Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Switchgrass-Based Bioethanol Productivity and Potential Environmental Impact from Marginal Lands in China

Switchgrass displays an excellent potential to serve as a non-food bioenergy feedstock for bioethanol production in China due to its high potential yield on marginal lands. However, few studies have been conducted on the spatial distribution of switchgrass-based bioethanol production potential in China. This study created a land surface process model (Environmental Policy Integrated Climate GIS (Geographic Information System)-based (GEPIC) model) coupled with a life cycle analysis (LCA) to explore the spatial distribution of potential bioethanol production and present a comprehensive analysis of energy efficiency and environmental impacts throughout its whole life cycle. It provides a new approach to study the bioethanol productivity and potential environmental impact from marginal lands based on the high spatial resolution GIS data, and this applies not only to China, but also to other regions and to other types of energy plant. The results indicate that approximately 59 million ha of marginal land in China are suitable for planting switchgrass, and 22 million tons of ethanol can be produced from this land. Additionally, a potential net energy gain (NEG) of 1.75 x 106 million MJ will be achieved if all of the marginal land can be used in China, and Yunnan Province offers the most significant one that accounts for 35% of the total. Finally, this study obtained that the total environmental effect index of switchgrass-based bioethanol is the equivalent of a population of approximately 20,300, and a reduction in the global warming potential (GWP) is the most significant environmental impact.
Jutge.org: Characteristics and Experiences

Jutge.org is an open educational online programming judge designed for students and instructors, featuring a repository of problems that is well organized by courses, topics, and difficulty. Internally, Jutge.org uses a secure and efficient architecture and integrates modern verification techniques, formal methods, static code analysis, and data mining. Jutge.org has exhaustively been used during the last decade at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya to strengthen the learning-by-doing approach in several courses. This paper presents the main characteristics of Jutge.org and shows its use and impact on a wide range of courses covering basic programming, data structures, algorithms, artificial intelligence, functional programming, and circuit design.
Preparation of Lignin-Based Quaternary Amine Anion Exchangers in NaOH Solutions and their Characteristics

A lignin-based quaternary amine anion exchanger (LQAE) modified from raw lignin was synthesized after the reaction with epichlorohydrin and triethylamine using an NaOH solution as the basic solvent. The reaction mechanism of the experiment was explored and validated. Effect of reaction conditions on the preparation of LQAE were investigated. The performance of the LQAE was characterized by FTIR, SEM, and elemental analysis. The adsorption rate and yield were the measurable indicators, and when the NaOH concentration was 6 M, the nitrate adsorption capacity and the yield were 36.7 mg nitrate/g anion exchanger lignin and 123.6%, respectively.
Feature parameters of eye blinks when the sampling rate is changed

Human eye blinks include voluntary (conscious) blinks and involuntary (unconscious) blinks. If the voluntary blinks can be detected automatically, a decision can be made whether to use the eye blink as application input. If the entire eye blink process is captured, the wave pattern of an eye blink can be generated. We have developed a new method for measuring the wave pattern of an eye blink. Based on these wave patterns, feature parameters for eye blink type classification can be estimated. To develop an eye blink input interface suitable for practical use, the interface system utilizes a standard video camera, such as an NTSC-based model. Specifically, this system requires feature parameters that can be estimated by a standard video camera. In addition, if other application programs are executed while the eye-blink detection program is in use, the video capture sampling rate is decreased. In this paper, we present the feature parameters of voluntary and involuntary eye blinks, and discuss the changes that occur when the sampling rate is decreased.
In Vivo Pathogenesis of a Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Reporter Virus

ABSTRACT Our understanding of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1)-induced pathogenesis is hampered by the inability to detect HIV-1 gene expression in infected viable cells. In this report, we describe two HIV-1 reporter constructs that are replication competent and cytopathic in vivo. These constructs contain DNA regions of two different lengths that bear the cDNA for the murine heat-stable antigen in the vpr region of a CXCR4-tropic virus. We used the SCID-hu mouse model and these reporter viruses to perform detailed kinetic studies of HIV-1 infection of human thymocytes in vivo. We document that the CD4+/CD8+ thymocytes are the first to express virus and that this subset demonstrates the most rapid and extensive HIV-1-induced cell depletion. Following depletion of this subset, subsequent virus expression occurs predominantly in phenotypically CD4− cells, suggesting that CD4 down-regulation occurs in HIV-1-infected thymocytes in vivo. These results demonstrate the utility of these HIV-1 reporter constructs to monitor HIV pathogenesis in vitro and in vivo.
On the use of real lime simulators tor the lest and validation of protection and control systems of micro grids and smart grids

