Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Interspecific Phylogenic Relationships within Genus Melilotus Based on Nuclear and Chloroplast DNA

Melilotus comprises 19 species, while the phylogenetic relationships between species remain unclear. In the present work, three chloroplast genes, rbcL, matK, trnL-F, and one nuclear region, ITS (internal transcribed spacer) belonging to 48 populations of 18 species of Melilotus were sequenced and phylogenetic trees were constructed to study their interspecific relationships. Based on the phylogenetic tree generated in this study using rbcL analysis, the Melilotus genus is clearly monophyletic in the legume family. Both Bayesian and maximum-parsimony approaches were used to analyze the data. The nrDNA ITS provided more informative characteristics (9.8%) than cpDNA (3.0%). Melilotus contains two closely related groups, clade I and clade II. M. spicatus, M. indicus and M. segetalis have a close relationship. M. infestus, M. siculus and M. sulcatus are closely related. The comparing between molecular phylogeny and flower color classification in Melilotus showed that the flower color is not much informative for phylogenetics of this genus.
Exploring the Role of Alternative Perceived Performance Measures and Needs-Congruency in the Consume

Prior research suggests that perceived performance of a product or a service is directly linked to postpurchase satisfaction. We argue that this causal relationship might be a measurement artifact and/or insufficient modeling of the satisfaction process rather than an accurate assessment of how consumers form satisfaction judgments. To test our hypotheses, a 2 x 2 x 2 (Performance x Expectations x Needs) factorial design was used with 2 types of perceived performance measures (value-laden and objective). The findings demonstrate that the observed direct link from perceived performance to overall satisfaction diminishes when more objective perceived performance indicators replace the commonly used value-laden measures. Furthermore, desire-congruency was found to contribute independently to satisfaction over and above a disconfirmation-of-expectations standard. In fact, desire-congruency was found to be a better predictor of satisfaction than disconfirmation-of-expectations. Finally, our results suggest that the direct performance–satisfaction link becomes insignificant when the modeling of the satisfaction process is improved. Taken together, these findings support the view that the frequently observed high correlations between perceived performance and satisfaction might be a reflection of the type of measures used and/or insufficient capturing of the evaluative process leading to satisfaction, rather than support for a direct causal link.
A 2–1100 MHz wideband low noise amplifier with 1.43 dB minimum noise figure

A new wideband low noise amplifier (LNA) is proposed in this paper. The LNA utilizes a composite NMOS/PMOS cross-coupled transistor pair to increase the amplification while reducing the noise figure. The introduced approach provides partial cancellation of noise generated by the input transistors, hence, lowering the overall noise figure. An implemented prototype using IBM 90 nm CMOS technology shows a measured conversion gain of 20 dB across 2-1100 MHz frequency range, an IIP3 of -1.5 dBm at 100 MHz, and minimum and maximum noise figure of 1.43 dB and 1.9 dB from 100 MHz to 1.1 GHz. The LNA consumes 18 mW from 1.8 V supply and occupies an area of 0.06 mm2.
High efficiency ultra broadband GaN amplifier using series-shunt inductor matching network

This paper reports on a Gallium Nitride High Electron Mobility Transistor (GaN HEMT) Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuit (MMIC) high power amplifier (HPA), which features high efficiency and high power over C-Ku band with 115 % relative bandwidth. The amplifier uses a series-shunt inductor matching network to reduce chip size and the impedance transformation ratio in the interstage matching. The fabricated MMIC chip dimensions are 4.15 mm by 4 mm. Measured small signal gain exceeds 15.4 dB and the output power reaches 40.2 ~ 41.6 dBm with PAE of 17.3 ~ 30.5% over the C-Ku band at 25 V power supply voltage. With a CW output power ripple of 1.4 dB, this work shows significant improvement compared to previous work. Further, the reported output power and PAE are state-of-the-art for amplifiers with more than 100% relative bandwidth operating up to Ku-band.
An analysis of two-layer models for circumstellar disks

