Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A survey: Reward distribution mechanisms and withholding attacks in Bitcoin pool mining

The past three years have seen the rapid increase of Bitcoin difficulty, which has led to a substantial variance in solo mining. As a result, miners tend to join a large open pool to get a more stable reward. Nowadays, mining pools take up over 98% of Bitcoins total computation power. In a sense, this is a manifestation of Bitcoin that tends to be centralized. Thus, researchers have shown an increased interest in pool mining payoff and security. The purpose of this paper is to review and summarize recent research in Bitcoin pool mining system. We first introduce several common reward distribution schemes, and analyze their advantages and disadvantages with some improvement mechanisms; In the second section, to address pool security problems, we examined the practical utility of some existing and potential attack strategies. To study those malicious attack in details, several defense methods are collected. Finally, we make an outlook on Bitcoin future.
Influence of slot opening width and rotor pole radius on the torque of PMSM

Influence of the slot opening width and rotor pole radius on the cogging torque and total torque developed by a three-phase permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) is investigated. The number of motor poles and number of stator slots are fixed. Finite element technique is used for the computation of machine characteristic. Core saturation is directly considered in the magnetic field calculation. Formulation based on two methods, virtual work and Maxwell stress tensor is used to find the torque.
Late onset respiratory failure in patients with previous poliomyelitis.

Fifty-five patients with previous poliomyelitis referred to a rehabilitation unit have been seen for clinical, radiological, and lung function assessment. A syndrome of symptoms including exertional dyspnoea and respiratory tract infection, features of general cerebral dysfunction, and peripheral cyanosis or oedema, was defined and attributed to respiratory insufficiency. These clinical features correlated with kyphoscoliosis and diaphragmatic paralysis demonstrated radiologically and with abnormalities of lung function. Respiratory symptoms were most obvious in patients with the severest restriction in vital capacity. Neurological symptoms were often related to hypercapnia. The circulatory phenomena however bore no clear relationship to the functional abnormalities nor to the presence of severe lower limb paralysis. Hypoxaemia, especially in relation to severe kyphoscoliosis, was often induced by ventilation/perfusion imbalance, but there was also evidence of general alveolar hypoventilation due to muscle paralysis. The value of a simple portable device for ventilatory assistance in these patients has been assessed.
INTERNATIONALIZATION PROCESS: STRATEGY AND MODES FOR ENTERING IN THE ITALIAN MARKET Case: Metener Oy

The target of this Bachelors thesis developed on behalf of Metener Oy, is to make a clear point of view of the Italian Biogas market and to outline the better strategy to approach it. The company is a Finnish SME that operates as designer and developer of high tech biogas equipments. The basis of this research is the desire of the company to expand its presence out of the national boundary and in particular to see the possibilities that the Italian market offers. Important for the company is to gain information about the actual situation of the biogas market, regulations, trends, potential and future possible metamorphosis of it. Also important is the entry modes analysis, including as well as demand drivers and cultural perception that affect the entry modes itself. The entry modes and strategy advised, wants to help the company in the choice of the best strategy to pursue. The data used in this research came from primary and secondary data, and qualitative and quantitative data. Secondary data derive mainly from Literature and Internet research. The quantitative data taken in consideration are drawn up by organizations and companies that collaborate with the Italian government, participate in European international projects and are recognized at international level. Qualitative data are also used and the main way to gather that information was the use of e-mails with expert and key person already acquainted of the Italian biogas market. The results of the research showed the potential of the biogas market in Italy, as well as the strategy to follow in the short time to enter and get familiarity with it. Possible entry modes and advise about the desirable ones also were mentioned. The nature of the product makes this work usable also for other countries or markets than Italy.
Carbon footprinting and labelling of construction products

The terms ‘carbon footprinting’ and ‘carbon labelling’ are in common use in the construction industry, but can be confused and misinterpreted. This Information Paper defines the terms in the context of construction products, and outlines the life-cycle assessment principles that underpin them. This is followed by a review of associated standards, codes, other schemes and resources. The use of carbon footprinting and labelling in the construction industry is then considered, along with relevant organisations, products and construction specifications, and ‘whole building’ assessment. This Information Paper is intended to be a resource for architects, specifiers, constructors, manufacturers, suppliers, academics and regulators so that better-informed decisions can be made about construction products.
Enhanced Estimation of Local Intrinsic Dimensionality Using Auxiliary Distances

Estimating Intrinsic Dimensionality (ID) is of high interest in many machine learning tasks, including dimensionality reduction, outlier detection, similarity search and subspace clustering. Our proposed estimation strategy, ALID, makes use of a subset of the available intra-neighborhood distances to achieve faster convergence with fewer samples, and can thus be used on applications in which the data consists of many natural groups of small size. Moreover, it has a smaller bias and variance than state-of-the-art estimators, especially on nonlinear subspaces. We provide a theoretical analysis of the properties of the ALID estimator, and a thorough experimental framework that shows its faster convergence, smaller bias, and smaller variance compared with state-of-the-art estimators of ID.
Cyclic hair‐loss and regrowth in transgenic mice overexpressing an intermediate filament gene.

