Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Transformation field analysis of inelastic composite materials

A new method is proposed for evaluation of local fields and overall properties of composite materials subjected to incremental thermomechanical loads and to transformation strains in the phases. The composite aggregate may consist of many perfectly bonded inelastic phases of arbitrary geometry and elastic material symmetry. In principle, any inviscid or time-dependent inelastic constitutive relation that complies with the additive decomposition of total strains can be admitted in the analysis. The governing system of equations is derived from the representation of local stress and strain fields by novel transformation influence functions and concentration factor tensors, as discussed in the preceding paper by G. J. Dvorak and Y. Benveniste. The concentration factors depend on local and overall thermoelastic moduli, and can be evaluated with a selected micromechanical model. Applications to elastic-plastic, viscoelastic, and viscoplastic systems are discussed. The new approach is contrasted with some presently accepted procedures based on the self-consistent and Mori—Tanaka approximations, which are shown to violate exact relations between local and overall inelastic strains.
Platform for Assessing Strategic Alignment Using Enterprise Architecture: Application to E-Government Process Assessment

This paper presents an overview of S2AEA (v2) (Strategic Alignment Assessment based on Enterprise Architecture (version2)), a platform for modelling enterprise architecture and for assessing strategic alignment based on internal enterprise architecture metrics. The idea of the platform is based on the fact that enterprise architecture provides a structure for business processes and information systems that supports them. This structure can be used to measure the degree of consistency between business strategies and information systems. In that sense, this paper presents a platform illustrating the role of enterprise architecture in the strategic alignment assessment. This assessment can be used in auditing information systems. The platform is applied to assess an e-government process.
Measuring Similarity in Large-scale Folksonomies

Social (or folksonomic) tagging has become a very popular way to describe content within Web 2.0 websites. Unlike taxonomies, which overimpose a hierarchical categorisation of content, folksonomies enable end-users to freely create and choose the categories (in this case, tags) that best describe some content. However, as tags are informally de- ﬁned, continually changing, and ungoverned, social tagging has often been criticised for lowering, rather than increasing, the efﬁciency of searching, due to the number of synonyms, homonyms, polysemy, as well as the heterogeneity of users and the noise they introduce. To address this issue, a variety of approaches have been proposed that recommend users what tags to use, both when labelling and when looking for resources. As we illustrate in this paper, real world folksonomies are characterized by power law distributions of tags, over which commonly used similarity metrics, including the Jaccard coefﬁcient and the cosine similarity, fail to compute. We thus propose a novel metric, speciﬁcally developed to capture similarity in large-scale folksonomies, that is based on a mutual reinforcement principle: that is, two tags are deemed similar if they have been associated to similar resources, and vice-versa two resources are deemed similar if they have been labelled by similar tags. We offer an efﬁcient realisation of this similarity metric, and assess its quality experimentally, by comparing it against cosine similarity, on three large-scale datasets, namely Bibsonomy, MovieLens and CiteULike.
Lurch: a word processor that can grade students' proofs

Lurch [1] is a free word processor that can check the mathematical reasoning in a document. Most notably, it can check the steps of a mathematical proof, even one not written in a formal style. The current version works best for undergraduate introduction-to-proof courses, and this paper covers our goals, current interface, and some results of classroom testing.
Why two eyes are better than one: the two views of binocular vision.

Despite centuries of research on the topic, the answer to the question "'Are two eyes significantly better than one, independent of stereopsis? " is still uncertain. In this investigation, steps are taken toward answering the question in a behavioral context. Three sets of experiments are reported in which human binocular and monocular performance are compared in a variety of exteroceptive and visuomotor tasks. In all of the experiments, two eyes facilitated performance. The findings suggest that the binocular system is able to detect the matching information, that is, the concordance, in the monocular optic arrays and to use that information to increase visual efficiency. Furthermore, stereopsis was not found to be important in the performance of visuomotor skills in three dimensions when the subjects were free to move their heads. Thus, the results indicate that an important ecological benefit of binocular frontal vision is having binocular concordance, rather than having binocular disparity.
Subset-codebook precoding for 1-bit massive multiuser MIMO

