Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
MODELING OF HOLONIC MANUFACTURING CONTROL SYSTEMS CONSIDERING RECONFIGURATION AND TIMING CONSTRAINTS

Automation and control systems(ACSs) must ensure the fulfillment of the current requirements in manufacturing systems, such as flexibility, distributed architecture, and agility in response to changes imposed by the market or the inevitable occurrence of faults. In this context, one solution to design ACSs is a combination of techniques such as holonic control system (HCS) and active fault-tolerant control system (AFTCS). In preview studies, the authors proposed a procedure to design an active holonic control system (AHCS). AHCS takes into account mechanisms to deal with aspects such as reuse of models, reconfigurability, autonomy, modularity, decentralization, and scalability. The procedure combines bottom-up and top-down approaches using Petri nets technique and its extensions. However, the development of a new mechanism is required to optimize (i) the reconfiguration regarding the holarchies composition problem, and (ii) the execution of productive processes meeting the timing constrains. Therefore, this work presents an overview of AHCS and concentrates on description of this mechanism. An example of application in flexible manufacturing system (FMS) is used to demonstrate the advantages of this proposal. Keywords— system modeling, reconfiguration, holon, Petri nets, manufacturing system, timing constraints.
Risk-based Dynamic Access Control for a Highly Scalable Cloud Federation

Cloud Computing is already a successful paradigm for distributed computing and is still growing in popularity. However, many problems still linger in the application of this model and some new ideas are emerging to help leverage its features even further. One of these ideas is the cloud federation, which is a way of aggregating different clouds to enable the sharing of resources and increase scalability and availability. One of the great challenges in the deployment of cloud federations is Identity and Access Management. This issue is usually solved by the creation of identity federations, but this approach is not optimal. In this paper, we propose an access control system for a highly scalable cloud federation. The presented system is dynamic and risk-based, allowing the use of cloud federations without the need of identity federations. We also present results of a prototype implementation and show that it is scalable and flexible enough to meet the requirements of this highly dynamic and heterogeneous environment.
NSF GRANT # 0927367 NSF PROGRAM NAME : Service Enterprise Systems Pricing Bermudan Options in Lévy Models

This paper presents a Hilbert transform method for pricing Bermudan options in Lévy models. The corresponding optimal stopping problem is reduced to a backward induction in the Fourier space that involves taking Hilbert transforms of certain analytic functions or integrating such functions. The Hilbert transforms and integrals can be discretized using very simple schemes. The resulting discrete approximation can be efficiently implemented using the fast Fourier transform. The computational cost is linear in the number of monitoring times, and O(M log(M)) in the number of points used to approximate the Hilbert transforms and integrals. The method is remarkably accurate. The pricing error decays exponentially in terms of the computational cost M for a wide class of Lévy process models. The early exercise boundary is obtained as a by-product. American options can be priced by increasing the number of monitoring times and using extrapolation when applicable.
Endopeptidases 3.4.24.15 and 24.16 in endothelial cells: potential role in vasoactive peptide metabolism.

The closely related metalloendopeptidases EC (EP24.15; thimet oligopeptidase) and 24.16 (EP24.16; neurolysin) cleave a number of vasoactive peptides such as bradykinin and neurotensin in vitro. We have previously shown that hypotensive responses to bradykinin are potentiated by an inhibitor of EP24.15 and EP24.16 (26), suggesting a role for one or both enzymes in bradykinin metabolism in vivo. In this study, we have used selective inhibitors that can distinguish between EP24.15 and EP24.16 to determine their activity in cultured endothelial cells (the transformed human umbilical vein endothelial hybrid cell line EA.hy926 or ovine aortic endothelial cells). Endopeptidase activity was assessed using a specific quenched fluorescent substrate [7-methoxycoumarin-4-acetyl-Pro-Leu-Gly-d-Lys(2,4-dinitrophenyl)], as well as the peptide substrates bradykinin and neurotensin (assessed by high-performance liquid chromatography with mass spectroscopic detection). Our results indicate that both peptidases are present in endothelial cells; however, EP24.16 contributes significantly more to substrate cleavage by both cytosolic and membrane preparations, as well as intact cells, than EP24.15. These findings, when coupled with previous observations in vivo, suggest that EP24.16 activity in vascular endothelial cells may play an important role in the degradation of bradykinin and/or other peptides in the circulation.
Evolutionary Robustness Testing of Data Processing Systems Using Models and Data Mutation (T)

