Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Separate and Cumulative Effects of TBI and PTSD on Cognitive Function and Emotional Control

Abstract : The emotional Stroop task with combat-related words was shown to be a robust and sensitive measure of attentional bias to trauma-relevant material in OEF/OIF Veterans with PTSD. It shows promise as an objective behavioral test that might be able to distinguish between OEF/OIF combat Veterans with a PTSD diagnosis and those without. However, the results should be interpreted with caution until a sufficiently large control group of demographicallymatched Veterans is tested. In addition, the present group of OIF/OEF Veterans with mild TBI and/or PTSD were impaired at inhibiting inappropriate motor responses, which can have important implications for daily life. Increased levels of impulsivity and a decreased ability to filter out distracting and emotionally intrusive information can negatively impact social and occupational functioning. In the future, computerized training interventions that target emotional and cognitive control skills may assist these OEF/OIF Veterans in returning to their previous levels of productivity. The carefully-designed computerized tasks implemented in this project may be more accurate in assessing the cognitive and affective sequelae of TBI and PTSD than self-report questionnaires.
Numerical Simulation of Free Surface by an Area-Preserving Level Set Method

We apply in this study an area preserving level set method to simulate gas/water interface flow. For the sake of accuracy, the spatial derivative terms in the equations of motion for an incompressible fluid flow are approximated by the fifth- order accurate upwinding combined compact difference(UCCD) scheme. This scheme development employs two coupled equations to calculate the first- and second-order derivative terms in the momentum equations. For accurately predicting the level set value, the interface tracking scheme is also developed to minimize phase error of the first-order derivative term shown in the pure advection equation. For the purpose of retaining the long-term accurate Hamiltonian in the advection equation for the level set function, the time derivative term is discretized by the sixth-order accurate sym- plectic Runge-Kutta scheme. Also, to keep as a distance function for ensuring the front having a finite thickness for all time, the re-initialization equation is used. For the ver- ification of the optimized UCCD scheme for the pure advection equation, two bench- mark problems have been chosen to investigate in this study. The level set method with excellent area conservation property proposed for capturing the interface in in- compressible fluid flows is also verified by solving the dam-break, Rayleigh-Taylor instability, two-bubble rising in water, and droplet falling problems.
Optimizing red sorghum malt quality when Bacillus subtilis is used during steeping to control mould growth

Previous work has shown that Bacillus subtilis-S499-based biocontrol treatments applied without aeration at the steeping stage of red sorghum malting offer good mould reduction, but yield malts with low levels of key hydrolytic enzymes. Thus we attempted to raise these levels by aerating the steeping liquor, varying the steeping time (from 8 to 40 h) and temperature (from 25 to 35 °C), and combining a biocontrol treatment with prior steeping in 0.2% NaOH. Aeration proved particularly important whenever B. subtilis cells were present in the steep liquor. The optimal temperatures for α- and β-amylase were 30 and 25 °C, respectively. By increasing the steeping time, it was possible to improve the α-amylase activity, but the β-amylase activity peaked sharply between 16 and 20 h, depending on the steeping medium. A good compromise was steeping in a biocontrol medium for 14–16 h at 30 °C. Combination steeping treatments (0.2% NaOH for 8 h followed by biocontrol for 8 h) yielded malts of a quality approaching that afforded by dilute alkaline treatment. Copyright © 2012 The Institute of Brewing & Distilling
IMMUNE RELATED DISEASES AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH THE GENETIC VARIABILITY WITHIN THE ADENOSINE DEAMINASE GENE

Background: Adenosine deaminase (ADA ) structural gene consists of 12 exons. A number of common variants have been found within the coding and intronic region of the gene: the possible role of this variability on ADA function are unknown. In the present study we reexamined our data on a set of immune related diseases [Type 1 Diabetes (T1D), Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), Endometriosis (ENDO) and Non Diabetic Coronary Artery Diseases (NDCAD)] investigating with a new approach the relevance of ADA genetic variability on susceptibility to these disorders. Methods: Three single nucleotide polymorphisms were considered, namely Taq1 site (ADA 1, nt 40504053, exon 1), Pst1 site ( ADA 2, nt 19465-19470, intron 2) and MLu NI (ADA 6, nt 31230-31235, exon 6). We reanalyzed the data on 199 children with T1D, on 79 subjects with RA, on 98 women with ENDO, on 136 NDCAD and on 246 healthy blood donors. ADA genotype was determined by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis. The subjects were classified according to the number of homozygous genotypes for the more frequent alleles at the three loci. All subjects were from White population of Rome. Results: All diseases show a strong excess of subjects with the more frequent genotype in all loci as compared to controls suggesting a protective effect of heterozygosity within the ADA gene. Conclusions: The data suggest that the combination of polymorphic sites within the ADA gene influences the susceptibility to some immune related disorders and calls for further studies on the relationship between ADA gene structure and immune functions.
Using a time-of-flight camera for autonomous indoor navigation

