Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Experimental and Theoretical Analysis of Trans-Z-Source Inverters With Leakage Inductance Effects

Transformer-based Z-source (trans-Z-source) inverters are recently proposed to extend the traditional Z-source inverter with higher buck–boost capabilities as well as reducing the passive components at the same time. A new scheme for high-boost trans-Z-source inverter is proposed in this paper. In the traditional trans-Z-source inverters for high boosting voltages, the modulation index can be high by increasing the transformer turns ratio. The proposed topology has two transformers, two capacitors, and three diodes in the Z-impedance network. With fewer active and passive components and low shoot-through duty ratio, the new topology produces an output voltage with high quality and low total harmonic distortion. The new method is compared with the previously proposed schemes in terms of voltage stresses on diodes and capacitors, efficiency, voltage gain, and switching device power factor of the diodes. The operating principles of the new scheme along with the transformer leakage inductance effects on the voltage gain have been investigated through detailed analytical and mathematical derivations. The validity and effectiveness of the new circuit have been verified by experiments and simulations.
Recurrent fusion of MYB and NFIB transcription factor genes in carcinomas of the breast and head and neck

The transcription factor gene MYB was identified recently as an oncogene that is rearranged/duplicated in some human leukemias. Here we describe a new mechanism of activation of MYB in human cancer involving gene fusion. We show that the t(6;9)(q22–23;p23–24) translocation in adenoid cystic carcinomas (ACC) of the breast and head and neck consistently results in fusions encoding chimeric transcripts predominantly consisting of MYB exon 14 linked to the last coding exon(s) of NFIB. The minimal common part of MYB deleted as the result of fusion was exon 15 including the 3′-UTR, which contains several highly conserved target sites for miR-15a/16 and miR-150 microRNAs. These microRNAs recently were shown to regulate MYB expression negatively. We suggest that deletion of these target sites may disrupt repression of MYB leading to overexpression of MYB-NFIB transcripts and protein and to activation of critical MYB targets, including genes associated with apoptosis, cell cycle control, cell growth/angiogenesis, and cell adhesion. Forced overexpression of miR-15a/16 and miR-150 in primary fusion-positive ACC cells did not significantly alter the expression of MYB as compared with leukemic cells with MYB activation/duplication. Our data indicate that the MYB-NFIB fusion is a hallmark of ACC and that deregulation of the expression of MYB and its target genes is a key oncogenic event in the pathogenesis of ACC. Our findings also suggest that the gain-of-function activity resulting from the MYB-NFIB fusion is a candidate therapeutic target.
CRISPR/Cas9 Technology Targeting Fas Gene Protects Mice From Concanavalin‐A Induced Fulminant Hepatic Failure

Fulminant hepatic failure is a life‐threatening disease which occurs in patients without preexisting liver disease. Nowadays, there is no ideal therapeutic tool in the treatment of fulminant hepatic failure. Recent studies suggested that a novel technology termed CRISPR/Cas9 may be a promising approach for the treatment of fulminant hepatic failure. In this project, we have designed single chimeric guide RNAs specifically targeting the genomic regions of mouse Fas gene. The in vitro and in vivo effects of sgRNAs on the production of Fas protein were examined in cultured mouse cells and in a hydrodynamic injection‐based mouse model, respectively. The in vivo delivery of CRISPR/Cas9 could maintain liver homeostasis and protect hepatocytes from Fas‐mediated cell apoptosis in the fulminant hepatic failure model. Our study indicates the clinical potential of developing the CRISPR/Cas9 system as a novel therapeutic strategy to rescue Concanavalin‐A‐induced fulminant hepatic failure in the mouse model. J. Cell. Biochem. 118: 530–536, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Microbiological Quality of Bagged Cut Spinach and Lettuce Mixes

