Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Deployment of an Adaptable Sensorless Commutation Technique on BLDC Motor Drives Exploiting Zero Sequence Voltage

This paper introduces an improved signal processing technique of zero sequence voltage (ZSV) with the scope of position sensorless commutation of a BLDC motor drive system. Rotor position information is extracted in the proposed technique from ZSV. This signal includes all time intervals where back electromagnetic force (EMF) zero crossings (ZCs) occur, from which the commutation instants are determined. This technique exploits maximally flat group delay of Bessel low-pass filters for switching noise suppression. This attribute leads to a speed-independent time displacement of ZSV. The fundamental frequency of ZSV is determined through a median-filtering algorithm, which is required for a dynamic rate limiter that eliminates erroneous ZCs. In sequence, a pulse train is generated by the detected ZCs of the emerged signal and properly shifted to determine the correct commutation instants. The proposed technique ensures a wide operational speed range for the drive system. A theoretical analysis of the drive system is presented, considering a BLDC motor with nonideal back-EMF. Experimental results presented in this paper validate the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed position sensorless commutation technique under various operational conditions.
Genome‐wide analyses on high‐grade osteosarcoma: Making sense of a genomically most unstable tumor

High‐grade osteosarcoma is an extremely genomically unstable tumor. This, together with other challenges, such as the heterogeneity within and between tumor samples, and the rarity of the disease, renders it difficult to study this tumor on a genome‐wide level. Now that most laboratories change from genome‐wide microarray experiments to Next‐Generation Sequencing it is important to discuss the lessons we have learned from microarray studies. In this review, we discuss the challenges of high‐grade osteosarcoma data analysis. We give an overview of microarray studies that have been conducted so far on both osteosarcoma tissue samples and cell lines. We discuss recent findings from integration of different data types, which is particularly relevant in a tumor with such a complex genomic profile. Finally, we elaborate on the translation of results obtained with bioinformatics into functional studies, which has lead to valuable findings, especially when keeping in mind that no new therapies with a significant impact on survival have been developed in the past decades.
Simple Signals for Complex Rhetorics: On Rhetorical Analysis with Rich-Feature Support Vector Models

Most text displays an internal coherence structure, which can be analyzed as a tree structure of relations that hold between short segments of text. We present a machinelearning governed approach to such an analysis in the framework of Rhetorical Structure Theory. Our rhetorical analyzer observes a variety of textual properties, such as cue phrases, part-of-speech information, rhetorical context and lexical chaining. A two-stage parsing algorithm uses local and global optimization to find an analysis. Decisions during parsing are driven by an ensemble of support vector classifiers. This training method allows for a non-linear separation of samples with many relevant features. We define a chain of annotation tools that profits from a new underspecified representation of rhetorical structure. Classifiers are trained on a newly introduced German language corpus, as well as on a large English one. We present evaluation data for the recognition of rhetorical relations.
Artificial nerve conduits in peripheral‐nerve repair

Injuries to the nervous system are the result of mechanical, thermal, chemical or congenital pathologies and, if function is not restored, they lead to loss of muscle function, pain and impaired sensation. Current treatment modalities essentially coapt the two nerves ends together or place a nerve graft between the cut ends. However, clinical results have never been optimal, and therefore a quest for better options has taken place. In this review article we look at the synthetic and biomimetic options currently being tested as potential nerve grafts.
Obesity: Is It a Major Risk for Developing Aspirin Resistance in Older Adults?

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Building Software In-House : Too Much Control and Flexibility Practicum

As domain-specific software becomes more available, businesses face a dilemma: whether to acquire commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) enterprise management systems or to build them in-house. Companies choosing to create a product internally are often rewarded with flexibility and control over their development process and its results. However, when expanding, they can outgrow their ability to support the developed software. Working as a programmer at a medium-sized logistics company, Si-Trans, in 2010, I witnessed the long-term implications of an initial decision to build an information system in-house. While this decision was appropriate in 1997 because COTS alternatives were scarce and inapplicable, it created a favorable climate for inconsistent, ad hoc management practices within the entire company, in particular, software creation and maintenance. These practices ultimately contributed to Si-Trans’ inability to see an opportunity in the early 2000s when it was feasible and advantageous to adopt a COTS-based solution. This solution would have scaled better for the company’s growth and would have helped avoid an outstanding technical debt in the old system. By the end of 2011, Si-Trans finally considered the acquisition of an off-the-shelf information system, after having suffered substantial financial losses from the protracted in-house development.
A whale alarm fails to deter migrating humpback whales: an empirical test