The two-layer disk models of Chiang & Goldreich (1997, henceforth CG) and its derivatives are popular among astronomers because of their simplicity and the clear predictions they make for the SEDs of T Tauri stars and Herbig Ae/Be stars. Moreover, they can he computed quickly, which is a great advantage when fitting observations using automated procedures. In this paper we wish to assess the accuracy and reliability of 2-layer models, by comparing them to detailed vertical structure models with accurate 1+1D radiative transfer. We focus on the shape of the SED, and the predicted height and "flaring index" of the disk. We first consider models where scattering is set to zero. We find that 2-layer models overestimate significantly the near-infrared flux. and we suggest a simple way of correcting this effect, at least in part. At longer wavelengths, the SED of two-layer models often show a two-bump structure. which is absent in 1+1D models. Nevertheless, overall agreement is reasonably good, and the differences are in most cases within 30%. Al (sub)-mm wavelengths the differences flay even be less. The shape of the disk, as measured by its pressure and surface scale height and by the flaring angle are also well reproduced by two-layer models. When scattering is included in the 1+1D models, the differences become larger, especially in the near-infrared. We suggest simple ways to include scattering in two-layer models and discuss their reliability. We do not compare the two-layer models to full 2D/3D models, so the conclusions remain valid only within the annulus-by-annulus approximation.
The social world of the child

In connecting a bow of a pusher boat having a driving power source with a stern of a barge having no driving power source at a recessed portion formed at the stern of the barge, a plurality of freely projectable connecting pins provided at positions in the vicinity of center part of both sides as well as at the bow of the pusher boat are inserted into connecting pin receiving ports formed at corresponding positions in the recess of the barge so as to make both pusher boat and barge to be unified into a single navigable body, and the connecting pins at both sides of the pusher boat and the connecting pin receiving ports provided at the recessed portion at the stern of the barge are arranged in a backward obliquity, or swept back direction, with respect to the lengthwise direction of the boat hull.
Fluxes theory in experiments with random distributed channels on vesicles

When channels are randomly distributed in a population of vesicles, disregarding the number of channels per vesicle, these channels follow a Poisson distribution. This has been verified in many cases, determining the average of channels per vesicle. However, to determine kinetic parameters in population studies, a mathematical expression for the mean flux of solute through channels per vesicle is necessary. Hence, here, this mean flux is calculated, assuming Poisson distributed channels in a population of vesicle. Moreover, this result has been generalized to any number of different kinds of channels (i.e., channels with different permeabilities). These results, useful for in vitro experiments with mixed both channels and vesicles, can be supplemented with those from other techniques, in order to understanding how the nature of the lipid membrane affects kinetic parameters of channel.
On the capacity of compound state-dependent channels with states known at the transmitter

This paper investigates the capacity of compound state-dependent channels with non-causal state information available at only the transmitter. A new lower bound on the capacity of this class of channels is derived. This bound is shown to be tight for the special case of compound channels with stochastic degraded components, yielding the full characterization of the capacity. Specific results are derived for the compound Gaussian Dirty-Paper (GDP) channel. This model consists of an additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channel corrupted by an additive Gaussian interfering signal, known at the transmitter only, where the input and the state signals are affected by fading coefficients whose realizations are unknown at the transmitter. Our bounds are shown to be tight for specific cases. Applications of these results arise in a variety of wireless scenarios as multicast channels, cognitive radio and problems with interference cancellation.
Relative Resistance of Human CD4+ Memory T Cells to Suppression by CD4+CD25+ Regulatory T Cells

