Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
DC/DC-converters in parallel operation with digital load distribution control

The parallel operation of power supply circuits, especially in applications with higher power demand, has several advantages. One of the most important aspects is to improve the power system reliability and the operational redundancy by it. There is also a trend in producing standard power converter modules which can be connected in parallel to cover a wide power range. This significantly reduces the costs of development and existing systems can be extended easily. A main problem of the parallel operating power converters is to attain an accurate equalization of the modules' output currents. There are different solutions of this problem arising in literature. All these approaches try to reach this goal with a minimum of technical complexity in order to keep costs at a low level. In recent years the implementation of digital control concepts in switching power supply systems seems to be of growing interest. Digital control offers several possibilities: functions of communication can be embedded quite easily; control structures and parameters can be changed by modifying only the software; adaptive control systems are realizable; and complex control strategies become possible. In this paper, parallel operating DC/DC power converters are combined with a digital control unit, thus allowing a complex control strategy called load distribution control (LDC) possible. This new method of LDC is described in detail in the paper. Simulation results are presented as well as experimental verifications.
Generalized SelectionWeighted Vector Filters

This paper introduces a class of nonlinear multichannel filters capable of removing impulsive noise in color images. The hereproposed generalized selection weighted vector filter class constitutes a powerful filtering framework for multichannel signal processing. Previously defined multichannel filters such as vector median filter, basic vector directional filter, directional-distance filter, weighted vector median filters, and weighted vector directional filters are treated from a global viewpoint using the proposed framework. Robust order-statistic concepts and increased degree of freedom in filter design make the proposed method attractive for a variety of applications. Introduced multichannel sigmoidal adaptation of the filter parameters and its modifications allow to accommodate the filter parameters to varying signal and noise statistics. Simulation studies reported in this paper indicate that the proposed filter class is computationally attractive, yields excellent performance, and is able to preserve fine details and color information while efficiently suppressing impulsive noise. This paper is an extended version of the paper by Lukac et al. presented at the 2003 IEEE-EURASIP Workshop on Nonlinear Signal and Image Processing (NSIP ’03) in Grado, Italy.
A Toolbox for Quasirandom Simulation

In the eighteenth century, Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, proposed a novel method to estimate p—dropping a needle over and over again onto a wooden floor of parallel planks. The probability of a needle crossing a join in the floor is related to p. By counting the number of crosses, one can estimate this probability, and hence compute a value for p (see [1]). Buffon is said to have tried the method by tossing baguettes over his shoulder. A more direct way of estimating p is to throw darts randomly at a circular target inscribed in a square, and count the proportion that land inside the circle. These are simple examples of numerical integration by simulation.
Human silhouette segmentation using discrete poisson equation and extended watershed algorithm

In this paper a novel approach on human silhouette segmentation for surveillance systems was proposed. The described solution uses discrete Poisson equation and a combination of extended watershed algorithm with Region Growing algorithm. Experiments were performed on a commonly known database PETS 2006 and the results show that the proposed solution achieves high precision and accuracy.
Full Chain Benchmarking for Open Architecture Airborne ISR Systems: A Case Study for GMTI Radar Applications

Abstract : As the airborne ISR application space evolves, the quantities of data acquired by remote sensing systems such as radar, electro-optical, and infrared systems are growing larger, and advanced algorithms are imposing more challenging computational requirements for real-time processing. While the difficulties in processing sensor data in real-time is the topic of extensive research, the rapidly shifting technology and application complexity has led to pronounced system lifecycle challenges, including the constant threat of technology obsolescence and unsustainable maintenance costs. One way for Government programs to address this reality economically is to shift the ISR system acquisition strategy to facilitate the timely, cost-effective insertion and upgrade of technologies, through the utilization of an open architecture (OA) approach to system design standards for application ready processors (ARPs). OA design leverages industry-standard hardware and middleware, thus engaging a broader development community and lowering barriers for third-party application development. For this approach to succeed without sacrificing functional capabilities and real-time performance, effective benchmarks are necessary to ensure that an ARP system can meet the mission constraints and performance requirements of real-world applications. This work investigates the measurement of real-time performance of commodity high-speed processing solutions and middleware for airborne systems using OA composite benchmarks, i.e., benchmarks that characterize computational performance of the system as a whole, while also validating OA principles. For ISR systems, processing performance must often be counterbalanced by size, weight and power (SWaP) constraints that often necessitate application-specific configurations (e.g., mapping and scheduling) for system-level optimization.
Western blotting analysis in patients with MS using human brain vessels as antigen

Serum samples from patients suffering from multiple sclerosis, other neurological diseases and normal controls were screened by “western blotting” for antibody directed against proteins of human brain vessels purified from a post mortem brain. A small number of sera contained autoantibodies against some of the proteins of the brain vessels, particularly in patients suffering from MS, epilepsy and migraine. The significance of these results is discussed.
Reading two bases twice: mammalian antizyme frameshifting in yeast.

