Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Trial Test of Fully HTS Induction/Synchronous Machine for Next Generation Electric Vehicle

Our group has tried to introduce High Temperature Superconducting Technology to electric vehicle (EV) drive motor, and developed High Temperature Superconducting Induction-Synchronous Machine (HTS-ISM). In this paper, 20 kW class HTS-ISM were designed and manufactured with DI-BSCCO wires. First, we developed and tested partial superconducting HTS-ISM (HTS rotor windings with copper stator) for clarification of the performance. We could observe the efficiency at 92.3% even for the light load. Furthermore, we successfully fabricated and conducted no-load test for fully superconducting HTS-ISM. It was verified that stable synchronous rotation at 1200 rpm was succeeded, which is the world-first success of achieving the rotation at over 1000 rpm for fully superconducting motor. Our results are one of the big steps for realizing the HTS-EV.
Quantitatively Assessed Dynamic Contrast-Enhanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Patients With Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: Correlation of Perfusion Parameters With Pulmonary Function Test and Quantitative Computed Tomography

Objectives:The purpose of this study is to evaluate the correlation of the perfusion parameters of 3-dimensional, contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance (MR) imaging (3D CEMRI) with pulmonary function test (PFT) and quantitative computed tomography (CT) parameters in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Materials and Methods:In 14 patients with COPD, 3D CEMRI was performed. From the signal intensity-time curves, pulmonary blood flow (PBF), pulmonary blood volume (PBV), and mean transit time of each pixel was calculated. From the volumetric CT data, the quantitative parameters including the volume fraction of the lung below −950 Housefield Units (V−950) and mean lung density were assessed. The correlation between the MR perfusion parameters and the parameters from quantitative CT and PFT was assessed using Spearman correlation analysis. The correspondence of the regional impairment of perfusion on MR perfusion maps to the areas of emphysema on quantitative CT maps in each patient was assessed qualitatively using a 4-class visual scoring method by 2 readers. Results:All 3D CEMRI examinations were successfully completed and MR perfusion parameters were obtained in all patients. The Spearman correlation test showed that PBF positively correlated with forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1)/forced vital capacity (FVC) (R = 0.49, P = 0.044), PBV positively correlated with FEV1/FVC (R = 0.69, P = 0.006) and negatively correlated with V−950 (R = −0.61, P = 0.020), and mean transit time positively correlated with FEV1 (R = 0.63, P = 0.017) and FEV1/FVC (R = 0.76, P = 0.002). The areas of perfusion impairment on PBF and PBV maps were relatively well correlated with the areas of emphysema on CT maps [very good or good: PBF 71.5% (reader 1) and 64.3% (reader 2) of the patients, &kgr; = 0.47 (P < 0.001); PBV 78.6% (reader 1) and 78.6% (reader 2) of the patients, &kgr; = 0.89 (P < 0.001)]. Conclusions:This study shows that the deterioration of perfusion parameters measured on MR in patients with COPD, correlates with worsening of airflow limitation on PFT and emphysema index on CT. Regional heterogeneity of emphysema on CT matches with the decreased perfusion on MR.
Opposition-based adaptive differential evolution

Differential evolution (DE) is a simple and efficient evolutionary algorithm. It contains three parameters which need to be predefined by users. These parameters are sensitive to specific problems and difficult to set. Opposition-based computing (OBC) is a new scheme for computational intelligence. OBC is helpful to existing techniques by making better decisions through simultaneous consideration of entities and opposite entities. The opposition phenomenon exists in the literature concerning parameter control of DE. In this paper, OBC is employed to assist with the solving of parameter control problem in DE. Employing OBC to parameter control problem in DE has not been reported previously to our knowledge. The proposed approach is called opposition-based adaptive DE (OADE). It uses two pools to respectively store parameters and opposite parameters. The parameters and their opposites are used at the same time to generate trial vectors in DE. During the evolutionary process, fitness improvement at a generation serves as a filter to detect proper parameters for optimization problems. The detected proper parameters and their opposites are stored in pools, whereas the improper parameters and their opposites are replaced by new randomly generated ones. The utilization of parameters and their opposites can balance the exploration and exploitation behavior of DE in one generation. The performance of OADE is compared with three other DE algorithms. The experimental results show that OADE significantly outperforms the benchmark algorithms. Moreover, OADE is not sensitive to the pool size.
Can Bailout Improve the Economic Welfare? A Structural Derivation of the Option Price

