Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Adaptive fuzzy fault-tolerant control for unknown nonlinear systems with disturbances

A class of unknown nonlinear systems subject to uncertain actuator faults and external disturbances will be studied in this paper with the help of fuzzy approximation theory. Using backstepping technique, a novel adaptive fuzzy control approach is proposed to accommodate the uncertain actuator faults during operation and deal with the external disturbances. The considered faults are modeled as both loss of effectiveness and lock-in-place (stuck at some unknown place). It is proved that the proposed control scheme can guarantee all signals of the closed-loop system semi-globally uniformly ultimately bounded and the tracking error between system output and reference signal converge to a small neighborhood of zero, though the nonlinear functions of the controlled system as well as the actuator faults and the external disturbances are all unknown. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the control approach.
Temperature Dependence of Respiration in Larvae and Adult Colonies of the Corals Acropora tenuis and Pocillopora damicornis

Although algal symbionts can become a source of reactive oxygen species under stressful conditions, symbiotic planulae of the coral Pocillopora damicornis are highly tolerant to thermal stress compared with non-symbiotic planulae of Acropora tenuis. As a first step to understand how P. damicornis planulae attain high stress tolerance, we compared the respiration rate and temperature dependence between symbiotic planulae of P. damicornis and non-symbiotic planulae of A. tenuis, as well as between larvae and adult branches within each species. Larvae and adult branches of both species had similar temperature dependency of respiration rate, with the temperature coefficient (Q10) values of about 2. Planula larvae of P. damicornis had a significantly lower respiration rate than that of A. tenuis larvae at 25–30 °C, but not at 32 °C, whereas adult branches of P. damicornis had a significantly higher respiration rate than that of A. tenuis branches at all temperatures. Thus, P. damicornis larvae appear to be capable of reducing their respiration rate to a greater extent than A. tenuis larvae, which could partly explain why P. damicornis larvae had high survivorship under thermal stress, although other antioxidant or photoprotective mechanisms should be investigated in the future.
CPU228, a derivative of dofetilide, relieves cardiac dysfunction by normalizing FKBP12.6, NADPH oxidase and protein kinase C ε in the myocardium

Objectives The aim of this study was to determine if CPU228, a derivative of dofetilide, is more effective than dofetilide in attenuating isoproterenol‐induced heart failure by recovering downregulated FK506 binding protein (FKBP12.6), and suppressing oxidative stress, upregulated NADPH oxidase and protein kinase C ε (PKCε) hyperphosphorylation in the myocardium.
Genetic background ofmice strongly influences treatment resistance in the 6 Hz seizuremodel

Objective: The 6 Hzmodel of focal seizures has been increasingly used to identify anticonvulsant compounds with potential activity against therapy-resistant epilepsy, but the protective response to anticonvulsants in thismodel could be dependent on experimental conditions and selection ofmouse strains. Methods: Seizure thresholds in the 6 Hz model were compared in CF-1, NMRI, and C57Bl/6J male mice with two different electrical stimulators (Ugo Basile 5780 and Grass S48). Dose–response curves for phenytoin and levetiracetam were generated in the three strains at 32 and 44 mA current intensities using both devices. Plasma and brain exposure to the two drugs weremeasured in all three strains. Results: CF-1 mice had the lowest seizure threshold and responded to phenytoin at 32 mA stimulation intensity, but not at 44 mA. NMRI and C57Bl/6J mice had nearly identical threshold values, but NMRI mice responded well to phenytoin at 32 mA and showed limited responsiveness to this drug at 44 mA, whereas C57Bl/6J mice were nearly completely resistant to phenytoin. Furthermore, levetiracetam showed limited efficacy and low potency in CF-1 and C57Bl/6J mice, particularly at 44 mA, whereas in NMRI mice the drug showed much higher potency in all experimental conditions. No obvious difference in the pharmacokinetics of both phenytoin and levetiracetam was detected between themouse strains that would have explained these unexpected variations in potency.We have also found that the protective effects of both drugs may be influenced by the device type. Significance: Collectively these observations clearly indicate that treatment resistance of 6 Hz seizures should be interpreted with strain and experimental conditions in mind. Furthermore, it is important to note that strain differences, much like human genetic differences, may explain why somemice and patients respond to a given treatment and others do not.
Design and Analysis of Block-Level Snapshots for Data Protection and Recovery

