Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Modelling of three-phase uniform symmetrical sampling digital PWM for power converter

A mathematical approach of modelling and analysing three-phase pulse width modulation (PWM) is presented. The three-phase flyback converter required a unique pattern of PWM to optimise the power transfer in the magnetic circuit used in the converter. The three-phase PWM is generated digitally based on uniform symmetrical sampling technique using Xilinx chip. The generated PWM pattern is able to reduce the low order of harmonic components present in the input AC supply. Although software simulation could simulate the PWM pattern, it does not represent the exact pattern as been generated digitally. The mathematical approach used is to model the PWM pattern exactly as been created digitally. The proposed mathematical technique could also be used to analyse any digital PWM. The result of the mathematical analysis on the PWM pattern could be used to study the characteristics of the pattern such as maximum and minimum value of duty cycle, pulse width, turn-on time, turn-off time and modulation index. To verify the validity of the proposed technique, the results obtained from the mathematical model, experimental and simulation using PSpice were compared.
Bioconversion of Pinoresinol Diglucoside and Pinoresinol from Substrates in the Phenylpropanoid Pathway by Resting Cells of Phomopsis sp.XP-8

Pinoresinol diglucoside (PDG) and pinoresinol (Pin) are normally produced by plant cells via the phenylpropanoid pathway. This study reveals the existence of a related pathway in Phomopsis sp. XP-8, a PDG-producing fungal strain isolated from the bark of the Tu-chung tree (Eucommiaulmoides Oliv.). After addition of 0.15 g/L glucose to Phomopsis sp. XP-8, PDG and Pin formed when phenylalanine, tyrosine, leucine, cinnamic acid, and p-coumaric acid were used as the substrates respectively. No PDG formed in the absence of glucose, but Pin was detected after addition of all these substrates except leucine. In all systems in the presence of glucose, production of PDG and/or Pin and the accumulation of phenylalanine, cinnamic acid, or p-coumaric acid correlated directly with added substrate in a time- and substrate concentration- dependent manner. After analysis of products produced after addition of each substrate, the mass flow sequence for PDG and Pin biosynthesis was defined as: glucose to phenylalanine, phenylalanine to cinnamic acid, then to p-coumaric acid, and finally to Pin or PDG. During the bioconversion, the activities of four key enzymes in the phenylpropanoid pathway were also determined and correlated with accumulation of their corresponding products. PDG production by Phomopsis sp. exhibits greater efficiency and cost effectiveness than the currently-used plant-based system and will pave the way for large scale production of PDG and/or Pin for medical applications.
Modeling the Well-Edge Proximity Effect in Highly Scaled MOSFETs

The well-edge proximity effect caused by ion scattering during implantation in highly scaled CMOS technology is explored from a physics and process perspective. Technology computer-aided design (TCAD) simulations together with silicon wafer experiments have been conducted to investigate the impact of this effect. The ion scattering model and TCAD simulations provided a physical understanding of how the internal changes of the MOSFETs are formed. A new compact model for SPICE is proposed using physics-based understanding and has been calibrated using experimental silicon test sets
Data partitioning for single-round multi-join evaluation in massively parallel systems

A dominant cost for query evaluation in modern massively distributed systems is the number of communication rounds. For this reason, there is a growing interest in single-round multiway join algorithms where data is first reshuffled over many servers and then evaluated in a parallel but communication- free way. The reshuffling itself is specified as a distribution policy. We introduce a correctness condition, called parallel-correctness, for the evaluation of queries w.r. t. a distribution policy. We provide a semantical characterization for when conjunctive queries (and extensions thereof) are parallel-correct and give matching complexity bounds for the associated decision problem. Motivated by scenarios for workload optimization, we further consider the problem of parallel-correctness transfer from a query Q to a query Q0, that is, whether Q0 is parallelcorrect for all distribution policies for which Q is parallelcorrect. In this case, Q0 can always be evaluated after Q without repartitioning the data. We provide a semantical characterization for parallel-correctness transfer and provide matching complexity bounds for the associated decision problem for conjunctive queries (and extensions). Finally, we investigate restrictions of queries and families of distribution policies with better complexities, including, for instance, the Hypercube distributions.
Citation Advantage of Open Access Articles