System level testing of industrial data processing software poses several challenges. Input data can be very large, even in the order of gigabytes, and with complex constraints that define when an input is valid. Generating the right input data to stress the system for robustness properties (e.g. to test how faulty data is handled) is hence very complex, tedious and error prone when done manually. Unfortunately, this is the current practice in industry. In previous work, we defined a methodology to model the structure and the constraints of input data by using UML class diagrams and OCL constraints. Tests were automatically derived to cover predefined fault types in a fault model. In this paper, to obtain more effective system level test cases, we developed a novel search-based test generation tool. Experiments on a real-world, large industrial data processing system show that our automated approach can not only achieve better code coverage, but also accomplishes this using significantly smaller test suites.
Yield-Aware Cache Architectures

One of the major issues faced by the semiconductor industry today is that of reducing chip yields. As the process technologies have scaled to smaller feature sizes, chip yields have dropped to around 50% or less. This figure is expected to decrease even further in future technologies. To attack this growing problem, we develop four yield-aware micro architecture schemes for data caches. The first one is called yield-aware power-down (YAPD). YAPD turns off cache ways that cause delay violation and/or have excessive leakage. We also modify this approach to achieve better yields. This new method is called horizontal YAPD (H-YAPD), which turns off horizontal regions of the cache instead of ways. A third approach targets delay violation in data caches. Particularly, we develop a variable-latency cache architecture (VACA). VACA allows different load accesses to be completed with varying latencies. This is enabled by augmenting the functional units with special buffers that allow the dependants of a load operation to stall for a cycle if the load operation is delayed. As a result, if some accesses take longer than the predefined number of cycles, the execution can still be performed correctly, albeit with some performance degradation. A fourth scheme we devise is called the hybrid mechanism, which combines the YAPD and the VACA. As a result of these schemes, chips that may be tossed away due to parametric yield loss can be saved. Experimental results demonstrate that the yield losses can be reduced by 68.1% and 72.4% with YAPD and H-YAPD schemes and by 33.3% and 81.1% with VACA and Hybrid mechanisms, respectively, improving the overall yield to as much as 97.0%
The Organization of High-Affinity Ammonium Uptake in Arabidopsis Roots Depends on the Spatial Arrangement and Biochemical Properties of AMT1-Type Transporters[W]

The AMMONIUM TRANSPORTER (AMT) family comprises six isoforms in Arabidopsis thaliana. Here, we describe the complete functional organization of root-expressed AMTs for high-affinity ammonium uptake. High-affinity influx of 15N-labeled ammonium in two transposon-tagged amt1;2 lines was reduced by 18 to 26% compared with wild-type plants. Enrichment of the AMT1;2 protein in the plasma membrane and localization of AMT1;2 promoter activity in the endodermis and root cortex indicated that AMT1;2 mediates the uptake of ammonium entering the root via the apoplasmic transport route. An amt1;1 amt1;2 amt1;3 amt2;1 quadruple mutant (qko) showed severe growth depression under ammonium supply and maintained only 5 to 10% of wild-type high-affinity ammonium uptake capacity. Transcriptional upregulation of AMT1;5 in nitrogen-deficient rhizodermal and root hair cells and the ability of AMT1;5 to transport ammonium in yeast suggested that AMT1;5 accounts for the remaining uptake capacity in qko. Triple and quadruple amt insertion lines revealed in vivo ammonium substrate affinities of 50, 234, 61, and 4.5 μM for AMT1;1, AMT1;2, AMT1;3, and AMT1;5, respectively, but no ammonium influx activity for AMT2;1. These data suggest that two principle means of achieving effective ammonium uptake in Arabidopsis roots are the spatial arrangement of AMT1-type ammonium transporters and the distribution of their transport capacities at different substrate affinities.
Cross-dataset facial expression recognition

