Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Device saturation behavior of submillimeter-wave membrane photonic transmitters

Ultrahigh-speed photodetectors and printed-circuit antennas construct photonic transmitters. In this letter, we studied the saturation behaviors of an edge-coupled membrane photonic transmitter based on low-temperature-grown GaAs. The saturation behaviors determine the optimized operation condition of photonic transmitters. Ultrahigh external light-terahertz (THz) conversion efficiency of 0.11% was achieved with 645-GHz radiation. According to our knowledge, this value is the highest reported external conversion efficiency of all photonic transmitters with radiation higher than 500 GHz. The high conversion efficiency and the edge-coupled structure of our devices release the power burden imposed on tunable semiconductor laser sources and imply their applications as compact all-solid-state THz radiation sources.
Model predictive control of magnetically actuated mass spring dampers for automotive applications

Mechatronic systems such as those arising in automotive applications are characterized by significant non-linearities, tight performance specifications as well as by state and input constraints which need to be enforced during system operation. This paper takes a view that model predictive control (MPC) and hybrid models can be an attractive and systematic methodology to handle these challenging control problems, even when the underlying process is not hybrid. In addition, the piecewise affine (PWA) explicit form of MPC solutions avoids on-line optimization and can make this approach computationally viable even in situations with rather constrained computational resources. To illustrate the MPC design procedure and the underlying issues, we focus on a specific non-linear process example of a mass spring damper system actuated by an electromagnet. Such a system is one of the most common elements of mechatronic systems in automotive systems, with fuel injectors representing a concrete example. We first consider a linear MPC design for the mechanical part of the system. The approach accounts for all the constraints in the system but one, which is subsequently enforced via a state-dependent saturation element. Second, a hybrid MPC approach for the mechanical subsystem is analysed that can handle all the constraints by design and achieves better performance, at the price of a higher complexity of the controller. Finally, a hybrid MPC design that also takes into account the electrical dynamics of the system is considered.
Differential Aspergillus lentulus Echinocandin Susceptibilities Are Fksp Independent

ABSTRACT The recently described species Aspergillus lentulus exhibits differential and reduced susceptibilities to echinocandins and other antifungal drugs in vitro. A. lentulus isolates overall are less susceptible to caspofungin, although they maintain susceptibility to anidulafungin and micafungin. Mutations or polymorphisms in fks, the gene encoding the catalytic subunit of β-1,3-glucan synthase, are known to confer decreased susceptibility to echinocandins in Candida spp. and Aspergillus fumigatus. The analysis of the A. lentulus fks sequence did not reveal a polymorphism at any of the known hot-spot regions of the gene. Caspofungin and micafungin kinetic inhibition profiles of the A. lentulus glucan synthase were comparable to those from susceptible A. fumigatus enzymes. Although the basal cell wall chitin levels in A. lentulus averaged 60% of those in A. fumigatus, echinocandin treatment promoted the increase of cell wall chitin in both organisms, indicating that A. lentulus displays a compensatory chitin response similar to that of A. fumigatus. The data suggest that differential echinocandin susceptibilities in A. lentulus are independent of the echinocandin target, Fksp, and they emphasize the potential that the drugs' capacity to inhibit the target enzyme is unequal at the cellular level.
Interactive Submodular Bandit

In many machine learning applications, submodular functions have been used as a model for evaluating the utility or payoff of a set such as news items to recommend, sensors to deploy in a terrain, nodes to influence in a social network, to name a few. At the heart of all these applications is the assumption that the underlying utility/payoff function is known a priori, hence maximizing it is in principle possible. In real life situations, however, the utility function is not fully known in advance and can only be estimated via interactions. For instance, whether a user likes a movie or not can be reliably evaluated only after it was shown to her. Or, the range of influence of a user in a social network can be estimated only after she is selected to advertise the product. We model such problems as an interactive submodular bandit optimization, where in each round we receive a context (e.g., previously selected movies) and have to choose an action (e.g., propose a new movie). We then receive a noisy feedback about the utility of the action (e.g., ratings) which we model as a submodular function over the context-action space. We develop SM-UCB that efficiently trades off exploration (collecting more data) and exploration (proposing a good action given gathered data) and achieves a $O(\sqrt{T})$ regret bound after $T$ rounds of interaction. Given a bounded-RKHS norm kernel over the context-action-payoff space that governs the smoothness of the utility function, SM-UCB keeps an upper-confidence bound on the payoff function that allows it to asymptotically achieve no-regret. Finally, we evaluate our results on four concrete applications, including movie recommendation (on the MovieLense data set), news recommendation (on Yahoo! Webscope dataset), interactive influence maximization (on a subset of the Facebook network), and personalized data summarization (on Reuters Corpus). In all these applications, we observe that SM-UCB consistently outperforms the prior art.
Follow‐up of 32 children with autosomal translocations found among 11,148 consecutively newborn children from 1969 to 1974

