Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Interrogation of fiber gratings by use of low-coherence spectral interferometry of noiselike pulses.

We demonstrate an innovative method for a real-time interrogation of fiber Bragg gratings based on low-coherence spectral interferometry of noiselike pulses. By analyzing the spectral interference at the output of a Michelson interferometer we obtained the impulse response of the grating with a time resolution of ~350 fs . Using the Gabor transformation, we could directly detect nonuniform regions inside the grating and could measure the spatial dependence of the resonance wavelength along the grating.
p 53 Regulation and Function in Renal Cell Carcinoma

Loss of p53 function is a critical event in tumor evolution. This occurs through a range of molecular events, typically a missense p53 mutation followed by loss of heterozygosity. In many cancers, there is compelling evidence that cells that can compromise p53 function have a selective advantage. The situation in renal cell carcinoma is unclear. It has recently been suggested that p53 function is unusually compromised in renal carcinoma cells by a novel dominant, MDM2/p14independent mechanism. This is hard to reconcile with other recent studies that have identified p53 as an important prognostic indicator. Indeed, one of these latter studies found that the best predictor of poor outcome was the presence of high levels of both p53 (usually indicative of p53 mutation) and MDM2. Thus, it is important that we gain a clearer understanding of the regulation of p53 and the role of MDM2 in renal cell cancer. To address this, we have investigated the transcriptional activity of p53 in a panel of renal cell carcinoma cell lines and the contribution of MDM2 and p14 to p53 regulation. We have found that p53 is functional in p53 wild-type renal cell carcinoma cells and that this activity is significantly regulated by MDM2 and to a much lesser extent by p14. Moreover, following induction of DNA damage with UV, the p53 response in these cells is intact. Thus, future studies of renal cell carcinoma that focus on p53 and MDM2 and their role in determining disease outcome will be required to create a better understanding of this notoriously difficult to manage disease. (Cancer Res 2005; 65(15): 6498-503)
Energy-Efficient Data Transmission with a Non-FIFO Packet

This paper investigates the problem of energy-efficient packet transmission with a non-FIFO Packet over a point-to-point additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) time-invariant channel under the feasibility constraints. More specifically, we consider the scenario where there is a packet that has a deadline that is earlier than that of the previously arrived packet. For this problem, the First-In-First-Out (FIFO) transmission mode adopted in the existing literatures is no longer optimal. We first propose a novel packet split and reorder process which convert the inconsistency in the order of deadlines and arrival instants of the packet sequence into a consistent one. After the split and reorder process, the original problem considered in this paper is transformed into the problem of finding the optimal split factor. We propose an algorithm that finds the split factor which consists of checking four possibilities by applying the existing optimal transmission strategy \emph{``String Tautening''} for FIFO packets. In addition, we prove the optimality of the proposed algorithm in the presence of a non-FIFO packet by exploiting the optimality properties of the most energy efficient transmission strategy. Based on the proposed optimal offline scheme, an efficient online policy which assumes causal arrival information is also studied and shown to achieve a comparable performance to the proposed optimal offline scheme.
Codon identity regulates mRNA stability and translation efficiency during the maternal‐to‐zygotic transition

Cellular transitions require dramatic changes in gene expression that are supported by regulated mRNA decay and new transcription. The maternal‐to‐zygotic transition is a conserved developmental progression during which thousands of maternal mRNAs are cleared by post‐transcriptional mechanisms. Although some maternal mRNAs are targeted for degradation by microRNAs, this pathway does not fully explain mRNA clearance. We investigated how codon identity and translation affect mRNA stability during development and homeostasis. We show that the codon triplet contains translation‐dependent regulatory information that influences transcript decay. Codon composition shapes maternal mRNA clearance during the maternal‐to‐zygotic transition in zebrafish, Xenopus, mouse, and Drosophila, and gene expression during homeostasis across human tissues. Some synonymous codons show consistent stabilizing or destabilizing effects, suggesting that amino acid composition influences mRNA stability. Codon composition affects both polyadenylation status and translation efficiency. Thus, the ribosome interprets two codes within the mRNA: the genetic code which specifies the amino acid sequence and a conserved “codon optimality code” that shapes mRNA stability and translation efficiency across vertebrates.
Relating age and hearing loss to monaural, bilateral, and binaural temporal sensitivity1