This paper presents a comprehensive study on implementations and performance evaluations of two snapshot techniques: copy-on-write snapshot and redirect-on-write snapshot. We develop a simple Markov process model to analyze data block behavior and its impact on application performance, while the snapshot operation is underway at the block-level storage. We have implemented the two snapshots techniques on both Windows and Linux operating systems. Based on our analytical model and our implementation, we carry out quantitative performance evaluations and comparisons of the two snapshot techniques using IoMeter, PostMark, TPC-C, and TPC-W benchmarks. Our measurements reveal many interesting observations regarding the performance characteristics of the two snapshot techniques. Depending on the applications and different I/O workloads, the two snapshot techniques perform quite differently. In general, copy-on-write performs well on read intensive applications, while redirect-on-write performs well on write intensive applications.
The Influence of Chorion Type on Health Measures at Birth and Dental Development in Australian and Dutch Twins: A Comparative Study

Chorion type may significantly influence the prenatal environment of twins. This study explored the associations between chorion type and gestational age, birth weight, birth length, and the timing of emergence of the first primary tooth in two populations of twins, Australian and Dutch. Additionally, we investigated the relationship between chorion type and birth weight discordance (BWD) in order to determine whether a significant relationship existed between discordance in birth weight and discordance in the timing of emergence of the first primary tooth. The two study samples consisted of 409 Australian twin pairs and 301 Dutch twin pairs, all of European ancestry. Data were collected through a combination of questionnaires and recording charts administered to the parents and through linkage with biological databases. In the Australian sample, monozygotic monochorionic (MZMC) twins experienced the shortest mean gestation time (35 weeks), the lowest mean birth length (46 cm) and the lowest mean birth weight (2.3 kg) compared with other twin groups. For the same variables in the Dutch sample, these trends with MZMC twinning were not observed. Chorion type did not significantly affect the mean timing of emergence of the first primary tooth in either sample. Monochorionicity was found to be significantly associated with BWD in both samples, but there was a significant association between BWD in MZMC twin pairs and timing of emergence of the first primary tooth only in the Australian sample. Results from this study support previous findings that the timing of emergence of the first primary tooth is influenced strongly by genetic factors and is well protected from environmental disturbances.
A Novel 24-Pulse Diode Rectifier with an Auxiliary Single-Phase Full-Wave Rectifier at DC Side

A simple and robust 24-pulse diode rectifier for low-voltage and high-current applications is proposed in this paper. The proposed 24-pulse diode rectifier consists of a conventional four-star 12-pulse diode rectifier and an auxiliary single-phase full-wave rectifier (ASFR) installed at dc side. The low-power (3.4%Po) ASFR extracts two rectangular currents from the modified second-stage interphase transformer and injects a square current into the output of the rectifier system. This modification extends the conventional four-star 12-pulse operation to 24-pulse operation. The proposed 24-pulse rectifier draws near sinusoidal input line currents with the absence of 5th, 7th, 11th, 13th, 17th, and 19th harmonics. The average value of current through the ASFR has only 1.7% of load current, which means the current rating and conduction losses of ASFR are very small. The proposed scheme has low-diode conduction losses, and it is more suitable for low-voltage and large-current applications. Since only an additional ASFR is needed, the proposed scheme is low cost and simple to implement. The detailed analysis for the proposed rectifier is presented, and experimental results are provided to verify the proposed concept.
Loss of Prestin Does Not Alter the Development of Auditory Cortical Dendritic Spines