We developed a game-theoretic approach concerning the option pricing validity and tractability of which is ascertained by deriving the Black-Scholes formula. We also applied this approach to the welfare implications of the bailout policy. It is found that such a policy always worsens the economic welfare. This is because of the moral hazardous behavior of the buyer owing to the limited liability which is emphasized, for example, by Arrow [1] and Stiglitz and Weiss [2].
The Effect of Music Listening on Pain, Heart Rate Variability, and Range of Motion in Older Adults After Total Knee Replacement

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects that listening and not listening to music had on pain relief, heart rate variability (HRV), and knee range of motion in total knee replacement (TKR) patients who underwent continuous passive motion (CPM) rehabilitation. We adopted a single-group quasi-experimental design. A sample of 49 TKR patients listened to music for 25 min during one session of CPM and no music during another session of CPM the same day for a total of 2 days. Results indicated that during CPM, patients exhibited a significant decrease in the pain level (p < .05), an increase in the CPM knee flexion angle (p < .05), a decrease in the low-frequency/high-frequency ratio (LF/HF) and normalized LF (nLF) of the HRV (p < .01), and an increase in the normalized HF (nHF) and standard deviation of all normal-to-normal intervals (SDNN; p < .01) when listening to music compared with no music. This study demonstrated that listening to music can effectively decrease pain during CPM rehabilitation and improve the joint range of motion in patients who underwent TKR surgery.
Adjusting Haptic Guidance to Idiosyncratic Visuo-Haptic Matching Errors Improves Perceptual Consistency in Reaching

When subjects reach for a visual target with their unseen hand, they make systematic errors (visuo-haptic matching errors). Visuo-haptic matching errors are idiosyncratic and consistent over time. Therefore, it might be useful to compensate for these subject-specific matching errors in the design of haptic guidance to make the guidance perceptually consistent with the visual information. In this study, we investigated whether compensating for visuo-haptic matching errors results in better perceptual consistency in a reaching task. Subjects (N = 12) had to reach for visual targets with the handle of a haptic device (PHANToM Premium 3.0/6DoF) held in their unseen dominant hand without guidance, with haptic guidance toward the target position, or with haptic guidance toward the position they would reach for according to their idiosyncratic visuo-haptic matching error. We found that the distance between the aiming point of the guidance and the reached end position was smaller for the guidance toward the idiosyncratic matched positions, suggesting a larger perceptual consistency. Adjusting for idiosyncratic visuo-haptic matching errors seems to have benefits over guidance to the visual target position.
Bone microstructures and mode of skeletogenesis in osteoderms of three pareiasaur taxa from the Permian of South Africa

The extinct parareptilian clade of pareiasaurs was in the past often presented to constitute a morphocline from larger, less armoured forms to smaller, well armoured forms, indicating that the osteoderm cover became an increasingly prominent aspect in the post‐cranial skeleton of these animals. Here, we describe microanatomical and microstructural aspects of osteoderms of the three pareiasaur taxa Bradysaurus, Pareiasaurus and Anthodon from the Permian of South Africa. A generalized mode of osteoderm formation, consistent with intramembraneous skeletogenesis, is hypothesized to be present in all pareiasaurs. Few characters are shared between pareiasaur dermal armour and turtle shell bones and osteoderms. Otherwise, there is strong evidence from microanatomy and histology (i.e. absence of structures that formed via metaplasia of dermal tissue) that indicates nonhomology between pareiasaur dermal armour and the armour of living eureptiles. Analysis with bone profiler revealed no clear connection between bone compactness and lifestyle in the amniote osteoderm sample.
Effects of c-myc expression on cell cycle progression

