Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Genomic Variants and Multilevel Regulation of ABCA1, ABCG1, and SCARB1 Expression in Atherogenesis

Atheroprotective properties of human plasma high-density lipoproteins (HDLs) are determined by their involvement in reverse cholesterol transport (RCT) from the macrophage to the liver. ABCA1, ABCG1, and SR-BI cholesterol transporters are involved in cholesterol efflux from macrophages to lipid-free ApoA-I and HDL as a first RCT step. Molecular determinants of RCT efficiency that may possess diagnostic and therapeutic meaning remain largely unknown. This review summarizes the progress in studying the genomic variants of ABCA1, ABCG1, and SCARB1, and the regulation of their function at transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels in atherosclerosis. Defects in the structure and function of ABCA1, ABCG1, and SR-BI are caused by changes in the gene sequence, such as single nucleotide polymorphism or various mutations. In the transcription initiation of transporter genes, in addition to transcription factors, long noncoding RNA (lncRNA), transcription activators, and repressors are also involved. Furthermore, transcription is substantially influenced by the methylation of gene promoter regions. Post-transcriptional regulation involves microRNAs and lncRNAs, including circular RNAs. The potential biomarkers and targets for atheroprotection, based on molecular mechanisms of expression regulation for three transporter genes, are also discussed in this review.
Accounting for the social impacts of animal disease : the case of bovine tuberculosis

Bovine Tuberculosis (bTb) continues to cause turmoil for farmers and their businesses where farmers have endured the impact of the disease for extensive periods of time such is the longevity of the problem. Connections between animal disease and its social impact on humans were recognised widely during the outbreak of foot and mouth disease (FMD) in 2001. However, despite the apparent impact of bTB on farmers and the rural community, there are few studies that seek to explore and measure these social impacts. The aim of this study is to investigate problems associated with the social impacts of bTB on farmers where levels of personal well-being and farmer’s productivity are measured to establish their quality of life and its relationship with bTB. A conceptual framework was drawn up to capture the themes rising from the literature review considered as vital in establishing the social effects of bTB. This framework was used as the basis in developing a mixed methods structure to the research. This approach combined qualitative interviews and participant observation over a longitudinal time frame of eighteen months with farmers and a quantitative postal survey of a sample of farmers across Wales. The qualitative interviews were undertaken with farmers on sixteen farms within four high risk disease areas in Wales. Its aim was to understand the meaning of well-being to farmers and to identify key factors which influence it and their quality of life. The effects of bTB testing on farmers is observed alongside establishing how farmers have managed with bTB and what coping strategies they have adopted both personally and as part of their working lives. A key aim of the quantitative methodology was to establish levels of personal well-being and productivity amongst farmers using recognised scales, to explore what significant pressures affect farmers on their farms and acquire their attitudes to bTB. In qualitative interviews, farmers identified health, happiness, having a sense of worth with respect from others, and having the freedom to farm in their own right as central components to their well-being. Negative influences on well-being were recognised as the weather, red tape and bureaucracy, financial and aspects which causes pressures relative to farm management. In qualitative interviews, farmers linked the impacts of bTB with perceived poor well-being and described various coping strategies to avoid the consequences of bTB. However, survey data found that farmers with bTB were not statistically significantly more likely to have lower well-being than farmers without bTB. Farmers’ well-being appears to be connected to their trust in the Welsh Government; farmers’ perceived ability to control bTB; and their trust in others (such as vets) to help them avoid bTB. The research therefore presents a new perspective of the extent of the social impacts arising from bTB. Where other studies have indicated a relationship between the well-being of farmers and bTB, the results in this research question the extent to which these impacts exist.
Economic evaluation of degradation diagnosis for cables