We have produced transgenic mice containing up to 250 copies of a sheep wool intermediate filament keratin gene to study the effect of its expression on hair structure and development. Several transgenic lines expressed the gene and in the one containing 250 transgenes, a pattern of hair‐loss and regrowth was stably established. Successive waves of hair growth follow periods of denuding like the natural progression of hairs in the mouse hair cycle. By in situ hybridization we have shown that the sheep transgenes are expressed at the correct stage in mouse hair development and at a high level. The transgenic hairs contain not only an elevated level of intermediate filament keratin protein but also a decreased level of the filament‐associated proteins. This imbalance disrupts the normal ordered array of these proteins in the cells of the hair cortex and leads to weakened fibres which are prematurely lost.
An initial framework for open service innovation adopting digital co-creation

: The aim of this paper is to build an initial framework to support an enhancement of organisations’ open service innovation by adopting digital co-creation activities. In order to do so, this paper first discusses the nature of the open innovation (OI) and service innovation. Secondly, the question of how digital co-creation might be helpful for organisations in service innovation with an OI approach will be introduced. Thirdly, the paper synthesises OI and service innovation into Open Service Innovation (OSI) after which the research method and research results are presented: eight case studies of Finnish service organisations which led to an initial framework. The main findings are: (1) A systematic process is an enabler to OI and in co-creation, (2) A barrier to OI and co-creation is traditionally-operating model/closed innovation culture.
Test suite for image-based motion estimation of the brain and tongue

Noninvasive analysis of motion has important uses as qualitative markers for organ function and to validate biomechanical computer simulations relative to experimental observations. Tagged MRI is considered the gold standard for noninvasive tissue motion estimation in the heart, and this has inspired multiple studies focusing on other organs, including the brain under mild acceleration and the tongue during speech. As with other motion estimation approaches, using tagged MRI to measure 3D motion includes several preprocessing steps that affect the quality and accuracy of estimation. Benchmarks, or test suites, are datasets of known geometries and displacements that act as tools to tune tracking parameters or to compare different motion estimation approaches. Because motion estimation was originally developed to study the heart, existing test suites focus on cardiac motion. However, many fundamental differences exist between the heart and other organs, such that parameter tuning (or other optimization) with respect to a cardiac database may not be appropriate. Therefore, the objective of this research was to design and construct motion benchmarks by adopting an "image synthesis" test suite to study brain deformation due to mild rotational accelerations, and a benchmark to model motion of the tongue during speech. To obtain a realistic representation of mechanical behavior, kinematics were obtained from finite-element (FE) models. These results were combined with an approximation of the acquisition process of tagged MRI (including tag generation, slice thickness, and inconsistent motion repetition). To demonstrate an application of the presented methodology, the effect of motion inconsistency on synthetic measurements of head- brain rotation and deformation was evaluated. The results indicated that acquisition inconsistency is roughly proportional to head rotation estimation error. Furthermore, when evaluating non-rigid deformation, the results suggest that inconsistent motion can yield "ghost" shear strains, which are a function of slice acquisition viability as opposed to a true physical deformation.
Towards a health promotion paradigm for airport development

