Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Smart EDIFICE — Smart EveryDay interoperating future devICEs

In the last years, a lot of attention has been paid to Internet of Things (IoT): everyday life objects, thanks to the advanced technological features added to them, are becoming “smarter”. Regarding this new and potentially disruptive field, it is important to take into account the primary role that the user has in these ecosystems. IoT applications will be used by different kinds of people, with different needs and different abilities. Therefore, one crucial aspect is the ease of use and interaction with objects, which should be optimized in order to guarantee a better user experience and hide the complexity of technologies running behind the scene. This paper proposes a goal-oriented, cooperative platform able to determine and perform the set of tasks necessary to achieve the objectives expressed by users immersed in a smart environment. We can think of this platform as a middleware between users, who express their needs in the form of triggers and actions (i.e. the components of a “goal”), and those objects which are able to meet the goal. The platform can determine, by using semantic information, the possible plans (in the form of communication flows among objects) to accomplish the given goal. Filtering operations along with the plan selection are done taking into account “historical” data regarding objects' power consumption and user feedback.
Risk of lymphoma in patients exposed to antitumour necrosis factor therapy: results from the British Society for Rheumatology Biologics Register for Rheumatoid Arthritis

Objectives Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are at increased risk of lymphoma compared with the general population. There are concerns that tumour necrosis factor inhibitors (TNFi) may exacerbate this risk. However, since the excess risk of lymphoma in RA is related to the cumulative burden of inflammation, TNFi may conversely reduce the risk of lymphoma by decreasing the burden of inflammation. The aim of this study was to compare the risk of lymphoma in subjects with RA treated with TNFi with those treated with non-biological therapy. Methods Subjects diagnosed by a rheumatologist with RA enrolled in the British Society for Rheumatology Rheumatoid Arthritis Register (BSRBR-RA), a prospective cohort study, were followed until first lymphoma, death or until 30 November 2013. Rates of lymphoma in the TNFi and non-biological-treated cohorts were compared using Cox regression. Results 11 931 TNFi-treated patients were compared with 3367 biological-naive patients. 84 lymphomas (88 (95% CI 70 to 109) per 100 000 person-years) were reported in the TNFi cohort and 30 lymphomas (154 (95% CI 104 to 220)) in the biological-naive cohort. After adjusting for differences in baseline characteristics, there was no difference in the risk of lymphoma for the TNFi versus the biological-naive group: HR 1.00 (95% CI 0.56 to 1.80). No risk differences were observed for individual TNFi. Conclusions In medium-term follow-up, there is no evidence that tumour necrosis factor inhibition influences the risk of lymphoma over the background risk in subjects with RA.
Mechanical modelling of composites with reinforcements in finite deformation

Although the mechanical behaviour of particle-reinforced and fibre-reinforced composites have been studied extensively in infinitesimal deformation regime, their properties under finite deformation are still not well understood due to the complex interaction mechanisms between matrix and reinforcement, the intrinsic material and geometry nonlinearities. In this work, theoretical analysis, numerical simulation, and experimental data in the literature are employed to investigate the mechanical properties of composites with reinforcement in finite deformation. First, a three-dimensional Representative Volume Element (RVE) is developed for neoHookean composite, in which the incompressible neo-Hookean matrix is reinforced with spherical neo-Hookean particles. Four types of finite deformation (i.e., uniaxial tension/compression, simple shear and general biaxial deformation) are simulated using the RVE models with periodic boundary conditions enforced. The simulation results show that the overall mechanical responses of the incompressible particle-reinforced neo-Hookean composite (IPRNC) can be well predicted by another simple incompressible neo-Hookean model. The results also indicate that the effective shear modulus of IPRNC with different particle volume fraction and different particle/matrix stiffness ratio can be well predicted by the classical linear elastic estimation. In the second half of the study, the significance of the fibre-matrix interaction in the Human Annulus Fibrosus (HAF) is identified and analysed in detail. Based on the experimental results in the literature it is shown that the mechanical behaviour of the matrix can be well simulated by the incompressible neo-Hookean type model, but the effective stiffness of the matrix depends on fibre stretch ratio, which can only be explained by fibre-matrix interaction. Furthermore, it is found that this interaction takes place anisotropically between the matrix and the fibres distributed in different proportions in different directions. The dependence of the tangent stiffness of the matrix on the first invariant of the deformation tensor can also be explained by this fibre orientation dispersion.
Activity packing in FPGAs for leakage power reduction