At Philips Floor Care autonomous vacuum cleaner robots are being developed. These robots autonomously find their way in unknown domestic environments. For such a robot to perform its job intelligently, it has to be able to observe its surroundings and process these observations into a map of the environment. A relatively new sensor for this task is the Time-of-Flight camera, which is capable of capturing a 3D image of its subject, multiple times a second. In this research the potential of the Time-of-Flight camera for autonomous indoor navigation is investigated. A characterization of the camera is made and algorithms are developed that extract relevant data from the 3D images (corners, jump edges and planes). These algorithms are evaluated with respect to speed, accuracy and robustness. Finally, a proof-of-principle setup is made using several orderings of typical pieces of furniture in a test room. The recorded 3D images are then processed using the developed feature extraction algorithms. The resulting features are fed to a Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) algorithm, which estimates a map of the detected landmarks and the camera position within thismap. Based on the results it is concluded that the selected features are robustly detected, are abundant in the test setups and can be extracted and processed by the SLAMalgorithm in real time. The proof-of-principle shows that the features are accurate enough to result in stable SLAM within an average room. There are some issues identified that negatively affect accuracy, which require further research of both the camera and the algorithms. However, it can be concluded that the time-of-flight camera has good potential for autonomous indoor navigation and that the selected features can be considered good candidates for this purpose.
Grouped Heterogeneous Mixture Modeling for Clustered Data

Abstract Clustered data are ubiquitous in a variety of scientific fields. In this article, we propose a flexible and interpretable modeling approach, called grouped heterogeneous mixture modeling, for clustered data, which models cluster-wise conditional distributions by mixtures of latent conditional distributions common to all the clusters. In the model, we assume that clusters are divided into a finite number of groups and mixing proportions are the same within the same group. We provide a simple generalized EM algorithm for computing the maximum likelihood estimator, and an information criterion to select the numbers of groups and latent distributions. We also propose structured grouping strategies by introducing penalties on grouping parameters in the likelihood function. Under the settings where both the number of clusters and cluster sizes tend to infinity, we present asymptotic properties of the maximum likelihood estimator and the information criterion. We demonstrate the proposed method through simulation studies and an application to crime risk modeling in Tokyo.
University of Birmingham The influence of particle composition upon the evolution of urban ultrafine diesel particles on the neighbourhood scale

A recent study demonstrated that diesel particles in urban air undergo evaporative shrinkage when advected to a cleaner atmosphere (Harrison et al., 2016). We explore, in a structured and systematic way, the sensitivity of nucleation-mode diesel particles (diameter < 30 nm) to changes in particle composition, saturation vapour pressure, and the mass accommodation coefﬁcient. We use a multicomponent aerosol microphysics model based on surrogate molecule (C 16 − C 32 n -alkane) volatilities. For standard atmospheric conditions (298 K, 1013.25 hPa), and over timescales (ca. 100 s) relevant for dispersion on the neighbourhood scale (up to 1 km), the choice of a particular vapour
Modeling chemical reaction front propagation by using an isogeometric analysis

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DEFINING THE PSYCHOMETRIC PROPERTIES OF THE WRITING SENSITIVITY SCALE AND ANALYSING WRITING SENSITIVITY WITH REGARD TO DIFFERENT VARIABLES Yazma Duyarliliği Ölçeğinin Psikometrik Niteliklerinin Belirlenmesi ve Yazma Duyarliliğinin Farkli Değişkenler Açisindan İncelenmesi

