Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Computational Flowfield Analysis of a Planetary Entry Vehicle

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis represents a key technology within planetary entry vehicle design. Safe landing of vehicles re-entering from space requires, in fact, an accurate understanding of all physical phenomena that take place in the flowfield past the hypersonic vehicle to assess its aerodynamics and aerothermodynamics performance. CFD allows to significantly reduce the number of in-flight and plasma windtunnel (PWT) experimental test campaigns and to account for real-gas flow features, which are difficult to reproduce in ground-test facilities. Flight measurements collected during reentry have demonstrated that real gas effects strongly influence both aerodynamics and aerothermal loads of hypervelocity vehicles. On the other hand, trajectory calculation for atmospheric re-entry involves determination of vehicle aerodynamics and aerothermodynamics. As a consequence, accurate modeling of flow physics, in particular flow chemistry is fundamental to reliably design re-entry vehicles. In this chapter, we stress this point with an application to a capsule-type crew return vehicle (CRV) for the International Space Station (ISS) support servicing. However, high accuracy in modeling flow and chemistry coupling may produce only a small increase in the numerical results accuracy, despite the high modeling efforts and the increased computational cost. So, one must balance the theoretical and computer time effort needed to use a more general and sophisticated model against the expected accuracy of results. The question then arises as to what extent the number of reactions, coefficients, reaction mechanism, etc. influence the flow. To answer this question, a step-by-step numerical investigation has been carried out to examine the influence of the chemical reactions, its mechanisms and kinetics, and of thermal non-equilibrium on the air flows past the CRV, in the framework of a low Earth orbit (LEO) scenario. Two-dimensional axisymmetric and three-dimensional Navier-Stokes computations are performed, for perfect gas and reacting gas mixture in thermal and chemical non-equilibrium, and for several chemical reaction mechanisms. In particular, simulations are computed with different wallsurface boundary conditions: non-catalytic wall (NCW), partially catalytic wall (PCW), fully catalytic wall (FCW) to underline the effect of the heat shield catalyticity on the vehicle aerodynamic heating. The work confirms that high-temperature transport phenomena markedly influence the vehicle flowfield and, in turn, the vehicle aerodynamics and aerothermodynamics, but it also stresses that, with an acceptable loss of results accuracy, we
Opiate Addiction Therapies and HIV-1 Tat: Interactive Effects on Glial [Ca2+]i, Oxyradical and Neuroinflammatory Chemokine Production and Correlative Neurotoxicity

Few preclinical studies have compared the relative therapeutic efficacy of medications used to treat opiate addiction in relation to neuroAIDS. Here we compare the ability of methadone and buprenorphine, and the prototypic opiate morphine, to potentiate the neurotoxic and proinflammatory ([Ca2+]i, ROS, H2O2, chemokines) effects of HIV-1 Tat in neuronal and/or mixed-glial co-cultures. Repeated observations of neurons during 48 h exposure to combinations of Tat, equimolar concentrations (500 nM) of morphine, methadone, or buprenorphine exacerbated neurotoxicity significantly above levels seen with Tat alone. Buprenorphine alone displayed marked neurotoxicity at 500 nM, prompting additional studies of its neurotoxic effects at 5 nM and 50 nM concentrations ± Tat. In combination with Tat, buprenorphine displayed paradoxical, concentration-dependent, neurotoxic and neuroprotective actions. Buprenorphine neurotoxicity coincided with marked elevations in [Ca2+]i, but not increases in glial ROS or chemokine release. Tat by itself elevated the production of CCL5/RANTES, CCL4/MIP-1β, and CCL2/MCP-1. Methadone and buprenorphine alone had no effect, but methadone interacted with Tat to further increase production of CCL5/RANTES. In combination with Tat, all drugs significantly increased glial [Ca2+]i, but ROS was only significantly increased by co-exposure with morphine. Taken together, the increases in glial [Ca2+]i, ROS, and neuroinflammatory chemokines were not especially accurate predictors of neurotoxicity. Despite similarities, opiates displayed differences in their neurotoxic and neuroinflammatory interactions with Tat. Buprenorphine, in particular, was partially neuroprotective at a low concentration, which may result from its unique pharmacological profile at multiple opioid receptors. Overall, the results reveal differences among addiction medications that may impact neuroAIDS.
Using wireless technologies for healthcare monitoring at home: A survey

