Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Problems in the theory of the thermal Casimir force between dielectrics and semiconductors

The application of the Lifshitz theory to describe the thermal Casimir force between dielectrics and semiconductors is considered. It is shown that for all true dielectrics (i.e., for all materials having zero conductivity at zero temperature) the inclusion of a nonzero conductivity arising at nonzero temperature into the model of dielectric response leads to the violation of the Nernst heat theorem. This result refers equally to simple insulators, intrinsic semiconductors, Mott–Hubbard dielectrics and doped semiconductors with doping concentration below a critical value. We demonstrate that in the insulator–metal transition the Casimir free energy changes abruptly irrespective of whether the conductivity changes continuously or discontinuously. The application of the Lifshitz formula to polar dielectrics results in a large thermal correction that is linear in temperature. A rule is formulated on how to apply the Lifshitz theory to real materials in agreement with thermodynamics and experiment.
Accelerated HIV testing for PMTCT in maternity and labour wards is vital to capture mothers at a critical point in the programme at district level in Malawi

Abstract Round the clock (24 hours×7 days) HIV testing is vital to maintain a high prevention of mother to child transmission (PMTCT) coverage for women delivering in district health facilities. PMTCT coverage increases when most of the pregnant women will have their HIV status tested. Therefore routine offering of HIV testing should be integrated and seen as a part of comprehensive antenatal care. For women who miss antenatal care and deliver in a health facility without having had their HIV status tested, the labour and maternity ward could still serve as other entry points.
Testing for a Signal with Unknown Location and Scale in a Stationary Gaussian Random Field

We suppose that our observations can be decomposed into a fixed signal plus random noise, where the noise is modelled as a particular stationary Gaussian random field in N-dimensional Euclidean space. The signal has the form of a known function centered at an unknown location and multiplied by an unknown amplitude, and we are primarily interested in a test to detect such a signal. There are many examples where the signal scale or width is assumed known, and the test is based on maximising a Gaussian random field over all locations in a subset of N-dimensional Euclidean space. The novel feature of this work is that the width of the signal is also unknown and the test is based on maximising a Gaussian random field in N + 1 dimensions, N dimensions for the location plus one dimension for the width. Two convergent approaches are used to approximate the null distribution: one based on the method of Knowles and Siegmund, which uses a version of Weyl's tube formula for manifolds with boundaries, and the other based on some recent work by Worsley, which uses the Hadwiger characteristic of excursion sets as introduced by Adler. Finally we compare the power of our method with one based on a fixed but perhaps incorrect signal width.
Renoprotective efficacy of valsartan in chronic non‐diabetic proteinuric nephropathies with renin–angiotensin system gene polymorphisms

Aim: The renoprotective effects of angiotensin receptor blockers vary considerably among individuals. We investigated the renoprotective effects of valsartan according to polymorphisms of the renin–angiotensin system and transforming growth factor‐b1 (TGFB1) genes in patients with chronic non‐diabetic proteinuric nephropathies.
Heterologous Protection against Asian Zika Virus Challenge in Rhesus Macaques

Zika virus (ZIKV) isolates are genetically diverse, but belong to two recognized lineages, termed “African” and “Asian. ” Asian ZIKV infection during pregnancy causes fetal abnormalities including microcephaly. Developing an effective preventative Zika virus vaccine that protects pregnant women is essential for minimizing fetal abnormalities; at least 18 groups are developing ZIKV vaccines (Hayden, 2016). The genetic and antigenic variability of many RNA viruses limits the effectiveness of vaccines, and the degree to which immunity against one ZIKV strain could provide protection against another is unknown. Here we show that rhesus macaques infected with East African ZIKV strain MR766 are completely protected from subsequent infection with heterologous Asian ZIKV. MR766 is more genetically divergent from all known Asian ZIKV strains than Asian ZIKV strains are from one another. Therefore, ZIKV strain selection is unlikely to compromise vaccine effectiveness. Highlights African Zika virus (ZIKV) strain MR766 productively infects macaques (68 characters) Immunity elicited by MR766 protects macaques against heterologous Asian ZIKV (77 characters) In vivo restoration of a putative N-linked glycosylation site in MR766 (70 characters) Immunogen selection is unlikely to adversely affect the breadth of vaccine protection (85 characters) eTOC An effective Zika virus vaccine is needed to prevent infection-associated fetal abnormalities. Macaques whose immune responses are primed by infection with East African ZIKV are completely protected from reinfection with heterologous Asian ZIKV. Any Asian ZIKV immunogen that protects against homologous challenge will likely confer protection against all other Asian ZIKV strains.
Ultrasonographic assessment of skin structure according to age.

