Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Tertiary Controller-Based Optimal Voltage and Frequency Management Technique for Multi-Microgrid Systems of Large Remote Towns

A voltage-frequency management technique is proposed in this paper to retain these quantities within acceptable limits in remote islanded microgrids (MGs). The proposed technique gets activated when existing techniques that control the energy storages or adjust the set-points of generators are not successful. This technique aims to provide external support to an overloaded MG or the one with excessive renewable generation by coupling it to one or more suitable neighboring islanded MGs at the lowest cost. The selected neighboring MGs should have enough unused generation capacity or available loading capacity to support the overloaded or over-generating ones. The technique finds an optimal mixture of demand response (load decrease or increase), energy storage charging and discharging, and renewable curtailment as the other auxiliary options. It is based on a modified version of particle swarm optimization with a suitable convergence for near real-time applications. An objective function which considers different technical, operational, and environmental aspects is formulated, and the required constraints are highlighted. Several simulation studies are also presented to validate its performance.
Efficacy of Continuation/Maintenance Electroconvulsive Therapy in the Treatment of Patients With Mood Disorders: A Retrospective Analysis.

OBJECTIVE The aim of the study was to contribute evidence for the efficacy of continuation and maintenance electroconvulsive therapy (c/mECT) going beyond the existing literature by examining longer-term outcomes from a single center. METHODS We conducted a retrospective observational cohort study for a 14-year period, in which a group of 27 individuals with mood disorders, as defined by International Classification of Diseases-10, were examined and received acute ECT, followed by c/mECT. Mirror-image comparison of individual data sets, 5 years before and after c/mECT, was conducted for the number and mean duration of hospitalizations, as well as inpatient days per year. Statistical analysis was performed using general equation estimation modeling. RESULTS In 27 patients (63% female, mean ± SD age = 54.3 ± 11.7 years) experiencing either from bipolar (41%) or unipolar (59%) mood disorder, with most patients presenting with a depressive episode at hospital admission (93%), c/mECT was initiated after a successful course of acute ECT in addition to treatment as usual. In a 5-year period before and after starting c/mECT, we observed a significant decline in the mean number of hospitalizations per year (0.64 vs 0.32, P = 0.031), the average number of inpatient days per year (23.7 vs 6.1 days, P < 0.001), and the mean duration of hospital stays (41.6 vs 22.1 days, P = 0.031). CONCLUSIONS The findings provide further support for the efficacy of c/mECT as an augmentation therapy to psychopharmacological treatment in patients experiencing mood disorders, who have responded to acute ECT. Further studies, however, using a controlled study design and larger sample sizes are needed.
Intrinsic Determinants of Axon Regeneration

The failure of axons to regenerate in the damaged mammalian CNS is the main impediment to functional recovery. There are many molecules and structures in the environment of the injured nervous system that can inhibit regeneration, but even when these are removed or replaced with a permissive environment, most CNS neurons exhibit little regeneration of their axons. This contrasts with the extensive and vigorous axon growth that may occur when embryonic neurons are transplanted into the adult CNS. In the peripheral nervous system, the axons usually respond to axotomy with a vigorous regenerative response accompanied by a regenerative program of gene expression, usually referred to as the regeneration‐associated gene (RAG) program. These different responses to axotomy in the mature and immature CNS and the PNS lead to the concept of the intrinsic regenerative response of axons. Analysis of the many mechanisms and issues that affect the intrinsic regenerative response is the topic of this special issue of Developmental Neurobiology. The review articles highlight the control of expression of growth and regeneration‐associated genes, emphasizing the role of epigenetic mechanisms. The reviews also discuss changes within axons that lead to the developmental loss of regenerative ability. This is caused by changes in axonal transport and trafficking, in the cytoskeleton and in signaling pathways.
User Identification System Using Biometrics Speaker Recognition by MFCC and DTW Along with Signal Processing Package

User identification proof framework is essential for securing data from illicit access. To build a robust user identification system using voice, a new system is proposed to identify users using Mel-Scale Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCC) and Dynamic Time Warping (DTW) along with a package of digital signal processing. Human voice is a sign of boundless data. Precise voice recognition requires computerized processing. Proposed method extracts unique features from a voice signal by MFCC and DTW to compare the components between two signals with the aid of some efficient signal processing such as filtering, signal alignment, removing unvoiced part, amplitude normalization and zero-part removal. All these steps work perfectly for accurate voice signal recognition. Based on the similarity between voice signals, it distinguishes different users and grant access to the secured area for multiple users which could be substantial for internal security for any classified organization or nation.
The effects of a nutrition education curriculum on improving young children’s fruit and vegetable preferences and nutrition and health knowledge