Programmed translational frameshifting is essential for the expression of mammalian ornithine decarboxylase antizyme, a protein involved in the regulation of intracellular polyamines. A cassette containing antizyme frameshift signals is found to direct high‐level (16%) frameshifting in yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae. In contrast to +1 frameshifting in the mammalian system, in yeast the same frame is reached by −2 frameshifting. Two bases are read twice. The −2 frameshifting is likely to be mediated by slippage of mRNA and re‐pairing with the tRNA in the P‐site. The downstream pseudoknot stimulates frameshifting by 30‐fold compared with 2.5‐fold in reticulocyte lysates. When the length of the spacer between the shift site and the pseudoknot is extended by three nucleotides, +1 and −2 frameshifting become equal.
A model for understanding software components

Understanding the behavior of components is an important task in the component-based software development process. Component users build mental models to understand a component when they use it for the first time. The models are also useful during the evolution of the component and the application that incorporates it. The process of component understanding employed by the component user influences the kind of models that can be developed. lit this paper we examine several comprehension models used in practice, and analyze existing component understanding approaches with respect to the comprehension models. We illustrate the development of comprehension models with the example of a spreadsheet component used in an application.
Scapular Fractures: What Radiologists Need to Know.

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this article are to review scapular anatomy and function, describe imaging features of traumatic scapular injury, and discuss the role of diagnostic imaging in clinical decision making after shoulder trauma. CONCLUSION Knowledge of scapular anatomy, function, injury patterns, imaging appearance, and clinical management is important for the radiologist to the care of patients who present with acute shoulder trauma.
Neurophysiology of the esophagus

The following, from the 12th OESO World Conference: Cancers of the Esophagus, includes commentaries on the methods and characteristics of esophageal afferents in humans; the pitfalls in characterization of mechanosensitive afferents; the sensitization of esophageal afferents in human studies; the brain source modeling in the understanding of the esophagus–brain axis; the use of evoked brain potentials in the esophagus; and measuring descending inhibition in animal and human studies.
Lasers as an approach for promoting drug delivery via skin

Introduction: Using lasers can be an effective drug permeation-enhancement approach for facilitating drug delivery into or across the skin. The controlled disruption and ablation of the stratum corneum (SC), the predominant barrier for drug delivery, is achieved by the use of lasers. The possible mechanisms of laser-assisted drug permeation are the direct ablation of the skin barrier, optical breakdown by a photomechanical wave and a photothermal effect. It has been demonstrated that ablative approaches for enhancing drug transport provide some advantages, including increased bioavailability, fast treatment time, quick recovery of SC integrity and the fact that skin surface contact is not needed. In recent years, the concept of using laser techniques to treat the skin has attracted increasing attention. Areas covered: This review describes recent developments in using nonablative and ablative lasers for drug absorption enhancement. This review systematically introduces the concepts and enhancement mechanisms of lasers, highlighting the potential of this technique for greatly increasing drug absorption via the skin. Lasers with different wavelengths and types are employed to increase drug permeation. These include the ruby laser, the erbium:yttrium-gallium-garnet laser, the neodymium-doped yttrium-aluminum-garnet laser and the CO2 laser. Fractional modality is a novel concept for promoting topical/transdermal drug delivery. The laser is useful in enhancing the permeation of a wide variety of permeants, such as small-molecule drugs, macromolecules and nanoparticles. Expert opinion: This potential use of the laser affords a new treatment for topical/transdermal application with significant efficacy. Further studies using a large group of humans or patients are needed to confirm and clarify the findings in animal studies. Although the laser fluence or output energy used for enhancing drug absorption is much lower than for treatment of skin disorders and rejuvenation, the safety of using lasers is still an issue. Caution should be used in optimizing the feasible conditions of the lasers in balancing the effectiveness of permeation enhancement and skin damage.
A link between MAP kinase and p34cdc2/cyclin B during oocyte maturation: p90rsk phosphorylates and inactivates the p34cdc2 inhibitory kinase Myt1