Degradation diagnosis is aimed at preventing unexpected failure of electric power apparatus. It may be an effective method to prolong the service time of apparatuses. For the total economic evaluation parameters other than accuracy such as cost, interval and criterion of the diagnosis must be considered. In this paper a power cable with water-tree degradation, for which available data were relatively rich, was studied as an example of power apparatuses to discuss the economically optimum parameters of diagnosis. From the relation between accelerating-degradation period and maximum water-tree length, the probability distribution of the maximum water-tree length for the duration for which the cables have been in use was computed. The relation between maximum water-tree length and failure probability of the cable was computed by using the Weibull distribution plot of the breakdown voltage for the cables with different maximum water-tree length. From the failure probability for the cables in use and the replacement rate by diagnosis, which were computed from the probability distribution and the relation between maximum water-tree length and failure probability, we evaluated the effect of diagnosis and discussed the economic optimization of diagnostic parameters (e.g. diagnosis interval, criterion).
The Features of the Reference Frame Concomitant to the Cosmic Microwave Background

The features of reference frame, concomitant to the cosmic microwave background, immobile relatively cosmic microwave background, are considered. It is shown that the features of reference frame, concomitant to the cosmic microwave background (CMB), are determined by its properties. Any other object in the Universe and reference frame concomitant to it, is immersed in the CMB and moves relative to the reference frame concomitant to microwave background radiation. The zero pecular velocity of the reference frame concomitant to the microwave background radiation is analogous to the zero temperature on the Kelvin scale. Time in it is most rapid in relation to the time in any other reference frame, observable and measurable in any of them. The features of time, pecular speed, relative speed of two inertial RF, stellar aberration, and Doppler effect in the reference frame concomitant to the microwave background radiation are considered. According to the determined relative velocity of the two reference systems and the peculiar velocity of the reference system with the observer, the components of their relative velocity are determined. Determining the components of the relative velocity of the reference frames with determining the synchronous time for all points at any time in the reference frame concomitant to microwave background radiation, allows us to investigate the possibility of determining the speed of light "one way" and using it to navigate vehicles in distant space. Stability of angular location of heterogeneities of CMB in reference frame concomitant to CMB, allows us to use these heterogeneities for the increase of exactness of astronomic reference frames HCRF and ICRF.
An efficient approach to modeling of quasiplanar structures using the formulation of power conservation in spectral domain

An enhanced spectral domain approach (SDA) is developed for analysis of complex quasi-planar transmission lines. The method is based on a combination of the spectral domain formulation and power conservation theorem. The relationship between electric and magnetic fields is established inside dielectric layers by using the conventional SDA while the characteristic equation related to interface conditions is derived through the power conservation theorem. Maintaining the inherent advantages of the SDA, this technique is able to easily handle more complex quasi-planar structures. Generalized power formulation is also presented to calculate characteristic impedance. Convergence behavior is discussed considering the nature of power conservation. Various finlines with finite thickness of conductors are analyzed to demonstrate its applications. >
Prediction of anemia on enhanced computed tomography of the thorax using virtual non-contrast reconstructions

Abstract To determine if anemia can be predicted on enhanced computed tomography (CT) examinations of the thorax using virtual non-contrast (VNC) images, in order to support clinicians especially in diagnosing primary asymptomatic patients in daily routine. In this monocentric study, 100 consecutive patients (50 with proven anemia), who underwent a contrast-enhanced CT examination of the thorax due to various indications were included. Attenuation was measured in the descending thoracic aorta, the intraventricular septum, and the left ventricle cavity both in the conventional contrast-enhanced and in the VNC images. Two experienced radiologists annotated the delineation of a dense interventricular septum or a hyperattenuating aortic wall sign for all patients. Hemoglobin levels were then correlated with the measured attenuation values, as well as the visualization of the aortic wall or interventricular septum. Good correlation was shown between hemoglobin levels and CT attenuation values of the left ventricular cavity (r = .59), aorta (r = .56), and ratio between left ventricular cavity and the intraventricular septum (r = .57). Receiver operating characteristic curve revealed ≤ 36.5 hounsfield units (left ventricular cavity) as the threshold for diagnosing anemia. Predicting anemia by visualization of a hyperattenuating aortic wall or a dense interventricular septum yielded a specificity of 98% and 92%, respectively. Predicting anemia on enhanced CT examinations using VNC is feasible. A threshold value of ≤ 36.5 hounsfield units (left ventricular cavity) best defines anemia. Aortic wall or interventricular septum visualization on VNC is a specific anemia indicator.
A Squalene-Based Nanoemulsion for Therapeutic Delivery of Resiquimod