In this paper, two packing algorithms for the detection of activity profiles in MTCMOS-based FPGA structures are proposed for leakage power mitigation. The first algorithm is a connection-based packing technique by which the proximity of the logic blocks is accounted for, and the second algorithm is a logic-based packing approach by which the weighted Hamming distance between the block activities is considered. After both algorithms are analyzed, they are applied to a number of FGPA benchmarks for verification. Once the activity profiles are realized, sleep transistors are carefully positioned to contain the clustered blocks that share similar activity profiles. Finally, the percentage of the leakage power savings for each of the two algorithms is evaluated.
Overhauling SC atomics in C11 and OpenCL

Despite the conceptual simplicity of sequential consistency (SC), the semantics of SC atomic operations and fences in the C11 and OpenCL memory models is subtle, leading to convoluted prose descriptions that translate to complex axiomatic formalisations. We conduct an overhaul of SC atomics in C11, reducing the associated axioms in both number and complexity. A consequence of our simplification is that the SC operations in an execution no longer need to be totally ordered. This relaxation enables, for the first time, efficient and exhaustive simulation of litmus tests that use SC atomics. We extend our improved C11 model to obtain the first rigorous memory model formalisation for OpenCL (which extends C11 with support for heterogeneous many-core programming). In the OpenCL setting, we refine the SC axioms still further to give a sensible semantics to SC operations that employ a ‘memory scope’ to restrict their visibility to specific threads. Our overhaul requires slight strengthenings of both the C11 and the OpenCL memory models, causing some behaviours to become disallowed. We argue that these strengthenings are natural, and that all of the formalised C11 and OpenCL compilation schemes of which we are aware (Power and x86 CPUs for C11, AMD GPUs for OpenCL) remain valid in our revised models. Using the HERD memory model simulator, we show that our overhaul leads to an exponential improvement in simulation time for C11 litmus tests compared with the original model, making *exhaustive* simulation competitive, time-wise, with the *non-exhaustive* CDSChecker tool.
Electrical Properties of Mg-Implanted 4H-SiC

Because Al and B (elements of III group) in SiC are deep-level acceptors and these acceptors cannot reduce the resistivity of p-type SiC very much, Mg (element of II group) that may emit two holes into the valence band is investigated. A p-type 4H-SiC layer is obtained by 1800 °C annealing of the Mg-implanted layer, not by 1600 and 1700 °C annealing. It is found that a Mg acceptor level in 4H-SiC is too deep to determine the reliable density and energy level of the Mg acceptor using the frequently-used occupation probability, i.e., the Fermi-Dirac distribution function. Using the distribution function including the influence of the excited states of the Mg acceptor, therefore, its density and energy level can be determined to be approximately 1×1019 cm-3 and 0.6 eV, respectively. Judging from the Mg implantation condition, the obtained values are considered to be reliable.
NONLINEAR ANALYSIS OF CRACKED REINFORCED CONCRETE

A nonlinear material model for cracked reinforced concrete subjected to inplane shear and normal stresses has been developed. As a result, a set of constitutive equations suitable for incremental finite element analysis is derived. Features of the present model include the smeared crack representation, rotating crack approach, tension stiffening, stress degrading effect for concrete parallel to the crack direction, and shear retention of concrete on the crack surface. This material model has been tested against the experimental data of Vecchio and Collins and it has been demonstrated that this material model is adequate in describing the post-cracking behavior of reinforced concrete.
A Monotone Function Given By a Low-Depth Decision Tree That Is Not an Approximate Junta

