Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Study on Pwm Control Strategy of Photovoltaic Grid-connected Generation System

The principle of photovoltaic grid-connected generation system is analyzed, and the research on PWM control strategy is done based on the power output side of photovoltaic grid-connected generation system. The direct current control strategy of photovoltaic grid-connected inverter is presented. The control fashion of applying fixed switch frequency and the feedforward compensation control of utility grid voltage is introduced. The current response speed is proved to be faster, and the grid-connected current waveform is sine and the power factor is unity
A method for assessing voxel correspondence in longitudinal tumor imaging.

PURPOSE Tumor characterization employing a voxel-wise analysis of image signal facilitates the determination of the spatial distribution of tumor attributes, and when employed for therapy response assessment offers the promise of greater sensitivity to change than conventional approaches. However, the accuracy of a voxel-wise analysis of change is limited by local registration uncertainties that can disrupt the spatiotemporal correspondence between assessed voxels. We present a method for assessing voxel correspondence strength using a multiresolution local histogram-based measure of image structure similarity. When employed in a longitudinal tumor imaging context, a voxel similarity measure must be robust to intensity variations that can arise from the image acquisition, treatment effects, or changes in underlying disease processes. Consequently, the local histogram-based similarity measure is evaluated for sensitivity to structural change and robustness to intensity variation and is compared against normalized mutual information and normalized cross-correlation. METHODS T1-weighted (T1W) magnetic resonance (MR) images of glioblastoma acquired as part of a longitudinal response assessment study are first rigidly registered, and then similarity between spatially corresponding voxels is evaluated using multiresolution local histograms. Region-based and nonuniform intensity changes of varying magnitude as well as deformations to image structure are applied individually and in combination to the test images. Statistical analysis is used to test for interaction effects between the applied perturbations and the value of the local histogram similarity function. Pair-wise voxel similarity maps are computed for pairs of longitudinal clinical MR image volumes and compared with observed patterns of change on conventional imaging. RESULTS The simulations demonstrated that the local histogram measure was robust to intensity modulations applied to increasing region sizes and exhibited a strong negative correlation with the magnitude of local deformation. No statistically significant interaction effects were observed upon the value of the local histogram similarity function when deformation was applied in conjunction with a nonuniform intensity change. Pair-wise voxel similarity maps were consistent with image change observed on T1W MR imaging and revealed patterns of change not apparent in conventional image sequences. CONCLUSIONS A measure of local histogram image structure similarity can be used to assess the strength of voxel to voxel correspondences independently of intensity nonuniformities. The metric can provide a local estimate of the limits of achievable correspondence underlying the registration and voxel-wise comparison of signal in longitudinal imaging used for assessing tumor response to treatment.
Decline of mortality in children in rural Gambia: the influence of village‐level Primary Health Care

Summary Using data from a longitudinal study conducted in 40 villages by the UK MRC in the North Bank Division of The Gambia beginning in late 1981, we examined infant and child mortality over a 15‐year period for a population of about 17 000 people. Comparisons are drawn between villages with and without PHC. The extra facilities in the PHC villages include: a paid Community Health Nurse for about every 5 villages, a Village Health Worker and a trained Traditional Birth Attendant. Maternal and child health services with a vaccination programme are accessible to residents in both PHC and non‐PHC villages. The data indicate that there has been a marked improvement in infant and under‐five mortality in both sets of villages. Following the establishment of the PHC system in 1983, infant mortality dropped from 134/1000 in 1982–83 to 69/1000 in 1992–94 in the PHC villages and from 155/1000 to 91/1000 in the non‐PHC villages over the same period. Between 1982 and 83 and 1992–94, the death rates for children aged 1–4 fell from 42/1000 to 28/1000 in the PHC villages and from 45/1000 to 38/1000 in the non‐PHC villages. Since 1994, when supervision of the PHC system has weakened, infant mortality rates in the PHC villages have risen to 89/1000 in 1994–96. The rates in the non‐PHC villages fell to 78/1000 for this period. The under‐five mortality rates in both sets of villages have converged to 34/1000 for 1994–96. When the PHC programme was well supported in the 1980s, we saw significantly lower mortality rates for the 1–4‐year‐olds. These differences disappeared when support for PHC was reduced after 1994. The differential effects on infant mortality are less clear cut.
Effects of Short-Term Probiotic Ingestion on Immune Profiles and Microbial Translocation among HIV-1-Infected Vietnamese Children

