Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Impact of Network Topology on the Resilience of Vehicle Platoons

This paper presents a comprehensive study on the impact of information flow topologies on the resilience of distributed algorithms that are widely used for estimation and control in vehicle platoons. In the state of the art, the influence of information flow topology on both internal and string stability of vehicle platoons has been well studied. However, understanding the impact of information flow topology on cyber-security tasks, e.g., attack detection, resilient estimation and formation algorithms, is largely open. By means of a general graph theory framework, we study connectivity measures of several platoon topologies and we reveal how these measures affect the ability of distributed algorithms to reject communication disturbances, to detect cyber-attacks, and to be resilient against them. We show that the traditional platoon topologies relying on interaction with the nearest neighbor are very fragile with respect to performance and security criteria. On the other hand, appropriate platoon topologies, namely $k$ -nearest neighbor topologies, are shown to fulfill desired security and performance levels. The framework we study covers undirected and directed topologies, ungrounded and grounded topologies, or topologies on a line and on a ring. We show that there is a trade-off in the network design between the robustness to disturbances and the resilience to adversarial actions. Theoretical results are validated via simulations.
The Impact of Corporate Governance Mechanisms on the Commitment of Managers in an IPO Setting: Evidence from Korean Small and Venture Firms

Managers’ commitment and dedication crucially affect the sustainable growth of firms. When private companies first offer their shares to the public in an initial public offering (IPO), an IPO lockup is one way of revealing managers’ commitments. IPO lockups are agreements that promise not to sell the shares retained by pre-IPO shareholders for a specified period in the market after the IPO. This paper investigates the impact of corporate governance mechanisms on the length of the lockup period. The paper’s sample consists of IPO firms that have gone public in Korea’s KOSDAQ market, which is a listing venue for small and venture companies. The major findings of this paper are as follows: first, the length of the lockup period increases with the number of outside directors and, second, IPO firms with audit committees have longer lockup periods than those without them. These results indicate that managers of firms with greater board independence choose a longer lockup period when going public. This paper also finds that the lockup period is positively related to the presence of venture capitalists serving as directors of IPO firms, which suggests that venture capital directors may ensure that managers have longer lockups. Overall, these findings suggest that, when small and venture companies go public, managers may use the IPO lockup as a commitment device that complements corporate governance mechanisms in reducing investor concern about the moral hazard problem of managers.
Comparison of oncologic outcome of abdominoperineal resection versus sphincter saving resection for low lying rectal cancer

Purpose The present study compares the peri/postoperative and oncological outcomes of abdominoperineal resections (APR) and sphincter saving resection (SSR) for low lying rectal cancer. Methods Between January 2001 and December 2014, 176 patients who underwent SSR (n=67) and APR (n=109) for low rectal cancer, without stage IV, were retrieved from a retrospective database. Results With a median follow-up of 66.5 months. The mean total number of harvested lymph nodes was 16.7 (SSR) versus 17.1 (APR) (P=0.801). The advanced T stage was higher in the APR group (82.6%) versus the SSR group (55.2%) (P=0.006). The positive rate of lymph nodes after surgery was significantly higher in the APR group (45.9%) versus SSR group (25.4%) (P<0.05). The 5-year overall survival rates for SSR and APR were 87.3% and 67.6%, respectively (P<0.005). The 5-year disease-free survival rate (DFS) was 83.6% (SSR) versus 65.5% (APR) (P=0.002). The recurrence rate was higher in the APR group (34.9%) versus the SSR group (14.9%) (P=0.004). Local recurrence rate was not different between the two groups. However, distant recurrence rate was significantly higher in the APR group (26.6% vs. 11.9%, P=0.023). In multivariate analysis, node positive (N0 vs. N1–2) was an independent prognostic factor for DFS (P<0.005). Conclusion Based on the present data, SSR achieved better 5-year oncological outcome than APR. The positive lymph node ratio in the N stage after surgery was higher in the APR group and this seems to have an effect on the oncological outcomes of the APR group.
FIRST STEPS TOWARDS A STANDARDISED HOSTING CAPACITY METHOD