Open access (OA) to the research literature has the potential to accelerate recognition and dissemination of research findings, but its actual effects are controversial. This was a longitudinal bibliometric analysis of a cohort of OA and non-OA articles published between June 8, 2004, and December 20, 2004, in the same journal (PNAS: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences). Article characteristics were extracted, and citation data were compared between the two groups at three different points in time: at “quasi-baseline” (December 2004, 0–6 mo after publication), in April 2005 (4–10 mo after publication), and in October 2005 (10–16 mo after publication). Potentially confounding variables, including number of authors, authors' lifetime publication count and impact, submission track, country of corresponding author, funding organization, and discipline, were adjusted for in logistic and linear multiple regression models. A total of 1,492 original research articles were analyzed: 212 (14.2% of all articles) were OA articles paid by the author, and 1,280 (85.8%) were non-OA articles. In April 2005 (mean 206 d after publication), 627 (49.0%) of the non-OA articles versus 78 (36.8%) of the OA articles were not cited (relative risk = 1.3 [95% Confidence Interval: 1.1–1.6]; p = 0.001). 6 mo later (mean 288 d after publication), non-OA articles were still more likely to be uncited (non-OA: 172 [13.6%], OA: 11 [5.2%]; relative risk = 2.6 [1.4–4.7]; p < 0.001). The average number of citations of OA articles was higher compared to non-OA articles (April 2005: 1.5 [SD = 2.5] versus 1.2 [SD = 2.0]; Z = 3.123; p = 0.002; October 2005: 6.4 [SD = 10.4] versus 4.5 [SD = 4.9]; Z = 4.058; p < 0.001). In a logistic regression model, controlling for potential confounders, OA articles compared to non-OA articles remained twice as likely to be cited (odds ratio = 2.1 [1.5–2.9]) in the first 4–10 mo after publication (April 2005), with the odds ratio increasing to 2.9 (1.5–5.5) 10–16 mo after publication (October 2005). Articles published as an immediate OA article on the journal site have higher impact than self-archived or otherwise openly accessible OA articles. We found strong evidence that, even in a journal that is widely available in research libraries, OA articles are more immediately recognized and cited by peers than non-OA articles published in the same journal. OA is likely to benefit science by accelerating dissemination and uptake of research findings.
Spatial task context makes short-latency reaches prone to induced Roelofs illusion

The perceptual localization of an object is often more prone to illusions than an immediate visuomotor action towards that object. The induced Roelofs effect (IRE) probes the illusory influence of task-irrelevant visual contextual stimuli on the processing of task-relevant visuospatial instructions during movement preparation. In the IRE, the position of a task-irrelevant visual object induces a shift in the localization of a visual target when subjects indicate the position of the target by verbal response, key-presses or delayed pointing to the target (“perception” tasks), but not when immediately pointing or reaching towards it without instructed delay (“action” tasks). This discrepancy was taken as evidence for the dual-visual-stream or perception-action hypothesis, but was later explained by a phasic distortion of the egocentric spatial reference frame which is centered on subjective straight-ahead (SSA) and used for reach planning. Both explanations critically depend on delayed movements to explain the IRE for action tasks. Here we ask: first, if the IRE can be observed for short-latency reaches; second, if the IRE in fact depends on a distorted egocentric frame of reference. Human subjects were tested in new versions of the IRE task in which the reach goal had to be localized with respect to another object, i.e., in an allocentric reference frame. First, we found an IRE even for immediate reaches in our allocentric task, but not for an otherwise similar egocentric control task. Second, the IRE depended on the position of the task-irrelevant frame relative to the reference object, not relative to SSA. We conclude that the IRE for reaching does not mandatorily depend on prolonged response delays, nor does it depend on motor planning in an egocentric reference frame. Instead, allocentric encoding of a movement goal is sufficient to make immediate reaches susceptible to IRE, underlining the context dependence of visuomotor illusions.
A comparative study between PI and type-II compensators for H-bridge PFC converter

This paper presents a comparative study between PI and type-II compensation techniques, aiming at achieving high power quality as well as high bandwidth to enhance the dynamic performance of a H-bridge power factor correction (PFC) converter. The conventional PI compensator has a limitation in terms of the trade-off between the input current reference tracking accuracy and the control loop bandwidth. Attenuating high frequency components in the input current requires a smaller bandwidth, which potentially can degrade the input power factor. Introducing an additional pole in type-II compensator helps to achieve both the requirements simultaneously as well as to reduce the inductor core loss due to reduced current ripple. As verification to the proof-of-concept, a hardware prototype for single-phase H-bridge PFC is built and tested upto 700W. Incorporating type-II over PI compensator results in an improvement in total harmonic distortion (THD) from 6.8% to 4.2% and increase in efficiency from 98.2% to 99%, as exhibited by the experimental results.
Auxin-Mediated Transcriptional System with a Minimal Set of Components Is Critical for Morphogenesis through the Life Cycle in Marchantia polymorpha