This study aimed to develop the Writing Sensitivity Scale, to determine its psychometric properties and to investigate how sensitivity toward writing differed according to participants’ demographic characteristics. The research group of this survey study involved preservice Turkish language teachers studying at Akdeniz University, Mehmet Akif Ersoy University, Dokuz Eylul University and Nigde University. In order to develop the instrument and to determine its psychometric properties, data were collected from 396 participants for the pilot study and from 375 participants for the main study. The Writing Sensitivity Scale involving 37 items is scored with a 5point rating scale. Exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and Cronbach’s alpha analysis were carried out for data analysis. As a result of the analyses, the construct validity of the scores obtained through the Writing Sensitivity Scale and the reliability of the scale in terms of internal consistency can be considered high. In addition, common effects of the variables of sex and grade point average as well as the variables of sex and class level on writing sensitivity were significant. The main effects of the variables of grade point average and frequency of writing on writing sensitivity were significant as well. On the other hand, common effects of the variables of sex and frequency of writing; frequency of writing and frequency of reading books; and lastly frequency of writing and grade point average on writing sensitivity were not significant.
SITUATION ASSESSMENT OF AGRICULTURAL HOUSEHOLDS IN PUNJAB

The present study, based on both secondary and primary data, was conducted to examine the agricultural production scenario of Punjab and to carry out situation assessment of the agricultural households of different agro-climatic zones of Punjab and associate it with agricultural production on the basis of farm expenses and receipts. The analysis based on secondary data, culled from various published sources for the state of Punjab for the period 2001-02 to 2013-14, highlighted that cropping intensity in the state has increased from 186.9 percent in TE 2003/04 to 190.1 percent by the TE 2012/13 limiting the possibility of vertical expansion as well. The study reinforced that wheat, paddy, cotton, sugarcane and maize were the important crops cultivated in Punjab. Paddy and wheat area as percent of GCA has been increasing unabatedly from 74.4 percent in 2001-02 to 80.8 percent in 201213. The analysis of primary data, for the crop year 2014-15, sought from 120 agricultural households (30 each from Sub-Mountainous RegionZone I and South Western Region-Zone III, 60 from Central Plain Region -Zone II) highlighted significant inter zonal differences in the cropping pattern. In Zone I, paddy crop was conspicuous by its absence and wheat accounted for 37.9 percent of gross cropped area. The paddy and wheat together accounted for 83 percent of the GCA in Zone II and 64.6 percent in the case of Zone III. The results elucidated that total variable cost per acre of NSA figure was the highest (Rs. 40228) in case of Zone I , followed by that in case of Zone II (Rs. 26342) and Zone III (Rs. 24135), wherein the differences (Zone II vs. Zone III) were found to be non-significant (p< 0.05). The value of output on per acre of NSA was observed to be the highest (Rs. 77835) in case of Zone II followed by Zone I (Rs. 65041) and Zone III (Rs. 63292) with significant differences (p<0.05) amongst each other, testifying the production potential of Central Zone of Punjab. The returns over variable cost per acre of NSA were the least in case of Zone I, which calls for immediate policy attention. In the case of zone II, wheat and paddy rotation which accounted for 83.3 percent of the total cropped area, entailing 76.2 percent of the farm cost exhibited the potential to generate 82.4 percent of the farm accruals net of variable costs. In case of Zone III, wheat crop accounting for 47.5 percent of the cropped area accounted for 53.2 percent of the total farm returns, whereas cotton cultivation on 30.4 percent of the cropped area, accounted for 43.8 percent of the entire farm cost and returned proportionately less (only 17.9 %) in terms of returns over variable costs. These inter zonal differentials call for customized crop planning, diversification options along crop and regional dimensions and matching policy support to bring about all round development of the state agriculture on both agronomic and economic front and that too on a sustainable basis.
Response of snow cover to climate change in the periphery mountains of Tarim river basin, China, over the past four decades

Abstract Data of annual mean temperature, annual total precipitation and snow-cover area (SCA) in the winter season from 1982 to 2001 have been analyzed to examine the response of SCA to climate change in the Tarim basin, western China. The results show that over the entire basin SCA exhibits a slowly decreasing trend. The responses of SCA to temperature and precipitation in the northern, western and southern parts of the basin show a stronger effect of precipitation change on SCA than that of temperature. SCA has slowly increased below 2500ma.s. l. , but has decreased at higher altitudes. The lowest-altitude zone was apt to be affected by precipitation, while the highest-altitude zone seems to have been influenced mainly by temperature. The middle zone from 2500 to 5000 m was the most sensitive to climate change. Snowfall and melt rates were higher in the 1990s than in the 1980s. In the winter season, SCA change was positively correlated with precipitation change but not with temperature change.
Contrasting effects of climate change along life stages of a dominant tree species: the importance of soil–climate interactions