Successful expansion of functional CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells (Treg) ex vivo under good manufacturing practice conditions has made Treg‐cell therapy in clinical transplant tolerance induction a feasible possibility. In animals, Treg cells home to both transplanted tissues and local lymph nodes and are optimally suppressive if active at both sites. Therefore, they have the opportunity to suppress both naïve and memory CD4+CD25− T cells (Tresp). Clinical transplantation commonly involves depleting therapy at induction (e.g. anti‐CD25), which favors homeostatic expansion of memory T cells. Animal models suggest that Treg cells are less suppressive on memory, compared with naïve Tresp that mediate allograft rejection. As a result, in the context of human Treg‐cell therapy, it is important to define the effectiveness of Treg cells in regulating naïve and memory Tresp. Therefore, we compared suppression of peripheral blood naïve and memory Tresp by fresh and ex vivo expanded Treg cells using proliferation, cytokine production and activation marker expression (CD154) as readouts. With all readouts, naïve human Tresp were more suppressible by approximately 30% than their memory counterparts. This suggests that Treg cells may be more efficacious if administered before or at the time of transplantation and that depleting therapy should be avoided in clinical trials of Treg cells.
Modulatory Action of Taurine on the Release of GABA in Cerebellar Slices of the Guinea Pig

Abstract: For the purpose of demonstrating the action of taurine as a neuromodulator in addition to its suggested neurotransmitter function, the effects of taurine and muscimol on the depolarization‐induced Ca‐dependent release of [3H]γ‐aminobutyric acid (pH]GABA) and l‐[3H]glutamate in cerebellar slices from guinea pigs were investigated. The release of [3H]GABA was found to be greatly decreased by a GABA agonist, muscimol, and by taurine, but not by glycine. The release of l‐[3H]glutamate was little affected by taurine. The release of [3H]GABA was enhanced by bicuculline and strychnine, but not by picrotoxin, and the suppressive action of muscimol on the GABA release was antagonized by bicuculline, picrotoxin, and strychnine, suggesting the possible existence of presynaptic autoreceptors for GABA in the cerebellum. The suppressive action of taurine on the release of [3H]GABA, on the other hand, was blocked only by bicuculline. These results suggest that taurine reduced the release of [3H]GABA from cerebellar slices by acting on the GABA autoreceptors or, more likely, on other types of receptors that are sensitive to bicuculline. As a possible mechanism for this modulatory action of taurine, the blockade by this amino acid of the influx of Ca2+ into cerebellar tissues was tentatively suggested.
Advanced language attrition of Spanish in contact with Brazilian Portuguese

Approved: ____________________________________ Thesis Supervisor ____________________________________ Title and Department ____________________________________ Date ____________________________________ Thesis Supervisor ____________________________________ Title and Department ____________________________________ Date 1 ADVANCED LANGUAGE ATTRITION OF SPANISH IN CONTACT WITH BRAZILIAN PORTUGUESE by Michael Bryan Iverson A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy degree in Spanish in the Graduate College of The University of Iowa
Performance sustaining intracortical neural prostheses

Objective. Neural prostheses, or brain–machine interfaces, aim to restore efficient communication and movement ability to those suffering from paralysis. A major challenge these systems face is robust performance, particularly with aging signal sources. The aim in this study was to develop a neural prosthesis that could sustain high performance in spite of signal instability while still minimizing retraining time. Approach. We trained two rhesus macaques implanted with intracortical microelectrode arrays 1–4 years prior to this study to acquire targets with a neurally-controlled cursor. We measured their performance via achieved bitrate (bits per second, bps). This task was repeated over contiguous days to evaluate the sustained performance across time. Main results. We found that in the monkey with a younger (i.e., two year old) implant and better signal quality, a fixed decoder could sustain performance for a month at a rate of 4 bps, the highest achieved communication rate reported to date. This fixed decoder was evaluated across 22 months and experienced a performance decline at a rate of 0.24 bps yr-1. In the monkey with the older (i.e., 3.5 year old) implant and poorer signal quality, a fixed decoder could not sustain performance for more than a few days. Nevertheless, performance in this monkey was maintained for two weeks without requiring additional online retraining time by utilizing prior days’ experimental data. Upon analysis of the changes in channel tuning, we found that this stability appeared partially attributable to the cancelling-out of neural tuning fluctuations when projected to two-dimensional cursor movements. Significance. The findings in this study (1) document the highest-performing communication neural prosthesis in monkeys, (2) confirm and extend prior reports of the stability of fixed decoders, and (3) demonstrate a protocol for system stability under conditions where fixed decoders would otherwise fail. These improvements to decoder stability are important for minimizing training time and should make neural prostheses more practical to use.
Derived categories and scalar extensions