We used targeted homologous recombination to disrupt one c-myc gene copy in a diploid fibroblast cell line and found that a twofold reduction in Myc expression resulted in lower exponential growth rates and a lengthening of the G0-to-S-phase transition (M. Shichiri, K. D. Hanson and J. M. Sedivy, Cell Growth Differ. 4:93-104, 1993). Myc is a transcription factor, and the number of target genes whose regulation could result in differential growth rates may be very large. We have approached this problem by examining effects of reduced c-myc expression in three broad areas: (i) secretion of growth factors, (ii) expression of growth factor receptors, and (iii) intracellular signal transduction between Myc and components of the intrinsic cell cycle clock. We have found no evidence that differential medium conditioning can account for the growth phenotypes. Likewise, the expression of receptors for platelet-derived growth factor, epidermal growth factor, basic fibroblast growth factor, and insulin-like growth factor I was the same in diploid and heterozygous cells (platelet-derived growth factor, epidermal growth factor, fibroblast growth factor, and insulin-like growth factor are the sole growth factors required by these cells for growth in serum-free medium). In contrast, expression of cyclin E, cyclin A, and Rb phosphorylation were delayed when quiescent c-myc heterozygous cells were stimulated to enter the cell cycle. Expression of cyclin D1, cyclin D3, and Cdk2 was not affected. The timing of cyclin E induction was the earliest observable effect of reduced Myc expression. Our data indicate that Myc contributes to regulation of proliferation by a cell-autonomous mechanism that involves the modulation of cyclin E expression and, consequently, progression through the restriction point of the cell cycle.
Robust preprocessing for stimulus-based functional MRI of the moving fetus

Abstract. Fetal motion manifests as signal degradation and image artifact in the acquired time series of blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies. We present a robust preprocessing pipeline to specifically address fetal and placental motion-induced artifacts in stimulus-based fMRI with slowly cycled block design in the living fetus. In the proposed pipeline, motion correction is optimized to the experimental paradigm, and it is performed separately in each phase as well as in each region of interest (ROI), recognizing that each phase and organ experiences different types of motion. To obtain the averaged BOLD signals for each ROI, both misaligned volumes and noisy voxels are automatically detected and excluded, and the missing data are then imputed by statistical estimation based on local polynomial smoothing. Our experimental results demonstrate that the proposed pipeline was effective in mitigating the motion-induced artifacts in stimulus-based fMRI data of the fetal brain and placenta.
Melatonin and the theories of aging: a critical appraisal of melatonin's role in antiaging mechanisms

The classic theories of aging such as the free radical theory, including its mitochondria‐related versions, have largely focused on a few specific processes of senescence. Meanwhile, numerous interconnections have become apparent between age‐dependent changes previously thought to proceed more or less independently. Increased damage by free radicals is not only linked to impairments of mitochondrial function, but also to inflammaging as it occurs during immune remodeling and by release of proinflammatory cytokines from mitotically arrested, DNA‐damaged cells that exhibit the senescence‐associated secretory phenotype (SASP). Among other effects, SASP can cause mutations in stem cells that reduce the capacity for tissue regeneration or, in worst case, lead to cancer stem cells. Oxidative stress has also been shown to promote telomere attrition. Moreover, damage by free radicals is connected to impaired circadian rhythmicity. Another nexus exists between cellular oscillators and metabolic sensing, in particular to the aging‐suppressor SIRT1, which acts as an accessory clock protein. Melatonin, being a highly pleiotropic regulator molecule, interacts directly or indirectly with all the processes mentioned. These influences are critically reviewed, with emphasis on data from aged organisms and senescence‐accelerated animals. The sometimes‐controversial findings obtained either in a nongerontological context or in comparisons of tumor with nontumor cells are discussed in light of evidence obtained in senescent organisms. Although, in mammals, lifetime extension by melatonin has been rarely documented in a fully conclusive way, a support of healthy aging has been observed in rodents and is highly likely in humans.
Looking forward to understanding and reducing colorectal cancer risk in inflammatory bowel disease.

