Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Structural MRI Study of Human Brain Development from Birth to 2 Years

Brain development in the first 2 years after birth is extremely dynamic and likely plays an important role in neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism and schizophrenia. Knowledge regarding this period is currently quite limited. We studied structural brain development in healthy subjects from birth to 2. Ninety-eight children received structural MRI scans on a Siemens head-only 3T scanner with magnetization prepared rapid gradient echo T1-weighted, and turbo spin echo, dual-echo (proton density and T2 weighted) sequences: 84 children at 2–4 weeks, 35 at 1 year and 26 at 2 years of age. Tissue segmentation was accomplished using a novel automated approach. Lateral ventricle, caudate, and hippocampal volumes were also determined. Total brain volume increased 101% in the first year, with a 15% increase in the second. The majority of hemispheric growth was accounted for by gray matter, which increased 149% in the first year; hemispheric white matter volume increased by only 11%. Cerebellum volume increased 240% in the first year. Lateral ventricle volume increased 280% in the first year, with a small decrease in the second. The caudate increased 19% and the hippocampus 13% from age 1 to age 2. There was robust growth of the human brain in the first two years of life, driven mainly by gray matter growth. In contrast, white matter growth was much slower. Cerebellum volume also increased substantially in the first year of life. These results suggest the structural underpinnings of cognitive and motor development in early childhood, as well as the potential pathogenesis of neurodevelopmental disorders.
A Novel Framework for Incorporating Labeled Examples into Anomaly Detection

This paper presents a principled approach for incorporating labeled examples into an anomaly detection task. We demonstrate that, with the addition of labeled examples, the anomaly detection algorithm can be guided to develop better models of the normal and abnormal behavior of the data, thus improving the detection rate and reducing the false alarm rate of the algorithm. A framework based on the finite mixture model is introduced to model the data as well as the constraints imposed by the labeled examples. Empirical studies conducted on real data sets show that significant improvements in detection rate and false alarm rate are achieved using our proposed framework.
HDG-Tree: A Structure for Clustering High-dimensional Data Streams

Clustering data stream is a challenging work due to the limited memories and a single pass. In this paper, a new grid based algorithm for clustering high-dimensional data stream (called GHStream) is proposed, which adopts a two-phase clustering formwork. In the online component, a High-dimensional Dense Grid Tree (abbreviated HDG-Tree) is presented to summarize streaming data. As data streams evolve, the HDG-Tree is dynamic updated. In the offline component, when a clustering request is advanced by users, the grid cells stored in HDG-Tree is marked different clusterID to generate the final cluster results. The experimental results on real and synthetic datasets demonstrate that GHStream has higher clustering quality and better scalability
Efficient and effective random testing using the Voronoi diagram

Adaptive random testing (ART) is a method for improving the fault-finding effectiveness of random testing. Fixed-size candidate set ART is the most studied variant of this approach. However, existing implementations of FSCS-ART have had substantial selection overhead, with n test cases requiring O(n/sup 2/) time to generate. We describe the use of a geometric data structure known as the Voronoi diagram to reduce this overhead to no worse than O(n/spl radic/n) and, with further optimization, O(nlogn). We demonstrate experimentally that practical improvements in selection overhead can be gained using this improved implementation.
Interleukin 4 inhibits the proliferation but not the differentiation of activated human B cells in response to interleukin 2

