Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comparisons of Torque Performance in Surface-Mounted PM Vernier Machines With Different Stator Tooth Topologies

Permanent magnet vernier (PMV) machines, as one of the flux modulation machines, have gained considerable attention due to inherent high torque density and low torque ripple. This paper mainly investigates the torque performance of PMV machines with different stator tooth topologies. First, it begins with the theoretical analysis of surface-mounted PMV machines, which has a generic number of flux modulation poles (FMPs), PM poles, and armature poles. Then, the expression of flux linkage, back-electromotive force (EMF) and electromagnetic torque are derived successively, where the equivalent winding factor is proposed and defined to evaluate the flux modulation of stator auxiliary teeth and multi-harmonics coupling effect. Next, the back EMF, torque, power factor, flux-weakening capability, and PM demagnetization of PMV machines with different number of stator teeth are analyzed and compared. The final results of theoretical analysis and finite-element analysis can match well. Meanwhile, the non-uniform distribution of FMPs for increasing the average torque is first proposed and analyzed. A parameter K titled as FMP ratio is defined to evaluate the relationship among the angles among FMPs, the influence of the variation of K on the back EMF and torque is deeply explored and analyzed. Besides, the optimal range of K is carefully validated, which will help to optimize the design parameters more conveniently in the future.
Immunogenicity and Safety of Measles-Mumps-Rubella, Varicella and Haemophilus influenzae Type b Vaccines Administered Concurrently With a Fourth Dose of Heptavalent Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine Compared With the Vaccines Administered Without Heptavalent Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine

Background: Prevnar [heptavalent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7)] is licensed in the United States for routine administration in infants and may be coadministered with other infant vaccines. Safety and immunogenicity data on the coadministration of the fourth dose of PCV7 with measles-mumps-rubella (MMR), varicella and Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) vaccines are limited. Methods: Children 12–15 months of age received either MMR with PCV7 (group 1) or MMR without PCV7 (group 2). All subjects received Hib and varicella vaccines. Group 2 received PCV7 6–9 weeks after MMR vaccination. Sera for analysis of all non-PCV7 antibodies were collected just before administration of MMR vaccine and 6 weeks later. Optimal antigen responses were assessed with the use of predetermined antibody titers. The primary end point was >90% response rate (all antigens). Noninferiority was defined as <10% difference between groups. Local and systemic reactions and postvaccination adverse events were monitored and compared between groups. Results: A total of 694 subjects (347 per group) were enrolled. After immunization with MMR plus PCV7 concurrently, or MMR followed 6 weeks later by PCV7, the percentages of subjects seroconverting were significantly greater than 90% for all antigens. The difference between the 2 groups was significantly less than 10%. Conclusion: The immune response to MMR, Hib and varicella vaccines, when administered concurrently with a 4th (booster) dose of PCV7, was noninferior to that of these vaccines when given without PCV7. These results support concomitant administration of PCV7 with MMR, varicella and Hib as part of the recommended immunization schedule for children 12–15 months of age.
Uncertainty analysis of rule‐based expert systems with Dempster‐Shafer mass assignments

This article extends Dempster‐Shafer Theory (DST) mass probability assignments to Boolean algebra and considers how such probabilities can propagate through a system of Boolean equations, which form the basis for both rule‐based expert systems and fault trees. the advantage of DST mass assignments over classical probability methods is the ability to accommodate when necessary uncommitted probability belief. This paper also examines rules in the context of a probabilistic logic, where a given rule itself may be true with some probability in the interval [0,1]. When expert system knowledge bases contain rules which may not always hold, or rules that occasionally must be operated upon with imprecise information, the DST mass assignment formalism is shown to be a suitable methodology for calculating probability assignments throughout the system.
In vivo hydroxyl radical formation after quinolinic acid infusion into rat corpus striatum

We studied the effect of an acute infusion of quinolinic acid (QUIN) on in vivo hydroxyl radical (.OH) formation in the striatum of awake rats. Using the microdialysis technique, the generation of . OH was assessed through electrochemical detection of the salicylate hydroxylation product 2,3-dihydroxybenzoic acid (2,3-DHBA). The . OH extracellular levels increased up to 30 times over basal levels after QUIN infusion (240 nmol/μl), returning to the baseline 2 h later. This response was attenuated, but not abolished, by pretreatment with the NMDA receptor antagonist MK-801 (10 mg/kg, i.p.) 60 min before QUIN infusion. The mitochondrial toxin 3-nitropropio nic acid (3-NPA, 500 nmol/μl) had stronger effects than QUIN on . OH generation, as well as on other markers of oxidative stress explored as potential consequences of . OH increased levels. These results support the hypothesis that early . OH generation contributes to the pattern of toxicity elicited by QUIN. The partial protection by MK-801 suggests that QUIN neurotoxicity is not completely explained through NMDA receptor overactivation, but it may also involve intrinsic QUIN oxidative properties.
Joint Source-Channel Coding for Asymmetric Slepian-Wolf Multiple Access Relay Channel