The use of cable-free communications between distributed and small sensor devices in healthcare application offers many advantages to monitor people and their surrounding physical environment. In this paper we present a comparative analysis of wireless technologies for healthcare monitoring in heterogeneous Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) context. The study presents analysis on how to choose the suited technology taking into account the application requirements. The choice depends on some criteria like delay and quality of service requirements, topology, energy consumption, and other factors. This paper gives advantages and drawbacks and compares standardized and proprietary wireless technologies.
Proactive workflow modeling by stochastic processes with application to healthcare operation and management

Advances in real-time location system (RTLS) solutions have enabled us to collect massive amounts of fine-grained semantically rich location traces, which provide unparalleled opportunities for understanding human activities and discovering useful knowledge. This, in turn, delivers intelligence for real-time decision making in various fields, such as workflow management. Indeed, it is a new paradigm for workflow modeling by the knowledge discovery in location traces. To that end, in this paper, we provide a focused study of workflow modeling by the integrated analysis of indoor location traces in the hospital environment. In comparison with conventional workflow modeling based on passive workflow logs, one salient feature of our approach is that it can proactively unravel the workflow patterns hidden in the location traces, by automatically constructing the workflow states and estimating parameters describing the transition patterns of moving objects. Specifically, to determine a meaningful granularity for the model, the workflow states are first constructed as regions associated with specific healthcare activities. Then, we transform the original indoor location traces to the sequences of workflow states and model the workflow transition patterns by finite state machines. Furthermore, we leverage the correlations in the location traces between related types of medical devices to reinforce the modeling performance and enable more applications. The results show that the proposed framework can not only model the workflow patterns effectively, but also have managerial applications in workflow monitoring, auditing, and inspection of workflow compliance, which are critical in the healthcare industry.
Multi-level analysis strategy to make sense of concept maps

Making sense of concept maps is an ongoing challenge for the concept mapping community. This paper introduces a multi-level analysis strategy by combining quantitative and qualitative methods to triangulate changes in students’ concept maps. Quantitative analysis includes overall, selected, and weighted propositional analysis using a knowledge integration rubric (Linn, 2000) as well as network analysis to describe changes in network density and prominence of selected concepts. Research suggests that scoring only selected propositions can be more sensitive to indicate conceptual change because it focuses on key concepts of the map. Qualitative analysis includes topographical analysis methods to describe the overall geometric structure of the map and an analysis of link types. This paper suggests that a combination of quantitative and qualitative analysis methods can capture different aspects of concept maps and provide a rich description of changes in students' understanding of complex topics.
Naturally Occurring Deletions of Hunchback Binding Sites in the Even-Skipped Stripe 3+7 Enhancer