Here, we investigated the effects of the probiotic strain Lactobacillus casei Shirota (LcS) on immune profiles and intestinal microbial translocation among children infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). This prospective study included 60 HIV-infected children—including 31 without antiretroviral therapy (ART) (HIV(+)) and 29 who received ART for a median of 3.5 years (ART(+)) and 20 children without HIV infection (HIV(−)). Participants were recruited in Vietnam. All children were given fermented milk containing LcS (6.5 × 109 cfu) daily for 8 weeks. Before and after LcS ingestion, blood samples were collected for virological, immunological, and bacteriological analyses. After LcS ingestion, peripheral CD4+ T-cell and Th2 (CXCR3−CCR6−CD4+) counts significantly increased in both HIV-infected groups; Th17 (CXCR3−CCR6+CD4+) counts increased in all three groups; regulatory T-cell (CD25highCD4+) counts decreased in the ART(+) and HIV(−) groups; activated CD8+ cells (CD38+HLA-DR+CD8+) decreased from 27.5% to 13.2% (p < 0.001) in HIV(+) children; and plasma HIV load decreased slightly but significantly among HIV(+) children. No group showed a significantly altered frequency of bacterial 16S/23S rRNA gene detection in the plasma. No serious adverse events occurred. These findings suggest that short-term LcS ingestion is a safe supportive approach with immunological and virological benefits in HIV-infected children.
KIR2DL5 Can Inhibit Human NK Cell Activation Via Recruitment of Src Homology Region 2-Containing Protein Tyrosine Phosphatase-2 (SHP-2)1

Human NK cells use class I MHC-binding inhibitory receptors, such as the killer cell Ig-like receptor (KIR) family, to discriminate between normal and abnormal cells. Some tumors and virus-infected cells down-regulate class I MHC and thereby become targets of NK cells. Substantial evidence indicates that the mechanism of KIR-mediated inhibition involves recruitment of the protein tyrosine phosphatases, Src homology 2-containing protein tyrosine phosphatase-1 (SHP-1) and SHP-2, to two phosphorylated cytoplasmic immunoreceptor tyrosine-based inhibitory motifs (ITIMs). KIR2DL5 is a type II member of the KIR2D family with an atypical extracellular domain and an intracytoplasmic domain containing one typical ITIM and one atypical ITIM sequence. Although KIR2DL5 structure is expressed by ∼50% of humans and is conserved among primate species, its function has not been determined. In the present study, we directly compared functional and biochemical properties of KIR2DL5, KIR3DL1 (a type I KIR with two ITIMs), and KIR2DL4 (the only other type II KIR, which has a single ITIM) in a human NK-like cell line. Our results show that KIR2DL5 is an inhibitory receptor that can recruit both SHP-1 and SHP-2, and its inhibitory capacity is more similar to that of the cytoplasmic domain of KIR2DL4 than KIR3DL1. Interestingly, inhibition of NK cell cytotoxicity by KIR2DL5 was blocked by dominant-negative SHP-2, but not dominant-negative SHP-1, whereas both dominant-negative phosphatases can block inhibition by KIR3DL1. Therefore, the cytoplasmic domains of type II KIRs (2DL4 and 2DL5) exhibit distinct inhibitory capacities when compared with type I KIRs (3DL1), due to alterations in the canonical ITIM sequences.
Regulatory intensity in English and German professional football