Disturbance of sensory input during development can have disastrous effects on the development of sensory cortical areas. To examine how moderate perturbations of hearing can impact the development of primary auditory cortex, we examined markers of excitatory synapses in mice who lacked prestin, a protein responsible for somatic electromotility of cochlear outer hair cells. While auditory brain stem responses of these mice show an approximately 40 dB increase in threshold, we found that loss of prestin produced no changes in spine density or morphological characteristics on apical dendrites of cortical layer 5 pyramidal neurons. PSD-95 immunostaining also showed no changes in overall excitatory synapse density. Surprisingly, behavioral assessments of auditory function using the acoustic startle response showed only modest changes in prestin KO animals. These results suggest that moderate developmental hearing deficits produce minor changes in the excitatory connectivity of layer 5 neurons of primary auditory cortex and surprisingly mild auditory behavioral deficits in the startle response.
Current aspects on the management of viral uveitis in immunocompetent individuals

Viruses are a fundamental etiology of ocular inflammation, which may affect all structures of the organ. Advances in molecular diagnostics reveal an increasingly broader spectrum of virus-associated intraocular inflammation, including all members of the herpes family, rubella virus, and other more rare causes such as Epstein–Barr and chikungunya virus. In particular, viruses of the herpes family are important causes of anterior and posterior uveitis. Owing to their often fulminant clinical course and persistence in ocular tissues, a clear differential diagnosis between alpha- and beta-type herpes viruses is essential to guide acute and long-term treatment. Here, we review the epidemiology, clinical, and laboratory findings of virus-associated uveitis with emphasis on their therapy and management and include our own experience.
Automated Trainable Summarizer For Financial Documents

The overload of information available on the Internet has made text mining and simplified news and articles browsing an increasingly important user concern and a prioritized research issue. The aim of our project is to build a light-weight and effective text mining and summarization engine for the financial domain. This engine should also be easily trainable and adaptable to other domains. This paper describes a robust trainable user-focused summarizer for the financial domain that is adapted from algorithms by Kupiec, Pedersen and Chen (KPC) [4] and Lee, Goh and Kong [5]. It employs an adapted feature set to improve the robustness of the algorithm and to incorporate domain specificity in the engine. Evaluation tests verified the improved performance of our user-focused, domain-oriented, corpus-based approach over domain-independent approaches.
Identification and distribution of microglial cells in the cerebral cortex of the lizard: A histochemical study

The histochemical demonstration of nucleoside diphosphatase as a specific microglial marker was used to study the distribution of this glial cell type in the cerebral cortex of Podarcis muralis and Podarcis hispanica. Our results showed that in both species, NDPase staining was specific for the microglial cell population and that microglial cells displayed a specific localization pattern in the different cortical areas. In the medial cortex, microglial cells were principally found in the outer and inner plexiform layers in the strata adjacent to the granular layer. Moreover, some microglial cells were found near the ependymal layer, but no microglial cells were normally present near the brain surface and never in the deep inner plexiform layer. In the dorsomedial cortex, microglial cells were found near the brain surface in the outer plexiform layer, in the upper part of the granular layer, and near the ependymal layer. No microglial cells were found, however, in the outer and inner plexiform layers adjacent to the granular layer. Finally, in the dorsolateral cortex, microglial cells were located in the upper part of the outer plexiform layer, in and bordering the granular layer, and scattered in the inner plexiform layer. This layered‐pattern distribution of microglial cell population in the cerebral cortex of the lizard differs from the apparently homogeneous distribution of microglia in the brain of mammals.
Searching for a Mobile Intruder in a Polygonal Region

The problem of searching for a mobile intruder in a simple polygon by a single mobile searcher is considered. This paper investigates the capabilities of searchers having different degrees of visibility by introducing the searcher having k flashlights whose visibility is limited to k rays emanating from his position, and the searcher having a point light source who can see in all directions simultaneously. This paper presents necessary and sufficient conditions for a polygon to be searchable by various searchers. The paper also introduces a class of polygons for which the searcher having two flashlights is as capable as the searcher having a point light source, and it gives a simple necessary and sufficient condition for such polygons to be searchable by the searcher having two flashlights. The complexity of generating a search schedule under some of these conditions is also discussed. Many of the results are proved using chord systems that represent the visibility relations among the vertices and edges o.
A Fully Immersive Set-Up for Remote Interaction and Neurorehabilitation Based on Virtual Body Ownership

