Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A novel method for SERS active substrates based on Au/PDMS self-assembled nanocracks

A novel method for a novel type of surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) active substrate is proposed with high enhancement and strong sensitivity advantages. It is based on nanoscale Au film nanocracks coated on polydimmethyl siloxane (PDMS) substrate which forms gold/ polydimethylsiloxane (Au/PDMS) nanocomposites. The width of the coated nanocracks ranges from 10 nm to 45 nm by self-assembled. It is concluded that the ratio of main agent to firming agent of PDMS at 9:1 is optimum value for SERS due to its complicate texture of cracks. An enhancement factor (EF) as high as 3.14 * 108 is achieved for 4-Mercaptobenzoic acid molecules adsorbed on the Au/PDMS nanocomposite substrates.
Allelic expression analysis in the brain suggests a role for heterogeneous insults affecting epigenetic processes in autism spectrum disorders.

Monoallelic expression, including genomic imprinting, X-chromosome inactivation and random monoallelic expression of autosomal genes are epigenetic phenomena. Genes that are expressed in a monoallelic way may be more vulnerable to genetic or epigenetic mutations. Thus, comprehensive exploration of monoallelic expression in human brains may shed light on complex brain disorders. Autism-related disorders are known to be associated with imprinted genes on chromosome 15. However, it is not clear whether other imprinted regions or other types of monoallelic expression are associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Here, we performed a genome-wide survey of allele expression imbalance (AEI) in the human brain using single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), in 18 individuals with ASD and 15 controls. Individuals with ASD had the most extreme number of monoallelic expressed SNPs in both the autosomes and the X chromosome. In two cases that were studied in detail, the monoallelic expression was confined to specific brain region or cell type. Using these data, we were also able to define the allelic expression status of known imprinted genes in the human brain and to identify abnormal imprinting in an individual with ASD. Lastly, we developed an analysis of individual-level expression, focusing on the difference of each individual from the mean. We found that individuals with ASD had more genes that were up- or down-regulated in an individual-specific manner. We also identified pathways perturbed in specific individuals. These results underline the heterogeneity in gene regulation in ASD, at the level of both allelic and total expression.
Enhancement of the Click Chemistry for the Inverse Diels Alder Technology by Functionalization of Amide-Based Monomers

In the near future personalized medicine with nucleic acids will play a key role in molecular diagnostics and therapy, which require new properties of the nucleic acids, like stability against enzymatic degradation. Here we demonstrate that the replacement of nucleobases with PNA by functional molecules harbouring either a dienophile or a diene reactivity is feasible and confers all new options for functionalization. These newly developed derivatives allow independent multi-ligations of multi-faceted components by use of the inverse Diels Alder technology. The high chemical stability and the ease of synthesis qualify these polyamide building blocks as favourites for intracellular delivery and targeting applications. This allows local drug concentrations sufficient for imaging and therapy and simultaneously a reduction of the application doses. It is important to point out that this technology is not restricted to ligation of medicament material; it is also a candidate to develop new and highly efficient active compounds for a “sustainable pharmacy”.
MODIS infrared (IR) water vapor calibration model and assessment

Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) can monitor precipitable water vapor (PWV) with high accuracy and large scales over land and ocean, using both near-infrared (nIR) bands and traditional IR bands. The MODIS nIR PWV is only available during daytime, which can be retrieved at 1×1km spatial resolution with high accuracy, while the MODIS IR PWV can be obtained during both the day and night time with a lower spatial resolution (5×5km), but is less accurate than the nIR PWV. In this paper, the performances of MODIS water vapor products at IR and nIR bands are evaluated by comparing with ground continuous GPSobservations. Results show that the traditional linear regression analysis is not the best choice to calibrate the MODIS PWV from the IR band. A new calibration model is being developed for the MODIS IR water vapor product using the IGS and radiosonde observations within the MODIS image coverage, and calibrated results are presented and assessed.
Regression Testing Techniques 1 Software Regression Testing Techniques

Much of today's software governs the most critical aspects of society's most vital protective and supportive infrastructure. However, a great deal of this vital software, which is pre-tested inhouse and in-field using the most advanced regression testing techniques still contains unacceptable flaws. Regression testing is a type of software testing that test software for quality after modifications are made in the maintenance phase. To meet the demands of increasingly complex software and rapid software development, regression testing has progressed tremendously during the past several years due to a recent increase in research. However, the necessity for even more aggressive research in the field of regression testing is evident, because software development continues to outpace software quality control. Accordingly, the necessity for further and more intensive research regarding regression testing is made salient in this report as some of the fundamentals, techniques, and empirical studies of regression testing are explored.
Visuomotor Coordination Is Different for Different Directions in Three-Dimensional Space

