Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cell-free mitochondrial DNA copy number variation in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma: A study of non-invasive biomarker from Northeast India

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma is the most commonly diagnosed cancer worldwide. The lifestyle, food habits, and customary practices manifest the Northeast Indian population toward higher susceptibility to develop head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Here, we have investigated the association of smoke and smokeless tobacco, and alcohol with copy number variation of cell-free mitochondrial DNA and cell-free nuclear DNA in cases and controls. Cell-free DNA from plasma was isolated from 50 head and neck squamous cell carcinoma cases and 50 controls with informed written consent using QIAamp Circulating Nucleic Acid Kit. Real-time polymerase chain reaction was done for copy number variation in cell-free mitochondrial DNA and cell-free nuclear DNA. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was performed to evaluate the diagnostic application between the two study groups using clinicopathological parameters. The levels of cell-free nuclear DNA and cell-free mitochondrial DNA of cases in association with smoke and smokeless tobacco, alcohol with smoking (p < 0.05) were significantly higher (p < 0.01 and p < 0.001, respectively) than controls. Using receiver operating characteristic curve analysis between head and neck squamous cell carcinoma cases and controls, we distinguished cell-free mitochondrial DNA (cutoff: 19.84 raw Ct; sensitivity: 84%; specificity: 100%; p < 0.001) and cell-free nuclear DNA (cutoff: 463,282 genomic equivalent/mL; sensitivity: 53%; specificity: 87%; p < 0.001). The copy number variation in cases (cell-free nuclear DNA: 5451.66 genomic equivalent/mL and cell-free mitochondrial DNA: 29,103,476.15 genomic equivalent/mL) and controls (cell-free nuclear DNA: 1650.9 genomic equivalent/mL and cell-free mitochondrial DNA: 9,189,312.54 genomic equivalent/mL), respectively. Our result indicates that the cell-free mitochondrial DNA content is highly associated with smoke and smokeless tobacco, betel quid chewing, and alcohol which shows greater promises, holding the key characteristics of diagnostic biomarkers, that is, minimal invasiveness, high specificity, and sensitivity.
Museums as Restorative Environments

Restorative environments possess a combination of attributes that facilitate recovery from mental fatigue. Most previous research in this regard has focused on natural environments, but this paper explores the extent to which museum environments also provide access to restorative experiences. Visitors (307 tourists and 274 local residents) to a history museum, an art museum, an aquarium, and a botanic garden completed a questionnaire regarding the restorative qualities and benefits of the environment they visited. The findings indicate that for some people, museums are at least as restorative as natural environments. The paper contributes to the development of a theoretical understanding of museums as restorative environments and provides insights into the factors that facilitate and enhance restorative experiences. Such experiences have the potential to contribute to visitors’ well-being and satisfaction.
Applications of Infrared and Raman Spectroscopies to Probiotic Investigation

In this review, we overview the most important contributions of vibrational spectroscopy based techniques in the study of probiotics and lactic acid bacteria. First, we briefly introduce the fundamentals of these techniques, together with the main multivariate analytical tools used for spectral interpretation. Then, four main groups of applications are reported: (a) bacterial taxonomy (Subsection 4.1); (b) bacterial preservation (Subsection 4.2); (c) monitoring processes involving lactic acid bacteria and probiotics (Subsection 4.3); (d) imaging-based applications (Subsection 4.4). A final conclusion, underlying the potentialities of these techniques, is presented.
Theorycrafting: from collective intelligence to intrinsic satisfaction

My aim with this paper is to explore theorycrafting as cultural praxis, closely related to gaming. Theorycrafting can be defined as ‘the attempt to mathematically analyze game mechanics in order to gain a better understanding of the inner workings of the game’. I will engage two perspectives in my analysis. First, I will focus on theorycrafting as a collective enterprise from a techno-social perspective. This will include an analysis of how web resources are furnishing the activity. Second, I will focus on what motivation players have for engaging in theorycrafting in the light of the meaning that the crafters find, or import, in this activity. This will also address how a general fascination for technology, and not only games, can be an important aspect of theorycrafting. The empirical basis for my analysis is 12 interviews of excessive World of Warcraft players and websites dedicated to the game.
Carbon Nanotube and Graphene Hybrid Thin Film for Transparent Electrodes and Field Effect Transistors