The plant hormone auxin regulates many aspects of plant growth and development. Recent progress in Arabidopsis provided a scheme that auxin receptors, TIR1/AFBs, target transcriptional co-repressors, AUX/IAAs, for degradation, allowing ARFs to regulate transcription of auxin responsive genes. The mechanism of auxin-mediated transcriptional regulation is considered to have evolved around the time plants adapted to land. However, little is known about the role of auxin-mediated transcription in basal land plant lineages. We focused on the liverwort Marchantia polymorpha, which belongs to the earliest diverging lineage of land plants. M. polymorpha has only a single TIR1/AFB (MpTIR1), a single AUX/IAA (MpIAA), and three ARFs (MpARF1, MpARF2, and MpARF3) in the genome. Expression of a dominant allele of MpIAA with mutations in its putative degron sequence conferred an auxin resistant phenotype and repressed auxin-dependent expression of the auxin response reporter proGH3:GUS. We next established a system for DEX-inducible auxin-response repression by expressing the putatively stabilized MpIAA protein fused with the glucocorticoid receptor domain (MpIAAmDII-GR). Repression of auxin responses in proMpIAA:MpIAAmDII-GR plants caused severe defects in various developmental processes, including gemmaling development, dorsiventrality, organogenesis, and tropic responses. Transient transactivation assays showed that the three MpARFs had different transcriptional activities, each corresponding to their phylogenetic classifications. Moreover, MpIAA and MpARF proteins interacted with each other with different affinities. This study provides evidence that pleiotropic auxin responses can be achieved by a minimal set of auxin signaling factors and suggests that the transcriptional regulation mediated by TIR1/AFB, AUX/IAA, and three types of ARFs might have been a key invention to establish body plans of land plants. We propose that M. polymorpha is a good model to investigate the principles and the evolution of auxin-mediated transcriptional regulation and its roles in land plant morphogenesis.
Linguistic instruments in requirements engineering

From the Publisher: The book discusses a new approach to requirements engineering. The goal of the method described is to facilitate the requirements engineering process and to improve the quality of its results. The focus of the book is on how linguistic instruments can be used profitably in this process, in order to reach this goal. The book gives a rather complete overview of the current status of requirements engineering, including (object-oriented) software analysis, and of applications of natural language to information systems in general. The improvements to the requirements engineering process include a better understanding of the problem and its domain, expressed by abstract models upon the contents of which the users (i.e. the 'owners' of the problem) have agreed. The process of collecting, specifying, verifying and validating the contents of the models is elaborated extensively. The linguistic meaning and definition of the words and concepts, that are selected from the Universe of Discourse description by a natural language- and scenario-based analysis approach, provides a semantically correct base for both the requirements specification and requirements validation. Some well-known problems with natural language texts, like ambiguity and incompleteness, are avoided by this semantic approach. The word meanings are retrieved from a lexicon that is interactively consulted during the requirements engineering process. The formal language that has been introduced as the underlying representation formalism for the lexicon, the models, as well as the original natural language sentences gives possibilities for verification activities, because of its logic foundation. Two models are introduced that arevalidated by the users by checking natural language sentences that are equivalent to the models' contents, and by evaluating a prototype that simulates the modeled behaviour of the system. Summarizing, the book introduces a requirements engineering method which makes heavily use of linguistic instruments. The method is described from several viewpoints, which includes its philosophy (the way of thinking), its techniques (the way of modeling), its use (the way of working) and a sketch of its supporting environment, (the way of supporting).
Npvf: Hypothalamic Biomarker of Ambient Temperature Independent of Nutritional Status

The mechanism by which mice, exposed to the cold, mobilize endogenous or exogenous fuel sources for heat production is unknown. To address this issue we carried out experiments using 3 models of obesity in mice: C57BL/6J+/+ (wild-type B6) mice with variable susceptibility to obesity in response to being fed a high-fat diet (HFD), B6. Ucp1-/- mice with variable diet-induced obesity (DIO) and a deficiency in brown fat thermogenesis and B6. Lep-/- with defects in thermogenesis, fat mobilization and hyperphagia. Mice were exposed to the cold and monitored for changes in food intake and body composition to determine their energy balance phenotype. Upon cold exposure wild-type B6 and Ucp1-/- mice with diet-induced obesity burned endogenous fat in direct proportion to their fat reserves and changes in food intake were inversely related to fat mass, whereas leptin-deficient and lean wild-type B6 mice fed a chow diet depended on increased food intake to fuel thermogenesis. Analysis of gene expression in the hypothalamus to uncover a central regulatory mechanism revealed suppression of the Npvf gene in a manner that depends on the reduced ambient temperature and degree of exposure to the cold, but not on adiposity, leptin levels, food intake or functional brown fat.
Parallel breadth-first search LTL model-checking

We propose a practical parallel on-the-fly algorithm for enumerative LTL (linear temporal logic) model checking. The algorithm is designed for a cluster of workstations communicating via MPI (message passing interface). The detection of cycles (faulty runs) effectively employs the so called back-level edges. In particular, a parallel level-synchronized breadth-first search of the graph is performed to discover back-level edges. For each level, the back-level edges are checked in parallel by a nested depth-first search to confirm or refute the presence of a cycle. Several optimizations of the basic algorithm are presented and advantages and drawbacks of their application to distributed LTL model-checking are discussed. Experimental implementation of the algorithm shows promising results.
MoBiDiCK: a tool for distributed computing on the Internet