ABSTRACT Analysis of 100 bagged lettuce and spinach samples showed mean total bacterial counts of 7.0 log10 CFU/g and a broad range of <4 to 8.3 log10 CFU/g. Most probable numbers (MPN) of ≥11,000 /g coliforms were found in 55 samples, and generic Escherichia coli bacteria were detected in 16 samples, but no E. coli count exceeded 10 MPN/g.
Effect of influenza B virus infection on human performance.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that influenza reduces people's safety and efficiency in their workplace. Studies of experimentally induced influenza B in volunteers at the Medical Research Council Common Cold Unit showed that infection increased reaction times to stimuli occurring at varying intervals but that hand-eye coordination was unimpaired. We report the results of two studies to determine whether natural influenza B similarly prolongs human reaction times and whether other performance indicators are affected.
Cyphoderus (Cyphoderidae) as a major component of collembolan cave fauna in Thailand, with description of two new species

Abstract Distinguishing features of Cyphoderus Collembola of the bidenticulati group are described. Taxonomic problems in the bidenticulati group of Cyphoderus are emphasized, and new characters of taxonomic value are introduced and discussed. Two new species are described from caves of Thailand, differing mainly in claw morphology.
Evaluation of the Learning Curve in Laparoscopic Colorectal Surgery: Comparison of Right-Sided and Left-Sided Resections

Objective:To provide a multidimensional analysis of the learning curve in major laparoscopic colonic and rectal surgery and compare outcomes between right-sided versus left-sided resections. Summary Background Data:The laparoscopic learning curve is known to vary between surgeons, may be influenced by the patient selection and operative complexity, and requires appropriate case-mix adjustment. Methods:This is a descriptive single-center study using routinely collected clinical data from 900 patients undergoing laparoscopic surgery between November 1991 and April 2003. Outcome measures included operation time, conversion rate (CR), and readmission and postoperative complication rates. Multifactorial logistic regression analysis was used to identify patient-, surgeon-, and procedure-related factors associated with conversion of laparoscopic to open surgery. A risk-adjusted Cumulative Sum (CUSUM) model was used for evaluating the learning curve for right and left-sided resections. Results:The conversion rate for right-sided colonic resections was 8.1% (n = 457) compared with 15.3% for left-sided colorectal resections (n = 443). Independent predictors of conversion of laparoscopic to open surgery were the body mass index (BMI) (odds ratio [OR] = 1.07 per unit increase), ASA grade (OR = 1.63 per unit increase), type of resection (left colorectal versus right colonic procedures, OR = 1.5), presence of intra-abdominal abscess (OR = 5.0) or enteric fistula (OR = 4.6), and surgeon's experience (OR 0.9 per 10 additional cases performed). Having adjusted for case-mix, the CUSUM analysis demonstrated a learning curve of 55 cases for right-sided colonic resections versus 62 cases for left-sided resections. Median operative time declined with operative experience (P<0.001). Readmission rates and postoperative complications remained unchanged throughout the series and were not dependent on operative experience. Conclusions:Conversion rates for laparoscopic colectomy are dependent on a multitude of factors that require appropriate adjustment including the learning curve (operative experience) for individual surgeons. The laparoscopic model described can be used as the basis for performance monitoring between or within institutions.
Influence of microstructure on near-threshold fatigue-crack propagation in ultra-high strength steel

AbstractFatigue crack propagation behaviour of an ultra-high strength, silicon-modified AISI 4340 alloy steel (300-M) has been investigated in moist air over an extremely wide range of growth rates from 10−8 to 10−1 mm/cycle. Particular emphasis has been devoted to the influence of microstructure on fatigue-fracture behaviour near the threshold stress intensity, ∆K 0 below which crack growth cannot be detected. By varying microstructure through quench and tempering and isothermal transformations, the threshold stress intensity and near-threshold crack-propagation rates are observed to be influenced by mean stress (load ratio), material strength, grain size, and impurity segregation. The threshold ∆K 0 for crack propagation is found to be inversely related to the strength of the steel, and a relationship between ∆K 0 and cyclic yield stress is observed. It is shown how near-threshold crack -growth resistance can be improved by (i) cyclic softening, (ii) coarsening the prior austenite grain size, and (iii) .
Interactive analysis of the topology of 4D vector fields

