Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A non-dissipative controllable charging equalizer for series connected high-capacity super-capacitors urban rail transport system

In the high power application of urban rail transport system, the supercapacitors are important energy storage units, which are commonly connected in series to increase the energy storage capacity and the withstanding voltage. It is critical to balance the voltage among supercapacitors so that the charging equalizer is very essential. This paper proposes a novel charging equalizer employing a push-pull forward multi-winding transformer with synchronous rectifier, which can achieve rapid equalization offering large equalizing current. In the proposed charging equalizer, the full bridge rectifier is implemented by controllable power MOSFET rather than the conventional power diode, which can increase the equalizing speed and reduce the power loss during the voltage equalization with the little conduction resistance of MOSFET. Meanwhile, this paper uses an extended Kalman filter based state of charge estimator, which is able to estimate the state of SCs online and get an outstanding balancing performance. The operational principles and equalization algorithm of the proposed equalizer are presented and the equalization performance is verified by the simulation and experimental results of a charging equalizer prototype for eight series-connected supercapacitors.
The development of attentional orienting during the school-age years

This study was designed to assess the development of spatial attentional orienting during the school-age years. To that end, we used a cost-benefit attentional cueing task with short (100 ms) and long (800 ms) cue-to-target intervals to examine attentional processing independent of motor skills and perceptual processing in 200 7‐17-year-olds and 40 adults. We found that orienting attention, disengaging attention and visual processing in an unattended location, were all progressively more accurate and faster with increasing age. Our data thus suggest that the efficiency of attentional orienting improves in an age-related manner throughout the school-age years.
Human Immune Responses to Schistosoma mansoni Vaccine Candidate Antigens

ABSTRACT To determine the naturally occurring immunological responses to theSchistosoma mansoni antigens paramyosin, IrV-5, Sm-23 (MAP-3), and triose phosphate isomerase (MAP-4), a total of 119 subjects from an area of endemicity for schistosomiasis, including “resistant” subjects (n = 17) were evaluated. Specific immunoglobulin G1 (IgG1), IgG2, IgG3, IgG4, and IgA levels for each of the antigens and the cytokine profile in culture supernatants from antigen-stimulated peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) were determined. Although all the subjects had a high degree of contaminated water exposure, their infection levels were variable (0 to 1,128 eggs/g of stool). There were direct correlations between infection levels and levels of SWAP- and paramyosin-specific IgG1 and IgG4 (P < 0.05). However, an inverse correlation between infection levels and specific IgG2 to IrV-5 (P < 0.01) was observed. The evaluation of the cytokine profile (interleukin 5 [IL-5], IL-10, gamma interferon [IFN-γ], and tumor necrosis factor alpha) in response to these antigens showed inverse correlations between the degree of infection and IFN-γ levels in PBMC supernatants stimulated with paramyosin (P < 0.05) and IrV-5 (P < 0.01). Additionally, inverse correlations between the degree of infection and IL-5 levels in MAP-3- and MAP-4-stimulated PBMC supernatants (P < 0.01) were found. Logistic regression analysis was performed to adjust the results of cytokine profile by age. IL-5 production in MAP-3-stimulated PBMC supernatants was associated with lower infection levels (odds ratio = 11.2 [95% confidence interval, 2.7 to 45.8]).
Occupational Exposure to Welding Fume among Welders: Alterations of Manganese, Iron, Zinc, Copper, and Lead in Body Fluids and the Oxidative Stress Status

Welders in this study were selected from a vehicle manufacturer; control subjects were from a nearby food factory. Airborne manganese levels in the breathing zones of welders and controls were 1.45 ± SD1.08 mg/m3 and 0.11 ± 0.07 &mgr;g/m3, respectively. Serum levels of manganese and iron in welders were 4.3-fold and 1.9-fold, respectively, higher than those of controls. Blood lead concentrations in welders increased 2.5-fold, whereas serum zinc levels decreased 1.2-fold, in comparison with controls. Linear regression revealed the lack of associations between blood levels of five metals and welder’s age. Furthermore, welders had erythrocytic superoxide dismutase activity and serum malondialdehyde levels 24% less and 78% higher, respectively, than those of controls. These findings suggest that occupational exposure to welding fumes among welders disturbs the homeostasis of trace elements in systemic circulation and induces oxidative stress.
Myocardial Function in Coronary Artery Disease Determined by Atrial Pacing

