Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Commutation torque ripple of four-switch, brushless dc motor drives, part II: controllability and minimization

In part I of this paper, commutation torque ripple of a four-switch, three-phase inverter (FSTPI) brushless dc motor drive (BLDC) was analyzed in details. This paper presents a comprehensive study on the controllability and reduction of the generated commutation torque ripples. It's shown that the conventional techniques for controlling of the phase current in a FSTPI brushless dc motor drive are practically effective in low speed and can not reduce the commutation torque ripple in high speed range. Therefore a novel current control technique is developed to minimize the commutation torque ripple for entire of speed range. The technique proposed here is based on a strategy that the current slopes of the rising and the decaying phases during the commutation interval can be equalized by proper duty-ratios in the six operation modes
State and Prospects of Gene Therapy for the Hemophilias

Hemophilia is a bleeding disorder that results from a deficiency of functional blood-coagulation factor VIII (hemophilia A, or classical hemophilia) or factor IX (hemophilia B, or Christmas disease) and is caused by defects in the corresponding genes located at the tip of the long arm of the X-chromosome. The genetic defects can result from deletions, point mutations, insertions, or inversions [for a review, see (1)]. For those afflicted, hemophilia is potentially crippling and life-threaten­ ing. Hemophilia is treated by regular infusions (prophylactic or on-demand) with clotting-factor concentrates derived from human plasma. This protein-replacement therapy is very effective and has resulted in a dramatic increase in both the life expectancy and the quality of life [reviewed in (2)]. Neverthe­ less, even the treated patient is prone to spontaneous hemor­ rhages with the associated risk of chronic joint damage. In addition, therapy with plasma-derived factor VIII has resulted in transmission of several human viruses such as HIV and hepatitis. Although the risk of exposure to blood-borne pathogens has been virtually eliminated by improved manufac­ turing procedures, the ideal therapy would be independent of blood-derived products (3) and would provide a sustained therapeutic effect. The cloning of the genes encoding factor VIII and factor IX proteins made it possible to develop new strategies for the identification of female carriers with increased accuracy and to improve prenatal diagnosis. Furthermore, it opened new possibilities for a safer treatment of hemophilia. The recent admission of recombinant-DNA-derived factor VIII for treatment of hemophilia A is a major step in that direction (4), although the extensive use is still problematic due to its high cost that results from the difficult production of this product (5). Besides, an alternative therapy that could provide a permanent cure remains highly desirable. In the early 1970s techniques were developed for the intro­ duction of DNA into mammalian cells grown in cell culture (6). These procedures, together with the development of the recombinant-DNA technology eventually led to the formulation of the “gene therapy” concept, which states that the definitive treatment of a genetic disease should be possible by directing
Clinical Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics of Atezolizumab in Metastatic Urothelial Carcinoma

Atezolizumab, a humanized immunoglobulin G1 (IgG1) monoclonal antibody targeting human programmed death‐ligand 1 (PD‐L1), is US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved in metastatic urothelial carcinoma (MUC) and is being investigated in various malignancies. This analysis based upon 906 patients from two phase I and one phase II MUC studies, is the first report of the clinical pharmacokinetics (PK) and pharmacodynamics (PD) of atezolizumab. Atezolizumab exhibited linear PK over a dose range of 1–20 mg/kg, including the labeled 1,200 mg dose. The clearance, volume of distribution, and terminal half‐life estimates from population pharmacokinetic (PopPK) analysis of 0.200 L/day, 6.91 L, and 27 days, respectively, were as expected for an IgG1. Exposure‐response analyses did not identify statistically significant relationships with either objective response rate or adverse events of grades 3–5 or of special interest. None of the statistically significant covariates from PopPK (body weight, gender, antitherapeutic antibody, albumin, and tumor burden) would require dose adjustment.
Phenotypic and metabolic characteristics of monocytes and granulocytes in preeclampsia.

OBJECTIVE The maternal syndrome of preeclampsia has recently been attributed to a systemic intravascular inflammatory response and endothelial cell activation and dysfunction. This novel hypothesis has considerable clinical and biological implications. This study was designed to determine whether women with preeclampsia have evidence of intravascular inflammation by examination of the phenotypic and metabolic activity of granulocytes and monocytes. STUDY DESIGN A cross-sectional study was performed that included patients with preeclampsia (n = 31) and normal pregnancies (n = 58) matched for gestational age at blood draw. Intravascular inflammation was studied with use of flow cytometry. Peripheral venous blood was assayed to determine granulocyte and monocyte phenotype with the use of monoclonal antibodies for selective cluster differentiation (CD) antigens. The panel of antibodies included CD11b, CD14, CD16, CD18, CD49d, CD62L, CD64, CD66b, and HLA-DR. The quantity of basal intracellular reactive oxygen species and oxidative burst was assessed. Results were reported as mean channel brightness or intensity of detected fluorescence. Analysis was conducted with nonparametric statistics. A P value <. 01 was considered to be significant. RESULTS Preeclampsia was associated with a significant increase in mean channel brightness for CD11b on granulocytes and monocytes but lower mean channel brightness for CD62L on granulocytes than those from women with normal pregnancy (P <.01 for each). Basal intracellular reactive oxygen species were increased in monocytes but not in granulocytes. The oxidative burst was higher in both cell types. CONCLUSION Preeclampsia is associated with phenotypic and metabolic changes in granulocytes and monocytes.
Shedding light on the specificity of school-aged children’s attachment narratives