Interactive visualization methods are now evolving in response to a need to provide more immediate access to particular features of interest to analysts at particular points in the space and time of their data. This paper focuses on feature extraction methods relevant to the analysis of vector fields. In vector fields, "critical points" are those points at which the vector magnitude passes through zero. The word "topology" is used to describe the interconnection patterns between critical points. Topology is central to the understanding of vector fields. It provides very succinct and precise summary information, and can be used to subdivide large fields into well-defined subregions. In this paper, methods for interactively creating maps of vector-field topology are described. The advantages offered by interactive methods in comparison with automatic methods are also discussed.
Stoichiometric Assembly of the Cellulosome Generates Maximum Synergy for the Degradation of Crystalline Cellulose, as Revealed by In Vitro Reconstitution of the Clostridium thermocellum Cellulosome

ABSTRACT The cellulosome is a supramolecular multienzyme complex formed by species-specific interactions between the cohesin modules of scaffoldin proteins and the dockerin modules of a wide variety of polysaccharide-degrading enzymes. Cellulosomal enzymes bound to the scaffoldin protein act synergistically to degrade crystalline cellulose. However, there have been few attempts to reconstitute intact cellulosomes due to the difficulty of heterologously expressing full-length scaffoldin proteins. We describe the synthesis of a full-length scaffoldin protein containing nine cohesin modules, CipA; its deletion derivative containing two cohesin modules, ΔCipA; and three major cellulosomal cellulases, Cel48S, Cel8A, and Cel9K, of the Clostridium thermocellum cellulosome. The proteins were synthesized using a wheat germ cell-free protein synthesis system, and the purified proteins were used to reconstitute cellulosomes. Analysis of the cellulosome assembly using size exclusion chromatography suggested that the dockerin module of the enzymes stoichiometrically bound to the cohesin modules of the scaffoldin protein. The activity profile of the reconstituted cellulosomes indicated that cellulosomes assembled at a CipA/enzyme molar ratio of 1/9 (cohesin/dockerin = 1/1) and showed maximum synergy (4-fold synergy) for the degradation of crystalline substrate and ∼2.4-fold-higher synergy for its degradation than minicellulosomes assembled at a ΔCipA/enzyme molar ratio of 1/2 (cohesin/dockerin = 1/1). These results suggest that the binding of more enzyme molecules on a single scaffoldin protein results in higher synergy for the degradation of crystalline cellulose and that the stoichiometric assembly of the cellulosome, without excess or insufficient enzyme, is crucial for generating maximum synergy for the degradation of crystalline cellulose.
The DNA strand assisted conductive filament mechanism for improved resistive switching memory

Over the next few years, it is expected that resistive random access memory (RRAM) will be developed as promising non-volatile memory owing to its advantages of simple structure and high storage density. Thus there is a need for new methods to assemble multifunctional materials for resistive switching memory devices. In this work, we assemble CuO and Al nanoparticles into CuO-DNA-Al nanocomposites, where DNA strands bridge CuO nanoparticles and Al nanoparticles, by a DNA-directed assembly procedure, and investigate their memory behaviors. These CuO-DNA-Al nanocomposites present outstanding improved resistive switching memory behaviors in comparison with physically mixed CuO–Al nanocomposites. Based on the superior memory characteristics of the Au/CuO-DNA-Al/Au/Si device, a model concerning the formation and rupture of the nanoscale DNA strand assisted conductive filament mechanism is therefore suggested to explain the memory behaviors. This work opens up a new route for exploring the multifunctional materials and their applications in nonvolatile RRAM.
Influence of practice environment and nurse characteristics on perinatal nurses' responses to ethical dilemmas.