Abstract Objective The main objective of the present study was to develop and evaluate a nutrition education curriculum to enhance young children’s dietary behaviours and nutrition and health knowledge. Design A randomized controlled design was utilized. The intervention was designed to improve children’s nutrition and health knowledge and preferences for fruits and vegetables through classroom lessons and activities, including direct instruction and tastings (implemented twice per week for 6 weeks). Setting The study took place in elementary schools in a Midwestern US state. Subjects One hundred and thirty-one 2nd grade children from ten classrooms (n 82 intervention, n 49 control) participated. Results Multiple regression analyses that adjusted se for clustering by classroom were used to test hypotheses. Children in the intervention condition demonstrated significantly higher scores on the nutrition and health survey (β=0·47, P=0·001) and showed greater preferences for fruits and vegetables at post-test than the control group (β=0·19, P=0·003). Conclusions Findings suggest that a short, 6-week intervention that aligns with educational standards has the ability to significantly enhance children’s outcomes and thus may be a more feasible option for teachers to incorporate into their classrooms than what is currently available.
Experimental Characterization of the Influence of Transverse Prestrain on the Piezoresistive Coefficients of Heavily Doped n-Type Silicon

Strain has been integrated into many silicon devices, as it has an essential impact on carrier mobility and crystal symmetry. Those parameters respond differently under both biaxial and uniaxial, so their effect needs to be quantified to successfully employ the strain engineering in different silicon applications. As an extended step toward utilizing strain in enhancing the sensitivity and the temperature independency of a 3-D stress sensor, the effect of uniaxial transverse strain onto the piezoresistive (PR) coefficients of heavily doped n-type silicon will be experimentally characterized. A new design was developed to apply the transverse tensile and compressive uniaxial stresses onto the silicon substrate using a highly compressive nitride layer. This stressing technique was integrated with six PR elements rosette to fully calibrate the PR coefficients, where unstrained, tensile, and compressive strained PRs are fabricated within the same chip to accurately quantify the strain impact. Four-point bending, stress-free temperature, and hydrostatic test were used to typically measure the PR coefficients. Strain values of 0.065% and 0.083% $\varepsilon $ were achieved locally using both the tensile and compressive stressors, respectively. Under this level of strain, the typical result shows opposite impact for both the tensile and compressive transverse strains on the longitudinal and transverse PR coefficients. Moreover, an increase up to 80% can be achieved for the pressure coefficient of heavily doped n-type silicon due to the compressive transverse strain.
The effects of SIRT1/FoxO1 on LPS induced INS-1 cells dysfunction

Abstract Oxidative stress is one of the key mechanisms of sepsis related organ dysfunction including stress hyperglycemia. Silent mating type information regulation 2 homolog 1 (SIRT1) could regulate glucose metabolism through its deacetylase activity. In this study, we aimed to investigate the role of SIRT1/forkhead box protein 1 (FoxO1) pathway on lipopolysaccharide (LPS) induced INS-1 cells dysfunction from aspects of oxidative stress and apoptosis. After being treated with 1 mg/L LPS together with or without SIRT1 activator resveratrol (RSV) or SIRT1 inhibitor EX527, cell viability, ROS generation, malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxide, insulin secretion, and activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) in INS-1 cells were measured by specific assays. Protein expression of SIRT1, FoxO1, toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), and acetylated FoxO1 (ac-FoxO1) were detected by western blot analysis. Nuclear and cytoplasmic protein was extracted respectively to analyze SIRT1 and FoxO1 redistribution. Mitochondrial potentials and apoptosis were detected by flow cytometry or observed under fluorescence microscope. Results showed that LPS decreased cell viability and insulin secretion, increased ROS, MDA, and superoxide generation, whereas inhibited SOD activity and FoxO1 nuclear transportation. Activation of SIRT1 by RSV down-regulated TLR4 expression, SIRT1 and FoxO1 nuclear protein expression increased after RSV pretreatment. Additionally, LPS induced decreased mitochondrial membrane potentials and structural abnormalities, which could be partially reversed by RSV. SIRT1/FoxO1 may be one of potential targets which could resist against LPS-induced INS-1 cells from oxidative stress damage and mitochondrial dysfunction.
Salient Object Segmentation Based on Superpixel and Background Connectivity Prior