We consider a massive multiuser MIMO downlink scenario with 1-bit digital-to-analog converters. QPSK information symbols are transmitted to the users by a channel-dependent mapping of the symbols to 1-bit DAC signals that are transmitted from each base station (BS) antenna. The mapping is selected to emulate the desired information bearing QPSK symbols at the users. Non-linear precoding is considered, where the mapping from the information symbols to the transmit antenna signals is selected based on the combination of information symbols. First, a linear quantized precoder is used to create tentative transmit symbols. For each combination of information symbols, a subset of antennas is selected, and an exhaustive search over a limited size codebook of precoding alternatives is performed. The resulting method significantly lowers the error floor caused by quantization, with a complexity that is linear in the number of transmit antennas.
The expression and regulation of nitric oxide synthase in human osteoarthritis-affected chondrocytes: evidence for up-regulated neuronal nitric oxide synthase

Classically, osteoarthritis (OA) has been considered a noninflammatory disease. However, the detection of selected inflammatory mediators in osteoarthritic fluid, in the absence of significant inflammatory cell infiltrate, is increasingly appreciated. We sought to identify the inflammatory component in human OA-affected cartilage that may be involved in cartilage damage/destruction. Using Western blot analysis and an antibody to the conserved region of nitric oxide synthase (NOS), we have observed up-regulation of NOS, one of the "key players" of inflammation, in chondrocytes of OA-affected patients. Remarkably, none of the cartilage samples examined from normal joints demonstrated detectable amounts of this NOS. Western blot analysis using the same alpha-NOS antibody indicated that this NOS from OA-affected cartilage (OA-NOS) was larger in size than (and distinct from) transfected human hepatocyte or murine inducible NOS (iNOS) (150 versus 133 kD) and similar in size to neuronal constitutive NOS (ncNOS). Antibodies specific for iNOS showed binding to murine and human iNOS but not to OA- NOS, endothelial constitutive NOS, or ncNOS. Antibodies specific for ncNOS bound to ncNOS and also to OA-NOS, but not to murine or human iNOS or endothelial constitutive NOS. Incubation of OA cartilage in serum-free medium resulted in spontaneous release, for up to 72 h, of substantial amounts of nitrite (up to approximately 80 microM/100 mg wet tissue), which could be inhibited by at least 80% with various inhibitors of iNOS, including inhibitors of protein synthesis and transcription factor NF-kappa B, but which (unlike murine macrophage iNOS) was not sensitive to hydrocortisone or TGF-beta. Exposure of OA- affected cartilage to interleukin 1 beta, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, and lipopolysaccharide resulted in approximately 20-50% augmentation of nitrite accumulation, which was also sensitive to cycloheximide and pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate. Hence, our data indicate that OA-NOS (based on immunoreactivity and molecular weight) is similar to ncNOS and that it releases nitric oxide, which may contribute to the inflammation and pathogenesis of cartilage destruction in OA.
DBTSS: DataBase of Transcriptional Start Sites progress report in 2012

To support transcriptional regulation studies, we have constructed DBTSS (DataBase of Transcriptional Start Sites), which contains exact positions of transcriptional start sites (TSSs), determined with our own technique named TSS-seq, in the genomes of various species. In its latest version, DBTSS covers the data of the majority of human adult and embryonic tissues: it now contains 418 million TSS tag sequences from 28 tissues/cell cultures. Moreover, we integrated a series of our own transcriptomic data, such as the RNA-seq data of subcellular-fractionated RNAs as well as the ChIP-seq data of histone modifications and the binding of RNA polymerase II/several transcription factors in cultured cell lines into our original TSS information. We also included several external epigenomic data, such as the chromatin map of the ENCODE project. We further associated our TSS information with public or original single-nucleotide variation (SNV) data, in order to identify SNVs in the regulatory regions. These data can be browsed in our new viewer, which supports versatile search conditions of users. We believe that our new DBTSS will be an invaluable resource for interpreting the differential uses of TSSs and for identifying human genetic variations that are associated with disordered transcriptional regulation. DBTSS can be accessed at http://dbtss.hgc. jp.
Mitotic control of kinetochore-associated dynein and spindle orientation by human Spindly

