Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Simultaneous amplitude modulation and wavelength conversion in an asymmetric-duty-cycle periodically poled lithium niobate

We report the theory and experiment for an amplitude modulator and wavelength converter based on an electrodecoated asymmetric-duty-cycle periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN). In a 56%/44% domain-duty-cycle PPLN crystal, we modulated the amplitude of the 532-nm second-harmonic output and measured a normalized half-wave voltage of 1:1 V d ðlmÞ=leff (cm), where d is the separation of the electrodes and leff is the effective electrode length defined by the PPLN length multiplying the deviation of the domain-duty-cycle from the 50% value. A modulation depth of 85% was obtained in the linear modulation regime. We also derived a unified theory to describe the half-wave voltage for two types of PPLN-based amplitude modulators. 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PACS: 42.65. Ky; 42.55. )f
Tobacco use and cessation: What matters to Southeast Alaska Native young adults?

Background: The smoking rate among young Alaska Native adults (ages 1929) in Southeast Alaska is 70% as compared to the statewide adult smoking rate of 21%, the Alaska Native adult rate of 41%, and the overall young adult rate of 32%. Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium (SEARHC), the non-profit tribal health consortium serving Southeast Alaska, commissioned this research to inform development of a young adult-specific, social marketing-based smoking cessation intervention. Methods: Using purposive sampling, 23 individuals were recruited for five focus groups and four individual interviews in Juneau, Alaska. Following a social marketing framework, the research assessed participant beliefs about the benefits and negative impacts of smoking, barriers to quitting, and preferred quit support methods, as well as participant reactions to particular anti-smoking advertisements and quit support methods. Results: Almost all participants reported an interest in quitting smoking. Stress relief, boredom relief, relaxation, and oral satisfaction were the main benefits of smoking. Downsides to smoking included negative short-term health impacts, negative impacts on children in the extended family, and negative cosmetic impacts. Barriers to quitting included loss of listed benefits, addiction and habit, fatalism, and the high prevalence of smoking among family and friends. The preferred method of quitting was cold turkey (unassisted quitting), with very few participants reporting use of counseling or pharmacotherapy. Participants preferred high emotional level anti-smoking advertisements with either strongly negative emotional valence (e.g., fear and disgust) or strongly positive emotional valence (e.g., joy, happiness). Reaction to quit support methods was most favorable to texting support and a smart phone app, and most negative toward a smart phone video game. Reaction to counseling was strongly supportive among those who had tried it and largely but not totally negative among those who had not.
14-3-3 c binds to MDMX that is phosphorylated by UV-activated Chk 1 , resulting in p 53 activation

It has been shown that MDMX inhibits the activity of the tumor suppressor p53 by primarily cooperating with the p53 feedback regulator MDM2. Here, our study shows that this inhibition can be overcome by 14-3-3c and Chk1. 14-3-3c was identified as an MDMX-associated protein via an immuno-affinity purification-coupled mass spectrometry. Consistently, 14-3-3c directly interacted with MDMX in vitro, and this interaction was stimulated by MDMX phosphorylation in vitro and in cells. Interestingly, in response to UV irradiation, the wild-type, but not the kinase-dead mutant, Chk1 phosphorylated MDMX at serine 367, enhanced the 14-3-3c-MDMX binding and the cytoplasmic retaining of MDMX. The Chk1 specific inhibitor UCN-01 repressed all of these effects. Moreover, overexpression of 14-3-3c, but not its mutant K50E, which did not bind to MDMX, suppressed MDMX-enhanced p53 ubiquitination, leading to p53 stabilization and activation. Finally, ablation of 14-3-3c by siRNA reduced UV-induced p53 level and G1 arrest. Thus, these results demonstrate 14-3-3c and Chk1 as two novel regulators of MDMX in response to UV irradiation. The EMBO Journal (2006) 25, 1207–1218. doi:10.1038/ sj.emboj. 7601010; Published online 2 March 2006 Subject Categories: signal transduction; cell cycle
Listeners' Cognitive and Affective Reactions to English Speakers with Standard American English and Asian Accents

