Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Eriksonian Analysis of Terrorism in West Africa

The objective of an Eriksonian analysis of terrorism is not to discard other theories, but to build on them, addressing their limitations through a personality development analysis which seeks to examine the susceptibility or eventual radicalization of an individual. So, while the concept attests to various socio-economic and political theories underpinning terrorism, it examines how these theories exposes the weaknesses of identity through a psychosocial analysis of personality development. The crux of the theory is therefore to examine reasons underlying the paths to radicalization from an intra-personal perspective largely influenced by one's immediate social conditions. The basic questions are therefore: Why do individuals of the same socio-economic and political pressure respond differently to the “pressures of radicalization”? Recommendations after the study includes; the concept of an integrating highly segregated extremist communities, a concept called “The Melting Pot”, revaluating teaching and learning models of Islamic Institutions offering Islamic studies.
VentrAssist hydrodynamically suspended, open, centrifugal blood pump.

A novel design is presented for an implantable centrifugal blood pump in which hydrodynamic forces acting on tapered edges of thick blades are used to suspend the impeller. The pump has no shaft, seals, or "spiders" and has clean flow lines with no stagnant zones. At 5 L/min and 100 mm Hg differential pressure, the measured hemolysis was in the range NIH 0.002-. 005 g/100 L and the system efficiency was 19%.
Ultra-Broadband TE-Pass Polarizer Using a Cascade of Multiple Few-Layer Graphene Embedded Silicon Waveguides

Considering that the variation of the modal characteristics for the TM mode is significantly larger than that for the TE mode when graphene is involved in a silicon-based waveguide, a silicon waveguide TE-pass polarizer with few-layer graphene embedded is proposed and demonstrated. Such a polarizer shows the performance merits including ultrahigh extinction ratio, low insertion loss for the TE mode, ultracompact footprint, and tunable bandwidth by dynamically varying the chemical potential of graphene with gate voltage. We further reveal that the operation bandwidth can be significantly enlarged by cascading multiple polarizers, each of which consists of a silicon waveguide embedded with few-layer graphene and is biased at different gate voltages. We numerically demonstrate that using a cascade of seven polarizers, it is capable of achieving 20-dB extinction ratio and ultralow insertion loss for the TE mode (<;0.13 dB) with bandwidth over 120 nm at telecommunication wavelengths.
Disorder-specific neuroanatomical correlates of attentional bias in obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic disorder, and hypochondriasis.

CONTEXT Attentional bias to disease-relevant emotional cues is considered to be pathogenetically relevant in anxiety disorders. OBJECTIVE To investigate functional neural correlates and disease specificity of attentional bias across different anxiety disorders. DESIGN A cognitive and emotional Stroop task, consisting of congruent and incongruent color words, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)-related and panic-related negative words, and neutral words, was used in 3 patient groups and a control group during functional magnetic resonance imaging. SETTING Academic outpatient department for anxiety disorders. PATIENTS AND PARTICIPANTS Medication-free patients with OCD (n = 16), panic disorder (PD) (n = 15), and hypochondriasis (n = 13) and 19 controls. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE Voxel-wise analyses of cerebral blood flow changes for contrasts of interest (incongruent vs congruent color words, OCD-related vs neutral words, and panic-related vs neutral words) within and between groups. RESULTS During incongruent vs congruent color naming, all patient groups recruited additional posterior brain regions relative to controls, but performance was impaired only in OCD. In OCD, color naming OCD-related, but not PD-related, words correlated with increased activation of frontal-striatal and temporal regions, although performance was unimpaired. In contrast, in PD, increased frontal-striatal involvement was found during color naming both OCD-related and panic-related words. In PD, color naming panic-related words was slowed and correlated with increased activation of the right amygdala and hippocampus. Patients with hypochondriasis showed a similar activation pattern to patients with PD. CONCLUSIONS Our results support the hypothesis of increased distractibility for irrelevant information in patients with OCD, PD, and hypochondriasis associated with frontal-striatal and limbic involvement compared with controls. Although patients with OCD did not display an attentional bias in behavior relative to controls, there was a clear, specific neural response during color naming OCD-related words, involving mainly ventral brain regions. In contrast, generalized emotional interference effects were found in PD and hypochondriasis, involving ventral and widespread dorsal brain regions, reflecting not only unconscious emotional stimulus processing but also increased cognitive elaboration.
Complete Genome Sequence of the Pigmented Streptococcus thermophilus Strain JIM 8232