Purpose In order to secure a proper execution of sporting competitions, national governing bodies of professional football leagues apply specific regulatory procedures. In this context, special focus is placed on requirements that are supposed to ensure financial stability of clubs. They, in turn, help avoid negative economic externalities, i.e. the problem that financial difficulties from one club can affect other clubs and stakeholders due to the interdependent relationships of the competition. These regulations on a national level in European professional football leagues show several significant differences. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to comprehensively analyze financial regulatory procedures of professional football leagues to generate possible improvements of the regulations in detail. Design/methodology/approach Using a document analysis of the regulation books of the English Premier League and German Bundesliga (BL), this study compares the regulatory procedures of those important European professional football leagues. Further evaluation was performed through a qualitative content analysis to develop a category system including six categories with 72 criteria from deductive and inductive procedures. For more advanced coding, an assessment scale was integrated. Findings Compared to the Premier League, the regulation of the BL points to a more intensive regulation in all categories and across all analyzed indices. The results of both leagues partially reveal that assessment and monitoring requirements tend to be ineffective, which can substantially endanger the achievement of the whole monitoring process’ aims. The intention to ensure the financial stability for securing the league competition can be missed in such a situation and negative economic externalities cannot be prevented effectively. Originality/value For the first time, this study includes all relevant requirements of financial club assessment and monitoring. Thereby, an abstract comprehensive and systematic structure for professional team sports leagues is described and allows for a concrete international comparison of two European professional football leagues. At the end, several approaches to improve the regulatory framework are provided.
Optimized digital library for digital forenisc based on Decomposed PRNU

Nowadays, the digital forensic techniques for digital images are developed with the origin identification and integrity verification functions for security reasons. Methods based on photo-response-non-uniform (PRNU) are widely studied and proved to be effective to serve the forensic purposes. However, due to the interpolation noise, caused by the colour filtering and interpolation function the accuracy of the PRNU-based forensic method has been degraded. Meanwhile, the tremendous physical storage requirement and computation consumption limit the applications of PRNU-based method. Therefore, an innovative DPRNU-based forensic method has been proposed in order to solve the above problems. In the method, the artificial component and physical component are separated according to the colour filtering array (CFA) and the PRNU are only extracted from the physical component in order to remove the interference caused by the interpolation noise, which increases the accuracy of the camera identification and integrity verification. Meanwhile, due to the separation, the DPRNU are only 1/3 of the size of the traditional PRNU, which saves considerable physical storage in setting up the digital library and fasters the comparison speed between the fingerprints.
Strategies for Avoiding the Pitfalls of Performance Contracting

C ontracting out is in. All sorts of governments are contracting for all sorts of goods and services. The public sector contracts with the private and nonprofit sectors for the design, construction, and maintenance of roads and bridges (Chi, 1993, pp. 14-15); for the production of nuclear weapons (Kettl, 1993, chap. 6); for the management of prisons and the delivery of services within prisons (Allen, 1989); for information technology (Globerman & Vining, 1996); for the management of public schools (U.S. General Accounting Office, 1996b); for educating, training, and placing in jobs welfare recipients and displaced workers (Chi & Devlin, 1989); for child support enforcement (U.S. General Accounting Office, 1995, 1996a); and for a host of other social services (Smith & Lipsky, 1993, pp. 3-1 1). Eighty percent of the largest cities in the United States contract out vehicle towing, and half contract out solid waste collection (Dilger, Moffett, & Struyk, 1997). Over the past several decades, as society has debated government's make-or-buy decision, public agencies have shifted more toward the buy alternative-toward privatization and what Richard Nathan (1997) calls "nonprofitization" (p. 4). ' Government contracting, however, is not new. It has been going on for centuries. The government does not think of making pencils. It buys them.2 As Donald Kettl (1993) observes, the American government had defense contracts before it had a constitution. Indeed, he also notes, in government, "almost everything can be-and has been-contracted out" (pp. 6, 157). Thus, scholars, journalists, and practitioners have written numerous articles, chapters, and books that explain why government should contract out (Butler, 1985; Savas, 1982), when it should contract out (Donahue, 1989; Prager & Desai, 1996), and how it
Basic science focus on blood substitutes: a summary of the NHLBI Division of Blood Diseases and Resources Working Group Workshop, March 1, 2006