The combined effect of IL-4 and IL-2 on proliferation of anti-IgM antibody or Staphylococcus aureus strain Cowan I (SAC)-preactivated B cells was investigated. It was observed that in most cases, rIL-2 used at optimal concentration induced higher levels of tritiated thymidine ([3H]TdR) uptake than rIL-4 used at optimal concentration. When rIL-4 and rIL-2 were added together, it was repeatedly found that B cell proliferation induced by rIL-2 was significantly reduced and was, in most cases, comparable with the proliferation induced by rIL-4 alone. Cell cycle studies demonstrated that rIL-4 significantly reduced the number of cells entering S and G2/M phases of the cell cycle upon rIL-2 stimulation. B cell blasts preincubated for 24 or 48 h with rIL-4 displayed a reduced proliferation in response to rIL-2. In contrast, preculture of resting B cells with rIL-4 did not impair their subsequent proliferation in response to rIL-2 plus insolubilized anti- IgM antibody. This suggests that rIL-4 can only exert its inhibitory effect once B cells have received an activation signal. The differentiative activity of rIL-2 measured on B cell blasts preactivated for 2 d with SAC was not altered by rIL-4, which suggests that rIL-4 did not exert its inhibitory activity on rIL-2-induced B cell proliferation by enhancing rIL-2-mediated differentiation. Delayed addition of a neutralizing anti-IL-4 antiserum demonstrated that a period of contact of at least 24 h between IL-4 and B cell blasts was necessary for the development of the antagonistic effect of IL-4 on IL- 2-mediated growth of activated B cells. These data demonstrate that IL- 4 antagonizes the B cell growth-promoting effect of IL-2 without affecting the differentiation of preactivated B cells in response to IL- 2.
Sensory processes modulate differences in multi‐component behavior and cognitive control between childhood and adulthood

Many everyday tasks require executive functions to achieve a certain goal. Quite often, this requires the integration of information derived from different sensory modalities. Children are less likely to integrate information from different modalities and, at the same time, also do not command fully developed executive functions, as compared to adults. Yet still, the role of developmental age‐related effects on multisensory integration processes has not been examined within the context of multicomponent behavior until now (i.e., the concatenation of different executive subprocesses). This is problematic because differences in multisensory integration might actually explain a significant amount of the developmental effects that have traditionally been attributed to changes in executive functioning. In a system, neurophysiological approach combining electroencephaloram (EEG) recordings and source localization analyses, we therefore examined this question. The results show that differences in how children and adults accomplish multicomponent behavior do not solely depend on developmental differences in executive functioning. Instead, the observed developmental differences in response selection processes (reflected by the P3 ERP) were largely dependent on the complexity of integrating temporally separated stimuli from different modalities. This effect was related to activation differences in medial frontal and inferior parietal cortices. Primary perceptual gating or attentional selection processes (P1 and N1 ERPs) were not affected. The results show that differences in multisensory integration explain parts of transformations in cognitive processes between childhood and adulthood that have traditionally been attributed to changes in executive functioning, especially when these require the integration of multiple modalities during response selection. Hum Brain Mapp 38:4933–4945, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Toward standardization of insulin immunoassays.

BACKGROUND Measurement of circulating insulin may improve the classification and management of diabetes mellitus and assist in treating people with insulin resistance. METHODS A work group convened by the American Diabetes Association evaluated results for a panel of 39 single donor sera measured by 10 commercial insulin methods from 9 manufacturers against an isotope dilution-liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (IDMS) measurement procedure calibrated using purified recombinant insulin. We used a candidate primary (pure substance) reference material, pooled serum, and single donor sera to evaluate approaches to achieve improved agreement of results between the routine and reference measurement procedures. RESULTS Four of 10 methods had >or=95% of individual serum results within 32% of the IDMS concentrations. However, the bias vs IDMS was more than 15.5% for 7 of 10 methods in 36%-100% of individual samples. A purified recombinant insulin preparation used as a common calibrator did not improve harmonization of results among routine methods but was not used as instructed by all participants. Calibration using serum pools achieved bias <15.5% for nearly all results in the concentration range covered by the pools (>60 pmol/L). Calibration using a panel of individual sera was the most effective to improve harmonization of results over the full measuring range. CONCLUSIONS Agreement among methods can be improved by establishing traceability to the IDMS procedure using a panel of native sera. Pooled sera may be useful as trueness control materials. The usefulness of the pure insulin primary reference material [candidate reference material for insulin (cRMI)] requires clarification of protocols used by manufacturers.
Deploying PAWS to Combat Poaching: Game-Theoretic Patrolling in Areas with Complex Terrain (Demonstration)