This letter considers a code design for an asymmetric Slepian-Wolf multiple-access relay channel, in which the users and relay have different channel conditions. In this case, the conventional parity approach distributed source coding is no longer applicable. Hence, a new distributed joint source-channel superposition coding (DJSC-SC) is proposed. The proposed DJSC-SC matches the asymmetric channels, and makes full use of the good channel to obtain a better performance. Simulation results show that, compared with the conventional PA, the performance of the DJSC-SC scheme has a significant improvement and is within 1.4 dB from the capacity limit.
Quantitative Comparison of Anti-Fading Mounting Media for Confocal Laser Scanning Microscopy

Fading is one of the major obstacles to reliable observation in fluorescence microscopy. Using a confocal laser scanning microscope (CLSM) coupled to a computer, we quantitatively measured fading of fluorescence to formulate an equation, evaluated the anti-fading ability of several anti-fading media, and restored the faded images to the original level according to this equation. NIH 3T3 cells were stained with fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC)–phalloidin, mounted with several commercial and homemade anti-fade media, and observed with CLSM under repeated illumination. With any mounting medium, attenuation of fluorescence intensity at a certain pixel occurred stepwise and the decrease was proportional to the intensity of the previous scan. From these results, we formulated an equation that has three coefficients: anti-fading factor (A), indicating the ability to retard fading; fluorescent intensity at the first scan (EM 1); and background fluorescence (B). The fluorescent intensity at a certain point following nth scan is given as EM n = EM 1 • A (n–1). This equation was available for restoring faded images to their original states, even after the image had faded to only 60% of its original intensity.
Autoimmune pancreatitis as the initial presentation of systemic lupus erythematosus

Pancreatitis is a relatively rare complication in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Here we present a case of SLE associated with autoimmune pancreatitis. A 37-year old woman was admitted to our hospital because of fever, skin rash, proteinuria and abdominal pain. A diagnosis of SLE was made based on her clinical, laboratory and renal histological findings showing diffuse proliferative lupus nephritis. Elevated serum amylase, typical radiographic findings and selective increase in serum IgG4 all suggested that the patient also had autoimmune pancreatitis. Systemic administration of glucocorticoid successfully induced remission of pancreatitis and nephritis along with the reduction of IgG4. Autoimmune pancreatitis is a newly recognized type of pancreatitis, in which IgG4 immune response is thought to participate pathophysiologically. Although the disease has been observed to develop in patients having various connective tissue diseases, our report is the first to describe IgG4 related autoimmune pancreatitis in a patient with SLE.
Introduction to software reliability engineering and testing

Software testing often results in delays to market and high cost without assuring product reliability. Software reliability engineering can be applied to carefully engineer testing to overcome these weaknesses. This application is often referred to as software-reliability-engineered testing. We present several case studies illustrating the application of software reliability engineering to testing. We take a quick overview of the field, to better understand the terms used and procedures discussed in the case studies.
Nonprotein calorie supplement improves adherence to low-protein diet and exerts beneficial responses on renal function in chronic kidney disease.

OBJECTIVE Malnutrition is common in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) who are on low-protein diets and is a powerful predictor of morbidity and mortality in CKD. Studies have shown that patients on low-protein diets often have difficulty meeting nutritional energy requirements. Our study evaluated the effects of a nonprotein calorie (NPC) supplement on renal function and nutritional status in patients on a low-protein diet. DESIGN This was a prospective, randomized, open-label, controlled clinical trial. SUBJECTS A total of 109 patients with CKD (men, 67%; mean age, 54.5 ± 13 years) with stage 3 to 4 disease were randomly assigned to the intervention group (n = 55) or the control group (n = 54). INTERVENTION All participants received individualized dietary counseling aimed at achieving a daily protein intake of 0.6 to 0.8 g and a daily energy intake of 30 to 35 kcal/kg. The intervention group consumed a 200-kcal NPC supplement daily. The control group received dietary counseling only. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE The estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) was calculated using the 4-variable Modification of Diet in Renal Disease (MDRD) Study equation. Urine protein excretion, dietary protein and energy intake, and serum levels of creatinine, urea nitrogen, cholesterol, triglycerides, and albumin were assessed at baseline, at 12 weeks, and at 24 weeks. RESULTS Dietary protein intake and urine protein excretion levels decreased significantly in the intervention group and were significantly lower than those of the control group. In addition, serum levels of creatinine and urea nitrogen decreased significantly, and eGFR increased significantly in the intervention group compared with baseline assessments. No significant differences were observed in the control group. CONCLUSIONS The NPC supplement improved patient adherence to the low-protein diet and reduced urine protein excretion in patients with CKD.
A Fast Total Variation Method for Micro-seismic Signal Enhance

