Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Influence of machine control strategy on electric vehicle range

An optimized control strategy for induction machines is presented and compared to classic strategies. The described method allows to optimize voltage and frequency for a steady state equivalent circuit model of three-phase induction machine. This method is applied to an electric vehicle by simulating driving cycles and calculating energy consumption. The potential gain for the optimized control strategy is discussed.
Topographic evolution of the Sierra Nevada measured directly by inversion of low-temperature thermochronology

At present, there are at least two competing ideas for the topographic evolution of the Sierra Nevada. One idea is that the Sierra Nevada was formed as a monocline in the Cretaceous, marking the transition from the Great Valley forearc basin to the west, and a high Nevadaplano plateau to the east, similar to the west flank of the modern Altiplano of the Andes. Both the thermochronologic imprint of local relief and the stable isotopic evidence of a topographic rain shadow support this hypothesis. A second idea, supported by geomorphic observations, suggests that the Sierra gained a large fraction of its present elevation as recently as the Pliocene. This recent surface uplift could have been driven by convective removal of the lower part of the lithosphere, the isostatic response to Basin and Range faulting, and/or by changes in dynamic topography associated with deep subduction of the Farallon plate. Here we present the first comprehensive analysis of low-temperature thermochronology in the Sierra Nevada, which indicates that both ideas are likely correct. We show that thermochronology can resolve surface uplift as well as exhumation by measuring long-wavelength topographic evolution relative to sea level. Uplift measurements are possible whenever there is sufficient constraint on vertical rock velocity. The tilting of isochrones, defined as surfaces of equal cooling age, provide this constraint in the Sierra Nevada. Three new factors further distinguish our analysis. The first is that we allow for the local relief and the long-wavelength topography to evolve independently. Second, we use Al-in-Hb barometry to constrain the initial depth of emplacement for the Sierra Nevada plutons. Third, our analysis is tied to a sea-level datum by using the paleo-bathymetric record of the Great Valley basin, where it transitions to the Sierra Nevada batholith. Results indicate that westward tilting of the Sierra Nevada accounts for 2 km of uplift since 20 Ma. Topographic relief increased by a factor of 2. These findings suggest that the Sierra Nevada lost elevation through most of the Tertiary but regained much of its initial elevation following the onset of surface uplift in the Miocene.
Predicting Intention to Complete and Learning Outcomes in a Sample of Adult Learners

Aims: This research investigates the relationship between Self-Esteem and completion/non-completion of tertiary qualifications for a sample of New Zealand adults, and explores the factors that may predict intent and learner outcome for these students. Study Design: A descriptive and correlational research design. Place and Duration of Study: Corporate Academy Group, a Private Training Establishment located in a low socio-economic area, Manukau City, New Zealand, between August 2009 and April 2010. Methodology: The Theory of Planned Behavior was used to assess intent to achieve, and was extended to include the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale as a measure of Self-Esteem. Adult students ( n = 211), 115 females and 96 males aged between 15 and 65, were assessed for intent to achieve and actual outcome (completers vs. non-completers). Results and Discussion: Participant’s reports of attitude, perceived behavioral control and subjective norm, within the Theory of Planned Behavior, sufficiently predicted their intention
High-intensity focused ultrasound in prostate cancer: Today's outcomes and tomorrow's perspectives

Abstract High-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) is a minimally invasive therapy applied for prostate cancer that capitalizes on the coagulation necrosis that occurs at temperatures greater than 60°C. Owing to a lack of long-term follow-up data the procedure is still considered experimental treatment. As primary therapy, HIFU is indicated in patients aged ≥70 years with clinical organ-confined disease, although it has also been used, with encouraging results, as first line salvage therapy after definitive treatment, and in locally advanced (T3–4) and non-metastatic hormone-resistant prostate cancer. Morbidity associated with this treatment method appears to be low and includes urinary retention (1–9%), urethral stricture (4–14%), incontinence (1–15%), erectile dysfunction (13–53%) and rectourethral fistulae (0–3%). The risk of complications increases with repeated treatments. A few studies have recently been published on HIFU as focal therapy. HIFU technology can be enhanced using means such as ultrasound microbubble contrast agents for assessment of therapy efficacy, magnetic resonance imaging to guide the enhancement of heat rate, and localized drug and gene delivery.
Gender differences in reasons for alcohol and drug abuse among youth in Kenya: programs for prevention

