Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Logarithmic and Andrade creep

The exhaustion theory of logarithmic creep is re-examined for crystalline materials in which the obstacles to dislocations are localized, small and have maximum activation energies of not more than about 1 eV. When the theory is generalized to include the regeneration, as well as the exhaustion, of weakly obstructed dislocation segments, and also to take account of thermal fluctuations which, although realizable, are larger than the minimum activation energies of weakly obstructed dislocations, it no longer generates logarithmic creep by the process originally envisaged. If there is no strain hardening it gives steady-state creep. Andrade creep is obtained when the strain hardening is weak; logarithmic creep when it is strong. The original form of the exhaustion theory may be applicable in materials hardened by larger obstacles, as in precipitation hardening, where the maximum activation energies are too large to be met by thermal fluctuations.
SENSE reconstruction for multiband EPI including slice‐dependent N/2 ghost correction

Sensitivity encoding (SENSE) reconstruction of multiband echo planar imaging (EPI) may cause artifacts when simultaneously excited slices require different phase correction to remove the EPI‐specific ghost shifted by half of the matrix size (N). We propose a simplified solution of this problem that combines SENSE unfolding with the EPI phase correction in the image domain.
Temperature Effects on Performance of Industrial Robots Made of Composite Materials

Industrial Robots design is always a challenge in terms of the materials being chosen for manufacturing the mechanical elements of the robots. The present paper is a theoretical study on the effects of temperature to the positioning precision of the robots with mechanical elements having composite materials in their structure. A case study was made on a SCARA industrial robot structure.
DS02R1: Improvements to Atomic Bomb Survivors’ Input Data and Implementation of Dosimetry System 2002 (DS02) and Resulting Changes in Estimated Doses

Abstract Individual dose estimates calculated by Dosimetry System 2002 (DS02) for the Life Span Study (LSS) of atomic bomb survivors are based on input data that specify location and shielding at the time of the bombing (ATB). A multi-year effort to improve information on survivors’ locations ATB has recently been completed, along with comprehensive improvements in their terrain shielding input data and several improvements to computational algorithms used in combination with DS02 at RERF. Improvements began with a thorough review and prioritization of original questionnaire data on location and shielding that were taken from survivors or their proxies in the period 1949–1963. Related source documents varied in level of detail, from relatively simple lists to carefully-constructed technical drawings of structural and other shielding and surrounding neighborhoods. Systematic errors were reduced in this work by restoring the original precision of map coordinates that had been truncated due to limitations in early data processing equipment and by correcting distortions in the old (WWII-era) maps originally used to specify survivors’ positions, among other improvements. Distortion errors were corrected by aligning the old maps and neighborhood drawings to orthophotographic mosaics of the cities that were newly constructed from pre-bombing aerial photographs. Random errors that were reduced included simple transcription errors and mistakes in identifying survivors’ locations on the old maps. Terrain shielding input data that had been originally estimated for limited groups of survivors using older methods and data sources were completely re-estimated for all survivors using new digital terrain elevation data. Improvements to algorithms included a fix to an error in the DS02 code for coupling house and terrain shielding, a correction for elevation at the survivor’s location in calculating angles to the horizon used for terrain shielding input, an improved method for truncating high dose estimates to 4 Gy to reduce the effect of dose error, and improved methods for calculating averaged shielding transmission factors that are used to calculate doses for survivors without detailed shielding input data. Input data changes are summarized and described here in some detail, along with the resulting changes in dose estimates and a simple description of changes in risk estimates for solid cancer mortality. This and future RERF publications will refer to the new dose estimates described herein as “DS02R1 doses. ”
Migraine and risk of cardiovascular diseases: Danish population based matched cohort study