ABSTRACT A prominent research tradition within the field of attachment involves analyzing relationship narratives for qualities thought to reveal important information regarding the organization of attachment, and the different ways in which attachment insecurity presents. Researchers increasingly use this method to assess attachment in middle childhood, but further work needs to be conducted with respect to the divergent validity of attachment narratives in this age range. Thus, the current study examined differential associations between children’s discursive style and linguistic behavior when completing an attachment interview (Child Attachment Interview [CAI]) and Non-Relational Interview (NRI). In addition, the discriminant validity of attachment narratives was assessed in predicting children’s physiological reactivity to a relational challenge. Children (N = 125) completed the NRI and the CAI at Time 1. A subset of the original sample (n = 64) completed another assessment 1.5 years later involving simulated non-relational and relational challenges. While narrative coherence was moderately associated across the two interviews, CAI narrative coherence uniquely predicted reactivity to a relational probe. We discuss implications for understanding children’s narrative styles across discourse topics as well as the significance of the results for using attachment interviews in this age range.
Relationship between Visual Impairment, Insomnia, Anxiety/Depressive Symptoms among Russian Immigrants.

BACKGROUND Little is known about the association between visual impairment and insomnia symptoms in elderly populations. The purpose of this study was to ascertain associations between self-reported visual impairments and insomnia symptoms in a community-based sample of Russian immigrants. METHOD Sample consisted of 307 community-residing Russians (ages: 25-95 years, mean=72.64 ± 9.62; women=54% and men=46%). Semi-structured interviews assessed health-care needs and physical health characteristics. Collected demographic and health-related data were analyzed using SPSS 19.0. RESULTS Overall, 93% reported at least one of several major health problems: visual impairment (48.4%), hypertension (53%), diabetes (25.7%), arthritis (52.8%), cancer (10.5%), weight problems (34.1%), and anxiety/depressive symptoms (43%), 62% had an insomnia diagnosis. Unadjusted logistic regression analysis showed that individuals with visual impairment were nearly three times as likely as those without to report insomnia symptoms [OR = 2.73, p < 0.01; 95% CI = 1.68-4.48]. Adjusting for the presence of socio demographic variables reduced the odds to 2.68; further adjustment for social isolation and anxiety and depressed symptoms reduced the odds to 2.20. Anxiety/depression mediated the relationship between visual impairment and insomnia. CONCLUSION Individuals with visual impairment have twice the odds of reporting insomnia independent of anxiety/depression and social isolation, two common problems affecting quality of life in that population.
Human skeletal and dental remains from Lapita sites (1600-500 B.C.) in the Mussau Islands, Melanesia.

The Lapita Cultural Complex, radiometrically dated to between 3,600 and 2,500 B.P., is regarded on archaeological evidence as ancestral to modern Austronesian-speaking cultures of eastern Melanesia and Polynesia. To date, there has been a lack of human skeletal and dental material from Lapita sites; thus, the present sample from Mussau Island, although small, offers an opportunity to present some preliminary observations of their importance to Oceanic prehistory. The present analysis, based mainly on teeth, suggests that the Mussau Island Lapita people had slightly closer affinities with Indonesian than with Melanesian populations. These results correspond well with linguistic and archaeological evidence regarding the origin of the Lapita Cultural Complex.
Non-invasive beat-to-beat blood pressure monitoring: new developments

Continuous blood pressure monitoring is an essential prerequisite for any study on blood pressure variability. Invasive procedures are no longer acceptable for research projects in a clinical setting, and recently developed devices able to record blood pressure on a beat-by-beat basis in a non-invasive fashion may represent valuable alternative tools. This article will briefly review the available information on the most recent advances in this field. It will focus on further developments of the original technology for finger blood pressure monitoring introduced by Penáz et al., as well as on newer devices that have been proposed over the last few years for non-invasive cardiovascular monitoring both in research and in clinical studies.
The "Wear and Measure" Approach: Linking Joint Stability Measurements from a Smart Clothing System to Optical Tracking