I would like to extend my sincere appreciation to Dr. Carie Forden, my thesis advisor, who has always been patient and available especially in those times that I felt overwhelmed. Your feedback and suggestions have been so helpful and I sincerely have learnt a lot from you. Thank you for believing in me particularly when I had doubts about this whole project. To Dr. Amy Carrillo, who is always willing to help in any way possible and has constantly been a source of encouragement and support. Thank you for the feedback that you have given me during this whole process. It has been my pleasure working with you and you truly are an inspiration. To Dr. Catherine Gachutha, who willing agreed to be part of this committee in the last minute. Thank you for all the feedback that you have given me and for showing interest in this project. I believe that your participation was not mere coincidence and that you will play an important role in advocating for gender and culturally informed prevention programs in Kenya. Finally, I thank my classmates for their encouragement and insights during this journey. I believe that the knowledge and skills that you have acquired will be instrumental in your contributions to the development of Egypt.
Q-factor characterization of RF GaN-based metal-semiconductor-metal planar interdigitated varactor

We report the characterization of quality (Q)-factor of RF metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) planar interdigitated varactors fabricated by standard AlGaN/GaN HEMT process. The MSM varactors have wide tuning range and exhibit high quality-factor at both the maximum and minimum capacitance values. The fundamental limitation of the Q-factor in the medium capacitance range is also revealed. The elimination of ohmic contact resistance in the MSM varactor configuration pushed up the peak Q-factor to 92 at 0.5 GHz and 41 at 1.1 GHz. The operation of the MSM varactor is modeled by a physical equivalent circuit, with which the dependence of the Q-factor over the entire tuning voltage range can be explained.
Ieee Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics Automated Illustration of Molecular Flexibility

—In this paper, we present an approach to creating illustrations of molecular flexibility using normal mode analysis (NMA). The output of NMA is a collection of points corresponding to the locations of atoms and associated motion vectors, where a vector for each point is known. Our approach abstracts the complex object and its motion by grouping the points, models the motion of each group as an affine velocity, and depicts the motion of each group by automatically choosing glyphs such as arrows. Affine exponentials allow the extrapolation of non-linear effects such as near rotations and spirals from the linear velocities. Our approach automatically groups points by finding sets of neighboring points whose motions fit the motion model. The geometry and motion models for each group are used to determine glyphs that depict the motion, with various aspects of the motion mapped to each glyph. We evaluated the utility of our system in real work done by structural biologists both by utilizing it in our own structural biology work and quantitatively measuring its usefulness on a set of known protein conformation changes. Additionally, in order to allow ourselves and our collaborators to effectively use our techniques we integrated our system with commonly used tools for molecular visualization.
Use of Tencent Street View Imagery for Visual Perception of Streets

The visual perception of streets plays an important role in urban planning, and contributes to the quality of residents’ lives. However, evaluation of the visual perception of streetscapes has been restricted by inadequate techniques and the availability of data sources. The emergence of street view services (Google Street View, Tencent Street View, etc.) has provided an enormous number of new images at street level, thus shattering the restrictions imposed by the limited availability of data sources for evaluating streetscapes. This study explored the possibility of analyzing the visual perception of an urban street based on Tencent Street View images, and led to the proposal of four indices for characterizing the visual perception of streets: salient region saturation, visual entropy, a green view index, and a sky-openness index. We selected the Jianye District of Nanjing City, China, as the study area, where Tencent Street View is available. The results of this experiment indicated that the four indices proposed in this work can effectively reflect the visual attributes of streets. Thus, the proposed indices could facilitate the assessment of urban landscapes based on visual perception. In summary, this study suggests a new type of data for landscape study, and provides a technique for automatic information acquisition to determine the visual perception of streets.
HEMATOPOIESIS AND STEM CELLS Deregulated cell death and lymphocyte homeostasis cause premature lethality in mice lacking the BH 3-only proteins Bim and Bmf