BACKGROUND Previous research on nurses' responses to ethical dilemmas has focused either on nurse characteristics or on practice environment characteristics, but has not examined both influences concurrently. OBJECTIVE To explore the relative contributions of practice environment characteristics and nurse personal and professional characteristics to perinatal nurses' willingness to be involved in activities to resolve clinical ethical dilemmas. METHODS A descriptive correlational design and hierarchical multiple regression were used to examine responses of 127 perinatal nurses to three instruments: the Nursing Ethical Involvement Scales (NEIS), Perinatal Values Questionnaire (PVQ), and Demographic Data Sheet (DDS). RESULTS The organizational variable, nursing influence, accounted for the greatest amount of variance in nurses' reported resolution actions, with nurses' concern about ethics and consequentialist values also contributing significantly. The three predictors together accounted for 31% (24% adjusted) of the variance in actions to resolve clinical ethical dilemmas. Level of nursing education was not a statistically significant influence. CONCLUSIONS These results suggest that nurses are more likely to be involved in dilemma resolution activities when they perceive themselves to have higher levels of influence in their practice environments and higher levels of concern about the ethical aspects of clinical situations. Nurses who emphasize consideration of morally relevant aspects of individual patient situations (consequentialist value orientation) and deemphasize adherence to abstract standards, rules, and policies also are more likely to be involved in dilemma resolution.
On the Expressive Power of Quasiperiodic SFT

In this paper we study the shifts, which are the shift-invariant and topologically closed sets of configurations over a finite alphabet in $\mathbb{Z}^d$. The minimal shifts are those shifts in which all configurations contain exactly the same patterns. Two classes of shifts play a prominent role in symbolic dynamics, in language theory and in the theory of computability: the shifts of finite type (obtained by forbidding a finite number of finite patterns) and the effective shifts (obtained by forbidding a computably enumerable set of finite patterns). We prove that every effective minimal shift can be represented as a factor of a projective subdynamics on a minimal shift of finite type in a bigger (by $1$) dimension. This result transfers to the class of minimal shifts a theorem by M.Hochman known for the class of all effective shifts and thus answers an open question by E.Jeandel. We prove a similar result for quasiperiodic shifts and also show that there exists a quasiperiodic shift of finite type for which Kolmogorov complexity of all patterns of size $n\times n$ is $\Omega(n)$.
Immunohistochemical characterization of human masseter muscle spindles

An enzyme‐ and immunohistochemical study has been performed on human masseter muscle spindles. Antibodies selective for different myosin heavy chain (MHC) isoforms and M‐band proteins (M‐protein, myomesin, and MM‐CK) were used. The expression of these proteins was determined in the different intrafusal fiber types. Nuclear bag1 and nuclear bag2 fibers expressed predominantly slow‐twitch and slow‐tonic MHCs. The bag2 fibers in addition contained fetal MHC. Nuclear chain fibers coexpressed embryonic, fetal, and fast‐twitch MHCs. The bag2 and chain fibers contained all three M‐band proteins, whereas the bag1 fibers contained only myomesin. In general the MHC expression in the human masseter intrafusal fiber types was similar to that previously reported for limb muscles in man as well as for limb and masseter muscles in other species. However, the number of intrafusal fibers per spindle was unusually high (up to 36). This reinforces the idea that masseter muscle spindles have a strong proprioceptive impact during the control of jaw movements. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition and renal fibrosis in ischaemia/reperfusion injury are mediated by complement anaphylatoxins and Akt pathway.

BACKGROUND Increasing evidence demonstrates a phenotypic plasticity of endothelial cells (ECs). Endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EndMT) contributes to the development of tissue fibrosis. However, the pathogenic factors and signalling pathways regulating this process in ischaemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury are still poorly understood. METHODS We investigated the possible role of complement in the induction of this endothelial dysfunction in a swine model of renal I/R injury by using recombinant C1 inhibitor in vivo. RESULTS Here, we showed that I/R injury reduced the density of renal peritubular capillaries and induced tissue fibrosis with generation of CD31(+)/α-SMA(+) and CD31(+)/FPS-1(+) cells indicating EndMT. When we inhibited complement, the process of EndMT became rare, with preserved density of peritubular capillaries and significant reduction in renal fibrosis. When we activated ECs by anaphylatoxins in vitro, C3a and C5a led to altered endothelial phenotype with increased expression of fibroblast markers and decrease expression of specific endothelial markers. The activation of Akt pathway was pivotal for the C3a and C5a-induced EndMT in vitro. In accordance, inhibition of complement in vivo led to the abrogation of Akt signalling, with hampered EndMT and tissue fibrosis. CONCLUSIONS Our data demonstrate a critical role for complement in the acute induction of EndMT via the Akt pathway. Therapeutic inhibition of these systems may be essential to prevent vascular damage and tissue fibrosis in transplanted kidney.
HPAZ: A high-throughput pipeline architecture of ZUC in hardware