S. H. Kim, [+] Dr. W. Song, [+] M. W. Jung, M. -A. Kang, K. Kim, Dr. S. S. Lee, Dr. J. Lim, Dr. S. Myung, Dr. K. -S. An Thin Film Materials Research Group Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology (KRICT) Yuseong Post Offi ce Box 107 Daejeon 305-600 , Republic of Korea E-mail: msung@krict.re. kr Dr. S. -J. Chang Department of Chemistry Chung-Ang University 84 Heukseok-ro , Dongjak-gu, Seoul 156-756 , Korea Prof. J. Hwang Department of Materials Science and Engineering Hongik University Seoul 121-791 , Republic of Korea
Gene Expression Regulation by the Curli Activator CsgD Protein: Modulation of Cellulose Biosynthesis and Control of Negative Determinants for Microbial Adhesion

ABSTRACT Curli fibers, encoded by the csgBAC genes, promote biofilm formation in Escherichia coli and other enterobacteria. Curli production is dependent on the CsgD transcription activator, which also promotes cellulose biosynthesis. In this study, we investigated the effects of CsgD expression from a weak constitutive promoter in the biofilm formation-deficient PHL565 strain of E. coli. We found that despite its function as a transcription activator, the CsgD protein is localized in the cytoplasmic membrane. Constitutive CsgD expression promotes biofilm formation by PHL565 and activates transcription from the csgBAC promoter; however, csgBAC expression remains dependent on temperature and the growth medium. Constitutive expression of the CsgD protein results in altered transcription patterns for at least 24 novel genes, in addition to the previously identified CsgD-dependent genes. The cspA and fecR genes, encoding regulatory proteins responding to cold shock and to iron, respectively, and yoaD, encoding a putative negative regulator of cellulose biosynthesis, were found to be some of the novel CsgD-regulated genes. Consistent with the predicted functional role, increased expression of the yoaD gene negatively affects cell aggregation, while yoaD inactivation results in stimulation of cell aggregation and leads to increased cellulose production. Inactivation of fecR results in significant increases in both cell aggregation and biofilm formation, while the effects of cspA are not as strong in the conditions tested. Our results indicate that CsgD can modulate cellulose biosynthesis through activation of the yoaD gene. In addition, the positive effect of CsgD on biofilm formation might be enhanced by repression of the fecR gene.
An Integrative Cultural View of Achievement Motivation: Parental and Classroom Predictors of Children's Goal Orientations When Learning Mathematics in Korea

Our goal was to identify how students' perceptions of their parents shape the kind and degree of motivational goal orientations that they adopt in their mathematics classroom, broadening the application of achievement goal orientation theory and self-determination theory to students in Korea. Two groups of students participated, one from a middle school located in a large metropolitan area and the other from a small city high school. Multisample path analysis of data from both groups revealed that Korean students' different goal orientations were predicted by their perceptions of parental goals and motivating styles and by their perceptions of classroom goal structures, mediated by different types of self-regulated motivations. Particularly interesting was the finding that Korean students' degree of mastery goal adoption was associated mostly with identified regulation, not with intrinsic motivation, and predicted by their perceptions of their parents' motivating styles, both autonomy supportive and controlling, in addition to perceptions of parents' mastery goals. Perceptions of classroom goals were stronger predictors of students' own goals than were perceptions of parents' goals and motivating styles. We offer an integration of self-determination theory and achievement goal theory.
Multi-way VLSI Circuit Partitioning Based On Dual Net Representation

In this paper, we study the area-balanced multi-way partitioning problem of VLSI circuits based on a new dual netlist representation named the hybrid dual netlist (HDN). Given a netlist, we first compute a K-way partition of the nets based on the HDN representation, and then transform a K-way net partition into a K-way module partitioning solution. The main contribution of our work is the formulation and solution of the K-way module contention (K-MC) problem, which determines the best assignment of the modules in contention to partitions, while maintaining user-specified area requirements, when we transform the net partition into a module partition. Under a natural definition of binding factor between nets and modules, and preference function between partitions and modules, we show that the K-MC problem can be reduced to a min-cost max-flow problem. We present efficient solutions to the K-MC problem based on network flow computation. Extensive experimental results show that our algorithm consistently outperforms the conventional K-FM partitioning algorithm by a significant margin.
An alternative form of the Defense Mechanisms Inventory: assessing Chinese university students

