg5 by Cdk1 does not affect the velocity of Eg5, but strongly increases its binding to microtubules assembled in buffer. Likewise, this phosphorylation promotes binding of Eg5 to microtubules in Xenopus egg extract spindles. This enhancement of binding elevates the amount of Eg5 in spindles above a critical level required for bipolar spindle formation. We find furthermore that phosphorylation of Xenopus laevis Eg5 by Aurora A at serine 543 in the stalk is not required for spindle formation. Conclusions/Significance These results show that phosphorylation of Eg5 by Cdk1 has a direct effect on the interaction of this motor with microtubules. In egg extract, phosphorylation of Eg5 by Cdk1 ensures that the amount of Eg5 in the spindle is above a level that is required for spindle formation. This enhanced targeting to the spindle appears therefore to be, at least in part, a direct consequence of the enhanced binding of Eg5 to microtubules upon phosphorylation by Cdk1. These findings advance our understanding of the regulation of this essential mitotic motor protein.
Functional recovery in a tendon autograft used to bridge a peripheral nerve defect

The functional recovery was examined after two different methods had been used to bridge an extended nerve gap. A 15 mm defect in the rat sciatic nerve was repaired using a tendon autograft--a new graft material--on one side and a freeze-thawed muscle graft--a well established experimental material--on the other side. Evaluation after 12 weeks included measurements of tetanic force in the gastrocnemius muscle and computerised morphometry of the tibial nerve. The muscular tetanic force recovered to 26% and 21% of control muscles, respectively, but there were no significant differences between the two types of grafts in any of the measurements. The number of regenerated axons of the tibial nerve correlated with functional recovery as judged by muscular tetanic force in the gastrocnemius muscle. We conclude that the tendon autograft supports functional recovery, as judged by return of muscular tetanic force, to an extent comparable to that of the freeze-thawed muscle graft.
Electrostatic self-assembly of virus-polymer complexes

Amine functionalised and consequently cationic linear polymers, Newkome-type dendrons and PAMAM dendrimers can efficiently form electrostatic complexes with negatively charged cowpea chlorotic mottle viruses (CCMVs). The complexes have been characterised by dynamic light scattering (DLS), gel electrophoresis, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), which describe in detail how the size and structure topology of the polyamine controls the complex formation with the virus. DLS results show that the complexes are approximately 1–2 µm in diameter, and their size can be tuned with the charge valency of the polymer and the ionic concentration of the media. TEM images and SAXS measurements demonstrate that individual virus particles can adopt hexagonal close packing within the complex and the observed distance between lattice points (27.9 nm) corresponds to the diameter of the native virus, which is 28 nm. Also the empty viral capsids and capsids loaded with Prussian blue nanoparticles can be assembled, which suggests that by controlling the assembly of the virus, it is possible to control the assembly of any material that is held inside the virus.