Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Hereditary conjugacy separability of right angled Artin groups and its applications

We prove that finite index subgroups of right angled Artin groups are conjugacy separable. We then apply this result to establish various properties of other classes of groups. In particular, we show that any word hyperbolic Coxeter group contains a conjugacy separable subgroup of finite index and has a residually finite outer automorphism group. Another consequence of the main result is that Bestvina-Brady groups are conjugacy separable and have solvable conjugacy problem.
Statistical Prediction and Measurement of Induced Voltages on Components Within Complicated Enclosures: A Wave-Chaotic Approach

We consider induced voltages on electronic components housed inside complicated enclosures and subjected to high-frequency radiation. The enclosure is assumed to be large compared to the wavelength in which case there is strong dependence of wave properties (eigenvalues, eigenfunctions, scattering, and impedance matrices, etc.) on small perturbations. The source(s) and sink(s) of radiation are treated as generalized ports and their coupling to the enclosure is quantified by an appropriate nonstatistical radiation impedance matrix. The field fluctuations within the enclosure are described in a statistical sense using random matrix theory. The random matrix theory approach implies that the wave fluctuations have “universal” properties in the sense that the statistical description of these properties depends only upon the value of a single, experimentally accessible, dimensionless loss parameter. We formulate a statistical prediction algorithm for the induced voltages at specific points within complicated enclosures when subjected to short-wavelength electromagnetic (EM) energy from either external or internal sources. The algorithm is tested and verified by measurements on a computer box. The insights gained from this model suggest design guidelines for enclosures to make them more resistant to disruptive effects produced by a short-wavelength EM radiation.
Chaotic Time Series Forecasting Using Higher Order Neural Networks

This study presents a novel application and comparison of higher order neural networks (HONNs) to forecast benchmark chaotic time series. Two models of HONNs were implemented, namely functional link neural network (FLNN) and pi-sigma neural network (PSNN). These models were tested on two benchmark time series; the monthly smoothed sunspot numbers and the Mackey-Glass time-delay differential equation time series. The forecasting performance of the HONNs is compared against the performance of different models previously used in the literature such as fuzzy and neural networks models. Simulation results showed that FLNN and PSNN offer good performance compared to many previously used hybrid models.
Relative Bioavailability of Calcium from Calcium Formate, Calcium Citrate, and Calcium Carbonate

Calcium is an essential nutrient required in substantial amounts, but many diets are deficient in calcium making supplementation necessary or desirable. The objective of this study was to compare the oral bioavailability of calcium from calcium formate, a new experimental dietary calcium supplement, to that of calcium citrate and calcium carbonate. In a four-way crossover study, either a placebo or 1200 mg of calcium as calcium carbonate, calcium citrate, or calcium formate were administered orally to 14 healthy adult female volunteers who had fasted overnight. After calcium carbonate, the maximum rise in serum calcium (∼4%) and the fall in serum intact parathyroid hormone 1–84 (iPTH) (∼20–40%) did not differ significantly from placebo. After calcium citrate, the changes were modestly but significantly (p < 0.05) greater, but only at 135 to 270 min after ingestion. In contrast, within 60 min after calcium formate serum calcium rose by approximately 15% and serum iPTH fell by 70%. The mean increment in area under the plasma concentration-time curve (0–270 min) for serum calcium after calcium formate (378 mg · min/dl) was double that for calcium citrate (178 mg · min/dl; p < 0.01), whereas the latter was only modestly greater than either placebo (107; p < 0.05) or calcium carbonate (91; p < 0.05). In this study, calcium formate was clearly superior to both calcium carbonate and calcium citrate in ability to deliver calcium to the bloodstream after oral administration. Calcium formate may offer significant advantages as a dietary calcium supplement.
Accurate Prediction of Voltage Gain of the LLC Resonant Converter for EV battery Charge Applications