Complete Genome Sequence of the Pigmented Streptococcus thermophilus Strain JIM8232 Christine Delorme, Claire Bartholini, Mélanie Luraschi, Nicolas Pons, Valentin Loux, Mathieu Almeida, Eric Guédon, Jean-François Gibrat, and Pierre Renault* INRA, UMR1319 Micalis, and INRA, AgroParisTech, UMR Micalis, F-78350 Jouy-en-Josas, France, and INRA, UR1077 Mathématique, Informatique et Génome, F-78350 Jouy-en-Josas, France
A study of pricing and trading model of Blockchain & Big data-based Energy-Internet electricity

The development of Energy-Internet is currently suffering from a series of issues, such as the conflicts among high capital requirement, low-cost, high efficiency, the spreading gap between capital demand and supply, as well as the lagged trading & valuation mechanism, any of which would hinder Energy-Internet's evolution. However, with the development of Blockchain and big-data technology, it is possible to work out solutions for these issues. Based on current situation of Energy-Internet and its requirements for future progress, this paper demonstrates the validity of employing blockchain technology to solve the problems encountered by Energy-Internet during its development. It proposes applying the blockchain and big-data technologies to pricing and trading energy products through Energy-Internet and to accomplish cyber-based energy or power's transformation from physic products to financial assets.
Dollar-Off or Percent-Off? Discount Framing, Construal Levels, and Advertising Appeals

Abstract In two studies, the authors reveal how consumers react to marketing messages when two commonly used promotional tactics – price discounts and advertising messages – are synergized. Building on construal level theory, Study 1 shows how dollar-off discount framings (“Buy 2, get $10 off”) trigger low-level construal, while percent-off discount framings (“Buy 2, Get 50% off”) activate high-level construal. Study 2 demonstrates that congruent levels are matched when dollar-off discount appeals are paired with attribute appeals and when percent-off appeals are paired with benefit appeals, leading to more effective marketing communications.
Managing childhood pneumonia

The upper and lower airways of the respiratory tract are the most common sites of infection in childhood. Infection of the upper respiratory tract is usually viral and mild, and in most cases can be managed symptomatically. Infection of the lower respiratory tract (pneumonia) is often more difficult to manage: problems may include deciding whether the child needs antibiotic therapy, choosing an appropriate drug and judging whether referral to hospital is required. Here we consider the causes, diagnosis and treatment of community-acquired pneumonia in previously healthy children presenting to the GP.
Experimental study of the Faraday instability

An experimental study of surface waves parametrically excited by vertical vibrations is presented. The shape of the eigenmodes in a closed vessel, and the importance of the free-surface boundary conditions, are discussed. Stability boundaries, wave amplitude, and perturbation characteristic time of decay are measured and found to be in agreement with an amplitude equation derived by symmetry. The measurement of the amplitude equation coefficients explains why the observed transition is always supercritical, and shows the effect of the edge constraint on the dissipation and eigen frequency of the various modes. The fluid surface tension is obtained from the dispersion relation measurement. Several visualization methods in large-aspect-ratio cells are presented.
On-line signature verification using a nonstationary autoregressive model representation

A method of signature authentication has been developed based on an autoregressive (AR) model representation. A signature is considered to be a shape that is short-time stationary but undergoes gradual or abrupt changes as the signature is traced from start to finish. Based on this premise the signature is divided into a number of segments, each of which is represented by a 2nd order AR model. With this representation, verification tests conducted on a database of almost 1000 signatures yielded excellent results with error rates of about 8%. <<ETX>>
Harmonic current suppression method of SPM motor based on repetitive perfect tracking control with speed variation

