pinecone/core-2020-05-10-deduplication huggingface dataset:
Effects of disease severity on response to lateral wedged shoe insole for medial compartment knee osteoarthritis

OBJECTIVE: To determine the effects of lateral wedged insoles on knee kinetics and kinematics during walking, according to radiographic severity of medial compartment knee osteoarthritis (OA). DESIGN: A prospective case control study of patients with medial compartment OA of the knee. SETTING: Gait analysis laboratory in a university hospital. PARTICIPANTS: Forty-six medial compartment knees with OA of 23 patients with bilateral disease and 38 knees of 19 age-matched healthy subjects as controls. INTERVENTIONS: Not applicable. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: We measured the peak external adduction moment at the knee during the stance phase of gait and the first acceleration peak after heel strike at the lateral side of the femoral condyles. Kellgren and Lawrence grading system was used for radiographic assessment of OA severity. RESULTS: The mean value of peak external adduction moment of the knee was higher in OA knees than the control. Application of lateral wedged insoles significantly reduced the peak external adduction moment in Kellgren-Lawrence grades I and II knee OA patients. The first acceleration peak value after heel strike in these patients was relatively high compared with the control. Application of lateral wedged insoles significantly reduced the first acceleration peak in Kellgren-Lawrence grades I and II knee OA patients. CONCLUSIONS: The kinetic and kinematic effects of wearing of lateral wedged insoles were significant in Kellgren-Lawrence grades I and II knee OA. The results support the recommendation of use of lateral wedged insoles for patients with early and mild knee OA
High-accuracy adaptive modeling of the energy distribution of a meniscus-shaped cell culture in a Petri dish

Cylindrical Petri dishes embedded in a rectangular waveguide and exposed to a polarized electromagnetic wave are often used to grow cell cultures. To guarantee the success of these cultures, it is necessary to enforce that the specific absorption rate distribution is sufficiently high and uniform over the Petri dish. Accurate numerical simulations are needed to design such systems. These simulations constitute a challenge due to the strong discontinuity of electromagnetic material properties involved, the relative low field value within the dish cultures compared with the rest of the domain, and the presence of the meniscus shape developed at the liquid boundary. The latter greatly increases the level of complexity of the model in terms of geometry and intensity of the gradients/singularities of the field solution. In here, we employ a three-dimensional (3D) hp-adaptive finite element method using isoparametric elements to obtain highly accurate simulations. We analyze the impact of the geometrical modeling of the meniscus shape cell culture in the hp-adaptivity. Numerical results showing the error convergence history indicate the numerical difficulties arisen due to the presence of a meniscus-shaped object. At the same time, the resulting energy distribution shows that to consider such meniscus shape is essential to guarantee the success of the cell culture from the biological point of view
Precise Set Sharing Analysis for Java-Style Programs

Finding useful sharing information between instances in object- oriented programs has recently been the focus of much research. The applications of such static analysis are multiple: by knowing which variables definitely do not share in memory we can apply conventional compiler optimizations, find coarse-grained parallelism opportunities, or, more importantly, verify certain correctness aspects of programs even in the absence of annotations. In this paper we introduce a framework for deriving precise sharing information based on abstract interpretation for a Java-like language. Our analysis achieves precision in various ways, including supporting multivariance, which allows separating different contexts. We propose a combined Set Sharing + Nullity + Classes domain which captures which instances do not share and which ones are definitively null, and which uses the classes to refine the static information when inheritance is present. The use of a set sharing abstraction allows a more precise representation of the existing sharings and is crucial in achieving precision during interprocedural analysis. Carrying the domains in a combined way facilitates the interaction among them in the presence of multivariance in the analysis. We show through examples and experimentally that both the set sharing part of the domain as well as the combined domain provide more accurate information than previous work based on pair sharing domains, at reasonable cost
Towards an Architecture for Semiautonomous Robot Telecontrol Systems.

The design and development of a computational system to support robot–operator collaboration is a challenging task, not only because of the overall system complexity, but furthermore because of the involvement of different technical and scientific disciplines, namely, Software Engineering, Psychology and Artificial Intelligence, among others. In our opinion the approach generally used to face this type of project is based on system architectures inherited from the development of autonomous robots and therefore fails to incorporate explicitly the role of the operator, i.e. these architectures lack a view that help the operator to see him/herself as an integral part of the system. The goal of this paper is to provide a human-centered paradigm that makes it possible to create this kind of view of the system architecture. This architectural description includes the definition of the role of operator and autonomous behaviour of the robot, it identifies the shared knowledge, and it helps the operator to see the robot as an intentional being as himself/herself
Production, cellular structure and thermal conductivity of microcellular (methyl methacrylate)–(butyl acrylate)–(methyl methacrylate) triblock copolymers.