This paper brings out the necessity of real time simulators for studies on micro-grids and smart grids. Micro-grids and smart grids have many complex, multi-layered and sophisticated protection and control systems. Real time simulators are inevitable in testing and validating such protection and control algorithm as access to real test grids is limited and not always feasible. Three applications namely reverse power flow detection using phasor measurement unit, supervisory control validation of a micro-grid and cyber security assessment in a smart grid are presented in this paper. In each of the application, a real time simulator provides a safe platform to model the network of choice and validate the performance of interfaced components under test.
Shape-based data analysis for event classification in power systems

Fault classification in power systems is a challenging and complex task as the variety and variability of the electrical parameters of the various network components in spatial and temporal scales. The majority of machine learning methods for event detection require the labeled data sets or examples of previous events. However, the recorded event data happen in different locations, time and system conditions. Therefore, they are not aligned time-series which introduce more challenges for feature selection and signal processing. To perform better feature selection for time-series measurements, shape-based methods along with time alignment (also called registration) are needed. This paper presents the Fisher-Rao Registration Method (FRMM) as a solution for the alignment of different time signals. Amplitude and phase components resulting from the Fisher-Rao registration method provide a means for implementing a hierarchical clustering analysis classifying different fault events by type. The algorithm was tested with the IEEE 13-nodes test feeder simulated in RSCAD environment with over 1500 different fault events presenting an average prediction rate of 98%.
Design challenges of the wireless power transfer for medical microsystems

In recent years, significant efforts have been made to develop the implantable applications. The increasing functions, performances, and operating time push up the power requirement of the implantable medical microsystems. This has led to the interest in the wireless power transfer (WPT) as a promise way to provide more energy. However, the WPT suffers from some problems including unsatisfied power efficiency, limited transfer distance, unpredictable reliability, thermal issues and other problems. Therefore, this paper investigate in-depth the design challenges of the wireless power transfer for medical microsystems. Both the design concerns at the primary and secondary sides are introduced in-depth. At last, this paper looks in the future and summaries several possible future challenges.
A monocular mobile robot reactive navigation approach based on the inverse perspective transformation

SUMMARY This paper presents an approach to visual obstacle avoidance and reactive robot navigation for outdoor and indoor environments. The obstacle detection algorithm includes an image feature tracking procedure followed by a feature classification process based on the IPT (Inverse Perspective Transformation). The classifier discriminates obstacle points from ground points. Obstacle features permit to draw out the obstacle boundaries which are used to construct a local and qualitative polar occupancy grid, analogously to a visual sonar. The navigation task is completed with a robocentric localization algorithm to compute the robot pose by means of an EKF (Extended Kalman Filter). The filter integrates the world coordinates of the ground points and the robot position in its state vector. The visual pose estimation process is intended to correct possible drifts on the dead-reckoning data provided by the proprioceptive robot sensors. The experiments, conducted indoors and outdoors, illustrate the range of scenarios where our proposal has proved to be useful, and show, both qualitatively and quantitatively, the benefits it provides.
Terrain-Based Vehicle Localization Using Low Cost MEMS-IMU Sensors

This paper presents a method for localizing a land vehicle using low cost MEMS IMU sensors and a terrain map in global positioning system (GPS) denied environment. Previous attempts to localize a vehicle based on terrain information used a tactical grade IMU which is not cost-effective on a commercial scale. On the other hand, MEMS sensors are very cheap but cannot provide accurate attitude estimation for a moving vehicle as the sensor measurements are influenced by the kinematic motion of the vehicle. Acceleration and braking corrupt the longitudinal sensor measurements and turning corrupts the lateral sensor measurements. In this paper, we formulate a Kalman filter which is able to compensate the external acceleration acting in the lateral direction using a gyroscope and odometery providing an accurate estimate of the vehicle's roll angle. A particle filter then uses this roll angle estimate along with a pre-determined terrain map of the driving region to localize the vehicle. Experimental results performed on an instrumented test vehicle show that the corrected roll measurements from MEMS IMU data using the proposed Kalman filter can localize a land vehicle very accurately.
Going Beyond Relevance: Incorporating Effort in Information Retrieval

Primary focus of Information retrieval (IR) systems has been to optimizefor Relevance. Existing approaches used to rank documents or evaluate IR systems do not account for "user effort". At present, relevance captures topical overlap between document and user query. This mechanism does not take into consideration either time or effort of end user to satisfy information need. While a judge may spend time assessing a document, an end user may not thoroughly examine a document. We identified factors that are associated with effort for a single document and gathered judgments for same. We also investigated the role of several features in predicting effort on webpage. In future, we shall investigate role of effort on mobile and investigate effort based evaluation methodology that also takes into account user's search task.
Quilting as Age Identity Expression in Traditional Women

A qualitative study using McCracken's (1988) multistage process for data analysis examined how women in three traditional cultures express themselves and their age identities in quilting. In semi-structured interviews, 10 Amish, 10 Appalachian, and 10 Latter-day Saint (Mormon) women discussed their quilting-related experiences, rewards that they receive from quilting, and the variety of ways in which quilting assists them in creating positive age identities. Results illustrated how quilting aided personal progress in building quilting-related skills and enlarging personal influence through owning quilting businesses, teaching and mentoring others, gaining respect as skilled artisans, and acting as guardians of family traditions.
The validity of International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification diagnosis codes for identifying patients hospitalized for COPD exacerbations.

