Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A promising electrochemical sensing platform based on a graphene nanomaterials for sensitive sulfite determination

In this work, graphene, as a new electrode material, was used to modify carbon electrode for the simultaneous determination of sulfite (SO32-) under neutral conditions. The nanomaterial graphene was characterized by field-emission scanning electron microscopy and fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Cyclic voltammetry and flow injection analysis were used to study the electrochemical properties of the proposed sensor. Under optimum conditions, the sensor exhibited good reproducibility and repeatability for sulfite determination. Linear response was obtained in the range of 5.0-160 μM with a detection limit of 1.0 μM for sulfite determination.
Impact of Massage Therapy on Fatigue, Pain, and Spasticity in People with Multiple Sclerosis: a Pilot Study

Background Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic, immune-mediated, inflammatory disease that leads to fatigue, pain, and spasticity, as well as other sensorimotor and cognitive changes. Often traditional medical approaches are ineffective in alleviating these disruptive symptoms. Although about one-third of surveyed individuals report they use massage therapy (MT) as an adjunct to medical treatment, there is little empirical evidence that MT is effective for symptom management in people with MS. Purpose To measure the effects of MT on fatigue, pain, spasticity, perception of health, and quality of life in people with MS. Setting Not-for-profit long-term care facility. Participants Twenty-four of 28 enrolled individuals with MS (average age = 47.38, SD = 13.05; 22 female) completed all MT sessions and outcome assessments. Research Design Nonrandomized, pre–post pilot study. Intervention Standardized MT routine one time a week for six weeks. Main Outcome Measure(s) Modified Fatigue Index Scale (MFIS), MOS Pain Effects Scale (MOS Pain), and Modified Ashworth Scale (MAS). Secondary outcome measures: Mental Health Inventory (MHI) and Health Status Questionnaire (HSQ). Results There was a significant improvement in MFIS (p < .01), MOS Pain (p < .01), MHI (p < .01), and HSQ (p < .01), all with a large effect size (ES) (Cohen’s d = −0.76, 1.25, 0.93, −1.01, respectively). There was a significant correlation between change scores on the MFIS and the MOS Pain (r = 0.532, p < .01), MHI (r = −0.647, p < .01), and subscales of the HSQ (ranging from r = −0.519, to −0.619, p < .01). Conclusions MT as delivered in this study is a safe and beneficial intervention for management of fatigue and pain in people with MS. Decreasing fatigue and pain appears to correlate with improvement in quality of life, which is meaningful for people with MS who have a chronic disease resulting in long-term health care needs.
Interposed request routing for scalable network storage

This paper explores interposed request routing in Slice, a new storage system architecture for high-speed networks incorporating network-attached block storage. Slice interposes a request switching filter - called a µproxy - along each client's network path to the storage service (e.g., in a network adapter or switch). The µproxy intercepts request traffic and distributes it across a server ensemble. We propose request routing schemes for I/O and file service traffic, and explore their effect on service structure. The Slice prototype uses a packet filter µproxy to virtualize the standard Network File System (NFS) protocol, presenting to NFS clients a unified shared file volume with scalable bandwidth and capacity. Experimental results from the industry-standard SPECsfs97 workload demonstrate that the architecture enables construction of powerful network-attached storage services by aggregating cost-effective components on a switched Gigabit Ethernet LAN.
A Framework to Quantitatively Assess and Enhance the Seismic Resilience of Communities

This paper presents a conceptual framework to define seismic resilience of communities and quantitative measures of resilience that can be useful for a coordinated research effort focusing on enhancing this resilience. This framework relies on the complementary measures of resilience: “Reduced failure probabilities,” “Reduced consequences from failures,” and “Reduced time to recovery. ” The framework also includes quantitative measures of the “ends” of robustness and rapidity, and the “means” of resourcefulness and redundancy, and integrates those measures into the four dimensions of community resilience—technical, organizational, social, and economic—all of which can be used to quantify measures of resilience for various types of physical and organizational systems. Systems diagrams then establish the tasks required to achieve these objectives. This framework can be useful in future research to determine the resiliency of different units of analysis and systems, and to develop resiliency targets and detailed analytical procedures to generate these values.
A Deramping-Based Multiband Radar Sensor Concept With Enhanced ISAR Capabilities