We have developed a software tool called MoBiDiCK (Modular Big Distributed Computing Kernel) that is ultimately intended for distributed computing. In this paper, we detail the design and show results using the core components of MoBiDiCK running two different clients on a local cluster. MoBiDiCK is a database-driven system that can be used to marshal a large number of processors across the Internet in order to have them collaborate on a single computation. These utilize a message-passing API and control synchronization formalism we have developed that uses the HTTP standard and Web servers. CGI programs on the volunteer processors perform the computations. The problem domains best served by MoBiDiCK are parallel computing problems that are CPU-bound (not I/O-bound) and require minimal inter-process communication. The parallel tasks that we present include the analysis of databases of 3D protein structures and Monte Carlo simulations for ab-initio protein folding.
A Classroom Tested Accessible Multimedia Resource for Engaging Underrepresented Students in Computing: The University of Maryland Curriculum In A Box

In 2012, women earned 18% of computer science degrees; African American and Hispanic students made up less than 20% of computing degree holders that year. Research shows that relatable role models and engaging curriculum are required to engage underrepresented students in computing. There is a need for engaging and relatable curriculum to be delivered to students at the middle school level, when these students first begin to lose interest in computing. Thus, based on the results of a survey of current and former middle school computing teachers and a comprehensive literature review, we developed the University of Maryland Curriculum In A Box (CIAB). The CIAB includes profiles of relatable computing role models, accessible video and text curriculum and challenge projects for HTML/CSS. To simulate a "real world" programming environment, the CIAB guides students through programming within open source social media frameworks and Github. The CIAB also includes teacher enablement resources such as assessments and a week-by-week implementation guide. The CIAB was successfully implemented with a group of 6th and 7th grade students in Prince Georges (PG) County, a majority minority county in Maryland. Our demo will provide a walk-through of the CIAB assets, accessibility features and design process, as well as implementation advice informed by our CIAB implementation in PG County.
Attenuation of hemorrhage-associated lung injury by adjuvant treatment with C23, an oligopeptide derived from cold-inducible RNA-binding protein.

BACKGROUND Hemorrhagic shock (HS) is an important cause of mortality. HS is associated with an elevated incidence of acute lung injury and acute respiratory distress syndrome, significantly contributing to HS morbidity and mortality. Cold-inducible RNA-binding protein (CIRP) is released into the circulation during HS and can cause lung injury. C23 is a CIRP-derived oligopeptide that binds with high affinity to the CIRP receptor and inhibits CIRP-induced phagocyte secretion of TNF-α. This study was designed to determine whether C23 is able to attenuate HS-associated lung injury. METHODS C57BL/6 mice were subjected to controlled hemorrhage leading to a mean arterial pressure of 25 ± 3 mm Hg for 90 minutes. Mice were then volume-resuscitated for 30 minutes with normal saline solution alone (vehicle) or plus adjuvant treatment with C23 (8 mg/kg BW). At 4.5 hours after resuscitation, the blood and lungs were harvested. RESULTS Serum levels of organ injury markers lactate dehydrogenase, aspartate aminotransferase were significantly elevated in hemorrhaged mice receiving vehicle and were reduced by 51.3% and 52.2% in mice adjuvantly treated with C23, respectively. Similarly, lung mRNA levels of IL-1β, TNF-α, and IL-6, and lung myeloperoxidase activity were elevated after HS and reduced by 66.1%, 54.4%, 69.7%, and 24.3%, respectively, in mice treated with C23. Adjuvant treatment with C23 also decreased the lung histology score by 33.9%, lung extravasation of albumin carrying Evans blue dye by 36.8%, and the protein level of intercellular adhesion molecule-1, and indicator of vascular endothelial cell activation, by 40.3%. CONCLUSION Together, these results indicate that adjuvant treatment with the CIRP-derived oligopeptide C23 is able to improve lung inflammation and vascular endothelial activation secondary to HS, lending support to the development of CIRP-targeting adjuvant treatments to minimize lung injury after HS.
Applying an update method to a set of receivers

In the context of object databases, we study the application of an update method to a collection of receivers rather than to a single one. The obvious strategy of applying the update to the receivers one after the other, in some arbitrary order, brings up the problem of order independence. On a very general level, we investigate how update behavior can be analyzed in terms of certain schema annotations, called colorings. We are able to characterize those colorings that always describe order-independedent updates. We also consider a more specific model of update methods implemented in the relational algebra. Order-independence of such algebraic methods is undecidable in general, but decidable if the expressions used are positive. Finally, we consider an alternative parallel strategy for set-oriented applications of algebraic update methods and compare and relate it to the sequential strategy.