Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Heritability of Daytime Ambulatory Blood Pressure in an Extended Twin Design

The present study estimated the genetic influences on ambulatory systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and on hypertensive status derived from ambulatory levels, in a family sample of 535 twins and 257 singleton siblings. This “extended twin design” was used to explicitly test the possibility that results obtained in singleton siblings are different from those obtained in twins. To examine the effects of excluding (medicated) hypertensive subjects, the genetic analyses were first performed under strict exclusion (medication and/or blood pressure >135/85 mm Hg), then without the medicated subjects, and, finally, without any exclusion. For the latter analysis, the untreated blood pressure values in subjects using antihypertensive medication were estimated by augmenting the observed blood pressure by the published efficacy of the specific antihypertensive medication used. No evidence was found for differential means, variances, or covariances of ambulatory blood pressure in singletons compared with twins. This indicates that estimates of heritability of ambulatory blood pressure from twin studies can be generalized to the singleton population. Heritability of hypertension, defined as a mean daytime blood pressure >135/85 mm Hg or antihypertensive medication use, was 61%. Genetic contribution to ambulatory blood pressure was highest when all subjects were included (systolic, 44% to 57%; diastolic, 46% to 63%) and lowest under strict exclusion (systolic, 32% to 50%; diastolic, 31% to 55%). We conclude that exclusion of (medicated) hypertensives removes part of the true genetic variance in ambulatory blood pressure.
Investigation of Routes for Improving the Rate Capability of Electrodes in Li-ion Batteries

Lithium-ion battery, first introduced to market in 1991 by Sony, is today one of the most popular battery technologies in the world. The development of Li-ion battery applications from portable electronic devices to electric vehicles and energy storages system has resulted in escalating demand for high-power performance of the batteries. In this thesis, various methods to improve the rate capability of Li-ion electrodes were investigated. These include improving the electronically conducting network of the electrodes by reducing the interfacial contact resistivity to the current collector, replacing the carbon black conductive additive by graphite/graphene, as well as reducing the resistance related to intercalation of lithium-ions into the graphite particles by addition of anion receptor in the electrolyte. In order to reduce the interfacial resistance between the current collector and the active electrode material, a carbon layer was deposited onto current collectors by thermal chemical vapor deposition before electrode casting. Li-ion half-cell batteries were manufactured and cycled at different rates in order to reveal the electrochemical performance. Characterizations of the materials were conducted, among them scanning electron microscopy investigations and Raman spectroscopy measurements. It was found, based on average capacity values, that cells with carbon coated current collector demonstrated higher capacities and improved rate capabilities compared to cells without coating. However, there were considerable individual differences among the various cells and hence, more parallel experiments should be performed in order to understand the effect of the coating. Based on average capacity values, addition of anion receptor in the electrolyte also resulted in higher capacities and improved rate capabilities. Additionally, differential capacity data indicated that over potential associated with SEI formation on the anode in the first cycle was reduced with presence of anion receptor in the electrolyte and that overpotentials associated with intercalation and de-intercalation was lowered. For the cathode cells, replacement of carbon black by graphene nanopowder did not improve the cell performance. By comparing the particle size of the various materials it was clear that the graphene material, graphene nanopowder, would be less able to create a continuous conductive network throughout the electrode. Raman measurements also showed that the graphene nanopowder was not perfect graphene, but likely somewhat more similar to graphite.
Beta-Actin Is Required for Proper Mouse Neural Crest Ontogeny

The mouse genome consists of six functional actin genes of which the expression patterns are temporally and spatially regulated during development and in the adult organism. Deletion of beta-actin in mouse is lethal during embryonic development, although there is compensatory expression of other actin isoforms. This suggests different isoform specific functions and, more in particular, an important function for beta-actin during early mammalian development. We here report a role for beta-actin during neural crest ontogeny. Although beta-actin null neural crest cells show expression of neural crest markers, less cells delaminate and their migration arrests shortly after. These phenotypes were associated with elevated apoptosis levels in neural crest cells, whereas proliferation levels were unchanged. Specifically the pre-migratory neural crest cells displayed higher levels of apoptosis, suggesting increased apoptosis in the neural tube accounts for the decreased amount of migrating neural crest cells seen in the beta-actin null embryos. These cells additionally displayed a lack of membrane bound N-cadherin and dramatic decrease in cadherin-11 expression which was more pronounced in the pre-migratory neural crest population, potentially indicating linkage between the cadherin-11 expression and apoptosis. By inhibiting ROCK ex vivo, the knockout neural crest cells regained migratory capacity and cadherin-11 expression was upregulated. We conclude that the presence of beta-actin is vital for survival, specifically of pre-migratory neural crest cells, their proper emigration from the neural tube and their subsequent migration. Furthermore, the absence of beta-actin affects cadherin-11 and N-cadherin function, which could partly be alleviated by ROCK inhibition, situating the Rho-ROCK signaling in a feedback loop with cadherin-11.
Default-Mode Activity during a Passive Sensory Task: Uncoupled from Deactivation but Impacting Activation