This paper explores the field of multiband radar as a further step in the research into advanced remote-sensing systems with enhanced capabilities. Specifically, a deramping-based multifrequency radar concept is addressed. Several multiband radar architectures are discussed and compared in terms of performances and hardware complexity. For the minimum-hardware multifrequency radar configuration, a proper design for its multiband waveform is suggested which enables the exploitation of all the operation features expected for such a system. Simulated inverse-synthetic-aperture data for a linear-frequency-modulated continuous-wave (LFMCW) dual-frequency radar emphasizes the usefulness and limitations of this multiband radar approach.
On Linear Layouts of Graphs

In a total order of the vertices of a graph, two edges with no endpoint in common can be \emphcrossing, \emphnested, or \emphdisjoint. A \emphk-stack (respectively, \emphk-queue, \emphk-arch) \emphlayout of a graph consists of a total order of the vertices, and a partition of the edges into k sets of pairwise non-crossing (non-nested, non-disjoint) edges. Motivated by numerous applications, stack layouts (also called \emphbook embeddings) and queue layouts are widely studied in the literature, while this is the first paper to investigate arch layouts. \par Our main result is a characterisation of k-arch graphs as the \emphalmost (k+1)-colourable graphs; that is, the graphs G with a set S of at most k vertices, such that G S is (k+1)-colourable. \par In addition, we survey the following fundamental questions regarding each type of layout, and in the case of queue layouts, provide simple proofs of a number of existing results. How does one partition the edges given a fixed ordering of the vertices? What is the maximum number of edges in each type of layout? What is the maximum chromatic number of a graph admitting each type of layout? What is the computational complexity of recognising the graphs that admit each type of layout? \par A comprehensive bibliography of all known references on these topics is included. \par
Electro-Mechanical Properties of Knitted Fabric Made From Conductive Multi-Filament Yarn Under Unidirectional Extension

A theoretical model for electro-mechanical properties of intrinsically conductive knitted fabrics made from stainless steel multi-filament yarns under large uniaxial deformation is presented. The investigations are focused on the relationship between the load and electrical resistance of the fabric under uniaxial extension. A circuit network is proposed based on the loops configuration and fabric structure. The equivalent resistance of the fabric is obtained by solving the circuit equations of the network. In order to simplify the calculation of the contacting forces on the overlapped yarns, a two-dimensional hexagon model is used to represent the loop configurations. An image-capturing system is employed to record the images of the loop configurations during the extension process and the relationship between the configurations of the loops and the load imposed on the fabric is obtained. From the theoretical analysis and experimental investigations, it is found that the contacting resistance of the overlapped yarns in the fabric is the key factor that governs the sensitivity of the fabric sensor. In addition, the fabric structure that determines the structure of the circuit network is also an important factor affecting the characteristics of the fabric sensor.
Computationally efficient algorithms for cyclic spectral analysis

Two computationally efficient algorithms for digital cyclic spectral analysis, the FFT accumulation method (FAM) and the strip spectral correlation algorithm (SSCA), are developed from a series of modifications on a simple time smoothing algorithm. The signal processing, computational, and structural attributes of time smoothing algorithms are presented with emphasis on the FAM and SSCA. As a vehicle for examining the algorithms the problem of estimating the cyclic cross spectrum of two complex-valued sequences is considered. Simplifications of the resulting expressions to special cases of the cross cyclic spectrum of two complex-valued sequences, such as the cyclic spectrum of a single real-valued sequence, are easily found. Computational and structural simplifications arising from the specialization are described. <<ETX>>
Game programming by demonstration

The increasing adoption of smartphones and tablets has provided tens of millions of users with substantial resources for computation, communication and sensing. The availability of these resources has a huge potential to positively transform our society and empower individuals. Unfortunately, although the number of users has increased dramatically, the number of developers is still limited by the high barrier that existing programming environments impose. To understand possible directions for helping end users to program, we present Pong Designer, an environment for developing 2D physics games through direct manipulation of object behaviors. Pong Designer is built using Scala and runs on Android tablets with the multi-touch screen as the main input. We show that Pong Designer can create simple games in a few steps. This includes (multi-player and multi-screen) Pong, Brick Breaker, Pacman, Tilting maze. We make available Pong Designer as well as several editable games that we created using it. This paper describes the main principles behind Pong Designer, and illustrates the process of developing and customizing behavior in this approach
Invention and creativity in automated design by means of genetic programming

