Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A chemical biology approach reveals period shortening of the mammalian circadian clock by specific inhibition of GSK-3β

The circadian clock controls daily oscillations of gene expression at the cellular level. We report the development of a high-throughput circadian functional assay system that consists of luminescent reporter cells, screening automation, and a data analysis pipeline. We applied this system to further dissect the molecular mechanisms underlying the mammalian circadian clock using a chemical biology approach. We analyzed the effect of 1,280 pharmacologically active compounds with diverse structures on the circadian period length that is indicative of the core clock mechanism. Our screening paradigm identified many compounds previously known to change the circadian period or phase, demonstrating the validity of the assay system. Furthermore, we found that small molecule inhibitors of glycogen synthase kinase 3 (GSK-3) consistently caused a strong short period phenotype in contrast to the well-known period lengthening by lithium, another presumed GSK-3 inhibitor. siRNA-mediated knockdown of GSK-3β also caused a short period, confirming the phenotype obtained with the small molecule inhibitors. These results clarify the role of GSK-3β in the period regulation of the mammalian clockworks and highlight the effectiveness of chemical biology in exploring unidentified mechanisms of the circadian clock.
The work of play: Marx and the video games industry in the United Kingdom

The video games industry in the United Kingdom is profitable and growing at a time when the broader economy is still failing to recover. This has attracted the interests of politicians, committing large investments and tax breaks. Although the headline figures are impressive, the overall structure of the industry is less clear. Within this there are many new organizations, often shaped by start-up culture. Less is known about how work is being organized or the experiences of workers. The approach taken here draws on Marxist theory and an examination of the labour process. It focuses on how capitalism effects the production of video games, including the use of crunch time, the prevalence of sexism, and the widespread use of non-disclosure agreements. The conclusion suggests further enquiries are needed to understand how the struggle between labour and capital is shaping this industry.
Underfill optimization under accelerated temperature cycling and drop-impact loading for stacked packages using finite element modeling

An array of accelerated temperature cycling (ATC) finite element (FE) simulations using ANSYS™, and drop-impact finite element simulations using LS DYNA™, are used to find the optimum elastic modulus and coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) for a stacked chip scale package. For the ATC simulations, Anand's constitutive model with properties for Sn96.5Ag3. 0Cu0.5 (SAC305) and tin-lead eutectic (Sn63Pb37) are used for the solder joint. The strain energy density is used as a damage parameter to determine the number of thermal cycles to failure. Tri-linear elastic-plastic models are used for the solder joint properties in the drop-impact simulations. The maximum normal stress in the solder joints is used as damage parameter for the drop-impact simulations. Simulations show that the optimum underfill material has an elastic modulus of 2 GPa and a CTE of 25 ppm/K.
Understanding the roles of intrinsic disorder in subunits of hemoglobin and the disease process of sickle cell anemia

ABSTRACT One of the common genetic disorders is sickle cell anemia, in which 2 recessive alleles must meet to allow for destruction and alteration in the morphology of red blood cells. This usually leads to loss of proper binding of oxygen to hemoglobin and curved, sickle-shaped erythrocytes. The mutation causing this disease occurs in the 6th codon of the HBB gene encoding the hemoglobin subunit β (β-globin), a protein, serving as an integral part of the adult hemoglobin A (HbA), which is a heterotetramer of 2 α chains and 2 β chains that is responsible for binding to the oxygen in the blood. This mutation changes a charged glutamic acid to a hydrophobic valine residue and disrupts the tertiary structure and stability of the hemoglobin molecule. Since in the field of protein intrinsic disorder, charged and polar residues are typically considered as disorder promoting, in opposite to the order-promoting non-polar hydrophobic residues, in this study we attempted to answer a question if intrinsic disorder might have a role in the pathogenesis of sickle cell anemia. To this end, several disorder predictors were utilized to evaluate the presence of intrinsically disordered regions in all subunits of human hemoglobin: α, β, δ, ϵ, ζ, γ1, and γ2. Then, structural analysis was completed by using the SWISS-MODEL Repository to visualize the outputs of the disorder predictors. Finally, Uniprot STRING and D2P2 were used to determine biochemical interactome and protein partners for each hemoglobin subunit along with analyzing their posttranslational modifications. All these properties were used to determine any differences between the 6 different types of subunits of hemoglobin and to correlate the mutation leading to sickle cell anemia with intrinsic disorder propensity.
Correlates of Objectively Measured Sedentary Behavior in US Preschool Children