Deactivation refers to increased neural activity during low-demand tasks or rest compared with high-demand tasks. Several groups have reported that a particular set of brain regions, including the posterior cingulate cortex and the medial prefrontal cortex, among others, is consistently deactivated. Taken together, these typically deactivated brain regions appear to constitute a default-mode network of brain activity that predominates in the absence of a demanding external task. Examining a passive, block-design sensory task with a standard deactivation analysis (rest epochs vs. stimulus epochs), we demonstrate that the default-mode network is undetectable in one run and only partially detectable in a second run. Using independent component analysis, however, we were able to detect the full default-mode network in both runs and to demonstrate that, in the majority of subjects, it persisted across both rest and stimulus epochs, uncoupled from the task waveform, and so mostly undetectable as deactivation. We also replicate an earlier finding that the default-mode network includes the hippocampus suggesting that episodic memory is incorporated in default-mode cognitive processing. Furthermore, we show that the more a subject's default-mode activity was correlated with the rest epochs (and deactivated during stimulus epochs), the greater that subject's activation to the visual and auditory stimuli. We conclude that activity in the default-mode network may persist through both experimental and rest epochs if the experiment is not sufficiently challenging. Time-series analysis of default-mode activity provides a measure of the degree to which a task engages a subject and whether it is sufficient to interrupt the processespresumably cognitive, internally generated, and involving episodic memorymediated by the default-mode network.
Comparative evaluation of envelope type of advanced flap with and without type I collagen membrane (NEOMEM™) in the treatment of multiple buccal gingival recession defects: A clinical study

Background: The aim of this study is to compare and evaluate the clinical outcome of the envelope-type of coronally advanced flap (CAF) alone versus envelope type of coronally advanced flap plus type I collagen membrane (NEOMEM) in the treatment of multiple buccal gingival recessions, using the split mouth study. Materials and Methods: Ten patients in the age group of 20-50 years showing bilateral gingival recessions were treated. The defects in each patient were randomly assigned as Group A, which were treated with the envelope type of CAF, and those in Group B were treated with envelope type of CAF along with the Type I collagen membrane (NEOMEM). The recession depth (RD), probing depth (PD), clinical attachment level (CAL), and width of the keratinized tissue (KT) were measured at baseline, at three and six month intervals. Results: Forty-six Miller′s class I and II gingival recessions were treated. In the CAF + Type I collagen membrane (NEOMEM)-treated (Group B) sites the baseline gingival recession was 2.34 ± 0.48 mm, while in the CAFtreated (Group A) sites it was 2.52 ± 0.84 mm. Both the treatments resulted in significant recession depth reduction (P < 0.001), but the reduction was significantly greater (P < 0.01) for Group B than Group A. The probing depth changes were significant (P < 0.01) for both groups, but the difference was nonsignificant. Similarly, a significant gain of CAL was seen in Group B (2.23 ± 0.75 mm, P < 0.001) as well as in group A (1.60 ± 0.86 mm, P < 0.001) showing a significant difference (P < 0.01) between the two groups. The width of keratinized tissue was also significantly (P < 0.001) increased in both groups, but the increase was significantly greater (P < 0.001) in group B (2.30 ± 1.06 mm) than in group A (1.21 ± 0.67 mm). Conclusion: The envelope type of CAF along with Type I collagen membrane (NEOMEM) was more effective than envelope type of CAF alone, in producing root coverage in multiple gingival recession defects, associated with gain in CAL as also in the width of KT.
Influence of clouds on the spectral actinic flux density in the lower troposphere (INSPECTRO): overview of the field campaigns

