Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Variational Multiple Shooting: Theory and Applications

Electric low-thrust propulsion has nowadays found wide application in space dynamics as it entails considerable savings in spacecraft propellant mass, thanks to the very high specific impulse that this kind of engine is able to generate. However, continuous thrust opens new extensive sets of feasible trajectories, and optimization algorithms are needed to mine the admissible search space and find optimal transfers. Practical methods to solve complex optimal control problems as low-thrust trajectory optimization typically involve high computational times, the major bottleneck of these techniques. The objective of this work is the development of a novel multiple-shooting optimization tool, employing a variational approach for quick derivative computation, and the assessment of its performance against a variety of test cases. Indeed, after a first analysis of practical optimization methods, the derivative estimation by finite-difference approximations has been found as the major contributor to the computational burden, and the propagation of the variational dynamics has been selected as an accurate approach to speed-up their computation. The theory of variational dynamics for multiple-shooting application has been analyzed in detail, and further developed for what concerns the second-order equations. After practical considerations on the method implementation (scaling procedures, sparsity patterns, et cetera) and its interface with WORHP, the selected non-linear programming solver, the tool has been applied to a broad range of test cases, spanning from elementary problems to practical applications. For what concerns the latter cases, two complex problems were analyzed and optimized: a CubeSat rendezvous departing from Earth-Moon L2 and arriving at asteroid 2000SG334, resulting in a propellant mass convenient trajectory suitable for asteroid reconnaissance well before a proposed NASA manned mission in 2069; The Kessler Run, i.e. the 9th Global Trajectory Optimization Competition (GTOC9), in which the developed tool, employed as last step of the optimization cascade of Strathclyde++ team, managed to make the solution constraint-feasible, valid and further mass-optimal.
Raised interleukin-17 is immunolocalised to neutrophils in cystic fibrosis lung disease

Interleukin (IL)-17 is pivotal in orchestrating the activity of neutrophils. Neutrophilic inflammation is the dominant pathology in cystic fibrosis (CF) lung disease. We investigated IL-17 protein expression in the lower airway in CF, its cellular immunolocalisation and the effects of IL-17 on CF primary bronchial epithelial cells. Immunohistochemistry was performed on explanted CF lungs and compared with the non-suppurative condition pulmonary hypertension (PH). Airway lavages and epithelial cultures were generated from explanted CF lungs. Immunoreactivity for IL-17 was significantly increased in the lower airway epithelium in CF (median 14.1%) compared with PH (2.95%, p = 0.0001). The number of cells staining positive for IL-17 in the lower airway mucosa was also increased (64 cells·mm−1 compared with 9 cells·mm−1 basement membrane, p = 0.0005) and included both neutrophils in addition to mononuclear cells. IL-17 was detectable in airway lavages from explanted CF lungs. Treatment of epithelial cultures with IL-17 increased production of IL-8, IL-6 and granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor. In conclusion, immunoreactive IL-17 is raised in the lower airway of people with CF and localises to both neutrophils and mononuclear cells. IL-17 increases production of pro-neutrophilic mediators by CF epithelial cells, suggesting potential for a positive feedback element in airway inflammation.
Challenges to the Work Life of Academics: The Experience of a Renowned University in the Chinese Mainland

Under the major educational reform movement in the Chinese Mainland, which began in 1985, higher education was considered the most important apparatus for national development. The Ministry of Education initiated ‘Project 985’ to develop two top national universities into world-class universities. As part of this project to raise educational quality and academic standing, the Ministry of Education carried out a reform of the university personnel system. The reform aimed to launch a new system of employment practices based on performance and contract, with an emphasis on competition and rewards. This research focuses on the severe constraints academics at a sample university in China faced at the state, university and faculty level. First, at the state level, the state directly set the direction of academic research. Second, at the university level, the new employment reform was imposed using a top-down model. Most academics conformed to it but some employed a ‘double bookkeeping’ strategy. ‘Administrative domination’ also reflected a centralised approach at the university. Third, at the faculty level, a few academic-administrators held most of the decision making power. Academics urged the university to offer a more supportive environment for conducting genuine scholarship.
OCB as a handicap: an evolutionary psychological perspective

In this article, we seek to contribute to research on organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) by adopting a psychological evolutionary perspective that offers a novel way of interpreting such behaviors. Specifically, drawing on the handicap principle in evolutionary biology, we propose that by demonstrating the ability to bear the burden associated with costly OCBs, organizational members can credibly signal their otherwise unobservable capabilities to others. We develop a model that explores antecedents and outcomes of engaging in costly OCBs and offer avenues for future research within this framework. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Practice guideline update summary: Mild cognitive impairment

