Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Complexity of Manipulation in Premise-Based Judgment Aggregation with Simple Formulas

Judgment aggregation is a framework to aggregate individual opinions on multiple, logically connected issues into a collective outcome. It is open to manipulative attacks such as Manipulation where judges cast their judgments strategically. Previous works have shown that most computational problems corresponding to these manipulative attacks are \NP-hard. This desired computational barrier, however, often relies on formulas that are either of unbounded size or of complex structure. We revisit the computational complexity for a large class of Manipulation problems in judgment aggregation, now focusing on simple and realistic formulas. We restrict all formulas to be clauses that are (positive) monotone, Horn-clauses, or have bounded length. For basic variants of Manipulation, we show that these restrictions make several variants, which were in general known to be \NP-hard, polynomial-time solvable. Moreover, we provide a P vs.\ NP dichotomy for a large class of clause restrictions (generalizing monotone and Horn clauses) by showing a close relationship between variants of Manipulation and variants of Satisfiability. For Hamming distance based Manipulation, we show that \NP-hardness even holds for positive monotone clauses of length three, but the problem becomes polynomial-time solvable for positive monotone clauses of length two.
Are Hippoboscid Flies a Major Mode of Transmission of Feather Mites?

Feather mites (Astigmata) are distributed around the world, living on the feathers of birds, but their mechanisms for transmission among hosts are not fully understood. There is anecdotal evidence of feather mites attached to louseflies (Diptera: Hippoboscidae), suggesting that feather mites may use these flies as a mode of phoretic transmission among birds. Two bird–lousefly associations (alpine swift Apus melba–Crataerina melbae and feral pigeon Columba livia–Pseudolynchia canariensis) were inspected to test the hypothesis that feather mites use hippoboscid flies as major mode of transmission. Both bird species showed a high prevalence and abundance of feather mites and louseflies. However, no feather mites were found attached to the 405 louseflies inspected, although skin mites (Epidermoptidae and Cheyletiellidae) were found on louseflies collected from feral pigeons. This study suggests that feather mites do not use hippoboscid flies as a major mode of transmission among birds.
Prevalence, Patterns and Self-Perceived Effects of Pornography Consumption in Polish University Students: A Cross-Sectional Study

This cross-sectional online survey of Polish students (n = 6463) assessed the frequency and patterns of pornography consumption, its self-perceived effects, the prevalence of self-perceived pornography addiction, and opinions on the potential effects of pornography and its legal status. Nearly 80% of students have been exposed to pornography (median age of first exposure: 14 years). Streaming videos were decidedly the most frequent form of use. In the subset of current users (n = 4260), daily use and self-perceived addiction was reported by 10.7% and 15.5%, respectively. The majority of those surveyed did not report any negative effects of pornography use on their sexual function, sexual, and relationship satisfaction. Instead, over one-quarter of students in relationships reported beneficial effects on its quality. The most common self-perceived adverse effects of pornography use included: the need for longer stimulation (12.0%) and more sexual stimuli (17.6%) to reach orgasm, and a decrease in sexual satisfaction (24.5%). Females and males with a Body Mass Index >25 kg/m2 more often reported a self-perceived decrease in relationship quality associated with pornography use. Age of first exposure was significantly associated with reported need for longer stimulation and more sexual stimuli to reach orgasm when using pornography, decrease in sexual satisfaction, and quality of romantic relationship, neglect of basic needs and duties due to pornography use, and self-perceived addiction in both females and males. The highest odds ratios were always observed for age <12 years in reference to exposure at >16 years. In the opinion of most of the surveyed students, pornography may have adverse effects on human health, although access restrictions should not be implemented. The study gives a broad insight into the pornography consumption in young Polish adults.
MULTIVARIATE ANALYSIS OF BILIARY FLOW-RELATED FACTORS AND POST-KASAI SURVIVAL IN BILIARY ATRESIA PATIENTS.