To overcome the major weakness in the response format of the Defense Mechanisms Inventory and to use the information most relevant to the population concerned in the present study, an alternative form of the Defense Mechanisms Inventory (DMI-AF) was designed. The 80 Likert-scaled items in the inventory were tested among 385 university students in mainland China. Good psychometric data were obtained for the DMI-AF. Although no age difference was found in any of the defense styles, statistically significant differences were discovered in particular defense styles based on gender, academic discipline and social desirability. Both similarities and differences were identified between the present findings and the past findings obtained through using the 200-item Likert-scaled DMI and the 200-item forced-choice DMI. Limitations, significance and practical implications for university education are discussed.
Wavelet based sparse Principal Component Analysis for hyperspectral denoising

Principal Component Analysis (PCA) has widely been used in hyperspectral image analysis as a preprocessing step for further processing. Recently, sparse PCA methods have emerged as a powerful alternative. In this paper we propose a wavelet based sparse PCA method for hyperspectral image denoising. The proposed method is evaluated by using simulated and real data.
Belowground plant development measured with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI): exploiting the potential for non-invasive trait quantification using sugar beet as a proxy

Both structural and functional properties of belowground plant organs are critical for the development and yield of plants but, compared to the shoot, much more difficult to observe due to soil opacity. Many processes concerning the belowground plant performance are not fully understood, in particular spatial and temporal dynamics and their interrelation with environmental factors. We used Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) as a noninvasive method to evaluate which traits can be measured when a complex plant organ is monitored in-vivo while growing in the soil. We chose sugar beet (Beta vulgaris ssp. vulgaris) as a model system. The beet consists mainly of root tissues, is rather complex regarding tissue structure and responses to environmental factors, and thereby a good object to test the applicability of MRI for 3D phenotyping approaches. Over a time period of up to 3 months, traits such as beet morphology or anatomy were followed in the soil and the effect of differently sized pots on beet fresh weight calculated from MRI data was studied. There was a clear positive correlation between the pot size and the increase in fresh weight of a sugar beet over time. Since knowledge of the development of internal beet structures with several concentric cambia, vascular and parenchyma rings is still limited, we consecutively acquired 3D volumetric images on individual plants using the MRI contrast parameter T2 to map the development of rings at the tissue level. This demonstrates that MRI provides versatile protocols to non-invasively measure plant traits in the soil. It opens new avenues to investigate belowground plant performance under adverse environmental conditions such as drought, nutrient shortage, or soil compaction to seek for traits of belowground organs making plants more resilient to stress.
Improving YOLOv7's Remote Sensing Image Object Detection

In order to address the challenge of poor detection accuracy concerning both dense and smaller targets within remote sensing images set against complex backgrounds, we propose an algorithm for target detection within remote sensing images utilizing an enhanced YOLOv7 framework. Initially, the ELAN module within the backbone segment is replaced with the cascade fusion Network, aiming to more effectively leverage the parameters within the backbone network. This augmentation enhances the model's aptitude for multi-scale feature representation. Subsequently, the EMA attention mechanism is introduced and integrated into the prediction location, serving to encode global contextual information and recalibrate channel weights within the features. This adjustment notably amplifies the feature representation capability. Experiments were conducted on the DIOR and NWPU VHR-10 datasets, in comparison with the YOLOv7 algorithm, the mAP exhibited improvements of 2.6% and 2.2% on these respective datasets. Moreover, detection accuracies were enhanced compared to several existing mainstream algorithms. The outcomes underscore the improved algorithm's effectiveness in substantially augmenting the detection accuracy of remote sensing image targets within complex backgrounds and diminishing instances of leakage and false detections in remote sensing targets.
YOU ARE NOT A FRIEND

Much peace journalism research to date has critiqued problems with mainstream media reporting—what some call “war journalism”—through analysis of news coverage of international conflict. This study seeks to determine whether news coverage of putative allies and friends (here the United States and Mexico) during periods of non-violent interactions discursively positions the bilateral relationship as one of conflict or cooperation. We examine The New York Times’ coverage of the May 2006, immigration debates. Employing textual analysis, we find that news stories privilege the perspectives of political elites, reinforce polarized notions of national identity, and set the stage for future, armed violence. News reports construct the border as a site of conflict and contestation, use stereotyped imagery and coded language to dichotomize US and Mexican identities, and portray the bilateral relationship in distinctly hierarchical terms.
Comorbid illnesses among critically ill hospitalized children: Impact on hospital resource use and mortality, 1997–2006*