This paper investigates the problem of cross-dataset facial expression recognition. To the best of our knowledge, this problem has not been formally addressed in the literature. Conventional facial expression recognition methods assume expression images in the training and testing sets are collected under the same condition such that they are independent and identically distributed. In many real applications, this assumption may not hold as the testing data are usually collected online and generally more uncontrollable than the training data, and hence, they are likely different from the training data. This problem is referred to as cross-dataset facial expression recognition in this paper as the training and testing data are considered to be collected from different datasets due to different acquisition conditions. To address this, we propose a new transfer subspace learning approach to learn a feature space which transfers the knowledge gained from the training set to the target (testing) data to improve the recognition performance under cross-dataset scenarios. Experimental results for facial expression recognition tasks on different datasets are presented to demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed approach.
Pricing competition and order coordination of supply chain with duopolistic retailers

This paper considers the pricing and order coordination decisions in a two- echelon supply chain with one manufacture who supplies a single product to duopolistic retailers, whose demands interact with the assumption of being price-sensitive. The problem is analyzed under the Stackelberg structure, in which the manufacture acting as a leader declares her wholesale price and a common-replenishment-epochs (CRE) schedule to competitive retailers, and the duopolistic retailers acting as followers respond with their sales prices and associated order policies. Both of the effect of CRE strategy on competitors' decisions including retail price and order policy and the effect of CRE strategy on market spit between retailers are analyzed. And the numerical example is presented to confirm all the results.
Extended and unscented Kalman filtering for attitude estimation application to the active control system for microsatellite -A comparative study

Unscented Kalman filter (UKF) has been proven to be a superior alternative to the extended Kalman filter (EKF) when solving the nonlinear system in previous literatures. In order to explore the application of the UKF in the attitude estimation and control system (ADCS) on board low earth orbit (LEO) microsatellite, a comparison study is performed of the UKF over the classical EKF. The full-state knowledge, required for the control loop is provided through EKF and UKF for satellite three-axis attitude and rate estimation using magnetometer and sun sensor measurements, while the control torque is generated via wheels and magnetorquers. This paper presents the various steps of the design of the UKF and a comparative study with the EKF for ADCS applied on (LEO) microsatellites. The resulted ADCS clearly indicate that the EKF and the UKF have almost similar attitude estimation accuracy. However, the computational demand of the UKF lead to the conclusion that the EKF is a more logical choice for estimating the attitude of the LEO microsatellite.
Dimensions of Meaning in the Occupations of Daily Life

Background. According to the existential philosophers, meaning, purpose and choice are necessary for quality of life. Qualitative researchers exploring the perspectives of people who have experienced health crises have also identified the need for meaning, purpose and choice following life disruptions. Although espousing the importance of meaning in occupation, occupational therapy theory has been primarily preoccupied with purposeful occupations and thus appears inadequate to address issues of meaning within people's lives. Purpose. This paper proposes that the fundamental orientation of occupational therapy should be the contributions that occupation makes to meaning in people's lives, furthering the suggestion that occupation might be viewed as comprising dimensions of meaning: doing, being, belonging and becoming. Drawing upon perspectives and research from philosophers, social scientists and occupational therapists, this paper will argue for a renewed understanding of occupation in terms of dimensions of meaning rather than as divisible activities of self-care, productivity and leisure. Practice implications. Focusing on meaningful, rather than purposeful occupations more closely aligns the profession with its espoused aspiration to enable the enhancement of quality of life.
Dynamics of Inorganic Nutrients in Intertidal Sediments: Porewater, Exchangeable, and Intracellular Pools