response is diminished and the effect of mesalamine statistically enhanced. The less obvious lesson from this trial is that as we raise the bar on study design, we must also protect patients from exposure to what appears to be an increasingly ineffective treatment arm (placebo). We definitely are making progress in our study of UC and the development of novel therapies for it. As recruitment for clinical trials becomes more difficult and successful enrollment requires world-wide participation, homogenizing patient populations and disease assessment are clearly critical next steps. Enhanced technology to allow “real-time” (or near real-time) centralized reading is required until we identify completely objective and validated surrogate disease activity biomarkers.
Lipoic acid and vitamin C potentiate nitric oxide synthesis in human aortic endothelial cells independently of cellular glutathione status

Abstract Vitamin C and thiol agents improve vasomotor function. To determine whether these compounds directly affect endothelial function, nitric oxide (NO) synthesis was measured in human aortic endothelial cells treated with ascorbic acid or the thiol modulating agents lipoic acid or L-2-oxothiazolidine-4-carboxylic acid (OTC). A dose-dependent increase in A23187-stimulated NO synthesis and elevated cGMP levels were observed in all cases except for OTC. Cellular GSH levels were not significantly increased, and the GSH/GSSG ratio was not significantly affected by treatment of the cells with lipoic acid, OTC, or ascorbic acid. Thus, vitamin C and lipoic acid potentiate endothelial NO synthesis and bioactivity by mechanisms that appear to be independent of cellular GSH levels and redox environment.
3-D Displacement Measurement for Structural Health Monitoring Using Low-Frequency Magnetic Fields

Smart structures of the future will require a cost-effective, easily deployable solution for structural health monitoring. High loads on structures cause stresses that may lead to expansion of gaps, which are of utmost importance when it comes to overall structural health, as they absorb excess stress. Existing methods for direct displacement measurement of expansion joints are not ideal, as they operate under line-of-sight assumptions, are sensitive to moisture, or employ moving parts. In addition, the majority of existing sensors for structural health monitoring are uniaxial, and hence are fundamentally unable to measure 3-D displacement. Importantly, none of the existing wireless sensors for structural health monitoring can be embedded in concrete. We propose a system that uses low-frequency magnetic fields to conduct 3-D displacement measurement directly from within concrete, with a median displacement error of 0.5 mm in all directions, with a maximum separation distance of 50 mm between the transmitter and the receiver. The sensors can be attached to the concrete surface after the building is erected, or can be included in the concrete mix at manufacture, to monitor displacement between gaps in expansion joints, perform crack detection in concrete ties for railroads and in pavements, as well as aid position measurement for the assembly of premanufactured concrete blocks. Embedment in concrete allows operation throughout the lifetime of a structure, providing early warning of impending disaster and helping to inform repair operations.
ERP Implementation Success in Iran: Examining the Role of System Environment Factors,

The aim of this paper is to examine factors related to system environment (namely, system quality and vendor support) that influences ERP implementation success in Iranian companies. Implementation success is identified using user satisfaction and organizational impact perspective. The study adopts the survey questionnaire approach to collect empirical data. The questionnaire was distributed to ERP users and a total of 384 responses were used for analysis. The results illustrated that both system quality and vendor support have significant effect on ERP implementation success. This implies that companies must ensure they source for the best available system and a vendor that is dependable, reliable and trustworthy.
Opening the Black Box: Measuring Hospital Information Technology Capability