Mitotic spindle formation and chromosome segregation depend critically on kinetochore–microtubule (KT–MT) interactions. A new protein, termed Spindly in Drosophila and SPDL-1 in C. elegans, was recently shown to regulate KT localization of dynein, but depletion phenotypes revealed striking differences, suggesting evolutionarily diverse roles of mitotic dynein. By characterizing the function of Spindly in human cells, we identify specific functions for KT dynein. We show that localization of human Spindly (hSpindly) to KTs is controlled by the Rod/Zw10/Zwilch (RZZ) complex and Aurora B. hSpindly depletion results in reduced inter-KT tension, unstable KT fibers, an extensive prometaphase delay, and severe chromosome misalignment. Moreover, depletion of hSpindly induces a striking spindle rotation, which can be rescued by co-depletion of dynein. However, in contrast to Drosophila, hSpindly depletion does not abolish the removal of MAD2 and ZW10 from KTs. Collectively, our data reveal hSpindly-mediated dynein functions and highlight a critical role of KT dynein in spindle orientation.
Multifrequency (1-3) piezoelectric composites

A (1-3) piezoelectric composite with a new geometry has been studied. The composite has ceramic bars with different cross sections. The selection of the bars' width-to-thickness ratio is made using the coupling mode theory. The resonant frequency dispersion of the different bars produces an enlargement of the acoustic bandwidth of about a 30% without losing sensitivity. The composite is modeled by a parallel connection of equivalent circuits. <<ETX>>
Amputation of an ectopic partially formed foot attached to the ankle in a case of fibular deficiency

ABSTRACT A rare case of an ectopic partially formed foot attached to the ankle and associated with fibular deficiency and scoliosis due to congenital hemivertebra is reported. The ectopic partially formed foot was amputated and the child was given a below‐knee caliper to prevent further deformity of the foot.
Computed Tomographic Angiography and Venography for Young or Nonhypertensive Patients With Acute Spontaneous Intracerebral Hemorrhage

Background and Purpose— We compared the effectiveness of using computed tomographic angiography and venography (CTAV) with digital subtraction angiography (DSA) in young or nonhypertensive patients with acute spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage. Methods— We prospectively recruited 109 young (age between 18 and 45 years) or nonhypertensive patients with acute spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage for this comparative study. All patients had CTAV using multidetector CT with 64 detectors. They were then scheduled to have catheter angiography the next day. Radiological data were collected for blinded analysis. Results— DSA-positive pathologies causing hemorrhage were identified in 37 (33%) patients, which included cerebral arteriovenous malformation in 22 cases. The positive and negative predictive values of CTAV for DSA-positive pathologies causing hemorrhage were 97.3% (95% CI, 88.3%–99.9%) and 100% (95% CI, 95.9%–100%), respectively. Conclusions— CTAV was able to detect DSA-positive pathologies causing acute spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage in young (age between 18 and 45 years) or nonhypertensive patients with high positive and negative predictive values.
Efficient Boolean division and substitution using redundancy addition and removing