Right atrial pacing was performed in 21 patients with and 10 patients without coronary artery disease (CAD). The values for the control (C) and maximum paced (P) heart rate were similar in all patients. During pacing cardiac output did not change, and mean arterial pressure remained constant except for a slight increase during pacing-induced angina pectoris in 11 patients with CAD. Left ventricular end-diastolic pressure (LVEDP) decreased in the normal subjects (C=9 ± 1, P = 3 ± 1 SEM mm Hg) and in all 10 patients with CAD who did not develop angina (C=5 ± 3, P = 5 ± 1 mm Hg). In 11 patients with CAD, developing angina, LVEDP did not decrease before pain occurred (C=9 ± 1, P = 9 ± 2 mm Hg) and increased during induced angina (P = 14 ± 3 mm Hg). Pacing ventricular function curves (VFC) relating induced changes in LVEDP and stroke work were abnormal in five of 10 patients with CAD and without induced angina when compared to the normal subjects. In patients developing angina, pacing VFC were normal in five of 10 before pain and then became abnormal in four of these five when angina occurred.Atrial pacing may be used to evaluate ventricular function and may demonstrate abnormalities in patients with CAD even in the absence of pacing-induced angina. Angina pectoris is usually associated with an overall decrease in myocardial function.
Mechanism of Stimulation of Liver Glycogen Synthesis by Fructose in Alloxan Diabetic Rats

In diabetic animals and humans, stimulation of liver glycogen synthesis has been reported after administration of a large parenteral fructose load. The effects of an oral fructose load have not been examined previously. In the diabetic state, glycogen synthase phosphatase activity is reduced, and synthase D (the inactive form) is a poor substrate for the phosphatase. Thus,activation of synthase to the synthase R and synthase I (R + I) (active) forms by fructose would not be expected. We have determined that oral fructose administration does stimulate glycogen synthesis and have examined the mechanism by which this is accomplished. In 24-h-fasted alloxan diabetic rats, basal liver glycogen was higher than in normal rats (8.3 ±1.8 vs. 3.0 ± 0.5 mg/g wet wt). After fructose (4 g/kg) was given, the initial rate of glycogen synthesis was normal in diabetic rats, but total glycogen synthesis was reduced. By 240 min, liver glycogen increased to 18 ± 4.0 mg/g wet wt in diabetic rats versus 30.5 ±1.5 mg/g wet wt in normal rats. Synthase R + I was low and did not increase significantly (0.063 ± 0.006 to 0.064 ± 0.010 U/g wet wt) after fructose administration to the diabetic animals. Phosphorylase a did not decrease significantly during the period of active glycogen synthesis. In the diabetic rats, glucoses-phosphate increased by 84% (0.103 ± 0.010 to 0.184 ± 0.020 μmol/g wet wt) within 10 min and remained elevated above the control level. UDPglucose decreased from 0.336 ± 0.013 to 0.271 ± 0.011 μmol/g wet wt at 10 min and remained below the control level. ATP1, P1 and cAMP were unchanged.These data are compatible with a “pull” mechanism of glycogen synthesis due to stimulation of synthase R activity by a rise in glucose-6-P, with little conversion of synthase to the more active R + I forms. They do not suggest a substrate push mechanism for stimulation of glycogen synthesis by fructose in diabetic rats.
Machiavellianism and Tolerance of Ambiguity

The relationship of Machiavellianism and Tolerance of Ambiguity was studied in 47 African-American college and university administrators. The mean score on Machiavellianism in the youngest group (30–40 yr.) of administrators was significantly higher on Machiavellianism than the mean of the oldest group (50 yr. and older) of administrators.
Improved antiretroviral refill adherence in HIV-focused community pharmacies.