This paper describes the requirements for a standardised hosting capacity method. It outlines the needs and requirements for a standardised methodology as well as ongoing and upcoming standardisation activities in IEEE and IEC. The paper outlines the criteria for consensus, transparency, interoperability and stability required from a standardised hosting capacity method. The use of IEC 61968/61970 Common Grid Model Exchange Specification is proposed as a basis for reproducibility and benchmarking of results across network operators, countries, regions and network design methods.
The Advocacy Universe: A Methodology to Identify Politically Active 501(C)(4) Organizations

This article provides a framework that defines politically active 501(c)(4)s organizations and describes a methodology for identifying them among more than 80,000 social welfare organizations. We estimate that approximately 15% of (c)(4)s likely pursue advocacy or political action, while most are engaged in unrelated activities. Understanding the distinctive features of the social welfare sector and the politically engaged organizations within it are essential tasks for nonprofit scholars, yet the methodological and empirical challenges are complex and significant. To date, there has been no systematic study of the nature and efficacy of these organizations. We create a multistage methodology that allows researchers to identify politically active (c)(4)s and to investigate subgroups focused on different policy issues and with different member groups. This article summarizes how we identify organizations and strategies needed to reveal whether an organization is engaged in political activities. We explain the approach we took and the challenges we encountered.
De la presencialidad a la virtualidad. El caso de la Universidad de Guayaquil

Durante marzo de 2020, el mundo se paralizó frente a la declaración de la Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS) frente al nuevo Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19). Los sistemas de Educación a nivel global enfrentaban un confinamiento masivo. En Latinoamérica, el fenómeno era igual, sólo el 80% de las Universidades utilizaban plataformas tecnológicas. El enfoque mixto aplicado en este estudio permitió desarrollar exitosamente el “Proyecto para la creación del Campus Virtual-UG”. La administración del periodo 2020, inició la planificación y ejecución del Campus Virtual más grande del país. El resultado marcó un hito histórico, un total de 61.158 estudiantes pudieron continuar sus estudios en 1.518 ambientes de aprendizaje virtuales y 6.390 paralelos los cuales contaban con 2.510 docentes capacitados en entornos de construcción tecno pedagógica y manejo de plataformas virtuales de aprendizaje. La pandemia no paró a la academia, más bien la reinventó. Este es el caso de estudio de la Universidad de Guayaquil, la más grande del país, que contra viento y marea abrió sus puertas virtuales para garantizar el derecho de sus estudiantes que se encontraban ubicados en todo el país.
Association of sleep disturbance with Parkinson disease: evidence from the Women's Health Initiative

Abstract Objective: To examine the association of sleep disturbance with Parkinson disease (PD) during 10+ years of follow-up among postmenopausal women, 50 to 79 years of age at baseline. Methods: Longitudinal data on 130,502 study-eligible women (mean ± standard deviation baseline age = 63.16 ± 7.20 y) from the Women's Health Initiative Clinical Trials and Women's Health Initiative Observational Study were analyzed. The cohort was followed for 15.88 ± 6.50 years, yielding 2,829 (2.17%) PD cases. Sleep disturbance (habitual sleep duration, insomnia symptoms, obstructive sleep apnea risk factors, sleep aids among those with WHI Insomnia Rating Scale scores (WHIIRS) > 9) was measured at baseline and one follow-up time by September 12, 2005. Cox proportional hazards models evaluated relationships controlling for sociodemographic, lifestyle, and health characteristics. Results: PD was significantly associated with long sleep duration (≥9 h) versus a benchmark of 7 to 8 hours (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.296, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.153-1.456), WHIIRS (>9 vs ≤9) (HR = 1.114, 95% CI:1.023-1.214), and use of sleep aids (yes vs no) (HR = 1.332, 95% CI:1.153-1.539) among those with WHIIRS > 9. Compared with 7 to 8 hours, short (<7 h) sleep duration was unrelated to PD. Finally, the presence of obstructive sleep apnea risk factors was not associated with PD. Conclusions: Among postmenopausal women, sleep disturbance was associated with approximately 10% to 30% increased PD risk after ∼16 years follow-up. Prospective cohort studies with objective exposures and adjudicated outcomes that include men and women of diverse backgrounds are required to confirm and extend these findings.
BJBN： BERT-JOIN-BiLSTM Networks for Medical Auxiliary Diagnostic