PM motor drives are widely used for high performance servo applications. However, SPM motor has imperfect sinusoidal flux distribution which causes harmonic current. Dead time of the inverter and current measurement error lead to harmonic current, too. In this paper, the authors propose harmonic current suppression control of PM motor by using repetitive perfect tracking control with PWM-hold model. In addition, to suppress the harmonic current at the speed variation, we propose a method to generate the compensation signal which is corresponded to the speed variation from existing compensation signal. Finally, we show the advantages of the proposed method by experimental results.
Napping facilitates word learning in early lexical development

Little is known about the role that night‐time sleep and daytime naps play in early cognitive development. Our aim was to investigate how napping affects word learning in 16‐month‐olds. Thirty‐four typically developing infants were assigned randomly to nap and wake groups. After teaching two novel object–word pairs to infants, we tested their initial performance with an intermodal preferential looking task in which infants are expected to increase their target looking time compared to a distracter after hearing its auditory label. A second test session followed after approximately a 2‐h delay. The delay contained sleep for the nap group or no sleep for the wake group. Looking behaviour was measured with an automatic eye‐tracker. Vocabulary size was assessed using the Oxford Communicative Development Inventory. A significant interaction between group and session was found in preferential looking towards the target picture. The performance of the nap group increased after the nap, whereas that of the wake group did not change. The gain in performance correlated positively with the expressive vocabulary size in the nap group. These results indicate that daytime napping helps consolidate word learning in infancy.
An Approximate Dynamic Model of LCL- $T$-Based Inductive Power Transfer Power Supplies

This paper analyzes the dynamics of an LCL-T-based inductive power transfer power supply, and aims to improve its reference tracking performance for dynamic roadway wireless powering applications using a digital PI controller. An approximate small-signal model of the power supply that describes how the power supply reacts to a perturbation in its input is derived using the generalized state-space averaging technique. The model is verified experimentally and shown to capture the supply dynamics. Limitations of the model and their implications are also discussed. Using the small-signal model, a closed-loop digital PI controller is designed to ensure a fast turn-on of a 20 kHz power supply at no-load in approximately 300 μs with no overshoot in the track current.
Fetal growth and birth size is associated with maternal anthropometry and body composition.

The objective was to investigate the association of maternal weight, height and body composition with fetal growth. We recruited 425 women at the University Hospital of the West Indies, Jamaica, who had singleton pregnancies, were less than 15 weeks gestation and had no systemic illness. Maternal weight, height and skinfold thicknesses were measured at the first antenatal visit and lean mass was calculated. Sonographic measurements of the fetus were made at 15, 25 and 35 weeks gestation. Weight, crown-heel length and head circumference were measured at birth. Analyses were confined to 360 (85%) women; 65 women did not complete the study. Maternal height was positively associated with femoral length at 25 and 35 weeks gestation and with head circumference at 35 weeks (all P < 0.02). Maternal weight was positively associated with abdominal circumference and femoral length at 25 weeks, and with larger head and abdominal circumference and longer femur at 35 weeks (all P < 0.02). Maternal lean mass had similar associations to maternal weight and they were both positively associated with estimated fetal weight (all P < 0.02). All three maternal measurements were positively associated with birthweight, length and head circumference. Maternal size was associated with fetal size as early as 25 weeks gestation, with height strongly associated with femoral length, and with weight and lean mass strongly associated with abdominal circumference.
Wireless switch protocol