OBJECTIVE: To identify correlates of objectively measured sedentary behavior in a diverse sample of preschool children. METHODS: A total of 331 children (51% male, 51% black) from a wide range of ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds in greater Columbia, South Carolina, were recruited for this study. Sedentary behavior (minutes/hour) was measured by using ActiGraph accelerometers (<37.5 counts per 15 seconds) over a 2-week period. All potential correlates except for anthropometric data of children were measured by a parent survey. Correlation and regression analyses were conducted to examine associations between 29 potential correlates across multiple domains (demographic, biological, psychosocial, behavioral, and physical environmental) and sedentary behavior measured by accelerometry in preschool children. RESULTS: Girls spent more time in sedentary behavior than boys (33.2 vs 32.4 minutes/hour; P = .05). Six and 8 potential correlates were found to be significant in univariate analyses for boys and girls, respectively. In the gender-specific final model, for boys, a child's weekday TV/video games and physical activity equipment in the home were significant correlates of sedentary behavior (R2 = 0.091). For girls, BMI z score and child's athletic coordination were significantly associated with sedentary behavior (R2 = 0.069). CONCLUSION: Several factors were identified as correlates of objectively measured sedentary behavior in American preschool children. However, there were no common correlates that influenced sedentary behavior for both boys and girls. Future interventions for reducing sedentary behavior could target correlates identified in this study.
Revisional Surgery for Failed Antireflux Surgery

The outcome and morbidity of revisional surgery after antireflux surgery has been suggested to be suboptimal compared with primary repair. Therefore, an individualized therapeutic approach based on exact analysis of the reasons for failure of the initial procedure is essential for successful management of these patients. This study attempts to summarize the management of this challenging patient population with a focus on the clinical presentation, causes of failure, evaluation, and variety and choice of revisional techniques.
Theoretical and experimental effective parameters of metamaterial substrate

The inversion and the field summation methods are used to determine the effective permeability and permittivity of metamaterial structure. The S-parameters (for “Inversion Method”) and the field calculator (for “Field Summation”) simulated using commercial software are used to extract the effective parameters. A simple technique to realize a metamaterial substrate is proposed in this paper. A sample of metamaterial substrate is realized and measured. The results are compared to the simulation results obtained with the both methods (inversion and the field summation). The good agreement was found.
Heat pipes -integrated circuit coolers

Dissipation of heat from electronic components is a general phenomenon, and in the past several methods like the use of heat sinks, fans, coolers and convection methods have been used. The latest invention for cooling of electronic components is the heat pipes. The time of beginning of heat pipe science was near 40 years ago with first heat pipe definition and prediction of most simple cases. The interest stems in achieving extremely high heat flux near 1000W/cm2, needed for the future generation electronic cooling application. Now at the computer age some changes of basic equations are performed, more powerful predicting methods are available with increasing awareness of complexity of heat pipes and new heat pipe generations. But even today heat pipes are not completely understood and solution strategies still contain significant simplifications depending upon its applications. Micro and miniature heat pipes have some additional complications due to its small size. A review of heat pipes is presented in this paper.
Fusion system based on WiFi and ultrasounds for in-home positioning systems: The UTOPIA experiment

The research presented in this paper is focused on In-home positioning systems. These indoor environments are characterized by a reduced number of AP, narrow spaces and very important radio signal attenuation. Existing indoor techniques seems to be not totally suitable for these scenarios; this paper proposes an add-on for helping these techniques by the use of wearable ultrasound sensors (distance measurements). One important step for indoor techniques using RF signals is the off-line phase and the generation of Radio Maps. In order to considerably reduce the time needed for the off-line phase, this paper uses an existing tool for generating maps automatically. Therefore, a considerable gain of time is obtained. On the other hand, the combination of WiFi and range techniques allows us to do coarse and fine location. An IT artifact named UTOPIA (UlTrasOund Positioning Indoor App) has been developed to track all data needed for computing indoor position like RSSI, distances to walls, number of steps, heading and more. The project uses two maps for positioning: a WiFi map automatically generated; and an ultrasound map, that takes into account what should be the ultrasound value at every single point of the building and for several directions of the sensor. To get position, the values obtained by smartphone are compared with WiFi map. A particle filter technique is used to propagate position and ultrasound values are used to get the weight in the particle filter. Results obtained show that the methodology is coherent with real scenario and can be used for helping existing indoor position techniques in these specific scenarios (In-home environments). The main contributions of this paper are: 1) offering an alternative system suitable for in-home features that allows to calculate positioning by using WiFi and ultrasound; 2) avoiding the off-line mapping phase of WiFi fingerprinting by comparing with an automatically calculated WiFi map; and 3) using the map for improving positioning by generating an ultrasound reference map with the value of ultrasound signal at every single point of the building, and for several directions.
GLP-1 receptor activation modulates pancreatitis-associated gene expression but does not modify the susceptibility to experimental pancreatitis in mice