BACKGROUND High-frequency ultrasound is a noninvasive tool that offers characteristic markers, quantifying the cutaneous changes of the physiological senescence process. AIMS The aim was to assess the changes in skin thickness, dermal density and echogenicity, as part of the ageing process, with different age intervals. METHODS The study was performed on 160 patients, aged 40.4 ± 21.2, divided into four age categories: <20, 21-40, 41-60, 61-80. Ultrasonographic images (Dermascan device) were taken from three sites: dorsal forearm (DF), medial arm (MA), zygomatic area (ZA). We assessed the thickness of epidermis and dermis (mm), number of low, medium, high echogenicity pixels, the ratio between the echogenicity of the upper and lower dermis (LEPs/LEPi), and SLEB (subepidermal low echogenicity band). The statistical analysis was performed using SPSS 15.00. A P value <0.05 was considered significant. RESULTS On all examined sites, it was found that the dermal thickness increases in the 21 to 40 year interval (P<0.0001). After the 21 to 40 year interval, the number of low echogenic pixels increases significantly, especially on photoexposed sites. High-echogenic pixels follow the same pattern on all examined sites: they increase in the 21 to 40 year interval and decrease in the 3rd and 4th age category. The LEPs/LEPi ratio increases significantly with age, at all sites (P<0.05), due to an increase of hypoechogenic pixels in the upper dermis. CONCLUSIONS High-frequency ultrasound is a noninvasive "histological" tool that can assess the cutaneous structure and age-related changes. It offers imagistic markers, comparable to the histological parameters and also characteristic ultrasonographic markers. Histology remains the gold standard for the investigation of the integumentary system.
Optimal robust prediction for general discrete time singular systems

This paper deals with optimal prediction problem for uncertain discrete time singular systems. The parametric uncertainty is assumed to be norm bounded. The singular robust Kalman-type predictor and the corresponding recursive Riccati equation are obtained in their most general formulation where all parameter matrices of the underlying linear model are subject to uncertainties. The quadratic functional developed to deduce this filter combines least squares and penalty functions approaches.
Conditional first‐order second‐moment method and its application to the quantification of uncertainty in groundwater modeling

Decision making in water resources management usually requires the quantification of uncertainties. Monte Carlo techniques are suited for this analysis but imply a huge computational effort. An alternative and computationally efficient approach is the first‐order second‐moment (FOSM) method which directly propagates parameter uncertainty into the result. We apply the FOSM method to both the groundwater flow and solute transport equations. It is shown how conditioning on the basis of measured heads and/or concentrations yields the “principle of interdependent uncertainty” that correlates the uncertainties of feasible hydraulic conductivities and recharge rates. The method is used to compute the uncertainty of steady state heads and of steady state solute concentrations. It is illustrated by an application to the Palla Road Aquifer in semiarid Botswana, for which the quantification of the uncertainty range of groundwater recharge is of prime interest. The uncertainty bounds obtained by the FOSM method correspond well with the results obtained by the Monte Carlo method. The FOSM method, however, is much more advantageous with respect to computational efficiency. It is shown that at the planned abstraction rate the probability of exceeding the natural replenishment of the Palla Road Aquifer by overpumping is 30%.
Statistical efficiency of structured CPD estimation applied to Wiener-Hammerstein modeling