Micro-seismic signal enhancement is different form seismic signal noise suppression. The common total variation method for the solution of the micro-seismic signal enhance problem can’t preserve edges well, but it has some undesirable staircase effect. In the paper, we propose a fast total variation method to enhance micro-seismic signal. The proposed method is able to preserve edges and avoid the staircase effect in the smooth regions. A new total variation algorithm is employed to solve the 1-dimension (1D) total variation minimization model. We discuss the complexity of the direct algorithm. The numerical results show that the proposed method gives restored micro-seismic signal of higher quality. Finally, the application of the technology in automatic to pick micro-seismic signals first arrival using in mine safety monitoring. Exploration and seismic section texture enhancement improve the seismic data processing and interpretation's efficiency.
The state of research on the mental health effects of terrorism

As national and international large-scale incidents of terrorism increasingly threaten populations around the world, understanding the mental health effects of terrorism becomes a pressing need. Terrorism is fueled by the potential psychological effects it is intended to exert on populations. If the population is terrorized, intimidated, demoralized, and immobilized, then terrorism has succeeded. Understanding and responding to these psychological effects of terrorism may help dismantle the power of terrorist attacks. In approaching the study of mental health effects of terrorism, it is important to examine different exposure groups separately. These groups comprise 1) those directly exposed to the event, such as people who were in the Murrah Building in Oklahoma City when the bomb detonated; 2) those indirectly exposed, such as residents of the community not present at the disaster site but whose lives were disrupted by, for example, interrupted access to their residences or loss of their job sites; and 3) remotely affected populations, such as residents of other cities in the same region or the same country. There are other relevant disaster-exposed subpopulations as well, such as rescue workers and bereaved family and friends of those killed in terrorist incidents, who also deserve separate consideration because they may have special issues, such as a history of alcohol abuse or dependence in professional firefighters (North et al,
Intracellular cleavage of osteopontin by caspase-8 modulates hypoxia/reoxygenation cell death through p53

Osteopontin (OPN) is highly expressed in cancer patients and plays important roles in many stages of tumor progression, such as anti-apoptosis, proliferation, and metastasis. From functional screening of human cDNA library, we isolated OPN as a caspase-8 substrate that regulates cell death during hypoxia/reoxygenation (Hyp/RO). In vitro cleavage assays demonstrate that OPN is cleaved at Asp-135 and Asp-157 by caspase-8. Cellular cleavage of OPN is observed in apoptotic cells exposed to Hyp/RO among various apoptotic stimuli and its cleavage is blocked by zVAD or IETD caspase inhibitor. Further, over-expression of OPN, the form with secretion signal, inhibits Hyp/RO-induced cell death. Caspase cleavage-defective OPN mutant (OPN D135A/D157A) is more efficient to suppress Hyp/RO-induced cell death than wild-type OPN. OPN D135A/D157A sustains AKT activity to increase cell viability through inhibition of caspase-9 during Hyp/RO. In addition, OPN is highly induced in some tumor cells during Hyp/RO, such as HeLa and Huh-7 cells, which is associated with their resistance to Hyp/RO by sustaining AKT activity. Notably, OPN C-terminal cleavage fragment produced by caspase-8 is detected in the nucleus. Plasmid-encoded expression of OPN C-terminal cleavage fragment increases p53 protein level and induces apoptosis of wild-type mouse embryonic fibroblast cells, but not p53−/− mouse embryonic fibroblast cells. These observations suggest that the protective function of OPN during Hyp/RO is inactivated via the proteolytic cleavage by caspase-8 and its cleavage product subsequently induces cell death via p53, postulating caspase-8 as a negative regulator of tumorigenic activity of OPN.
Risk Factors for Early Mortality in U.S. Peritoneal Dialysis Patients: Impact of Residual Renal Function

Background Potential risk factors for 1-year mortality, including the peritoneal component of dialysis dose, residual renal function, demographic data, hematocrit, serum albumin, dialysate-to-plasma creatinine ratio, and blood pressure, were examined in a national cohort of peritoneal dialysis patients randomly selected for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) Core Indicators Project. Methods The study involved retrospective analysis of a cohort of 1219 patients receiving chronic peritoneal dialysis who were alive on December 31, 1996. Results During the 1-year follow-up period, 275 patients were censored and 200 non censored patients died. Among the 763 patients who had at least one calculable adequacy measure, the mean [± standard deviation (SD)] weekly Kt/V urea was 2.16 ± 0.61 and the mean weekly creatinine clearance was 66.1 ± 24.4 L/1.73 m2. Excluding the 365 patients who were anuric, the mean (±SD) urinary weekly Kt/V urea was 0.64 ± 0.52 (median: 0.51) and the mean (±SD) urinary weekly creatinine clearance was 31.0 ± 23.3 L/1.73 m2 (median: 26.3 L/1.73 m2). By Cox proportional hazard modeling, lower quartiles of renal Kt/V urea were predictive of 1-year mortality; lower quartiles of renal creatinine clearance were of borderline significance for predicting 1-year mortality. The dialysate component of neither the weekly creatinine clearance nor the weekly Kt/V urea were predictive of 1-year mortality. Other predictors of 1-year mortality (p < 0.01) included lower serum albumin level, older age, and the presence of diabetes mellitus as the cause of ESRD, and, for the creatinine clearance model only, lower diastolic blood pressure. Conclusion Residual renal function is an important predictor of 1-year mortality in chronic peritoneal dialysis patients.
The Use of Online Marketing and Social Media in Higher Education Institutions in Romania