The study of inorganic nutrients dynamics in shallow sediments usually focuses on two main pools: porewater (PW) nutrients and exchangeable (EX) ammonium and phosphate. Recently, it has been found that microphytobenthos (MPB) and other microorganisms can accumulate large amounts of nutrients intracellularly (IC), highlighting the biogeochemical importance of this nutrient pool. Storing nutrients could support the growth of autotrophs when nutrients are not available, and could also provide alternative electron acceptors for dissimilatory processes such as nitrate reduction. Here, we studied the magnitude and relative importance of these three nutrient pools (PW, IC, and EX) and their relation to chlorophylls (used as a proxy for MPB abundance) and organic matter (OM) contents in an intertidal mudflat of Cadiz Bay (Spain). MPB was localized in the first 4 mm of the sediment and showed a clear seasonal pattern; highest chlorophylls content was found during autumn and lowest during spring-summer. The temporal and spatial distribution of nutrients pools and MPB were largely correlated. Ammonium was higher in the IC and EX fractions, representing on average 59 and 37% of the total ammonium pool, respectively. Similarly, phosphate in the IC and EX fractions accounted on average for 40 and 31% of the total phosphate pool, respectively. Nitrate in the PW was low, suggesting low nitrification activity and rapid consumption. Nitrate accumulated in the IC pool during periods of moderate MPB abundance, being up to 66% of the total nitrate pool, whereas it decreased when chlorophyll concentration peaked likely due to a high nitrogen demand. EX-Nitrate accounted for the largest fraction of total sediment nitrate, 66% on average. The distribution of EX-Nitrate was significantly correlated with chlorophyll and OM, which probably indicates a relation of this pool to an increased availability of sites for ionic adsorption. This EX-Nitrate pool could represent an alternative nitrate source with significant concentrations available to the microbial community, deeper in the sediment below the oxic layer.
Soft gluon effects on lepton pairs at hadron colliders

We consider the Collins-Soper-Sterman resummation formalism, which describes the vector boson transverse momentum ${(Q}_{T})$ distribution at hadron colliders, and extend it for the distributions of the decay leptons by correctly including the effects of the polarization and the width of the vector boson. Numerous aspects of the formalism are reviewed at the $O({\ensuremath{\alpha}}_{S}^{2})$ level, including the matching of the ${Q}_{T}$ distribution and the value of the total cross section. Detailed comparisons of several $O({\ensuremath{\alpha}}_{S})$ fixed order (NLO) and resummed lepton distributions are presented. The total rates and the distributions of the lepton charge asymmetry predicted by the resummed and the NLO calculations are shown to differ when kinematic cuts are applied. We also show how to test the rich dynamics of the QCD multiple soft gluon radiation, among others by measuring the ratio ${R}_{\mathrm{CSS}}\ensuremath{\equiv}\ensuremath{\sigma}{(Q}_{T}g{Q}_{T}^{\mathrm{min}})/{\ensuremath{\sigma}}_{\mathrm{total}}. $
Diabetic Nephropathy: Pathogenesis, Prevention and Treatment

Diabetic Nephropathy (DN) is referred to as the kidney damage that occurs in people with diabetes, the earliest detectable change of which is the thickening in the glomerulus. DN is categorized into two stages; microalbuminuria and macroalbuminuria, in which the kidney leaks more serum albumin than normal in the urine. Increasing numbers of glomeruli are noted to be destroyed by progressive nodular glomerulosclerosis as DN progresses. Numerous signaling mechanisms like advanced glycation end products, enhanced reactive oxygen species generation and activation of protein kinase C have been noted to be involved in the pathogenesis of DN. Moreover, the risk factors identified in the development of DN include hypertension, hyperglycemia, hyperfiltration, smoking, advanced age and high-protein diet. Therapeutic options such as glycemic control, treatment of hypertension, hyperlipidemia are effective for preventing DN, but the numbers of diabetic patients on end-stage renal disease are still increasing and hence, therapeutic strategies preventing the pathogenesis of DN should be developed. In this paper, we review about various signaling mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of DR. Moreover, various therapies to treat DN have been discussed in the review.
Contrasting Mode of Evolution at a Coat Color Locus in Wild and Domestic Pigs