Microcellular foaming of a (methyl methacrylate)–(butyl acrylate)–(methyl methacrylate) triblock copolymer was carried out by means of supercritical CO2 in a single-step process. The experiments were performed at 40 °C using a pressure of 300 bar (30 MPa) during 24 h. The depressurization times were modified from 2 to 30 min, leading to cell sizes from 10 to 100 µm, and relative densities from 0.11 to 0.17. It was found that the key parameter to control cell size and density was depressurization time: longer depressurization times generated larger cell sizes and lower densities. The thermal conductivity of these materials was measured using the transient plane source technique, and it was found that this decreased as the density was reduced. Various models for the prediction of thermal conductivity by conduction were tested. It was found that all the models underestimated the experimental results due to a significant contribution of radiation heat flow for these material
HySafe Standard benchmark Problem SBEP-V11: Predictions of hydrogen release and dispersion from a CGH2 bus in an underpass

One of the tasks of the HySafe Network of Excellence was the evaluation of available CFD tools and models for dispersion and combustion in selected hydrogen release scenarios identified as “standard benchmark problems” (SBEPs). This paper presents the results of the HySafe standard benchmark problem SBEP-V11. The situation considered is a high pressure hydrogen jet release from a compressed gaseous hydrogen (CGH2) bus in an underpass. The bus considered is equipped with 8 cylinders of 5 kg hydrogen each at 35 MPa storage pressure. The underpass is assumed to be of the common beam and slab type construction with I-beams spanning across the highway at 3 m centres (normal to the bus), plus cross bracing between the main beams, and light armatures parallel to the bus direction. The main goal of the present work was to evaluate the role of obstructions on the underside of the bridge deck on the dispersion patterns and assess the potential for hydrogen accumulation. Four HySafe partners participated in this benchmark, with 4 different CFD codes, ADREA-HF, CFX, FLACS and FLUENT. Four scenarios were examined in total. In the base case scenario 20 kg of hydrogen was released in the basic geometry. In Sensitivity Test 1 the release position was moved so that the hydrogen jet could hit directly the light armature on the roof of the underpass. In Sensitivity Test 2 the underside of the bridge deck was flat. In Sensitivity Test 3 the release was from one cylinder instead of four (5 kg instead of 20). The paper compares the results predicted by the four different computational approaches and attempts to identify the reasons for observed disagreements. The paper also concludes on the effects of the obstructions on the underside of the bridge deck
Incorporating reliability measurements into the predictions of a recommender system

In this paper we introduce the idea of using a reliability measure associated to the predic- tions made by recommender systems based on collaborative filtering. This reliability mea- sure is based on the usual notion that the more reliable a prediction, the less liable to be wrong. Here we will define a general reliability measure suitable for any arbitrary recom- mender system. We will also show a method for obtaining specific reliability measures specially fitting the needs of different specific recommender systems
Outsourcing induced by strategic competition

We show that intermediate goods can be sourced to firms on
the "outside" (that do not compete in the final product market), even when there are no economies of scale or cost advantages for these firms. What drives the phenomenon is that "inside" firms, by accepting such orders, incur the disadvantage of becoming Stackelberg followers in the ensuing competition to sell the final product. Thus they have incentive to quote high provider prices to ward off future competitors, driving the latter to source outside.
Dominance measuring methods for the selection of cleaning services in a European underground transportation company

Dominance measuring methods are a recent approach for dealing with complex decisionmaking\ud
problems with imprecise, incomplete or partial information within multi-attribute value/utility\ud
theory. These methods compute pairwise dominance values and exploit the information included in the\ud
dominance matrix in different ways to derive measures of dominance intensity to rank the alternatives\ud
under consideration. We review dominance measuring methods proposed in the literature, describing\ud
how their possible drawbacks have been progressively overcome, and comparing their performance with\ud
other existing approaches, like surrogate weighting methods, the adaptation of classical decision rules\ud
to encompass an imprecise decision context, SMAA or Sarabando and Dias’ method. An example of the\ud
selection of cleaning services in a European underground transportation company is used to illustrate\ud
dominance measuring methods in a real complex decision-making problem
Filling holes in meshes using a mechanical model to simulate the curvature variation minimization

The presence of holes in a triangle mesh is classically ascribed to the de ciencies of the point cloud acquired from a physical object to be reverse engineered. This lack of information results from both the scanning process and the object complexity. The consequences are simply not acceptable in many application domains (e.g. visualisation,  nite element analysis or STL prototyping). This paper addresses the way these holes can be  lled in while minimizin  the curvature variation between the surrounding and inserted meshes. The curvature variation is simulated by the variation between external forces applied to the nodes of a linear mechanical model coupled to the meshes. The functional to be minimized is quadratic and a set of geometric constraints can be added to further shape the inserted mesh. In addition, a complete cleaning toolbox is proposed to remove degenerated and badly oriented triangles resulting from the scanning process
Effect of surface finishing such as sand-blasting and CrAlN hard coatings on the cutting edge’s peeling tools’ wear resistance