Salient object segmentation is well known for detecting and segmenting objects using saliency map as input. In this paper, we propose a salient object segmentation method which integrates saliency, superpixel, and background connectivity prior. First, our method extracts the superpixels of an image by the simple linear iterative clustering algorithm. Second, based on superpixel representation, we use background connectivity prior to characterize the spatial layout of each superpixel in a color space with respect to the image boundary. Third, considering both saliency and background connectivity values, we label four kinds of superpixel-level seeds and feed them to superpixel-level GrabCut method. Because superpixel representation generates only a few seeds, the optimization of GrabCut method converges fast. Finally, for further improvement, we crop a rectangular region which contains the segmented object obtained in the third step and apply GrabCut at the pixel level to produce the final segmentation result. Experimental results on eight typical datasets demonstrate that in terms of both performance and computational efficiency, the proposed segmentation method outperforms existing state-of-the-art methods.
Immutable Autobiography of Smart Cars

The popularity of smart cars is increasing around the world as they offer a wide range of services and conveniences.These smart cars are equipped with a variety of sensors generating a large amount of data, many of which are sensitive. Besides, there are multiple parties involved in a lifespan of a smart car ,such as manufacturers, car owners, government agencies, and third-party service providers who also produce data about the vehicle. In addition to managing and sharing data amongst these entities in a secure and privacy-friendly way which is a great challenge itself, there exists a trust deficit about some types of data as they remain under the custody of the car owner(e.g. satellite navigation and mileage data) and can easily be manipulated. In this paper, we propose a blockchain supported architecture enabling the owner of a smart car to create an immutable record of every data, called the auto biography of a car, generated within its lifespan. We also explain how the trust about this record is guaranteed by the immutability characteristic of the blockchain. Furthermore, the paper describes how the proposed architecture enables a secure and privacy-friendly sharing of smart car data between different parties in a secure yet privacy-friendly manner.
MUC1 Mucin: A Putative Regulatory (Checkpoint) Molecule of T Cells

T lymphocytes are at the center of inducing an effective adaptive immune response and maintaining homeostasis. T cell responses are initiated through interactions between antigen presenting cells (APCs) and T cells. The type and strength of signals delivered through the T cell receptor (TCR) may modulate how the cells respond. The TCR-MHC (T cell receptor-major histocompatibility complex molecules) complex dictates the specificity, whereas co-stimulatory signals induced by interaction of various accessory cell surface molecules strengthen and optimize T cell responses. Multiple immune regulatory mechanisms brought about by co-inhibitory molecules expressed on T cells play a key role in orchestrating successful and non-damaging immunity. These co-inhibitory molecules are also referred to as initiators of immune check-points or co-inhibitory pathways. Knowledge of co-inhibitory pathways associated with activated T lymphocytes has allowed a better understanding of (a) the inflammatory and anti-inflammatory processes associated with infectious diseases and autoimmune diseases, and (b) mechanisms by which tumors evade immune attack. Many of these regulatory pathways are non-redundant and function in a highly concerted manner. Targeting them has provided effective approaches in treating cancer and autoimmune diseases. For this reason, it is valuable to identify any co-inhibitory molecules that affect these pathways. MUC1 mucin (CD227) has long been known to be expressed by epithelial cells and overexpressed by a multitude of adenocarcinomas. As long ago as 1998 we made a surprising discovery that MUC1 is also expressed by activated human T cells and we provided the first evidence of the role of MUC1 as a novel T cell regulator. Subsequent studies from different laboratories, as well as ours, supported an immuno-regulatory role of MUC1 in infections, inflammation, and autoimmunity that corroborated our original findings establishing MUC1 as a novel T cell regulatory molecule. In this article, we will discuss the experimental evidence supporting MUC1 as a putative regulatory molecule or a “checkpoint molecule” of T cells with implications as a novel biomarker and therapeutic target in chronic diseases such as autoimmunity, inflammation and cancer, and possibly infections.
The 1918 Influenza Pandemic: Looking Back, Looking Forward

Abstract In commemoration of the centennial of the 1918 influenza pandemic, the American Journal of Epidemiology has convened a collection of 12 articles that further illuminate the epidemiology of that pandemic and consider whether we would be more prepared if an equally deadly influenza virus were to emerge again. In the present commentary, we place these 12 articles in the context of a growing body of work on the archeo-epidemiology of past pandemics, the socioeconomic and geographic drivers of influenza mortality and natality impact, and renewed interest in immune imprinting mechanisms and the development of novel influenza vaccines. We also highlight persisting mysteries in the origins and severity of the 1918 pandemic and the need to preserve rapidly decaying information that may provide treasure troves for future generations.
Area-Efficient Analog Operations by Dynamicly-Reconfigured Switched-Capacitor Circuits

