Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Optimization of predicted mean vote thermal comfort index within Model Predictive Control framework

Recently, Model Predictive Control (MPC) for buildings has undergone an intensive research. Usually, according to the international standards, a static range for the air temperature represents the thermal comfort which is being kept making use of MPC while minimizing the energy consumption. On contrary, this paper deals with the optimization of the trade-off between energy consumption and Predicted Mean Vote (PMV) index which, opposed to the static temperature range, describes user comfort directly. PMV index is a nonlinear function of various quantities, which makes the problem more difficult to solve. The paper will show the main differences in MPC problem formulation, propose a tractable approximation strategy and compare the control performance both to the conventional and typical predictive control strategies. The approximation of PMV computation will be shown to be sufficiently precise and moreover, such a formulation keeps the MPC optimization problem convex. Finally, it will be shown that the proposed PMV based optimal control problem formulation shifts the savings potential of typical MPC by additional 10% while keeping the comfort at a desired level.
3D registration based perception in augmented reality environment

Abstract Early augmented reality (AR) community has paid a lot of attention to identifying 2D fiducial markers in AR scene, only a little works have been devoted to 3D objects perception. With the massively increased usage of 3D representation, it is highly desirable that powerful processing tools and algorithms should be developed for 3D recognition purpose in the augmented reality domain. In this paper, we address the 3D depth understanding problem for AR assembly applications. We propose a 3D registration based perception method designed for desk assembly environments. The 3D perception method involves two tasks: the optical flow based structure from motion (SFM) and a coplanar 4 points set registration of the SFM point cloud and CAD models point cloud. From the transformation, the position and orientation of the real industrial object in the assembly environment can be determined and an AR operation can be applied. The novelty of our method resides in that it does not require any marker attached on the scene and obtain a more accurate registration result.
Purification and Characterization of OF-1, a Host Factor Implicated in Herpes Simplex Replication*

A human cellular factor (OF-1) has been previously implicated in replication of herpes simplex virus, type 1. This protein binds to three conserved regions (Boxes I, II, and III) in the viral replication origin and appears to be required for viral DNA synthesis (Dabrowski, C. C., Carmillo, P. J., and Schaffer, P. A. (1994) Mol. Cell. Biol. 14, 2545–2555). In the present study, we have partially purified and characterized OF-1 from human cells. This protein appears to consist of a tetramer composed of two heterodimers with subunits of 73 and 90 kDa. The smaller subunit contains the DNA binding activity. We have investigated the binding specificity of OF-1 using a mobility shift analysis. These studies reveal that binding is specific for both duplex and single-stranded Box I sequences and that the strongest preference is for the bottom strand of Box I. We present evidence suggesting that the binding of OF-1 to Box I DNA is enhanced in the presence of the herpes simplex-encoded UL9 protein, which also binds to Box I in oriS and is required for viral replication. Implications of these findings for the initiation step in viral replication are discussed.
Multiple organ failure after trauma

The concept of multiple organ failure dates back to the 1970s,1 but it has recently been redefined as “the progressive (and sometimes sequential) dysfunction of physiologic systems in the presence of a clinical picture of systemic sepsis. ”2 Multiple organ failure is often caused by the “systemic inflammatory response syndrome” (SIRS). 3 A patient who has been severely injured and has survived initial resuscitation may develop the features of the systemic inflammatory response syndrome and may then deteriorate with features of multiple organ failure, which is often fatal. Despite an enormous amount of experimental and clinical research, a definitive, all encompassing theory accounting for the link between trauma and multiple organ failure has not yet emerged. Twenty years ago few people doubted the link with infection. The belief was that trauma led to multiple organ failure as a result of unsuspected or uncontrolled infection, and an intra-abdominal abscess4 was most frequently incriminated as the trigger. The adverse clinical course usually started with the acute respiratory distress syndrome and led to the patient's death despite intensive system support. Based on these observations, an aggressive surgical policy …
Polarization-entangled photon pairs from a cavity-enhanced down-conversion source in Sagnac configuration

An efficient resource of entanglement in atom-photon-based quantum networks are polarization-entangled photon pairs generated by type-II spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC). Compatibility in frequency and bandwidth between such photons and a single trapped 40Ca+-ion was first shown in [1]. The best SPDC entanglement values so far have been achieved by single-pass conversion in Sagnac configuration [2]. On the other hand, the highest pair rates are reported in cavity-enhanced sources [3]. The latter, however, tend to suffer from reduced state purity due to increasing probability of generating double pairs, and thermal effects in the crystal.
G-BLAST: a grid-based solution for mpiBLAST on computational grids

