Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Estimation of core losses when the flux waveform contains the fundamental plus a single odd harmonic component

This paper examines the behaviour of the core losses in thin laminations when the flux density waveform is highly distorted at peak flux densities of up to 2.0 T. It is shown that the presence of harmonics can increase the loss significantly over the value that exists when the flux density waveform is purely sinusoidal. A simple method that corrects the eddy current component of core loss for the effects of flux harmonics is used to estimate the total loss due to a distorted waveform. Provided the waveform does not contain harmonics greater than the 5th, it is shown that such a method of estimation yields acceptable results for the distortion levels encountered in practice.
Optimization of bio-inspired multi-segment IPMC cilia

In nature, unidirectional fluid flows are often induced at micro-scales by cilia and related organelles. A controllable unidirectional flow is beneficial at these scales for a range of novel robotic and medical applications, whether the flow is used for propulsion (e.g. swimming robots) or mass transfer (e.g. prosthetic trachea). Ionic Polymer Metal Composites (IPMCs) are innovative smart materials that can be used directly as active propulsive surfaces rather than a traditional motor and propeller. IPMC actuators with two segmented electrodes that attempt to mimic the motion of cilia-like organelles have been realized. In this paper the optimization of these actuators towards producing unidirectional flows is described. A parametric study of the kinematic and hydrodynamic effect of modulating the drive signal has been conducted. As with eukaryotic cilia and flagella found in mammals, the segmented IPMC actuator can generate both flexural (asymmetric) and undulatory (symmetric) motions from the same physical structure. The motion is controlled by applying profiles of driving frequencies and phase differences. Kinematic analysis using a camera and laser displacement sensor has been used to measure and classify different motion types. The hydrodynamic forces produced by each motion type have been estimated using particle-tracking flow visualization. This allows drive signal profiles to be ranked in terms of fluid flow momentum transfer and directionality. Using the results of the parametric study, the IPMC motion is optimized towards producing unidirectional flow via repeatable cilia-inspired motion.
Sustainable tourism in practice: synthesizing sustainability assessment of global tourism destinations

ABSTRACT This paper examines the sustainability characteristics of 12 tourist destinations from around the world to determine whether these destinations have made concrete efforts in balancing the four pillars of sustainability: environmental, economic, social-cultural, and institutional. The paper identifies areas of improvement to abet these destinations facilitate their progress towards achieving sustainability. A three-step approach to destination sustainability assessment was employed: i) development of a sustainability assessment matrix; ii) selecting case studies to illustrate current on the ground sustainability practices; and iii) sustainability performance assessment of the selected destinations. Based on secondary information, the assessment developed and applied a six-scale sustainability performance rating, ranging between −1 to + 1 with − 0.75 to −1 indicating an unsatisfactory, and +0.75 to + 1 indicating a satisfactory performance. Results indicate to the presence of a broad range of sustainability characteristics across geographically diverse locations. Based on the results, six main implications are discussed: i) necessary trade-offs on sustainability considerations; ii) conditionality of sustainability; iii) importance of grassroots engagement and community-led tourism activities; iv) significance of participatory and effective policy preparation and implementation; v) insights on opportunities of active learning and sharing for meeting sustainability objectives; and vi) lessons for mass tourism experiences. We emphasize the need for strategic efforts in balancing sustainability approaches in tourism practices.
A Design Method of the Complementary Controller for Multi- Infeed HVDC Transmission Systems Using Singular Perturbation Theory

The complementary controllers for HVDC transmission systems can be used to improve the power systems stability. A design method of the complementary controller for multi-infeed HVDC transmission systems using singular Perturbation theory is presented in this paper. The simulation result show that the transient stability of AC/DC system can be effectively improved by use of the presented contort strategy
Blockchain Regulated Verifiable and Automatic Key Refreshment Mechanism for IoT

Internet of Things (IoT) has proved its applicability in numerous domains, such as healthcare, agriculture, automobile, industrial production, logistics, and supply chain management. Looking at the current trend, we expect a massive proliferation of such IoT devices all around us. However, one of the issues with the widespread use of IoT is the increasing complexity of the underlying architecture, which leads to difficulty in ensuring security compliance. Key refreshment, one of the critical aspects of key management, requires a regular update of the key used to provide strong security. However, in most cases, keys are not updated. If they are updated, the update logs (e.g., time of last key update) are not available for all entities to verify and establish trust in the system. Moreover, the rules for key refreshment are also not defined transparently. In this direction, the present work proposes a blockchain-regulated, secure, verifiable, and automatic key refreshment mechanism for IoT systems. The proposed mechanism enables users to verify the freshness of the security keys (being used), thereby relying on the data from IoT devices and establishing trust in an IoT system. The proposed mechanism is driven by blockchain technology and smart contract. As proof of concept, we have implemented the proposed solution using Ethereum and Hyperledger Fabric blockchains. Cost, scalability, and security (formal and informal) analyses have been carried out for performance analysis. The results show the economic viability and strong security of the proposed mechanism.
Alternative splicing in shaping the molecular landscape of the cochlea