Together with software on a micro-controller, simple additional hardware can implement electronics with less cost and power. Though analog before digitization, in particular, is effective, it comes with a drawback of larger circuit area. This paper proposes a scheme to shrink area by devising clock waveforms of switched-capacitor devices, through dynamic circuit restructuring. Application to a D/A converter using weighted adder is presented.
Serotonin and Norepinephrine Transporter Occupancy of Tramadol in Nonhuman Primate Using Positron Emission Tomography

Abstract Background Tramadol, a centrally acting analgesic drug, has relatively high affinity to serotonin transporter and norepinephrine transporter in addition to μ-opioid receptor. Based on this characteristic, tramadol is expected to have an antidepressant effect. Methods Positron emission tomography measurements with [11C]MADAM and [18F]FMeNER-D2 were performed at baseline and after i.v. administration of 3 different doses (1, 2, and 4 mg/kg) of tramadol using 6 cynomolgus monkeys. The relationship between dose and occupancy for serotonin transporter and norepinephrine transporter was estimated. Results Tramadol occupied similarly both serotonin transporter (40%–72%) and norepinephrine transporter (7%–73%) in a dose-dependent manner. The Kd was 2.2 mg/kg and 2.0 mg/kg for serotonin transporter and norepinephrine transporter, respectively. Conclusions Both serotonin transporter and norepinephrine transporter of in vivo brain were blocked at >70% at a clinically relevant high dose of tramadol. This study suggests tramadol has potential antidepressant effects through the inhibition of serotonin transporter and norepinephrine transporter in the brain.
IoT-Based Smart Parking for Smart Cities

The advance in computing brought also solutions to problems that canimprove citizen’s life. One significant problem involves parking vehicles,which is related to traffic congestion, air pollution and driver stress. Dueto that fact and the increase in the number of vehicles, it becomesnecessary a smart parking proposal that mitigates those problems andinteracts with the drivers. In this paper we will describe a smart parkingsystem able to gather quantitative information and provide it trough anextensible platform to drivers and other smart city applications. Theproposed system is implemented disposing ultrasonic sensors, a web service,the FIWARE platform, and a mobile application to Android devices, on athree-layer architecture. The paper also aims to present the results of aproof of concept, which shows that this approach is appropriate formonitoring parking systems and exhibit the parking lot situation at anygiven moment. Thus, it is the first step to propose a comprehensive solutionfor smart cities.
Effects of Probiotic Bacillus as an Alternative of Antibiotics on Digestive Enzymes Activity and Intestinal Integrity of Piglets

The previous study in our team found that supplementation of probiotic Bacillus amyloliquefaciens (Ba) instead of antibiotics promote growth performance of piglets. Hence, the present study was carried out to further demonstrate the effect of Ba replacement of antibiotics on digestive and absorption enzyme activity and intestinal microbiota population of piglets. A total of 90 piglets were selected and divided into three groups: G1 group was fed with basal diet supplemented with 150 mg/Kg aureomycin, G2 group was fed with 1 × 108 cfu/Kg Ba and half dose of aureomycin, G3 group was used the diet with 2 × 108cfu/Kg Ba replaced aureomycin. Each treatment had three replications of 10 pigs per pen. Results indicated that Ba replacement significantly increased the activities of amylase, disaccharides and Na+/K+-ATPase. And chymotrypsin activity in different section of intestine was dramatically enhanced in half replacement of aureomycin with Ba. Moreover, Ba replacement maintained the intestinal integrity with the significantly decreased activity of DAO compared with aureomycin group. Besides, supplementation with Ba increased the β-diversity of intestinal microbiota. Taken together, the current study indicated that diet supplementation with Ba instead of aureomycin increased the growth performance of piglets by improving the digestive and absorb enzyme activities, enhancing the intestinal integrity and regulating the population of intestinal micrbiota.
Hot-Carrier Degradation in Power LDMOS: Drain Bias Dependence and Lifetime Evaluation

In this brief, we present an analysis of the degradation induced by hot-carrier stress in new generation power lateral double-diffused MOSFET (LDMOS) transistors. When a relatively high drain voltage is applied during the ON-state regime, high energetic and/or multiple cold electrons are recognized as the main source of degradation affecting the LDMOS lifetime: the latter is usually extrapolated at typical operating drain voltages. Hence, the extrapolation criterion is particularly critical, and different models have been proposed in the past and discussed in this brief. In particular, the dependence of ON-resistance degradation (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$R_{\mathrm{\scriptscriptstyle ON}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>) on drain bias is investigated, and a simplified extrapolation model, accounting for the saturation effects of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$R_{\mathrm{\scriptscriptstyle ON}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> at long stress times, is proposed and validated by comparison with experiments and advanced physics-based TCAD simulations, confirming the ability to accurately estimate lifetime on devices featuring short-circuited source–body contacts.