This work presents detailed analysis of LLC resonant converter to accurately predcit the voltage gain of the converter. Nowadays, Lithium-ion battery cells are mostly preferred for on-board electrical vehicle (EV) battery chargers due to their high power density. This results in wide range output voltage regulation for battery charger. The output voltage regulation of LLC resonant converter is provided by the changing of switching frequency. However, conventional first harmonic approximation (FHA) method applying for resonant power converters produces error below resonance frequency. Therefore, the objective of this paper is accurate prediction of the voltage gain characteristic for LLC resonant converter using in EV battery charge applications. The detailed theoretical anlysis of the LLC resonant converter is presented and the presented analysis is compared with a simulation study with 2.7 kW output power and 250 V-450 V output voltage range.
Anti-inflammatory Effects of Curcumin in Microglial Cells

Lipoteichoic acid (LTA) induces neuroinflammatory molecules, contributing to the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases. Therefore, suppression of neuroinflammatory molecules could be developed as a therapeutic method. Although previous data supports an immune-modulating effect of curcumin, the underlying signaling pathways are largely unidentified. Here, we investigated curcumin’s anti-neuroinflammatory properties in LTA-stimulated BV-2 microglial cells. Inflammatory cytokine tumor necrosis factor-α [TNF-α, prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), and Nitric Oxide (NO] secretion in LTA-induced microglial cells were inhibited by curcumin. Curcumin also inhibited LTA-induced inducible NO synthases (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) expression. Subsequently, our mechanistic studies revealed that curcumin inhibited LTA-induced phosphorylation of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) including ERK, p38, Akt and translocation of NF-κB. Furthermore, curcumin induced hemeoxygenase (HO)-1HO-1 and nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf-2) expression in microglial cells. Inhibition of HO-1 reversed the inhibition effect of HO-1 on inflammatory mediators release in LTA-stimulated microglial cells. Taken together, our results suggest that curcumin could be a potential therapeutic agent for the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders via suppressing neuroinflammatory responses.
Long-term topological localisation for service robots in dynamic environments using spectral maps

This paper presents a new approach for topological localisation of service robots in dynamic indoor environments. In contrast to typical localisation approaches that rely mainly on static parts of the environment, our approach makes explicit use of information about changes by learning and modelling the spatio-temporal dynamics of the environment where the robot is acting. The proposed spatio-temporal world model is able to predict environmental changes in time, allowing the robot to improve its localisation capabilities during long-term operations in populated environments. To investigate the proposed approach, we have enabled a mobile robot to autonomously patrol a populated environment over a period of one week while building the proposed model representation. We demonstrate that the experience learned during one week is applicable for topological localization even after a hiatus of three months by showing that the localization error rate is significantly lower compared to static environment representations.
Stock Exchanges and Issuers: A Changing Relationship

The nature of the relation between stock exchanges and firms seeking a listing has changed considerably over the past decades. In this paper, we argue that the relationship has lost most of its historic complexity and has almost been reduced to a standardized contract in the sense that there are few contractual properties distinguishing listing on different exchanges apart from granting access to a specific liquidity pool. Analyzing the actual specifications of listing agreements at five major stock exchanges, we demonstrate that the contractual features are converging towards a standardized agreement. Furthermore, we show that some of the functions formerly fulfilled by exchanges are now performed by other institutions. We analyze whether these changes are reflected by policy makers in their efforts to create integrated European capital markets. Die Beziehung zwischen Borsen und Eigenkapitalemittenten hat sich in den vergangenen Jahrzehnten fundamental verandert. In diesem Beitrag argumentieren wir, dass diese Beziehung einer standardisierten Vertragsbeziehung gleicht, die ihre historische Komplexitat weitgehend verloren hat. Wahrend Borsen in der Vergangenheit unterschiedlich gestaltete Listinganforderungen an Unternehmen gestellt und durchgesetzt haben, ist heute ihr wesentliches Differenzierungsmerkmal die Liquiditat der gehandelten Aktien. Eine Untersuchung der Listinganforderungen von funf bedeutenden Borsen zeigt, dass die wichtigsten Vertragsbestandteile des Abkommens zwischen Emmittent und Borse weitgehend vereinheitlicht sind. Wir zeigen weiterhin, dass neue Institutionen wie etwa nationale Borsenaufsichtsbehorden einige der fruher von Borsen wahrgenommenen Aufgaben ubernommen haben. Abschliesend untersuchen wir, ob und in welchem Mase diese Veranderungen in den gegenwartigen Bemuhungen zur Schaffung integrierter europaischer Kapitalmarkte berucksichtigt werden.
Exploiting NOMA into socially enabled computation offloading