Agonists for toll-like receptors (TLRs) have shown promising activities against cancer. In the present study, a squalene-based nanoemulsion (NE) was loaded with resiquimod, a TLR7/8 agonist for therapeutic delivery. R848 NE was developed and characterized for long-term stability. In vitro and in vivo antitumor immunity of R848 NE were also evaluated in combination with SD-101, a CpG-containing TLR9 agonist. In vitro studies demonstrated strong long-term stability and immune responses to R848 NE. When combined with SD-101, strong antitumor activity was observed in MC38 murine colon carcinoma model with over 80% tumor growth inhibition. The combination treatment showed a 4-fold increase in systemic TNFa production and a 2.6-fold increase in Cd8a expression in tumor tissues, suggesting strong cell-mediated immune responses against the tumor. The treatment not only demonstrated a strong antitumor immunity by TLR7/8 and TLR9 activations but also induced PD-L1 upregulation in tumors, suggesting a potential therapeutic synergy with immune checkpoint inhibitors.
Forced dynamics control of PMSM drives with torsion oscillations

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to discuss the design and verification of a new control algorithm for the drive with permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) and flexible coupling based on “Forced dynamics control”. Control laws are derived and tested for the rotor and load angle control and achieve non‐oscillatory position step response with a specified settling time.Design/methodology/approach – “Forced dynamics control” is a new control technique based on feedback linearization which forces rotor or load position to follow demanded position with prescribed closed‐loop dynamics. The proposed control structure is developed in two steps: first, the feedback linearisation is applied to the rotor speed and then similar technique is used for position control loop.Findings – The proposed controller is of the cascade structure, comprising an inner speed control loop, respecting vector control principles and outer position control loop designed to control the rotor or load angle, respectively. Estimates.
Workflow for Segmentation of Caenorhabditis elegans from Fluorescence Images for the Quantitation of Lipids

The small and transparent nematode Caenorhabditis elegans is increasingly employed for phenotypic in vivo chemical screens. The influence of compounds on worm body fat stores can be assayed with Nile red staining and imaging. Segmentation of C. elegans from fluorescence images is hereby a primary task. In this paper, we present an image-processing workflow that includes machine-learning-based segmentation of C. elegans directly from fluorescence images and quantifies their Nile red lipid-derived fluorescence. The segmentation is based on a J48 classifier using pixel entropies and is refined by size-thresholding. The accuracy of segmentation was >90% in our external validation. Binarization with a global threshold set to the brightness of the vehicle control group worms of each experiment allows a robust and reproducible quantification of worm fluorescence. The workflow is available as a script written in the macro language of imageJ, allowing the user additional manual control of classification results and custom specification settings for binarization. Our approach can be easily adapted to the requirements of other fluorescence image-based experiments with C. elegans.
Overcoming challenges in refining the current generation of coronary stents