This study proposed a medicine auxiliary diagnosis model based on neural network. The model combines a bidirectional long short-term memory（Bi-LSTM）network and bidirectional encoder representations from transformers (BERT), which can well complete the extraction of local features of Chinese medicine texts. BERT can learn the global information of the text, so use BERT to get the global representation of medical text and then use Bi-LSTM to extract local features. We conducted a large number of comparative experiments on datasets. The results show that the proposed model has significant advantages over the state-of-the-art baseline model. The accuracy of the proposed model is 0.75.
Chrysoeriol Enhances Melanogenesis in B16F10 Cells Through the Modulation of the MAPK, AKT, PKA, and Wnt/β-Catenin Signaling Pathways

Chrysoeriol is a 3′-O-methoxy flavone, chemically a derivative of luteolin, which is commonly found across the plant kingdom. Chrysoeriol is of great scientific interest because of its promising anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, antioxidative, anti-lipase, anti-xanthin oxidase, and antimicrobial activities against multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacterial pathogens; however, its effects on melanogenesis have not yet been elucidated. Here, we report a novel effect of chrysoeriol on melanogenesis in B16F10 cells. Chrysoeriol treatment significantly increased the expression of the melanogenic enzymes tyrosinase (TRY), tyrosinase-related protein-1 (TRP-1), and TRP-2 and upregulated the expression of microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (MITF) in a concentration-dependent manner. Furthermore, chrysoeriol suppressed the phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) and protein kinase B (AKT) in a concentration-dependent manner. In addition, chrysoeriol treatment increased the phosphorylation of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), glycogen synthase kinase (GSK)-3β, β-catenin, and protein kinase A (PKA) and decreased the production of β-catenin, which is involved in the transcriptional activation of MITF in melanogenesis. Finally, the structure–activity relationship (SAR) of chrysoeriol and its derivatives, including luteolin and apigenin, with regard to their melanin inhibitory activity was also investigated; we identified the significance of the 4′-OH group and C-3′ methoxylation in melanogenesis. Together, these findings indicate that chrysoeriol promotes melanogenesis in B16F10 cells by upregulating the expression of melanogenic enzymes through the MAPK, phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/AKT, PKA, and Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathways; thus, chrysoeriol may be used as a cosmetic ingredient to promote melanogenesis or as a therapeutic agent against hypopigmentation disorders.
Nitrogenase Iron Protein Classification using CNN Neural Network

The nitrogenase iron protein (NifH) is extensively used to study nitrogen fixation, the ecologically vital process of reducing atmospheric nitrogen to a bioavailable form. The discovery rate of novel NifH sequences is high, and there is an ongoing need for software tools to mine NifH records from the GenBank repository. Since record annotations are unreliable, because they contain errors, classifiers based on sequence alone are required. The ARBitrator classifier is highly successful but must be initialized by extensive manual effort. A Deep Learning approach could substantially reduce manual intervention. However, attempts to build a character-based Deep Learning NifH classifier were unsuccessful. We hypothesized that we could generate visual representations of protein sequences and use a Convolutional Neural Network to classify the representations. Here we present the resulting classifier, which has achieved false positive and false negative rates of 0.19% and 0.22%, respectively.
MULTI-PERIOD OPTIMAL POWER FLOW IN LOW VOLTAGE GRIDS FOR A HIGH DEGREE OF SELF-SUFFICIENCY