The mitochondrial apoptosis pathway is orchestrated by the interactions between proand antiapoptotic members of the Bcl-2 protein family, where proapoptotic members of the BH3 domain-only proteins (BH3-only) protein subgroup induce cell death by neutralizing antiapoptotic members and/or by activating Bax and/or Bak directly to trigger mitochondrial outer membrane permeabilization and subsequent caspase activation. The roles of individual BH3-only proteins in normal physiology and stress-induced apoptosis have been addressed by gene targeting studies in mice. Notably, only loss of Bim appears to exert certain nonredundant functions during embryogenesis because loss of the gene causes the death of about half of Bim embryos prior to embryonic day 10.Although no other singleBH3-onlymutantmouse strain shows developmental abnormalities, studies investigating mice lacking Bim plus 1 additional BH3-only protein demonstrate that Bim frequently acts in concert with a subset of BH3-only proteins in a cell typeand context-dependent manner. For example, BimBikmales have severe defects in spermatogenesis, whereas males lacking either proteinare fully fertile.Of note,BimPuma mice develop severe lymphadenopathy that exceeds the one observed in the absence of Bim, althoughPumamice have normal leukocyte numbers. Importantly, BH3-only proteins also exert conserved functions in humans, and deregulation of their expression, most frequently that of BIM, has been documented in different solid, as well as hematopoietic, malignancies, where reduced expression correlates with increased disease risk, whereas single nucleotide polymorphisms have been associated with impaired responsiveness to frontline anticancer therapies. We have previously shown that loss of the BH3-only protein Bmf renders mouse embryonic fibroblasts and different lymphocyte subtypes refractory to apoptosis triggered by the inhibition of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase, impaired cap-dependent protein translation, glucocorticoids, or histone-deacetylase inhibitors (HDACi). Furthermore, loss of Bmf accelerates c-Myc-driven B lymphomagenesis inmice. Notably,Eu-MycBmf lymphomas proved to be refractory to the effects of combined treatment of HDACi and the BH3-mimetic ABT-737. Interestingly, Bmf expression was found lost or strongly reduced in primary Burkitt’s lymphoma samples and cell lines, in which it could be restored by 59Aza-cytidine treatment. Furthermore, together with BIM, BMF is defined as a primary response gene in glucocorticoid (GC)-treated children suffering from acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), and gene deletions were noted in ETV6/RUNX1-positive ALL where its loss may contribute to GC resistance during relapse. In support of functional overlap between Bim and Bmf, some of the effects noted in the absence ofBmfwere also previously observed
Sleep restriction leads to increased activation of brain regions sensitive to food stimuli.

BACKGROUND Epidemiologic evidence shows an increase in obesity concurrent with a reduction in average sleep duration among Americans. Although clinical studies propose that restricted sleep affects hormones related to appetite, neuronal activity in response to food stimuli after restricted and habitual sleep has not been investigated. OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to determine the effects of partial sleep restriction on neuronal activation in response to food stimuli. DESIGN Thirty healthy, normal-weight [BMI (in kg/m²): 22-26] men and women were recruited (26 completed) to participate in a 2-phase inpatient crossover study in which they spent either 4 h/night (restricted sleep) or 9 h/night (habitual sleep) in bed. Each phase lasted 6 d, and functional magnetic resonance imaging was performed in the fasted state on day 6. RESULTS Overall neuronal activity in response to food stimuli was greater after restricted sleep than after habitual sleep. In addition, a relative increase in brain activity in areas associated with reward, including the putamen, nucleus accumbens, thalamus, insula, and prefrontal cortex in response to food stimuli, was observed. CONCLUSION The findings of this study link restricted sleep and susceptibility to food stimuli and are consistent with the notion that reduced sleep may lead to greater propensity to overeat.
Good death in cancer care: a nationwide quantitative study.