In March 2006, a workshop sponsored by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute was convened to identify the role of basic science research in clarifying issues that are impeding progress in the development of hemoglobin‐based oxygen carrying (HBOC) solutions. These discussions resulted in a consensus that, although HBOCs have shown clinical promise, various side effects have inhibited further development and regulatory approval, with cardiovascular events being of particular concern. As a consequence, workshop participants focused on formulating research recommendations to better understand and mitigate these side effects. In addition, several important corollary issues were identified, including better understanding of the impact of HBOC infusion on human physiology; the need for rapid, noninvasive methods for the measurement of tissue oxygenation in human patients to better inform transfusion decisions; further investigation of routes and consequences of hemoglobin metabolism; optimization of clinical protocols for HBOC use; and assessment of the impact of HBOC formulation excipients. Also discussed was the possibility and desirability of developing new HBOCs with improved characteristics, such as prolonged functional intravascular persistence, greater stability, and a decreased propensity to generate reactive oxygen species. One practical limitation in this area is the consistent availability of pure, well‐characterized HBOC solutions for the research community. This communication summarizes the opinion of workshop participants on these issues and concludes with a list of specific recommended areas of research that could positively impact the development of blood substitutes.
Rwanda 1994. Analyse d’un processus génocidaire

The genocide of the Tutsi in Rwanda was the direct result of a now defunct process which was applied inexorably over decades. It originated in an ethnic vision of Rwandan history created by Belgian colonization and the Peres Blancs. Ignoring the history of the kingdom of Rwanda and imbued with racial prejudices, the Belgian administration designated the Tutsi as a “race of lords”, thus allowing them to rule the country through an elite.During the late 1950s’, with Rwandan independence imminent, Belgium reversed its discourse and actively supported the cause of the “Hutu majority”, thereby inaugurating the mass murder cycle of the Tutsi in 1959. Up until 1967, under the First Republic, 20.000 Tutsi were assassinated and 300.000 emigrated.In 1973, Rwanda became a one-party centralized state. If ethnic antagonism is less intense, the government denies refugees the right to return. Starting in 1990, with a background of economic and political crisis, a combination of several factors transformed ethnic discrimination into an imminent threat of genocide. These factors included the attack of the FPR on October 1st, 1990, the dissemination of hatred and fear by the media, French support and interference by the international community and finally, the October 1993 creation of Hutu Power – the organ that conceives and plans the genocide.
DNA topoisomerase II as the primary target of anti-tumor anthracyclines.

Recent structure-activity relationship studies emphasize the critical role of topoisomerase II-mediated DNA cleavage on the cytotoxic activity of anthracycline anti-tumor antibiotics. Such studies have also given evidence of the peculiar features of the drug interference with DNA topoisomerase II activity. In contrast to other cytotoxic topoisomerase II inhibitors (acridines, epipodophyllotoxins), anthracyclines produce persistent DNA cleavable complexes. This property is more evident with doxorubicin derivatives than with daunorubicin derivatives. The strength of DNA binding apparently does not correlate with the stimulatory effect of anthracyclines on topoisomerase II-mediated DNA cleavage and with their cytotoxic potency. However, drug intercalation is still required for optimal drug activity. Such an observation suggests that the specific mode of DNA interaction, rather than the strength of binding, is important in determining the cytotoxic potency. The extent of anthracycline-induced cleavage results from a balance between a stimulation and a suppressive effect of the drug on topoisomerase II DNA cleavage. Anthracyclines are sequence selective in the induction of DNA cleavage by purified topoisomerase II. Despite the extensive effort in developing DNA intercalating agents as anti-tumor drugs, the limited success of such an approach could be rationalized in terms of the still inadequate 'rational design', since the molecular basis of specific drug-DNA topoisomerase II interaction (e.g. sites of cleavage, cell response to DNA damage, etc.) is not completely understood. Such studies indicating structural requirements in anthracycline molecules, which are critical for specific drug interference with topoisomerase II functions, provide the opportunity to re-examine the mechanism of action of these agents and to design new, more selective derivatives.
Impact of repetitive manual materials handling and psychosocial work factors on the future prevalence of chronic low-back pain among construction workers.