This paper investigates the application of AC multi-period optimal power flow in local energy communities for a high degree of self-sufficiency using a combination of a hydrogen storage system and a battery storage. A residential subnetwork with installed photovoltaic systems and a central storage within the CIGRÉ low voltage network is taken as reference. An electrolyser, a fuel cell and a hydrogen pressure storage are added to the model, which determines the global solution of the multi-period optimal power flow problem. Different households and photovoltaic power supply scenarios are analysed and seasonal influences considered for an optimization horizon of an entire year. Results show that photovoltaic and battery storage size decrease significantly by using a seasonal storage. Paper's second part deals with optimal operation for both cases. It becomes clear that the H2 storage has a positive influence on both: operation of the technologies and operation of the network. Economic benefits of installing a combined energy system is currently not given, but may be the case if technology costs decrease.
Optimization design on heat dissipation of lithium-ion battery pack in electric vehicle

To solve the effect of non-uniform heat dissipation on performance,reliability and security of electric vehicle lithium-ion battery pack,optimization design schemes are proposed for battery pack.The thermal model of lithium-ion battery is described,a 3D model for lithium-ion battery pack is built,and the control equations of solid and fluid heat conduction in Computational Fluid Dynamics(CFD) calculation are introduced.Several heat dissipation structures are determined by selection of different inlet angles and velocities,comparison of blowing cooling and suction cooling,and selection of local rounds.For these structures,the general flow field characteristics,local flow velocity and temperature field distribution are simulated by FLUENT.The comparison and evaluation indicate that,the maximum temperature decreases and the uniformity of temperature distribution is obviously improved when the inlet angle reaches 3°;the heat dissipation performance is improved as inlet velocity rises in proper range,but if the velocity is greater than 30 m/s,the heat dissipation performance is not improved obviously;for the same heat dissipation structure,blowing makes better cooling effect than suction;and the change of local little structures such as local rounds can perform temperature field optimization.
The 3D reconstruction technology for shaft parts based on monocular vision

In a structured environment,it is an important link for feeding and blanking to extract the 3D information of shaft parts intelligently. It collects the images for shaft parts placed in the specific work station,and gains the gray images using excess red feature,processes the binary images in Otsu's threshold method. And then it extracts the pixel radius of the standard circle,obtains the pixel per mm,defines the distance between camera and the specific work station with fitted linear equation. At the same time,it finds the pixel size of shaft parts,calculates the actual size in the pixel per mm,and completes the 3D reconstruction of shaft parts. This technique reduces the complexity of hardware and software,grasps shaft parts intelligently and provides the necessary information for the unmanned operation of CNC machine tools.
Cross-Talk between Amyloid, Tau Protein and Free Radicals in Post-Ischemic Brain Neurodegeneration in the Form of Alzheimer’s Disease Proteinopathy

Recent years have seen remarkable progress in research into free radicals oxidative stress, particularly in the context of post-ischemic recirculation brain injury. Oxidative stress in post-ischemic tissues violates the integrity of the genome, causing DNA damage, death of neuronal, glial and vascular cells, and impaired neurological outcome after brain ischemia. Indeed, it is now known that DNA damage and repair play a key role in post-stroke white and gray matter remodeling, and restoring the integrity of the blood-brain barrier. This review will present one of the newly characterized mechanisms that emerged with genomic and proteomic development that led to brain ischemia to a new level of post-ischemic neuropathological mechanisms, such as the presence of amyloid plaques and the development of neurofibrillary tangles, which further exacerbate oxidative stress. Finally, we hypothesize that modified amyloid and the tau protein, along with the oxidative stress generated, are new key elements in the vicious circle important in the development of post-ischemic neurodegeneration in a type of Alzheimer’s disease proteinopathy.
Wideband Polarization Rotation Transmitarray Using Arrow-Shaped FSS at W-Band

Based on the passband characteristics of frequency selective surface (FSS), a wideband transmitarray (TA) with linear polarization rotation at W-band is proposed. The middle layer of the unit cell is a pattern of arrow-shaped structure, which can rotate the incoming wave by 90°. A pair of parallel strip polarizers are employed to enhance the polarization conversion efficiency. The prototype of 25×25-element TA is fabricated by the standard PCB technology. Within the 3-dB gain bandwidth of 20%, the measured peak gain of 28.7 dB with the corresponding aperture efficiency of 38.2% is achieved. The error analysis is also conducted by comparing the simulation and measurement. The performance of the proposed TA demonstrates that it is a suitable solution for wideband and low-cost applications in the millimeter-wave spectrum.
Production and Characterization of Pulp from Banana Pseudo Stem for Paper Making via Soda Anthraquinone Pulping Process

