Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of selected natural dyes in reduction on colour changes of Egyptian linen textiles by fungi.

Linen is the most historical Egyptian textile fibre liable to fungal deterioration. Fungal deterioration of dyed linen textiles may appear as undesirable different stains. In order to success in removing of fungal stains from biodeteriorated historical Egyptian dyed linen textiles, it is necessary to understand the nature and causes of these stains, hence their subsequent removal. So this paper aims to investigate the effect of fungi on dyed linen textiles. In this study linen textile samples were experimentally dyed by two different dyes, blue one as an example to vat dye and yellow one as an example to direct dye. This work is done on two of the most important dyes (Turmeric and indigo), which were popular in most of historical periods in Egypt. Dyed linen samples were experimentally biodegraded by thirty different fungal strains isolated previously from historical Egyptian linen samples. The produced change in colours of the biodeteriorated samples was detected visually. Also, the change in reflection spectra and colour differences produced to dyed linen textiles after fungal deterioration, were assessed and evaluated by using spectrophotometer. This study reported that most of tested fungi contribute to discoloration of all tested dyed linen samples. These results indicate that most of stains on historical Egyptian dyed linen textiles, may be fungal stains. The results confirm that undyed linen textiles more liable to fungal biodeterioration than dyed ones. Also the results show that yellow dyed linen textiles are more susceptible to fungal deterioration than blue dyed linen textiles. The obtained results show that Alternaria tenuissima, Chaetomium globosum, Chaetomium sp. , Penicillium raistrickii, P. soppi, P. asperum, P. citrinum, Aspergillus carbonarius, A. fischeri, A. nidulans, A. terreus and A. niger, had showed the maximum colour changes of the deteriorated yellow dyed linen samples. The results also show that Alternaria tenuissima, Chaetomium sp. , Penicillium asperum, P. citrinum, Aspergillus nidulans and A. spinulosus, had shown the maximum colour changes of the deteriorated blue dyed linen samples.
Autobiographical memory and mentalizing impairment in personality disorders and schizophrenia: clinical and research implications

Clinicians in the fields of mental health, neuroscientists, and social psychologists have been increasingly interested in how persons with psychiatric conditions experience a range of difficulties related to how they think about themselves and others. These difficulties include problems forming and retrieving the specific autobiographical memories (AM) that ground a sense of personal identity (McAdams, 2001). They have also involved diminishments in the capacity to engage in acts of mentalization or metacognition which allow for the understanding of mental states. Both of these forms of dysfunction are of increasing relevance given that each has been commonly observed across different psychiatric conditions, appears relatively independently from symptoms, and is uniquely linked to functional impairment (Dimaggio and Lysaker, 2010; Liu et al., in press). To date deficits in AM and metacognition have mostly been analyzed separately. Psychopathology research has tended to explore either one or the other, thus neglecting the larger issue of how metacognition and AM are produced by systems which are likely closely related and likely feed and support one another (Markowitsch and Staniloiu, 2011). In development, AM and Theory of Mind (ToM) tend be influenced by common factors (Nelson and Fivush, 2004). Persons who present with overgeneralized AM also experience mentalizing problems including reduced affect awareness and poorer ToM (Palmieri et al., 2012). Psychotherapy research and general neuroscience have begun to examine how these functions support one another and how disruptions in either AM or metacognition might lead to decrements in the other. To explore this issue we review psychopathology research concerned separately with problems in AM and metacognition in two forms of mental illness: schizophrenia and personality disorders (PD). We then discuss the advances from psychotherapy research and neuroscience for understanding how these two phenomena are related and comment on opportunities offered by these insights for scientific and clinical work.
Fluence-to-absorbed-dose conversion coefficients for neutron beams from 0.001 eV to 100 GeV calculated for a set of pregnant female and fetus models

Protection of fetuses against external neutron exposure is an important task. This paper reports a set of absorbed dose conversion coefficients for fetal and maternal organs for external neutron beams using the RPI-P pregnant female models and the MCNPX code. The newly developed pregnant female models represent an adult female with a fetus including its brain and skeleton at the end of each trimester. The organ masses were adjusted to match the reference values within 1%. For the 3 mm cubic voxel size, the models consist of 10–15 million voxels for 35 organs. External monoenergetic neutron beams of six standard configurations (AP, PA, LLAT, RLAT, ROT and ISO) and source energies 0.001 eV–100 GeV were considered. The results are compared with previous data that are based on simplified anatomical models. The differences in dose depend on source geometry, energy and gestation periods: from 20% up to 140% for the whole fetus, and up to 100% for the fetal brain. Anatomical differences are primarily responsible for the discrepancies in the organ doses. For the first time, the dependence of mother organ doses upon anatomical changes during pregnancy was studied. A maximum of 220% increase in dose was observed for the placenta in the nine months model compared to three months, whereas dose to the pancreas, small and large intestines decreases by 60% for the AP source for the same models. Tabulated dose conversion coefficients for the fetus and 27 maternal organs are provided.
Analysis and evaluation of human factors in aviation maintenance based on fuzzy and AHP method