The computation of a structured canonical polyadic decomposition (CPD) is useful to address several important modeling problems in real-world applications. In this paper, we consider the identification of a nonlinear system by means of a Wiener-Hammerstein model, assuming a high-order Volterra kernel of that system has been previously estimated. Such a kernel, viewed as a tensor, admits a CPD with banded circulant factors which comprise the model parameters. To estimate them, we formulate specialized estimators based on recently proposed algorithms for the computation of structured CPDs. Then, considering the presence of additive white Gaussian noise, we derive a closed-form expression for the Cramér-Rao bound (CRB) associated with this estimation problem. Finally, we assess the statistical performance of the proposed estimators via Monte Carlo simulations, by comparing their mean-square error with the CRB.
Model-based event-triggered control of nonlinear dissipative systems

The Model-Based Networked Control System (MB-NCS) framework can be used to improve performance in applications where communication rates are limited. This framework has been studied for linear systems with state feedback, but little has been done for the nonlinear case or for the output feedback case. This paper approaches the problem of networking discrete-time nonlinear systems in the MB-NCS framework by using dissipativity theory and output feedback measurements. By combining the MB-NCS approach and aperiodic event-triggered updates, the NCS may operate open loop for long time intervals. Additionally, this paper considers model uncertainties and non-vanishing input disturbances as these factors can be destabilizing in the absence of continuous feedback. While these issues can be mitigated, traditional notions of stability are simply not achievable. The main contribution of this paper is a boundedness result on the system output with a constructive bound. The bound is guaranteed despite the presence of aperiodic updates, model uncertainties, and input disturbances.
Seamless Tracing of Human Behavior Using Complementary Wearable and House-Embedded Sensors

This paper presents a multimodal system for seamless surveillance of elderly people in their living environment. The system uses simultaneously a wearable sensor network for each individual and premise-embedded sensors specific for each environment. The paper demonstrates the benefits of using complementary information from two types of mobility sensors: visual flow-based image analysis and an accelerometer-based wearable network. The paper provides results for indoor recognition of several elementary poses and outdoor recognition of complex movements. Instead of complete system description, particular attention was drawn to a polar histogram-based method of visual pose recognition, complementary use and synchronization of the data from wearable and premise-embedded networks and an automatic danger detection algorithm driven by two premise- and subject-related databases. The novelty of our approach also consists in feeding the databases with real-life recordings from the subject, and in using the dynamic time-warping algorithm for measurements of distance between actions represented as elementary poses in behavioral records. The main results of testing our method include: 95.5% accuracy of elementary pose recognition by the video system, 96.7% accuracy of elementary pose recognition by the accelerometer-based system, 98.9% accuracy of elementary pose recognition by the combined accelerometer and video-based system, and 80% accuracy of complex outdoor activity recognition by the accelerometer-based wearable system.
Astroglial cells provide a template for the positioning of developing cerebellar neurons in vitro

Indirect immunocytochemical staining with antisera raised against purified glial filament protein and a neurofilament polypeptide was used to study cell interactions between astrocytes and neurons dissociated from embryonic and early postnatal cerebellum. Staining with antibodies raised against purified glial filament protein revealed that greater than 99% of all processes present in cerebellar cultures during the 1st wk in vitro were glial in origin. After 1 wk in culture, unstained processes that were presumably neuronal were observed. Stained astroglial processes formed a dense network that served as a template for cerebellar neurons, identified by indirect immunocytochemical localization of tetanus toxin. More than 90% of neurons from postnatal days 1 or 7 were positioned within one cell diameter of a glial process. In contrast, less than 40% of the neurons dissociated from early embryonic cerebellum were located adjacent to a glial process. Staining with antibodies raised against purified glial filament protein also revealed differences in astroglial morphology that were under developmental regulation. Astroglial cells from embryonic cerebellum were fewer in number and had thick, unbranched processes. Those from postnatal day 1 were more slender, branched, and stellate. Those from postnatal day 7 were highly branched and stellate. Some veil-like astroglial processes were also observed in cells from postnatal animals. These morphological changes were also observed when cells from embryonic day 13 were maintained for a week in vitro. No specific staining of embryonic or postnatal cerebellum cells was observed with antibodies raised against purified neurofilament polypeptides.
Role of subgraphs in epidemics over finite-size networks under the scaled SIS process