Using a 2 (speaker accent: standard American, Asian) x 2 (speakers' sex: male, female) between-subjects design, the present study examined the effects of accent and sex on listeners' cognitive and affective reactions towards speakers with standard American English accents and Asian accents. 70 female and 27 male college students (M = 21.8 yr., SD = 4.7) listened to the audio recording of a monologue by one of the speakers in the early 20s who differed in accent and sex. Standard American English was operationalized as nonaccented English, typical of the western part of the USA, and Vietnamese-accented English was used as an exemplar of Asian-accented English. Results showed that relative to standard American-accented English speakers, Asian-accented English speakers were perceived as poorer communicators who were less potent, less threatening, and more concerned about others. These cognitive reactions to Asian-accented English speakers include (a) the general stereotype associated with an accent, status and solidarity, as well as (b) the stereotype unique to Asians as an ethnic group, being concerned for others and poorer communicators. Analysis also showed that speakers with an Asian accent evoked more negative affect and required more attention from listeners than did speakers with a standard American English accent. Implications of the study are discussed.
Inventaire et retrait des glaciers dans les alpes françaises depuis la fin du Petit Age Glaciaire

Les glaciers des Alpes francaises subissent un recul generalise depuis la fin du Petit Âge Glaciaire (PAG). Dans le contexte actuel d'elevation de la temperature et du fait des nombreux enjeux auxquels ils sont associes, l'amelioration de leur suivi apparait indispensable. Avant ce travail, il n'existait pas d'etude exhaustive recente concernant l'ensemble des glaciers des Alpes francaises, les travaux de Mougin et de Vivian datant respectivement du milieu des annees 1920 et 1970. L'objectif de ce travail est de dresser un inventaire diachronique des glaciers des Alpes francaises et de leurs marges proglaciaires. Les donnees de cet inventaire servent ensuite de base a l'etude des modalites du retrait glaciaire depuis la fin du PAG et a l'etablissement de methodes pour detecter les secteurs susceptibles d'etre affectes par des instabilites. L'inventaire diachronique des glaciers des Alpes francaises est realise a 3 dates : (i) 2006-2009 a partir des orthophotographies recentes de l'IGN, (ii) 1967-1971 a partir des premieres editions des cartes topographiques 1 :25 000 de l'IGN, et (iii) la fin du PAG (pour les massifs du Mont Blanc, de la Vanoise et des Ecrins), en croisant documents anciens et donnees geomorphologiques acquises sur le terrain et par photo-interpretation. Les donnees sont organisees dans un Systeme d'Information Geographique (SIG) qui permet d'associer cartographie et base de donnees. La superficie des glaciers etait de 275 km² en 2006-2009, 369 km² en 1967-1971 et 544 km² a la fin du PAG pour les massifs du Mont Blanc, de la Vanoise et des Ecrins. A l'echelle regionale, les glaciers ont perdu 25 % de leur superficie depuis la fin des annees 1960 et 50 % de leur superficie depuis la fin du PAG. La retraction des glaciers est environ 2,5 fois plus rapide entre 1967-1971 et 2006-2009 qu'entre la fin du PAG et 1967-1971. A l'echelle individuelle, les glaciers ont perdu en moyenne 52 % de leur superficie entre 1967-1971 et 2006-2009, et 115 ont meme disparu. A l'echelle regionale comme individuelle, le retrait glaciaire presente des tendances differentes selon les massifs, la taille des glaciers et leur exposition Des methodes simples, basees sur les donnees des inventaires des glaciers et des marges proglaciaires sont etablies afin d'identifier les lacs potentiellement instables, les secteurs englaces favorables a la formation de futurs lacs, au declenchement d'avalanches de seracs ou susceptibles d'etre destabilises en masse, et les marges proglaciaires favorables a l'occurrence de glissements ou de laves de debris.
Myosin heavy chain expression in mouse extraocular muscle: more complex than expected.