The need for pulp and paper currently in the whole world has become shooting up massively. The generation of the pulp, as well as paper from woody materials, has a challenge due to deforestation, huge chemical and energy consumptions. Now, an alternative source for paper is lignocelluloses wastes, because of low cost, low energy, and chemical consumption. Among them, the banana pseudostem was best for the input of pulp and paper production. This investigation was on the production and characterization of pulp from Banana Pseudo Stem for Paper Making via Soda Anthraquinone pulping process. The amount of cellulose (41.45%), ash (12.4%), hemicellulose (23.37%), extractive (12.72%), and lignin (10.46%) contents were obtained at the initial compositional evaluation of the pseudostem. It has excellent fiber length (1.75mm), fiber diameter (22.15μm), an acceptable Runkle ratio (0.55), and flexibility coefficient (159.64). The effect of temperature (130,140 and 150 °C), cooking time (45, 60, and 75 minutes), the concentration of soda (10, 12.5, and 15%), were examined. The maximum pulp yield and kappa number was 36.7% and 22.8 respectively obtained at 10% of soda concentration, at 150 °C, and 63 minutes of cooking time from oven-dried raw material. The produced paper from the banana pseudostem has a tensile index, tearing index, smoothness, and porosity were 78.75 Nm/g, 19.1 mN.m2/g, 500-530μm, and 50 sec/100ml air respectively. This study indicates that high strength mechanical property and good surface properties paper can be produced from banana pseudostem pulp with a more environmentally friendly pulping process.
HP1β Chromo Shadow Domain facilitates H2A ubiquitination for BRCA1 recruitment at DNA double-strand breaks

Efficient DNA double strand break (DSB) repair by homologous recombination (HR), as orchestrated by histone and non-histone proteins, is critical to genome stability, replication, transcription, and cancer avoidance. Here we report that Heterochromatin Protein1 beta (HP1β) acts as a key component of the HR DNA resection step by regulating BRCA1 enrichment at DNA damage sites, a function largely dependent on the HP1β chromo shadow domain (CSD). HP1β itself is enriched at DSBs within gene-rich regions through a CSD interaction with Chromatin Assembly Factor 1 (CAF1) and HP1 β depletion impairs subsequent BRCA1 enrichment. An added interaction of the HP1 β CSD with the Polycomb Repressor Complex 1 ubiquitinase component RING1A facilitates BRCA1 recruitment by increasing H2A lysine 118-119 ubiquitination, a marker for BRCA1 recruitment. Our findings reveal that HP1β interactions, mediated through its CSD with RING1A, promote H2A ubiquitination and facilitate BRCA1 recruitment at DNA damage sites, a critical step in DSB repair by the HR pathway. These collective results unveil how HP1β is recruited to DSBs in gene-rich regions and how HP1β subsequently promotes BRCA1 recruitment to further HR DNA damage repair by stimulating CtIP-dependent resection.
Development of a Comprehensive Design Guideline to Evaluate the User Experiences of Meal-Assistance Robots considering Human-Machine Social Interactions

ABSTRACT Meal-assistance robots (MARs) help feed meals to users with disabilities or who need help consuming their meals. Although such MARs have been introduced in various fields, guidelines for evaluating MARs are limited. This study aims to develop comprehensive guidelines to assess the user experience (UX) of MAR designs considering its social interaction characteristics between humans and robots. Participants from three groups (patients, doctors, and caregivers) with different perspectives on MARs were recruited and a focus group interview was conducted to collect their UXs with MARs. The three groups showed different UXs with MARs in user interface design, robot arm motion, and safety and mobility. In addition, based on the literature review, eight UX features (usability, emotion, value, naturalness, assistance, acceptance, personality, and culture) are proposed to evaluate MAR interfaces. The proposed comprehensive design guideline will be particularly useful in evaluating and designing the UX of MARs.