BACKGROUND Biliary atresia represents the most common surgically treatable cause of cholestasis in newborns. If not corrected, secondary biliary cirrhosis invariably results. OBJECTIVE To evaluate, through multivariate analysis, the prognostic factors associated with the presence of biliary flow and survival with the native liver following Kasai portoenterostomy. METHODS The study analyzed data from 117 biliary atresia patients who underwent portoenterostomy and had suitable histological material for evaluation. A logistic regression model was used to assess the presence of biliary flow. Survival was investigated through Kaplan-Meier curves and Cox-adjusted models. RESULTS One third of patients achieved biliary flow and the median age at surgery was 81 days. Age at surgery, albumin, postoperative complications, biliary atresia structural malformation (BASM), liver architecture, larger duct diameter at porta hepatis, and cirrhosis (Ishak score) were the initial variables for the multivariate analysis. Age at surgery >90 days was the only variable associated with the absence of biliary drainage. Survival analysis revealed that the absence of biliary flow (P<0.0001), age at surgery >90 days (P=0.035), and the presence of BASM (P<0.0001), alone, could predict death or need for liver transplantation. Multivariate analysis demonstrated that the absence of biliary flow (P<0.0001 hazard ratio [HR] 6.25, 95% confidence interval [CI] 3.19-12.22) and the presence of BASM (P=0.014 HR 2.16, 95% CI 1.17-3.99) were associated with lowest survival with the native liver. CONCLUSION Age at surgery >90 days was associated with absence of biliary flow. The presence of biliary drainage and the absence of structural malformations are cornerstone features for higher survival rates with the native liver.
Perceptual Learning of Visual Span Improves Chinese Reading Speed.

Purpose Evidence has indicated that the size of the visual span (the number of identifiable letters without movement of the eyes) and reading speed can be boosted through perceptual learning in alphabetic scripts. In this study, we investigated whether benefits of perceptual learning could be extended to visual-span size and sentence reading (all characters are presented at the same time) for Chinese characters and explored changes in sensory factors contributing to changes in visual-span size following training. Methods We randomly assigned 26 normally sighted subjects to either a control group (n = 13) or a training group (n = 13). Pre- and posttests were administered to evaluate visual-span profiles (VSPs) and reading speed. Training consisted of trigram (sequences of three characters) character-recognition trials over 4 consecutive days. VSPs are plots of recognition accuracy as a function of character position. Visual-span size was quantified as the area under VSPs in bits of information transmitted. A decomposition analysis of VSPs was used to quantify the effects of sensory factors (crowding and mislocation). We compared the size and sensory factors of visual span and reading speed following training. Results Following training, the visual-span size significantly increased by 11.7 bits, and reading speed increased by 50.8%. The decomposition analysis showed a significant reduction for crowding (-13.1 bits) but a minor increase in the magnitude of mislocation errors (1.46 bits) following training. Conclusions These results suggest that perceptual learning expands the visual-span size and further improves Chinese text sentence-reading speed, indicating that visual span may be a common sensory limitation on reading that can be overcome with practice.
High Frequency Torque Ripple Suppression for High Frequency Signal Injection Based Sensorless Control of SynRMs

The main limitation for the wide application of synchronous reluctance motors (SynRMs) is the torque ripple caused by the special structures and control method. To lower the cost of SynRM drive system and expand speed range of SynRMs, high frequency signal injection (HFSI) is an effective sensorless control scheme for SynRMs to achieve low and zero speed operation. For the sensorless control, the low frequency torque ripple caused by asymmetric phase currents has been studied by some researchers, however, the high frequency torque ripple and the audible noise produced by it is mostly neglected and needs further investigation. This paper proposes a novel scheme for HFSI method to acquire accurate rotor position information and suppress the high frequency torque ripple caused by high frequency signals at the same time. Applying the special injection scheme, high frequency torque ripple suppression is achieved. The effectiveness of the proposed method is verified in test-bench experiments.
Variable Slave Force Gain for Oblique Coordinate Control Under the Presence of Time-Delay