We present a family a monotone functions fd :f0; 1g n ! f0; 1g so that fd can be computed as a depth-d decision tree and so that fd disagrees with any k-junta on a constant fraction of inputs for any k = exp(o( p d)). This gives a negative answer to a problem
Multiple Material Micro-Fabrication: Extending Stereolithography to Tissue Engineering and Other Novel Applications

A design for modifying an existing 3D Systems stereolithography (SL) apparatus 250/50 was developed to accommodate multiple material fabrication for building multi-material, multifunctional and multi-colored prototypes, models and devices. The machine was configured for automated access to an intermediate washing, curing, and drying unit that eliminated contamination between material vats and maintained accurate platform registration throughout the build process. Three vats were arranged on a rotating vat carousel, and each vat was adapted to actively maintain a uniform, desired level of material by including a recoating device and a material fill and removal system. A single platform was attached to an elevator mechanism (zstage) to traverse the platform to and from the vats and the washing, curing, and drying unit. The platform was mounted to the z-stage via an automated rotary stage to rotate the platform about a horizontal axis, thus providing angled building, washing, curing, and drying capabilities. A horizontal traversing mechanism was also designed to be optionally included to facilitate manufacturing between multiple SL cabinets, related SL apparatuses and/or other alternative manufacturing technologies. For micro-fabrication, linear and rotary stages were selected that provided ±1.0 μm repeatability and 0.1 μm resolution and ±2 arc sec repeatability and 0.13 arc sec resolution, respectively. The multi-material SL design presented here is capable of utilizing existing SL resins for manufacturing multiple material mechanically and electrically functional models as well as hydrogels, biocompatible materials, and bioactive agents for a variety of biofunctional, implantable tissue engineering applications including nerve regeneration and guided angiogenesis.
Yield stress and stress anomaly in an Fe3Al alloy

Abstract The mechanical properties of an Fe-28 at. % A1 alloy have been examined in detail from room temperature up to 700°C. The solute additions contained in this alloy lead to higher strength at all temperatures than is shown by the binary alloy. These high strengths are associated with dissociated imperfect superdislocations from room temperature up to a stress peak. The anomalous stress peak is found at 500°C, somewhat below the temperature range where disordering of D03, order to the B2 ordered state occurs and the Burgers vector of the dislocations present changes from 〈111〉 to 〈100〉. The reason for the anomalous peak, the locking of the 〈111〉 superdislocations and the eventual change to 〈100〉 dislocations is a local climb-locking process operating on the 〈111〉 superdislocations.
Tumor size and clinical stage are independent risk predictors for the high occurrence and poor prognosis of postoperative liver metastasis in patients with radically resectable pancreatic cancer

There is no detailed data for illustrating the predictors that influence the occurrence and prognosis of postoperative liver metastasis (PLM) in patients with radically resectable pancreatic cancer (PC). 189 consecutive non-metastatic PC patients and 20 nude mice were entered into this study. We retrospectively determined the clinical factors that influenced the occurrence and prognosis of PLM, and constructed liver metastasis models in vivo for further biology research. PC recurred in 145 (76.7%) of the 189 patients, and 68 cases occurred in liver metastasis (46.8%). Its occurrence was positively associated with tumor size, T stage, lymph metastasis (classified as UICC stage IIB) and UICC stage (IA+IB vs. IIA+IIB). Multivariate analysis identified tumor size ≥ 3.5 cm (P = 0.005), lymph metastasis (P = 0.032) and UICC stage (P = 0.021) as independent risk factors for PLM. Meanwhile, PLM was an independent unfavorable prognostic indicator for the survival of 189 PC patients. Tumor size (P = 0.024) and lymph metastasis (P = 0.026) were independent risk prognostic indicators in 68 patients with PLM. In vivo, high incidence of liver metastasis was found in nude mice implanted with PC cells in both spleen and tail vein injected manners (100% and 80%). Meanwhile, tumor size and number of liver metastases were closely associated with the poor survival of nude mice. Tumor size and clinical stage are independent risk indicators for the high occurrence and poor prognosis of PLM in PC patients. Two liver metastasis models further reveal the aggressive biology of tumor sizeand numberdependent liver metastasis in PC.
Magnetic nanocomposite materials for high temperature applications