The researches of bioinformatics have grown with each passing day so that more and more computing power is required for better performance. These requires usually solved by parallelism techniques, because cluster technology can reduce the execution time and increase alignment efficiency. For example, mpiBLAST is a parallelism solution of NCBI BLAST via MPI parallel programming. However, most laboratories can not build up powerful supercomputing environments. They usually connect dozen of personal computers to build cluster computing environments. Besides, cluster usually is limited by local environment that leads to extend equipments difficulty. The concepts of grid can solve these problems. Grid environments coordinate the resources of distributed virtual organizations and satisfy a great many computational demands. In this paper, we have deployed a biogrid framework called G-BLAST. G-BLAST was designed for sequence alignment to use grid environment and access mpiBLAST application from a server node. Because grid environment is a heterogeneous environment, G-BLAST is endowed with selection the most adaptive work nodes, dynamic fragmenting database, and self-adjust performance data abilities. Furthermore, we also deployed a grid service portal and a grid service GUI desk application for normal users to submit jobs and host administrators to maintain their own work nodes, and the interaction between this application and G-BLAST meets WSRF standards.
Conception and development of Dexto:Eka: The humanoid robot - Part III

This paper delves into the design and creation of Dexto:Eka:, the humanoid robot laying emphasis on the second phase of its development. This robot is controlled by a teleoperator using an exo-frame, a joystick, and a graphical user interface. The first phase saw the completion of left robotic arm and an exo-frame for the left human arm. Here, we shed light on the creation of the right exo-frame, right arm, torso and chassis. The arms of the robot are controlled using the exo-frame. A joystick enables locomotion manipulation. Overall control and monitoring is facilitated using a graphical user interface.
Neutralizing antibody levels for protection against betanodavirus infection in sevenband grouper, Epinephelus septemfasciatus (Thunberg), immunized with an inactivated virus vaccine.

Abstract An inactivated betanodavirus, red-spotted grouper nervous necrosis virus (RGNNV), is a vaccine candidate for viral nervous necrosis (VNN). The present study was conducted to examine inoculation doses of the vaccine and neutralizing antibody titre levels to protect fish against VNN. Young sevenband grouper, Epinephelus septemfasciatus, averaging 25.4 g, were immunized at 25 degrees C water temperature by a single intraperitoneal injection of formalin-inactivated RGNNV. Fish immunized at vaccine doses of 10(8.5), 10(8.0), 10(7.5), 10(7.0) and 10(6.5) TCID(50) per fish produced antibodies at mean titres of 1:907, 1:511, 1:259, 1:197 and 1:96, respectively, at 20 days post-immunization (p.i.). Neutralizing antibodies were not detected in any control fish (titre <1:80). When fish were challenged with RGNNV (10(5.0) and 10(4.0) TCID(50)/fish) at 20 days p.i. , cumulative mortalities of the fish groups immunized with 10(8.5), 10(8.0), 10(7.5) and 10(7.0) TCID(50) per fish were significantly lower than those of the control group, and the relative percent survival values were higher than 60% in fish groups immunized with 10(7.5) TCID(50) per fish or higher doses. However, no significant differences were found in mortality between the group immunized with 10(6.5) TCID(50) per fish and the control group. From these results, it was deduced that the minimum effective inoculation dose of the vaccine is 10(7.0) TCID(50) per fish and the minimum mean neutralizing antibody titre giving significant protection is approximately 1:200. This antibody titre level is a possible measure of vaccine efficacy against VNN in sevenband grouper, instead of a virus challenge test.
Morphometric analysis of gap junctions in nonpregnant and term pregnant human myometrium

Background and methods. Some structures in the human myometrium, namely; caveolae, extracellular space and gap junctions were quantified in tissues from nonpregnant women, women who were not in labor, and women in spontaneous labor or oxytocin‐induced labor, in order to reveal morphologic differences that would contribute to explaining the events leading to labor. Transmission electron micrographs taken from tissues from twenty‐four pregnant and ten nonpregnant women were studied.
Measurement Analysis of Amplitude Scintillation for Terrestrial Line-of-Sight Links at 42 GHz

Tropospheric scintillation is a rapid fluctuation of the signal amplitude and phase due to irregularities in the refractive index caused by atmospheric turbulence. If not considered properly, amplitude scintillation may affect the performance of a low-power margin communication system. In this paper we study the amplitude scintillation observed on three converging terrestrial 42 GHz links. Probability density functions of amplitude scintillation for different seasons of a year are presented. In addition, the cumulative distributions of the dry and wet amplitude scintillation are shown. The measured long-term probability density functions of the three links are compared with the Moulsley-Vilar model. The results show that for small values of amplitude scintillation the Moulsley-Vilar model fits well the measured statistics, but overestimates the statistics for large values of amplitude scintillation. Good agreements are found between the Gaussian model and the measured short-term amplitude scintillation distributions. In addition, the link diversity of amplitude scintillation over combinations of two and three links are presented. Furthermore, the monthly average wet component of refractivity has been calculated using meteorological measurements, and as expected it shows a peak during the summer time.
A Novel Microwave Imaging Approach Based on Regularization in $L^{p}$ Banach Spaces