Recently, mobile cloud computing (MCC) is drawing substantial attention due to potential reduction on local energy consumption and local execution time. To further satisfy the requirement of latency-intensive applications in the future, fog computing is proposed to take full advantages of close-by nodes with available resources, thus decreasing the transmission time during computation offloading. This paper jointly considers nearby nodes and network edge base station in fog computing to provide a mutually complementary service, making the computation resources fully utilized. Furthermore, non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) has been introduced as a transmission technology to support high spectrum efficiency and low latency. Consequently, a new technology challenge regarding latency minimization can be facilitated as a computational offloading using NOMA. By further leveraging the concept of social networks, we therefore propose a social trust based NOMA cooperative computation offloading algorithm (SNOMA-COA) to minimize the completion time of system. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm achieves the goal to effectively reduce system latency by offloading computation.
Stress and Alterations in the Pain Matrix: A Biopsychosocial Perspective on Back Pain and Its Prevention and Treatment

The genesis of chronic pain is explained by a biopsychosocial model. It hypothesizes an interdependency between environmental and genetic factors provoking aberrant long-term changes in biological and psychological regulatory systems. Physiological effects of psychological and physical stressors may play a crucial role in these maladaptive processes. Specifically, long-term demands on the stress response system may moderate central pain processing and influence descending serotonergic and noradrenergic signals from the brainstem, regulating nociceptive processing at the spinal level. However, the underlying mechanisms of this pathophysiological interplay still remain unclear. This paper aims to shed light on possible pathways between physical (exercise) and psychological stress and the potential neurobiological consequences in the genesis and treatment of chronic pain, highlighting evolving concepts and promising research directions in the treatment of chronic pain. Two treatment forms (exercise and mindfulness-based stress reduction as exemplary therapies), their interaction, and the dose-response will be discussed in more detail, which might pave the way to a better understanding of alterations in the pain matrix and help to develop future prevention and therapeutic concepts.
Speed-dependent intrinsic caudal fin muscle recruitment during steady swimming in bluegill sunfish, Lepomis macrochirus

SUMMARY There are approximately 50 muscles that control tail fin shape in most teleost fishes, and although myotomal muscle function has been extensively studied, little work has been done on the intrinsic musculature that controls and shapes the tail. In this study we measured electrical activity in intrinsic tail musculature to determine if these muscles are active during steady rectilinear locomotion, and to compare intrinsic muscle recruitment patterns to previous data on myotomal muscle fibers. Five bluegill sunfish (Lepomis macrochirus) were anaesthetized and electrode wires surgically placed into a total of 24 intrinsic caudal muscles, up to 13 at a time, and activity was correlated with synchronous recordings from myotomal fibers in the caudal peduncle. After recovery, fish swam steadily at speeds of 0.5, 1.2 and 2.0 L s–1, while filmed from lateral, posterior and ventral views simultaneously at 250 frames s–1. Comparison among speeds confirmed that muscle recruitment varies significantly with speed. At 0.5 L s–1, the caudal fin was generally not used for propulsion, and swimming was accomplished primarily through body undulations. Intrinsic caudal muscle activity at this speed was intermittent and variable. At 1.2 and 2.0 L s–1, the supracarinalis and infracarinalis muscles acted on the dorsal- and ventral-most fin rays, respectively, to expand the surface area of the caudal fin. The interradialis muscles adducted individual fin rays, dorsally to ventrally, following activation of the hypochordal longitudinalis. Contralateral muscle activity of interradialis muscles occurred as the caudal fin crossed the mean direction of travel and fin height was greatest, whereas ipsilateral activity of carinalis muscles occurred near points of maximum excursion of the fin, at speeds of 1.2 and 2.0 L s–1, after fin height was lowest. Burst intensity increased with swimming speed, suggesting stiffening of the tail fin against imposed hydrodynamic loads. Activity patterns of intrinsic caudal muscles suggest that these most posterior muscles in fishes, located within the tail, are among the very first recruited as swimming speed increases, and that slow undulatory swimming is powered by muscle fibers located posteriorly in the caudal peduncle and tail.
Predicting efficacy of robot-aided rehabilitation in chronic stroke patients using an MRI-compatible robotic device