ABSTRACT Introduction Late stent thrombosis caused by delayed vascular healing and prolonged local inflammation were major drawbacks of 1st generation drug-eluting stents (DES). Strut design, biocompatibility of polymer, and drug-release profiles were improved in 2nd and 3rdgeneration DES. Accordingly, the indications for percutaneous coronary intervention with DES have been expanded to more complex patients and lesions. Despite these improvements, significant barriers such as greater flexibility in the duration of dual-antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) as well as reducing long-term stent-related events remain. To achieve ideal short- and long-term results, these existing limitations need to be overcome. Areas covered We will discuss the current limitations of coronary DES and how they might be overcome from pathological and clinical viewpoints. Expert opinion Optimizing DAPT duration after stent implantation and prevention of in-stent neoatherosclerosis are two major issues in current DES. Overcoming these drawbacks is a prerequisite toward achieving better short- and long-term clinical outcomes. New technologies including platform design, polymer types, and anti-proliferative agent itself might lead to further improvements. Although the initial experience with bioresorbable scaffold/stents (BRS) was disappointing, positive results of clinical studies regarding novel BRS are raising expectations. Overall, further device innovation is desired for overcoming the limitations of current DES.
Micromachined micropackaged filter banks and tunable bandpass filters

Low cost alternatives to conventional switched filter banks and tunable bandpass filters are investigated. Both types of filters in conventional form suffer from high cost, intricate packaging, and large weight and size. Micromachining and micropackaging were used to allow for a high performance, monolithic design on a single low cost substrate with simple conformal packaging. A micromachined micropackaged filter bank at X/Ku-band is presented. The filters are fabricated on thin dielectric membranes on silicon wafers allowing for low-loss filters on inexpensive substrates. The micropackaging provides high isolation between adjacent filters with overlapping frequency regions. Also, a novel micromachined electronically tunable filter at X-band is presented. The filter is simple to fabricate and results in a very wide tuning range with low insertion loss. An 8x microwave model was built at 1 GHz to simulate the X-band filter, and an 8 GHz filter was fabricated based on the microwave model. The filter exhibited a tuning range of over 60% for a 10% bandwidth.
Electrical and Optical Properties of Asymmetric Dielectric/Metal/Dielectric (D/M/D) Multilayer Electrode Prepared by Radio-Frequency Sputtering for Solar Cells

【Transparent and conductive multilayer thin films consisting of three alternating layers FZTO/Ag/ $WO_3$ have been fabricated by radio-frequency (RF) sputtering for the applications as transparent conducting oxides and the structural and optical properties of the resulting films were carefully studied. The single layer fluorine doped zinc tin oxide (FZTO) and tungsten oxide ( $WO_3$ ) films grown at room temperature are found to have an amorphous structure. Multilayer structured electrode with a few nm Ag layer embedded in FZTO/Ag/ $WO_3$ (FAW) was fabricated and showed the optical transmittance of 87.60 % in the visible range ( ${\lambda}=380{\sim}770nm$ ), quite low electrical resistivity of ${\sim}10^{-5}{\Omega}cm$ and the corresponding figure of merit ( $T^{10}/R_s$ ) is equivalent to $3.0{\times}10^{-2}{\Omega}^{-1}$ . The resultant power conversion efficiency of 2.50% of the multilayer based OPV is lower than that of the reference commercial ITO. Asymmetric D/M/D multilayer is a promising transparent conducting electrode material due to its low resistivity, high transmittance, low temperature deposition and low cost components. 】
An exploratory study of entrepreneurial attributes among Malaysian university students

Entrepreneurial attributes motivate and enable individuals to enter into the challenging process of creating new ventures. A tremendous amount of research has been devoted to identifying these attributes and evaluating the impact of education and training programs on developing such attributes, particularly among university students. However, few researchers have examined a combination of students' entrepreneurial characteristics that can be developed through education and training. This study aims to determine a set of entrepreneurial attributes, including self-regulation, self-efficacy and intention, among Malaysian university students. A total of 722 students were randomly selected as participants. Our results indicated that these students have a moderate level of self-regulation and entrepreneurial self-efficacy but a high intention to become an entrepreneur. Furthermore, students are more prevention than promotion focused. We discuss the implications of these findings for entrepreneurship research, theory development and education. (Zaidatol Akmaliah, Lope Pihie, Bagheri, A. AN EXPLORATORY STUDY OF ENTREPRENEURIAL ATTRIBUTES AMONG MALAYSIAN UNIVERSITY STUDENTS. Life Sci J 2012;9(3):2358-2365) (ISSN:1097-8135). http://www.lifesciencesite. com. 341
Flexible application driven network striping over Wireless Wide Area Networks