The conservation of key wildlife species such as tigers and elephants are threatened by poaching activities. In many conservation areas, foot patrols are conducted to prevent poaching but they may not be well-planned to make the best use of the limited patrolling resources. While prior work has introduced PAWS (Protection Assistant for Wildlife Security) as a game-theoretic decision aid to design effective foot patrol strategies to protect wildlife, the patrol routes generated by PAWS may be difficult to follow in areas with complex terrain. Subsequent research has worked on the significant evolution of PAWS, from an emerging application to a regularly deployed software. A key advance of the deployed version of PAWS is that it incorporates the complex terrain information and generates a strategy consisting of easy-to-follow routes. In this demonstration, we provide 1) a video introducing the PAWS system; 2) an interactive visualization of the patrol routes generated by PAWS in an example area with complex terrain; and 3) a machine-human competition in designing patrol strategy given complex terrain and animal distribution.
A capacitively coupled clock distribution network with correction for process dependent skew

In this paper, a capacitively coupled 1-level H-tree clock distribution network (CC-CDN) is described. A novel delay line which is less variant to process is employed as the receiver for the proposed clock distribution. The clock skew is reduced by a factor of 2 by employing the proposed skew correction technique. The overall power consumption of the circuit is 1.42mW which is 77.28% less than the power consumption of a current mode- clock distribution network(CM-CDN) in [1]. The duty cycle variation of the clock signals at the output of the proposed H-tree is 42.6% less than in the CM-CDN.
Well London Phase-1: results among adults of a cluster-randomised trial of a community engagement approach to improving health behaviours and mental well-being in deprived inner-city neighbourhoods

Background We report the main results, among adults, of a cluster-randomised-trial of Well London, a community-engagement programme promoting healthy eating, physical activity and mental well-being in deprived neighbourhoods. The hypothesis was that benefits would be neighbourhood-wide, and not restricted to intervention participants. The trial was part of a multicomponent process/outcome evaluation which included non-experimental components (self-reported behaviour change amongst participants, case studies and evaluations of individual projects) which suggested health, well-being and social benefits to participants. Methods Twenty matched pairs of neighbourhoods in London were randomised to intervention/control condition. Primary outcomes (five portions fruit/vegetables/day; 5×30 m of moderate intensity physical activity/week, abnormal General Health Questionnaire (GHQ)-12 score and Warwick–Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS) score) were measured by postintervention questionnaire survey, among 3986 adults in a random sample of households across neighbourhoods. Results There was no evidence of impact on primary outcomes: healthy eating (relative risk [RR] 1.04, 95% CI 0.93 to 1.17); physical activity (RR:1.01, 95% CI 0.88 to 1.16); abnormal GHQ12 (RR:1.15, 95% CI 0.84 to 1.61); WEMWBS (mean difference [MD]: −1.52, 95% CI −3.93 to 0.88). There was evidence of impact on some secondary outcomes: reducing unhealthy eating-score (MD: −0.14, 95% CI −0.02 to 0.27) and increased perception that people in the neighbourhood pulled together (RR: 1.92, 95% CI 1.12 to 3.29). Conclusions The trial findings do not provide evidence supporting the conclusion of non-experimental components of the evaluation that intervention improved health behaviours, well-being and social outcomes. Low participation rates and population churn likely compromised any impact of the intervention. Imprecise estimation of outcomes and sampling bias may also have influenced findings. There is a need for greater investment in refining such programmes before implementation; new methods to understand, longitudinally different pathways residents take through such interventions and their outcomes, and new theories of change that apply to each pathway.
On the Performance of TCP Splicing for URL-Aware Redirection

This paper describes the design, implementation and performance of a layer-7 switch which supports URL-aware redirection of HTTP traffic. Currently, there are several vendors who are beginning to announce the availability of such switches in the market, but little or no implementation and performance information is available. We discuss design issues pertaining to such switches through a prototype implementation of a URL-aware switch in the Linux kernel, and analyze the performance of our implementation. We investigate the use of TCP splicing as a mechanism for improving the performance of the switch; we explore whether TCP splicing will benefit URL-aware redirection even though HTTP connections, on average, are short-lived and transfer small amounts of data. Results from our implementation show that TCP splicing does improve the performance of URL-aware switches that handle short-lived HTTP connections. Our results also re-affirm earlier findings that TCP splicing substantially improves the performance of any application-layer proxy when large amounts of data are transferred through the splice.
Bok is a genuine multi-BH-domain protein that triggers apoptosis in the absence of Bax and Bak

