Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Visual evoked potential in RCS rats with Okayama University-type retinal prosthesis (OURePTM) implantation

Blind patients with hereditary retinal diseases, such as retinitis pigmentosa, have dead photoreceptor cells, but the other retinal neurons, which send axons to the brain, remain alive. The basic concept of retinal prostheses is to replace dead photoreceptor cells with artificial devices and to exploit the function of these living neurons, and finally to send messages to the brain, following artificial stimulation in response to light [1]. A current trend on retinal prostheses has focused on the use of arrays of electrodes [2]. In 2013, Argus IITM Retinal Prosthesis System (Second Sight, Inc.) which uses the socalled “camera image-capture and electrode-array output system” was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) [2]. The image is captured by a digital video camera attached to glasses, and converted to electric signals. These signals are transmitted to a receiver implanted in the body, and finally, electric currents are outputted from an electrode array that is implanted around the degenerated retina. The challenges with these approaches include miniaturizing the devices, biocompatibility, low resolution, and low electric currents which often demand an external power source. The prototype of the photoelectric dye-based retinal prosthesis, called Okayama University-type retinal prosthesis or OURePTM, is unique in using electric potentials to Abstract Photoelectric dye-coupled polyethylene film, designated Okayama University type-retinal prosthesis or OURePTM, generates light-evoked surface electric potentials and stimulates neurons. The dye-coupled films or plain films were implanted subretinally in both eyes of 10 Royal College of Surgeons rats with hereditary retinal dystrophy at the age of 6 weeks. Visual evoked potentials in response to monocular flashing light stimuli were recorded from cranially-fixed electrodes, 4 weeks and 8 weeks after the implantation. After the recording, subretinal film implantation was confirmed histologically in 7 eyes with dye-coupled films and 7 eyes with plain films. The recordings from these 7 eyes in each group were used for statistical analysis. The amplitudes of visual evoked potentials in the consecutive time points from 125 to 250 ms after flash were significantly larger in the 7 eyes with dye-coupled film implantation, compared to the 7 eyes with plain film implantation at 8 weeks after the implantation (P < 0.05, repeated-measure Others
GROWTH: THE ROLE OF EDUCATION

We generalize a trade model with firm-specific heterogeneity and R&D-based growth to allow for an endogenous education decision of households and an endogenously evolving population. Our framework is able to explain cross-country differences in living standards and trade intensities by the differential pace of human capital accumulation among industrialized countries. Consistent with the empirical evidence, scale matters for relative economic prosperity as long as countries are closed, whereas scale does not matter in a fully globalized world. Interestingly, however, the average human capital level of a country influences its relative economic prosperity irrespective of its trade-openness. While being consistent with the empirical evidence, our framework has the additional advantage that steady-state growth of income does not hinge on the unrealistic assumption of an ever expanding population. JEL classification: F10, I25, O31, O41.
Unions, Salaries, and the Market for Teachers: Evidence from Wisconsin∗

A careful study of teachers’ labor demand and supply, while extremely relevant for policy, is challenging due to a lack of variation in pay, as teacher salaries are usually set using steps-and-lanes schedules based entirely on seniority and academic credentials. This paper exploits the passage of Act 10 in Wisconsin in 2011, which changed the scope of collective bargaining on teacher salaries, to study the effects of changes in pay on teachers’ labor market, and on the composition of the teaching workforce. As a result of this law some districts started to individually negotiate salaries with each teacher, whereas other districts continued setting salaries using seniority-based schedules. I first document an increase in salary dispersion in individual-salaries districts, and show that it is correlated with teacher value-added. Teachers responded to changes in pay by sorting across districts or by exiting: I find a 34 percent increase in the quality of teachers moving from salaryschedule to individual-salary districts, and a 17 percent decrease in the quality of teachers exiting individual-salary districts. Building from this reduced-form evidence, I estimate the parameters of teachers’ labor supply and demand using a two-sided choice model. Simulating the model on different salary schemes shows that an increase in the quality component of salaries in one district is associated with an improvement in average quality of the teaching workforce, driven by both in-movements of higher-quality teachers and out-movements and exits of lower-quality teachers. An increase in all districts is, however, associated with a smaller improvement, entirely attributable to exits of lower-quality teachers. JEL codes: I20, J31, J45, J51, J61, J63
Development of Calcium-Polyphosphate Particles for Therapeutic Delivery in the Joint

ii Résumé . iv Statement of Originality . iv Statement of Contribution . vii Acknowledgement . ix List of Abbreviations . xiv List of Tables . xvi List of Figures . xvii CHAPTER 1 – INTRODUCTION . 1 1.1. Thesis Hypotheses . 2 1.2. Thesis Objectives . 3 1.3. Thesis Organization. 3 CHAPTER 2 – LITERATURE REVIEW . 4 2.1. Articular Cartilage (AC). 4 2.1.1. Functions of AC. 4 2.1.2. Composition of the AC ECM . 5 2.1.3. Organization of the AC ECM . 7 2.2. OA . 10 2.2.2. Clinical treatments for OA . 12
Self-Determined Engagement in Language Learning: The Relations among Autonomy-Support, Psychological Needs, and Engagement

Cok boyutlu bir kavram olan ders katilimi, son gunlerde egitim arastirmalarinda buyuk ilgi gorse de bu konuyla ilgili yabanci dil ogreniminde yeterli calisma yoktur. Oz-belirleme teorisi ve oz sistem motivasyonel gelisim modeline dayanan bu calisma, motivasyonel benlik sisteminin eylem bileseni olan ders katiliminin Ingilizcenin yabanci dil olarak ogretildigi siniflardaki rolunu arastirmaktadir. Calisma, ogrenme ortami (algilanan ogretmen ozerklik destegi), oz-benlik (psikolojik ihtiyaclar) ve eylem (dil siniflarinda ders katilimi) arasindaki iliskileri araci degisken modeli ile test etmektedir. Calismaya, 412 Ingilizce ogrencisi katilmis olup degiskenlerle ilgili anketleri doldurmuslardir. Arastirma sonuclari, ogrencilerin ders katiliminin ogrencilerin temel psikolojik ihtiyaclari tarafindan dogrudan ve ozerklik destekli sinif ortami tarafindan da dolayli olarak yordandigini gostermistir. Ayrica, algilanan ogretmen ozerklik destegi, ders katilimini dolaysiz olarak yordamaktadir. Calisma sonuclari ders katiliminda ogrencilerin benlik sisteminin rolunu ve ogretmenlerin dil ogrenimindeki onemini vurgulamaktadir. Calisma, yabanci dil siniflarinda ders katiliminin ogrenme kalitesine olan katkisini anlamamiza yardimci olmaktadir. Ayrica, yabanci dil ogretmenleri ve egitimcilerine ogrencilerin derste aktif katiliminin artirilmasi icin ogretmenlerin ozerklik destekleyici ogretmen davranislari benimsemeleri gerektigini onermektedir.
Solar Septic Tank: Next Generation Sequencing Reveals Effluent Microbial Community Composition as a Useful Index of System Performance

Septic tanks are widely deployed for off-grid sewage management but are typified by poor treatment performance, discharge of polluting effluents and the requirement for frequent de-sludging. The Solar Septic Tank (SST) is a novel septic tank design that uses passive heat from the sun to raise in-tank temperatures and improves solids degradation, resulting in a cleaner effluent. Treatment has been shown to exceed conventional systems, however, the underlying biology driving treatment in the system is poorly understood. We used next generation sequencing (Illumina Miseq (San Diego, CA, USA), V4 region 16S DNA) to monitor the microbiology in the sludge and effluent of two mature systems, a conventional septic tank and an SST, during four months of routine operation in Bangkok, Thailand, and evaluated the ecology against a suite of operating and performance data collected during the same time period. Significant differences were observed between the microbiome of the sludge and effluent in each system and the dominant taxa in each appeared persistent over time. Furthermore, variation in the microbial community composition in the system effluents correlated with effluent water quality and treatment performance parameters, including the removal of chemical and biochemical oxygen demand and the concentration of fecal and total coliforms in the effluent. Thus, we propose that a wide-scale survey of the biology underlying decentralised biotechnologies for sewage treatment such as the SST could be conducted by sampling system effluent rather than sampling sludge. This is advantageous as accessing sludge during sampling is both hazardous and potentially disruptive to the anaerobic methanogenic consortia underlying treatment in the systems.
Clubroot Disease of Canola and Mustard C

However, enforcement of pest control measures is the responsibility of the municipal authority, and Agricultural Fieldmen are responsible for enforcing pest control measures in their municipalities. Pest inspectors have the power to enter land at a reasonable hour, without permission, to inspect for clubroot and collect samples. The owner or occupant of the land has the responsibility for taking measures to prevent the establishment and spread of clubroot.
Joint Statistical Modeling of Received Power, Mean Delay, and Delay Spread for Indoor Wideband Radio Channels

We propose a joint statistical model for the received power, mean delay, and rms delay spread, which are derived from the temporal moments of the radio channel responses. Indoor wideband measurements from two different data sets show that the temporal moments are strongly correlated random variables with skewed marginals. Based on the observations, we propose a multivariate log-normal model for the temporal moments, and validate it using the experimental data sets. The proposed model is found to be flexible, as it fits different data sets well. The model can be used to jointly simulate the received power, mean delay, and rms delay spread. We conclude that independent fitting and simulation of these statistical properties is insufficient in capturing the dependencies we observe in the data.
Pulmonary Function Test Disorders in Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients – A Hospital Based Study

Original Research Article In a hospital based case control study, in which 50 patients of RA and 50 healthy controls were studied with respect to their demography, disease activity, disease duration and PFT. Mean age of Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients and controls was 46.86±10.51 and 46.68±10.65 years respectively. Patients and controls were in the age group of 40-49 and 50-59. RA group constituted 16(32%) and control group constituted 6(12%) of smokers (p=0.0016). Mean BMI in the RA patients was significantly lower compared to controls (p=0.027). RA patients had significantly lower mean FVC% compared to controls (p<0.001). Mean FEV1% was also significantly lower in RA patients compared to the controls (p<0.001). Mean FEV1/FVC in RA patients was significantly reduced than in controls (p=0.012). However mean disease duration 5.98±4.3 years showed no significance with PFT abnormality. Also mean DAS28 showed no relation with PFT abnormality. Obstructive and Restrictive pulmonary dysfunction was found in 14(28%) and 19(38%) in RA patients respectively compared to that of 0% and 2(4%) in healthy controls respectively (p<0.001). However use of drugs like Methotrexate, Leflunomide and others in RA patients showed less significance with lung function abnormality. Also spirometric indices like FVC, FEV1, and FEV1/FVC were found to be reduced in smoking RA patients compared to RA patients independent of smoking. From the above observations it can be concluded that pulmonary dysfunction in RA patients diagnosed by Pulmonary Function Test may pick up the abnormality early and confer a chance of early intervention.
Nanocarriers for Stroke Therapy: Advances and Obstacles in Translating Animal Studies

Abstract The technology of drug delivery systems (DDS) has expanded into many applications, such as for treating neurological disorders. Nanoparticle DDS offer a unique strategy for targeted transport and improved outcomes of therapeutics. Stroke is likely to benefit from the emergence of this technology though clinical breakthroughs are yet to manifest. This review explores the recent advances in this field and provides insight on the trends, prospects and challenges of translating this technology to clinical application. Carriers of diverse material compositions are presented, with special focus on the surface properties and emphasis on the similarities and inconsistencies among in vivo experimental paradigms. Research attention is scattered among various nanoparticle DDS and various routes of drug administration, which expresses the lack of consistency among studies. Analysis of current literature reveals lipid- and polymer-based DDS as forerunners of DDS for stroke; however, cell membrane-derived vesicles (CMVs) possess the competitive edge due to their innate biocompatibility and superior efficacy. Conversely, inorganic and carbon-based DDS offer different functionalities as well as varied capacity for loading but suffer mainly from poor safety and general lack of investigation in this area. This review supports the existing literature by systematizing presently available data and accounting for the differences in drugs of choice, carrier types, animal models, intervention strategies and outcome parameters.
Robust Optimality of TIN under Secrecy Constraints

Author(s): Chan, Yao-chia; Geng, Chunhua; Jafar, Syed A | Abstract: A parameter regime is identified where the simple scheme of treating interference as Gaussian noise (TIN), with power control and jamming, is optimal for the secure generalized degrees of freedom (GDoF) region of Gaussian broadcast networks under the robust assumption of finite-precision channel state information at the transmitter (CSIT). The network consists of one transmitter equipped with K antennas, and K single-antenna receivers. The results are generalized to groupcast (equivalently, compound broadcast) settings where each message is desired by a disjoint group of receivers. Noting that messages are independently encoded in the GDoF-optimal scheme, the result for the broadcast channel is extended to its counterpart Gaussian interference channel under finite precision CSIT. Evidently, both secrecy constraints and finite precision CSIT limit the benefits of more sophisticated schemes, leading to optimality of simpler schemes for larger parameter regimes. Aligned Image bounds are the key to the proof of optimality for these larger parameter regimes under finite precision CSIT.
A Neural Network‐Based Ionospheric Model Over Africa From Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate and Ground Global Positioning System Observations

The first regional total electron content (TEC) model over the entire African region (known as AfriTEC model) using empirical observations is developed and presented. Artificial neural networks were used to train TEC observations obtained from Global Positioning System receivers, both on ground and onboard the Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate satellites for the African region from years 2000 to 2017. The neural network training was implemented using inputs that enabled the networks to learn diurnal variations, seasonal variations, spatial variations, and variations that are connected with the level of solar activity, for quiet geomagnetic conditions (−20 nT ≤ Dst ≤ 20 nT). The effectiveness of three solar activity indices (sunspot number, solar radio flux at 10.7‐cm wavelength [F10.7], and solar ultraviolet [UV] flux at 1 AU) for the neural network trainings was tested. The F10.7 and UV were more effective, and the F10.7 was used as it gave the least errors on the validation data set used. Equatorial anomaly simulations show a reduced occurrence during the June solstice season. The distance of separation between the anomaly crests is typically in the range from about 11.5 ± 1.0° to 16.0 ± 1.0°. The separation is observed to widen as solar activity levels increase. During the December solstice, the anomaly region shifts southwards of the equinox locations; in year 2012, the trough shifted by about 1.5° and the southern crest shifted by over 2.5°.
Event-Based Boundary Control of a Linear $2\times 2$  Hyperbolic System via Backstepping Approach

In this paper, we introduce an event-based boundary control for a $2\times 2$ coupled linear hyperbolic system. We use a well-established backstepping controller which stabilizes the system along with a dynamic triggering condition which determines when the controller must be updated. The main contributions rely on the definition of an event-based controller under which global exponential stability of the system is achieved and, furthermore, the existence of a minimal dwell-time between two triggering times is guaranteed. The well-posedness of the system under the event-based controller is stated. A simulation example is presented to illustrate the results.
Low-intensity ultrasound enhances the antitumor effects of doxorubicin on hepatocellular carcinoma cells through the ROS-miR-21-PTEN axis

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a type of liver cancer and is a leading cause of cancer-associated mortality. In China, ~466,000 patients are diagnosed with HCC and it is responsible for ~422,000 cases of mortality each year. Surgery is the most effective treatment available; however it is only suitable for patients with early-stage HCC. Chemotherapy has been confirmed as a necessary treatment for patients with advanced HCC, although drug resistance may limit its clinical outcome. Low intensity ultrasound (LIUS) represents a novel therapeutic approach to treat patients with HCC; however, its underlying molecular mechanism remains unclear. In the present study, cell viability, apoptosis and reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation were determined via Cell Counting Kit-8, flow cytometry and 2′,7′-dichlorofluorescein diacetate assays, respectively. The expression of miRNA in HCC cells following exposure to LIUS and doxorubicin (Dox) was analyzed using a microarray and reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction analysis. It was revealed treatment with LIUS in combination with Dox was able to induce apoptosis of Huh7 cells, increasing the intracellular levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and malondialdehyde. Glutathione peroxidase and superoxide dismutase 1 are ROS-scavenging enzymes, which serve important roles in the oxidative balance, preventing oxidative stress. The protein expression levels of these two enzymes were significantly decreased following treatment with LIUS combined with Dox. The present results suggested that LIUS may decrease Dox resistance in HCC cells and that LIUS may be combined with chemotherapy to treat HCC. By performing microarray analysis, the expression levels of microRNA-21 (miR-21) were decreased following treatment with LIUS combined with Dox. Functional experiments showed that knockdown of miR-21 enhanced the antitumor activity of Dox, whereas overexpression of miR-21 reversed these effects. Phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN), a well-known tumor suppressor, was revealed to be a direct target of miR-21, and its translation was suppressed by miR-21. Finally, it was determined that combined treatment of LIUS and Dox induced anticancer effects by blocking the activation of the AKT/mTOR pathway, as demonstrated by the downregulation of phosphorylated (p-)AKT and p-mTOR; N-acetylcysteine, a general ROS inhibitor reversed the suppressive effects on the AKT/mTOR pathway mediated by LIUS and Dox. Collectively, the present results suggested that LIUS increased cell sensitivity to Dox via the ROS/miR-21/PTEN pathway. Chemotherapy combined with LIUS may represent a novel effective therapeutic strategy to treat patients with advanced HCC.
Effects of the Linguistics Processing: Palatals in Brazilian Portuguese and the Sociolinguistic Monitor

This paper provides new empirical support for the sociolinguistic monitor hypothesis, replicating Labov et al.’s (2006, 2011) study with an experiment that examines perceptual reactions to alternating distributions of the /t,d/ variable in Brazilian Portuguese, in the context of a professional news broadcast on health and welfare. Two different simulated passages were constructed, containing tokens of /t,d/ before and after /i/, respectively, that were read with stops and palatals. The participants (N=304) rated each passage on a seven-point scale of professionalism. An analysis of variance reveals a main effect of context in mean rates and response time: the speaker evaluation on the professionalism scale for the regressive context stimuli differed significantly from the progressive context, but, interestingly, the response time to the palatal realization in the regressive context, the positively evaluated variant, is greater than for the progressive. It suggests that can there be a cognitive effort to process incoming changes, and that speakers pay more attention to the social context, which is learned at school. In the regressive context, the proportion of palatals is not significant, but in the progressive context it is, which partially corroborates the hypothesis that the sociolinguistic monitor is sensitive to frequency (in negative stereotype variables). This working paper is available in University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics: https://repository.upenn. edu/pwpl/vol25/iss2/4
Solo Mothers After Assisted Conception and Their Experiences with Postnatal Care

Purpose To explore solo mothers’ postnatal caring experiences. Patients and Methods A qualitative interview study including nine solo mothers living in six different counties in Norway. The mothers had a total of twelve children conceived through assisted fertilization and donor sperm. Systematic text condensation was used to analyze the data. Results The first theme described how the decision to be a solo mother entailed responsibility and rendered solo mothers vulnerable. Secondly, it was valuable, but sometimes surprising, to be met with care and interest, but, and finally, bending standard rules and regulation of the postnatal ward proved necessary to fit the needs of solo mothers. Conclusion Solo mothers see themselves as different from other mothers, and the results of this study underline that solo mothers’ individual needs are not always met in postnatal care.