BACKGROUND Acute exacerbations of COPD (AE-COPD) are a leading cause of hospitalizations in the United States. To estimate the burden of disease (eg, prevalence and cost), identify opportunities to improve care quality (eg, performance measures), and conduct observational comparative effectiveness research studies, various algorithms based on the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) codes have been used to identify patients with COPD. However, the validity of these algorithms remains unclear. METHODS We compared the test characteristics (sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value) of four different coding algorithms for identifying patients hospitalized for an exacerbation of COPD with chart review (reference standard) using a stratified probability sample of 200 hospitalizations at two urban academic medical centers. Sampling weights were used when calculating prevalence and test characteristics. RESULTS The prevalence of COPD exacerbations (based on the reference standard) was 7.9% of all hospitalizations. The sensitivity of all ICD-9-CM algorithms was very low and varied by algorithm (12%-25%), but the negative predictive value was similarly high across algorithms (93%-94%). The specificity was > 99% for all algorithms, but the positive predictive value varied by algorithm (81%-97%). CONCLUSIONS Algorithms based on ICD-9-CM codes will undercount hospitalizations for AE-COPD, and as many as one in five patients identified by these algorithms may be misidentified as having a COPD exacerbation. These findings suggest that relying on ICD-9-CM codes alone to identify patients hospitalized for AE-COPD may be problematic.
Least limiting water range : a potential indicator of physical quality of forest soils

The interactions of the 4 basic soil physical properties—volumetric water content, matric potential, soil strength, and air-filled porosity—were investigated over a range of contrasting textures and for 3 compaction levels of 4 forest soils in New Zealand, using linear and non-linear regression methods. Relationships among these properties depended on texture and bulk density. Soil compaction increased volumetric water contents at field capacity, at wilting point, and at the water contents associated with restraining soil strength values, but decreased the water content when air-filled porosity was limiting. The integrated effect of matric potential, air-filled porosity, and soil strength on plant growth was described by the single parameter, least limiting water range (LLWR). LLWR defines a range in soil water content within which plant growth is least likely to be limited by the availability of water and air in soil and the soil strength. Soil compaction narrowed or decreased LLWR in most cases. In coarse sandy soil, initial compaction increased LLWR, but further compaction decreased LLWR. LLWR is sensitive to variations in forest management practices and is a potential indicator of soil physical condition for sustainable forest management.
The pleated sheet, a new layer configuration of polypeptide chains.

For many years it has been assumed that in silk fibroin, stretched hair and muscle, and other proteins with the β-keratin structure the polypeptide chains are extended to nearly their maximum length, about 3.6 A per residue, and during the last decade it has been assumed also that the chains form lateral hydrogen bonds with adjacent chains, which have the opposite orientation. A hydrogen-bonded layer of this sort is represented diagrammatically in figure 1. (1-4)
Cardiac myxoma: imaging features in 83 patients.

Eighty-six cardiac myxomas were reviewed retrospectively for the clinical, pathologic, and radiologic findings. In this series, 83 patients (47 female and 36 male; age range, 2-78 years; mean age, 48 years) had 49 left atrial (60%), 23 right atrial (28%), seven right ventricular (8%), two biatrial, and two cases of multifocal myxomas. Seventy-one (88%) patients were symptomatic. Radiographs of 38 patients with left atrial myxoma showed evidence of mitral valve obstruction in 53%; radiographs of 16 patients with right atrial myxoma demonstrated calcification and cardiomegaly in 56% and 50%, respectively. Computed tomographic (CT) scans of 21 myxomas demonstrated 20 (95%) spherical or ovoid lesions, 16 (76%) with lobular borders. Seventeen (81%) were hypoattenuated; 14 (67%) were heterogeneous. Twenty-eight magnetic resonance (MR) imaging studies of 30 myxomas showed 29 (97%) spherical or ovoid lesions; 26 (87%) had lobular contours and 26 (90%) of 29 had heterogeneous signal intensity on T1-weighted images. Point of attachment was visible in 15 (83%) cases. Cine gradient recalled echo (GRE) MR images of 10 lesions showed low signal intensity in all cases. Most patients with cardiac myxomas have abnormal but usually nonspecific radiographic findings. CT demonstrates intracavitary heterogeneous, hypoattenuated lobular masses. MR imaging shows heterogeneous lobular lesions and usually allows visualization of the point of attachment. Radiologic imaging of these lesions, particularly with multiplanar and cine GRE MR imaging, can provide accurate assessment of the size, location, and point of attachment of these lesions and should assist in surgical planning.
Microbial hydroxylation of quinoline in contaminated groundwater: evidence for incorporation of the oxygen atom of water