Magnetic nanocomposites comprised of nano-sized magnetic crystals embedded in an amorphous matrix have been shown to have excellent soft magnetic properties. In particular, amorphous and nanocrystalline materials have been investigated for various soft magnetic applications including transformers and inductive devices. The historical development of nanocomposite soft magnetic materials will be reviewed. In these materials it has been determined that an important averaging of the magnetocrystalline anisotropy over many grains coupled within an exchange length is at the root of the magnetic softness of these materials. The crystallization kinetics and the chemical partitioning occurring during crystallization will be described. In particular, the role of the amorphous phase in exchange coupling magnetic nanoparticles at elevated temperatures will be discussed. In HITPERM nanocomposites, developed by our group, nanocrystalline /spl alpha/ and /spl alpha/"(B2)-FeCo are formed with significantly improved high temperature magnetic properties than in it's predecessors, NANOPERM and FINEMET. HITPERM has been developed for applications with high permeability requirements and with needs for large inductions at high temperatures. Recent work in characterizing the performance of HITPERM magnetic nanocomposite systems will be described. Specifically we have developed soft magnetic alloys that exhibit high magnetic induction at temperatures above current operating ranges for commercial devices. The applications for this material in high frequency (up to 1MHz) inductive devices for high temperature power electronics will be reviewed.
An Upper Bound on the k-Modem Illumination Problem

A variation on the classical polygon illumination problem was introduced in [Aichholzer et. al. EuroCG'09]. In this variant light sources are replaced by wireless devices called k-modems, which can penetrate a fixed number k, of "walls". A point in the interior of a polygon is "illuminated" by a k-modem if the line segment joining them intersects at most k edges of the polygon. It is easy to construct polygons of n vertices where the number of k-modems required to illuminate all interior points is Omega(n/k). However, no non-trivial upper bound is known. In this paper we prove that the number of k-modems required to illuminate any polygon of n vertices is at most O(n/k). For the cases of illuminating an orthogonal polygon or a set of disjoint orthogonal segments, we give a tighter bound of 6n/k + 1. Moreover, we present an O(n log n) time algorithm to achieve this bound.
Analgesic Control after Hip Arthroscopy: A Randomised, Double-Blinded Trial Comparing Portal with Intra-Articular Infiltration of Bupivacaine

The optimum anaesthetic and analgesic management following hip arthroscopy is yet to be determined. There is, in addition, some concern over the use of intraarticular local anaesthetic. We compared the analgesic efficacy of intra-articular infiltration compared with portal infiltration of bupivacaine following hip arthroscopy. Patients were randomised to receive either 10ml of 0.25% bupivacaine either into the joint or around the portal sites following completion of surgery. 73 patients were recruited (40 intra-articular). The portal infiltration group required significantly more rescue analgesia immediately after surgery (2.33mg vs.0.57mg, p=0.036). Visual Analogue Scale pain scores were not significantly different at 1 and 2 hours following surgery, but at 6 hours the portal group had significantly lower VAS scores (p=0.0036). We believe that the initial pain following surgery results from capsular injury and this explains the need for more rescue analgesia in the portal infiltration group. Further work is needed to establish the ideal regimen. A combination of portal and intra-articular infiltration may be the most efficacious.
Probiotics in human medicine.