PURPOSE To characterize the expression patterns of myosin heavy chain (MyHC) isoforms in mouse extraocular muscles (EOMs) during postnatal development. METHODS MyHC isoform expression in mouse EOMs from postnatal day (P)0 to 3 months was evaluated by quantitative polymerase chair reaction (qPCR) and immunohistochemistry. The longitudinal and cross-sectional distribution of each MyHC isoform and coexpression of certain isoforms in single muscle fibers was determined by single, double, and triple immunohistochemistry. RESULTS MyHC isoform expression in postnatal EOMs followed the developmental rules observed in other skeletal muscles; however, important exceptions were found. First, developmental isoforms were retained in the orbital layer of the adult EOMs. Second, expression of emb-MyHC, neo-MyHC, and 2A-MyHC was restricted to the orbital layer and that of 2B-MyHC to the global layer. Third, although slow-MyHC and 2B-MyHC did not exhibit obvious longitudinal variations, emb-MyHC, neo-MyHC, and 2A-MyHC were more abundant distally and were excluded from the innervational zone, whereas eom-MyHC complemented their expression and was more abundant in the mid-belly region in both the orbital and global layers. Fourth, coexpression of MyHC isoforms in single global layer fibers was rare, but it was common among the orbital layer fibers. CONCLUSIONS MyHC isoforms have complex expression patterns, exhibiting not only longitudinal and cross-sectional variation of each isoform, but also of coexpression in single fibers. The highly heterogeneous MyHC expression reflects the complex contractile profiles of EOMs, which in turn are a function of the requirements of eye movements, which range from extremely fast saccades to sustained position, each with a need for precise coordination of each eye.
Very Early-onset Schizophrenia with Secondary Onset Tic Disorder

Very early-onset schizophrenia (defined as an onset of psychosis before 13 years of age) is a rare and severe form of the disorder which is clinically and neurobiologically continuous with the adult-onset disorder. It is rarely reported <12 years of age in Indian literature. Here, we present a 15-year-old boy who developed psychosis at 9 years of age and during illness developed tic disorder.
Zero-tail DFT-spread-OFDM signals

In the existing scheduled radio standards using Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) or Discrete Fourier Transform-spread-OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM) modulation, the Cyclic Prefix (CP) duration is usually hard-coded and set as a compromise between the expected channel characteristics and the necessity of fitting a predefined frame duration. This may lead to system inefficiencies as well as bad coexistence with networks using different CP settings. In this paper, we propose the usage of zero-tail DFT-s-OFDM signals as a solution for decoupling the radio numerology from the expected channel characteristics. Zero-tail DFT-s-OFDM modulation allows to adapt the overhead to the estimated delay spread/propagation delay. Moreover, it enables networks operating over channels with different characteristics to adopt the same numerology, thus improving their coexistence. An analytical description of the zero-tail DFT-s-OFDM signals is provided, as well as a numerical performance evaluation with Monte Carlo simulations. Zero-tail DFT-s-OFDM signals are shown to have approximately the same Block Error Rate (BLER) performance of traditional OFDM, with the further benefit of lower out-of-band (OOB) emissions.
Dopamine receptor occupancy and plasma haloperidol levels.

To the Editor. — The kinetics of receptor-ligand interaction predict a curvilinear relationship between free brain ckade (inset). 6 5 4 in 3 2 e d c e a m x o p p A i 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 Plasma Haloperidol Level, ng/mL 20 40 60 80 100 Plasma Haloperidol Level, ng/mL ligand concentration or neuroleptic plasma level and dopamine receptor occupancy. Based on positron emission tomography (PET) studies using 11C-raclopride in several subjects, Farde et al1 recently presented a theoretical binding curve for this relationship. Cambon et al 2 derived a similar curvilinear relationship from 76Br-labeled bromospiperone PET scans of six subjects who had varying diagnoses and were receiving either haloperidol or thioproperazine. We conducted similar studies using the D2 radioligand 18F-j! V methylspiperone (NMS) to estimate dopamine receptor availability in patients with schizophrenia. Subjects included patients who were not receiving neuroleptic therapy and others who were treated
Mesenchymal Stem Cells Derived From Human Exocrine Pancreas Express Transcription Factors Implicated in Beta-Cell Development