Abstract Objective To examine the risks of myocardial infarction, stroke (ischaemic and haemorrhagic), peripheral artery disease, venous thromboembolism, atrial fibrillation or atrial flutter, and heart failure in patients with migraine and in a general population comparison cohort. Design Nationwide, population based cohort study. Setting All Danish hospitals and hospital outpatient clinics from 1995 to 2013. Participants 51 032 patients with migraine and 510 320 people from the general population matched on age, sex, and calendar year. Main outcome measures Comorbidity adjusted hazard ratios of cardiovascular outcomes based on Cox regression analysis. Results Higher absolute risks were observed among patients with incident migraine than in the general population across most outcomes and follow-up periods. After 19 years of follow-up, the cumulative incidences per 1000 people for the migraine cohort compared with the general population were 25 v 17 for myocardial infarction, 45 v 25 for ischaemic stroke, 11 v 6 for haemorrhagic stroke, 13 v 11 for peripheral artery disease, 27 v 18 for venous thromboembolism, 47 v 34 for atrial fibrillation or atrial flutter, and 19 v 18 for heart failure. Correspondingly, migraine was positively associated with myocardial infarction (adjusted hazard ratio 1.49, 95% confidence interval 1.36 to 1.64), ischaemic stroke (2.26, 2.11 to 2.41), and haemorrhagic stroke (1.94, 1.68 to 2.23), as well as venous thromboembolism (1.59, 1.45 to 1.74) and atrial fibrillation or atrial flutter (1.25, 1.16 to 1.36). No meaningful association was found with peripheral artery disease (adjusted hazard ratio 1.12, 0.96 to 1.30) or heart failure (1.04, 0.93 to 1.16). The associations, particularly for stroke outcomes, were stronger during the short term (0-1 years) after diagnosis than the long term (up to 19 years), in patients with aura than in those without aura, and in women than in men. In a subcohort of patients, the associations persisted after additional multivariable adjustment for body mass index and smoking. Conclusions Migraine was associated with increased risks of myocardial infarction, ischaemic stroke, haemorrhagic stroke, venous thromboembolism, and atrial fibrillation or atrial flutter. Migraine may be an important risk factor for most cardiovascular diseases.
Prognostic value of tuberculin and BCG immunoreactivity in stage I high-risk malignant melanoma (EORTC protocol 18781).

BACKGROUND Since the immune system is considered to be a major determinant in the outcome of malignant melanoma, vaccination with BCG (bacillus Calmette-Guérin) or more recently with interleukins is used in this condition, although the effects of this immunotherapy are unclear. OBJECTIVE The present study was to elucidate clinical aspects and the prognostic relevance of the cellular and humoral immune responses of melanoma patients treated with two different BCG vaccines. METHODS A subgroup of patients from a multicenter adjuvant trial with BCG in stage I (pT3-4N0M0) high-risk melanoma was prospectively subjected to detailed analysis regarding tuberculin (PPD, purified protein derivate) skin test reactivity, local, regional and systemic reactions to BCG vaccination, PPD antibody response and disease-free survival. Patients were randomized into three arms and received either no adjuvant treatment (22 patients), BCG RIV (40 patients) or BCG Pasteur (44 patients). All patients were followed for up to 10 years (median follow-up 6 years). RESULTS Patients treated with BCG Pasteur mounted a stronger antibody response, experienced stronger regional and systemic reactions to vaccination and converted more frequently to positive PPD skin tests, compared to controls and to patients vaccinated with BCG RIV. All BCG-treated patients who developed an antibody response had a longer disease-free interval (p = 0.05), with slightly higher significance for BCG Pasteur-treated patients (p = 0.02). CONCLUSIONS Cellular as well as humoral immune responses to PPD and BCG thus identify stage I malignant melanoma patients with an overall better prognosis.
A gene‐based review of RGS4 as a putative risk gene for psychiatric illness

Considerable efforts have been made to characterize RGS4 as a potential candidate gene for schizophrenia. Investigations span across numerous modalities and include explorations of genetic risk associations, mRNA and protein levels in the brain, and functionally relevant interactions with other candidate genes as well as links to schizophrenia relevant neural phenotypes. While these lines of investigations have yielded partially inconsistent findings, they provide a perspective on RGS4 as an important part of a larger biological system contributing to schizophrenia risk. This gene‐based review aims to provide a comprehensive overview of published data from different experimental modalities and discusses the current knowledge of RGS4's systems‐biological impact on the schizophrenia pathology.
Intelligent robust control for uncertain nonlinear time-varying systems and its application to robotic systems