BACKGROUND The aims of this study were to (i) conceptualize dimensions of a good death in Japanese cancer care, (ii) clarify the relative importance of each component of a good death and (iii) explore factors related to an individual's perception of the domains of a good death. METHODS The general population was sampled using a stratified random sampling method (n = 2548; response rate, 51%) and bereaved families from 12 certified palliative care units were surveyed as well (n = 513; 70%). We asked the subjects about the relative importance of 57 components of a good death. RESULTS Explanatory factor analysis demonstrated 18 domains contributing to a good death. Ten domains were classified as 'consistently important domains', including 'physical and psychological comfort', 'dying in a favorite place', 'good relationship with medical staff', 'maintaining hope and pleasure', 'not being a burden to others', 'good relationship with family', 'physical and cognitive control', 'environmental comfort', 'being respected as an individual' and 'life completion'. CONCLUSIONS We quantitatively identified 18 important domains that contribute to a good death in Japanese cancer care. The next step of our work should be to conduct a national survey to identify what is required to achieve a good death.
99mTc-prulifloxacin in artificially infected animals

Summary Aim: The radiosynthesis of 99mTc-Prulifloxacin (99mTc-PRN) was assessed in terms of stability, binding with Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), biodistribution in rats (RT) and scintigraphic profile in rabbits (RB). Animals, material, methods: 99mTc-PRN was synthesized by mixing 25 μg of stannous fluoride (SnF2) with 18.5 MB of sodium pertechnetate. Thereafter, 0.5 mg of the prufloxacin (PRN) was added to the reaction mixture and the pH was set at 5.1 with 0.01 mol/l HCl. The reaction mixture was incubated at room temperature. The same process was repeated by increasing the concentration of the stannous fluoride from 25 to 250 μg, sodium pertechnetate from 18,5 to 185 MBq and the PRN from 0.5 to 5 mg. The radiochemical stability of the 99mTc-PRN was investigated in higher concentration of the cystein. In-vitro binding investigation was performed using living and heat killed S. aureus to verify specificity of the 99mTc-PRN. Biodistribution was evaluated in artificially infected rats and scintigraphic precision in rabbits at different interval. Results: The 99mTc-RPN prepared by mixing 2 mg of PRN, 74 MBq sodium pertechnetate, 100 μg stannous fluoride at pH 5.4, appeared to be more than 90% stable with a maximum radiochemical yield of 98.15 ± 0.25% at 30 min. The 99mTc-PRN showed higher stability in serum and satisfactory in-vitro binding to living as compared to heat killed S. aureus. 14.25 ± 0.15% of the injected dose was accumulated in the infected muscle of the model RT. Infected to normal muscle ratio was 5.12 and inflamed to normal muscle was 1.2. The biodistribution was validated by the scintigraphic localization of infection in rabbits. Conclusion: This investigation of 99mTc-PRN confirmed its momentous radiochemical immovability in saline, serum, preferential in-vitro binding to living bacteria, higher uptake in the infected muscle of model RT and precise localization in the infected muscle of model RB.
Elaborate horns in a giant rhinoceros beetle incur negligible aerodynamic costs

Sexually selected ornaments and weapons are among nature's most extravagant morphologies. Both ornaments and weapons improve a male's reproductive success; yet, unlike ornaments that need only attract females, weapons must be robust and functional structures because they are frequently tested during male–male combat. Consequently, weapons are expected to be particularly costly to bear. Here, we tested the aerodynamic costs of horns in the giant rhinoceros beetle, Trypoxylus dichotomus. We predicted that the long, forked head horn would have three main effects on flight performance: increased body mass, an anterior shift in the centre of mass and increased body drag. We found that the horns were surprisingly lightweight, and therefore had a trivial effect on the male beetles' total mass and mass distribution. Furthermore, because beetles typically fly at slow speeds and high body angles, horns had little effect on total body drag. Together, the weight and the drag of horns increased the overall force required to fly by less than 3 per cent, even in the largest males. Because low-cost structures are expected to be highly evolutionarily labile, the fact that horns incur very minor flight costs may have permitted both the elaboration and diversification of rhinoceros beetle horns.
Graphic Sequences Have Realizations Containing Bisections of Large Degree