Although telerehabilitation systems represent one of the most technologically appealing clinical solutions for the immediate future, they still present limitations that prevent their standardization. Here we propose an integrated approach that includes three key and novel factors: (a) fully immersive virtual environments, including virtual body representation and ownership; (b) multimodal interaction with remote people and virtual objects including haptic interaction; and (c) a physical representation of the patient at the hospital through embodiment agents (e.g., as a physical robot). The importance of secure and rapid communication between the nodes is also stressed and an example implemented solution is described. Finally, we discuss the proposed approach with reference to the existing literature and systems.
The Comprehensiveness of Competing Higher Education Sustainability Assessments.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze the comprehensiveness of competing higher education sustainability assessments. Higher education institutions (HEIs) have been increasingly communicating their sustainability commitments to the public. To assist the public in evaluating these claims, a broad range of actors have assessed the sustainability of HEIs. Design/methodology/approach The paper uses an evaluation framework (the GRI-HE) consisting of criteria developed by the Global Reporting Initiative and the Association of University Leaders for a Sustainable Future to analyze the comprehensiveness of nine publicly-available frameworks that have been used to assess HEI sustainability. Findings While finding that in general these assessments are not comprehensive and particularly lack coverage of the social and economic dimensions of sustainability, the paper identifies the Pacific Sustainability Index and Sustainability Tracking and Assessment Rating System (STARS) as the most comprehensive assessments in the sector. Research limitations/implications This study does not assess the quality of the match to the GRI-HE’s criteria, only whether they match to a reasonable degree. The analysis highlights areas where each HEI sustainability assessment framework can add criteria and improve their comprehensiveness and validity. Future research should explore the causes and relative importance of the gaps in these frameworks. Originality/value The paper provides a valuable discussion and demonstration of the use of comprehensiveness as a proxy metric for the validity of sustainability assessments. This analysis is the first detailed, comprehensive and transparent analysis of HEI sustainability assessments based on a broad-based and widely accepted set of criteria.
Recommended cessation counselling for pregnant women who smoke: a review of the evidence

OBJECTIVE To review the evidence base underlying recommended cessation counselling for pregnant women who smoke, as it applies to the steps identified in the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's publication,Treating tobacco use and dependence: a clinical practice guideline. DATA SOURCES Secondary analysis of literature reviews and meta-analyses. DATA SYNTHESIS A brief cessation counselling session of 5–15 minutes, when delivered by a trained provider with the provision of pregnancy specific, self help materials, significantly increases rates of cessation among pregnant smokers. This low intensity intervention achieves a modest but clinically significant effect on cessation rates, with an average risk ratio of 1.7 (95% confidence interval 1.3 to 2.2). There are five components of the recommended method—“ask, advise, assess, assist, and arrange”. CONCLUSIONS We recommend these evidence based procedures be adopted by all prenatal care providers. The use of this evidence based intervention is feasible in most office or clinic settings offering prenatal care and can be implemented without inhibiting other important aspects of prenatal care or disrupting patient flow. If implemented widely, this approach has the potential to achieve an important reduction in a number of adverse maternal, infant, and pregnancy outcomes and to reduce associated, excess health care costs.
Function of Chemokine (CXC Motif) Ligand 12 in Periodontal Ligament Fibroblasts