This paper aimed to develop a quantitative and objective method to analyze and evaluate human factors in aviation maintenance process. Firstly a detailed classification and causing analysis on human errors in aviation maintenance was carried out basing on SHEL and Reason Model; then an integrated evaluation solution was proposed out by using fuzzy and AHP method together. Then the solution was applied into practice for an evaluation case. Finally it concluded that Noise & vibration, Professional ethics & responsibility, Safety information sharing and Completeness of software & document took the four largest weights to the four first-level indices respectively. This comprehensive evaluation method was expected to be using in practice and provide effective support to prevent human errors and improve safety in maintenance organizations.
Eye-gaze interaction techniques for use in online games and environments for users with severe physical disabilities

Multi-User Virtual Environments (MUVEs) and Massively Multi-player Online Games (MMOGs) are a popular, immersive genre of computer game. For some disabled users, eye-gaze offers the only input modality with the potential for sufficiently high bandwidth to support the range of time-critical interaction tasks required to play. Although, there has been much research into gaze interaction techniques for computer interaction over the past twenty years, much of this has focused on 2D desktop application control. There has been some work that investigates the use of gaze interaction as an additional input device for gaming but very little on using gaze on its own. Further, configuration of these techniques usually requires expert knowledge often beyond the capabilities of a parent, carer or support worker. The work presented in this thesis addresses these issues by the investigation of novel gaze-only interaction techniques. These are to enable at least a beginner level of game play to take place together with a means of adapting the techniques to suit an individual. To achieve this, a collection of novel gaze based interaction techniques have been evaluated through empirical studies. These have been encompassed within an extensible software architecture that has been made available for free download. Further, a metric of reliability is developed that when used as a measure within a specially designed diagnostic test, allows the interaction technique to be adapted to suit an individual. Methods of selecting interaction techniques based upon game task are also explored and a novel methodology based on expert task analysis is developed to aid selection.
Reinforcement learning with extended spatial and temporal learning scale

In this paper, extended learning scale is proposed to improve the efficiency of reinforcement learning. The learning scale is defined and its impact on the performance of learning is investigated. Based on the correlation of the spatial or temporal neighboring states, fuzzy state and ant colony optimization are incorporated into reinforcement learning for the extension of learning scale. In the simulation experiments, the proposed learning methods with extended learning scale are applied in a robot path planning problem. The experimental results indicate that the extension of spatial and temporal learning scale improves the learning efficiency.
Stabilization of non-linear Inertia Wheel Pendulum system using a new Dynamic Surface Control based Technique

This paper considers the stabilization problem of inertia-wheel pendulum (IWP), a widely studied nonlinear mechanical system. The IWP is a classical example of flat under-actuated mechanical systems, for which the design of control laws becomes a challenging task owing to its underactuated nature posing problems in exact feedback linearization. A novel nonlinear controller design for the IWP is presented in this paper fusing recently introduced dynamic surface control with control Lyapunov function method. The proposed design procedure is shown to be simpler and more intuitive than existing designs. Stability of the controller and advantages over conventional energy shaping and backstepping controllers are analyzed theoretically and verified using numerical simulations
On Quantifying the Resistance of Concrete Hash Functions to Generic Multicollision Attacks

Bellare and Kohno (2004) introduced the notion of balance to quantify the resistance of a hash function <i>h</i> to a generic collision attack. Motivated by their work, we consider the problem of quantifying the resistance of <i>h</i> to a generic multicollision attack. To this end, we introduce the notion of <i>r</i> -balance μ<i>r</i>(<i>h</i>) of <i>h</i> and obtain bounds on the success probability of finding an <i>r</i>-collision in terms of μ<i>r</i>(<i>h</i>). These bounds show that for a hash function with <i>m</i> image points, if the number of trials <i>q</i> is Θ(<i>rm</i><sup>([(</sup><i>r</i>-1)/(<i>r</i>)])μ<i>r</i>(<i>h</i>)) , then it is possible to find <i>r</i>-collisions with a significant probability of success. The behavior of random functions and the expected number of trials to obtain an <i>r</i>-collision is studied. These results extend and complete the earlier results obtained by Bellare and Kohno (2004) for collisions (i.e., <i>r</i>=2). Going beyond their work, we provide a new design criteria to provide quantifiable resistance to generic multicollision attacks. Further, we make a detailed probabilistic investigation of the variation of <i>r</i>-balance over the set of all functions and obtain support for the view that most functions have <i>r</i> -balance close to one.
Shape Features of 2D Figures