In previous work, we developed the scaled SIS process, which models the dynamics of SIS epidemics over networks. With the scaled SIS process, we can consider networks that are finite-sized and of arbitrary topology (i.e., we are not restricted to specific classes of networks). We derived for the scaled SIS process a closed-form expression for the time-asymptotic probability distribution of the states of all the agents in the network. This closed-form solution of the equilibrium distribution explicitly exhibits the underlying network topology through its adjacency matrix. This paper determines which network configuration is the most probable. We prove that, for a range of epidemics parameters, this combinatorial problem leads to a submodular optimization problem, which is exactly solvable in polynomial time. We relate the most-probable configuration to the network structure, in particular, to the existence of high density subgraphs. Depending on the epidemics parameters, subset of agents may be more likely to be infected than others; these more-vulnerable agents form subgraphs that are denser than the overall network. We illustrate our results with a 193 node social network and the 4941 node Western US power grid under different epidemics parameters.
Welfare-to-Work, Wages and Wage Growth

This paper attempts to uncover the effects of a UK welfare-to-work programme on individual wage growth by exploiting an expansion to this welfare programme. The conventional wisdom is that such programmes trap recipients into low-wage, low-quality work – this comes from the simple argument that the ‘poverty trap’, which a wage subsidy for low-income workers induces, reduces the benefits to investments, such as on-the-job training, and so reduces wage growth. In fact, a wage subsidy will also reduce the costs of, at least, general training because we would normally expect workers to pay for their own general training in the form of lower gross wages. So a wage subsidy is a way of sharing these costs with the taxpayer. Thus, the net effect on wage progression depends on whether it reduces costs by more or less than it reduces the benefits.
Access to the Published Version May Require Journal Subscription. Published with Permission From: Elsevier Neurogenin2 Identifies a Transplantable Dopamine Neuron Precursor in the Developing Ventral Mesencephalon

"Neurogenin2 identifies a transplantable dopamine neuron precursor in the developing ventral mesencephalon. " ABSTRACT 2 In neural transplantation studies there is an interest in identifying and isolating mesencephalic dopamine (mesDA) neuron precursors that have the capacity to differentiate into fully mature mesDA neurons after transplantation. We report here that in the developing ventral mesencephalon (VM) the proneural gene Neurogenin2 (Ngn2) is expressed exclusively in the part of the ventricular zone that gives rise to the migrating mesDA neuroblasts, but not in the differentiated mesDA neurons. From other studies we know that Ngn2 is involved in the generation of mesDA neurons and that the development of mesDA neurons is severely compromised in Ngn2-null mutant mice. We show here that cells isolated by FACS from the developing VM of Ngn2-GFP knock-in mice are capable of generating mesDA neurons, both in vitro and after transplantation to the striatum of neonatal rats. All mesDA neuron precursors, but not the serotonergic or GABAergic neuron precursors, are contained in the Ngn2-GFP-expressing population. Moreover, all glial cells were generated from cells contained in the GFP-negative cell fraction. The results show that surviving mesDA neurons in VM grafts are derived from early post-mitotic, probably Nurr1-expressing precursors before they have acquired their fully differentiated neuronal phenotype. The Ngn2-GFP reporter construct used here thus provides a tool for the identification of mesDA neuron precursors in the VM and selective isolation of transplantable mesDA neuron precursors for transplantation.
Integrating Conflict Detection and Attentional Control Mechanisms