Teleoperation gets a significant attention from the society, and 4ch bilateral control is known as a method to realize the haptics transmission. Its controller is able to achieve the rich haptics transmission, but the performance is degraded under the presence of time-delay due to the interference between the position and force controllers. In particular, its interference becomes larger when position and force scaling are set more than 1 and the mass difference between the master and slave is large. 3ch architecture has proposed to tackle with the performance deterioration when the position and force scaling are set more than 1, but no researches have conducted for considering both the scaling and mass difference. This paper considers the situation that the scaling are set and the mass difference is existed in addition to the time-delay. Oblique coordinate control is utilized, and the superiority of 4ch and 3ch architectures are discussed. The proposal takes the superiority of these two architectures, and its effectiveness was verified through simulations and experiments.
Extended Operational Range of Dual-Active-Bridge Converters by using Variable Magnetic Devices

This paper explores the use of a variable inductor as an energy transfer reactive element in a Dual-Active-Bridge (DAB) converter. By using a controlled variable inductor, the optimal switching region in the operation of the phase-shift DAB can be extended, and thus high efficiencies can be achieved over wide-load ranges. Moreover, the combination of the variable inductance with the phase shift as two independent control parameters allows for the linearization of the DAB converter transfer function, which gives significant merit to the implementation of the control function. And finally, it is feasible to reduce the magnetic core size, due to the controlled saturation of the device. To study those proposed improvements, a circuit-based model is developed to simulate the converter system. Furthermore, a prototype is constructed for the DAB converter including a controlled variable inductor and preliminary experimental results are presented which validate the studies carried out.
Moxibustion at CV4 alleviates atherosclerotic lesions through activation of the LXRα/ABCA1 pathway in apolipoprotein-E-deficient mice

Objectives: To investigate the anti-atherogenic effect of moxibustion and whether it is mediated through the reverse cholesterol transport process. Methods: 8-week-old male apolipoprotein E deficient (ApoE−/− knockout) mice were randomly divided into two groups (n=10 per group): atherosclerosis (AS) and AS plus moxibustion (AS+M). C57BL/6J mice of the same background (n=10) were selected as controls. Mice in the AS+M group received indirect moxibustion with an ignited moxa stick held over CV4. Mice of the AS and control groups were restrained in the same holder with an unlit moxa stick held over CV4. All treatments were performed for 20 min per day, 6 days per week for 12 weeks. After the treatment, the mice were euthanased and their serum lipids were measured. The aortic roots and thoracic aortas were collected for haematoxylin and eosin and red oil O staining, respectively, to analyse the atherosclerotic lesions. Expression of adenosine triphosphate binding cassette (ABCA)A1/G1 and liver X receptor α (LXRα) in the thoracic aorta were examined with Western blotting. Results: The moxibustion-treated (AS+M) mice showed a significantly lower plaque area percentage in the aortic root and thoracic aorta, and higher expression of LXRα and ABCA1 in the thoracic aorta compared with the AS mice. No significant differences were found in average lipid area percentage in the thoracic aorta, or ABCG1 expression in the thoracic aorta, between mice in the AS+M and AS groups. Conclusion: Moxibustion treatment at CV4 suppressed the progression of atherosclerotic lesions in ApoE−/− mice. The anti-atherogenic effect of moxibustion may be achieved by: (1) regulation of lipid metabolism, and thus prevention of lipid accumulation; and (2) upregulation of LXRα- and ABCA1-mediated cholesterol efflux in the lesion area.
[Expression of KCNA2 in the dorsal root ganglia of rats with osteoarthritis pain induced by monoiodoacetate].