Inverse multiplexing, or network striping, allows the construction of a high-bandwidth virtual channel from a collection of multiple low-bandwidth network channels. Striping systems usually employ a packet scheduling policy that allows applications to be oblivious of the way in which packets are routed to specific network channels. Though this is appropriate for many applications, many other applications can benefit from an approach that explicitly involves the application in the determination of the striping policy. Horde is middleware that facilitates flexible striping over Wireless Wide Area Network (WWAN) channels. Horde is unusual in that it separates the striping policy from the striping mechanism. It allows applications to describe network Quality-ofService (QoS) objectives that the striping mechanism attempts to satisfy. Horde can be used by a set of data streams, each with its own QoS policy, to stripe data over a set of WWAN channels. The WWAN QoS variations observed across different channels and in time, provide opportunities to modulate stream QoS through scheduling. The key technical challenge in Horde is giving applications control over certain aspects of the data striping operation while at the same time shielding the application from low-level details. Horde exports a set of flexible abstractions replacing the application's network stack. Horde allows applications to express their policy goals as succinct network-QoS objectives. Each objective says something, relatively simple, about the sort of network QoS an application would like for some data stream(s). We present the Horde architecture, describe an early implementation, and examine how different policies can be used to modulate the quality-of-service observed across different independent data streams. Through experiments conducted on real and simulated network channels, we confirm our belief that the kind of QoS modulation Horde aims to achieve is realistic for actual applications. Thesis Supervisor: John V. Guttag Title: Professor, Computer Science and Engineering For my parents, who have given so much to their sons.
Rus detachment in Dammam Dome, Eastern Saudi Arabia: a new soft-sediment structure as a ‘sensitive stress sensor’ for the Zagros collision

Abstract This paper describes in detail hydroplastic structures, which are ‘odd’ kinematic indicators in the basal part of the Eocene Middle Rus Formation. Such structures were previously ignored or falsely interpreted. These hydroplastic structures are found in the massive limestone exposures on the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM) campus. They occur in relation to a principal displacement zone along the boundary/interface between the Lower/Middle Rus, which is referred to as the Rus soft-sediment detachment. The structures are fist-sized vugs associated with carrot- or comet-trail imprints (VCT structures) which were previously translated calcite geodes that have been weathered out. VCT structures show transport/slip towards the NNW (345°) and are found on flat to low-dipping surfaces classified as Y, R and P shears with respect to the orientation of the Rus detachment. Palaeostress analysis indicates an Andersonian transtension stress regime, though it does not facilitate the activation of the Rus soft-sediment detachment. Detachment activity occurred due to the negative effective principal stress σ 3′ and the abnormally low frictional coefficient caused by fluid pressure. The soft-sediment Rus detachment can be considered a ‘sensitive stress sensor’ for the Zagros collision since it indicates the Arabian platform’s instability in the wider area of the Dammam Dome during the Late Eocene. This instability is attributed to the inception of the Zagros collision, which was previously considered to occur during the Oligocene based on the well-established pre-Neogene unconformity.
Efforts To Increase Interest In Paying Zakat With Knowledge And Self-Awareness

The concentration of this research focuses on efforts to increase interest in paying zakat which is influenced by muzak knowledge and self-awareness. The National Zakat Agency of North Sumatra was chosen as the research site where 100 muzak were used as the population and the research sample with accidental sampling technique. Data collection uses a questionnaire where the measurement scale uses a Likert scale. The results of the study prove that knowledge and self-awareness have a significant influence in increasing muzakki's interest in paying zakat. Then this self-awareness has a dominant influence when compared to the knowledge possessed by muzak, especially in increasing their interest in paying zakat.