This thesis consists of three parts all of which deal with questions related to scalar extensions and derived categories. In the first part we consider the question whether the conjugation of a complex projective K3 surface X by an automorphism of the complex numbers can produce a non-isomorphic Fourier–Mukai partner of X. The answer is affirmative. The conjugate surface is thus in particular a moduli space of locally free sheaves on X. The proof consists of constructing non-isomorphic conjugate derived equivalent K3 surfaces over an extension field of Q and then lifting the situation to the complex numbers. We use our result to give higher-dimensional examples of derived equivalent conjugate varieties. We furthermore prove that a similar result holds for abelian surfaces. The topic of the second part is the behaviour of stability conditions under scalar extensions. Namely, given a variety X over some field K and its bounded derived category D b (X), one can associate to it a complex manifold of stability conditions, denoted by Stab(X). We compare the manifolds Stab(X) and Stab(X L) for a field extension L/K. For the most part we only consider the case of a finite Galois extension. In particular, we prove that in this case Stab(X) embeds into Stab(X L) as a closed submanifold. Since the topology on the stability manifold is closely related to the numerical Grothendieck group of D b (X) we also study the question whether the stability manifold can change under scalar extension if the numerical Grothendieck group does not. The answer is that Stab(X L) could only acquire new connected components. This result is applied to the stability manifold of a complex K3 surface. In the third and last part we consider the following question: Can one naturally define an L-linear triangulated category T L if a K-linear triangulated category T and a field extension L/K are given? Our guiding example is the passage from D b (X) to D b (X L). We propose a construction and prove that our definition gives the expected result in the geometric case. It also gives the anticipated result when applied to the derived category of an abelian category with enough injectives and with generators. We furthermore prove that in the just mentioned cases the dimension of the triangulated category in question does not change for finite Galois extensions.
Specific expression of the human CD4 gene in mature CD4+ CD8- and immature CD4+ CD8+ T cells and in macrophages of transgenic mice

The CD4 protein plays a critical role in the development and function of the immune system. To gain more insight into the mechanism of expression of the human CD4 gene, we cloned 42.2 kbp of genomic sequences comprising the CD4 gene and its surrounding sequences. Studies with transgenic mice revealed that a 12.6-kbp fragment of the human CD4 gene (comprising 2.6 kbp of 5' sequences upstream of the transcription initiation site, the first two exons and introns, and part of exon 3) contains the sequences required to support the appropriate expression in murine mature CD4+ CD8- T cells and macrophages but not in immature double-positive CD4+ CD8+ T cells. Expression in CD4+ CD8+ T cells was found to require additional regulatory elements present in a T-cell enhancer fragment recently identified for the murine CD4 gene (S. Sawada and D. R. Littman, Mol. Cell. Biol. 11:5506-5515, 1991). These results suggest that expression of CD4 in mature and immature T-cell subsets may be controlled by distinct and independent regulatory elements. Alternatively, specific regulatory elements may control the expression of CD4 at different levels in mature and immature T-cell subsets. Our data also indicate that mouse macrophages contain the regulatory factors necessary to transcribe the human CD4 gene.
Effects of an Intervention on Math Achievement for Students with Learning Disabilities.