The cochlea is a complex organ comprising diverse cell types with highly specialized morphology and function. Until now, the molecular underpinnings of its specializations have mostly been studied from a transcriptional perspective, but accumulating evidence points to post-transcriptional regulation as a major source of molecular diversity. Alternative splicing is one of the most prevalent and well-characterized post-transcriptional regulatory mechanisms. Many molecules important for hearing, such as cadherin 23 or harmonin, undergo alternative splicing to produce functionally distinct isoforms. Some isoforms are expressed specifically in the cochlea, while some show differential expression across the various cochlear cell types and anatomical regions. Clinical phenotypes that arise from mutations affecting specific splice variants testify to the functional relevance of these isoforms. All these clues point to an essential role for alternative splicing in shaping the unique molecular landscape of the cochlea. Although the regulatory mechanisms controlling alternative splicing in the cochlea are poorly characterized, there are animal models with defective splicing regulators that demonstrate the importance of RNA-binding proteins in maintaining cochlear function and cell survival. Recent technological breakthroughs offer exciting prospects for overcoming some of the long-standing hurdles that have complicated the analysis of alternative splicing in the cochlea. Efforts toward this end will help clarify how the remarkable diversity of the cochlear transcriptome is both established and maintained.
The EST project

Abstract EST European Solar Telescope is a pan-european project, presently in its Conceptual Design Study financed by the European Commission in the framework of FP7, involving 29 partners, from 14 different countries. The EST project is aimed at the realization of a 4-m class telescope, characterized by an optical design and a set of instruments optimized for extremely high resolution imaging and spectropolarimetric observations from near UV to NIR. EST will be four times larger than any existing high resolution solar telescope and it is designated with the highest priority among the ground-based, medium term (2016-2020) new projects in the ASTRONET Roadmap (Panel C). The EST instruments will measure fundamental astrophysical processes at their intrinsic scales in the Sun's atmosphere to establish the mechanism of magnetic field generation and removal, and of energy transfer from the surface to the upper solar atmosphere and eventually to the whole heliosphere. The conceptual Design Study started on February 2008 and will finish during 2011. EST will be operational at the same time as major ESA and NASA space missions aimed at studying solar activity.
The Greenhouse Gas Crisis and the Logistic Growth Curve

The greatest challenge of the coming century will be the consequences of an imbalanced atmosphere. Currently, projections of global heating due to an increasingly imbalanced atmosphere are dire, but they underestimate the near-term heating impacts of the growing concentrations of methane. Industrially mediated carbon capture and storage sometimes gets raised as a promising solution on the CO2 front, but it is presently commercially inviable. Despite these facts, we nonetheless need to act globally to reduce the atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases, although our increasingly separate information ecosystems make finding a way to express the reality of the atmospheric imbalance crisis to a wide audience daunting. One approach to presenting the atmospheric imbalances leading to global heating is to strip the discussion down initially to its bare bones with a sharp focus on the variables of the logistic growth equation. Although virtually anything can be politicized, the logistic growth equation’s variables are at least apolitical in their origin. After examining those variables, we can proceed to focus on density-dependent mortality factors (DDMFs) and their relationship to visible climatic changes driven by atmospheric imbalances. Both the Global North and the Global South need to do all that we do to reduce atmospheric greenhouse gas accumulation, reducing DDMFs, while paying careful attention to Indigenous rights and to the need for global gender equity, so that our efforts to control DDMFs do not produce a new expression of colonialism.
A Principle of Correlativity of Perception and Its Application to Music Recognition

Correlativity of perception is defined as a capacity to discover similar configurations of stimuli and to form high- level configurations from them. It is equivalent to describing information in terms of generative elements and their transformations. Such a representation saves memory and reveals causality in data generation. This approach is implemented in a model of artificial perception wherein data are selforganized in order to segregate patterns before recognizing them. Input information is described as generative patterns and their transformations. The least complex data representation that leads to a causally related semantic description is chosen, with (Kolmogorov) complexity defined by the amount of memory store required. The model is applied to voice separation and to rhythm/tempo tracking. Chord spectra are described by generative subspectra, which correspond to tonal spectra, and by their translations, which coincide with the intervals of the chord. Time events are also described by generative rhythmic patterns. Tempo and rhythm interdependence is overcome by the optimal sharing of complexity between representations of rhythmic patterns and tempo curve. The model explains the function of interval hearing, certain statements of music theory, and some effects of rhythm perception. Applications to image processing and modeling of abstract thinking are also discussed.
Implicit High-Order-Accurate-in-Space Algorithms for the Navier-Stokes Equations