The authors would like to thank IonBond (Chassieu-France) who made the sand-blasting treatments and the Regional Council of Burgundy and CTBA (Wood and Furniture Technical Centre) for their financial support.The aim of this study is first to define the effect of a surface finishing such as sand-blasting on the geometry of a wood cutting tool and its wear resistance. In addition, the effectiveness of surface coatings like CrAlN deposited by physical vapor deposition (PVD) technique on conventional and sand-blasted cutting edges was studied. A reference tool and different sand-blasted ones were tested by micro-peeling of beech in a laboratory. Microscopic observations, cutting forces measurement and cutting wear tests were carried out to quantify the behavior of these tools. The results obtained showed that the artificial wear by sandblasting leads to an increase in the wear resistance and coating effectiveness, and completely changes the type of damage done to the tools. The sand-blasting application combined or not with CrAlN coating showed an improvement in the wear resistance of the tools and a modification of the forces during the peeling process. The effectiveness of the CrAlN layers was improved thanks to the sand-blasting treatment and then the duplex ones performed better.Regional Council of Burgundy
CTBA (Wood and Furniture Technical Centre
Water clustering in polychloroprene

Water sorption has been studied gravimetrically for polychloroprene rubber samples, first at a fixed hygrometric ratio (98% HR) and several temperatures (25, 40, 60 and 80 °C) for samples of 1.8 and 3.8 mm thickness (Constant Temperature and Hygrometry, CTH experiments), then at fixed temperature (40 °C) and several hygrometric ratios ranging from 0 to 95% HR on samples of 0.1 mm thickness (DVS experiments). CTH experiments reveal an abnormal sorption behavior: after an apparently fickian transient period, the water absorption continues at almost constant rate, no equilibrium is observed after more than 2500 h, whatever the temperature. DVS experiments reveal a very low Henry's solubility but the formation of clusters at water activities higher than 40%. The water diffusivity is almost independent of activity below 50% HR and decreases rapidly when activity increases above 50%. Contrary to CTH experiments, equilibrium is reached in DVS and the difference is not simply linked to the well-known effect of sample thickness on diffusion rate. The results allow hypotheses such as hydrolysis or osmotic cracking to explain the abnormal sorption phenomenon to be rejected. It is suggested that clusters could be polymer-water complexes having a linear/branched structure able to grow without phase separation that could explain the reversibility of sorption-desorption cycles. The difference of behavior between thin 0.1 mm and thicker 1.8 or 3.8 mm samples could be due to an effect of swelling stresses
Prevalence of overweight and obesity in 7-9-year-old Portuguese children: Trends in body mass index from 1970-2002

The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of overweight and obesity in Portuguese children age 7-9 years and to analyze trends in body mass index (BMI) from 1970-2002. Data were collected from October 2002 to June 2003 in a random sample of Portuguese children. Height and weight were measured and BMI (Kg/m2) was calculated. The International Obesity TaskForce (IOTF) cutoffs to define overweight and obesity were used. In the total sample we found 20.3% of overweight children and 11.3% of obese children. These results indicate a prevalence of overweight/obesity of 31.5%. Girls presented higher percentages of overweight than boys except at age 7.5. Girls also showed a higher percentages of obesity than boys except at age 9. From 1970 to 1992 and 1992 to 2002, height, weight, and BMI increased at different velocities: weight increased faster than height, and, consequently, BMI increased more in the last period than in the first one, leading to an increase in obesity values. Compared to published data by IOTF on other European countries, who applied the same methods to define overweight and obesity, Portuguese children showed the second-highest mean values in overweight/obesity. Italy showed the highest values (36%). The present study shows a very high prevalence of overweight/obesity (31.5%) in Portuguese children compared to other European countries. Portugal followed the trend of other Mediterranean countries like Spain (30%), Greece (31%), and Italy (36%). These high values require a national intervention program to control childhood obesity. Am. J. Hum. Biol. 16:670-678, 2004. © 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.2008
Y-STR haplotype diversity in distinct linguistic groups from East Timor