Some designs are sufficiently creative that they are considered to be inventions. The invention process is typically characterized by a singular moment when the prevailing thinking concerning a long-standing problem is, in a “flash of genius,” overthrown and replaced by a new approach that could not have been logically deduced from what was previously known. This paper discusses such logical discontinuities using an example based on the history of one of the most important inventions of the 20th century in electrical engineering, namely, the invention of negative feedback by AT&T's Harold S. Black. This 1927 invention overthrew the then prevailing idiom of positive feedback championed by Westinghouse's Edwin Howard Armstrong. The paper then shows how this historically important discovery can be readily replicated by an automated design and invention technique patterned after the evolutionary process in nature, namely, genetic programming. Genetic programming employs Darwinian natural selection along with analogs of recombination (crossover), mutation, gene duplication, gene deletion, and mechanisms of developmental biology to breed an ever improving population of structures. Genetic programming rediscovers negative feedback by conducting an evolutionary search for a structure that satisfies Black's stated high-level goal (i.e., reduction of distortion in amplifiers). Like evolution in nature, genetic programming conducts its search probabilistically without resort to logic using a process that is replete with logical discontinuities. The paper then shows that genetic programming can routinely produce many additional inventive and creative results. In this regard, the paper discusses the automated rediscovery of numerous 20th-century patented inventions involving analog electrical circuits and controllers, the Sallen–Key filter, and six 21st-century patented inventions. In addition, two patentable new inventions (controllers) have been created in the same automated way by means of genetic programming. The paper discusses the promising future of automated invention by means of genetic programming in light of the fact that, to date, increased computer power has yielded progressively more substantial results, including numerous human-competitive results, in synchrony with Moore's law. The paper argues that evolutionary search by means of genetic programming is a promising approach for achieving creative, human-competitive, automated design because illogic and creativity are inherent in the evolutionary process.
A comparative study of the electronic structures of oxygen- and chlorine-treated nitrogenated carbon nanotubes by x-ray absorption and scanning photoelectron microscopy

The electronic structures and bonding properties of oxygen- and chlorine-treated nitrogenated carbon nanotubes (N-CNTs) were studied using x-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) and scanning photoelectron microscopy. Features in the C K-edge XANES spectra are shifted by ∼0.3eV toward higher energies and by ∼1.1eV toward lower energies relatively to those of the more symmetrical pyridinelike and graphitelike structured N-CNTs upon chlorination and oxidation, respectively. Increases in N K-edge XANES intensities for both chlorination and oxidation reveal substitution of C–C bonds by C–N bonds consistent with the observed valence-band photoemission spectra of the decrease of the C 2s bond and the increase of the N 2s bond.
Biased Gene Fractionation and Dominant Gene Expression among the Subgenomes of Brassica rapa

Polyploidization, both ancient and recent, is frequent among plants. A “two-step theory" was proposed to explain the meso-triplication of the Brassica “A" genome: Brassica rapa. By accurately partitioning of this genome, we observed that genes in the less fractioned subgenome (LF) were dominantly expressed over the genes in more fractioned subgenomes (MFs: MF1 and MF2), while the genes in MF1 were slightly dominantly expressed over the genes in MF2. The results indicated that the dominantly expressed genes tended to be resistant against gene fractionation. By re-sequencing two B. rapa accessions: a vegetable turnip (VT117) and a Rapid Cycling line (L144), we found that genes in LF had less non-synonymous or frameshift mutations than genes in MFs; however mutation rates were not significantly different between MF1 and MF2. The differences in gene expression patterns and on-going gene death among the three subgenomes suggest that “two-step" genome triplication and differential subgenome methylation played important roles in the genome evolution of B. rapa.
OVERVIEW OF DIFFERENT SOFTWARE USED IN DRUG DESIGN AND DRUG DISCOVERY: A REVIEW

The new drug discovery is found to be a time consuming and costly process. Recently, a trend towards t he use of in-silico computational chemistry and molecular modeling for computer aided drug design has gained significant momentum. This review is an investigati on of the applications of different software in dru g design. The modern drug discovery process is steadily becoming more information driven. Structural, physicoche mical and ADME information about property profiles of reference ligands, along with structural information o f their target proteins, have been extremely useful for ear ly-stage drug discovery. A number of examples have recently been reported for the successful applications of st ructure based drug design to the discovery of compo unds with a potential to become more useful therapeutic agent s. Among the reviewed software programs are applications programmed in Grid computing, window based general PBPK/PD modeling software, PKUDDS for structure based drug design, APIS, JAVA, Perl and Python, CADD as well as software including software libraries. These all programs are useful for cheminformatics a pproaches to drug design and discovery including QSAR studies, energy minimization as well as docking stu dies in drug design. Furthermore this review explai ns options for using different computer modeling softw are programs in drug discovery and design.
Microwave susceptibility of thin ferromagnetic films: metrology and insight into magnetization dynamics