Objectives: Transplantation of in vitro generated islets or insulin-producing cells represents an attractive option to overcome organ shortage. The aim of this study was to isolate, expand, and characterize cells from human exocrine pancreas and analyze their potential to differentiate into beta cells. Methods: Fibroblast-like cells growing out of human exocrine tissue were characterized by flow cytometry and by their capacity to differentiate into mesenchymal cell lineages. During cell expansion and after differentiation toward beta cells, expression of transcription factors of endocrine pancreatic progenitors was analyzed by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. Results: Cells emerged from 14/18 human pancreatic exocrine fractions and were expanded up to 40 population doublings. These cells displayed surface antigens similar to mesenchymal stem cells from bone marrow. A culture of these cells in adipogenic and chondrogenic differentiation media allowed differentiation into adipocyte- and chondrocyte-like cells. During expansion, cells expressed transcription factors implicated in islet development such as Isl1, Nkx2.2, Nkx6.1, nestin, Ngn3, Pdx1, and NeuroD. Activin A and hepatocyte growth factor induced an expression of insulin, glucagon, and glucokinase. Conclusions: Proliferating cells with characteristics of mesenchymal stem cells and endocrine progenitors were isolated from exocrine tissue. Under specific conditions, these cells expressed little insulin. Human pancreatic exocrine tissue might thus be a source of endocrine cell progenitors.Abbreviations: Ab - antibodies, API - alpha1-proteinase inhibitor, bmMSC - bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells, BSA - bovine serum albumin, CK19 - cytokeratin 19, DMEM - Dulbecco's Modified Eagle Medium, EMT - epithelial to mesenchymal transition, FCS - fetal calf serum, FITC - fluorescein isothiocyanate, HGF - hepatocyte growth factor, hMSC - human mesenchymal stem cells, Ig - immunoglobulin, ITS - insulin-transferrin-selenium, MSC - mesenchymal stem cells, PBS - phosphate-buffered saline, PE - phycoerythrin, pMSC - pancreas-derived mesenchymal stem cells, RT - room temperature, RT-PCR - reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction
A Cautionary Note on Exact Unconditional Inference for a Difference between Two Independent Binomial Proportions

Summary Fisher's exact test for comparing response proportions in a randomized experiment can be overly conservative when the group sizes are small or when the response proportions are close to zero or one. This is primarily because the null distribution of the test statistic becomes too discrete, a partial consequence of the inference being conditional on the total number of responders. Accordingly, exact unconditional procedures have gained in popularity, on the premise that power will increase because the null distribution of the test statistic will presumably be less discrete. However, we caution researchers that a poor choice of test statistic for exact unconditional inference can actually result in a substantially less powerful analysis than Fisher's conditional test. To illustrate, we study a real example and provide exact test size and power results for several competing tests, for both balanced and unbalanced designs. Our results reveal that Fisher's test generally outperforms exact unconditional tests based on using as the test statistic either the observed difference in proportions, or the observed difference divided by its estimated standard error under the alternative hypothesis, the latter for unbalanced designs only. On the other hand, the exact unconditional test based on the observed difference divided by its estimated standard error under the null hypothesis (score statistic) outperforms Fisher's test, and is recommended. Boschloo's test, in which the p‐value from Fisher's test is used as the test statistic in an exact unconditional test, is uniformly more powerful than Fisher's test, and is also recommended.
CRF Autoencoder for Unsupervised Dependency Parsing

Unsupervised dependency parsing, which tries to discover linguistic dependency structures from unannotated data, is a very challenging task. Almost all previous work on this task focuses on learning generative models. In this paper, we develop an unsupervised dependency parsing model based on the CRF autoencoder. The encoder part of our model is discriminative and globally normalized which allows us to use rich features as well as universal linguistic priors. We propose an exact algorithm for parsing as well as a tractable learning algorithm. We evaluated the performance of our model on eight multilingual treebanks and found that our model achieved comparable performance with state-of-the-art approaches.
Switching well noise modeling and minimization strategy for digitalcircuits with a controllable threshold voltage scheme

This paper describes a new model for characterizing the switching well noise suited for application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) of gate-array and standard-cell-style digital circuits. A new technique employed in this work is to incorporate the controllable threshold voltage scheme, necessitated by the recent demand for low power designs, into the well noise analysis. The propagation process of the noise through the well is fully analyzed, providing practical approximation and reduction techniques of the peak noise value, which are of use to estimate the possible maximum noise value at the early stage of the design. SPICE simulation results are shown to demonstrate and verify the effectiveness of these techniques in reducing the well noise and the precision of the peak approximation. A novel design methodology to optimize both area and noise is proposed based on the stochastic modeling of the multiple noise sources and their superposition effects.
A PHARMACIST-CONDUCTED MEDICATION REVIEW IN NURSING HOME RESIDENTS: IMPACT ON THE APPROPRIATENESS OF PRESCRIBING