This paper addresses the problem of designing adaptive fuzzy-based (or neural network-based) robust controls for a large class of uncertain nonlinear time-varying systems. This class of systems can be perturbed by plant uncertainties, unmodeled perturbations, and external disturbances. Nonlinear H(infinity) control technique incorporated with adaptive control technique and VSC technique is employed to construct the intelligent robust stabilization controller such that an H(infinity) control is achieved. The problem of the robust tracking control design for uncertain robotic systems is employed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the developed robust stabilization control scheme. Therefore, an intelligent robust tracking controller for uncertain robotic systems in the presence of high-degree uncertainties can easily be implemented. Its solution requires only to solve a linear algebraic matrix inequality and a satisfactorily transient and asymptotical tracking performance is guaranteed. A simulation example is made to confirm the performance of the developed control algorithms.
Flexural strength enhancement of confined reinforced concrete columns

As part of a continuing research study, this paper proposes a new design aid to calculate the actual moment capacity of confined reinforced concrete columns. Up to now the moment capacity of a reinforced concrete column is calculated based on the code's guidelines for an unconfined section. As most reinforced concrete columns contain transverse or confining reinforcement, which will enhance the column moment capacity, the actual moment capacity will be much higher than the unconfined moment capacity. This additional flexural strength will increase the shear force demand in the column, and if it is not accounted for in the design will jeopardise the column to fail in shear. In this study the actual moment capacity of a confined reinforced concrete column is obtained by multiplying the moment capacity calculated using the BS 8110 method with the proposed flexural strength enhancement factor. By using regression analysis, an equation for the flexural strength enhancement factor is derived as the function of .
Pancreas‐After‐Islet Transplantation in Nonuremic Type 1 Diabetes: A Strategy for Restoring Durable Insulin Independence

Islet transplantation offers a minimally invasive approach for β cell replacement in diabetic patients with hypoglycemic unawareness. Attempts at insulin independence may require multiple islet reinfusions from distinct donors, increasing the risk of allogeneic sensitization. Currently, solid organ pancreas transplant is the only remaining surgical option following failed islet transplantation in the United States; however, the immunologic impact of repeated exposure to donor antigens on subsequent pancreas transplantation is unclear. We describe a case series of seven patients undergoing solid organ pancreas transplant following islet graft failure with long‐term follow‐up of pancreatic graft survival and renal function. Despite highly variable panel reactive antibody levels prior to pancreas transplant (mean 27 ± 35%), all seven patients achieved stable and durable insulin independence with a mean follow‐up of 6.7 years. Mean hemoglobin A1c values improved significantly from postislet, prepancreas levels (mean 8.1 ± 1.5%) to postpancreas levels (mean 5.3 ± 0.1%; p = 0.0022). Three patients experienced acute rejection episodes that were successfully managed with thymoglobulin and methylprednisolone, and none of these preuremic type 1 diabetic recipients developed stage 4 or 5 chronic kidney disease postoperatively. These results support pancreas‐after‐islet transplantation with aggressive immunosuppression and protocol biopsies as a viable strategy to restore insulin independence after islet graft failure.
A Low-Noise X-ray Astronomical Silicon-On-Insulator Pixel Detector Using a Pinned Depleted Diode Structure