The pro-apoptotic multidomain Bcl-2 proteins Bax and Bak (also known as BAK1) are considered the gatekeepers of the intrinsic pathway of apoptosis by triggering the mitochondrial release of cytochrome c. The role of the third Baxand Bak-homologous multidomain protein Bok, however, is still unresolved. As cells doubly deficient for Bax and Bak are largely resistant to various apoptotic stimuli, it has been proposed that Bok is either dispensable for apoptosis or that its role is dependent on Bax and Bak. Here, we demonstrate, in several cell systems, that Bok efficiently induces cytochrome c release and apoptosis even in the complete absence of both Bak and Bax. Moreover, modulation of endogenous Bok levels affects the apoptosis response. By RNA interference and targeted deletion of the Bok gene, we demonstrate that Bok can significantly influence the apoptotic response to chemotherapeutic drugs in ovarian carcinoma cells. Hence, our results not only establish Bok as a Bakand Bax-independent apoptosis inducer, but also suggest a potential impact of Bok expression in ovarian cancer therapy.
A Novel Multi Input DC-DC Converter for Integrated Wind , PV Renewable Energy Generated System

––The objective of this paper is to propose anovel multi-input power converter for the gridconnected hybrid renewable energy system in order to simplify the power system and reduce the cost. The proposed multiinput power converter consists of a Cuk fused multi-input dc–dc converter and a fullbridge dc– ac inverter. The incremental conductance method is mainly used to accomplish the maximum power point tracking (MPPT) algorithm for input sources. The operational principle of the proposed multi-input power converter is explained. A multi-input power converter (MIPC) which operates in four modes: first an operation type wherein power is delivered to dc Bus from hybrid renewable energy sources; second a single type wherein only one renewable energy source supplies power to the dc Bus; third an inverter typewherein power is delivered to dc Bus from ac grid viainverter module, and forth a battery type whereinpower is delivered to dc Bus from batteries withoutrenewable energy source. The integration of the dc Busand a hybrid renewable power supply system isimplemented and simulated usingMATLAB/SIMULINK. A hybrid renewable powerenergy which integrates the solar energy, wind-power.
Study of the beam blur and its effect on the future mask fabrication

For the half pitch below 45nm, the required sub-resolution feature size is about to be 60nm, and the uniformity of dense lines to be below 3.4nm for the mask fabrication. To achieve this requirement, the reduction of beam blur is necessary. On the mask patterning using 50keV electron beam, the beam blurring due to coulomb interaction and resist characteristics is the main effect of the pattern image degradation and the limit of CD uniformity. In this report, we present the effect of the beam blur induced by coulomb interaction and resist. And we report the recent simulated and experimental results on the resolution change depending on bream blur and design node. Finally, we conclude that the reduction of beam blur can improve the mask quality and there is a compatible condition between the beam blur and the mask fabrication.
The Effect of Laser Welds on the Thermomechanical Fatigue of NiTi Shape Memory Alloys

Welding and joining of NiTi based shape memory alloys (SMAs) is essential for their integration into an increasing variety of applications. The titanium elemental constituent significantly complicates joining, especially with dissimilar materials where brittle intermetallics are often formed. There have been a relatively small number of investigations of the welding of NiTi in similar and in dissimilar joints. Of these studies, a few have investigated the effect of similar welded joints on the pseudoelastic fatigue of NiTi. To the author’s knowledge there are no investigations on the effect of joining on the fatigue of thermally actuated NiTi. The current work investigates the physical, thermomechanical fatigue and shape memory properties of welded shape memory wires. The welded NiTi wires successfully achieved 86% of the base metal ultimate tensile strength. The cycle lives of the welded wires that underwent thermomechanical fatigue were significantly less than the base metal.Copyright © 2014 by ASME
T cells require Foxo1 to populate the peripheral lymphoid organs