M‐phase entry in eukaryotic cells is driven by activation of MPF, a regulatory factor composed of cyclin B and the protein kinase p34cdc2. In G2‐arrested Xenopus oocytes, there is a stock of p34cdc2/cyclin B complexes (pre‐MPF) which is maintained in an inactive state by p34cdc2 phosphorylation on Thr14 and Tyr15. This suggests an important role for the p34cdc2 inhibitory kinase(s) such as Wee1 and Myt1 in regulating the G2→M transition during oocyte maturation. MAP kinase (MAPK) activation is required for M‐phase entry in Xenopus oocytes, but its precise contribution to the activation of pre‐MPF is unknown. Here we show that the C‐terminal regulatory domain of Myt1 specifically binds to p90rsk, a protein kinase that can be phosphorylated and activated by MAPK. p90rsk in turn phosphorylates the C‐terminus of Myt1 and down‐regulates its inhibitory activity on p34cdc2/cyclin B in vitro. Consistent with these results, Myt1 becomes phosphorylated during oocyte maturation, and activation of the MAPK–p90rsk cascade can trigger some Myt1 phosphorylation prior to pre‐MPF activation. We found that Myt1 preferentially associates with hyperphosphorylated p90rsk, and complexes can be detected in immunoprecipitates from mature oocytes. Our results suggest that during oocyte maturation MAPK activates p90rsk and that p90rsk in turn down‐regulates Myt1, leading to the activation of p34cdc2/cyclin B.
The capsule of Bacillus anthracis, a review

The capsule of Bacillus anthracis, composed of poly‐ d‐glutamic acid, serves as one of the principal virulence factors during anthrax infection. By virtue of its negative charge, the capsule is purported to inhibit host defence through inhibition of phagocytosis of the vegetative cells by macrophages. In conjunction with lethal toxin and oedema toxin, whose target cells include macrophages and neutrophils, respectively, the capsule allows virulent anthrax bacilli to grow virtually unimpeded in the infected host. Spores germinating in the presence of serum and elevated CO2 release capsule through openings on the spore surface in the form of blebs which may coalesce before sloughing of the exosporium and outgrowth of the fully encapsulated vegetative cell. It has not been established that spore encapsulation plays a role in the early events of anthrax infection. The capsule appears exterior to the S‐layer of the vegetative cell and does not require the S‐layer for its attachment to the cell surface. The three membrane‐associated enzymes required for synthesis of the capsule are encoded by the 60‐MDa pX02 plasmid. The cistrons are arranged in the order capB, capC and capA and encode for proteins of 44, 16 and 46 kDa, respectively. The synthesis of capsule and toxin is, in part, under bicarbonate regulation by interaction of transacting proteins of the atxA gene on the 100‐MDa pX01 toxin‐encoding plasmid and the acpA gene on the pX02 plasmid. Therefore, capsule synthesis is enhanced in the presence of the atxA gene on the pX01 plasmid. An additional protein (with a predicted size of 51 kDa) is encoded by the dep gene located downstream from the cap region and appears to be a depolymerase that catalyses the hydrolysis of poly‐ d‐glutamic acid into lower molecular weight polyglutamates. Although the biological function of the Dep protein is unknown, it has been proposed that the low molecular weight polyglutamates produced by the action of the enzyme may act to inhibit host defence mechanisms.
Performance of the MGIT TBc Identification Test and Meta-Analysis of MPT64 Assays for Identification of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis Complex in Liquid Culture

ABSTRACT Rapid MPT64-based immunochromatographic tests (MPT64 ICTs) have been developed to detect Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) in culture. We demonstrated the noninferiority of one commercial MTP64 ICT, the MGIT TBc identification (TBcID) test, to GenoType line probe assays for MTBC identification in positive MGIT cultures. Meta-analysis of MPT64 ICT performance for identification of MTBC in liquid culture confirmed similar very high sensitivities and specificities for all three commercial MPT64 assays for which sufficient data were available.
A Dynamic Cooperative Swarm Optimization Model for MRF-Based Early Vision Problem

Swarm optimization has been proved suitable to solve various combinatorial optimization problems. Markov random field (MRF) based MRF-based early vision problem has higher dimensions, more complicate structure of solution space, and dynamic constrain conditions. Based on a dynamic multi-colony ant scheme, this paper proposes a dynamic cooperative swarm optimization model to estimate the labels fields and minimize the MAP estimation in MRF-based early vision problem. Firstly, MRF-based early vision problems are divided into several sub-problems according to divide-and-conquer principle, and each colony optimizes one sub-problem independently. Then, a set of information exchange strategies are proposed for adaptive dynamic cooperation between neighboring colonies to implement the global optimization. Lastly, the proposed swarm optimization model is applied to solve stereo correspondence problem, and it can also solve the image segmentation problem. Experiments show this method can achieve good results.
Peroneal Tendon Bupivacaine Injection: Utility of Concomitant Injection of Contrast Material

Twenty patients received the installation of contrast material into the peroneal tendons while local anesthetic was injected as a diagnostic test. In three patients (15%), communication with the ankle joint and subtalar joint was noted, as well as failure of the contrast to fill the distal tendon. Injection of local anesthetic into the peroneal tendons as a diagnostic measure, therefore, may not have 100% sensitivity or specificity. Simultaneous injection of contrast material can be used to alert the clinician to a lack of specificity of the anesthetic test injection.
Robot Fence-Jumping Search by Ioana