Abstract: Recently, health care investment in information technology (IT) has experienced a significant increase. Paralleling this increase has been an increase in IT capabilities. Despite the interest in and promises of IT in the health care setting, there is a paucity of empirical research that has attempted to define an organizational measure of IT capability. The dearth of research has contributed to the traditional belief that IT is perceived as a "black box," whereby organizational resources enter the box as "inputs" and are somehow transformed into positive outcomes for an organization. However, for positive outcomes to be realized, these outcomes must be measurable. This research uses a stakeholder perspective to develop a theoretically specified measure of IT capability. A latent construct, IT munificence, is proposed using tenets from diffusion of innovation theory and strategic contingency theory. The construct is tested using a sample of 1,545 acute care hospitals located in the United States. IT munificence fits the study data well, supporting the hypothesis that IT munificence represents a strategy of hospital IT capability.
Load and logic co-optimization for design of soft-error resistant nanometer CMOS circuits

Technology scaling has led to reduced noise margins and increased susceptibility of logic circuits to transient errors. In this paper, a novel methodology to increase the robustness of combinational circuits to transient errors is proposed. The number of errors propagated to the primary outputs (POs) is minimized by adding optimal amounts of capacitive loading to the POs of the logic circuit. Using a novel delay-assignment-variation (DAV) based optimization methodology, the sizes, supply voltages and threshold voltages of internal gates (not primary outputs) are chosen to minimize the energy and delay overhead due to the added loads. Experiments on ISCAS'85 benchmarks show that 79.3% soft-error reduction can be obtained on the average with modest increase in circuit delay and energy. Comparison with other techniques shows that our technique has a much better energy-delay-reliability trade-off compared to others.
A Multiobjective Genetic SVM Approach for Classification Problems With Limited Training Samples

In this paper, a novel method for semisupervised classification with limited training samples is presented. Its aim is to exploit unlabeled data available at zero cost in the image under analysis for improving the accuracy of a classification process based on support vector machines (SVMs). It is based on the idea to augment the original set of training samples with a set of unlabeled samples after estimating their label. The label estimation process is performed within a multiobjective genetic optimization framework where each chromosome of the evolving population encodes the label estimates as well as the SVM classifier parameters for tackling the model selection issue. Such a process is guided by the joint minimization of two different criteria which express the generalization capability of the SVM classifier. The two explored criteria are an empirical risk measure and an indicator of the classification model sparseness, respectively. The experimental results obtained on two multisource remote sensing data sets confirm the promising capabilities of the proposed approach, which allows the following: (1) taking a clear advantage in terms of classification accuracy from unlabeled samples used for inflating the original training set and (2) solving automatically the tricky model selection issue.
Normal Host Defense during Systemic Candidiasis in Mannose Receptor-Deficient Mice

ABSTRACT Pathogen pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) recognize common structural and molecular motifs present on microbial surfaces and contribute to induction of innate immune responses. The mannose receptor (MR), a carbohydrate-binding receptor expressed on subsets of macrophages, is considered one such PRR. In vitro experiments have implicated the MR in phagocytosis of mannose-bearing microbes, including Candida albicans, and enhancement of antifungal response by macrophages. However, the significance of the MR's contribution to immune response during systemic C. albicans infection has never been directly demonstrated. Using MR-deficient mice in an in vivo infection experiment, we examined the role of the MR in immune response during disseminated candidiasis. MR−/− and wild-type control mice were challenged intraperitoneally with C. albicans, and the survival rates, tissue fungal burden, inflammatory cell recruitment, and specific antibody production after infection were evaluated. We found no significant difference in survival between the two mouse strains. MR−/− mice had higher average fungal burdens in some of the organs on days 7 and 21 but exhibited competence in inflammatory cell recruitment and antibody production. We also observed in vitro that MR−/− peritoneal cavity macrophages were equally capable of C. albicans uptake and that phagocytosis could be blocked with β-glucan. We conclude that the MR is not required for the normal host defense during disseminated candidiasis or for the phagocytosis of C. albicans and that a β-glucan receptor may be required for C. albicans phagocytosis.