Changes in regulatory DNA contribute to phenotypic differences within and between taxa. Comparative studies show that many transcription factor binding sites (TFBS) are conserved between species whereas functional studies reveal that some mutations segregating within species alter TFBS function. Consistently, in this analysis of 13 regulatory elements in Drosophila melanogaster populations, single base and insertion/deletion polymorphism are rare in characterized regulatory elements. Experimentally defined TFBS are nearly devoid of segregating mutations and, as has been shown before, are quite conserved. For instance 8 of 11 Hunchback binding sites in the stripe 3+7 enhancer of even-skipped are conserved between D. melanogaster and Drosophila virilis. Oddly, we found a 72 bp deletion that removes one of these binding sites (Hb8), segregating within D. melanogaster. Furthermore, a 45 bp deletion polymorphism in the spacer between the stripe 3+7 and stripe 2 enhancers, removes another predicted Hunchback site. These two deletions are separated by ∼250 bp, sit on distinct haplotypes, and segregate at appreciable frequency. The Hb8Δ is at 5 to 35% frequency in the new world, but also shows cosmopolitan distribution. There is depletion of sequence variation on the Hb8Δ-carrying haplotype. Quantitative genetic tests indicate that Hb8Δ affects developmental time, but not viability of offspring. The Eve expression pattern differs between inbred lines, but the stripe 3 and 7 boundaries seem unaffected by Hb8Δ. The data reveal segregating variation in regulatory elements, which may reflect evolutionary turnover of characterized TFBS due to drift or co-evolution.
CONTENT OF SELECTED HEAVY METALS IN WATER AND RIVERBED SEDIMENTS OF THE UTRATA RIVER

The results of study of heavy metals content in water, suspended solids and bottom sediments of the Utrata River have been presented. The highest concentrations were observed for the dissolved form of Pb (0.35 mg/dm). All heavy metals under investigation were present in suspended solids (over 90%). Remarkable amount have also been found in sediments [mg/kg] Zn – 174, Cu – 76, Pb – 49, and Cd – 2.5. Water extracts showed lower concentrations, while EDTA extraction was several times more efficient (over 26%).
Selected elements of quality management system in metallurgical enterprise

Z. Skuza (skuza.zbigniew@wip.pcz.pl). C. Kolmasiak (kolmasiak. cezary@wip.pcz.pl) Czestochowa University of Technology, Faculty of Materials Processing Technology And Applied Physics, Czestochowa, Poland The article evaluates selected elements of a quality management system based on data obtained from one of the Polish steelworks. Analysis of the data obtained from 2018 indicated the importance of external factors not always directly dependent on the steelworks. Taking into account these considerations associated with proximal and distal elements of the enterprise environment, allowed the possible occurrence of a significant hazard to be indicated.
Latino I mrnlgratlon in the U . S . South : " Carolatinos " and Public Policy in Charlotte , North Carolina

For the first two hundred years of its existence, the United States wI~essed a ~lea~ concentration of settlers from what is known today as Latin Amenca m. the southwestern states, especially California and Texas, . but also ~nzona, Colorado, and New Mexico. The only notable exceptions to this . rule.were Cubans in Miami, and Latinos in Chicago or New York, and m migrant farmer communities between Texas and the upper ~idwest (Weeks and Spielberg 1979). However, in the past decad~ It ~as b.econ:e increasingly clear that a new pattern has emerged of La~n~ imrmgration to the U.S. South. This has sparked considerable analysIs in recent years: as it beca~e clear that not only are migrants l~a.vmg the western United States m search of jobs and a lower cost of hVl~g, but that the South was also becoming a direct destination for Latin American immigrants. For a region that is not accustomed to receiving international immi­ grants and for which race relations have traditionally referred to white an~ black, this new demography of the South has created in its wake an en.tlrely new set of policy issues. We explore these emerging changes usmg. the case study of Charlotte, North Carolina, which has become a ne:v Im~igrant destination city. We show that Hispanics are growing quickly m Charlotte as.a. result.of family building, not just immigration, and ~ey are suburbanizing quickly and differentiating themselves resi­ dentially from.Mrican-~ericans. Local political leaders are awakening to the enormity of this change and its potential demands on local res~urces. We conclude with a discussion about the possible public policy outcomes. Mint Hill, and Pineville. For convenience, we will use Charlotte and Mecklenburg County interchangeably, unless otherwise specifically noted. According to the Census Bureau's American Community Survey, the total population of Mecklenburg County in 2005 was 780,618, of whom 71,904 (9.2 percent) were Latino. Charlotte has been labeled the fourth largest "hypergrowth" Latino destination, because between 1980 and 2000 the Latino population grew by 932 percent (Suro 2002, 6), and most of this growth has occurred since 1990. The top three "hy­ In all ofthese new Latino destinations, rapid economic growth in finance (in Charlotte's case, banking), business services, and high-tech sectors has sparked rapid growth in the overall population, with a concomitant boom in construction and demand for services of all types. The "Carolatinos" in Charlotte are thus not unique in the South and there­ fore represent an excellent case …
Comparative study and analysis of noise reduction techniques for front-end amplifiers