Older listeners are more likely than younger listeners to have difficulties in making temporal discriminations among auditory stimuli presented to one or both ears. In addition, the performance of older listeners is often observed to be more variable than that of younger listeners. The aim of this work was to relate age and hearing loss to temporal processing ability in a group of younger and older listeners with a range of hearing thresholds. Seventy-eight listeners were tested on a set of three temporal discrimination tasks (monaural gap discrimination, bilateral gap discrimination, and binaural discrimination of interaural differences in time). To examine the role of temporal fine structure in these tasks, four types of brief stimuli were used: tone bursts, broad-frequency chirps with rising or falling frequency contours, and random-phase noise bursts. Between-subject group analyses conducted separately for each task revealed substantial increases in temporal thresholds for the older listeners across all three tasks, regardless of stimulus type, as well as significant correlations among the performance of individual listeners across most combinations of tasks and stimuli. Differences in performance were associated with the stimuli in the monaural and binaural tasks, but not the bilateral task. Temporal fine structure differences among the stimuli had the greatest impact on monaural thresholds. Threshold estimate values across all tasks and stimuli did not show any greater variability for the older listeners as compared to the younger listeners. A linear mixed model applied to the data suggested that age and hearing loss are independent factors responsible for temporal processing ability, thus supporting the increasingly accepted hypothesis that temporal processing can be impaired for older compared to younger listeners with similar hearing and/or amounts of hearing loss.
A Comparison of the Digital Divide Across Three Countries with Different Development Indices

The digital divide between countries is a critical phenomenon that places developing countries in a disadvantaged position economically, politically, and socially. While the phenomenon has drawn the attention of many, a theoretical account using empirical test of primary data is lacking. Building on a three-level digital divide framework, this study tested the effect of country development index on three levels of the digital divide. Survey data from university students in Cambodia, Iran, and South Korea show that country development index has a significant effect on all three levels of the digital divide. While the countries differ on the hedonic values of IT use, there is no significant difference in the utilitarian values of IT use. Korea, being a developed country also differs significantly from Cambodia and Iran in the digital access divide, digital capability divide, and digital usage divide. The results have important implications for companies as well as government policy-making and intervention programs.
Education Groups for Men Who Batter: The Duluth Model

Pence and Paymar are right on target again. Their analysis of battering is excellent and their approach.is straightforward, useful and clear. [The book] tells you what to do with abusive men and how to do it well. [The authors] challenge practitioners to do their work in a manner that is compassionate yet never colluding. Accountability and safety to battered women and creating a process of change for abusive men are central to its success. --Susan Schechter, author of "Women and Male Violence" "Drawing upon years of experience.Pence and Paymar have written a practical and conceptually sound curriculum for batterers' groups. This book offers an effective guide to both the beginning facilitator and the experienced clinician for engaging batterers in the lifelong process of changing their intimate relationships, from those based on coercive control to those based on equality. [They] accomplish this task without compromising their commitment to advocacy with battered women. " --Anne L. Ganley, PhD, Domestic Violence Program Seattle Veterans Administration Medical Center Presents the most comprehensive and successful methods for working with men who batter. Mixing discussion, self-analysis and opportunities for learning new behaviors, this well-mapped-out intervention strategy helps counselors hold men accountable while teaching non-abusive behaviors. " --Fernando Merderos, Executive Director of Common Purpose, Boston, MA "Education Groups for Men Who Batter" is a curriculum and a methodology which unequivocally identifies the exercise of violent and coercive tactics against women in intimate relationships as intentional, strategic behavior. [It] is an essential training tool for all actors in the justice and human services systems. Only when tactics of control are seen as intentional intimate terrorism can these systems construct responses effectively to end the violence. " --Barbara J. Hart, Esq. , Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence Presents the leading approach to undoing men's abuse of women.The Duluth Model has pioneered an approach based on the experiences of abused women and consequently tailored to their circumstances. It tackles the social dimensions of woman abuse more directly and decisively than any of the psychological or skill-building approaches circulating in the field. " -- Edward W. Gondolf, author of "Men Who Batter, Battered Women as Survivors," and "Psychiatric Response to Family Violence" "The Duluth Model has inspired activists all over the world, and its principles are being followed in programs in several countries. We predict that this book will become the standard text for those who work with men who batter. " --Rebecca Emerson Dobash and Russell P. Dobash authors of "Violence Against Wives; Women, Violence and Social Change"; and "Women Viewing Violence"
Synthesis and Thermochromic Properties of Cr-Doped Al2O3 for a Reversible Thermochromic Sensor