OBJECTIVE To determine differences in patient characteristics, antiretroviral therapy (ART) regimen characteristics, and regimen refill adherence for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-focused pharmacy (HIV-P) versus traditional pharmacy (TP) users. DESIGN Retrospective cohort study. SETTING California Walgreens pharmacies from May 2007 to August 2009. PARTICIPANTS HIV-positive patients with greater than 30 days of antiretroviral prescription claims. INTERVENTION Deidentified prescription records for patients filling any ART prescription at any California Walgreens pharmacy during the study period were assessed. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES ART regimen refill adherence (calculated by modified medication possession ratio [mMPR]) and dichotomous measure of optimal adherence of 95% or greater. RESULTS 4,254 HIV-P and 11,679 TP users were included. Compared with TP users, HIV-P users traveled farther to pharmacies (5.03 vs. 1.26 miles, P < 0.01). A greater proportion of HIV-P users filled prescriptions for chronic diseases (35% vs. 30%) and received fixed-dose combination antiretroviral tablets (92% vs. 83%) (all P < 0.01). Median mMPR was higher for HIV-P users (90% vs. 77%, P < 0.0001). After adjusting for age, gender, insurance, medication use, and distance from pharmacy, use of HIV-P (odds ratio 1.90 [95% CI 1.72-2.08]) and fixed-dose combination antiretroviral tablets (3.34 [2.84-3.96]) were most strongly associated with having 95% or greater ART regimen refill adherence. CONCLUSION For HIV-positive patients struggling with antiretroviral adherence, clinicians may consider minimizing pill burden with combination tablets and referral to an HIV-focused pharmacy.
Coxa Saltans: The Snapping Hip Revisited

&NA; Coxa saltans, or “snapping hip,” has several causes. These can be divided into three types: external, internal, and intra‐articular. Snapping of the external type occurs when a thickened area of the posterior iliotibial band or the leading anterior edge of the gluteus maximus snaps forward over the greater trochanter with flexion of the hip. The internal type has a similar mechanism except that it is the musculotendinous iliopsoas that snaps over structures deep to it (usually the femoral head and the anterior capsule of the hip). Intra‐articular snapping is due to lesions in the joint itself. Diagnosis of the external and internal types is usually made clinically. Radiography can be useful in confirming the diagnosis, particularly when bursography shows the iliopsoas tendon snapping with hip motion. Other radiologic modalities, such as computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, and arthrography, may also be helpful, especially when there is an intra‐articular cause. Most cases of snapping hip are asymptomatic and can be treated conservatively. However, if the snapping becomes symptomatic, surgery may be necessary. There may also be a role for arthroscopy in the treatment of intra‐articular lesions.
Positions of truthfully answered controls on control question tests with the polygraph

Dans le cadre d'une simulation de crime, des etudiants (N = 120) classes soit comme coupables, comme innocents et informes des details du crime ou innocents et non informes des details du crime, ont ete soumis au detecteur de mensonge a l'aide d'une version modifiee du Control Question Test (CQT). Les questions de controle ambigues, susceptibles d'entrainer un mensonge, ont ete transformees en questions claires et directes qui appelaient des reponses de bonne foi. Lorsque ces questions de controle etaient posees avant les questions reliees au crime, la plupart des participants coupables et innocents etaient classes correctement. La majorite des participants ont echoue au test du polygraphe lorsque les questions reliees au crime leur etaient posees avant les questions de controle. Lorsqu'un participant mentait a une question reliee au crime ayant ete posee dans un deuxieme temps, on observait des reactions plus importantes au plan de la resistance de la peau, F(2, 108) = 8.2, et de la volemie, F(2, 108) = 6.1, comparativement a celles observees lors des reponses d'ordre informatives donnees aux questions de controle initiales. L'exactitude de la detection depend donc de la position des questions de controle.
Validity of Parallel Measures of Vocational Interests and Confidence

The basic confidence scales of the Expanded Skills Confidence Inventory were evaluated using 715 college students. The scales were correlated as predicted with confidence for Holland's six vocational themes and with the basic interest scales of the Strong Interest Inventory. Discriminant analyses using educational aspirations and major and career preferences job families as dependent variables indicated that using both interests and confidence measures led to additional predictive power over either one alone. The more specific sets of scales accounted for the most variance. Data supported the hypothesis of more frequent occurrence of score patterns of higher interest but lower confidence relative to gender-nonstereotypic domains (e.g., mechanical for women and helping for men), thus suggesting the utility of efficacy theory-based interventions to broaden the range of career options. It is hoped that these findings will facilitate the use of parallel measures of interests and self-efficacy in research and career counseling.
Cumulative attributes for pain intensity estimation