This paper presents a comparative analysis of noise reduction techniques devised for front-end amplifiers (FEAs). Feedforward noise cancellation, signal-nulled noise feedback and current reuse techniques are briefly explained, analyzed, and compared. In order to gauge the effectiveness of the noise reduction technique in conjunction with power consumption, a noise efficiency factor (NEF) is used to analyze and compare the noise-power trade-off of different techniques reported. The analysis shows that the noise reduction technique based on the simple current reuse scheme provides the best noise-power trade-off, which is verified through circuit simulations.
Distributed Grid Storage by Ordinary House Heating Variations: A Swiss Case Study

In Switzerland, the daily and annual profiles of electrical energy supply are deeply reshaped by the increasing importance of non-flexible renewable sources, i.e. solar and wind, slowly replacing nuclear power plants. Load shifting can be a special help, adapting consumption to this new production, allowing to develop and implement new storage solutions. In this paper, we present a solution that uses existing heating facilities of residential buildings to store electrical energy as thermal energy in buildings. Charging is performed by the margin power of heating systems, i.e. the difference between installed power and the heating power that is currently necessary. It is a storage solution limited to times when heating is necessary with charging/discharging powers depending on the weather conditions. However, it has the crucial advantage to be distributed over the grid and therefore adapts especially well to expanding non-flexible renewable distributed energy sources. Based on the Swiss Federal Statistical Office (FSO) buildings and dwellings statistics, this paper shows that in Switzerland, this solution could deliver a storage capacity above 6 GWh (for 1° change in room temperature) with peak charging/discharging powers at balance (i.e. when they are equal) of about 2.3 GW. The storage potential is hence in the same order of magnitude as large pump-storage hydroelectric power stations like Nant de Drance.
Wrangling Rogues: A Case Study on Managing Experimental Post-Moore Architectures

The Rogues Gallery is a new experimental testbed that is focused on tackling rogue architectures for the post-Moore era of computing. While some of these devices have roots in the embedded and high-performance computing spaces, managing current and emerging technologies provides a challenge for system administration that are not always foreseen in traditional data center environments. We present an overview of the motivations and design of the initial Rogues Gallery testbed and cover some of the unique challenges that we have seen and foresee with upcoming hardware prototypes for future post-Moore research. Specifically, we cover networking, identity management, scheduling of resources, and tools and sensor access aspects of the Rogues Gallery along with techniques we have developed to manage these new platforms. We argue that current tools like the Slurm scheduler can support new rogues without major infrastructure changes.
Mis-recognized utterance detection using multiple language models generated by clustered sentences

This paper proposes a new method of detecting mis-recognized utterances based on a ROVER-like voting scheme. Although the ROVER approach is effective in improving recognition accuracy, it has two serious problems from a practical point of view: 1) it is difﬁcult to construct multiple automatic speech recognition (ASR) systems, 2) the computational cost increase according to the number of ASR systems. To overcome these problems, a new method is proposed where only a single acoustic engine is employed but multiple language models (LMs) consisting of a baseline (main) LM and sub LMs are used. The sub LMs are generated by clustered sentences and used to re-score the word lattice given by the main LM. As a result, the computational cost is greatly reduced. Through experiments, the proposed method resulted in 18-point higher precision with 10% loss of recall when compared with the baseline, and 22-point higher precision with 20% loss of recall.
Automatic Person Detection and Tracking using Fuzzy Controlled Active Cameras