In IEEE 802.11 infrastructure wireless local area networks (WLAN), all mobile stations (STAs) are coordinated by an access point (AP), which is a static device and plays the role of the bridge between wired and wireless networks. Such coordination is achieved by restricting all STAs to access the channel listened by AP. Within the 2.4 GHz unlicensed industry, science, and medicine (ISM) band defined in the IEEE 802.11 2.4 GHz physical layer (PHY) specifications, three of fourteen channels, which are independent and exclusive, can be used to transfer data packets at a same area concurrently. However, in most small/medium enterprises or home environments, one AP is sufficient for covering whole service area. This implies that the other two channels' capacity has being wasted by the single channel operation defined in standard. In order to overcome the drawback, we propose a new and simple CSMA based media access control (MAC) protocol, named wireless switch protocol (WSP), for promoting the IEEE 802.11 aggregate network throughput. This is simply achieved by allowing any pair of STAs in WLAN to exchange data packets in another idle channel after their handshaking with each other in the common channel, which is specified by AP. Simulation results show that the total network throughput of WSP is obviously depending on the time taken by the changing frequency channel and the intranet and Internet traffic distribution, where the intranet and Internet mean the data exchanged between mobile STAs, and between STA and wired host, respectively. If all data packets are intranet traffic and the traffic load is heavy, the improving ratio of derived goodput of proposed WSP and that of the IEEE 802.11 standard approximates 400%. In the worse case that all traffic is Internet traffic, the proposed WSP still obtains the similar throughput as that of IEEE 802.11 standard.
Assessment of TQM implementation: Benchmarking Singapore's productivity leaders

Much has been written about the importance of assessing total quality management (TQM) practices in organisations. Several studies on TQM assessment are found in the literature. However, there are none on a national TQM programme using a quality award‐based instrument. This paper assesses the TQM implementation level of Singapore’s productivity leaders, which comprised the pioneer batch of 240 organisations in the Singapore Quality Award programme. The data were obtained from an instrument based on the TQM model underlying the Award. The organisations are found to have a medium level of TQM implementation. The high correlations among the TQM constructs underline a holistic approach to TQM implementation. The findings provide decision‐makers with benchmarks on TQM implementation in Singapore and suggest how they compare against organisations in some other countries. They also allow researchers to test hypotheses related to national TQM programmes and to undertake inter‐country studies.
Overtubes in Gastrointestinal Endoscopy

Gastrointestinal endoscopy is an evolving field kindled by technologic advances, scientific discoveries, and the innovative minds of endoscopists. The development and subsequent applications of overtubes in gastrointestinal endoscopy mirror this larger evolution. In this article, we review the development, applications, and complications associated with overtubes in gastrointestinal endoscopy.
Behavioral determination of the spatial selectivity of contrast adaptation in cats: Some evidence for a common plan in the mammmlian visual system

Abstract An aftereffects paradigm was used to behaviorally measure contrast sensitivity of cats to gratings of three different test spatial frequencies after adaptation to gratings of various spatial frequencies, contrasts, and durations. Post-adaptation reductions in sensitivity occurred even after short periods of adaptation (<7 s) and could be as large as 1.0 log unit under some conditions. The magnitude of the adaptation effect varied monotonically with (1) adaptation grating contrast, (2) duration, and (3) the contrast sensitivity for the test grating. Average half-width (at half-height) of the spatial-frequency tuning curves constructed from the data was 1.4 octaves, and was not dependent upon the level of adaptation or the spatial frequency of the test grating. Post-adaptation psychometric functions of the cats showed reduced slopes and maxima suggesting that, unlike humans, in cats apparent contrast grows more slowly with increases in physical contrast after contrast adaptation. All of the characteristics observed are in excellent agreement with electrophysiologically measured properties of neurons in striate cortex of cats. In addition, there was a remarkable similarity of the cat tuning functions, both in shape and bandpass, to those measured in man with a similar paradigm suggesting that (1) the two visual systems are sufficiently similar to make the cat a useful spatial vision model and (2) there is a common functional plan to all mammalian visual systems despite significant anatomical differences between species.
Inversions and deletions generated by a mini-gamma delta (Tn1000) transposon