Studies conducted in an aquifer contaminated by creosote suggest that quinoline is converted to 2(1H)quinolinone by an indigenous consortium of microorganisms. Laboratory microbial experiments using H218O indicate that water is the source of the oxygen atom for this hydroxylation reaction under aerobic and anaerobic conditions.
Rapid distortion theory applied to the analysis of under – resolved simulations of turbulent boundary layers By

This paper uses rapid distortion theory (RDT) to study the truncation error in boundary layer simulations at coarse resolution. RDT is applied to homogeneous turbulence under uniform mean shear. The RDT equations are discretized, and the discrete equations are analytically solved. The effect of truncation error on linear, homogeneous turbulence is shown to be similar to that in turbulent channel flow. The RDT equations and the channel results are used to suggest that the dominant source of error arises from the discrete Poisson equation for pressure. This effect is shown to be a result of constraining the velocity field to be divergence–free in the presence of truncation error. The results suggest that possible need to model the effect of the subgrid scales on the non–local effects of pressure near the wall in large–eddy simulation.
An expectation maximization (EM) algorithm for the identification and characterization of common sites in unaligned biopolymer sequences

Statistical methodology for the identification and characterization of protein binding sites in a set of unaligned DNA fragments is presented. Each sequence must contain at least one common site. No alignment of the sites is required. Instead, the uncertainty in the location of the sites is handled by employing the missing information principle to develop an “expectation maximization” (EM) algorithm. This approach allows for the simultaneous identification of the sites and characterization of the binding motifs. The reliability of the algorithm increases with the number of fragments, but the computations increase only linearly. The method is illustrated with an example, using known cyclic adenosine monophophate receptor protein (CRP) binding sites. The final motif is utilized in a search for undiscovered CRP binding sites.
Protein structural alignments and functional genomics

Structural genomics—the systematic solution of structures of the proteins of an organism—will increasingly often produce molecules of unknown function with no close relative of known function. Prediction of protein function from structure has thereby become a challenging problem of computational molecular biology. The strong conservation of active site conformations in homologous proteins suggests a method for identifying them. This depends on the relationship between size and goodness‐of‐fit of aligned substructures in homologous proteins. For all pairs of proteins studied, the root‐mean‐square deviation (RMSD) as a function of the number of residues aligned varies exponentially for large common substructures and linearly for small common substructures. The exponent of the dependence at large common substructures is well correlated with the RMSD of the core as originally calculated by Chothia and Lesk (EMBO J 1986;5:823–826), affording the possibility of reconciling different structural alignment procedures. In the region of small common substructures, reduced aligned subsets define active sites and can be used to suggest the locations of active sites in homologous proteins. Proteins 2001;42:378–382. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Plasmid Effects on Escherichia coli Metabolism

ABSTRACT: The idea that plasmids replicate within hosts at the expense of cell metabolic energy and preformed cellular blocks depicts plasmids as a kind of molecular parasites that, even when they may eventually provide plasmid-carrying strains with growth advantages over plasmid-free strains, doom hosts to bear an unavoidable metabolic burden. Due to the consistency with experimental data, this idea was rapidly adopted and used as a basis of different hypotheses to explain plasmid-host interactions. In this article we critically discuss current ideas about plasmid effects on host metabolism, and present evidence suggesting that the complex interaction between plasmids and hosts is related to the alteration of the cellular regulatory status.
Community attitudes to pregnancy, anaemia, iron and folate supplementation in urban and rural Lagos, south-western Nigeria.

OBJECTIVE To identify community perspectives and attitudes to pregnancy, anaemia, iron and folate supplements during pregnancy in Lagos, south-western Nigeria. DESIGN Qualitative using focus group discussions, observational data and in-depth interviews. SETTING Amukoko, a peri-urban slum area and Ibese a rural coastal area in Lagos, south-western Nigeria. PARTICIPANTS 23 pregnant women and two health-care providers. FINDINGS Maternal anaemia is not perceived as a priority health problem by pregnant women. Knowledge of the signs and symptoms of anaemia is limited among rural pregnant women. The recognition of maternal complications associated with anaemia is low among pregnant women and some health-care providers. Severe blood loss at or after delivery is sometimes attributed to the excessive use of iron and folate supplements. Sustaining the motivation to continue taking iron tablets and communicating the benefits of iron supplementation which could encourage compliance was also lacking. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE An understanding of the local beliefs, attitudes and practices regarding pregnancy is needed to design more effective methods of health education for pregnant women and to provide maternal services which are 'culturally acceptable'.