Abstract Medication use in nursing homes is often suboptimal. This study investigated the impact of a pharmacist-conducted medication review on the appropriateness of prescribing for Belgian nursing home residents. We conducted a 6-month controlled, non-randomized study in two nursing homes (one intervention and one control nursing home). Sixty-nine residents completed the study in the intervention group (92 residents were included). For the control group, that were 79 residents (100 residents were included). Primary outcome was the appropriateness of prescribing, assessed by a set of validated quality indicators. At baseline, this study detected three main problems associated with the appropriateness of medication use: (i) the Medication Appropriateness Index (MAI) could be improved (continuation of no longer indicated medication was the most common problem), (ii) potential overuse was present in about half of the group, and (iii) potential underuse was present in about 30% of the sample. Despite this, our pharmacist-conducted medication review only modestly improved the appropriateness of prescribing. This may be attributed to the low implementation rate of the pharmacist recommendations.
Involvement of Ethylene in Stress-Induced Expression of the TLC1.1 Retrotransposon from Lycopersicon chilense Dun.1[w]

The TLC1 family is one of the four families of long terminal repeat (LTR) retrotransposons identified in the genome of Lycopersicon chilense. Here, we show that this family of retroelements is transcriptionally active and its expression is induced in response to diverse stress conditions such as wounding, protoplast preparation, and high salt concentrations. Several stress-associated signaling molecules, including ethylene, methyl jasmonate, salicylic acid, and 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid, are capable of inducing TLC1 family expression in vivo. A representative of this family, named TLC1.1, was isolated from a genomic library from L. chilense. Transient expression assays in leaf protoplasts and stably transformed tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) plants demonstrate that the U3 domain of the 5′-LTR region of this element can drive stress-induced transcriptional activation of the β-glucuronidase reporter gene. Two 57-bp tandem repeated sequences are found in this region, including an 8-bp motif, ATTTCAAA, previously identified as an ethylene-responsive element box in the promoter region of ethylene-induced genes. Expression analysis of wild-type LTR and single and double ethylene-responsive element box mutants fused to the β-glucuronidase gene shows that these elements are required for ethylene-responsive gene expression in protoplasts and transgenic plants. We suggest that ethylene-dependent signaling is the main signaling pathway involved in the regulation of the expression of the TLC1.1 element from L. chilense.
Topographic organization of the ventral striatal efferent projections in the rhesus monkey: An anterograde tracing study

The ventral striatum is considered to be that portion of the striatum associated with the limbic system by virtue of its afferent connections from allocortical and mesolimbic areas as well as from the amygdala. The efferent projections from this striatal region in the primate were traced by using 3H aminoacids and Phaseolus vulgaris‐leucoagglutinin (PHA‐L). Particular attention was paid to the topographic organization of terminal fields in the globus pallidus and substantia nigra, the projections to non‐extrapyramidal areas, the relationship between projections from the nucleus accumbens and the other parts of the ventral striatum, and the comparison between ventral and dorsal striatal projections.
Soft-Start Method With Small Capacitor Charged by Pulse Current and Gain-Degeneration Error Amplifier for On-Chip DC–DC Power Converters

This paper proposes a soft-start method with the features of a small on-chip capacitor and start stability for dc-dc converters. During the soft-start process, a slowly and linearly ramped-up voltage reference is generated based on the principle of the small on-chip capacitor charged by an oscillator-controlled pulse current to replace the normal reference. Meanwhile, the switching frequency is also reduced so that the inductor current has more time to decay and massive inrush current can be avoided. However, in this way, the system may be unstable in that the bandwidth could not keep less than 1/7 of the reduced switching frequency. In this paper, an error amplifier (EA) with gain-degeneration is proposed to solve this problem. When the switching frequency is reduced, the gain of the EA is also reduced and the bandwidth becomes narrower accordingly. A dc-dc converter using the proposed soft-start method has been implemented with a 0.5- μm CMOS process. Experimental results show that a soft-start period of 600 μs is achieved with an on-chip capacitor of 15 pF. Furthermore, both the output voltage and inductor current rise smoothly without oscillation and overshoot during the startup process.