Objective To update the 2001 American Academy of Neurology (AAN) guideline on mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Methods The guideline panel systematically reviewed MCI prevalence, prognosis, and treatment articles according to AAN evidence classification criteria, and based recommendations on evidence and modified Delphi consensus. Results MCI prevalence was 6.7% for ages 60–64, 8.4% for 65–69, 10.1% for 70–74, 14.8% for 75–79, and 25.2% for 80–84. Cumulative dementia incidence was 14.9% in individuals with MCI older than age 65 years followed for 2 years. No high-quality evidence exists to support pharmacologic treatments for MCI. In patients with MCI, exercise training (6 months) is likely to improve cognitive measures and cognitive training may improve cognitive measures. Major recommendations Clinicians should assess for MCI with validated tools in appropriate scenarios (Level B). Clinicians should evaluate patients with MCI for modifiable risk factors, assess for functional impairment, and assess for and treat behavioral/neuropsychiatric symptoms (Level B). Clinicians should monitor cognitive status of patients with MCI over time (Level B). Cognitively impairing medications should be discontinued where possible and behavioral symptoms treated (Level B). Clinicians may choose not to offer cholinesterase inhibitors (Level B); if offering, they must first discuss lack of evidence (Level A). Clinicians should recommend regular exercise (Level B). Clinicians may recommend cognitive training (Level C). Clinicians should discuss diagnosis, prognosis, long-term planning, and the lack of effective medicine options (Level B), and may discuss biomarker research with patients with MCI and families (Level C).
Downsizing of coreless coils for transcutaneous energy transmission in implantable devices - Improvement of coupling factor and efficiency between coils

Transcutaneous energy transmission is useful for improving patient quality of life and for supplying energy to implantable devices noninvasively. To supply highly efficient energy transmission through the skin, it is necessary to increase the coupling factor between the coils and increase the inductance of each coil. In this study, the optimal shape required for the coils to increase the coupling factor was investigated.
An Experimental Study on How to Build Efficient Multi-core Clusters for High Performance Computing

Multi-core technology produces a new scenario for communicating processes in an MPI cluster environment and consequently the involved trade-offs need to be uncovered. This motivation guided our research and lead to a new approach for setting up more efficient clusters built with commodities. Thus, alternatively to the utilization of non-commodity interconnects such as Myrinet and Infiniband, we present a proposal based on leaving cores idle relatively to application processing in order to build economically more accessible clusters of commodities with higher performance. Execution of fine-grained IS algorithm from NAS Parallel Benchmark revealed a speedup of up to 25%. Interestingly, a cluster organized according to the proposed setup was able to outperform a single multi-core SMP host in which all processes communicate inside the host. Therefore, empirical results indicate that our proposal has been successful for medium and fine-grained algorithms.
Extraction of Bridges from High Resolution Remote Sensing Image Based on Topology Modeling

Bridges are the hubs of transportation, so it is important to identify and locate bridges for satellite image interpretation. This paper proposes a new method of bridge extraction from high resolution remote sensing images. Firstly, river regions are segmented and road lineaments are extracted. Then, bridge region is represented as intersection of river with roads or roads with roads by using the recognition model proposed in this paper. Finally, a rule-based procedure is applied to verify candidate regions. The experiment results show that, not only bridges over river but also the overpasses can be extracted effectively. The method mainly uses structural information of lineaments on roads and the topological relations in bridge regions, and does not rely on accurate results of river segmentation, so it is robust for complex scenes.
Quality Professionals: Does Training Make a Difference? A Personal Construct Theory Study of the Issue

A shortened group form of the Construct Repertory Test was used to study common characteristics and changes that take place in outlook during training. The personal perceptions and attitudes of a group of good social-work students, as compared to their older and more experienced supervisors, were studied in a design based on Kelly's Personal Construct theory (1955). Significant differences (P < 0.01) were found between the superordinate constructs of the two groups. The student group used most often concrete descriptive categories, such as age, sex and profession. Primary figures, such as father, mate or best same-sex friend, were the most influential in their construing process. The constructs of their supervisors showed a more abstract ability of concern with themselves, others and their task. Their concepts centred on the professional ideal and revealed an internalization of cherished values. The study suggests a developmental pattern of concept internalization, from the more concrete to the more abstract, from leaning on immediate external cues to relying on oneself and aspiring for professional ideals. This change is consistent with the goal of academic training in social work.
Making Money is not an End in Itself : Creating Meaningfulness among Employees of Social Enterprises

The different experiences, motivations and negotiations associated with the social and profit-making dimensions of money are of central concern to the employees of social enterprises. These negotiations become apparent because the social dimension plays a primary role within such organizations. Consequently, it is very important for employees that a balance should be achieved between the two. The meaningfulness of what social enterprises do in expression of their social relations introduces a broader discussion of employees as actors who are embedded within and act across several dimensions and traditions.
The Effects of Social Welfare Center Worker`s Public Service Motivation on Organizational Performance