We are investigating the neural correlates of motor recovery promoted by robot-mediated therapy in chronic stroke. This pilot study asked whether efficacy of robot-aided motor rehabilitation in chronic stroke could be predicted by a change in functional connectivity within the sensorimotor network in response to a bout of motor rehabilitation. To address this question, two stroke patients participated in a functional connectivity MRI study pre and post a 12-week robot-aided motor rehabilitation program. Functional connectivity was evaluated during three consecutive scans before the rehabilitation program: resting-state; point-to-point reaching movements executed by the paretic upper extremity (UE) using a newly developed MRI-compatible sensorized passive manipulandum; resting-state. A single resting-state scan was conducted after the rehabilitation program. Before the program, UE movement reduced functional connectivity between the ipsilesional and contralesional primary motor cortex. Reduced interhemispheric functional connectivity persisted during the second resting-state scan relative to the first and during the resting-state scan after the rehabilitation program. Greater reduction in interhemispheric functional connectivity during the resting-state was associated with greater gains in UE motor function induced by the 12-week robotic therapy program. These findings suggest that greater reduction in interhemispheric functional connectivity in response to a bout of motor rehabilitation may predict greater efficacy of the full rehabilitation program.
An updated checklist of the lichens of St. Eustatius, Netherlands Antilles

Abstract In the course of a multi-taxon biodiversity inventory for the island of St. Eustatius, lichens were collected from 11 plots representing different vegetation types. From these collections, 126 lichen species are reported, 54 of which are new reports for St. Eustatius. Most species could be identified to species level based on morphological and chemical characters. In a few cases, mtSSU DNA sequences were generated for a preliminary molecular identification and future phylogenetic studies. In total, 263 identified lichen species are currently known from St. Eustatius, as well as some additional genera with yet unidentified species and lichenicolous fungi.
The factors affecting adoption intention in navigational information system: a study of mariner's perception on utilizing ECDIS

Although the International Maritime Organization had approved electronic chart display and information system as a paper chart equivalent, parts of mariners still doubted of its feasibility on safe navigation. For analyzing mariner's more or less hesitations on using such navigational information system, this study surveyed the samples of the students in the navigational department for understanding how the perceived risk affected the user's adoption intention over and above perceivability of usefulness and ease of use on electronic chart display and information system by comparing the students with/without practical experience on board. Research found that perceived risk presented different levels of negative influences on user's adoption intention directly and mediated through perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use as well.
Knowledge, location, and internationalization: empirical evidence for manufacturing SMEs