High-order-accurate, alternating direction implicit schemes have been developed. These schemes can be used to obtain efe ciently high-resolution numerical solutions of the compressible Euler and Navier ‐Stokes equations. Implicit solvers compatible with both centered and upwind schemes for the discretization of the convective terms arediscussed.Forcenteredspacediscretizationoftheconvectivee uxes,fourth-orderspatialaccuracyoftheimplicit operators is obtained at no additional computing cost by performing compact space differentiation. This implicit compact scheme, which requires block-tridiagonal matrix inversions, is used to obtain viscous and inviscid e ow solutions in curvilinear coordinates. In addition, high-order-accurate-in-space implicit operators are obtained for diagonalized schemes, which require scalar matrix inversions. Both high-order algorithms improve convergence characteristics for subsonic and transonic e ow compared to second-order-accurate-in-space implicit schemes. High-order-accurate-in-space implicit algorithms, compatible with upwind, high-resolution shock-capturing total variation diminishing schemes, are also developed. Third-order-accurate, upwind-biased, diagonalized algorithms were found to be as accurate and more efe cient than the standard block-tridiagonal, implicit solvers.
Using Distributed-Event Parallel Simulation to Study Departures from Many Queues in Series

In this paper we describe an application of distributed-event parallel simulation to study the transient behavior of a large non-Markovian network of queues. In particular, we implemented the parallel-prefix-based algorithm of Greenberg, Lubachevsky, and Mitrani [13,14] on the 8,192-processor CM-2 Connection machine and the 16,384-processor MasPar computer to simulate the departure times D(k, n) of the kth customer from the nth queue in a long series of single-server queues. Each queue has unlimited waiting space and uses the first-in first-out discipline. The service times of all the customers at all the queues are i.i. d. with a general distribution, and the system starts out with k customers in the first queue and all other queues empty. Glynn and Whitt [11] established limit theorems for this model, but very little could be said about the limits themselves. The simulation results presented here describe the limits and the quality of the approximations resulting from using the limits for finite k and n. Indeed, the simulations suggest interesting conjectures. For this model speeding up a single long run is far superior to independent replications, because very long runs are required to obtain unbiased estimates of the desired quantities and the variance of the estimator at the end of the run is small. The achieved simulation rate was about 17 billion service completions per hour, which is a speedup by about a factor of 100 compared to simulation on a conventional single-processor machine. This speedup contributed greatly to performing the desired experiments.
Estimation of Lewis Blood Group Status by Fluorescence Melting Curve Analysis in Simultaneous Genotyping of c.385A>T and Fusion Gene in FUT2 and c.59T>G and c.314C>T in FUT3

Lewis blood group status is determined by two fucosyltransferase activities: those of FUT2-encoded fucosyltransferase (Se enzyme) and FUT3-encoded fucosyltransferase (Le enzyme). In Japanese populations, c.385A>T in FUT2 and a fusion gene between FUT2 and its pseudogene SEC1P are the cause of most Se enzyme-deficient alleles (Sew and sefus), and c.59T>G and c.314C>T in FUT3 are tag SNPs for almost all nonfunctional FUT3 alleles (le59, le59,508, le59,1067, and le202,314). In this study, we first conducted a single-probe fluorescence melting curve analysis (FMCA) to determine c.385A>T and sefus using a pair of primers that collectively amplify FUT2, sefus, and SEC1P. Then, to estimate Lewis blood group status, a triplex FMCA was performed with a c.385A>T and sefus assay system by adding primers and probes to detect c.59T>G and c.314C>T in FUT3. We also validated these methods by analyzing the genotypes of 96 selected Japanese people whose FUT2 and FUT3 genotypes were already determined. The single-probe FMCA was able to identify six genotype combinations: 385A/A, 385T/T, sefus/sefus, 385A/T, 385A/sefus, and 385T/sefus. In addition, the triplex FMCA successfully identified both FUT2 and FUT3 genotypes, although the resolutions of the analysis of c.385A>T and sefus were somewhat reduced compared to that of the analysis of FUT2 alone. The estimation of the secretor status and Lewis blood group status using the form of FMCA used in this study may be useful for large-scale association studies in Japanese populations.
Spatio-Temporal Routing, Redundant Coding and Multipath Scheduling for Deterministic Satellite Network Transmission