In this paper, we propose a high-throughput pipeline architecture of the stream cipher ZUC which has been included in the security portfolio of 3GPP LTE-Advanced. In the literature, the schema with the highest throughput only implements the working stage of ZUC. The schemas which implement ZUC completely can only achieve a much lower throughput, since a self-feedback loop in the critical path significantly reduces the operating frequency. In this paper we design a mixed two-stage pipeline architecture which not only completely implements ZUC but also significantly raises the throughput. We have implemented our architecture in FPGAs and ASICs. In FPGAs platform, the new architecture increases the throughput by 45%, compared with the latest work, and particularly the new architecture also saves nearly 12% of hardware resources. In the 65nm ASIC technology, the throughput of the new design can up to 80Gbps, which is 2.7 times faster than the fastest one in the literature, in particular, it also saves at least 40% of hardware resources. In addition to the academic design, compared with the fastest commercial design, the new architecture doubles the throughput of that. To the best of our knowledge, this evaluation result is so far the best outcome.
Bias in community-weighted mean analysis relating species attributes to sample attributes: justification and remedy

A common way to analyse relationship between matrix of species attributes (like functional traits of indicator values) and sample attributes (e.g. environmental variables) via the matrix of species composition is by calculating community-weighted mean of species attributes (CWM) and relating it to sample attributes by correlation, regression, ANOVA or other method. This weighted-mean approach is used in number of ecological fields (e.g. functional and vegetation ecology, biogeography, hydrobiology or paleolimnology), and represents an alternative to other methods relating species and sample attributes via species composition matrix (like the fourth-corner problem and RLQ analysis). Here, I point out two important problems of weighted-mean approach: 1) in certain cases, which I discuss in detail, the method yields highly biased results in terms of both effect size and significance of the relationship between CWM and sample attributes, and 2) this bias is contingent upon beta diversity of species composition matrix. CWM values calculated from samples of communities sharing some species are not independent from each other and this lack of independence influences the number of effective degrees of freedom. This is usually lower than actual number of samples entering the analysis, and the difference further increases with decreasing compositional heterogeneity of the dataset. Discrepancy between number of effective degrees of freedom and number of samples in analysis turns into biased effect sizes and inflated Type I error rate in case that significance of the relationship is tested by standard tests, a problem which is analogous to analysis of two spatially autocorrelated variables. Consequences of the bias is that reported results of studies using rather homogeneous (although not necessarily small) compositional datasets may be overly optimistic, and results of studies based on datasets differing by their compositional heterogeneity are not directly comparable. I describe the reason for this bias and suggest guidelines how to decide in which situations the bias is actually a problem for interpretation of results. I also introduce analytical solution accounting for the bias, test its validity on simulated data and compare it with an alternative approach based on the fourth-corner approach.
Dynamic matching and scheduling of a class of independent tasks onto heterogeneous computing systems

Dynamic mapping (matching and scheduling) heuristics for a class of independent tasks using heterogeneous distributed computing systems are studied. Two types of mapping heuristics are considered: on-line and batch mode heuristics. Three new heuristics, one for batch and two for on-line, are introduced as part of this research. Simulation studies are performed to compare these heuristics with some existing ones. In total, five on-line heuristics and three batch heuristics are examined. The on-line heuristics consider; to varying degrees and in different ways, task affinity for different machines and machine ready times. The batch heuristics consider these factors, as well as aging of tasks waiting to execute. The simulation results reveal that the choice of mapping heuristic depends on parameters such as: (a) the structure of the heterogeneity among tasks and machines, (b) the optimization requirements, and (c) the arrival rate of the tasks.