The symmetry-diagram was originally defined for symmetry recognition. As a consequence it has been proven that the symmetry-diagram shows the unique shape property of the two-dimensional (2D) figures. The symmetry-diagram is different in the case of 2D figures having a different shape. It is very sensitive to the smallest change in the shape. The only exception for its applicability is the 2D figure having two or more concentric boundary loops.
Report of the Third QBF Solvers Evaluation

This paper reports about the 2005 comparative evaluation of solvers for quantified Boolean formulas (QBFs), the third in a series of non-competitive events established with the aim of assessing the advancements in the field of QBF reasoning and related research. We evaluated thirteen solvers on a test set of more than three thousands QBFs, selected from instances submitted to the evaluation and from those available at www.qbflib. org. In the paper we present the evaluation infrastructure, from the criteria used to assemble the test set to the hardware set up, and we show different views about the results obtained, highlighting the strength of different solvers and the relative hardness of the instances included in the test set.
Salivary Film Expresses a Complex, Macromolecular Binding Site for Streptococcus sanguis *

Teeth in the oral cavity are coated with a salivary film or pellicle, which lacks apparent intermolecular organization. This heterogeneous film facilitates binding of early commensal colonizing bacteria, including Streptococcus sanguis. To test the hypothesis that sufficient intermolecular organization exists in salivary films to form binding sites forS. sanguis, an in vitro model of saliva-coated teeth was probed with murine anti-idiotypical monoclonal antibodies (mAb2, anti-ids). The anti-ids were harvested from hybridomas that were developed in response to first generation murine hybridomas that produced anti-S. sanguis adhesin monoclonal antibodies (mAb1). The anti-ids (i) reacted with experimental salivary films and inhibited S. sanguis adhesion in a dose-dependent fashion. In Western blots, the anti-ids (ii) recognized a high molecular weight salivary antigen and (iii) secretory IgA (sIgA) light chain and α-amylase. After isolation by gel filtration from whole saliva or mixed secretory IgA and α-amylase, the high molecular weight component, containing amylase activity and sIgA, bound to hydroxyapatite to promote adhesion of S. sanguis. Therefore, a complex enriched in secretory immunoglobulin A and α-amylase forms a S. sanguis-binding site.
Maternal Diet and Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in Young Children

Because leukemia clone-specific chromosomal abnormalities are present at birth in children who later develop leukemia, it has been hypothesized that maternal factors, including nutrition during pregnancy, might affect the risk of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) among young children. We have evaluated this hypothesis in a nationwide case-control study of ALL among children ages 12 to 59 months in Greece. Children (n = 131) with ALL were gender and age matched to control children (n = 131) hospitalized for minor conditions between 1999 and 2003. The mothers of the children were interviewed in person by trained interviewers who used an extensive food frequency questionnaire addressing diet during the index pregnancy. The analysis was done by modeling the data through conditional logistic regression, also controlling for total energy intake and possible confounding factors. Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were expressed per quintile increase of maternal intake during pregnancy of the specified food group. The risk of ALL in the offspring was lower with increased maternal intake of fruits (OR, 0.72; 95% CI, 0.57-0.91), vegetables (OR, 0.76; 95% CI, 0.60-0.95), and fish and seafood (OR, 0.72; 95% CI, 0.59-0.89) and higher with increased maternal intake of sugars and syrups (OR, 1.32; 95% CI, 1.05-1.67) and meat and meat products (OR, 1.25; 95% CI, 1.00-1.57). Children of women who tend to consume during their pregnancies what is currently considered to be a healthy diet maybe at lower risk of ALL.
Prospective analysis of risk factors for nursing home placement of dementia patients