For a very long period of time, universities were institutions that offered education to those who could meet their prescribed entry criteria and were operating in a supply-side market, which meant that their marketing efforts were limited to a few actions, and the communication efforts were unidirectional. The diverse changes in the global environment had a direct impact over higher education institutions and forced them to rethink their general strategy and to tailor their marketing efforts in order to better suit the student-customer information and communication needs. The changed approach was mandatory for universities survival in a demand-side market. This change implied that universities undertook organizational changes meant to transform them in more market oriented institutions and that communication with target groups became a priority. Online environment offers universities various marketing instruments designed to fulfill their needs to provide accurate and up-to-date information and to have a two-way communication with their target groups, whether they are current or prospective students. Social media proves to be an unlimited resource of instruments for higher education institutions to get closer to their public. This article aims to analyze the use of online marketing and social media strategies applied by universities in Romania, both public and private. The survey was conducted on 56 public universities and 55 private universities and aimed to examine the universities websites and social media involvement.
Polygenic Score × Intervention Moderation: An application of discrete-time survival analysis to modeling the timing of first tobacco use among urban youth

Abstract The present study examines the interaction between a polygenic score and an elementary school-based universal preventive intervention trial. The polygenic score reflects the contribution of multiple genes and has been shown in prior research to be predictive of smoking cessation and tobacco use (Uhl et al., 2014). Using data from a longitudinal preventive intervention study, we examined age of first tobacco use from sixth grade to age 18. Genetic data were collected during emerging adulthood and were genotyped using the Affymetrix 6.0 microarray. The polygenic score was computed using these data. Discrete-time survival analysis was employed to test for intervention main and interaction effects with the polygenic score. We found a main effect of the intervention, with the intervention participants reporting their first cigarette smoked at an age significantly later than controls. We also found an Intervention × Polygenic Score interaction, with participants at the higher end of the polygenic score benefitting the most from the intervention in terms of delayed age of first use. These results are consistent with Belsky and colleagues' (e.g., Belsky, Bakermans-Kranenburg, & van IJzendoorn, 2007; Belsky & Pleuss, 2009, 2013; Ellis, Boyce, Belsky, Bakermans-Kranenburg, & van IJzendoorn, 2011) differential susceptibility hypothesis and the concept of “for better or worse,” wherein the expression of genetic variants are optimally realized in the context of an enriched environment, such as provided by a preventive intervention.
Local Electro-Thermal Annealing for Repair of Total Ionizing Dose-Induced Damage in Gate-All-Around MOSFETs

A shift in threshold voltage caused by total ionizing dose (TID) is problematic in the MOSFET, especially in aerospace applications. Unlike traditional methods to minimize damage from TID, in this letter, a novel electro-thermal annealing method to cure the TID-induced damage is demonstrated for the first time. In this concept, the conventional hardening or shielding techniques are not used. In a gate-all-around MOSFET structure, dual gate electrodes were employed as an embedded nanowire heater to generate localized Joule heat, which can anneal insulating layers, including gate oxide and spacer. With the Joule heat, trapped positive charges produced by the TID were neutralized within 200 ms. A damaged device with a radiation-induced threshold voltage shift was repaired to the level of a fresh pristine device.
Intersectionoffungal ¢ tness andvirulence in Cryptococcusneoformans

The use of insertional mutagenesis to discover genes that impact laccase activity has resulted in the identification of multiple cellular processes that affect the fitness of Cryptococcus neoformans. Fitness has been defined as the ability of an organism to propagate and evolve within a given environment. Because the human host is an evolutionary dead-end for an opportunistic pathogen, we have defined pathogenic fitness here as the capability to successfully propagate within the stressful environment of the host, causing disease by expression of virulence traits that damage the host. In this review, laccase-deficient insertional mutants will be highlighted in terms of the basic biological processes in which they are involved. The impact of laccase-associated cellular functions on fitness and virulence will be discussed, as will the mutants’ potential as therapeutic targets. Vacuolar function, copper homeostasis, mitochondrial function and carbon repression are covered.