Human behavior involves monitoring and adjusting performance to meet established goals. Performance-monitoring systems that act by detecting conflict in stimulus and response processing have been hypothesized to influence cortical control systems to adjust and improve performance. Here we used fMRI to investigate the neural mechanisms of conflict monitoring and resolution during voluntary spatial attention. We tested the hypothesis that the ACC would be sensitive to conflict during attentional orienting and influence activity in the frontoparietal attentional control network that selectively modulates visual information processing. We found that activity in ACC increased monotonically with increasing attentional conflict. This increased conflict detection activity was correlated with both increased activity in the attentional control network and improved speed and accuracy from one trial to the next. These results establish a long hypothesized interaction between conflict detection systems and neural systems supporting voluntary control of visual attention.
Mandatory versus Discretionary Spending: The Status Quo Effect

Do mandatory spending programs such as Medicare improve eciency? We analyze a model with two parties allocating a xed budget to a public good and private transfers each period over an innite horizon. We compare two institutions that dier in whether public good spending is discretionary or mandatory. We model mandatory spending as an endogenous status quo since it is enacted by law and remains in eect until changed. Mandatory programs result in higher public good spending; furthermore, they ex ante Pareto dominate discretionary programs when parties are patient, persistence of power is low, and polarization is low.
Prolactin Regulatory Element Binding Protein Is Involved in Hepatitis C Virus Replication by Interaction with NS4B

ABSTRACT It has been proposed that the hepatitis C virus (HCV) NS4B protein triggers the membranous HCV replication compartment, but the underlying molecular mechanism is not fully understood. Here, we screened for NS4B-associated membrane proteins by tandem affinity purification and proteome analysis and identified 202 host proteins. Subsequent screening of replicon cells with small interfering RNA identified prolactin regulatory element binding (PREB) to be a novel HCV host cofactor. The interaction between PREB and NS4B was confirmed by immunoprecipitation, immunofluorescence, and proximity ligation assays. PREB colocalized with double-stranded RNA and the newly synthesized HCV RNA labeled with bromouridine triphosphate in HCV replicon cells. Furthermore, PREB shifted to detergent-resistant membranes (DRMs), where HCV replication complexes reside, in the presence of NS4B expression in Huh7 cells. However, a PREB mutant lacking the NS4B-binding region (PREBd3) could not colocalize with double-stranded RNA and did not shift to the DRM in the presence of NS4B. These results indicate that PREB locates at the HCV replication complex by interacting with NS4B. PREB silencing inhibited the formation of the membranous HCV replication compartment and increased the protease and nuclease sensitivity of HCV replicase proteins and RNA in DRMs, respectively. Collectively, these data indicate that PREB promotes HCV RNA replication by participating in the formation of the membranous replication compartment and by maintaining its proper structure by interacting with NS4B. Furthermore, PREB was induced by HCV infection in vitro and in vivo. Our findings provide new insights into HCV host cofactors. IMPORTANCE The hepatitis C virus (HCV) protein NS4B can induce alteration of the endoplasmic reticulum and the formation of a membranous web structure, which provides a platform for the HCV replication complex. The molecular mechanism by which NS4B induces the membranous HCV replication compartment is not understood. We screened for NS4B-associated membrane proteins by tandem affinity purification and proteome analysis, followed by screening with small interfering RNA. We identified prolactin regulatory element binding (PREB) to be a novel HCV host cofactor. PREB is induced by HCV infection and recruited into the replication complex by interaction with NS4B. Recruited PREB promotes HCV RNA replication by participating in the formation of the membranous HCV replication compartment. To our knowledge, the effect of NS4B-binding protein on the formation of the membranous HCV replication compartment is newly described in this report. Our findings are expected to provide new insights into HCV host cofactors.