ABSTRACT Despite the negative environmental impacts, the aviation sector and its land-based industries are now considered critical infrastructure for cities to maintain growth and a competitive global edge. As such, they have become integrated into city planning, development and function. In Western Sydney, Australia, the development of a new international airport has driven a research program into airport development and population health at the Centre for Health Equity Training Research and Evaluation (CHETRE). This research showed a need for a more comprehensive and systemic frame of reference to consider the health–airport interface. Some elements of this larger approach include the evolving nature of airports into mixed-use urban precincts, the developments in aviation operations focused on sustainability, and conceptual and empirical advances in knowledge about the interrelationships between cities and health more generally. Airports are no longer just runways and terminals, and they influence urban environments across multiple scales of impact. While airports have negative impacts on environmental determinants of health including air quality, noise pollution and climate change, they are also influenced determinants including transport, employment and economy in ways not yet adequately examined from a health perspective. The United Nations technical agency for aviation considers the advancement of the Sustainable Development Goals under its remit, and the aviation industry is currently partaking in a multitude of diverse improvement activities and being subject to Health Impact Assessments. Given that there are a variety of populations that live, work and play in direct contact with and under footprints of the airport, they can be considered settings to influence health. In this paper, we conceptualise airports as settings for health and present 12 dimensions for healthier airport settings. These dimensions are proposed as an initial reference to commence discussion with airport stakeholders and produce further research engaging with airports broader impact on the determinants of health. Airports are changeable environments, and engaging with airports in a whole of system approach will create a contemporary, health-focused dialogue for change.
Anisodamine protects against neuronal death following cerebral ischemia in gerbils.

OBJECTIVE To study the effect of anisodamine on neuronal death and hydroxyl radical (OH.) production during forebrain ischemia-reperfusion in gerbils. METHODS The tested gerbils were divided into 3 groups, including sham-operated, control and anisodamine groups. In each group, there were 8 animals for biochemical examination and 6 animals for histologic study. Forebrain ischemia was induced by occlusion the bilateral common carotid arteries for 10 min in gerbils. 2, 3- and 2, 5-DHBA outputs were determined by high performance liquid chromatography coupled with electrochemical detection. Behavioral change was tested by open field test and neuronal death was assessed by histological examination. RESULTS The exploratory activities of gerbils in the control group were significantly higher than those in the anisodamine group on all test days. The amount of viable-looking neurons in the medial, middle and lateral CA1 sectors in anisodamine group were 41% +/- 12%, 50% +/- 21% and 67% +/- 15% of the sham-operated gerbils, respectively, being significantly higher than those in the control group (3% +/- 2%, 4% +/- 3% and 7% +/- 4% of sham, P < 0.01). The 2, 3-DHBA outputs in the control group increased by 5 fold of the sham-operated gerbils after reperfusion for 60 min, but the 2, 3-DHBA outputs in the anisodamine group were only 2.4 fold of sham-operated gerbils, being significantly lower than that in the control group (P < 0.01). The 2, 5-DHBA outputs in the control group were significantly higher than those in the sham-operated group (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION Anisodamine has inhibitory effects on neuronal death and OH.production during cerebral ischemia-reperfusion in gerbils.
Marital closeness and the likelihood of extramarital sex : a comparative analysis of Lagos and Freetown

The relationship between inter-spousal intimacy and the tendency to suspect partners of sexual infidelity is analysed using data from Lagos and Freetown. The relationship between the practice of extramarital sex and the same set of intimacy variables is also analysed. The particular circumstances of the two cities may have affected the relevance of the intimacy variables in explaining the variations in the incidence of extramarital sex. Different patterns are emerging in the epidemicity of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus and its disastrous consequences among sub-Saharan African populations. The need to curb its influence has stimulated research interest in the area of sexual networking. One reason for sexual networking analysis was to discover correlates of sexual behaviour, especially those that tend to increase the vulnerability to sexually transmitted diseases, especially AIDS. Research has been directed to some parameters of sexual activities of both unmarried and married groups within a given population. In an effort to isolate influences on extramarital sexual activity, Isiugo-Abanihe (1994) identified spousal closeness as a significant variable. A similar factor was examined by Adegbola, Babatola and Oni (1995b) in their study of Freetown. While the former found spousal closeness negatively related to the likelihood of extramarital sex , Adegbola et al. did not find it significant. The apparent disagreement on the relevance of intimacy between married couples suggests the need for further analysis of this factor, especially in a comparative setting. In both studies the intimacy factors were composite variables computed from some other variables. A disaggregated analysis of the various components of the intimacy variable may help in designing practical programs for a reduction in the incidence of extramarital sex, thus limiting the likelihood of STD. This paper examines the phenomenon of marital closeness and fidelity, with respect to extramarital sex in Lagos and Freetown.
Statistical analysis of atomic contacts at RNA–protein interfaces