Boolean division, and hence Boolean substitution, produces better result than algebraic division and substitution. However, due to the lack of an efficient Boolean division algorithm, Boolean substitution has rarely been used. We present an efficient Boolean division and Boolean substitution algorithm. Our technique is based on the philosophy of redundancy addition and removal. By adding multiple wires/gates in a specialized way, we tailor the philosophy onto the Boolean division and substitution problem. From the viewpoint of traditional division/substitution, our algorithm can perform substitution not only in sum-of-product form but also in product-of-sum form. Our algorithm can also naturally take all types of internal don't cares into consideration. As far as substitution is concerned, we also discuss the case where we are allowed to decompose not only the dividend but also the divisor. Experiments are presented and the result is promising.
Predictors of Neurological Events Associated With Carotid Artery Stenting in High-Surgical-Risk Patients: Insights From the Cordis Carotid Stent Collaborative

Background—Comorbid and anatomic characteristics that portend higher procedural risk are well defined for carotid endarterectomy but less so for carotid artery stenting. Methods and Results—We pooled carotid stent data from 4 Cordis-sponsored trials (n=2104) with similar patient cohorts and end point determination to identify predictors of neurological death or stroke within 30 days of the procedure. Median age was 74 years (24% >80 years), 36% were women, and 24.2% were symptomatic in the previous 6 months. There were 88 (4.2%) neurological deaths or strokes at 30 days. Among symptomatic patients, the risk of adverse neurological outcome declined with increasing time between the incident neurological event and carotid stent procedure. In a logistic regression model that included preprocedural and procedural variables, significant multivariable predictors of 30-day neurological death or stroke were older age (continuous), black race, angiographically visible thrombus in symptomatic patients, procedural use of glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitors, procedural transient ischemic attack, final residual stenosis >30%, and periprocedural use of protamine or vasopressors. Conclusions—In this pooled analysis, a number of preprocedural and procedural factors predicted higher risk of stroke and neurological death within 30 days of a carotid stent procedure. Identification of such predictors may help to guide patient selection and further refine procedural technique.
Devolution and Aging Policy: Racing to the Bottom in Long-Term Care

For two decades, New Federalism, devolution, and other challenges to the federal role in domestic health and human services policy have fundamentally shaped the structure and delivery of long-term care in the United States. Devolution evokes crucial questions concerning the future of universal entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare and, with them, the future of aging and long-term care policy. This article examines the implications of the “devolution revolution” for long-term care in the context of the sociodemographics of aging and the managed care movement. Central issues are the extent to which state-level discretionary policy options (1) alter priorities, services, and benefits for the elderly and disabled; (2) foster a race to the bottom in long-term care; (3) promote generational, gender, racial and ethnic, and social class trade-offs; and (4) fundamentally alter the role and capacity of nonprofit sector services that comprise a significant part of the long-term care continuum.
Regulation of dendritic cells by female sex steroids: Relevance to immunity and autoimmunity

Dendritic cells (DCs) are critical mediators of adaptive immunity, tolerance and autoimmunity. The human immune system exhibits sexual dimorphism, which is most evident in the female predominance of autoimmune diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Female sex steroids are strongly implicated in mediating immune sexual dimorphism, in part because estrogen accentuates disease in several models of lupus autoimmunity. In contrast, progesterone may prevent disease development. While much investigation has focused on the effects of estrogen and progesterone on lymphocyte functions, far less attention has been paid to the effects of these hormones on DCs. Current evidence now indicates estrogen can activate DCs, while in contrast, progesterone inhibits DC functions. Thus, we hypothesize that the opposite effects these two hormones have on lupus autoimmunity reflect opposing effects on DC functions. Thus, through direct actions on DCs, female sex steroids may influence autoimmunity, immunity and tolerance.
Localized Yielding Around Crack Tips of Double-Network Gels

Double-network (DN) gels, a type of interpenetrating polymer network (IPN) consisting of rigid and flexible polymer components, exhibit two outstanding mechanical behaviors: yielding deformation of the entire specimen in tensile tests and quite high fracture energy in tearing tests. In this study, atomic force microscope (AFM) measurements were conducted on DN gels to determine the local Young's moduli immediately below the fracture surfaces E f and below the usual molded surfaces E m , and compare the local modulus with bulk Young's moduli measured before and after the yielding deformation, denoted as E h and Eg, respectively. E m and E h are around 0.1 MPa; E f and E s , around 0.01 MPa, one order lower than the former two moduli. The order relation indicates that yielding deformation occurred locally around the crack tip of the DN gel during fracture. This supports the basic assumption of phenomenological models recently proposed to explain high fracture energy of DN gels. (H. R. Brown, Macromolecules 2007, 40, 3815-3818; Y. Tanaka, Europhys. Lett. 2007, 78, 56005).
A Survey on Virtual Machine Security

Virtualization plays a major role in helping the organizations to reduce the operational cost, and still ensuring improved efficiency, better utilization and flexibility of existing hardware. "Virtualization is both an opportunity and a threat says Patrick Lin, Senior director of Product Management for VMware" [4]. This paper presents a literature study on various security issues in virtualization technologies. Our study focus mainly on some open security vulnerabilities that virtualization brings to the environment. We concentrate on security issues that are unique for virtual machines. The security threats presented here are common to all the virtualization technologies available in the market, they are not specific to a single virtualization technology. We provide an overview of various virtualization technologies available in the market at the first place together with some security benefits that comes together with virtualization. Finally we provide a detailed discussion of several security holes in the virtualized environment.
Local Buckling of Rectangular Viscoelastic Composite Plates Using Finite Strip Method

This article presents the stability analysis of reinforced viscoelastic composite plates subjected to in-plane loading using a finite strip method. The equations governing the stiffness and geometry matrices of moderately thick rectangular plates in the time domain are presented using higher-order shear deformation theory and effective moduli method. The critical buckling loads of viscoelastic plates are determined through solving the eigenvalue problems related to the global stiffness and geometry matrices. The accuracy of the developed model is verified against the results reported elsewhere while a comprehensive parametric study is presented to show the effects of different variables on local buckling coefficients.
An efficient inter-unit interference reduction technique for a MSTTD system

A multiple space-time transmit diversity (MSTTD) detection scheme on quasi-static Rayleigh flat-fading channels is proposed. The proposed detection algorithm first determines the candidates for M units each using a QR decomposition, and computes a reference metric for a full-length vector consisting of the first candidates at each unit. Then it performs a more likely searching simply by comparing the reference metric with other candidates such that an inter-unit interference can be effectively eliminated. Through these procedures it can approach the ML performance with less complexity even compared to an improved Schnorr-Euchner (ISE) scheme.
Induction motor saliencies analysis using zero-sequence signal injection

This paper presents an analysis of the magnetic saliencies in induction machines based on the injection of a zero sequence carrier. This way of injection allows evaluating those components of the admittance matrix which are not usually considered in the literature. The injection of the zero sequence carrier can easily be implemented, does not perturb the current control and the evaluation of its response is simple. It requires, however, access to the neutral point of the machine. The use of the zero sequence carrier for induction machines is a new approach that is evaluated in this paper. Experimental tests showed that two saliencies can be clearly identified in the carrier response: one due to the rotor bars and other due to the saturation in the main flux path. This would allow to estimate both, the rotor position and flux angle.
The MoveOn Motorcycle Speech Corpus

A speech and noise corpus dealing with the extreme conditions of the motorcycle environment is developed within the MoveOn project. Speech utterances in British English are recorded and processed approaching the issue of command and control and template driven dialog systems on the motorcycle. The major part of the corpus comprises noisy speech and environmental noise recorded on a motorcycle, but several clean speech recordings in a silent environment are also available. The corpus development focuses on distortion free recordings and accurate descriptions of both recorded speech and noise. Not only speech segments are annotated but also annotation of environmental noise is performed. The corpus is a small-sized speech corpus with about 12 hours of clean and noisy speech utterances and about 30 hours of segments with environmental noise without speech. This paper addresses the motivation and development of the speech corpus and finally presents some statistics and results of the database creation.