Cetacean entanglements in fishing gear cost governments, fishermen and stakehold- ers millions of dollars a year, and often result in serious injury or death of the entangled animals. Entanglements have been implicated in preventing the recovery of some large whale populations. Acoustic deterrents on fishing nets are widely used to reduce incidental captures of dolphins and porpoises, but there is little evidence as to whether they effectively deter large whales. We tested whether a low-frequency whale alarm (3 kHz Whale Pinger®, 135 ± 5 db, 5 s emission interval and 400 ms emission duration) deterred Southern Hemisphere humpback whales Megaptera novae - angliae from approaching a potential source of entanglement. Northerly migrating humpback whale pods were tracked by an observer blind to alarm status (on/off) as they passed an alarm moored in the centre of the peak migration path. Of 137 pods tracked, 82 (60%) passed within the assumed detectable range (500 m) of the alarm, 51/78 (65%) when it was on and 31/59 (52%) when it was off (p = 0.18). There was no discernible response to the alarm. Whale pods did not dif- fer in directionality, course heading or dive duration when within detectable range of the alarm, whether it was on or off, and a number of pods passed directly over the alarm while it was opera- tional. This suggests that single alarms as currently configured and attached to a trap or pot line are unlikely to effectively deter humpback whales from approaching potential hazards, at least during their northerly migration phase.
[Induced sputum in children and adolescents with asthma: safety, clinical applicability and inflammatory cells aspects in stable patients and during exacerbation].

OBJECTIVES To determine the safety of sputum induction in asthmatic children and adolescents, to characterize sputum inflammatory cells while clinically stable and during exacerbation and to correlate sputum inflammatory cells with peripheral blood eosinophils, serum IgE and the degree of bronchial obstruction. METHODS Ninety-six asthmatic patients aged 6 to 18 years were recruited for the present cross-sectional study. Spirometry was performed before and after administration of a bronchodilator. Sputum was collected spontaneously or after induction by the inhalation of saline solution at increasing concentrations. Blood samples were obtained for serum IgE and eosinophil quantification. RESULTS Sputum samples adequate for analysis were obtained from 68 (70.8%) of the patients recruited. No relevant bronchoconstriction was observed during induction. The presence of a larger number of eosinophils in sputum did not correlate with more clinically severe asthma. No correlation was observed between the degree of bronchial obstruction, measured based on FEV1, and inflammatory cells in sputum, peripheral blood eosinophils or serum IgE. Larger numbers of neutrophils were observed in the asthma exacerbation group (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS Sputum induction was found to be a safe procedure for obtaining clinical samples from children and adolescents even during exacerbations, allowing for clinical and functional limitations. The 67% induction success rate was considered satisfactory. In this group of patients, receiving inhaled corticosteroids, eosinophil quantification did not distinguish between the clinical and functional severity of asthma and was independent of the degree of airway obstruction. A proportional predominance of neutrophils was observed in the sputum of patients with asthma exacerbation.
A Game-Theory Approach for Effective Crowdsource-Based Relevance Assessment

Despite the ever-increasing popularity of crowdsourcing (CS) in both industry and academia, procedures that ensure quality in its results are still elusive. We hypothesise that a CS design based on game theory can persuade workers to perform their tasks as quickly as possible with the highest quality. In order to do so, in this article we propose a CS framework inspired by the n-person Chicken game. Our aim is to address the problem of CS quality without compromising on CS benefits such as low monetary cost and high task completion speed. With that goal in mind, we study the effects of knowledge updates as well as incentives for good workers to continue playing. We define a general task with the characteristics of relevance assessment as a case study, because it has been widely explored in the past with CS due to its potential cost and complexity. In order to investigate our hypotheses, we conduct a simulation where we study the effect of the proposed framework on data accuracy, task completion time, and total monetary rewards. Based on a game-theoretical analysis, we study how different types of individuals would behave under a particular game scenario. In particular, we simulate a population comprised of different types of workers with varying ability to formulate optimal strategies and learn from their experiences. A simulation of the proposed framework produced results that support our hypothesis.
Attention Fine-Tunes Auditory–Motor Processing of Speech Sounds