Characterizing and understanding the response of magnetization at high frequencies is required to engineer the magnetic properties that are relevant in modern spin-electronics. This work is devoted to the development of vector network analyzer (VNA) ferromagnetic resonance (FMR), and to its use for the understanding of the magnetization dynamics of model thin film. In VNA-FMR, microwave photons guided by a coplanar waveguide are perturbatively coupled to a magnetic film. The analysis of the main observables of photon wave propagation provides frequency-resolved magnetic properties. While this is a promising approach for the metrology of magnetization dynamics in thin films, it only appeared recently and its standardization was not yet completed. We thus established the appropriate data analysis in a wave transmission geometry, where a rigorous analysis is possible. Using the former method as a quality standard, we have compared several simplifications of the measurement method, with a special focus on the use of an open-end reflection at the end of the waveguide, allowing a more compact and more sensitive set-up. Using our set-up, we have investigated several model thin films, including multilayers, exchange biased systems and amorphous alloys. Two ion bombardment treatments were tested to tailor the properties of Fe/Au multilayer. In combination with structural measurements, VNA-FMR proved as an adequate technique, giving clear evidence on the ion-induced ameliorations of the magnetic layers, both in terms of lower interface roughness and better defined ferromagnetic resonance linewidth. We have also studied the exchange bias phenomenon in IrMn/NiFe and IrMn/CoFeB systems, where conventional methods of investigation can only assign a sole exchange bias field value per hysteresis loop. Using VNA-FMR, we could deduce the exchange bias field acting on the magnetization at each point along an hysteresis loop. We could evidence how it evolves continuously with field history, giving thus insight into the micromagnetic state of the antiferromagnet. Finally, we have investigated CoFeB alloys, with an emphasis on their effective damping parameter and exchange stiffness constant. It was shown that the thermal annealing and the subsequent recrystallization could trigger a small to drastic increase of the effective damping parameter. Our findings correlate with the increase of the spin-transfer torque critical switching current in magnetic tunnel junctions of CoFeB, that could formerly not be understood.
Control and Stability Analysis of a Walking Knee-less Biped with Torso

Seminal works in biped walking such as [1] had assumed favorable initial conditions on a limit cycle to start with. A more practical approach would be to start the biped from a static resting position. This paper proposes a simplifie d and straightforward approach for taking a biped robot from an initial resting position to a stable walking limit cycle. The biped model selected for the study is the ‘kn eeless biped with torso’. The problem is tackled in two stages gait initiation from rest followed by convergence to stable walking. Walking is divided into various sub-phases depending on the state of the biped and simple state feedback control laws are proposed for each phase. The individual control laws are m the atically accrued into a single control law valid throughout the walking phase. Simula tion results validating the approach are presented.
Communication problems of hearing-impaired patients.

AIM The main objective of this national survey was to check the findings of an earlier pilot survey. This had found that patients who had a hearing-impairment and were in hospital were often seriously disadvantaged by their disability. METHOD The survey was conducted by questionnaire and the sampling frame confined to hearing-impaired patients who had been in hospital during the previous three years. A total of 359 completed and valid questionnaires were returned. RESULTS The responses confirmed the finding of the pilot survey. They indicated that there were serious shortcomings in the ability of many hospital staff to cope with the problems of hearing-impaired patients. CONCLUSION Common causes of the problems were identified. The major factor was inadequate training of both nurses and doctors in deaf awareness and the associated communication skills. Other significant factors included patients concealing their disability, pressure of work and poor communication between staff. Appropriate training at all staff levels should eliminate a high proportion of these problems.
A Model of Brightness Variations Due to Illumination Changes and Non-rigid Motion Using Spherical Harmonics

Pixel brightness variations in an image sequence depend both on the objects ‘surface reflectance and on the motion of the camera and object. In the case of rigid shapes some proposed models have been very successful explaining the relation among these strongly coupled components. On the other hand, shapes which deform pose new challenges since the relation between pixel brightness variation with non-rigid motion is not yet clear. In this paper, we introduce a new model which describes brightness variations with two independent components represented as linear basis shapes. Lighting influence is represented in terms of Spherical Harmonics and non-rigid motion as a linear model which represents image coordinates displacement. We then propose an efficient procedure for the estimation of this image model in two distinct steps. First, shape normal’s and albedo are estimated using standard photometric stereo on a sequence with varying lighting and no deformable motion. Then, given the knowledge of the object’s shape normal’s and albedo, we efficiently compute the 2D coordinates bases by minimizing image pixel residuals over an image sequence with constant lighting and only non-rigid motion. Experiments on real tests show the effectiveness of our approach in a face modelling context.