A bisection of a graph is a balanced bipartite spanning sub‐graph. Bollobás and Scott conjectured that every graph G has a bisection H such that degH(v) ≥ ⌊degG(v)/2⌋ for all vertices v. We prove a degree sequence version of this conjecture: given a graphic sequence π, we show that π has a realization G containing a bisection H where degH(v) ≥ ⌊(degG(v) − 1)/2⌋ for all vertices v. This bound is very close to best possible. We use this result to provide evidence for a conjecture of Brualdi (Colloq. Int. CNRS, vol. 260, CNRS, Paris) and Busch et al. (2011), that if π and π − k are graphic sequences, then π has a realization containing k edge‐disjoint 1‐factors. We show that if the minimum entry δ in π is at least n/2 + 2, then π has a realization containing edge‐disjoint 1‐factors. We also give a construction showing the limits of our approach in proving this conjecture. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory
Model-based study of the effects of the hemodialysis technique on the compensatory response to hypovolemia.

BACKGROUND Hemodialysis technique (dialysate composition, filter, convection/diffusion ratio, etc.) can have an impact on the patient's tendency to acute hypotension. We have examined the hypothesis that the dialysis technique affects the hypotension risk by altering the cardiovascular compensatory response to hemodialysis-induced hypovolemia. METHODS Twelve hypotension-prone subjects were studied during six sessions of conventional bicarbonate dialysis (BD) and six sessions of acetate-free biofiltration (AFB). Blood volume (BV) control system was used in AFB to provide a BV change equivalent to the BV change observed in BD. The efficacy of reflex compensatory mechanisms was assessed by a model-based computer analysis of the BD and AFB sessions. RESULTS BD sessions were complicated by hypotension more frequently than the AFB ones (34/66 BD vs. 18/66 AFB). Hypotension arose about 60 minutes earlier in BD (123 +/- 41 minutes in BD vs. 183 +/- 25 minutes in AFB, P < 0.01), and after a smaller BV reduction (hypotension BV 7.9%+/- 2.0% in BD vs. 10.9%+/- 2.6% in AFB, P < 0.05). Model-based computer analysis of the sessions without hypotension revealed differences in peripheral resistance adaptation (9%+/- 9% BD vs. 19%+/- 7% AFB, P < 0.05) as well as in the stroke volume reduction (19%+/- 8% BD vs. 10%+/- 8% AFB, P < 0.001). Model analysis of sessions with hypotension indicated that compensatory mechanisms were almost inoperative in BD, whereas a residual capacity to control peripheral resistance and cardiac contractility was present in AFB. Model simulations demonstrated that hypotension occurred later in AFB since the residual compensatory capacity in AFB was able to sustain the arterial pressure for larger BV reductions (8.3% BD vs. 11.2% AFB). CONCLUSION The increased risk of acute hypotension in BD compared to AFB is caused by a therapy-induced inhibition of reflex compensatory response to hypovolemia.
Supporting presentation techniques based on virtual humans in educational virtual worlds

Educational virtual worlds (EVWs) allow one to circumvent physical, safety, and cost constraints that often affect real-world training and learning scenarios. Virtual humans can improve the effectiveness of an EVW e.g., by explaining and demonstrating to the user procedural tasks and communicating with learners in a natural way by exploiting both verbal and nonverbal communication. However, choosing how the learning material has to be presented to the learner and how to employ the virtual human is influenced by different factors, ranging from available technology (e.g., bandwidth, graphics hardware, installed software) to learner's profile (e.g., physical and/or cognitive disabilities, spatial abilities, 2D/3D navigation expertise). The system we present in this paper flexibly supports different presentation techniques employing a virtual human into an EVW. The different capabilities of the system are illustrated, motivated and discussed