A follow‐up study of 32 unselected children with translocations has been made from 6 to 11 years after the chromosome examination of these children at birth. The physical and mental development of the five children with de novo translocations was very similar to that of the children with inherited translocations, and we found no indication of any association between the autosomal reciprocal translocations or the Robertsonian translocations and physical and mental development. There was an increased risk for offspring with unbalanced or aneuploid chromosome abnormalities in 2 of the 30 families, and prenatal examination is most probably indicated in carriers of any type of translocation. Further studies of larger groups of unselected persons with translocations are, however, needed before any definite risk figures can be calculated for the different translocations.
Use of Promethazine to Hasten Adaptation to Provocative Motion

In an earlier study, the authors found that severely motion sick individuals could be greatly relieved of their symptoms by intramuscular injections of promethazine (50 mg) or scopolamine (.5 mg). Comparable 50‐mg injections of promethazine also have been found effective in alleviating symptoms of space motion sickness. The concern has risen, however, that such drugs may delay or retard the acquisition of adaptation to stressful environments. In the current study, we controlled arousal using a mental arithmetic task and precisely equated the exposure history (number of head movements during rotation) of a placebo, control group and an experimental group who had received promethazine. No differences in total adaptation or in rates of adaptation were present between the two groups. Another experimental group also received promethazine and was allowed to make as many head movements as they could, before reaching nausea, up to 800. This group showed a greater level of adaptation than the placebo group. These results suggest a strategy for dealing with space motion sickness that is described.
Regulation and Function of Pilus Island 1 in Group B Streptococcus

ABSTRACT Group B streptococcus (GBS) pili may enhance colonization and infection by mediating bacterial adhesion to host cells, invasion across endothelial and epithelial barriers, and resistance to bacterial ingestion and killing by host phagocytes. However, it remains unclear how pilus expression is regulated and how modulation of pilus production affects GBS interactions with the human host. We investigated the regulation and function of pilus island 1 (PI-1) pili in GBS strain 2603. We found that PI-1 gene expression was controlled by the CsrRS two-component system, by Ape1, an AraC-type regulator encoded by a divergently transcribed gene immediately upstream of PI-1, and by environmental pH. The response regulator CsrR repressed expression of Ape1, which is an activator of PI-1 gene expression. In addition, CsrR repressed PI-1 gene expression directly, independent of its regulation of Ape1. In vitro assays demonstrated specific binding of both CsrR and Ape1 to chromosomal DNA sequences upstream of PI-1. Pilus gene expression was activated by acidic pH, and this effect was independent of CsrRS and Ape1. Unexpectedly, characterization of PI-1 deletion mutants revealed that PI-1 pili do not mediate adhesion of strain 2603 to A549 respiratory epithelial cells, ME180 cervical cells, or VK2 vaginal cells in vitro. PI-1 pili reduced internalization and intracellular killing of GBS by human monocyte-derived macrophages, by approximately 50%, but did not influence complement-mediated opsonophagocytic killing by human neutrophils. These findings shed new light on the complex nature of pilus regulation and function in modulating GBS interactions with the human host.
Measures of Psychological Well‐being and Treatment Satisfaction Developed from the Responses of People with Tablet‐treated Diabetes

Psychological outcome measures of Well‐being and Treatment Satisfaction have been designed and developed for people with tablet‐treated Type 2 diabetes. The Well‐being scale includes three six‐item sub‐scales to measure Depression, Anxiety, and Positive Well‐being. A prime consideration when selecting items for the psychological well‐being measures was to minimize the confounding of diabetic symptomatology with the somatic symptoms of depression and anxiety. Cronbach's alpha indicated that each of the Well‐being sub‐scales and the Treatment Satisfaction scale was internally reliable (alphas ranged from 0.70 to 0.88) and evidence for construct validity was provided by predicted associations with other variables collected at the time of the study. For example, lower Well‐being scores were associated with being overweight (Depression: p < 0.05; Anxiety: p < 0.001) while greater Satisfaction with Treatment was associated with lower HbA1 levels (p < 0.001) and lower percent ideal body weight (p < 0.01). These scales should prove particularly useful where measures of quality of life are required to complement metabolic variables when evaluating new treatments, education programmes, and other interventions, or in the routine auditing of established methods of treatment.
Understanding the process of motivational interviewing: A review of the relational and technical hypotheses