Ultraviolet radiation is the key factor driving tropospheric photochemistry. It is strongly modulated by clouds and aerosols. A quantitative understanding of the radiation field and its effect on photochemistry is thus only possible with a detailed knowledge of the interaction between clouds and radiation. The overall objective of the project INSPECTRO was the characterization of the three-dimensional actinic radiation field under cloudy conditions. This was achieved during two measurement campaigns in Norfolk (East Anglia, UK) and Lower Bavaria (Germany) combining space-based, aircraft and ground-based measurements as well as simulations with the one-dimensional radiation transfer model UVSPEC and the three-dimensional radiation transfer model MYSTIC. During both campaigns the spectral actinic flux density was measured at several locations at ground level and in the air by up to four different aircraft. This allows the comparison of measured and simulated actinic radiation profiles. In addition satellite data were used to complete the information of the three dimensional input data set for the simulation. A three-dimensional simulation of actinic flux density data under cloudy sky conditions requires a realistic simulation of the cloud field to be used as an input for the 3-D radiation transfer model calculations. Two different approaches were applied, to derive high- and low-resolution data sets, with a grid resolution of about 100 m and 1 km, respectively. The results of the measured and simulated radiation profiles as well as the results of the ground based measurements are presented in terms of photolysis rate profiles for ozone and nitrogen dioxide. During both campaigns all spectroradiometer systems agreed within ±10% if mandatory corrections e.g. stray light correction were applied. Stability changes of the systems were below 5% over the 4 week campaign periods and negligible over a few days. The J(O 1 D) data of the single monochromator systems can be evaluated for zenith angles less than 70°, which was satisfied by nearly all airborne measurements during both campaigns. The comparison of the airborne measurements with corresponding simulations is presented for the total, downward and upward flux during selected clear sky periods of both campaigns. The compliance between the measured (from three aircraft) and simulated downward and total flux profiles lies in the range of ±15%.
Iterative frequency domain equalization for single-carrier wideband MIMO channels

Single carrier frequency domain equalization (SC-FDE) is receiving considerable attention recently due to its comparable complexity and performance with OFDM. In this paper, an iterative SC-FDE with decision feedback in frequency domain is proposed for wideband multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) channels and more general multipath vector channels as a generalization of previous works considering FDE with decision feedback for single-input single-output (SISO) systems. The proposed detector is based on iterative forward and backward filtering followed by a MIMO multi-stream detector that uses a priori log-likelihood ratios (LLR) of coded symbols. Forward and feedback filters are jointly optimized according to the minimum mean square error (MMSE) criterion to minimize both self inter-symbol-interference (ISI) and interference from other streams transmitted at different antennas. It has been observed that the proposed structure exploits the multi-path diversity sources of the channel effectively and a performance very close to MIMO-OFDM outage probability can be achieved. Therefore, our proposed iterative SC-FDE technique for MIMO wideband channels can be viewed as a strong alternative to MIMO-OFDM schemes with similar complexity.
Design and Implementation of Safety Management System for Oil Depot Based on Internet of Things

An oil depot, which is used for accepting, storing and distributing oil, is accident-prone because of the flammability and explosibility characteristics of oil. As research shown most accidents in oil depots are caused by unsafe acts of human. But it is difficult to monitor and trace the operations of employees with traditional management methods. An internet of things based safety management information system for oil depot is introduced in this paper. It has the following unique characteristics: (1) It adopts the IoT technology to monitor the process of the routine works and prevent the violation acts; (2) RFID tags and PDAs are used in permit to work management to assure that the worksite audition is conducted at the site; (3) IoT technology is introduced in the system to ensure the quality of the inspection. The use in two oil depots shows that the management information system can provide firm support for oil depot safety management. Keywords-oil depot, safety management, internet of things, management information system
An eBusiness Model Ontology for Modeling eBusiness

After explaining why business executives and academics should consider thinking about a rigorous approach to e-business models, we introduce a new e-Business Model Ontology. Using the concept of business models can help companies understand, communicate and share, change, measure, simulate and learn more about the different aspects of e-business in their firm. The generic e-Business Model Ontology (a rigorous definition of the e-business issues and their interdependencies in a company’s business model), which we outline in this paper is the foundation for the development of various useful tools for e-business management and IS Requirements Engineering. The e-Business Model Ontology is based on an extensive literature review and describes the logic of a “business system” for creating value in the Internet era. It is composed of four main pillars, which are product innovation, infrastructure management, customer relationship and financials. These elements are then further decomposed. Alexander Osterwalder, Yves Pigneur
Persona: a contextualized and personalized web search

Recent advances in graph-based search techniques derived from Kleinberg's (1997) work have been impressive. This paper further improves the graph-based search algorithm in two dimensions. Firstly, variants of Kleinberg's techniques do not take into account the semantics of the query string nor of the nodes being searched. As a result, polysemy of query words cannot be resolved. This paper presents an interactive query scheme utilizing the simple Web taxonomy provided by the Open Directory Project to resolve meanings of a user query. Secondly, we extend a recently proposed personalized version of the Kleinberg algorithm (Chang et al., 2000). Simulation results are presented to illustrate the sensitivity of our technique. We outline the implementation of our algorithm in the Persona personalized web search system.
3D bioprinting of vasculature network for tissue engineering