In most visuomotor tasks in which subjects have to reach to visual targets or move the hand along a particular trajectory, eye movements have been shown to lead hand movements. Because the dynamics of vergence eye movements is different from that of smooth pursuit and saccades, we have investigated the lead time of gaze relative to the hand for the depth component (vergence) and in the frontal plane (smooth pursuit and saccades) in a tracking task and in a tracing task in which human subjects were instructed to move the finger along a 3D path. For tracking, gaze leads finger position on average by 28 ± 6 ms (mean ± SE) for the components in the frontal plane but lags finger position by 95 ± 39 ms for the depth dimension. For tracing, gaze leads finger position by 151 ± 36 ms for the depth dimension. For the frontal plane, the mean lead time of gaze relative to the hand is 287 ± 13 ms. However, we found that the lead time in the frontal plane was inversely related to the tangential velocity of finger. This inverse relation for movements in the frontal plane could be explained by assuming that gaze leads the finger by a constant distance of ∼2.6 cm (range of 1.5–3.6 cm across subjects).
Personalized Recommendation of Mobile Tourism: a Multidimensional User Model

With rapid advances in e-business and mobile technology, the personalized recommendation of mobile tourism becomes a critical issue for both researchers and practitioners. The big data, problems of new users and similar recommendations remain barriers for mobile tourism. Through a large dataset gathered by questionnaires, this paper develops a novel multidimensional user model from the perspective of context. The dimensions of our model include several factors: historical behaviour, context and demographic feature of users. To make a better understanding of the model, a case study was adopted. Besides, an experiment is also conducted to evaluate the performance of the proposed model. As a conclusion, limitations and future researches are discussed.
Measuring the Performance of Neural Models

Good metrics of the performance of a statistical or computational model are essential for model comparison and selection. Here, we address the design of performance metrics for models that aim to predict neural responses to sensory inputs. This is particularly difficult because the responses of sensory neurons are inherently variable, even in response to repeated presentations of identical stimuli. In this situation, standard metrics (such as the correlation coefficient) fail because they do not distinguish between explainable variance (the part of the neural response that is systematically dependent on the stimulus) and response variability (the part of the neural response that is not systematically dependent on the stimulus, and cannot be explained by modeling the stimulus-response relationship). As a result, models which perfectly describe the systematic stimulus-response relationship may appear to perform poorly. Two metrics have previously been proposed which account for this inherent variability: Signal Power Explained (SPE, Sahani and Linden, 2003), and the normalized correlation coefficient (CCnorm, Hsu et al., 2004). Here, we analyze these metrics, and show that they are intimately related. However, SPE has no lower bound, and we show that, even for good models, SPE can yield negative values that are difficult to interpret. CCnorm is better behaved in that it is effectively bounded between −1 and 1, and values below zero are very rare in practice and easy to interpret. However, it was hitherto not possible to calculate CCnorm directly; instead, it was estimated using imprecise and laborious resampling techniques. Here, we identify a new approach that can calculate CCnorm quickly and accurately. As a result, we argue that it is now a better choice of metric than SPE to accurately evaluate the performance of neural models.
Minimal Models of Multidimensional Computations

The multidimensional computations performed by many biological systems are often characterized with limited information about the correlations between inputs and outputs. Given this limitation, our approach is to construct the maximum noise entropy response function of the system, leading to a closed-form and minimally biased model consistent with a given set of constraints on the input/output moments; the result is equivalent to conditional random field models from machine learning. For systems with binary outputs, such as neurons encoding sensory stimuli, the maximum noise entropy models are logistic functions whose arguments depend on the constraints. A constraint on the average output turns the binary maximum noise entropy models into minimum mutual information models, allowing for the calculation of the information content of the constraints and an information theoretic characterization of the system's computations. We use this approach to analyze the nonlinear input/output functions in macaque retina and thalamus; although these systems have been previously shown to be responsive to two input dimensions, the functional form of the response function in this reduced space had not been unambiguously identified. A second order model based on the logistic function is found to be both necessary and sufficient to accurately describe the neural responses to naturalistic stimuli, accounting for an average of 93% of the mutual information with a small number of parameters. Thus, despite the fact that the stimulus is highly non-Gaussian, the vast majority of the information in the neural responses is related to first and second order correlations. Our results suggest a principled and unbiased way to model multidimensional computations and determine the statistics of the inputs that are being encoded in the outputs.
Kidney Transplantation From Donors After Cardiac Death: An Initial Report of 71 Cases From China

Shortage of deceased donors is a severe problem in recent years in China especially in a culture in which brain death criteria is not widely accepted. Donation after cardiac death (DCD) has been reported to expand the donor pool despite higher rates of primary nonfunction (PNF) and delayed graft function (DGF) after transplantation. We collected 71 DCD kidney transplants performed at our hospital between February, 2007 and June, 2012 with aims to demonstrate the feasibility of DCD donation in China. All patients were followed up, and postoperative complications and graft loss were recorded. The PNF rate was 2.8%, and DGF rate was 28.2%. The 1‐ and 3‐year graft survival was 95.7% and 92.4%. In conclusion, graft survival of DCD kidney transplantation in China is excellent despite of higher rates of PNF and DGF after transplantation.
Different Growth and Physiological Responses to Cadmium of the Three Miscanthus Species