This paper presents a novel full-depletion Si X-ray detector based on silicon-on-insulator pixel (SOIPIX) technology using a pinned depleted diode structure, named the SOIPIX-PDD. The SOIPIX-PDD greatly reduces stray capacitance at the charge sensing node, the dark current of the detector, and capacitive coupling between the sensing node and SOI circuits. These features of the SOIPIX-PDD lead to low read noise, resulting high X-ray energy resolution and stable operation of the pixel. The back-gate surface pinning structure using neutralized p-well at the back-gate surface and depleted n-well underneath the p-well for all the pixel area other than the charge sensing node is also essential for preventing hole injection from the p-well by making the potential barrier to hole, reducing dark current from the Si-SiO2 interface and creating lateral drift field to gather signal electrons in the pixel area into the small charge sensing node. A prototype chip using 0.2 μm SOI technology shows very low readout noise of 11.0 e−rms, low dark current density of 56 pA/cm2 at −35 °C and the energy resolution of 200 eV(FWHM) at 5.9 keV and 280 eV (FWHM) at 13.95 keV.
Recent advance in functionalized graphene/ polymer nanocomposites

Functionalized graphene (FG) has been considered as one of the next-generation nanofillers for polymer nanocomposites (PNCs) due to its parallel physical properties and cheaper fabricating cost in comparison with carbon nanotubes (CNTs). The development of FG/polymer nanocomposites (FPNs) has been growing very fast in the last five years. It seems to be a suitable time to highlight the recent advances in this field and understand the developing direction of this new member of PNCs. To our best knowledge, this review covers most of the important publications relating to the fabrication, properties and application of FPNs to date.
Security Analysis of a Certificateless Signature from Lattices

Tian and Huang proposed a lattice-based CLS scheme based on the hardness of the SIS problem and proved, in the random oracle model, that the scheme is existentially unforgeable against strong adversaries. Their security proof uses the general forking lemma under the assumption that the underlying hash function is a random oracle. We show that the hash function in the scheme is neither one-way nor collision-resistant in the view of a strong Type 1 adversary. We point out flaws in the security arguments and present attack algorithms that are successful in the strong Type 1 adversarial model using the weak properties of the hash function.
An extended mutation-based priority-rule integration concept for multi-objective machine scheduling

There exist many optimal or heuristic priority rules for machine scheduling problems, which can easily be integrated into single-objective evolutionary algorithms via mutation operators. However, in the multi-objective case, simultaneously applying different priorities for different objectives may cause severe disruptions in the genome and may lead to inferior solutions. In this paper, we combine an existing mutation operator concept with new insights from detailed observation of the structure of solutions for multi-objective machine scheduling problems. This allows the comprehensive integration of priority rules to produce better Pareto-front approximations. We evaluate the extended operator concept compared to standard swap mutation and the stand-alone components of our hybrid scheme, which performs best in all evaluated cases.
Transcatheter pulmonary valve implantation: will it replace surgical pulmonary valve replacement?

ABSTRACT Introduction: Right ventricular outflow tract (RVOT) dysfunction is a common hemodynamic challenge for adults with congenital heart disease (ACHD), including patients with repaired tetralogy of Fallot (TOF), truncus arteriosus (TA), and those who have undergone the Ross procedure for congenital aortic stenosis and the Rastelli repair for transposition of great vessels. Pulmonary valve replacement (PVR) has become one of the most common procedures performed for ACHD patients. Areas covered: Given the advances in transcatheter technology, we conducted a detailed review of the available studies addressing the indications for PVR, historical background, evolving technology, procedural aspects, and the future direction, with an emphasis on ACHD patients. Expert commentary: Transcatheter pulmonary valve implantation (TPVI) is widely accepted as an alternative to surgery to address RVOT dysfunction. However, current technology may not be able to adequately address a subset of patients with complex RVOT morphology. As the technology continues to evolve, new percutaneous valves will allow practitioners to apply the transcatheter approach in such patients. We expect that with the advancement in transcatheter technology, novel devices will be added to the TPVI armamentarium, making the transcatheter approach a feasible alternative for the majority of patients with RVOT dysfunction in the near future.
Shikonin suppresses proliferation and induces apoptosis in endometrioid endometrial cancer cells via modulating miR-106b/PTEN/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway

Shikonin, a natural naphthoquinone isolated from a traditional Chinese medicinal herb, which exerts anticancer effects in various cancers. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the therapeutic effects of shikonin against endometrioid endometrial cancer (EEC) have not yet been fully elucidated. Herein, we investigated anticancer effects of shikonin on EEC cells and explored the underlying molecular mechanism. We observed that shikonin inhibits proliferation in human EEC cell lines in a dose-dependent manner. Moreover, shikonin-induced apoptosis was characterized by the up-regulation of the pro-apoptotic proteins cleaved-Caspase-3 and Bax, and the down-regulation of the anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2. Microarray analyses demonstrated that shikonin induces many miRNAs’ dysregulation, and miR-106b was one of the miRNAs being most significantly down-regulated. miR-106b was identified to exert procancer effect in various cancers, but in EEC remains unclear. We first confirmed that miR-106b is up-regulated in EEC tissues and cells, and knockdown of miR-106b suppresses proliferation and promotes apoptosis. Meanwhile, our results validated that the restored expression of miR-106b abrogates the antiproliferative and pro-apoptotic effects of shikonin. We also identified that miR-106b targets phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN), a tumor suppressor gene, which in turn modulates AKT/mTOR signaling pathway. Our findings indicated that shikonin inhibits proliferation and promotes apoptosis in human EEC cells by modulating the miR-106b/PTEN/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway, suggesting shikonin could act a potential therapeutic agent in the EEC treatment.
Deep Learning for Lip Reading using Audio-Visual Information for Urdu Language

Human lip-reading is a challenging task. It requires not only knowledge of underlying language but also visual clues to predict spoken words. Experts need certain level of experience and understanding of visual expressions learning to decode spoken words. Now-a-days, with the help of deep learning it is possible to translate lip sequences into meaningful words. The speech recognition in the noisy environments can be increased with the visual information [1]. To demonstrate this, in this project, we have tried to train two different deep-learning models for lip-reading: first one for video sequences using spatiotemporal convolution neural network, Bi-gated recurrent neural network and Connectionist Temporal Classification Loss, and second for audio that inputs the MFCC features to a layer of LSTM cells and output the sequence. We have also collected a small audio-visual dataset to train and test our model. Our target is to integrate our both models to improve the speech recognition in the noisy environment
FATIGUE UNDER CYCLIC COMPRESSIVE LOAD

For ultra-high strength steels and aluminium alloys, a fatigue crack could initiate from a notch tip under cyclic compressive load. The threshold value for fatigue crack initiation under compressive load can be as great as four times that under tensile load. The crack grew at a decreasing rate until eventually it stopped growing altogether under cyclic compressive load with a maximum length of 0.2-0.5 mm. If the minimum compressive load was near zero, i.e. compression to zero load cycling, the threshold value was near that under tensile loading and the compressive fatigue crack could continue to grow; however, the crack growth rate under compression to zero load fatigue was 10–100 times less than that under the tensile fatigue loading.
Nutrition Labeling and Value Size Pricing at Fast-Food Restaurants: A Consumer Perspective

Purpose. This pilot study examined nutrition-related attitudes that may affect food choices at fast-food restaurants, including consumer attitudes toward nutrition labeling of fast foods and elimination of value size pricing. Methods. A convenience sample of 79 fast-food restaurant patrons aged 16 and above (78.5% white, 55% female, mean age 41.2 [17.1]) selected meals from fast-food restaurant menus that varied as to whether nutrition information was provided and value pricing included and completed a survey and interview on nutrition-related attitudes. Results. Only 57.9% of participants rated nutrition as important when buying fast food. Almost two thirds (62%) supported a law requiring nutrition labeling on restaurant menus. One third (34%) supported a law requiring restaurants to offer lower prices on smaller instead of bigger-sized portions. Conclusion. This convenience sample of fast-food patrons supported nutrition labels on menus. More research is needed with larger samples on whether point-of-purchase nutrition labeling at fast-food restaurants raises perceived importance of nutrition when eating out.