OBJECTIVES This study investigated the influence of manual stone and brick handling and psychosocial work factors on the risk of chronic low-back pain and describes the impact in terms of risk advancement period. METHODS The Hamburg Construction Worker Study included a longitudinal study among 488 male construction workers. Adjusted prevalence ratios (PR) of chronic low-back pain (>3 months during the last 12 months) according to self-reported worktasks in the baseline survey were estimated with the Cox proportional hazards model. RESULTS The 1-year prevalence of chronic low-back pain was 15.4%. Workers with chronic low-back pain in the baseline survey had a higher risk of such pain during the follow-up (PR4.07,95% CI 2.18-7.59). The prevalence in association with laying large lime sandstones for >2 hours per shift (PR 1.80, 95% CI 1.04-3.14) further increased after adjustment for job category (PR 2.69, 95% CI 1.25-5.78), and it advanced the risk by a risk advancement period of 18 years (95% CI 4-39). Workers with low satisfaction with their work achievements had a higher prevalence of chronic low-back pain (PR 2.07, 95% CI 1.10-3.88). Similar risk estimates were observed in the subgroup without chronic low-back pain in the baseline survey. A strong effect of time pressure wasonly present for these workers (high: P R 6.30,95% CI 1.41-28.21). CONCLUSIONS The results suggest that repetitive work involving bent positions and the manual manipulation of heavy stones increases the risk of future chronic low-back pain. For risk communication, the notion that a 40-year-old construction worker laying large sandstones has the same risk as an unexposed 58-year-old construction worker may be more informative.
Using evolutionary and structural information to predict DNA‐binding sites on DNA‐binding proteins

Proteins that interact with DNA are involved in a number of fundamental biological activities such as DNA replication, transcription, and repair. A reliable identification of DNA‐binding sites in DNA‐binding proteins is important for functional annotation, site‐directed mutagenesis, and modeling protein–DNA interactions. We apply Support Vector Machine (SVM), a supervised pattern recognition method, to predict DNA‐binding sites in DNA‐binding proteins using the following features: amino acid sequence, profile of evolutionary conservation of sequence positions, and low‐resolution structural information. We use a rigorous statistical approach to study the performance of predictors that utilize different combinations of features and how this performance is affected by structural and sequence properties of proteins. Our results indicate that an SVM predictor based on a properly scaled profile of evolutionary conservation in the form of a position specific scoring matrix (PSSM) significantly outperforms a PSSM‐based neural network predictor. The highest accuracy is achieved by SVM predictor that combines the profile of evolutionary conservation with low‐resolution structural information. Our results also show that knowledge‐based predictors of DNA‐binding sites perform significantly better on proteins from mainly‐α structural class and that the performance of these predictors is significantly correlated with certain structural and sequence properties of proteins. These observations suggest that it may be possible to assign a reliability index to the overall accuracy of the prediction of DNA‐binding sites in any given protein using its sequence and structural properties. A web‐server implementation of the predictors is freely available online at http://lcg.rit. albany.edu/dp‐bind/. Proteins 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
A New Multi-Dimensional Mapping of QPSK Constellation for BICM-ID Systems

In this paper, a new multi-dimensional mapping of QPSK constellation is proposed to improve the performance for bit interleaved coded modulation with iteratively decoding (BICM-ID) systems. Based on analyzing the relationship between Hamming distance and Euclidean distance of QPSK symbols, we find that the Euclidean distance between that pair of signals whose labels differ only in one bit is obtained from Hamming distance, and it takes the Hamming distance as rule of designing and optimizing multi-dimensional mapping of QPSK constellation and gives the search steps and result of multi-dimensional mapping. Analysis and simulation results show that the new scheme achieves the better performance than the conventional two-dimensional and multi-dimensional mapping of QPSK constellation at high SNR in BICM-ID systems.