ii To my parents, Xu Zhang and Ping Yong, for their love, support and encouragement. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would never have been able to finish my dissertation without the guidance of my committee members, help from friends, and support from my family. I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my advisor, Dr. Ibrahim Tarik Ozbolat, for his excellent guidance, caring, and patience, and for providing me with an excellent atmosphere for doing research. I would like to express my deep gratitude and respect to my committee members, Dr. Nuxoll and Dr. Hongtao Ding, whose advice and insight were invaluable to me. I would also like to thank Yin Yu for cell viability and tissue histology tests, and Farzaneh Dolati for mechanical tests. Many thanks to all the workers in the Biomanufacturing Lab for helping me with my experiments. My research would not have been possible without their help. I would also like to thank my parents. They were always supporting me and encouraging me with their best wishes. Also, I want to thank the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Institute for Clinical and Translational Science (ICTS) for providing funding for this project (grant number ULIRR024979). iv ABSTRACT Tissue engineering, with the ultimate goal of engineering artificial tissues or organs to replace malfunctioning or diseased ones inside the human body, provides a substitute for organ transplantation. Driven by the growing, tremendous gap between the demand for and the supply of donated organs, tissue engineering has been advancing rapidly. There has been great success in engineering artificial organs such as skin, bone, cartilage and bladders because they have simple geometry, low cell oxygen consumption rates and little requirements for blood vessels. However, difficulties have been experienced with engineering thick, complex tissues or organs, such as hearts, livers or kidneys, primarily due to the lack of an efficient media exchange system for delivering nutrients and oxygen and removing waste. Very few types of cells can tolerate being more than 200 μm away from a blood vessel because of the limited oxygen diffusion rate. Without a vasculature system, three-dimensional (3D) engineered thick tissues or organs cannot get sufficient nutrients, gas exchange or waste removal, so nonhomogeneous cell distribution and limited cell activities result. Systems must be developed to transport nutrients, growth factors and oxygen to cells while extracting metabolic waste products such as lactic acid, carbon dioxide and hydrogen ions …
Application of DAC Codeword Spectrum: Expansion Factor

Distributed Arithmetic Coding (DAC) proves to be an effective implementation of Slepian-Wolf Coding (SWC), especially for short data blocks. To study the property of DAC codewords, the author has proposed the concept of DAC codeword spectrum. For equiprobable binary sources, the problem was formatted as solving a system of functional equations. Then, to calculate DAC codeword spectrum in general cases, three approximation methods have been proposed. In this paper, the author makes use of DAC codeword spectrum as a tool to answer an important question: how many (including proper and wrong) paths will be created during the DAC decoding, if no path is pruned? The author introduces the concept of another kind of DAC codeword spectrum, i.e. time spectrum, while the originally-proposed DAC codeword spectrum is called path spectrum from now on. To measure how fast the number of decoding paths increases, the author introduces the concept of expansion factor which is defined as the ratio of path numbers between two consecutive decoding stages. The author reveals the relation between expansion factor and path/time spectrum, and proves that the number of decoding paths of any DAC codeword increases exponentially as the decoding proceeds. Specifically, when symbols `0' and `1' are mapped onto intervals [0, q) and [(1-q), 1), where 0.5
Secure 2-User Gaussian Interference Channel with Limited Information Exchange at the Transmitters

This paper considers the interference-mitigation cooperation over a secure 2-user Gaussian Interference Channel with Limited Information Exchange at the Transmitters (GIC-LIET) over an infinite rate link between the two transmitters. The information exchange between the transmitters enables the precoding based on Block- Diagonalization and the privacy constrains the messages of one transmitter to be kept confidential for the other transmitter, as well as the other receiver. The privacy constraint is guaranteed by a wiretap coding. Based on the assumption of the infinite rate link between the two transmitters, we inject artificial noise at each of the two transmitters such that the received signal at the potential eavesdroppers (i.e., the other transmitter and receiver) is a degraded version of the signal received at the desired receiver. The secrecy rate region of the proposed GIC-LIET is derived and compared to two extreme cases: no information exchange at all and full information exchange at the transmitters. Numerical results prove that the secrecy rate region of the proposed scheme is in between the performance of the two competitors providing a good trade-off between the amount of information exchanged and the achievable secrecy rates.
What we talk about when we talk about the default mode network

The default mode network (DMN) has been widely defined as a set of brain regions that are engaged when people are in a “resting state” (left to themselves in a scanner, with no explicit task instruction). The network emerged as a scientific object in the early twenty-first century, and in just over a decade has become the focus of intense empirical and conceptual neuroscientific inquiry. In this Perspective, we contribute to the work of critical neuroscience by providing brief reflections on the birth, working life, and future of the DMN. We consider: how the DMN emerged through the convergence of distinct lines of scientific investigation; controversies surrounding the definition, function and localization of the DMN; and the lines of interdisciplinary investigation that the DMN has helped to enable. We conclude by arguing that one of the most pressing issues in the field in 2014 is to understand how the mechanisms of thought are related to the function of brain dynamics. While the DMN has been central in allowing the field to reach this point, it is not inevitable that the DMN itself will remain at the heart of future investigations of this complex problem.