Students with learning disabilities score lower than other at-risk groups on state standardized assessment tests. Educators are searching for intervention strategies to improve math achievement for students with learning disabilities. The study examined the effects of a mathematics intervention known as Cover, Copy, and Compare for learning basic math computation skills. Fifteen students diagnosed with learning disabilities participated in this study using Curriculum Based Assessment probes to collect the data. There was a significant difference in math achievement from pre- to post-test scores for students with learning disabilities who participated in the Cover, Copy, and Compare treatment, t (14) = -15.09, p < . 001. An analysis of covariance determined the efficacy of a Cover, Copy, and Compare intervention was not related to gender or ethnicity. One recommendation for future research is to conduct studies regarding Cover, Copy, and Compare instruction’s impact on student achievement for younger and older students with learning disabilities. to be investigated if they promise any potential benefits for learners to overcome mathematics. Cover, Copy, and Compare appears to be an effective strategy, especially for students with special needs. This study contributes to positive social change by providing practical classroom strategies that can improve mathematics. By improving basic math skills, more students may elect to take math-related courses and enter rewarding careers.
Thermal Stability Concern of Metal-Insulator-Semiconductor Contact: A Case Study of Ti/TiO2/n-Si Contact

This work discusses the thermal stability of metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) contacts. A case study is performed on a typical low-Schottky barrier height (qφb) MIS contact: Ti/TiO<sub>2</sub>/n-Si. By incorporating different levels of donor concentration in n-Si, we perform a systematic Ti/TiO<sub>2</sub>/n-Si thermal stability study under different electron conduction mechanisms. We find that both qφ<sub>b</sub> and contact resistivity (ρ<sub>c</sub>) of the Ti/TiO<sub>2</sub>/n-Si MIS contacts vary dramatically after mere 300°C-500°C 1-min rapid thermal treatments. The variations in qφ<sub>b</sub> and ρ<sub>c</sub> are related to the thermally driven TiO<sub>2</sub> decomposition. This thermal stability study of Ti/TiO<sub>2</sub>/n-Si reveals a general concern for the MIS contact application: since the MIS contacts on n-type semiconductor generally utilize a reactive lowwork function metal and an ultrathin insulator, it is difficult to maintain their interface quality considering the thermal budget in standard manufacturing of integrated circuits. Possible solutions to this MIS thermal stability issue are discussed.
Classification of finger activation for use in a robotic prosthesis arm

Hand amputees would highly benefit from a robotic prosthesis, which would allow the movement of a number of fingers. In this paper we propose using the electromyographic signals recorded by two pairs of electrodes placed over the arm for operating such prosthesis. Multiple features from these signals are extracted whence the most relevant features are selected by a genetic algorithm as inputs for a simple classifier. This method results in a probability of error of less than 2%.
Mesenchymal stromal cell labeling by new uncoated superparamagnetic maghemite nanoparticles in comparison with commercial Resovist – an initial in vitro study

Objective Cell therapies have emerged as a promising approach in medicine. The basis of each therapy is the injection of 1–100×106 cells with regenerative potential into some part of the body. Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) are the most used cell type in the cell therapy nowadays, but no gold standard for the labeling of the MSCs for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is available yet. This work evaluates our newly synthesized uncoated superparamagnetic maghemite nanoparticles (surface-active maghemite nanoparticles – SAMNs) as an MRI contrast intracellular probe usable in a clinical 1.5 T MRI system. Methods MSCs from rat and human donors were isolated, and then incubated at different concentrations (10–200 μg/mL) of SAMN maghemite nanoparticles for 48 hours. Viability, proliferation, and nanoparticle uptake efficiency were tested (using fluorescence microscopy, xCELLigence analysis, atomic absorption spectroscopy, and advanced microscopy techniques). Migration capacity, cluster of differentiation markers, effect of nanoparticles on long-term viability, contrast properties in MRI, and cocultivation of labeled cells with myocytes were also studied. Results SAMNs do not affect MSC viability if the concentration does not exceed 100 μg ferumoxide/mL, and this concentration does not alter their cell phenotype and long-term proliferation profile. After 48 hours of incubation, MSCs labeled with SAMNs show more than double the amount of iron per cell compared to Resovist-labeled cells, which correlates well with the better contrast properties of the SAMN cell sample in T2-weighted MRI. SAMN-labeled MSCs display strong adherence and excellent elasticity in a beating myocyte culture for a minimum of 7 days. Conclusion Detailed in vitro tests and phantom tests on ex vivo tissue show that the new SAMNs are efficient MRI contrast agent probes with exclusive intracellular uptake and high biological safety.