The purpose of this study was to analyse the effects of public service motivation on organizational performance and suggest the theoretical and policy implications. For this purpose, this study measured the public service motivation and organizational performance of social welfare center workers, set up the study model to analyze the relationships between the public service motivation and organizational performance, and tested hypothesis through questionnaire analysis. The analytical results show that the public service motivation and organizational performance of social welfare center workers are relatively high on the whole. And attraction to policy making, commitment to public interest, compassion, and self-sacrifice as the elements of public service motivation appear to have significant effects on organizational performance. In this study, some theoretical and policy implications are introduced basing on the analytical results.
Architectural Patterns for RFID Applications in Manufacturing

When applying RFID in production, it needs to be integrated into the used IT systems. However, till today system designers cannot rely on a standard solution for integrating RFID technology in manufacturing software systems. Each manufacturer has to deal with the same challenges: No consolidated findings on how to integrate RFID into the IT infrastructure exist. The consequence is that each IT department has to develop a solution from scratch. In order to give well-founded design guidelines for embedding RFID into the company’s IT infrastructure, we conducted seven in-depth case studies of the state-of-the-art in manufacturing IT infrastructures. Our findings allowed us to specify architectural patterns for common RFID applications in manufacturing. With our work we support system designers in choosing the appropriate architecture for different RFID applications and design goals. We present our solutions in form of architectural patterns that enable manufacturing IT systems to benefit from RFID.
Differentiated Surveillance for Static and Random Mobile Sensor Networks

The utility of a wireless sensor network derives primarily from the sensing data it gathers. Therefore, a critical issue for wireless sensor networks is to efficiently provide sensing coverage. This paper proposes a scheme, enhanced differentiated surveillance (EDS), to maintain the required sensing coverage by establishing working schedules of sensors for the purpose of energy saving. In EDS, each sensor generates its working schedule in a distributive manner with only one message exchanged among neighboring sensors. The required coverage is continuously guaranteed when every sensor schedules on/off sensing states according to its working schedule. Compared to the existing coverage maintenance schemes, EDS exhibits the beneficial features of minimum communication overhead, fast convergence, load balancing, and an efficient battery discharge pattern. Integrated with a neighbor discovery protocol, EDS is applied to random mobile sensor networks, where sensors randomly roam and cannot control their movements. While there has been much research effort on coverage maintenance by utilizing mobile sensors that can automatically move, coverage maintenance in random mobile sensor networks has not been addressed in the literature. Simulation results establish EDS as an effective coverage maintenance scheme for static and random mobile sensor networks.
Of babies and birds: complex tool behaviours are not sufficient for the evolution of the ability to create a novel causal intervention

Humans are capable of simply observing a correlation between cause and effect, and then producing a novel behavioural pattern in order to recreate the same outcome. However, it is unclear how the ability to create such causal interventions evolved. Here, we show that while 24-month-old children can produce an effective, novel action after observing a correlation, tool-making New Caledonian crows cannot. These results suggest that complex tool behaviours are not sufficient for the evolution of this ability, and that causal interventions can be cognitively and evolutionarily disassociated from other types of causal understanding.
Super-Fast Delay Tradeoffs for Utility Optimal Fair Scheduling in Wireless Networks

We consider the fundamental delay tradeoffs for utility optimal scheduling in a general network with time-varying channels. A network controller acts on randomly arriving data and makes flow control, routing, and resource allocation decisions to maximize a fairness metric based on a concave utility function of network throughput. A simple set of algorithms are constructed that yield total utility within O(1/V) of the utility-optimal operating point, for any control parameter V>0, with a corresponding end-to-end network delay that grows only logarithmically in V. This is the first algorithm to achieve such "super-fast" performance. Furthermore, we show that this is the best utility-delay tradeoff possible. This work demonstrates that the problem of maximizing throughput utility in a data network is fundamentally different than related problems of minimizing average power expenditure, as these latter problems cannot achieve such performance tradeoffs
Extracellular Matrix and Growth Factors Improve the Efficacy of Intramuscular Islet Transplantation