Widespread deployment of Small Satellite Networks (SSN) fosters the foreseen integration of space-air-ground networks to provide worldwide Internet access to oceanic and remote airspace. However, the dynamic topology of SSN, the lossy wireless link, and the limited transmission resources induce unprecedented challenges to Deterministic Satellite Network Transmission (DSNT) for the sake of improving the utility of the SSN facility. Motivated by these challenges, this work aims to develop a Deterministic Satellite Network Transmission approach with deterministic Spatio-temporal routing, Redundant coding and Multipath scheduling (DSNT-SRM) for bolstering superior communications of SSN. DSNT-SRM uses the ephemeris information and dynamic resource update mechanism to predict all upcoming communication opportunities and construct the deterministic spatio-temporal routing paths. By combining sparse and redundant network coding mechanisms, DSNT-SRM no longer cares about the arrival of each packet, but the number of coded packets it receives, since the lost packets can be compensated with deterministic redundant traffic. Moreover, the adaptive traffic balance between multiple spatio-temporal paths is designed to provide a deterministic delay guarantee when facing limited node resources and multi-user competition. Extensive experiments show that DSNT-SRM can achieve satisfactory performance improvement in reducing delay and improving delivery rate.
Case report and literature review: PET/CT in the evaluation of response to treatment of liver metastasis from colorectal cancer with DEBIRI-TACE

Background Irinotecan-loaded drug-eluting beads transarterial chemoembolization (DEBIRI-TACE) is a safe and effective therapeutic option for unresectable colorectal liver metastases (CRLM). The evaluation of treatment response after DEBIRI-TACE is very important for assessing the patient’s condition. At present, the Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST) with the tumor size obtained by CT and/or MRI and PET Response Criteria in Solid Tumors (PERCIST) based on fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography/computed tomography (FDG PET/CT) are used for evaluating the response to therapy of solid tumors; however, their value in the assessment of treatment response after DEBIRI-TACE remains unclear. Case presentation A 52-year-old male with unresectable simultaneous CRLM was treated in the Affiliated Hospital of Yanbian University with DEBIRI-TACE combined with systemic chemotherapy and targeted therapy. Carcinoembryonic antigen levels decreased by 82.50% after 27 days of treatment. At 6 weeks post-surgery, FDG-PET/CT showed that the maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) of intrahepatic lesions was reduced to 62.14%. Abdominal MRI revealed that the sum of target lesion diameters was less than 30% that at baseline. PERCIST indicated partial metabolic response, whereas RECIST suggested stable disease. Conclusion FDG PET/CT-based PERCIST may be accurate in determining treatment response and evaluating patient prognosis after DEBIRI-TACE in unresectable CRLM.
State Access for RSFQ Test and Analysis

We present means to initialize, to propagate, and to examine states in an RSFQ circuit that are useful for design as well as for functional test and analysis. Our RSFQ test strategy distinguishes states by the information they carry from computation to computation, and saves costs by ignoring information-free states. To start, stop, and stall operations that are asynchronous, we developed a new variety of RSFQ stateholder, called MrGO after its CMOS counterpart. We include two simulated examples, a clocked pipelined adder for which we test functionality, and an asynchronous ring FIFO for which we analyze throughput.
Pulse Wave Analysis of Photoplethysmography Signals to Enhance Classification of Cardiac Arrhythmias

Photoplethysmography (PPG) has recently gained increasing interest for less obtrusive long-term cardiovascular monitoring. As for cardiac arrhythmia (CA), most research and available PPG devices have focused on the detection of atrial fibrillation (AF), the most common CA. However, other less studied CAs can induce errors in standard AF detectors. To address the PPG-based detection of both AF and non-AF CAs, we investigate novel features, extracted by pulse wave analysis (PWA), that provide insight into the morphology of individual pulses. Their discriminative power was evaluated based on the RELIEFF algorithm for feature selection, and we compared performance metrics for CA classification with and without PWA features. The classification accuracy using ridge regression was increased by 0.4%, from 75.6% to 76.0%, when using PWA features on top of temporal and spectral features. Likewise, the classification of non-AF CAs was globally improved. These results show the potential of extracting measures about individual pulse morphologies to improve detection of various CAs.
Pressure/mass method to measure open porosity of porous solids

This work presents a method to directly determine the open porosity of porous solids, and more particularly those used in sound absorbing liners. The method is based on the measurement of four masses at four static pressures from which the open porosity and true mass density are deduced using the perfect gas law. The precision of the method in relation with the used experimental setup is studied, and a simple expression is derived to predict the experimental error in function of the bulk volume of the sample to test. For a given experimental setup, this simple expression can be used to select the amount of bulk volume to test to reach a given precision. The method and its error prediction are tested experimentally on different samples of theoretically known open porosity. Good correlations are obtained for low and high porosity samples.