This paper presents an automatic system for the monitoring of indoor environments using pan-tilt-zoomable cameras. A combination of Haar-feature classifier-based detection and color histogram filtering is used to achieve reliable initialization of person tracks even in the presence of camera movement. A combination of adaptive color and KLT feature trackers for face and upper body allows for robust tracking and track recovery in the presence of occlusion or interference. The continuous recomputation of camera parameters, coupled with a fuzzy controlling scheme allow for smooth tracking of moving targets as well as acquisition of stable facial close ups, similar to the natural behavior of a human cameraman. The system is tested on a series of natural indoor monitoring scenarios and shows a high degree of naturalness, flexibility and robustness.
Internal Control and Operational Efficiency

In this study, we examine whether internal control over financial reporting affects firm operational efficiency. We find that operational efficiency, derived from frontier analysis, is significantly lower among firms with material weaknesses in internal control relative to firms without such weaknesses. We also find that the remediation of material weaknesses leads to an improvement in operational efficiency. Additional analyses indicate that the negative effect of material weaknesses on operational efficiency is stronger for firms with a greater demand for higher quality information for decision making, for weaknesses that are deemed to be more severe, and to a certain extent, for smaller firms. Overall, our study extends the literature by presenting systematic evidence on the effect of effective internal control on operational efficiency and informs the debate over the costs and benefits of the internal control reporting requirements under the Sarbanes‐Oxley Act of 2002. Les auteurs se demandent si le controle interne exerce sur l'information financiere influe sur l'efficience de l'exploitation de l'entreprise. Ils constatent que l'efficience de l'exploitation, evaluee selon la methode de l'analyse des frontieres, est sensiblement moins elevee chez les entreprises dont le controle interne presente d'importantes deficiences par rapport a celles qui ne presentent pas ces deficiences. Ils observent egalement que le fait de remedier aux deficiences importantes engendre une amelioration de l'efficience de l'exploitation. Des analyses supplementaires indiquent que l'incidence negative des deficiences importantes sur l'efficience de l'exploitation est plus marquee dans le cas des entreprises a l'egard desquelles l'exigence d'information de qualite superieure a des fins decisionnelles est plus elevee, dans celui de deficiences jugees plus serieuses et, dans une certaine mesure, chez les entreprises plus petites. De facon generale, l'etude enrichit la documentation en etablissant un lien systematique entre l'efficacite du controle interne et l'efficience de l'exploitation, et elle alimente la reflexion sur les couts et les avantages des obligations d'information sur le controle interne auxquelles la Loi Sarbanes‐Oxley de 2002 assujettit les entreprises.
IMF Working Paper Fiscal Affairs Department Issues in Domestic Petroleum Pricing in Oil-Producing Countries

The views expressed in this Working Paper arc those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of the IMF or IMF policy. Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and arc published to elicit comments and to further debate. This paper discusses issues relating to the domestic pricing of petroleum in oil-producing countries. It finds that in most major oil-exporting countries, government policies keep domestic prices below free-market levels, resulting in implicit subsidies that equaled 3.0 percent of GDP, on average, in 1999. Moreover, the paper argues, these petroleum subsidies are inefficient and inequitable-entailing substantial opportunity costs in terms of forgone revenue or productive spending-and also procyclical, complicating macroeconomic management. Nonetheless, the elimination of petroleum subsidies is often politically difficult, although countervailing measures and publicity campaigns can help engender support for reform. JEL Classification Numbers: D61, H2, HS, Q43, Q48
The London field in bulk layered superconductors

In a composite superconductor in uniform rotation, the London field strength at equilibrium is given by the usual expression B_L = 2m Omega/e; here m corresponds to the bare electron mass, although the effective mass m* can be different in different layers. In the presence of strong angular accelerations, however, transient phases and differences in m* can become relevant. In particular, if the layers are orthogonal to the rotation axis and one of them is much thinner than the others, the superconductor may enter metastable states characterized by intense "slide" supercurrents in this layer. We investigate this phenomenon theoretically and with reference to current experiments.