Background The efficacy of intramuscular islet transplantation is poor despite being technically simple, safe, and associated with reduced rates of severe complications. We evaluated the efficacy of combined treatment with extracellular matrix (ECM) and growth factors in intramuscular islet transplantation. Methods Male BALB/C mice were used for the in vitro and transplantation studies. The following three groups were evaluated: islets without treatment (islets-only group), islets embedded in ECM with growth factors (Matrigel group), and islets embedded in ECM without growth factors [growth factor-reduced (GFR) Matrigel group]. The viability and insulin-releasing function of islets cultured for 96 h were significantly improved in Matrigel and GFR Matrigel groups compared with the islets-only group. Results Blood glucose and serum insulin levels immediately following transplantation were significantly improved in the Matrigel and GFR Matrigel groups and remained significantly improved in the Matrigel group at postoperative day (POD) 28. On histological examination, significantly decreased numbers of TdT-mediated deoxyuridine triphosphate-biotin nick end labeling-positive islet cells and significantly increased numbers of Ki67-positive cells were observed in the Matrigel and GFR Matrigel groups at POD 3. Peri-islet revascularization was most prominent in the Matrigel group at POD 14. Conclusions The efficacy of intramuscular islet transplantation was improved by combination treatment with ECM and growth factors through the inhibition of apoptosis, increased proliferation of islet cells, and promotion of revascularization.
Time Course of Current of Injury Is Related to Acute Stability of Active-Fixation Pacing Leads in Rabbits

Background Magnitude of current of injury (COI) consequent to pacemaker lead fixation is recognized as a predictor of acute lead stability. It is unclear whether dynamic monitoring of COI after lead fixation provides additional information beyond a single assessment performed at the time of fixation. Objectives This study was aimed to test the hypothesis that the time course of COI is related to acute lead stability. Methods and Results Active fixation leads with fixed screw were anchored to either Langendorff-perfused rabbit hearts endocardially or in vivo hearts epicardially in manners of contact the helix with no rotation, half rotation and full rotation, respectively. Intracardiac electrogram (EGM) was monitored dynamically from onset to resolution of COI, and magnitudes of intrinsic R wave and COI, including ST-segment elevation, ST/R and intracardiac EGM duration (IED), were measured. A digital force gauge was applied to assess lead stability. In vitro, COI in contacted leads was significantly smaller than those in half rotated (p<0.05) and fully rotated leads (p<0.05), and presented most precipitous recovery to baseline (1.5±1.1 min, p<0.05). Half-rotated and fully rotated leads manifested the same magnitude of COI right after placement. However, the time course of COI was significantly longer in fully rotated leads than that in half rotated leads (26.5±2.8 min vs. 5.6±2.0 min, p<0.05). Similar findings were observed in vivo. The time course of COI was significantly correlated with the force needed to detach the lead from myocardium (r = 0. 72, n = 48, p<0.001). Conclusions Time course of COI is related to acute lead stability in rabbits. One might be misled by a single assessment of COI magnitude right after lead placement, whereas persistence of COI is likely to be a useful indicator of adequate lead stability.
Structure and morphogenesis of the bacterial spore coat.

INTRODUCTION . 360 MORPHOLOGY OF THE SPORE COAT LAYERS . 361 Freeze-Etch Preparations and Sections of Control, Sulfite-Treated, and Mutant Spores . 361 Germinating Spores . 365 Comparative Structural Features of Various Species . 365 Parasporal Inclusions in Relation to Spore Coats . 367 EXTRACTION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF COAT POLYPEPTIDES . 371 DIFFERENTIAL SOLUBILIZATION OF SPORE COAT LAYERS . 381 KINETICS OF SYNTHESIS OF SPORE COAT PROTEIN . 385 MORPHOGENESIS OF THE OUTER COAT: INCORPORATION OF HALF-CYSTINE RESIDUES . 389 Model for Coat Assembly . 391 ANALYSIS OF PRESUMPTIVE SPORE COAT MUTANTS . 394 FUNCTIONS OF THE SPORE COAT . 395 SPORE COAT-RELATED PROTEINS . 396 CRITICAL REVIEW AND SUMMARY . 396 GENERAL REMARKS AND SPECULATIONS ON FUTURE STUDIES . 398 LITERATURE CITED . 399
Molecular Targeted Therapies Using Botanicals for Prostate Cancer Chemoprevention

In spite of the large number of botanicals demonstrating promise as potential cancer chemopreventive agents, most have failed to prove effectiveness in clinical trials. Critical requirements for moving botanical agents to recommendation for clinical use include adopting a systematic, molecular-target based approach and utilizing the same ethical and rigorous methods that are used to evaluate other pharmacological agents. Preliminary data on a mechanistic rationale for chemoprevention activity as observed from epidemiological, in vitro and preclinical studies, phase I data of safety in suitable cohorts, duration of intervention based on time to progression of pre-neoplastic disease to cancer and using a valid panel of biomarkers representing the hypothesized carcinogenesis pathway for measuring efficacy must inform the design of clinical trials. Botanicals have been shown to influence multiple biochemical and molecular cascades that inhibit mutagenesis, proliferation, induce apoptosis, suppress the formation and growth of human cancers, thus modulating several hallmarks of carcinogenesis. These agents appear promising in their potential to make a dramatic impact in cancer prevention and treatment, with a significantly superior safety profile than most agents evaluated to date. The goal of this paper is to provide models of translational research based on the current evidence of promising botanicals with a specific focus on targeted therapies for PCa chemoprevention.