OBJECTIVE To investigate the changes in the expression of voltage-gated potassium channel subunit KCNA2 in the dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons of rats with osteoarthritis (OA) pain induced by sodium monoiodoacetate and explore the mechanism. METHODS A total of 156 adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into blank control group, saline group and intra-articular monoiodoacetate injection-induced OA group. The paw withdrawal mechanical threshold (PWMT) was measured before and at 1, 2, 4, and 6 weeks after monoiodoacetate injection. At 4 weeks after the injection, the pathological changes in the knee joints were analyzed using HE staining and Safranin O-Fast Green staining, and the expression of activating transcription factor 3 (ATF-3) and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) in the DRG neurons were detected by immunofluorescence staining. The expression of Kcna2 mRNA in the DRG neurons was detected by RT-qPCR at 1, 2, 4 and 6 weeks after the injection. The expression of KCNA2 in the DRG was measured by Western blotting, and the methylation level of Kcna2 promoter region was measured by MSPCR at 4 weeks after the injection. RESULTS The PWMT of the rats in OA group was significantly decreased at 2, 4, and 6 weeks after the injection as compared with the baseline (P < 0.05 or P < 0.001) as well as the control group (P < 0.05 or P < 0.001). Four weeks after the intra-articular injection, fractures and defects on the surface of the articular cartilage, bone hyperplasia, and blurred tidal line were observed in the rats in OA group, but no obvious pathological changes were detected in the control or saline groups. Compared with those in the control group, the expressions of ATF-3 and iNOS were significantly increased (P < 0.01) at 4 weeks after injection; the expression of Kcna2 mRNA at 2, 4 and 6 weeks and the expression of KCNA2 protein at 4 weeks were all significantly decreased (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01), and the methylation level of Kcna2 gene was significantly increased at 4 weeks after the injection in OA group (P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS The expression of KCNA2 is decreased in the DRG neurons of rats with OA pain likely as a result of enhanced methylation of Kcna2 promoter region.
The virulence of trimethoprim-resistant thymine-requiring strains of Salmonella

SUMMARY A thymine-requiring (thy−), trimethoprim-resistant (tmpr) mutant isolated from the faeces of chickens experimentally infected with Salmonella typhimurium and treated with a mixture of trimethoprim and sulphadiazine was less virulent for chickens than the parent strain and a thy+tmps revertant prepared in vitro from the mutant. The difference in chicken-virulence was more noticeable when the strains were administered orally than when they were administered subcutaneously. All tmpr mutants prepared in vitro from four other salmonella strains were also thy−; those tested were less virulent for chickens and mice than their parent strains. After oral infection, thy− salmonella organisms were found much less commonly in the alimentary tract of chickens then were thy+ organisms. This was especially so in the caeca, the principal site of colonization of both the thy+ and thy− organisms. Relatively high concentrations of thymine or related compounds were found in the contents of all regions of the alimentary tract of chickens except the caeca; the caeca usually contained low or undetectable concentrations. The thy− salmonella strains would not grow on one brand of brilliant green agar because of its deficiency in thymine; their colonial appearance on other kinds of media used for isolating salmonellae from clinical material was often ‘un-salmonella-like’.
Implementation of connection management scheme of mobile stations in IEEE 802.11 WLAN APs considering transmission power control

Recently, in order to satisfy increasing demands for wireless resources, WLAN access points (APs) have been extensively deployed. As APs are densely placed, several problems, such as co-channel interference and load imbalance among APs, are introduced. Transmission power control of AP is considered as one of the techniques which can resolve the problems. However, if APs decrease their transmission power according to TPC policy, mobile stations (STAs) which are not located in the reduced communication region served by those APs are suddenly disconnected from their serving APs. This may degrade system performance. In order to alleviate the degradation of system performance, we propose connection management scheme for STAs expected to be disconnected after the power control of APs. The proposed scheme can improve data rate of the STAs by reconnecting them to neighbor APs which can offer the highest data rate. Moreover, in order to evaluate performance of proposed and conventional connection management scheme, we constructed testbed consisting of WLANs.
Design Guidelines for High-Power and High-Frequency Transformers