Abstract Objective: The current study systematically reviews evidence for a causal chain model suggested by Miller and Rose to account for the efficacy of Motivational Interviewing (MI). Method: Literature searches were conducted to identify studies delivering MI in an individual format to treat various problem areas. Results: Thirty-seven studies met inclusion criteria. The results suggest that when clinicians utilise MI consistent behaviours, clients are more likely to express language in favour of change. Furthermore, this client language was consistently related to positive client outcome across studies. Conclusions: While the results support some parts of the Miller and Rose model, additional research is needed to confirm the findings in diverse populations. Understanding the mechanisms of MI's effectiveness may maximise the implementation of MI, potentially contributing to better client outcomes.
Speckle Tracking Echocardiography of the Right Atrium: The Neglected Chamber

The right atrium (RA) plays a pivotal role in electromechanical and endocrine regulation of the heart. Its peculiar anatomical features and phasic mechanical function make it distinct from ventricles. Various invasive and noninvasive techniques have been used to elucidate RA structure and function. Of these modalities, echocardiography has distinct advantages over others. Several conventional measures of RA function through echocardiography have been described in the literature, but they are load dependent. A relatively new technique is speckle tracking–derived strain, which is relatively less dependent on loading conditions. Speckle tracking echocardiography tracks acoustic scatters (speckles) of myocardium frame‐by‐frame to calculate strain or deformation of the myocardium. Speckle tracking echocardiography has been used extensively for strain assessment of the right and left ventricle to detect subtle disease pathology, to gain mechanistic insight, as a marker of ischemic metabolic memory, as an endpoint in clinical trials, and as a functional assessment tool. The RA is a relatively neglected chamber, as it is mostly studied for assessment of atrial mass lesions, for electrophysiological studies, and in animal models for physiological assessment. However, its role in the systolic and diastolic function of the right heart, pulmonary vascular pathology, congenital heart diseases, and combined electromechanical activation phenomena has been less explored or unexplored. Speckle tracking echocardiography is an ideal tool for the assessment of the RA because of its regional and global functional characterization, angle independence, and high temporal resolution.
From Papanicolaou to papillomaviruses: evolving challenges in cervical cancer screening in the era of human papillomavirus vaccination.

February 2012 marked the 50th anniversary of the death of George Papanicolaou, the inventor of the Pap test for cervical cancer screening. Pap test screening has contributed to sharp reductions in cervical cancer incidence and mortality throughout the developed world (1–5). Despite the success of the Pap test, recognition that it suffers from inadequate single-test sensitivity and frequent equivocal results has prompted searches for newer screening methods.
A Users Clustering Algorithm for Group Recommendation

Our group recommender system was targeted at a scenario that requires the adoption of group recommendation techniques to conserve computational resources. The profile aggregation strategy was used in our work to implement this group recommendation system. Key to our work, user clustering is also the first step of our work. The accuracy of user clustering could be improved once we processed the data set by the SVD (Singular Value Decomposition) algorithm. The data set in this experiment was 1M user rating data available from MovieLens. According to the metric we used for evaluating the quality of user clustering, we discovered that the bisecting K-means algorithm outperformed the DBSCAN algorithm on the dataset within the experimental settings.
Design and control of a sit-to-stand assistive device via EtherCAT fieldbus

This paper presents a technological solution for designing an assistive device for a biomechanical study of the Sit-to-Stand movement (STS). This device targets people with disabilities following a stroke. The control algorithms are implemented in TwinCAT runtime environment. The communication between all the component and the control computer is ensured via the EtherCAT fieldbus. The aim of this architecture lies in the fact that it allows a quick development of a research prototype with the same safety issues found on an industrial machine. An experimental test of the STS strategy is presented.
Application of Computer Analysis on Plastic Forming Behavior of Extrusion

Aluminum extrusion and mold design are the guarantee of product quality, production time shortening, and die life enhancement. With increasing varieties of aluminum products for aviation, railway, and transportation, aluminum has been urgently demanded in various industries. It becomes the immediate need for the development of current aluminum extrusion to improve traditional mold design by applying DEFORM-3D simulation to accelerate product development, reduce development risks, and enhance product quality. This study attempts to process thin-layer aluminum products with extrusion. The products, in the simulation, are not easily welded when extruding the material into the welding chamber to affect the successive forming analysis. By matching pre-forming, the simulation is completed with 2 passes, and the forging information, which could not be measured in the field extrusion, such as stress value, strain value, and velocity field, could be acquired in the analysis result. After evaluating the practicability of product size requirement and pre-forming design, it could be introduced to the mechanical production. In addition to be the optimal parameters for mold design and the comparison with actual products and simulation data, the accuracy of the theoretical model is verified to shorten the product development time and reduce the cost to promote the competitiveness of the entire industry.
Power, mode of inheritance, and type I error in LOD scores and affecteds-only methods: reply to Kruglyak.