Submitted 28 April 2009 and accepted 22 May 2009. This is an uncopyedited electronic version of an article accepted for publication in Diabetes. The American Diabetes Association, publisher of Diabetes, is not responsible for any errors or omissions in this version of the manuscript or any version derived from it by third parties. The definitive publisher-authenticated version will be available in a future issue of Diabetes in print and online at http://diabetes.diabetesjournals. org. Diabetes Publish Ahead of Print, published online June 9, 2009
Sustainable Food Security Measurement: A Systemic Methodology

Sustainable food security measures how a region provides food for its people without endangered the environment. In Indonesia, it was legally measured in Food Security and Vulnerability (FSVA). However, regard to sustainable food security policy, the measurement has not encompassed the environmental aspect. This will lead to lack of environmental aspect information for adjusting the next strategy. This study aimed to assess Sustainable Food security by encompassing both food security and environment aspect using systemic eco-efficiency. Given existing indicator of cereal production level, total emission as environment indicator was generated by constructing Causal Loop Diagram (CLD). Then, a stock-flow diagram was used to develop systemic simulation model. This model was demonstrated for Indonesian five provinces. The result showed there was difference between food security order with and without environmental aspect assessment.
InSAR Dem Reconstruction Using SRTM Data and ERS-1/2 Interferogram

Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) technique of repeat-pass interferometric mode can be used for estimating topography of the earth's surface. Because of the impact of phase errors, the accuracy of the InSAR derived DEM need to be improved. We proposed a new approach which includes three steps to solve the problem. At first the baseline is estimated and the precise orbit data is utilized to obtain more co-registration accuracy. Secondly phase trends are modeled and removed with a linear regression analysis before converting phase to height with critical points selected in high coherence regions. At last we stimulate the interferometric phase in low coherence regions with the use of SRTM DEM. One pair of ERS-1/2 images and SRTM data covering the mountainous region in central China will be utilized in this work. The effectiveness of our approach is shown in the experiment.
Working Paper Series Department of Economics University of Verona Optimal Non-Welfarist Income Taxation for Inequality and Polarization Reduction

We adopt a non-welfarist approach to investigate the effect of different redistributive objectives on the shape of the optimal tax schedule. We consider inequality and income polarization reduction objectives and we identify socially desirable three brackets piecewise linear tax systems that allow to collect a given revenue. The optimal tax problem is formalized as the maximization of families of rank-dependent social evaluation function defined over net incomes. These functions allow to incorporate within the same social evaluation model concerns for inequality and for polarization reduction. Both with fixed and variable labour supply the optimal tax schemes substantially differ as the focus moves from the reduction of inequality to the one of polarization. In the case of inequality concerns the optimal tax system is mainly convex exhibiting increasing marginal tax rates unless when labour supply elasticities are higher. While in case of polarization concerns the optimal tax scheme is not-convex with reduced marginal tax rate for the upper income bracket.
Understanding the relevance of knowledge flows: how to realize the benefits of knowledge transfer processes

Managing and exploiting knowledge flows is an imperative for all firms. Scholars, practitioners, and analysts agree on the importance of production, diffusion, and use of knowledge as the most relevant drivers of the world economy. Being knowledge tacit or explicit, organizations need to recognize it as a valuable resource and tap into the collective intelligence and skills of employees in order to create a greater organizational knowledge base and remain competitive in the global marketplace. Consistently, investigating knowledge, how this may be accumulated and then used as well as its consequences for individual and organizational performance is still a hot topic in several fields of research. Starting from this premise, this dissertation proposes four studies on different yet interrelated knowledge-related topics. They are categorized into three research areas: cognition in knowledge-based processes, knowledge sharing and knowledge transfer, and knowledge utilization. Cognition in knowledge-based processes is addresses by Chapter 3, which links boundary spanning literature with top management teams’ members interacting with both internal and external networks. The second research area (i.e., knowledge sharing and knowledge transfer) has led to the development of Chapter 4 and Chapter 5 which respectively investigate the organizational antecedents to employees’ knowledge sharing behaviors and vicarious learning among companies engaging in licensing agreements. Knowledge utilization is examined in Chapter 6, whose purpose is to explore the effect of individual creativity and job design dimensions on employees’ orientation toward using the already available knowledge. See Table 1 here below for an outline of the thesis.
Linking labour force participation, education, labour wages and household consumption in developing countries : push and pull effects in self-employment : evidence from Nigeria