Objective: To examine risk factors for nursing home placement in a community-based dementia cohort. Methods: Cognitively normal participants and cognitively impaired patients from a large AD Patient Registry were followed from diagnosis to placement, death, or last follow-up. This included over 3,600 person-years of surveillance. The normal group included 473 participants who did not, at any point, meet Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 3rd ed., revised (DSM-III-R) criteria for dementia. The patient group included 512 patients who met DSM-III-R criteria for dementia or criteria for mild cognitive impairment at diagnosis. Demographic, medical, social, cognitive, behavioral, and functional predictors of time to placement were examined using Cox modeling. Results: In the normal group, only 21 people (4%) required nursing home placement. With subjects, enrollment year, age at initial evaluation, being widowed, and living in a retirement community were associated with time to placement in separate univariate analyses. Of 512 cognitively impaired patients, 203 (39.6%) were placed in nursing homes. Median time from diagnosis to placement was 5.3 years. Within the patient sample, four predictors were determined to be associated with time to nursing home placement. These included gender, enrollment year, functional status, and cognitive score. Interactions were present for functional status with cognitive score and enrollment year. Conclusion: In patients with dementia who are within 5 years of diagnosis, placement rates of approximately 10% per year can be expected. Disease severity indices including degree of cognitive and functional impairment are primary risk factors for placement.
Design of critically subsampled DFT filter-banks with allpass polyphase filters and near-perfect reconstruction

A new design for a recursive DFT analysis-synthesis filter-bank (AS FB) with critical subsampling and near-perfect reconstruction is proposed. The analysis filter-bank consists of allpass polyphase filters to achieve a high frequency selectivity with a low algorithmic complexity and low signal delay. The condition for perfect reconstruction (PR) leads to either unstable or anti-causal synthesis filters. This problem is solved by stable allpass polyphase synthesis filters which are designed by analytical closed-form expressions. The first design can achieve arbitrarily small aliasing, amplitude and phase distortions in dependence of the tolerable signal delay and algorithmic complexity. The second design avoids aliasing and amplitude distortions and minimizes the phase distortions at the expense of an increased system delay. The proposed IIR filter-bank possesses also a significantly lower algorithmic complexity than comparable FIR filter-banks.
Coefficient comparison technique for identifying the fault types in underground cable

This paper proposes a novel comparison technique for identifying the phase with fault appearance in underground cable using Discrete Wavelet Transform. The Wavelet transform has been employed to extract high frequency components superimposed on fault signals simulated using ATP/EMTP. The fault type algorithm is constructed on the basis of coefficient comparison from signals decomposed from Discrete Wavelet Transform. Various cases studies based on Thailand electricity distribution underground systems have been investigated so that the algorithm can be implemented. It is found that the proposed method can indicate the fault types with satisfactory accuracy.
Recovery of a chromaticity image free from shadows via illumination invariance

A recent method for recovering a greyscale image that is free from shadow effects is extended such that the recovered image is a colour image, in the sense that 2-dimensional chromaticity information is recovered. First, the effect of lighting change, and thus to a large degree shadowing, is removed by projecting logarithms of 2D colour band-ratio chromaticities into a direction that is independent of lighting change. The resulting 2-vector colour does not contain the contribution of the original lighting in the input image, so this is restored by considering the chromaticity for bright pixels. The resulting image is improved by regression of the chromaticity onto the original image, with promising results.
Dexamethasone in the treatment of acute bacterial meningitis: the effect of study design on the interpretation of results.

Low doses of dexamethasone (4.8 mg per meter squared of body area per day) were compared to a placebo as an adjunct to a standardized antimicrobial treatment of acute bacterial meningitis in 102 infants and children. In attempting to ensure an equal risk of complications and sequelae in the two treatment groups, we matched the patients by age, state of consciousness, and etiologic agent; analysis was based on 86 matched patients. Complications occurred in 8 patients in the dexamethasone treated group and in 18 of the placebo group; the complications were milder in the dexamethasone group. However, these results must be tempered by the observation that nearly all complications occurred among patients who had an elevated level of CSF-COT on admission or evidence of meningitis existing for several days before hospitalization; both factors have been noted previously to be associated with increased risk of complications. Since our results reflect differences that were inherent in the groups at the outset, we must conclude that we have not demonstrated that low doses of dexamethasone have any significant effect on the course or outcome of acute bacterial meningitis.
Refractive and structural changes in silica glass induced by ultrashort laser pulses

We studied the behavior of filaments that are formed in the beam of ultrashort laser pulses via self-focusing effect. A refractive index change of 0.01 was confirmed by three independent image-analysis techniques. The waveguide structures were a few to 500 micrometers long depending on the numerical aperture (NA) of the ultrashort pulses. All the diameters were approximately two micrometers. We identified the conditions to produce one filament in one beam and produced waveguides using this single filament. By moving the focus along the optical axis, a longer straight waveguide can be produced. We also demonstrate that one can seize and translate voids formed by ultrashort laser pulses inside silica glass and can also merge two voids into one. We further present a clear evidence of a void and its surrounded region by showing scanning-electron-microscopic image of cleaved voids: we cleaved through the glass along a plane that includes the laser-ablated thin line on the surface and the voids formed inside.