For tree species, adult survival and seedling and sapling recruitment dynamics are the main processes that determine forest structure and composition. Thus, studying how these two life stages may be affected by climate change in the context of other abiotic and biotic variables is critical to understand future population trends. The aim of this study was to assess the sustainability of cork oak (Quercus suber) forests at the core of its distributional range under future climatic conditions.
Evaluation of Peak Shifting and Saving Energy of Ice Storage Air Conditioning System in Iran

Thermal energy storage (TES) system has been introduced as a practical facility for shifting load from peak hours to off-peak hours. Because of different energy consumption during day and night, peak and off peak period is created on load curve. Ice storage technology which is a kind of TES system, is implemented in different points of the world with the purpose of solving load shifting problem. The basic process of this technology is storing energy in the ice during off-peak hours, utilizing an air conditioning unit in which the stored energy will be utilized during day. Utilization of ice storage system is a good solution for optimizing consumption of gas and electrical energy, which will be effective in urban pollution reduction. This paper aims to introduce load shifting problem and the implemented procedures to overcome this problem from the past, analyzing ice storage system as a solution to this problem. Moreover, feasibility of the ice storage technology on a case study in Iran is discussed to show the performance and efficiency of the technology. The obtained results for the case study show that by utilizing ice storage system the consumption and the paid cost will be reduced with respect to conventional system. Keyword: Load shifting, Thermal energy storage, Ice storage system, Air conditioning unit. NOMENCLATURE t Index for time interval i Index for different pumps used in ice storage system j Index for different cooling tower used in ice storage system k Index for different chiller used in ice storage system Ch Set of different type of chiller systems Pu Set of different type of pumps CT Set of different type of cooling towers   t  Forecasted electricity price in time period T Studied time period(24 hour)   , c P t k Power consumption of k-th screw type chiller and auxiliary equipment in time period t    t The chiller efficiency related to ambient temperature   pump P i Power consumption of i-th pump.   , c tower P j Power consumption of j-th cooling tower n COP Nominal performance coefficient of chiller   , c n P k Nominal power consumption of k-th chiller   cap R t Full load chilling capacity ratio   chiller R t Full load power consumption ratio , ch n T Nominal chilled water outlet temperature , cool n T Nominal cooling water inlet temperature   ch T t Actual chilled water outlet temperature   cool T t Actual cooling water inlet temperatur
Closed‐Loop Identification for Control of Linear Parameter Varying Systems

This paper deals with system identification for control of linear parameter varying systems. In practical applications, it is often important to be able to identify small plant changes in an incremental manner without shutting down the system and/or disconnecting the controller; unfortunately, closed‐loop system identification is more difficult than open‐loop identification. In this paper we prove that the so‐called Hansen scheme, a technique known from linear time‐invariant systems theory for transforming closed‐loop system identification problems into open‐loop‐like problems, can be extended to accommodate linear parameter varying systems as well. We investigate the identified subsystem's parameter dependency and observe that, under mild assumptions, the identified subsystem is affine in the parameter vector. Various identification methods are compared in direct and Hansen Scheme setups in simulation studies, and the application of the Hansen Scheme is seen to improve the identification performance.
COMPARING GOAL-MODELLING TOOLS WITH THE RE-TOOL EVALUATION APPROACH ∗

Goal modelling usually takes place during the early information systems development phase known as requirements engineering (RE). RE is a key factor for project success where a good tool support is necessary. Several goal-modelling tools exist and several approaches can be used to evaluate them. In this paper, we report on an experiment to evaluate two goal-modelling tools - KAOS/Objectiver and i*/OME. We use an RE-tool evaluation approach (R-TEA) in order to determine which of the tools is better at supporting the creation of goal models. It turns out that KAOS/Objectiver apparently offers better model creation support but the quality of the resulting models is more dependent on situational language characteristics such as the focus on early (vs late) requirements.