Forkhead transcription factors play critical roles in leukocyte homeostasis. To study further the immunological functions of Foxo1, we generated mice that selectively lack Foxo1 in T cells (Foxo1flox/flox Lck.cre+conditional knockout mice (cKO)). Although thymocyte development appeared relatively normal, Foxo1 cKO mice harbored significantly increased percentages of mature single positive T cells in the thymus as compared with WT mice, yet possessed smaller lymph nodes and spleens that contained fewer T cells. Foxo1 cKO T cells were not more prone to apoptosis, but instead were characterized by a CD62Llo CCR7lo CD44hi surface phenotype, a poorly populated lymphoid compartment in the periphery, and were relatively refractory to TCR stimulation, all of which were associated with reduced expression of Sell, Klf2, Ccr7, and S1pr1. Thus, Foxo1 is critical for naïve T cells to populate the peripheral lymphoid organs by coordinating a molecular program that maintains homeostasis and regulates trafficking.
Output-Space Distance Metric Learning for k-NN Classification

In this paper we present two related, kernel-based Distance Metric Learning (DML) methods. Their respective models non-linearly map data from their original space to an output space, and subsequent distance measurements are performed in the output space via a Mahalanobis metric. The dimensionality of the output space can be directly controlled to facilitate the learning of a low-rank metric. Both methods allow for simultaneous inference of the associated metric and the mapping to the output space, which can be used to visualize the data, when the output space is 2or 3-dimensional. Experimental results for a collection of classification tasks illustrate the advantages of the proposed methods over other traditional and kernel-based DML approaches.
Accurate and efficient transcription of human c-myc genes injected into Xenopus laevis oocytes

We investigated the expression of the cloned human c-myc gene in Xenopus laevis oocytes microinjected with different recombinants. We found that microinjected plasmid DNA carrying an intact human c-myc gene directs efficient and faithful transcription from its own two promoters in X. laevis oocytes. This active transcription was unaffected by the presence of previously identified enhancing elements such as simian virus 72-base pair repeats or mouse immunoglobulin heavy-chain gene enhancer sequences in the construct in cis. This suggests that all necessary DNA sequences for accurate and faithful transcription recognized by the transcription machinery of the frog oocyte are self-contained. In addition, we have found that human c-myc transcripts synthesized in oocytes are properly polyadenylated at either one of two sites and also that the transcripts are spliced correctly but with low efficiency.
The Red Blood Cell

Summary The production in the laboratory of a fluid which simulates the “toxic” or lethal fluid of strangulating intestinal obstruction has been accomplished. This fluid requires a hemoglobin concentration of 4 g % and a level of E. coli of 106 organisms/ml or more. The fluid when injected into normal animals in a dose of 5 ml/kg intraperitoneally is almost uniformly fatal. The mechanism of death appears to be identical with that which follows intraperitoneal injection of raw strangulation fluid.
Online Handwritten Mathematical Expressions Recognition by Merging Multiple 1D Interpretations

In this work, we propose to recognize handwritten mathematical expressions by merging multiple 1D sequences of labels produced by a sequence labeler. The proposed solution aims at rebuilding a 2D expression from several 1D labeled paths. An online math expression is a sequence of strokes which is later used to build a graph considering both temporal and spatial orders among these strokes. In this graph, node corresponds to stroke and edge denotes the relationship between a pair of strokes. Next, we select 1D paths from the built graph with the expectation that these paths could catch all the strokes and the relationships between pairs of strokes. As an advanced and strong sequence classifier, BLSTM networks are adopted to label the selected 1D paths. We set different weights to these 1D labeled paths and then merge them to rebuild a label graph. After that, an additional post-process will be performed to complete the edges automatically. We test the proposed solution and compare the results to the state of art in online math expression recognition domain.