In power electronics, the tendency to increase power and frequency (in the range of several MHz) has become an actual concern and leads to challenging design of the magnetic components. The traditional design methods need to be adapted to this demand, since high frequency effects in the core behavior need to be considered, and parasitic elements play a key role. In this paper, a new design method for high-power and high-frequency transformers is proposed. FEA tools and semi-empirical approaches are used to achieve an accurate estimation of losses, parasitic capacitance and temperature. A class-D Push-Pull 13.56 MHz, 2 kW transformer for space applications is built as an example to validate the method.
Fraud Regulating Policy for E-Commerce via Constrained Contextual Bandits

Fraud sellers in e-commerce often promote themselves via fake visits or purchases to increase sales, jeopardizing the business environment of the platform. How to regulate the exposure of these sellers to buyers without affecting normal online business remains a challenging problem, since blocking them entirely without discrimination may kill the normal transactions and could potentially decrease the total transactions of the platform. To address this problem, we introduce a regulating valve which blocks fraud sellers with a certain probability. To learn the optimal blocking policy, we model the regulating valve as a contextual bandit problem with a constraint on the total transaction decline. Since existing bandit algorithms are unable to incorporate the transaction constraint, we propose a novel bandit algorithm, which decides the policy based on a set of neural networks and iteratively updates the neural networks with online observations and the constraint. Experiments on synthetic data and one of the largest e-commerce platforms in the world both show that our algorithm effectively and efficiently outperforms existing bandit algorithms by a large margin.
A Method to Fabricate Complex Structure for Variable Stiffness Manipulators Based on Low-Melting-Point Alloy

Compared to rigid manipulators, the soft manipulator can operate inside some special environments, such as cavity, assembled machine, or other crowded rooms. The movement of soft manipulators is generated by structural deformation instead of joint rotation used by rigid manipulators. Structure of the soft manipulator is often required to be complicated and lightweight to guarantee the load capacity and positional accuracy. 3D printing technology and casting can be applied to fabricate the above structure, but it is also difficult to be applied to fabricate a complex and variable stiffness structure. To solve the problem, we proposed a method to fabricate a complex structure with multiple hollow by assembling mold, which can achieve light weight and high rigidity of the structure. In addition, the molds are low-cost and easily to be assembled and disassembled, and low-melting-point alloys (LPMA) has good liquidity inside the molds. The structure fabricated by this method demonstrates large stiffness variation range and load capability.
Coadministration of muraglitazar plus glyburide: Improvement of glycaemic and lipid profiles in patients with type 2 diabetes

In this trial we evaluated the efficacy and safety of muraglitazar, a dual (α/γ) peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor activator, plus glyburide in patients with type 2 diabetes not controlled with sulphonylurea monotherapy. After 2 weeks of open-label glyburide (15 mg/day), 583 patients were randomised to additionally receive muraglitazar 2.5 mg, 5 mg, or placebo. End points included changes in HbA1C and fasting plasma glucose (FPG) at weeks 24 and 102, and changes in lipid parameters at weeks 11/12 and 102.At week 24, mean changes from baseline in HbA1C and FPG were significantly greater with glyburide plus muraglitazar 2.5 mg or 5 mg than with glyburide plus placebo (p<0.0001). At week 11/12, triglyceride levels were significantly reduced with muraglitazar (p<0.0001). During the extension phase, muraglitazar demonstrated long-term glycaemic and lipid effects through week 102. Although generally well tolerated, muraglitazar was associated with higher rates of congestive heart failure, cardiovascular events, weight gain and oedema.
Robust object finding vision system based on saliency map analysis

This paper describes a new method of constructing a saliency map that can be used in object finding for a robot vision system. A saliency map shows the weight of each pixel in an image. The weights represent the probability of the location of a given object. Traditionally, a saliency map is constructed based on the analysis of the image color features of the RGB color space. We redefine the saliency map of an image on the HSL color space, which makes our method more robust under a wide range of luminance. Experimental results show that the range can cover most cases in everyday life. Thus, the system can successfully find objects under different conditions and various light sources.