Miscanthus has been proposed as a promising crop for phytoremediation due to its high biomass yield and remarkable adaptability to different environments. However, little is known about the resistance of Miscanthus spp. to cadmium (Cd). To determine any differences in resistance of Miscanthus to Cd, we examined plant growth, net photosynthetic rate (Pn), activities of anti-oxidant and C4 photosynthetic enzymes, concentrations of Cd in leaves and roots, and observed the chloroplast structure in three Miscanthus species treated with 0, 10, 50, 100 or 200 μM Cd in solutions. Miscanthus sinensis showed more sensitivity to Cd, including sharp decreases in growth, Pn, PEPC activity and damage to chloroplast structure, and the highest H2O2 and Cd concentrations in leaves and roots after Cd treatments. Miscanthus sacchariflorus showed higher resistance to Cd and better growth, had the highest Pn and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC) activities and integrative chloroplast structure and the lowest hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and leaf and root Cd concentrations. The results could play an important role in understanding the mechanisms of Cd tolerance in plants and in application of phytoremediation.
Addressing Problems across Linguistic Levels in SMT: Combining Approaches to Model Morphology, Syntax and Lexical Choice

Many errors in phrase-based SMT can be attributed to problems on three linguistic levels: morphological complexity in the target language, structural differences and lexical choice. We explore combinations of linguistically motivated approaches to address these problems in English-to-German SMT and show that they are complementary to one another, but also that the popular verbal pre-ordering can cause problems on the morphological and lexical level. A discriminative classifier can overcome these problems, in particular when enriching standard lexical features with features geared towards verbal inflection.
On the acoustic environment of a neonatal intensive care unit: initial description, and detection of equipment alarms

The acoustic environment of a typical neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) is very rich and may contain a large number of different sounds, which come either from the equipment or from the human activities taking place in it. There exists a medical concern about the effect of that acoustical environment on preterm infants, since loud sounds or particular sounds may be harmful for their further neurological development. In this work, first of all, an initial description of the acoustic characteristics of the NICU has been carried out using a set of diverse recordings produced with microphones placed both inside and outside an incubator. Then, the work has focused on detection of the most relevant types of sounds. In this paper, after describing the recorded database and the acoustic environment, preliminary experiments for detection of the acoustic alarms of devices are reported. The proposed detection system is based on Deep Belief Networks (DBN). The experimental results show that the DBN-based system is able to achieve better results than a baseline GMM-based system.
A Constraint-Based Approach for Plan Management in Intelligent Environments

In this paper we address the problem of realizing a service-providing reasoning infrastructure for proactive human assistance in intelligent environments. We propose SAM, an architecture which leverages temporal knowledge represented as relations in Allen’s interval algebra and constraint-based temporal planning techniques. SAM seamlessly combines two key capabilities for contextualized service provision, namely human activity recognition and planning for controlling pervasive actuation devices.
Acute Effect of Static Stretching on Rate of Force Development and Maximal Voluntary Contraction in Older Women

Gurjão, ALD, Gonçalves, R, de Moura, RF, and Gobbi, S. Acute effect of static stretching on rate of force development and maximal voluntary contraction in older women. J Strength Cond Res 23(7): 2149-2154, 2009-The purpose of this study was to investigate, in older women, the acute effect of static stretching (SS) on both muscle activation and force output. Twenty-three older women (64.6 ± 7.1 yr) participated in the study. The maximal voluntary contraction (MVC), rate of force development (RFD) (50, 100, 150, and 200 ms relative to onset of muscular contraction), and peak RFD (PRFD) (the steepest slope of the curve during the first 200 ms) were tested under 2 randomly separate conditions: SS and control (C). Electromyographic (EMG) activity of the vastus medialis (VM), vastus lateralis (VL), and biceps femoris (BF) muscles also was assessed. The MVC was significantly lower (p < 0.05) in the 3 trials of SS when compared with the C condition (control: 925.0 ± 50.9 N; trial 1: 854.3 ± 55.3 N; trial 2: 863.1 ± 52.2 N; and trial 3: 877.5 ± 49.9 N). PRFD showed a significant decrease only for the first 2 trials of SS when compared with the C condition (control: 2672.3 ± 259.1 N/s; trial 1: 2296.6 ± 300.7 N/s; and trial 2: 2197.9 ± 246.3 N/s). However, no difference was found for RFD (50, 100, 150, and 200 ms relative to onset of muscular contraction). The EMG activity for VM, VL, and BF was not significantly different between the C and SS conditions. In conclusion, the older women's capacity to produce muscular force decreased after their performance of SS exercises. The mechanisms responsible for this effect do not appear to be related to muscle activation. Thus, if flexibility is to be trained, it is recommended that SS does not occur just before the performance of activities that require high levels of muscular force.
Analysis of leakage power reduction techniques in digital circuits