The earliest stages of cortical processing of speech sounds take place in the auditory cortex. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) studies have provided evidence that the human articulatory motor cortex contributes also to speech processing. For example, stimulation of the motor lip representation influences specifically discrimination of lip-articulated speech sounds. However, the timing of the neural mechanisms underlying these articulator-specific motor contributions to speech processing is unknown. Furthermore, it is unclear whether they depend on attention. Here, we used magnetoencephalography and TMS to investigate the effect of attention on specificity and timing of interactions between the auditory and motor cortex during processing of speech sounds. We found that TMS-induced disruption of the motor lip representation modulated specifically the early auditory-cortex responses to lip-articulated speech sounds when they were attended. These articulator-specific modulations were left-lateralized and remarkably early, occurring 60–100 ms after sound onset. When speech sounds were ignored, the effect of this motor disruption on auditory-cortex responses was nonspecific and bilateral, and it started later, 170 ms after sound onset. The findings indicate that articulatory motor cortex can contribute to auditory processing of speech sounds even in the absence of behavioral tasks and when the sounds are not in the focus of attention. Importantly, the findings also show that attention can selectively facilitate the interaction of the auditory cortex with specific articulator representations during speech processing.
Quantitative Reconstruction of the Exterior Boundary Shape of Metallic Inclusions Using Electrical Capacitance Tomography

Electrical capacitance tomography (ECT) is a non-intrusive technology to image the permittivity distribution from capacitance measurements on periphery. Recent studies demonstrated that ECT can also be used to image metallic samples. A shape-based approach to reconstruct metallic inclusions quantitatively by ECT is presented, which incorporates information on the materials systematically. The formula to calculate the Jacobian is deduced with concise derivations. To deal with the problem that the traditional Tikhonov regularization method does not possess the immunity to generate deep concavities or the ability to escape from the situation, a penalty on the curvature is introduced. The penalty pushes the partial curves with deep concavities outward to gain more sensitivity. The performance of reconstructing metallic inclusions from numerical and practical measurements demonstrates the advantage of the presented algorithm in preventing deep concavities and achieving an overall approximation of the inclusions.
The Effect Of Stationary UV Excitation On The Optical Behavior Of Electrochemically Self-Assembled Semiconductor Nanowires

THE EFFECT OF STATIONARY UV EXCITATION ON THE OPTICAL BEHAVIOR OF ELECTROCHEMICALLY SELF-ASSEMBLED SEMICONDUCTOR NANOWIRES By Rajesh A. Katkar, M.S. A Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Virginia Commonwealth University. Virginia Commonwealth University, 2006 Major Director: Dr. Gregory B. Tait Associate Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering In this work, we investigate the optical response of the semiconductor quantum wire array when excited by stationary UV light. The array is synthesized by selectively electro-depositing the semiconductor material in electrochemically self-assembled porous alumina templates. Our studies are based on the optical behavioral changes in CdS, ZnO, ZnSe and CdSe quantum wires of 50-, 25and 10-nm diameters. We use a set of generalized Bloch equations to solve the interband polarization function of the semiconductors derived within the Hartree-Fock approximation, and theoretically model the UV excitation effect on the quantum wires. The solutions which xiii consider the effects of screening, Coulomb interaction between the carriers and many body effects on excitons are generated for a quasi-equilibrium regime using a devised accelerated fixed point method. The solution technique is developed in Mathematica to iteratively solve this complex set of equations. The optical constants generated for individual quantum wires are incorporated into a finite-element electromagnetic wave simulator, HFSS, to investigate the full behavior of the array of wires. Theoretically calculated values of the dielectric permittivity of the un-excited quantum wires are shown to decrease progressively as the wire diameter reduces. We perform the experimental analysis using a pump-probe excitation scheme incorporated in a sensitive Michelson interferometer in a homodyne setup. We measure extremely small changes in the phase shift between the interfering IR probe beams and hence measure the refractive index changes caused by the UV pump. While the decreasing filling factor acts to reduce the optical activity in narrower wire arrays, the shifting of the DOS function with additional quantum confinement serves to increase it. These competing effects give rise to the size-dependent non-monotonic optical activity experimentally observed in ZnO, CdS and ZnSe nanowire arrays. The simulation results show a rapid increase in the changes in effective permittivity values of the individual quantum wires as diameter decreases. The substantial changes observed in the refractive index for the whole thin film array at intermediate wire diameter sizes may be suitable for optical phase shifting, intensity modulation and switching applications in integrated optical devices. CHAPTER
Revealing important nocturnal and day‐to‐day variations in fire smoke emissions through a multiplatform inversion

We couple airborne, ground‐based, and satellite observations; conduct regional simulations; and develop and apply an inversion technique to constrain hourly smoke emissions from the Rim Fire, the third largest observed in California, USA. Emissions constrained with multiplatform data show notable nocturnal enhancements (sometimes over a factor of 20), correlate better with daily burned area data, and are a factor of 2–4 higher than a priori estimates, highlighting the need for improved characterization of diurnal profiles and day‐to‐day variability when modeling extreme fires. Constraining only with satellite data results in smaller enhancements mainly due to missing retrievals near the emissions source, suggesting that top‐down emission estimates for these events could be underestimated and a multiplatform approach is required to resolve them. Predictions driven by emissions constrained with multiplatform data present significant variations in downwind air quality and in aerosol feedback on meteorology, emphasizing the need for improved emissions estimates during exceptional events.
p600 regulates spindle orientation in apical neural progenitors and contributes to neurogenesis in the developing neocortex

ABSTRACT Apical neural progenitors (aNPs) drive neurogenesis by means of a program consisting of self-proliferative and neurogenic divisions. The balance between these two manners of division sustains the pool of apical progenitors into late neurogenesis, thereby ensuring their availability to populate the brain with terminal cell types. Using knockout and in utero electroporation mouse models, we report a key role for the microtubule-associated protein 600 (p600) in the regulation of spindle orientation in aNPs, a cellular event that has been associated with cell fate and neurogenesis. We find that p600 interacts directly with the neurogenic protein Ndel1 and that aNPs knockout for p600, depleted of p600 by shRNA or expressing a Ndel1-binding p600 fragment all display randomized spindle orientation. Depletion of p600 by shRNA or expression of the Ndel1-binding p600 fragment also results in a decreased number of Pax6-positive aNPs and an increased number of Tbr2-positive basal progenitors destined to become neurons. These Pax6-positive aNPs display a tilted mitotic spindle. In mice wherein p600 is ablated in progenitors, the production of neurons is significantly impaired and this defect is associated with microcephaly. We propose a working model in which p600 controls spindle orientation in aNPs and discuss its implication for neurogenesis.
AT1 receptor blockade delays postlactational mammary gland involution: a novel role for the renin angiotensin system

Angiotensin II (AngII), the main effector peptide of the renin‐angiotensin system (RAS), participates in multiple biological processes, including cell growth, apoptosis, and tissue remodeling. Since AngII activates, in different cell types, signal transducing pathways that are critical for mammary gland postlactational regression, we investigated the role of the RAS during this process. We found that exogenous administration of AngII in mammary glands of lactating Balb/c mice induced epithelium apoptosis [2.9±0.5% (control) vs. 9.6±1.1% (AngII); P < 0.001] and activation of the proapoptotic factor STAT3, an effect inhibited by irbesartan, an AT1 receptor blocker. Subsequently, we studied the expression kinetics of RAS components during involution. We found that angiotensin‐converting enzyme (ACE) mRNA expression peaked 6 h after weaning (5.7‐fold; P<0.01), while induction of angiotensinogen and AT1 and AT2 receptors expression was detected 96 h after weaning (6.2‐, 10‐, and 6.2‐fold increase, respectively; P<0.01). To assess the role of endogenously generated AngII, mice were treated with losartan, an AT1 receptor blocker, during mammary involution. Mammary glands from losartan‐treated mice showed activation of the survival factors AKT and BCL‐XL, significantly lower LIF and TNF‐α mRNA expression (P<0.05), reduced apoptosis [12.1±2.1% (control) vs. 4.8±0.7% (losartan); P<0.001] and shedding of epithelial cells, inhibition of MMP‐9 activity in a dose‐dependent manner (80%; P<0.05; with losartan IC50 value of 6.9 mg/kg/d] and lower collagen deposition and adipocyte invasion causing a delayed involution compared to vehicle‐treated mice. Furthermore, mammary glands of forced weaned AT1A‐ and/or AT1B‐deficient mice exhibited retarded apoptosis of epithelial cells [6.3±0.95% (WT) vs. 3.3±0.56% (AT1A/AT1B DKO); P<0.05] with remarkable delayed postlactational regression compared to wild‐type animals. Taken together, these results strongly suggest that AngII, via the AT1 receptor, plays a major role in mouse mammary gland involution identifying a novel role for the RAS. —Nahmod, K. A. , Walther, T. , Cambados, N. , Fernandez, N. , Meiss, R. , Tappenbeck, N. , Wang, Y. , Raffo, D. , Simian, M. , Schwiebs, A. , Pozner, R. G. , Fuxman Bass, J. I. , Pozzi, A. G. , Geffner, J. R. , Kordon, E. C. , Schere‐Levy, C. AT1 receptor blockade delays postlactational mammary gland involution: a novel role for the renin angiotensin system. FASEB J. 26, 1982‐1994 (2012). www.fasebj. org