Forty‐five crystals of complexes between proteins and RNA molecules from the Protein Data Bank have been statistically surveyed for the number of contacts between RNA components (phosphate, ribose and the four bases) and amino acid side chains. Three groups of complexes were defined: the tRNA synthetases; the ribosomal complexes; and a third group containing a variety of complexes. The types of atomic contacts were a priori classified into ionic, neutral H‐bond, C‐H…O H‐bond, or van der Waals interaction. All the contacts were organized into a relational database which allows for statistical analysis. The main conclusions are the following: (i) in all three groups of complexes, the most preferred amino acids (Arg, Asn, Ser, Lys) and the less preferred ones (Ala, Ile, Leu, Val) are the same; Trp and Cys are rarely observed (respectively 15 and 5 amino acids in the ensemble of interfaces); (ii) of the total number of amino acids located at the interfaces 22% are hydrophobic, 40% charged (positive 32%, negative 8%), 30% polar and 8% are Gly; (iii) in ribosomal complexes, phosphate is preferred over ribose, which is preferred over the bases, but there is no significant preference in the other two groups; (iv) there is no significant prevalence of a base type at protein–RNA interfaces, but specifically Arg and Lys display a preference for phosphate over ribose and bases; Pro and Asn prefer bases over ribose and phosphate; Met, Phe and Tyr prefer ribose over phosphate and bases. Further, Ile, Pro, Ser prefer A over the others; Leu prefers C; Asp and Gly prefer G; and Asn prefers U. Considering the contact types, the following conclusions could be drawn: (i) 23% of the contacts are via potential H‐bonds (including CH…O H‐bonds and ionic interactions), 72% belong to van der Waals interactions and 5% are considered as short contacts; (ii) of all potential H‐bonds, 54% are standard, 33% are of the C‐H…O type and 13% are ionic; (iii) the Watson–Crick sites of G, O6(G) and principally N2(G) and the hydroxyl group O2′ is more often involved in H‐bonds than expected; the protein main chain is involved in 32% and the side chains in 68% of the H‐bonds; considering the neutral and ionic H‐bonds, the following couples are more frequent than expected—base A–Ser, base G–Asp/Glu, base U–Asn. The RNA CH groups interact preferentially with oxygen atoms (62% on the main chain and 19% on the side chains); (iv) the bases are involved in 38% of all H‐bonds and more than 26% of the H‐bonds have the H donor group on the RNA; (v) the atom O2′ is involved in 21% of all H‐bonds, a number greater than expected; (vi) amino acids less frequently in direct contact with RNA components interact frequently via their main chain atoms through water molecules with RNA atoms; in contrast, those frequently observed in direct contact, except Ser, use instead their side chain atoms for water bridging interactions. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
A fluorescent probe for fast and quantitative detection of hydrogen sulfide in blood.

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S), well known for its unpleasant rotten egg smell, was traditionally considered as a toxic gas. However, recent studies have demonstrated that hydrogen sulfide is an endogenously produced gaseous signaling compound (gasotransmitter) with importance on par with that of the other two known endogenous gasotransmitters, nitric oxide (NO)[1] and carbon monoxide (CO). [2] H2S has been recognized for mediating a wide range of physiological effects. Studies have shown that H2S can have an effect on the cardiovascular system[3] by acting as a K-ATP channel opener. [4] Several studies have shown the protective roles of H2S, in situations such as myocardial ischemia, most likely through a combination of antioxidant and anti-apoptotic signaling. [5] Further studies also showed that H2S may be a therapeutic benefit for the treatment of ischemia-induced heart failure. [6-7] It is also a modulator in the central nervous system,[8-10] respiratory system, gastrointestinal system, and endocrine system. [11] It seems that hydrogen sulfide exhibits almost all the beneficial effects of NO without generating the toxic reactive oxygen species (ROS). In contrast, it also acts as an anti-oxidant or scavenger of ROS. Furthermore, research has indicated that hydrogen sulfide level is related to diseases such as Down syndrome[12] and Alzheimer’s disease. [13] Therefore, recent years have seen a steady increase in the interest in understanding hydrogen sulfide ’s physiological and pathological functions. [11, 14-15] One significant limiting factor in studying hydrogen sulfide is the lack of sensors and agents that allow for its rapid and accurate detection. There have been literature methods using colorimetric,[16-18] electrochemical analysis[19-21] and gas chromatography. [22-23] However, hydrogen sulfide catabolism is known to be fast, which could result in continuous fluctuation in its concentration, leading to difficulties in accurate analysis of this important molecule. Current methods do not allow for fast, accurate, and real-time determinations. Literature reported endogenous sulfide concentrations vary substantially among publications with most publications suggesting that sulfide concentration in blood is in the 10-100 μM range. [24-29] There are other studies suggesting sulfide concentration being much lower than this. [30-31] Therefore, there is an urgent need for the development of new methods for the efficient detection of sulfide in biological systems.