With the advent of battery operated devices and scaling trends in deep submicron (DSM) regime, leakage power is becoming large component of total power dissipation. In this paper leakage reduction techniques viz. Stack forcing and Multi-Threshold CMOS (MTCMOS) have been implemented on CMOS, Complementary Pass Transistor Logic (CPL), and Transmission Gate (TG) logic style based digital circuits. The effects of these techniques are analysed and compared using NAND, MUX, XOR, and Full Adder circuits. MTCMOS approach showed significant leakage power reduction by the order of three in case of CMOS and modified TG logic style based circuits. MTCMOS approach was not effective in CPL style circuits as it was in CMOS and TG logic style circuits, in standby mode. In Stack forced approach, decent leakage power reduction is achieved with large delay overhead, for all CMOS, CPL and TG logic style based circuits. Designs and simulations were done on Cadence® Virtuoso® and Spectre® tools, using UMC 0.18 µm technology.
Author ' s personal copy How affective technologies can in fl uence intimate interactions and improve social connectedness

Affective computing holds the promise of creating effortless, integrated, and automatic ways of communicating emotions within our intimate social network. This could augment awareness systems and connectedness devices, reducing loneliness and improving health and well-being. Through two experiments, we investigate the effects of quantity and automaticity of emotion communication on perceived intimacy in mediated settings. In the first experiment (N1⁄448), we manipulated the number of communicated emoticons. Results show that increases in communicated emoticon quantity lead to strong increases in perceived intimacy. In the second experiment (N1⁄434), we compare automatic and user-initiated communication of emoticons. Results show that user-initiated communication of emoticons is experienced as more intimate than automatic communication. These results are discussed in light of the interpersonal process model of intimacy and can help the design of applications aimed at improving social interactions through affective communication technology. & 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Experimental/numerical study to assess mechanical properties of healthy and Marfan syndrome ascending thoracic aorta under axial and circumferential loading

Ascending thoracic aortic aneurysm (ATAA) can be a life threatening disease as it leads to a lack of function in most of the connective tissues. Marfan syndrome is a congenital connective tissue disorder that may have influence on the cardiovascular system. It has been shown that Marfan syndrome invokes a degradation of the elastin and collagen content of the aortic wall and, consequently, a remarkable weakness in the mechanical strength of the arterial wall. However, so far, the mechanical properties of the aortic wall due to Marfan syndrome have not been determined. Therefore, this study was aimed to perform a comparative experimental study to quantify the linear elastic and non-linear hyperelastic mechanical properties of the healthy and Marfan syndrome ATA. Eight healthy and Marfan aorta tissues were excised from the human body during invasive cardiac surgery and autopsy respectively. The tissue samples were subjected to the longitudinal and circumferential loadings until breakage occurred. The elastic modulus, maximum stress and strain of the ATA tissues were calculated. The non-linear mechanical behaviour of the ATA tissues was also computationally investigated using Mooney–Rivlin hyperelastic material model. The results showed that the healthy ATA tissues are stiffer in the longitudinal direction compared to the circumferential direction. The highest elastic modulus (764.10 N cm− 2) and maximum stress (298.18 N cm− 2) were observed for the Marfan ATA wall in the longitudinal direction, while the healthy ATA tissues showed the axial elastic modulus and maximum stress of 367.08 and 220.14 N cm− 2 respectively. The hyperelastic material model also well defined the non-linear mechanical behaviour of the ATA tissues. These results may have implications not only for understanding the mechanical properties of the healthy and Marfan ATA tissues but also for a wide range of clinical applications, including valve repair or replacement.
Anxiety disorders in children and adolescents: research, assessment and intervention (second edition)

Anxiety disorders are among the most prevalent mental health problems in childhood and adolescence. This fully revised new edition is an authoritative guide to the understanding and assessment of anxiety disorders in the young. The first section covers historical and conceptual issues, including cognitive and developmental processes, clinical and theoretical models, phenomenology and classification, and evidence-based assessment. Subsequent sections cover the biology of child and adolescent anxiety, and environmental influences including traumatic events, parenting and the impact of the peer group. The final section addresses prevention and treatment of anxiety. All chapters incorporate new advances in the field, explicitly differentiate between children and adolescents, and incorporate a developmental perspective. Written and edited by an international team of leading experts in the field, this is a key text for researchers, practitioners, students and clinical trainees with interests in child and adolescent anxiety