Pain estimation from face video is a hard problem in automatic behaviour understanding. One major obstacle is the difficulty of collecting sufficient amounts of data, with balanced amounts of data for all pain intensity levels. To overcome this, we propose to adopt Cumulative Attributes, which assume that attributes for high pain levels with few examples are a superset of all attributes of lower pain levels. Experimental results show a consistent relative performance increase in the order of 20% regardless of features used. Our final system significantly outperforms the state of the art on the UNBC McMaster Shoulder Pain database by using cumulative attributes with Relevance Vector Regression on a combination of features, including appearance, geometric, and deep learned features.
Association Between Posttraumatic Symptoms and Dissociative Symptoms in Rescue Personnel 96 Hours after the Hilton Hotel Bombing in Sinai, Egypt

ABSTRACT The association between posttraumatic stress symptoms and dissociative symptoms was examined among the entire team of 26 rescue personnel, 96 hr after exposure to the Hilton Hotel bombing in Sinai, Egypt. The results showed that even after controlling for age and previous exposure, the correlations between both intrusive and avoidant symptoms with dissociation remained significant. This study is in line with earlier studies that have revealed a significant association between posttraumatic stress symptoms and dissociation. The study extends the time line of the relationship found. In addition, this field study extends the relationship between both intrusion and avoidance symptoms with dissociation beyond the medical setting.
Verbal Overshadowing Effect: How Temporal Perspective may Exacerbate or Alleviate the Processing Shift

Generating a detailed, memory-based description of a non-verbal perceptual stimulus can impair later recognition of that stimulus—an effect termed verbal overshadowing (VO). After viewing a face for 10 seconds, half the participants wrote a description of it; the others completed an unrelated task. Participants then either imagined their proximal or distant future, or completed an unrelated task. Following a recognition test for the face previously presented, all the 75 participants attempted to solve three insight problems. A robust VO effect was observed for participants who imagined their proximal future; that is, providing a description of the face impaired their later recognition of that face. In contrast, those who imagined their distal future showed no such impairment. Furthermore, distal imagining participants solved more insight problems compared to proximal, and control condition participants. The results of this study provide support for a processing shift interpretation of VO. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Car-to-car radio channel measurements at 5 GHz: Pathloss, power-delay profile, and delay-Doppler spectrum

We carried out a car-to-infrastructure (C2I) and car-to-car (C2C) 4x4 multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radio channel measurement campaign at 5.2 GHz in Lund, Sweden. This paper presents first results on pathloss, power-delay profiles, and delay-Doppler spectra in a C2C highway scenario, where both cars were traveling in opposite directions. A pathloss coefficient of 1.8 yields the best fit with our measurement results in the mean square sense. The measured Doppler shift of the line of sight path matches exactly with theoretical calculations. Selected paths are investigated in the delay and Doppler domain. The avererage delay spread is 250 ns; Doppler shifts of more than 1000 Hz are observed.
Long-Term Rock Phosphate Fertilization Impacts the Microbial Communities of Maize Rhizosphere

Phosphate fertilization is a common practice in agriculture worldwide, and several commercial products are widely used. Triple superphosphate (TSP) is an excellent soluble phosphorus (P) source. However, its high cost of production makes the long-term use of crude rock phosphate (RP) a more attractive alternative in developing countries, albeit its influence on plant-associated microbiota remains unclear. Here, we compared long-term effects of TSP and RP fertilization on the structure of maize rhizosphere microbial community using next generation sequencing. Proteobacteria were dominant in all conditions, whereas Oxalobacteraceae (mainly Massilia and Herbaspirillum) was enriched in the RP-amended soil. Klebsiella was the second most abundant taxon in the RP-treated soil. Burkholderia sp. and Bacillus sp. were enriched in the RP-amended soil when compared to the TSP-treated soil. Regarding fungi, Glomeromycota showed highest abundance in RP-amended soils, and the main genera were Scutellospora and Racocetra. These taxa are already described as important for P solubilization/acquisition in RP-fertilized soil. Maize grown on TSP and RP-treated soil presented similar productivity, and a positive correlation was detected for P content and the microbial community of the soils. The results suggest changes of the microbial community composition associated to the type of phosphate fertilization. Whilst it is not possible to establish causality relations, our data highlights a few candidate taxa that could be involved in RP solubilization and plant growth promotion. Moreover, this can represent a shorter path for further studies aiming the isolation and validation of the taxa described here concerning P release on the soil plant system and their use as bioinoculants.
Insulin Enhances Leptin Expression in Human Trophoblastic Cells1

ABSTRACT Leptin, one of the adipokines that controls energy metabolism via the central nervous system, also has pleiotropic peripheral effects, acting as a proinflammatory cytokine. Leptin is also produced by trophoblastic cells in the placenta, where leptin seems to function as a trophic autocrine hormone. Leptin expression is regulated by various tissue-specific factors, such as insulin, in the adipocyte. However, the complete regulation of leptin production in the placenta is still poorly understood. That is why we investigated the regulation of leptin expression by insulin in JEG-3 trophoblastic cells and human placental explants from normal pregnancies. Western blot analysis and quantitative real time RT-PCR was performed to determine the leptin expression level after treatment of cells or trophoblast explants with different concentrations of insulin (0.1–100 nM). Leptin promoter activity was evaluated by transient transfection with a plasmid construct containing different promoter regions and the reporter luciferase gene. We found a stimulatory, dose-dependent effect of insulin on endogenous leptin expression in human placental explants. Maximal effect was achieved at 10 nM insulin, and this effect can be totally prevented both by blocking phosphatidylinositol 3 kinase (PI3K) pathways and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK). Moreover, insulin treatment significantly enhanced leptin promoter activity up to 40% in JEG-3 trophoblastic cells. Deletion analysis demonstrated that a minimal promoter region between −1951 and −1546 bp is necessary to achieve insulin effects. In conclusion, we provide evidence suggesting that insulin induces leptin expression in trophoblastic cells, enhancing the activity of leptin promoter region between −1951 and −1546 bp, via both PI3K- and MAPK-signaling pathways.
Enhanced robust wireless network QoS control applying adaptive modulation and macroscopic diversity combining techniques

We propose a communication system and base station network topology. They apply a constraint-based optimal adaptive modulation algorithm and macroscopic diversity reception combining for enhanced robust wireless network QoS support of reliable broadband mobile data communication services. We extend the adaptive modulation research of S.T. Chung and A.J. Goldsmith (see IEEE Trans. Commun., vol.49, no.9, p.1561-71, 2001) in two ways. First, the lognormal shadowing channel characteristic is included in addition to Rayleigh fading. Second, a macroscopic selection diversity scheme is combined with an adaptive modulation topology to enhance the instantaneous BER and spectral efficiency performance. The results show that optimal adaptive modulation control combined with macroscopic diversity enables QoS constraint-based services to be supported more reliably over a wider range of SNR conditions. Also, the macroscopic diversity selection scheme results in a significant improvement in the spectral efficiency. Wireless data link utilization can be increased while the required BER can be supported. Macroscopic diversity combining enables the adaptive modulation to provide more robust/reliable network QoS support under time varying channel conditions (i.e., as the SNR may fluctuate). As the number of combining diversity links increase, the minimum SNR limit that supports the instantaneous BER requirements is significantly lowered, thus making the wireless networking channel QoS and supportive data rate more robust/reliable.
Optimum Arrangement Scheme of PMU and Voltage Stability Evaluation in Region Electric Network

Considered the optimum arrangement scheme of PMU in a region of electric network, this paper primary introduced the definition of voltage stability's weak nodes and their region through a tidal current emulation and calculation method. The optimum arrangement scheme of PMU in electric network was also given. The Least-square procedure method was used in solving the equivalent resistance, which completed the weak node's dynamic voltage stability evaluation. The estimative accuracy of the scheme has been indicated according to the result of simulating test, which presents a theory method lying the foundation for the dynamic voltage stability evaluation of wide region electric power network.