Joint stability is essential for maintaining normal everyday function. However, assessment of stability often still relies on subjective or obtrusive methods. An unobtrusive approach would be to have our clothes assess our joint stability. Methods. A new application consisting of an attachable clothing sensing system (ACSS), constructed from a flexible carbon black and polyurethane composite film, was tested against an optical tracking system to assess if the ACSS placed across the knee could provide stability results that correlate with the optical tracking outcomes. Stability was challenged by reducing the base of support and by removing vision generating different experimental conditions. Results. Bland and Altman plots indicated a general proportional error between the measurement systems within each stability condition. However, across all conditions a Spearman correlation coefficient of 0.81 () was found between the displacement values and ACSS, showing a good association between stability measurements. Electromyography (EMG) also indicated that joint stability was challenged between the different conditions. The ACSS was experienced by users as comfortable and hardly noticeable. Conclusions. This study indicates that smart clothing can measure important physiological parameters in an unobtrusive manner. This “wear and measure” approach might change how we gather relevant clinical data in the future.
Release of Cholecystokinin by Amino Acids

Summary The ability of essential and nonessential amino acids to stimulate the release of CCK was investigated in dogs using a bioassay procedure based on the perfusion of duodenojejunal Thiry-Vella loops and determining the increase of pancreatic protein response as well as the potentiation of pancreatic bicarbonate secretion induced by a background dose of secretin (0.2 units/kg/hr). All essential amino acids except threonine and all nonessential amino acids except cysteine and aspartic acid were effective in CCK release when perfused in equimolar concentration (50 mM) through the intestinal loop. The highest activity for release of CCK was exhibited by tryptophan and phenylalanine, which were also shown to release small amounts of secretin. The peak pancreatic protein response to tryptophan was 80% of the maximal response to exogenous CCK (25 units/kg/hr).
Employee Integrity and Corporate External Information Quality

Prior studies find dishonest top executives are associated with lower quality financial reporting. We focus on the role of rank-and-file employees in shaping financial data quality in that these employees are the sources of internal information transfer. Using a novel dataset that contains information on registrants using the Ashley Madison website to find extra-marital affair partners, we construct a firm-level employee integrity measure and assess the association between employee integrity and firm’s information quality. We find that low integrity of rank-and-file employees is associated with lower earnings quality and less accurate management forecasts, and we mitigate the potential endogeneity problem by estimating 2SLS regressions with instrument variables exogenous to firms’ information quality choices. Further analyses show that the negative relation between employee integrity and information quality is attenuated by higher managerial ability, and is robust to alternative employee integrity measures.
AtGRP3 Is Implicated in Root Size and Aluminum Response Pathways in Arabidopsis

AtGRP3 is a glycine-rich protein (GRP) from Arabidopsis thaliana shown to interact with the receptor-like kinase AtWAK1 in yeast, in vitro and in planta. In this work, phenotypic analyses using transgenic plants were performed in order to better characterize this GRP. Plants of two independent knockout alleles of AtGRP3 develop longer roots suggesting its involvement in root size determination. Confocal microscopy analysis showed an abnormal cell division and elongation in grp3-1 knockout mutants. Moreover, we also show that grp3-1 exhibits an enhanced Aluminum (Al) tolerance, a feature also described in AtWAK1 overexpressing plants. Together, these results implicate AtGRP3 function root size determination during development and in Al stress.
Reliability analysis of complex systems based on the probability dynamics of subsystem failures and deviation of parameters

Radio-electronic means for various purposes are classified as complex systems and are characterized by a multilevel hierarchical structure in the form of separate units, blocks, and modules. As the system is influenced by a complex of factors in the process of operation, reliability of complex systems functioning depends on the reliability of the system elements and optimal distribution of reliability indicators between the elements of the system. The purpose of this article is to define the reliability requirements for structural elements, taking into account failure rates, and possible gradual changes in parameters of the designed system elements. It is required to ensure the minimum cost for a given level of the system reliability. Systems analysis method, reliability of complex systems theory and probability theory are used in the article with reference to failure rates and changing parameters in the process of operation. This approach provides an opportunity to complement the known methods and to obtain analytical expressions for solving design problems of ensuring the reliability with reference to possible gradual and sudden failures, as well as possible gradual changing in parameters of the designed system elements. It is proposed to apply the developed methodology for defining the reliability requirements for the elements of complex technical systems at the early design stages, when the lack of information makes it impossible to find the optimal distribution of reliability norms for structural elements, providing the minimum total cost of the product. In addition, the method for determining the reliability of structural elements can be used to design highly reliable onboard radio-electronic systems of long-term operation.
Utility of B-natriuretic peptide in the evaluation of left ventricular diastolic function and diastolic heart failure.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction or diastolic heart failure is an increasingly prevalent disease process today. Natriuretic peptides have been shown to provide diagnostic and prognostic utility in patients with systolic heart failure. Here we review current publications exploring the relationship between B-natriuretic peptide (BNP) and diastolic dysfunction. RECENT FINDINGS Investigators have found significant correlations between echocardiographic parameters for diastolic dysfunction and serum BNP levels in diagnosing diastolic heart failure. This relationship is linear with respect to severity of left ventricular dysfunction. Newer echocardiographic modalities like tissue Doppler imaging provide measures of elevated left ventricular filling pressures, which are associated with higher plasma BNP levels. Admission and predischarge BNP levels in patients with decompensated diastolic heart failure have been prognostic with respect to in-hospital mortality, short-term mortality, and hospital readmission. SUMMARY Review of current literature shows that BNP can be useful in providing diagnostic and prognostic data in patients with symptomatic and asymptomatic diastolic dysfunction. These data, combined with other values such as echocardiographic indices and cardiovascular risk factors, can augment the sensitivity and specificity of BNP.
proP-mediated proline transport also plays a role in Escherichia coli osmoregulation