Despite having only begun ∼10,000 years ago, the process of domestication has resulted in a degree of phenotypic variation within individual species normally associated with much deeper evolutionary time scales. Though many variable traits found in domestic animals are the result of relatively recent human-mediated selection, uncertainty remains as to whether the modern ubiquity of long-standing variable traits such as coat color results from selection or drift, and whether the underlying alleles were present in the wild ancestor or appeared after domestication began. Here, through an investigation of sequence diversity at the porcine melanocortin receptor 1 (MC1R) locus, we provide evidence that wild and domestic pig (Sus scrofa) haplotypes from China and Europe are the result of strikingly different selection pressures, and that coat color variation is the result of intentional selection for alleles that appeared after the advent of domestication. Asian and European wild boar (evolutionarily distinct subspecies) differed only by synonymous substitutions, demonstrating that camouflage coat color is maintained by purifying selection. In domestic pigs, however, each of nine unique mutations altered the amino acid sequence thus generating coat color diversity. Most domestic MC1R alleles differed by more than one mutation from the wild-type, implying a long history of strong positive selection for coat color variants, during which time humans have cherry-picked rare mutations that would be quickly eliminated in wild contexts. This pattern demonstrates that coat color phenotypes result from direct human selection and not via a simple relaxation of natural selective pressures.
Validating video stimulus for eliciting human emotion: A preliminary study for e-health monitoring system

It has been known widely that human emotions has a significant effect on human health. There have been many studies that showed the positive and negative impact of human emotion to human's health. Even some emotions have been categorized as dangeraous for some researchers. In developing e-health monitoring system, sufficient knowledge in elicitating emotion and its stage are significantly important to recognize and early detect the patient's emotion. In this paper we evaluate the basic human emotions, such as Happy, Sad, Angry, Disgust, Surprise and Fear, and how these emotions can be trigerred by using an external stimulation, such as video. The main goal of this paper is to validate the 14 videos that will be used in e-health monitoring study to detect subject's fisiological pattern due to the expression of subject's emotion. Some video stimulations were used to elicit the basic emotion of 31 participants of people of Toraja, Indonesia. 14 videos from youtube were donwloaded to be used as stimulator. A questionnaire was prepared to be asnwered by participants to record their respond regarding the videos. Valid percent and Intensity are the two parameters that were used to determined the most effective videos for stimulating participants emotion. The result showed that all the 14 videos have been validated and showing that they can be used as a video stimulator for eliciting basic human emotion. Some videos showed ambiguity in eliciting emotion. Arousal time of all emotions was also recorded as an important aspect in this experiment result.
Analysis of channel characteristics and modeling of a transformer for PLC-based loss-of-mains concept

Loss-of-mains (LoM) protection is crucial in modern smart grids (SGs), where the number of distributed generation (DG) units has increased making the grids more complex. An LoM situation means that the DG unit(s) is/are still supplying the grid while the connection to the supplying electric power distribution grid is off. This can cause fatal injuries to humans and damages to the equipment. A power line communication (PLC) based LoM concept is introduced, where continuous signaling is used as an indication for the LoM protection from the primary substation through the MV grid, the MV/LV transformers, and each low-voltage (LV) grid to the customers. However, the MV/LV transformers constitute a barrier for the PLC. Thus, in this paper, the channel characteristics and modeling of the MV/LV transformer as a function of frequency in the frequency band from 100 Hz to 1 MHz is analyzed. A model for the transformer is compiled and verified by input impedance measurements.
Gene Expression in Human Primary Osteoblasts : Evidence for the Expression of Two Receptor Proteins

European Molecular Biology Laboratory (S.D., G.R., M.K., H.B., V.S.-B., F.G.), 69117 Heidelberg, Germany; Endocrinologie Moléculaire de la Reproduction (G.F.), UPRES-A CNRS 6026, Campus de Beaulieu, 35042 Rennes cedex, France; Department of Orthopedics (D.P.), University of Heidelberg, 69118 Heidelberg, Germany; and National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (K.S.K.), Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 27709