The contribution of this thesis is in understanding the origins in developing countries of differences in labour wage and household consumption vis-a-vis educational abilities (and by extension employment statuses). This thesis adds to the labour market literature in developing countries by investigating the nature of employment and its consequences for labour wage and household consumption in a developing country. It utilizes multinomial probit, blinder-oaxaca, Heckman and quantile regressions to examine one human capital indicator: educational attainment; and two welfare proxies: labour wage and household consumption, in a developing country, Nigeria. It finds that, empirically, the self-employed are a heterogeneous group of individuals made up of a few highly educated individuals, and a significant majority of ‘not so educated’ individuals who mostly earn less than paid workers. It also finds that a significant number of employers enjoy labour wage premiums; and having a higher proportion of employers in the household has a positive relationship with household consumption. The thesis furthermore discovers an upper educational threshold for women employers not found for men. Interestingly, the thesis also finds that there is indeed an ordering of labour wages into low-income self-employment (which seems to be found mainly in “own account” self-employment), medium-income paid employment, and high-income self-employment (which seems to be found mainly among employers), and that this corresponds to a similar ordering of low human capital, medium human capital and high human capital among labour market participants, as expressed through educational attainments. These show that as a whole, employers can largely be classed as experiencing pulled self-employment, as they appear to be advantaged in all three criteria (educational attainments, labour wage and household consumption). A minority of self-employed “own account” workers (specifically those at the upper end of the income distribution who are well educated), can also be classed as experiencing pulled self-employment. The rest of the significant majority of self-employed “own account” workers in this study can be classed as experiencing pushed self-employment in terms of the indicators used.
Precise Control of Elastic Joint Robot Using an Interconnection and Damping Assignment Passivity-Based Approach

Vibration suppression and precise tracking are the two main challenges in the control of elastic joint robots. In this study, an elastic joint robot with precise position sensors on both the motor and link sides is developed to tackle these challenges. With a two-mass model for elastic joint and a LuGre friction model for joint friction, the elastic joint robot system is modeled and analyzed as an underactuated port-controlled Hamiltonian system with dissipation (PCHD). The proposed elastic joint controller is integrated with friction compensation using the interconnection and damping assignment passivity-based control method, leading to a PCHD closed loop system that can be effectively tuned to suppress vibration associated with elastic joints. In addition, integral control is employed to achieve high tracking precision. Experiments have been conducted and the results have demonstrated high performance of the proposed control method.
Financial Conditions and Economic Activity

The main aim of this paper is to analyse the interrelation between domestic and external financial conditions and economic activity. For this purpose, an overall Financial Conditions Index (FCI) for Croatia was constructed, together with two subcomponents – domestic and foreign – used to estimate a VAR model of interdependence between financing conditions and real economic activity in Croatia and in the eurozone. The results of the estimated model indicate that financing conditions in Croatia are primarily determined by domestic GDP and external financial conditions, while a variance decomposition estimate, with these two variables, also points to foreign GDP as an important determinant of the variability of domestic economic and financial activity indicators.
Model-based analysis of multiple electrode array stimulation for epiretinal visual prostheses

Objective. Epiretinal stimulation, which uses an array of electrodes implanted on the inner retinal surface to relay a representation of the visual scene to the neuronal elements of the retina, has seen considerable success. The objective of the present study was to quantify the effects of multi-electrode stimulation on the patterns of neural excitation in a computational model of epiretinal stimulation. Approach. A computational model of retinal ganglion cells was modified to represent the morphology of human retinal ganglion cells and validated against published experimental data. The ganglion cell model was then combined with a model of an axon of the nerve fiber layer to produce a population model of the inner retina. The response of the population of model neurons to epiretinal stimulation with a multi-electrode array was quantified across a range of electrode geometries using a novel means to quantify the model response—the minimum radius circle bounding the activated model neurons as a proxy for the evoked phosphene. Main results. Multi-electrode stimulation created unique phosphenes, such that the number of potential phosphenes can far exceed the number of electrode contacts. Significance. The ability to exploit the spatial and temporal interactions of stimulation may be critical to improvements in the performance of epiretinal prostheses.
Cobalt oxide nanosheets wrapped onto nickel foam for non-enzymatic detection of glucose

Ultra-sensitive and highly selective detection of glucose is essential for the clinical diagnosis of diabetes. In this paper, an ultra-sensitive glucose sensor was successfully fabricated based on cobalt oxide (Co3O4) nanosheets directly grown on nickel foam through a simple hydrothermal method. Characterizations indicated that the Co3O4 nanosheets are completely and uniformly wrapped onto the surface of nickel foam to form a three-dimensional heterostructure. The resulting self-standing electrochemical electrode presents a high performance for the non-enzymatic detection of glucose, including short response time (<10 s), ultra-sensitivity (12.97 mA mM−1 cm−2), excellent selectivity and low detection limit (0.058 μM, S/N = 3). These results indicate that Co3O4 nanosheets wrapped onto nickel foam are a low-cost, practical, and high performance electrochemical electrode for bio sensing.