An inorganic thermochromic material based on Cr-doped Al2O3 is synthesized using a solid-state method. The crystal structure, chemical composition, and morphology of the synthesized material are analyzed using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy coupled with an energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometer, and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. The color performances of the synthesized material are analyzed using a UV-VIS spectrometer. Finally, the thermochromism exhibited by the powdered samples at high temperatures is investigated. The material exhibits exceptional thermochromic property, transitioning from pink to gray or green in a temperature range of 25–600 °C. The change in color is reversible and is dependent on the surrounding temperature and chromium concentration; however, it is independent of the exposure time. This novel property of Cr-doped Al2O3 can be potentially employed in reversible thermochromic sensors that could be used not only for warning users of damage due to overheating when the environmental temperature exceeds certain limits, but also for detecting and monitoring the temperature of various devices, such as aeronautical engine components, hotplates, and furnaces.
Cognitive Radio: An Information-Theoretic Perspective

Cognitive radios have been proposed as a means to implement efficient reuse of the licensed spectrum. The key feature of a cognitive radio is its ability to recognize the primary (licensed) user and adapt its communication strategy to minimize the interference that it generates. We consider a communication scenario in which the primary and the cognitive user wish to communicate to different receivers, subject to mutual interference. Modeling the cognitive radio as a transmitter with side-information about the primary transmission, we characterize the largest rate at which the cognitive radio can reliably communicate under the constraint that (i) no interference is created for the primary user, and (ii) the primary encoder-decoder pair is oblivious to the presence of the cognitive radio
Optical Based Noninvasive Glucose Monitoring Sensor Prototype

Diabetes mellitus claims millions of lives every year. It affects the body in various ways by leading to many serious illnesses and premature mortality. Heart and kidney diseases, which are caused by diabetes, are increasing at an alarming rate. In this paper, we report a study of a noninvasive measurement technique to determine the glucose levels in the human body. Current existing methods to quantify the glucose level in the blood are predominantly invasive that involve taking the blood samples using finger pricking. In this paper, we report a spectroscopy-based noninvasive glucose monitoring system to measure glucose concentration. Near-infrared transmission spectroscopy is used and in vitro experiments are conducted, as well as in vivo. Our experimental study confirms a correlation between the sensor output voltage and glucose concentration levels. We report a low-cost prototype of spectroscopy-based noninvasive glucose monitoring system that demonstrates promising results in vitro and establishes a relationship between the optical signals and the changing levels of blood-glucose concentration.
Ischemic Conditioning Protects the Uremic Heart in a Rodent Model of Myocardial Infarction

Background— Outcomes after acute myocardial infarction in patients with chronic kidney disease are extremely poor. Ischemic conditioning techniques are among the most powerful cytoprotective strategies discovered to date. However, experimental data suggest that comorbidity may attenuate the protective effects of ischemic conditioning. Methods and Results— We conducted investigations into the effects of chronic uremia on myocardial infarct size and the protective effects of ischemic preconditioning (IPC), remote ischemic preconditioning, and ischemic postconditioning in 2 rodent models of chronic uremia. In addition, a limited investigation into the signaling mechanisms involved in cardioprotection after IPC was performed in both uremic and nonuremic animals. Myocardial infarct size was increased in uremic animals, but all 3 conditioning strategies (IPC, remote IPC, ischemic postconditioning) proved highly efficacious in reducing myocardial infarct size (relative reduction, 86%, 39%, and 65% [P<0.005, P<0.05, and P<0.05], respectively). Moreover, some protocols (IPC and ischemic postconditioning) appeared to be more effective in uremic than in sham (nonuremic) animals. Analysis of the signaling mechanisms revealed that components of both the reperfusion injury salvage kinase and survivor activating factor enhancement pathways were similarly upregulated in both uremic and nonuremic animals after an IPC stimulus. Conclusion— Conditioning strategies may present the best opportunity to improve outcomes for patients with chronic kidney disease after an acute coronary syndrome.
Effect on plasma gonadotropins of cyclic steroid replacement in women with premature ovarian failure.

A sequential regimen of steroid replacement of oral estradiol valerate and progesterone (P) by intravaginal suppository was developed for women with premature ovarian failure or ovarian agenesis. The regimen, based on a 28-day cycle, resulted in peripheral plasma concentrations of estradiol and P within the normal range of the menstrual cycle and endometrial differentiation consistent with the normal secretory phase. Pregnancy has now been successfully established in four patients following this regimen of steroid treatment and transfer of donated embryos. Plasma concentrations of LH were within the normal range by the end of the first cycle of treatment with exogenous steroids. However, plasma FSH remained above the normal range, even during the third treatment cycle, consistent with the necessity of a gonadal feedback factor (inhibin? ) other than estradiol and P for maintaining FSH in the normal range. Although 7/8 patients had a surge of LH at midcycle, only 3/8 patients had concomitant FSH surges, supporting a role for progesterone in facilitating the midcycle FSH surge.
Adaptive strategies of the influenza virus polymerase for replication in humans