This paper investigates the links between locational conditions, innovative capabilities, and internationalization of manufacturing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Two modes of foreign market servicing are explored: exporting activity and relocating of selected business activities abroad. The analysis is based on the survey of about 3000 firms. The results reveal that the outputs of SMEs' innovative activities – product innovations and patent applications – enhance exporting propensity. Nevertheless, the input-side indicator – R&D intensity – appears to exert no impact. Furthermore, the locational factor proximity to research institutions promotes SMEs' exporting. Regarding the determinants of selective relocations abroad, the findings show that SMEs with a high degree of R&D are less likely to separate production from other operations and relocate it abroad. Moreover, manufacturing SMEs assessing the proximity to research facilities, as well as support from various regional authorities as important and good-quality locational conditions, exhibit a significantly lower likelihood to relocate selected activities abroad.
blation of IB 4 non-peptidergic afferents in the rat facet joint revents injury-induced pain and thalamic hyperexcitability via upraspinal glutamate transporters

The facet joint is a common source of neck pain, particularly after excessive stretch of its capsular ligament. Peptidergic afferents have been shown to have an important role in the development and maintenance of mechanical hyperalgesia, dysregulated nociceptive signaling, and spinal hyperexcitability that develop after mechanical injury to the facet joint. However, the role of non-peptidergic isolectin-B4 (IB4) cells in mediating joint pain is unknown. Isolectin-B4 saporin (IB4-SAP) was injected into the facet joint to ablate non-peptidergic cells, and the facet joint later underwent a ligament stretch known to induce pain. Behavioral sensitivity, thalamic glutamate transporter expression, and thalamic hyperexcitability were evaluated up to and at day 7. Administering IB4-SAP prior to a painful injury prevented the development of mechanical hyperalgesia that is typically present. Intra-articular IB4-SAP also prevented the upregulation lutamate transporter rain of the glutamate transporters GLT-1 and EAAC1 in the ventral posterolateral nucleus of the thalamus and reduced thalamic neuronal hyperexcitability at day 7. These findings suggest that a painful facet injury induces changes extending to supraspinal structures and that IB4-positive afferents in the facet joint may be critical for the development and maintenance of sensitization in the thalamus after a painful facet joint
Bioconversion of agricultural lignocellulosic residues into branched-chain fatty acids using Streptomyces lividans

Two lignocellulosic agricultural residues, sunflower stalks and rape straw, were investigated as potential low-cost, non-food substrates for the production of triacylglycerols by the oleaginous, lignocellulolytic bacteria Streptomyces lividans . Chemical analysis of each type of residue revealed similar cell wall compositions in the polysaccharides and lignins of the two feedstocks, with high lignin β -O-4 bond content compared to other angiosperms’ lignin. Growing tests of Streptomyces lividans TK 24 were performed before and after sequential water and ethanol extraction by assessing bacterial fatty acid accumulation. All extracted and non-extracted samples were found to be substrates of the bacteria with fatty acid production ranging between 19% and 44% of the production obtained with arabinose as a reference substrate. The maximum conversion rate was obtained with the less lignified, non-extracted sample. This study suggests that lignocellulosic residues from oleaginous crops could be advantageously valorized by microbial bioconversion processes for the production of lipids of interest.
Optimizing foot Centers of pressure through force Distribution in a humanoid robot

The force distribution problem (FDP) in robotics requires the determination of multiple contact forces to match a desired net contact wrench. For the double support case encountered in humanoids, this problem is underspecified, and provides the opportunity to optimize desired foot centers of pressure (CoPs) and forces. In different contexts, we may seek CoPs and contact forces that optimize actuator effort or decrease the tendency for foot roll. In this work, we present two formulations of the FDP for humanoids in double support, and propose objective functions within a general framework to address the variety of competing requirements for the realization of balance. As a key feature, the framework is capable to optimize contact forces for motions on uneven terrain. Solutions for the formulations developed are obtained with a commercial nonlinear optimization package and through analytical approaches on a simplified problem. Results are shown for a highly dynamic whole-body humanoid reaching motion performed on even terrain and on a ramp. A convex formulation of the FDP provides real-time solutions with computation times of a few milliseconds. While the convex formulation does not include CoPs explicitly as optimization variables, a novel objective function is developed which penalizes foot CoP solutions that approach the foot boundaries.