East Timor is a country which harbors multiple ethnolinguistic groups generally assigned to an Austronesian or Papuan ancestry. The present study aimed to characterize Y-chromosome haplotype diversity in East Timor, and to test possible population structures based on linguistic and/or geographical information. Using a set of 12 Y-chromosome-specific STRs (DYS19, DYS389I and II, DYS390, DYS391, DYS392, DYS393, DYS385, DYS437, DYS438, and DYS439), haplotypes were established in 342 individuals from 12 linguistic groups (Tetum, Kwaimina, Galoli, Wetarese, Dawan, Mambai, Kemak, Tokodede, Bunak, Makasai, Makalero, and Fataluku) belonging to the three major ethnolinguistic groups in East Timor: two from the Timorese-Austronesian branch (Fabronic and Ramelaic), and a third including languages related to a Trans-New Guinea phylum (Papuan). High values of haplotype diversity, average gene diversity, and mean number of pairwise differences per locus were found in all 12 linguistic groups, except for the Wetarese from the island of Ataúro. Analysis of genetic variance (AMOVA) and pairwise genetic distance analysis showed that the East Timor population is genetically structured, and if the Bunak and Wetarese are excluded, samples group well with respect to their language affinities, and furthermore, the most genetically homogeneous groups are those following the broad ethnolinguistic classifications. Bunak and Wetarese behave as outsider groups, and are genetically more closely related to populations classified in a different linguistic group. Am. J. Hum. Biol. 18:691-701, 2006. © 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc.http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.2055
A new sprout inhibitor of potato tuber based on carvone/ß-cyclodextrin inclusion compound

Abstract  A monoterpene, D-carvone or (4S)-(+)-carvone, present in the essential oil of caraway seeds (Carum carvi L.), acts as a sprouting inhibitor agent for potato tubers in storage. The aim of the present study was to investigate the possibility of using carvone/ß-cyclodextrin inclusion compound as a sprout inhibitor agent for potato tubers. A Raman study of the interactions between ß-cyclodextrin (ß-CD) and included carvone molecule in solid state is also reported; the results confirm the synthesis of inclusion compound at pilot scale level.http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10847-006-9210-
Photovoltaic module reliability model based on field degradation studies

Crystalline silicon photovoltaic (PV) modules are often stated as being the most reliable element in PV systems. This presumable high reliability is reflected by their long power warranty periods. In agreement with these long warranty times, PV modules have a very low total number of returns, the exceptions usually being the result of catastrophic failures. Up to now, failures resulting from degradation are not typically taken into consideration because of the difficulties in measuring the power of an individual module in a system. However, lasting recent years PV systems are changing from small isolated systems to large grid-connected power stations. In this new scenario, customers will become more sensitive to power losses and the need for a reliability model based on degradation may become of utmost importance. In this paper, a PV module reliability model based on degradation studies is presented. The main analytical functions of reliability engineering are evaluated using this model and applied to a practical case, based on state-of-the-art parameters of crystalline silicon PV technology. Relevant and defensible power warranties and other reliability data are obtained with this model based on measured degradation rates and time-dependent power variability. In the derivation of the model some assumptions are made about the future behaviour of the products—i.e. linear degradation rates—although the approach can be used for other assumed functional profiles as well. The method documented in this paper explicitly shows manufacturers how to make reasonable and sensible warranty projections
Some Findings Concerning Requirements in Agile Methodologies

gile methods have appeared as an attractive alternative to conventional methodologies. These methods try to reduce the time to market and, indirectly, the cost of the product through flexible development and deep customer involvement. The processes related to requirements have been extensively studied in literature, in most cases in the frame of conventional methods. However, conclusions of conventional methodologies could not be necessarily valid for Agile; in some issues, conventional and Agile processes are radically different. As recent surveys report, inadequate project requirements is one of the most conflictive issues in agile approaches and better understanding about this is needed. This paper describes some findings concerning requirements activities in a project developed under an agile methodology. The project intended to evolve an existing product and, therefore, some background information was available. The major difficulties encountered were related to non-functional needs and management of requirements dependencies
A GIS model-based assessment of the environmental distribution of g-hexachlorocyclohexane in European soils and waters

The MAPPE GIS based multimedia model is used to produce a quantitative description of the behaviour of γ-hexachlorocyclohexane (γ-HCH) in Europe, with emphasis on continental surface waters. The model is found to reasonably reproduce γ-HCH distributions and variations along the years in atmosphere and soil; for continental surface waters, concentrations were reasonably well predicted for year 1995, when lindane was still used in agriculture, while for 2005, assuming severe restrictions in use, yields to substantial underestimation. Much better results were yielded when same mode of release as in 1995 was considered, supporting the conjecture that for γ-HCH, emission data rather that model structure and parameterization can be responsible for wrong estimation of concentrations. Future research should be directed to improve the quality of emission data. Joint interpretation of monitoring and modelling results, highlights that lindane emissions in Europe, despite the marked decreasing trend, persist beyond the provisions of existing legislation.\ud
An spatially-explicit multimedia modelling strategy was applied to describe the historical distribution of γ-HCH in European soils and surface waters