We study a new search problem on the plane involving a robot and an immobile treasure, initially placed at distance 1 from each other. The length of an arc (a fence) within the perimeter of the corresponding circle, as well as the promise that the treasure is outside the fence, is given as part of the input. The goal is to devise movement trajectories so that the robot locates the treasure in minimum time. Although the presence of the fence limits searching uncertainty, the location of the fence is unknown, and worst case analysis is determined adversarially. Nevertheless, the robot has the ability to move in the interior of the circle. In particular the robot can attempt a number of chord-jump moves if it happens to be within the fence or if an endpoint of the fence is discovered. The optimal solution to our question can be obtained as a solution to a complicated optimization problem, which involves trigonometric functions, and equations. For the 1-Jump Algorithm, we fully describe the optimal trajectory, and provide an analysis of the associated cost as a function of . Our analysis indicates that the optimal k-Jump Algorithm requires that the robot has enough memory and computation power to compute the optimal chord-jumps. Motivated by this, we give an abstract performance analysis for every k-Jump Algorithm. Subsequently, we present a highly e cient, limited memory, Halving Heuristic k-Jump Algorithm. Lastly, we present randomized algorithms which reduce the power of the adversary and worst-case performance. iii I dedicate this thesis to my parents who have constantly pushed me to become a better person and a harder worker.
Osteogenic differentiated periodontal ligament stem cells maintain their immunomodulatory capacity

Periodontal ligament stem cells (PDLSCs) have great potential for regenerating periodontal ligament tissue, which is involved in attaching teeth to the underlying alveolar bone. Recently, PDLSCs were characterized as having both low immunogenicity and profound immunomodulation abilities. Further, transplanted PDLSCs differentiate into osteoblasts in vivo. In the present study, we investigated the immunological characteristics of osteogenic differentiated PDLSCs. We found that PDLSCs expressed mesenchymal stem cells markers, including STRO‐1 and CD146, but were negative for CD14, CD34 and CD45. RT–PCR indicated that NCAM1, MSX1 and S100A4 were expressed in PDLSCs. The cells underwent osteogenic and adipogenic differentiation when cultured in defined medium. Osteogenic differentiated PDLSCs failed to stimulate allogeneic T cell proliferation and suppressed phytohaemagglutinin‐triggered T cell proliferation. Indomethacin, an inhibitor of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) production, restored the T cell proliferation inhibited by osteogenic differentiated PDLSCs. These data confirm that osteogenic differentiated PDLSCs have low immunogenicity and demonstrate that they suppress T cell proliferation in vitro through secretion of PGE2. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Semantic Information Management for Pervasive Computing

In recent years, knowledge and semantics management has been applied to many areas of Informatics and Telecommunications. The main reason is that such management enables the creation of more flexible and usable computing environments, with higher added value for the users. In this thesis various different cases of semantics information management are studied, that refer to different aspects of modern and future computing paradigms. A special focus is put on context information management, when it is described through knowledge representation techniques. Specifically, in the first part of the thesis several methods for semantic service discovery are presented. Moreover, an evaluation framework for service discovery engines is proposed, which satisfies the special requirements of this discovery process. This framework, as shown by the experimental evaluation performed, is appropriate for evaluating such engines, since it is fully compatible with their special characteristics. In the second part the combination of context-awareness and information dissemination in autonomic computing environments is explored. The main goal for such combination is to be able to achieve collaborative context-awareness. The main contribution of this thesis is the design and evaluation of a efficient scheme for collaborative context-awareness. Finally, in the third part, a framework for personalized services is presented along with two case studies: semantic location services and personalized interactive TV. The proposed framework relies on rules and ontologies for providing advanced services to TV subscribers. In this part several issues of architectural and technological nature are addressed that are closely relevant to the implementation of such services.
Application of Transfer Learning Approaches in Multimodal Wearable Human Activity Recognition

Through this project, we researched on transfer learning methods and their applications on real world problems. By implementing and modifying various methods in transfer learning for our problem, we obtained an insight in the advantages and disadvantages of these methods, as well as experiences in developing neural network models for knowledge transfer. Due to time constraint, we only applied a representative method for each major approach in transfer learning. As pointed out in the literature review, each method has its own assumptions, strengths and shortcomings. Thus we believe that an ensemble-learning approach combining the different methods should yield a better performance, which can be our future research focus.
A Survey of Studies of Bridging Anaphora

This paper aims to review previous major studies of bridging anaphora resolution and generation in terms of their major views, advantages and inadequacies of each theory from the psychological, coherence-based, corpus-based, relevance-theoretic, cognitive, formal and computational perspectives. Then a critique of previous approaches to BA resolution and generation are made for future studies.