Inverse problems arising in microwave imaging suffer from high ill-posedness. As it is well known, it is necessary to employ regularized inversion methods, in order to mitigate such behavior. Usually, such approaches are formulated in standard Hilbert spaces. Recently, a more generic regularization theory, working in Banach spaces, has been investigated, in order to overcome some limitations of the Hilbert-space regularization. In this paper, a novel imaging algorithm, performing a Lp Banach-space regularization, is proposed for 2-D electromagnetic inverse scattering problems. The reconstruction capabilities of the methods are evaluated by using numerical and experimental data.
Sharing Economy and Durable Goods Purchase

In this work, we examine how the introduction of sharing-economy platforms (e.g., Uber, Lift, and Airbnb) affects durable goods purchase. On the one hand, the introduction of such platforms may cannibalize durable goods sales, as they may change the decision making calculus of consumers by offering a lower cost “rental” option in lieu of purchase. On the other hand, such platforms may stimulate purchase, as the presence of these platforms may enhance the value of ownership (because participants may seek to capture the rents associated with participating in the sharing economy). In this study, we resolve this tension using a unique dataset of new vehicle registrations in China. In particular, we exploit a natural experiment, the variation in timing of Uber entry across different locations, to estimate the effect on vehicle purchase. Findings suggest that Uber entry is associated with a considerable increase (8%) in new vehicle ownership, suggesting that consumers are actively changing their stock of held resources in order to capture excess rents offered by these platforms. Further, results indicate that the effect of Uber entry varies considerably across gender, age, and vehicle types.
Retroviral-mediated overexpression of human bone morphogenetic protein 2 affects human mesenchymal stem cells during monolayer proliferation: A cautionary note

Background: Retroviral vectors are commonly used for gene transfer applications and they represent an effective way to provide a sustained delivery of a bioactive factor in basic research and tissue engineering applications. Cells that have been transduced with retroviral vectors ex vivo are usually amplified on tissue culture plastic, for a prolonged period of time, in order to obtain sufficient cell numbers prior to the experiment of interest. However, the effect of the transgene product on the transduced cells, during this period of time, is rarely, if ever, investigated. The current study investigated if transduction with a VSG.G pseudotyped retroviral vector expressing human bone morphogenetic protein 2 influences the gene expression profile of human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells during monolayer proliferation. MSCs that have been transduced with a VSG.G pseudotyped retroviral vector expressing enhanced green fluorescent protein served as controls. Results: It was confirmed that Rv.BMP-2 transduced hMSCs produce detectable amounts of bone morphogenetic protein 2. Gene expression analysis revealed that the hypertrophic marker collagen X was down-regulated by approximately 50% and the chondrogenic marker Aggrecan was elevated almost 9-fold in Rv.BMP-2 transduced hMSCs if compared to Rv.eGFP transduced control cells. Interestingly, the same changes in gene expression were detected when hMSCs were exposed to 100 ng/ml of recombinant human BMP-2 and their gene expression profile was compared to control hMSC. Again, collagen X message was down-regulated and Aggrecan message was up-regulated. Conclusion: These results indicate that, when using integrating vectors and then expanding the cells after transduction, controls need to be carefully planned to ensure the results obtained during the 3D experiments are not due to artefacts created in response to the different cell proliferation conditions employed.
Study of 250 children with idiopathic mental retardation reveals nine cryptic and diverse subtelomeric chromosome anomalies.

Cryptic subtelomeric chromosome anomalies have been recognized as a significant cause of dysmorphology and mental retardation. To determine whether the clinical cytogenetics laboratory should screen routinely for these aberrations, we have tested 250 patients with idiopathic mental retardation/developmental delay, either isolated (53) or associated with dysmorphic features and/or malformations in the absence of a recognizable syndrome (197). All had normal karyotypes at the 550-850 band level. Subtelomeric anomalies were found in 1/53 of the first group (1.9%) and 8/197 of the second group (4.1%). In one patient, two separate anomalies were present: a deletion (not inherited) and a duplication (inherited). It is possible that one of these 10 observed aberrations might represent a rare and previously unreported polymorphism and one a rare cross-hybridization. Our study supports the proposition that cryptic subtelomeric rearrangements are a significant cause of idiopathic mental retardation/developmental delay, but both the diversity of the phenotypes of the positive cases and the wide diversity of their associated chromosome abnormalities emphasize the central problem for the clinical cytogenetics laboratory-that of choosing the most productive patient base for this useful diagnostic test.
The Food Fortification Formulator: Technical Determination of Fortification Levels and Standards for Mass Fortification