Transmission of influenza viruses into the human population requires surmounting barriers to cross-species infection. Changes in the influenza polymerase overcome one such barrier. Viruses isolated from birds generally contain polymerases with the avian-signature glutamic acid at amino acid 627 in the PB2 subunit. These polymerases display restricted activity in human cells. An adaptive change in this residue from glutamic acid to the human-signature lysine confers high levels of polymerase activity in human cells. This mutation permits escape from a species-specific restriction factor that targets polymerases from avian viruses. A 2009 swine-origin H1N1 influenza A virus recently established a pandemic infection in humans, even though the virus encodes a PB2 with the restrictive glutamic acid at amino acid 627. We show here that the 2009 H1N1 virus has acquired second-site suppressor mutations in its PB2 polymerase subunit that convey enhanced polymerase activity in human cells. Introduction of this polymorphism into the PB2 subunit of a primary avian isolate also increased polymerase activity and viral replication in human and porcine cells. An alternate adaptive strategy has also been identified, whereby introduction of a human PA subunit into an avian polymerase overcomes restriction in human cells. These data reveal a strategy used by the 2009 H1N1 influenza A virus and identify other pathways by which avian and swine-origin viruses may evolve to enhance replication, and potentially pathogenesis, in humans.
Dynamics of Autotrophic Marine Planktonic Thaumarchaeota in the East China Sea

The ubiquitous and abundant distribution of ammonia-oxidizing Thaumarchaeota in marine environments is now well documented, and their crucial role in the global nitrogen cycle has been highlighted. However, the potential contribution of Thaumarchaeota in the carbon cycle remains poorly understood. Here we present for the first time a seasonal investigation on the shelf region (bathymetry≤200 m) of the East China Sea (ECS) involving analysis of both thaumarchaeal 16S rRNA and autotrophy-related genes (acetyl-CoA carboxylase gene, accA). Quantitative PCR results clearly showed a higher abundance of thaumarchaeal 16S and accA genes in late-autumn (November) than summer (August), whereas the diversity and community structure of autotrophic Thaumarchaeota showed no statistically significant difference between different seasons as revealed by thaumarchaeal accA gene clone libraries. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that shallow ecotypes dominated the autotrophic Thaumarchaeota in the ECS shelf (86.3% of total sequences), while a novel non-marine thaumarchaeal accA lineage was identified in the Changjiang estuary in summer (when freshwater plumes become larger) but not in autumn, implying that Changjiang freshwater discharge played a certain role in transporting terrestrial microorganisms to the ECS. Multivariate statistical analysis indicated that the biogeography of the autotrophic Thaumarchaeota in the shelf water of the ECS was influenced by complex hydrographic conditions. However, an in silico comparative analysis suggested that the diversity and abundance of the autotrophic Thaumarchaeota might be biased by the ‘universal’ thaumarchaeal accA gene primers Cren529F/Cren981R since this primer set is likely to miss some members within particular phylogenetic groups. Collectively, this study improved our understanding of the biogeographic patterns of the autotrophic Thaumarchaeota in temperate coastal waters, and suggested that new accA primers with improved coverage and sensitivity across phylogenetic groups are needed to gain a more thorough understanding of the role of the autotrophic Thaumarchaeota in the global carbon cycle.
Customer satisfaction and customer characteristic in festival activity: A case of 2006 Kenting Wind Chime Festival

Purpose – This study is interested in the tourist satisfaction of Kenting Wind Chime Festival, as well as in tourist's characteristic and their revisiting commitment. The purpose is to survey customer satisfaction, which has significant implications for the economic performance of the firm, and to focus on local festival activity. Since 1994, Taiwan has continuously promoted festival activities, and the 2006 Kenting Wind Chime Festival is the first of 12 major festivals selected for promotion by Taiwan Tourism Bureau.Design/methodology/approach – ANOVA analysis was applicable for the inference relationships among tourist characteristics, satisfaction, and revisiting commitment. Additionally, it was supplemented by open questions interviews. The survey period was from January 21 to February 12, 2006.Findings – Three findings have been concluded in this survey. First, the 2006 Wind‐Chime Festival tourists are mostly coming with their families, and they are first‐time visitors, who have received information .
Exemplary Schools and the Search for Effectiveness.

The Department of Justice initiated this survey apparently so that they could document willful dis crimination in education. This is one of the few ex amples in our country's history of a specific request made by Congress for social research that might pro vide a basis for policy. The Office of Education asked James S. Coleman of Johns Hopkins University and Ernest Q. Campbell of Vanderbilt University to direct the $1.5 million project. These were its main conclusions: