Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A New Device-Physics-Based Noise Margin/Logic Swing Model of Surrounding-Gate MOSFET Working on Subthreshold Logic Gate

In this paper, we present a device-physics-based noise margin (NM)/logic swing (LS) model of surrounding-gate (SRG) MOSFET working on subthreshold CMOS logic gates. Based on the device physics and equivalent transistor model, theoretical analysis of the main dc parameters, including LS and NM for SRG MOSFET operating in low-voltage condition, is revealed. It is shown that the device parameters, such as the thick silicon thickness tsi, thick gate oxide thickness tox, and short channel length Lg, can severely degrade the LS and NM. On the contrary, both the small subthreshold slope η and balanced transistor strength S induced by device parameters can suppress the NM and LS degradation efficiently. The required minimum supply voltage Vdd,min for the subthreshold CMOS logic gate is derived by the criterion of the NM ≥ KT/q to ensure the correct logic gate operation. Being similar to DIBL, both NM and LS degraded by the device parameters can also be uniquely determined and controlled by the scaling factor according to scaling theory. Finally, considerations on the impact of process/voltage/temperature variation are also included for NM/LS behavior analysis.
Neural Network architectures design by Cellular Automata evolution

The design of the architecture is a crucial step in the successful application of a neural network. However, the architecture design is basically, in most cases, a human experts job. The design depends heavily on both, the expert experience and on a tedious trial-and-error process. Therefore, the development of automatic methods to determine the architecture of feedforward neural networks is a field of interest in the neural network community. These methods are generally based on search techniques, as genetic algorithms, simulated annealing or evolutionary strategies. Most of the designed methods are based on direct representation of the parameters of the network. This representation does not allow scalability, so to represent large architectures very large structures are required. In this work, an indirect constructive encoding scheme is proposed to find optimal architectures of feed-forward neural networks. This scheme is based on cellular automata representations in order to increase the scalability of the method.
Adaptive Bayesian networks for video processing

Due to its static nature, the inference capability of Bayesian networks (BNs) often deteriorates when the basis of input data varies, especially in video processing applications where the environment often changes constantly. This paper presents an adaptive BN where the network parameters are adjusted in accordance to input variations. An efficient retraining method is introduced for updating the parameters and the proposed network is applied to shadow removal in video sequence processing with quantitative results demonstrating the significance of adapting the network with environmental changes.
Discriminative topic modeling based on manifold learning

Topic modeling has been popularly used for data analysis in various domains including text documents. Previous topic models, such as probabilistic Latent Semantic Analysis (pLSA) and Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA), have shown impressive success in discovering low-rank hidden structures for modeling text documents. These models, however, do not take into account the manifold structure of data, which is generally informative for the non-linear dimensionality reduction mapping. More recent models, namely Laplacian PLSI (LapPLSI) and Locally-consistent Topic Model (LTM), have incorporated the local manifold structure into topic models and have shown the resulting benefits. But these approaches fall short of the full discriminating power of manifold learning as they only enhance the proximity between the low-rank representations of neighboring pairs without any consideration for non-neighboring pairs. In this paper, we propose Discriminative Topic Model (DTM) that separates non-neighboring pairs from each other in addition to bringing neighboring pairs closer together, thereby preserving the global manifold structure as well as improving the local consistency. We also present a novel model fitting algorithm based on the generalized EM and the concept of Pareto improvement. As a result, DTM achieves higher classification performance in a semi-supervised setting by effectively exposing the manifold structure of data. We provide empirical evidence on text corpora to demonstrate the success of DTM in terms of classification accuracy and robustness to parameters compared to state-of-the-art techniques.
Targeting microsomal triglyceride transfer protein and lipoprotein assembly to treat homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia

Abstract Homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HoFH) is a polygenic disease arising from defects in the clearance of plasma low-density lipoprotein (LDL), which results in extremely elevated plasma LDL cholesterol (LDL-C) and increased risk of atherosclerosis, coronary heart disease, and premature death. Conventional lipid-lowering therapies, such as statins and ezetimibe, are ineffective at lowering plasma cholesterol to safe levels in these patients. Other therapeutic options, such as LDL apheresis and liver transplantation, are inconvenient, costly, and not readily available. Recently, lomitapide was approved by the Federal Drug Administration as an adjunct therapy for the treatment of HoFH. Lomitapide inhibits microsomal triglyceride transfer protein (MTP), reduces lipoprotein assembly and secretion, and lowers plasma cholesterol levels by over 50%. Here, we explain the steps involved in lipoprotein assembly, summarize the role of MTP in lipoprotein assembly, explore the clinical and molecular basis of HoFH, and review pre-clinical studies and clinical trials with lomitapide and other MTP inhibitors for the treatment of HoFH. In addition, ongoing research and new approaches underway for better treatment modalities are discussed.
A Novel Isolation Technique for Closely Spaced PIFAs for UMTS Mobile Phones

In this letter, a novel port-to-port isolation technique suitable for a two-antenna system positioned at the top corner of a mobile phone is presented. The chosen planar inverted-F antennas (PIFAs) are intended to operate in the UMTS band [1.92-2.17] GHz and more precisely in the UMTS Rx band for diversity purpose. First, the distance between the PIFAs is severely reduced to 4 mm (0.027 lambda0) in order to obtain a very compact system. This proximal placement causes an increase of the insertion loss between the feeding ports of the PIFAs and therefore degrades the overall diversity performance of the two-antenna system. To compensate for this effect, the neutralization technique previously proposed by the same authors is implemented. Then, a novel way to implement this technique is studied to further improve the PIFAs' port-to-port isolation. It consists in achieving the neutralization of the antennas trough folded lines connected to the printed circuit board (PCB). A new prototype is fabricated and measured. The S-parameters and the total efficiency are presented. Additionally, the most important diversity metrics are computed to evaluate the potential of this novel two-antenna system for diversity applications in the UMTS Rx mode.
Determination of Leukotoxin Structural Gene (LktA) of Mannheimia haemolytica Isolates from Bovine Pneumonia in Japan during 2010

This study was conducted to provide fundamental information on the capsular serotype and leukotoxin structural gene (lktA) genotypes of Mannheimia haemolytica field isolates from cattle with pneumonic pasteurellosis in Japan during 2010. Of the 54 isolates serotyped, 29 (53.7%) were serotype A1, 10 (18.5%) were serotype A2, 8 (14.8%) were serotype A6, and 7 (13.0%)
Integrated and enhanced e-assessment forms for learning: Scenarios from ALICE project

The emergence of Web 2.0 and the influence of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) have fostered e-learning to be more interactive, challenging, and situated. As a result, learners felt empowered when they are engaged in collaborative learning activities and self-directed learning. The learners are also provided with e-learning systems that would maintain their social identity and situated learning experience. Given the different learning styles of students, educators are faced with the challenge of having to develop assessments which are required to appraise the students' learning process. This paper discusses two main scenarios of integrated and enhanced e-assessment forms form an EC-funded project named ALICE. The two scenarios of enhanced forms of e-assessment are used in collaborative learning activities and self-directed learning. Results have shown that integrated self, peer-assessment activities can be used to support students learning. Moreover, they provide valuable feedback in order to scaffold students learning.
Effects of selenium on development, survival, and accumulation in the honeybee (Apis mellifera L.)

Apis mellifera L. (Hymenoptera: Apidae) is an important agricultural pollinator in the United States and throughout the world. In areas of selenium (Se) contamination, honeybees may be at risk because of the biotransfer of Se from plant products such as nectar and pollen. Several forms of Se can occur in accumulating plants. In the present study, the toxicity of 4 compounds (selenate, selenite, methylselenocysteine, and selenocystine) to honeybee adult foragers and larvae was assessed using dose–response bioassays. Inorganic forms were more toxic than organic forms for both larvae (lethal concentration [LC50] selenate = 0.72 mg L−1, LC50 selenite = 1.0 mg L−1, LC50 methylselenocysteine = 4.7 mg L−1, LC50 selenocystine = 4.4 mg L−1) and foragers (LC50 selenate = 58 mg L−1, LC50 selenite = 58 mg L−1, LC50 methylselenocysteine = 161 mg L−1, LC50 selenocystine = 148 mg L−1). Inorganic forms of Se caused rapid mortality, and organic forms had sublethal effects on development. Larvae accumulated substantial amounts of Se only at the highest doses, whereas foragers accumulated large quantities at all doses. The present study documented very low larval LC50 values for Se; even modest transfer to brood will likely cause increased development times and mortality. The toxicities of the various forms of Se to honeybee larvae and foragers are discussed in comparison with other insect herbivores and detritivores. Environ Toxicol Chem 2013;32:2584–2592. © 2013 SETAC
Reproductive Biology and Endocrinology Open Access Immunohistochemical Localization of Integrin Alpha V Beta 3 and Osteopontin Suggests That They Do Not Interact during Embryo Implantation in Ruminants

Background: It has been suggested that trophoblast attachment requires co-expression of integrin alpha V beta 3 and its ligand osteopontin at the fetal-maternal interface. Until now the expression patterns of integrin alpha V beta 3 and osteopontin in the pregnant bovine uterus were unknown. The objectives of this study were to localize integrin alpha V beta 3 and osteopontin in bovine and sheep endometrium during the periimplantation period and to compare the distribution patterns using antibodies that had not yet been tested in sheep.
B Cell Subsets in Atherosclerosis

Atherosclerosis, the underlying cause of heart attacks and strokes, is a chronic inflammatory disease of the artery wall. Immune cells, including lymphocytes modulate atherosclerotic lesion development through interconnected mechanisms. Elegant studies over the past decades have begun to unravel a role for B cells in atherosclerosis. Recent findings provide evidence that B cell effects on atherosclerosis may be subset-dependent. B-1a B cells have been reported to protect from atherosclerosis by secretion of natural IgM antibodies. Conventional B-2 B cells can promote atherosclerosis through less clearly defined mechanism that may involve CD4 T cells. Yet, there may be other populations of B cells within these subsets with different phenotypes altering their impact on atherosclerosis. Additionally, the role of B cell subsets in atherosclerosis may depend on their environmental niche and/or the stage of atherogenesis. This review will highlight key findings in the evolving field of B cells and atherosclerosis and touch on the potential and importance of translating these findings to human disease.
Intuitionistic Light Affine Logic

This article is a structured introduction to Intuitionistic Light Affine Logic (ILAL). ILAL has a polynomially costing normalization, and it is expressive enough to encode, and simulate, all PolyTime Turing machines. The bound on the normalization cost is proved by introducing the proof-nets for ILAL. The bound follows from a suitable normalization strategy that exploits structural properties of the proof-nets. This allows us to have a good understanding of the meaning of the § modality, which is a peculiarity of light logics. The expressive power of ILAL is demonstrated in full detail. Such a proof gives a hint of the nontrivial task of programming with resource limitations, using ILAL derivations as programs.
Reachability and distance queries via 2-hop labels

Reachability and distance queries in graphs are fundamental to numerous applications, ranging from geographic navigation systems to Internet routing. Some of these applications involve huge graphs and yet require fast query answering. We propose a new data structure for representing all distances in a graph. The data structure is distributed in the sense that it may be viewed as assigning labels to the vertices, such that a query involving vertices u and v may be answered using only the labels of u and v.Our labels are based on 2-hop covers of the shortest paths, or of all paths, in a graph. For shortest paths, such a cover is a collection S of shortest paths such that for every two vertices u and v, there is a shortest path from u to v that is a concatenation of two paths from S. We describe an efficient algorithm for finding an almost optimal 2-hop cover of a given collection of paths. Our approach is general and can be applied to directed or undirected graphs, exact or approximate shortest paths, or to reachability queries.We study the proposed data structure using a combination of theoretical and experimental means. We implemented our algorithm and checked the size of the resulting data structure on several real-life networks from different application areas. Our experiments show that the total size of the labels is typically not much larger than the network itself, and is usually considerably smaller than an explicit representation of the transitive closure of the network.
Quantitative proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy of the human cervical spinal cord at 3 tesla

Cervical spinal cord spectroscopy has the potential to add metabolic information to spinal cord MRI and improve the clinical evaluation and research investigation of spinal cord diseases, such as multiple sclerosis (MS) and intraspinal tumors. However, in vivo proton MR spectroscopy (1H‐MRS) of the spinal cord is difficult to perform due to magnetic field inhomogeneities, physiological movements, and the size of the anatomical region of interest (ROI). For these reasons, few spinal cord 1H‐MRS studies have been undertaken and two preliminary studies on a 3T system were only recently presented as abstracts. In this work we demonstrate the feasibility of cervical spinal cord quantitative 1H‐MRS on a clinical 3T system, propose a study protocol, and report quantification results obtained from healthy volunteers. The main metabolite concentration ratios obtained in 10 healthy subjects, as provided by LCModel, were as follows: total N‐acetyl aspartate/creatine (tNAA/Cr) 1.4 ± 0.3, choline/creatine (Cho/Cr) 0.5 ± 0.1, and myoinositol/creatine (mI/Cr) 1.7 ± 0.2. A significant difference was found between spinal cord tNAA, Cr, Cho, and mI concentration ratios and brainstem concentrations previously acquired on the same system. Magn Reson Med 57:160–163, 2007. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
A method for frame-by-frame us to CT registration in a joint calibration and registration framework

A method is presented for achieving robust joint calibration and registration in ultrasound (US) to CT registration for computer assisted orthopedic surgery. We propose using an effectively real-time frame- by-frame registration algorithm during US image acquisition. This approach provides more control to the surgeon, is more robust to initial conditions, and is computationally efficient. We then use the estimated registration of the frame-by-frame method to initialize a joint calibration and registration algorithm, and this is shown to produce over all more accurate and repeatable results. Experiments are performed using simulated US images of the lumbar vertebra and the distal femur as potential areas of interest for surgical applications.
A Hybrid Online Intervention for Reducing Sedentary Behavior in Obese Women

Sedentary behavior (SB) has emerged as an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. While exercise is known to reduce these risks, reducing SB through increases in non-structured PA and breaks from sitting may appeal to obese women who have lower self-efficacy for PA. This study examined effects of a combined face-to-face and online intervention to reduce SB in overweight and obese women. A two-group quasi-experimental study was used with measures taken pre and post. Female volunteers (M age = 58.5, SD = 12.5 years) were enrolled in the intervention (n = 40) or waitlisted (n = 24). The intervention, based on the Social Cognitive Theory, combined group sessions with email messages over 6 weeks. Individualized feedback to support mastery and peer models of active behaviors were included in the emails. Participants self-monitored PA with a pedometer. Baseline and post measures of PA and SB were assessed by accelerometer and self-report. Standard measures of height, weight, and waist circumference were conducted. Repeated measures ANOVA was used for analyses. Self-reported SB and light PA in the intervention group (I) changed significantly over time [SB, F(1, 2) = 3.81, p = 0.03, light PA, F(1, 2) = 3.39, p = 0.04]. Significant Group × Time interactions were found for light PA, F(1, 63) = 5.22, p = 0.03, moderate PA, F(1, 63) = 3.90, p = 0.05, and for waist circumference, F(1, 63) = 16.0, p = 0.001. The intervention group decreased significantly while the comparison group was unchanged. Hybrid computer interventions to reduce SB may provide a non-exercise alternative for increasing daily PA and potentially reduce waist circumference, a risk factor for type 2 diabetes. Consumer-grade accelerometers may aide improvements to PA and SB and should be tested as part of future interventions.
Enhanced prefrontal serotonin 2A receptor signaling in the subchronic phencyclidine mouse model of schizophrenia

Prefrontal serotonin 2A receptors (5‐HT2ARs) have been linked to the pathogenesis and treatment of schizophrenia. Many antipsychotics fully occupy 5‐HT2AR at clinical relevant doses, and activation of 5‐HT2A receptors by lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and LSD‐like drugs induces a schizophrenia‐like psychosis in humans. Subchronic phencyclidine (PCP) administration is a well‐established model for schizophrenia‐like symptoms in rodents. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether subchronic PCP administration changes expression, binding, or functionality of cortical 5‐HT2ARs. As a measure of 5‐HT2AR functionality, we used the 5‐HT2AR agonist 2,5‐dimethoxy‐4‐iodoamphetamine (DOI)‐induced head‐twitch response (HTR) and mRNA expression of the immediate‐early genes (IEGs) activity‐related cytoskeletal associated‐protein (Arc), c‐fos, and early growth response protein 2 (egr‐2) in the frontal cortex. Mice were treated with PCP (10 mg/kg) or saline for 10 days, followed by a 5‐day washout period. The PCP pretreatment increased the overall induction of HTR and frontal cortex IEG mRNA expression following a single challenge with DOI. These functional changes were not associated with changes in 5‐HT2AR binding. Also, binding of the 5‐HT1AR and the 5‐HT transporter was unaffected. Finally, basal mRNA level of Arc was increased in the prefrontal cortex after subchronic PCP administration as revealed with in situ hybridization. Together these findings indicate that PCP administration produces changes in the brain that result in an increase in the absolute effect of DOI. Therefore, neurotransmission involving the 5‐HT2AR could contribute to the behavioral deficits observed after PCP treatment. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Disrupting the circadian clock: Gene-specific effects on aging, cancer, and other phenotypes

The circadian clock imparts 24-hour rhythmicity on gene expression and cellular physiology in virtually all cells. Disruption of the genes necessary for the circadian clock to function has diverse effects, including aging-related phenotypes. Some circadian clock genes have been described as tumor suppressors, while other genes have less clear functions in aging and cancer. In this Review, we highlight a recent study [Dubrovsky et al., Aging 2: 936-944, 2010] and discuss the much larger field examining the relationship between circadian clock genes, circadian rhythmicity, aging-related phenotypes, and cancer.
A novel interaction between Rab7b and actomyosin reveals a dual role in intracellular transport and cell migration

ABSTRACT Rab proteins are small GTPases that regulate transport between the different compartments of the endomembrane system in eukaryotic cells. Here, we show that Rab7b, a Rab that controls the transport between late endosomes and the trans Golgi network, interacts directly with myosin II. We illustrate the functional relevance of this interaction, demonstrating that myosin II mediates the transport of Rab7b endosomes, as Rab7b dynamics are strongly affected after myosin II depletion or inhibition. We also demonstrate that a member of the Rab family regulates actin remodeling and, consequently, influences cell adhesion, polarization and migration. We find the molecular mechanism by which Rab7b influences stress fiber formation – through controlling the activation status of the small GTPase RhoA and therefore influencing myosin light chain phosphorylation. Our findings reveal a newly identified role for Rab proteins outside of their canonical role in intracellular trafficking, identifying Rab7b as a coordinator of cytoskeletal organization.
Persistent tracking of a dynamic target by a mobile robot

A novel pursuing algorithm, together with a new experiment method, is introduced to drive a nonholonomic mobile robot tracking a dynamic target in the framework of pursuit-evasion game. Specifically, a pan-tilt with an on-board camera is attached to the mobile robot to construct a tracking system, which greatly improves the maneuverability compared with the traditional method. To keep the target close enough to the vision center of the camera, a control technique is devised according to its kinematic model and Lyapunov theory. By utilizing game theory, the viability set is determined. A tracking controller is employed to guarantee persistent tracking for the dynamic target, where the relative position between the target and the robot is successfully acquired from the visual measurements by the utilization of geometric analysis. Both simulation and experimental results are provided to illustrate the performance of the controller.