We thank Dr. Alice Whittemore for helpful comments. This work was supported in part by National Institutes of Health grants DK31775 and NS27941 (to D.A.G.); MH36197, MH48858, DK31813, MH28274, and MH43878 (to S.E.H.); and MH00884-K21 and MH52841 (to V.J.V.).
Modelling and parameter estimation of photovoltaic cell

Accurate models of photovoltaic (PV) cell characteristics are essential to enable the operation of PV cells to be understood and optimized for operation under variable environmental conditions. Various models have been proposed in the literature, which use diodes and resistors to represent PV cell characteristics. A key concern with these models is that individual parameters such as resistances, diode ideality factors and saturation currents need to be accurately determined to enable successful modelling. Additionally, operational constraints such as irradiance, temperature, partial shading and cell degradation affect the PV cell characteristics. This paper explores some key issues involved in modelling PV cells with a focus on parameter estimation techniques and the effect of environmental conditions. Parameter estimation techniques proposed in the literature are explored and compared regarding their suitability in modelling a commercial PV array.
A method for loop-circuit stability analysis

A method for loop circuit stability analysis is introduced through investigating its closed-loop admittance and open-loop impedance. This method has wider adaptability and less limitation than the traditional approach which uses open-loop power-wave transfer function. A 6-GHz HBT oscillator is designed to verify this method. The measurement result shows the effeteness of the proposed method while the traditional method fails.
Mutation of Neuraminidase Cysteine Residues Yields Temperature-Sensitive Influenza Viruses

ABSTRACT The influenza virus neuraminidase (NA) is a tetrameric, virus surface glycoprotein possessing receptor-destroying activity. This enzyme facilitates viral release and is a target of anti-influenza virus drugs. The NA structure has been extensively studied, and the locations of disulfide bonds within the NA monomers have been identified. Because mutation of cysteine residues in other systems has resulted in temperature-sensitive (ts) proteins, we asked whether mutation of cysteine residues in the influenza virus NA would yield ts mutants. The ability to rationally design tight and stable ts mutations could facilitate the creation of efficient helper viruses for influenza virus reverse genetics experiments. We generated a series of cysteine-to-glycine mutants in the influenza A/WSN/33 virus NA. These were assayed for neuraminidase activity in a transient expression system, and active mutants were rescued into infectious virus by using established reverse genetics techniques. Mutation of two cysteines not involved in intrasubunit disulfide bonds, C49 and C146, had modest effects on enzymatic activity and on viral replication. Mutation of two cysteines, C303 and C320, which participate in a single disulfide bond located in the β5L0,1 loop, produced ts enzymes. Additionally, the C303G and C320G transfectant viruses were found to be attenuated and ts. Because both the C303G and C320G viruses exhibited stable ts phenotypes, they were tested as helper viruses in reverse genetics experiments. Efficiently rescued were an N1 neuraminidase from an avian H5N1 virus, an N2 neuraminidase from a human H3N2 virus, and an N7 neuraminidase from an H7N7 equine virus. Thus, these cysteine-to-glycine NA mutants allow the rescue of a variety of wild-type and mutant NAs into influenza virus.
Link Prediction Methods and Their Accuracy for Different Social Networks and Network Metrics

Currently, we are experiencing a rapid growth of the number of social-based online systems. The availability of the vast amounts of data gathered in those systems brings new challenges that we face when trying to analyse it. One of the intensively researched topics is the prediction of social connections between users. Although a lot of effort has been made to develop new prediction approaches, the existing methods are not comprehensively analysed. In this paper we investigate the correlation between network metrics and accuracy of different prediction methods. We selected six time-stamped real-world social networks and ten most widely used link prediction methods. The results of the experiments show that the performance of some methods has a strong correlation with certain network metrics. We managed to distinguish "prediction friendly" networks, for which most of the prediction methods give good performance, as well as "prediction unfriendly" networks, for which most of the methods result in high prediction error. Correlation analysis between network metrics and prediction accuracy of prediction methods may form the basis of a metalearning system where based on network characteristics it will be able to recommend the right prediction method for a given network.
Preventive healthcare surveillance can detect emerging behavioural problems that are related to later school dropouts

School dropout is a multidimensional problem with negative consequences for socio‐economic status. Most interventions to reduce school dropout have been implemented in education rather than in preventive healthcare. Our goal was to determine whether measurements used in preventive healthcare surveillance enabled us to detect internalising and externalising problems in relation to later school dropouts.