Probotics have been with us for as long as people have eaten fermented milks, but their association with health benefits dates only from the turn of the century when Metchnikoff drew attention to the adverse effects of the gut microflora on the host and suggested that ingestion of fermented milks ameliorated this so called autointoxication. Later work, based on the assumption that colonisation of the gut was essential for the maximum effect, used intestinal strains ofLactobacillus acidophilus for treatment ofconstipation.1 The use of the term 'probiotic' to describe food supplements specifically designed to improve health, however, dates from 1974 when Parker used it to describe growth promoting animal feed supplements. He defined the term as 'organisms and substances which contribute to intestinal microbial balance'. I have recently2 revised this definition to read, 'A live microbial feed supplement which beneficially affects the host animal by improving its microbial balance'. This definition stresses the importance of viability and avoids the use of the too broad term 'substances' which could even include antibiotics. This report uses the revised definition and considers the evidence for the effect of live preparations on the human host. It also presents some evidence from work with animals which is helpful in understanding the potential benefits of this sort of treatment.
A critical re-evaluation of the association between 2D:4D ratios and fluctuating asymmetry in humans

Background: Both asymmetry and the second and fourth digit ratio (2D:4D) relate to various aspects of human life history. Higher asymmetry with extreme 2D:4D ratios have suggested a link between both processes, indicating that early development determines levels of developmental instability. However, most observed associations may be biased because combinations of the digit lengths are used as both dependent and independent variables. Aim: The present study explored the usefulness of asymmetry in digits 2 and 4 to study this association. Subjects and methods: A combination of literature review, a small simulation study, and a study of 2D:4D ratios and asymmetry in a total of 100 young males and females is presented. Results: Using asymmetry in digits 2 and 4 results in bias and increased type I error rates, leading to stronger associations between asymmetry and 2D:4D ratios. In spite of low sample sizes, significant associations between asymmetry measured in hands and face and 2D:4D ratios were detected for asymmetries in digits 2 and 4 only. Conclusions: Using asymmetry in digits 2 and/or 4 causes bias. Excluding such results, there is currently little evidence of any association between asymmetry and digit ratios. Future studies should carefully select traits to investigate these correlations further.
Risk of respiratory morbidity in term infants delivered by elective caesarean section: cohort study

Objective To investigate the association between elective caesarean sections and neonatal respiratory morbidity and the importance of timing of elective caesarean sections. Design Cohort study with prospectively collected data from the Aarhus birth cohort, Denmark. Setting Obstetric department and neonatal department of a university hospital in Denmark. Participants All liveborn babies without malformations, with gestational ages between 37 and 41 weeks, and delivered between 1 January 1998 and 31 December 2006 (34 458 babies). Main outcome measures Respiratory morbidity (transitory tachypnoea of the newborn, respiratory distress syndrome, persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn) and serious respiratory morbidity (oxygen therapy for more than two days, nasal continuous positive airway pressure, or need for mechanical ventilation). Results 2687 infants were delivered by elective caesarean section. Compared with newborns intended for vaginal delivery, an increased risk of respiratory morbidity was found for infants delivered by elective caesarean section at 37 weeks’ gestation (odds ratio 3.9, 95% confidence interval 2.4 to 6.5), 38 weeks’ gestation (3.0, 2.1 to 4.3), and 39 weeks’ gestation (1.9, 1.2 to 3.0). The increased risks of serious respiratory morbidity showed the same pattern but with higher odds ratios: a fivefold increase was found at 37 weeks (5.0, 1.6 to16.0). These results remained essentially unchanged after exclusion of pregnancies complicated by diabetes, pre-eclampsia, and intrauterine growth retardation, or by breech presentation. Conclusion Compared with newborns delivered vaginally or by emergency caesarean sections, those delivered by elective caesarean section around term have an increased risk of overall and serious respiratory morbidity. The relative risk increased with decreasing gestational age.
Mesoscopic persistent current in small rings.

Small normal-metal rings threaded by a constant magnetic flux have been shown to carry a mesoscopic persistent current at low temperatures. The current is a few-electron effect and its sign and amplitude depend on the microscopic configuration of disorder. Assuming a Gaussian current distribution, we characterize the effect by three quantities, the rms or typical total current I typ = D 1/2 , the average current I av = n, and the typical single-level current i typ = D 1/2 . Specifically, we review and extend the analytical calculations for the typical total and single-level currents focusing on the case of noninteracting electrons in disordered rings in the regime of diffusive transport