The periodontal ligament (PDL) is one of the connective tissues located between the tooth and bone. It is characterized by rapid turnover. Periodontal ligament fibroblasts (PDLFs) play major roles in the rapid turnover of the PDL. Microarray analysis of human PDLFs (HPDLFs) and human dermal fibroblasts (HDFs) demonstrated markedly high expression of chemokine (CXC motif) ligand 12 (CXCL12) in the HPDLFs. CXCL12 plays an important role in the migration of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). The function of CXCL12 in the periodontal ligament was investigated in HPDLFs. Expression of CXCL12 in HPDLFs and HDFs was examined by RT-PCR, qRT-PCR and ELISA. Chemotactic ability of CXCL12 was evaluated in both PDLFs and HDFs by migration assay of MSCs. CXCL12 was also immunohistochemically examined in the PDL in vivo. Expression of CXCL12 in the HPDLFs was much higher than that in HDFs in vitro. Migration assay demonstrated that the number of migrated MSCs by HPDLFs was significantly higher than that by HDFs. In addition, the migrated MSCs also expressed CXCL12 and several genes that are familiar to fibroblasts. CXCL12 was immunohistochemically localized in the fibroblasts in the PDL of rat molars. The results suggest that PDLFs synthesize and secrete CXCL12 protein and that CXCL12 induces migration of MSCs in the PDL in order to maintain rapid turnover of the PDL.
Semantic Ordering Relation- Applied to Agatha Christie Crime Thrillers

- In any investigation, logical conclusions play a major part. In the present paper, we investigate the pattern which was widely used by Agatha Christie in her mystery novels and represent those literary elements by the relation called semantically ordering relation. The purpose of introducing this concept is to reduce the vagueness in naturally structured literary presentation by expressing the domain of linguistic variables into the fuzzy hedge based lattice structure. The idea proposed by Ho and Wechler has been applied in our analysis. Lastly, the paper compares the relation between the results obtained by the fuzzy based lattice structure with the projection and Max-Min composition principles.
Fast and robust point cloud matching based on EM-ICP prepositioning

In this paper a robust point cloud matching algorithm, which is applicable in time critical scenarios, is described. The presented algorithm was developed for 2D point cloud data, but can be extend to higher dimensions. The algorithm itself works in three stages: first the dataset is reduced to contain only significant point, then the reduced point set is prepositioned using a EM-ICP algorithm. This results in robust initial values for use with an ordinary ICP algorithm to fit the full dataset in the third stage. The algorithm is used for real time evaluation of 2D line scanner data, which work with a scan rate of 100 Hz. Therefore the execution time of the proposed algorithm is limited to 10ms at 450 points per scan.
Autonomous Ultrasonic Indoor Tracking System

This paper proposes the autonomous ultrasonic indoor tracking system (AUITS), an ultrasound based system for locating and tracking mobile objects inside a building. Ultrasound shows promise to be exploited for a practical indoor location system due to its high accuracy ranging, low cost, safety, and imperceptibility. However, conventional ultrasonic location systems pose such challenges as high installation cost and manual calibration. The key idea of AUITS is to use only one autonomous device, positioning on one device (POD), to not only process signal acquisition but also conduct position computation. Structural topology is designed to make POD easily deployed and easily calibrated. In addition, a structural localization algorithm is proposed to provide an effective and affordable algorithm for POD to calculate the object's position. We describe the of AUITS and evaluate its performance both experimentally and with simulation. The results show that the coverage area of a POD can reach 65 m2 and the positioning error is less than 15 cm with over 90% probability.
A Surveys of Attacks in MANET

A MANET is an infrastructure-less type network, which consists of number of mobile nodes with wireless network interfaces In order to make communication among nodes, the nodes dynamically establish paths among one another. The nature and structure of such networks makes it attractive to various types of attackers. Security is a major concern for protected communication between mobile nodes. MANET has no clear line of defense, so, it is accessible to both legitimate network users and malicious attackers. In the presence of malicious nodes, one of the main challenges in MANET is to design the robust security solution that can protect MANET from various routing attacks. MANET can operate in isolation or in coordination with a wired infrastructure, often through a gateway node participating in both networks for traffic relay. This flexibility, along with their self-organizing capabilities, are some of MANET's biggest strengths, as well as their biggest security weaknesses.