From 2005-2011, the A2Z project has focused on developing the capacity of governments, the food industry, and regional institutions in Africa, Asia, and Latin America to implement mass food fortification programs that address the reduction of micronutrient malnutrition in the population. In collaboration with governments and in-country nutrition experts, the tools that were developed represent the practice and on-the-ground experience gained from the implementation of activities in developing countries. Specifically, the technical reference resources support the setting of national standards and regulations for fortified foods, methods for supervision, inspection and sampling for laboratory analysis, external and internal monitoring methods to enforce standards of micronutrient quality and safety specifications, and building the capacity of food inspectors to ensure compliance with regulations.
Reduction of Unknowns in PEEC Structures by Exploiting Connectivity of PEEC Cells

The partial element equivalent circuit (PEEC) approach facilitates a combination of electrical circuits and electromagnetic problems because a circuit formulation of that class of problems can be achieved. The majority of the PEEC implementations use circuit solvers like SPICE or ASTAP, allowing a huge degree of freedom in the design of the circuits, which can then be analyzed. However, these solvers have to handle very large equation systems even for small structures, especially if no circuit and network topology information is exploited. In this paper, we present a method exploiting information about the circuit topology, by which we can reduce the size of the PEEC equation system to a minimum. Numerical examples are given and a validation check is accomplished, showing that the approximations that are done in this paper are feasible, and that the numerical results are in good agreement with results that are produced by a method of moments solver.
Pathology of Bacillus cereus mastitis in dairy cows.

Bacillus cereus has been reported as the cause of acute, gangrenous mastitis in a number of cases (Table I). Infections resulted in spontaneous death or the need for immediate slaughter of the affected cows. In cases where appropriate treatment was instituted, the life of the cows could be saved, but the affected necrotic quarter(s) became fibrosed, and loss of milk production as well as weight loss rendered the animals uneconomic. The purpose of this publication is to describe the pathology of bovine B. cereus mastitis, which occurred in 1974 in various provinces of
Understanding Tobacco-Related Attitudes Among College and Noncollege Young Adult Hookah and Cigarette Users

Abstract Objective: To examine differences in tobacco-related attitudes and hookah and cigarette use among college and noncollege young adults. Participants: Time-location samples of young adult bar patrons in San Diego, California (N = 2,243), Tulsa (N = 2,095) and Oklahoma City (N = 2,200), Oklahoma, Albuquerque (N = 1,044) and Las Cruces (N = 894), New Mexico, between September 2009 and July 2011. Methods: Multinomial logistic regression examined associations between hookah and cigarette use and tobacco-related attitudes. Results: Current college students and graduates are less likely to smoke cigarettes, but more likely to use hookah. Among current hookah users, 22.6% were hookah-only users and 77.4% were dual users (cigarettes and hookah). College status is associated with different hookah use patterns, and those with anti-tobacco industry attitudes were more likely to smoke hookah. Conclusions: Novel interventions are needed for college students using hookah. Existing strategies targeting smokers with anti-tobacco industry messages may be irrelevant to hookah users.
Compact printed square meander loop antenna for a Bluetooth headset

The two wireless systems that have experienced the most rapid evolution and wide popularity are the standards developed by IEEE for wireless local area networks (WLANs), identified as IEEE 802.11, and the Bluetooth technology. This paper presents the design and analysis of a printed square meander loop antenna applicable for a Bluetooth headset. The design starts with a half-wavelength square loop operating at 2.45 GHz. Then, the loop was meandered to form sets of square meander loops having reduced area. Investigations were performed through simulations using electromagnetic simulation software, Sonnet Suite. Mathematical computations were made using MathCAD software. Meandering a half-wave length square loop with dimensions of 15 mm /spl times/ 15 mm results in reduction in the effective area of the loop antenna by 46%. It was found that this has also increased the first resonance of the antenna from 2.04 GHz to 2.45 GHz. To obtain a matched input return loss at the desired frequency of 2.45 GHz, a small rectangular single patch of 1 mm length and 2 mm width has been added adjacent to the feedpoint of the /spl lambda//2 meandered loop.
Finding Conformational Transition Pathways from Discrete Molecular Dynamics Simulations.

We present a new method for estimating pathways for conformational transitions in macromolecules from the use of discrete molecular dynamics and biasing techniques based on a combination of essential dynamics and Maxwell-Demon sampling techniques. The method can work with high efficiency at different levels of resolution, including the atomistic one, and can help to define initial pathways for further exploration by means of more accurate atomistic molecular dynamics simulations. The method is implemented in a freely available Web-based application accessible at http://mmb.irbbarcelona. org/MDdMD .