The growth of Escherichia coli strains in media having elevated osmolarity was promoted in the presence of low concentrations of the L-proline analog 5-hydroxy-L-pipecolic acid. The osmoprotective ability of this compound was correlated with the presence in these strains of a functional proP+ gene. The results suggest that the proP-mediated transport of L-proline (in addition to that by proU) is important in osmoregulation. proP::lac operon fusions were used to demonstrate that this gene shows limited induction of expression upon growth in media having elevated osmolarity and that it is transcribed clockwise on the chromosome.
Brief Parent-Child Group Therapy for Childhood Anxiety Disorders: A Developmental Perspective on Cognitive-Behavioral Group Treatment

Abstract The use of cognitive-behavioral group psychotherapy in treating childhood anxiety disorders has become widespread. This paper examines the dynamic processes underlying cognitive-behavioral group treatment for children with anxiety disorders and for their parents, with particular focus on the process of separation-individuation. Both children and their parents were empowered through processes of sub-grouping and thus helped to differentiate and separate. We consider this parallel dynamic process an important factor that can enhance cognitive-behavioral treatment.
Isolation, variability, and cross‐species amplification of polymorphic microsatellite loci in the family Mustelidae

© 1998 Blackwell Science Ltd, Molecular Ecology, 7, 1771Ð1788 Moore SS, Sargeant LL, King TJ, Mattick JS, Georges M, Hetzel DJS (1991) The conservation of dinucleotide microsatellites among mammalian genomes allows the use of heterologous PCR primer pairs in closely related species. Genomics, 10, 654Ð660. Ppin L, Amigues Y, Lpingle A, Berthier J-L, Bensaid A, Vaiman D (1995) Sequence conservation of microsatellites between Bos taurus (cattle), Capra hircus (goat) and related species. Examples of use in parentage testing and phylogeny analysis. Heredity, 74, 53Ð61. Primmer CR, M¿ller AP, Ellegren H (1996) A wide-range survey of cross-species microsatellite amplification in birds. Molecular Ecology, 5, 365Ð378. Talbot J, Haigh J, Plante Y (1996) A parentage evaluation test in North American Elk (Wapiti) using microsatellites of ovine and bovine origin. Animal Genetics, 27, 117Ð119. Tautz D (1989) Hypervariability of simple sequences as a general source for polymorphic DNA markers. Nucleic Acids Research, 17, 6463Ð6471. Weber JL, May PM (1989) Abundant class of human DNA polymorphisms which can be typed using the polymerase chain reaction. American Journal of Human Genetics, 44, 388Ð396. Wilson GA, Strobeck C, Wu L, Coffin JW (1997) Characterization of microsatellite loci in caribou Rangifer tarandus, and their use in other artiodactyls. Molecular Ecology, 6, 697Ð699.
La investigación del mar en Galicia

En las paginas de este trabajo se Lleva a efecto un analisis sobre la evolucion historica y situacion actual de la investigacion cientifica y el desarrollo tecnologico en el mar de Galicia. El autor parte de los comienzos de la ciencia del mar en los siglos XVIII y XIX para informar sobre la aparicion de los primeros laboratorios oceanograficos, la evolucion en el periodo 1939-1961, la incidencia de los planes de desarrollo en el impulso de estas actividades y finalmente la reflexion sobre la situacion actual tanto en los centros publicos como en la investigacion industrial y su comparacion con la investigacion que se lleva a cabo en la CEE. En sus conclusiones finales el autor considera necesario y urgente la articulacion de la estructura de investigacion en un cuerpo comun de politica cientifica y avance tecnologico e industrial, ya que el desarrollo espontaneo no ha dado los resultados apetecidos.