Intramolecular transposition by an engineered derivative of the transposon gamma delta (Tn1000) is described. This 1-kb element contains inverted repeats of the 40 bp of the delta end of gamma delta, bracketing a kan gene, but it contains no resolution site. Transposition was analyzed in two plasmids; one contained two contraselectable (conditional lethal) genes (thyA and sacB) adjacent to the mini-gamma delta element in a 13.0-kb pBR322/pUC-based two-component plasmid (a heterodimer), and the other contained a different contraselectable gene (strA [rpsL]) in a 13.2-kb three-component plasmid (a heterotrimer). Selection for loss of function of a single contraselectable gene yielded inversions and deletions. Each inversion plasmid was 1 kb larger than the parent plasmid: it had a second copy of mini-gamma delta inserted in the contraselected gene, with that copy plus the intervening segment inverted, and the 5-bp target site duplicated. Each deletion plasmid was smaller than the parent plasmid and had a deletion that extended from one transposon end into or through the contraselected gene for distances of up to 9.4 kb. The frequencies of deletions versus inversions ending in a single target gene were similar, although overall, deletions outnumbered inversions because deletions, but not inversions, into sites beyond the contraselected gene inactivate it. This work also demonstrates that thyA (which encodes thymidylate synthetase) is a useful contraselectable marker.
Performance Analysis of a Novel Triple-Permanent-Magnet- Excited Magnetic Gear and Its Design Method

This paper proposes a novel triple-permanent-magnet-excited (TPME) magnetic gear (MG) with an extra stationary layer of permanent magnets (PMs) sandwiched between adjacent ferromagnetic segments to produce an additional torque and in which a simplified consequent-pole Halback array-type PM arrangement is employed to improve the magnetic field characteristic. The novel TPME-MG has a higher torque transmission density when compared with its conventional counterpart. Its design method using the numerical finite-element method and the optimization algorithm is presented. The novel TPME-MG with optimal PM arrangement can significantly achieve higher torque density and torque per PM volume. The results of finite-element computation show that the proposed TPME-MG with optimal PM arrangement has over 74% higher torque density (torque per unit overall volume) and more than 37% higher torque per PM volume compared with a conventional surface-mounted MG, and can reach 51% higher torque density and 34% higher torque per PM volume compared with an original design of TPME-MG, which validates the effectiveness of the design method for the PM arrangement in the novel TPME-MG.
Chronic Ethanol Treatment Decreases [3H]Epibatidine and [3H]Nicotine Binding and Differentially Regulates mRNA Levels of Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor Subunits Expressed in M10 and SH‐SY5Y Neuroblastoma Cells

Abstract: For a study of the underlying mechanisms of a possible interaction between ethanol and nicotinic receptors during ethanol dependence, the aim of this work was to investigate the effect of chronic ethanol exposure on nicotinic receptor subtypes in a transfected fibroblast cell line (M10 cells) stably expressing α4β2 nicotinic receptor subtype and an SH‐SY5Y neuroblastoma cell line expressing α3, α5, α7, β2, and β4 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) subunits. A significant dose‐related decrease (−30–80%) in number of [3H]nicotine binding sites was observed in ethanol‐treated (25–240 mM) compared with untreated M10 cells. Similarly, 4‐day treatment with ethanol in concentrations relevant to chronic alcoholism (100 mM) decreased the number of nicotinic receptor binding sites in the SH‐SY5Y cells when measured using [3H]epibatidine. When M10 cells were chronically treated with nicotine, ethanol partly inhibited the up‐regulation of nicotinic receptors when present in the cells together with nicotine. Chronic treatment for 4 days with 100 mM ethanol significantly decreased the mRNA level for the α3 nAChR subunit (−39%), while the mRNA levels for the α7 (+30%) and α4 (+22%) subunits were significantly increased. Chronic ethanol treatment did not affect the mRNA levels for the β2 nAChR subunit. Changes in the levels of nAChR protein and mRNA may have adaptive significance and be involved in the development of dependence, tolerance, and addiction to chronic ethanol and nicotine exposure. They also may be targets for therapeutic strategies in the treatment of ethanol and nicotine dependence.