Objectives: To describe and compare hospital resource use and in-hospital mortality among critically ill hospitalized children according to comorbid illness status. Design: Secondary analysis of administrative data with generation of national estimates. Setting: None. Patients: Hospitalized children 0 to 18 yrs old with receipt of critical care services between 1997 and 2006. Interventions: None. Measurements and Main Results: There were 24,954 and 45,521 child hospitalizations with receipt of critical care services nationally in 1997 and 2006, respectively. In 1997, 35% of these hospitalizations had comorbid illnesses and 65% of these were in teaching hospitals. In 2006, 41% of critical care hospitalizations had comorbid illnesses, and 82% were in teaching hospitals. Cardiovascular diseases were the most common comorbid illnesses in 1997 (18%) and 2006 (22%). Mortality was significantly higher among patients with comorbid illness versus those without in 1997 (12.5% vs. 8.6%; p < .01) and in 2006 (10.8% vs. 7.8%; p < .01). Critically ill patients with comorbid illness vs. those without had significantly longer hospital stay in 1997 (30 days vs. 15 days; p < .01) and in 2006 (26 days vs. 14 days; p < .01). Corresponding charges were also significantly higher in the presence of comorbid illnesses vs. without, in 1997 ($131,203 vs. $62,070; p < .01) and in 2006 ($141,586 vs. $70,532; p < .01), expressed in 2006 U.S dollars. Across the 10-yr study period, hospital mortality was higher and hospital resource use greater among children with comorbid illness than children without. Conclusions: Among pediatric hospitalizations requiring use of critical care services, comorbid illness was associated with significantly higher in-hospital mortality and significantly greater hospital resource use pattern predominantly occurring in teaching hospitals. Policymaking regarding child critical care service delivery should anticipate exacerbation of these trends in the future, which have implications for bed availability and the overall acuity level in critical care settings.
Protein frustratometer: a tool to localize energetic frustration in protein molecules

The frustratometer is an energy landscape theory-inspired algorithm that aims at quantifying the location of frustration manifested in protein molecules. Frustration is a useful concept for gaining insight to the proteins biological behavior by analyzing how the energy is distributed in protein structures and how mutations or conformational changes shift the energetics. Sites of high local frustration often indicate biologically important regions involved in binding or allostery. In contrast, minimally frustrated linkages comprise a stable folding core of the molecule that is conserved in conformational changes. Here, we describe the implementation of these ideas in a webserver freely available at the National EMBNet node-Argentina, at URL: http://lfp.qb. fcen.uba. ar/embnet/.
Dual-Circularly Polarized Microstrip Flat Panel Antenna Array for SATCOM Applications

A Compact Flat Panel 8× 8 antenna array for dual-circular polarization at S-band with highly portable characteristics is presented in this paper. A 4-layer microstrip antenna configuration is proposed to achieve dual-circular polarization. The design uses a circular patch antenna that resonates at the S-band, where the aperture coupling excites the antenna element. Dual-excitation technique employed to achieve dual-circular polarization and a parasitic patch used to improve the axial ratio bandwidth. A tile of 4× 4 array configuration designed with an integrated power divider. A 4-tile configuration proposed to achieve a gain of 21 dBic, while restricting the axial ratio less than 2 dB, the Side Lobe Level (SLL) at nearly 12.5 dBic for both Left Hand Circular Polarization (LHCP) and Right Hand Circular Polarization (RHCP). The dual-circular polarization configuration achieves high isolation of -60dB. The proposed antenna fabricated and validated through measurements. The measured results shows a good agreement with simulated results.
Mobile robot navigation with a self-paced brain–computer interface based on high-frequency SSVEP

SUMMARY A brain–computer interface (BCI) is a system for commanding a device by means of brain signals without having to move any muscle. One kind of BCI is based on Steady-State Visual Evoked Potentials (SSVEP), which are evoked visual cortex responses elicited by a twinkling light source. Stimuli can produce visual fatigue; however, it has been well established that high-frequency SSVEP (>30 Hz) does not. In this paper, a mobile robot is remotely navigated into an office environment by means of an asynchronous high-frequency SSVEP-based BCI along with the image of a video camera. This BCI uses only three electroencephalographic channels and a simple processing signal method. The robot velocity control and the avoidance obstacle algorithms are also herein described. Seven volunteers were able to drive the mobile robot towards two different places. They had to evade desks and shelves, pass through a doorway and navigate in a corridor. The system was designed so as to allow the subject to move about without restrictions, since he/she had full robot movement's control. It was concluded that the developed system allows for remote mobile robot navigation in real indoor environments using brain signals. The proposed system is easy to use and does not require any special training. The user's visual fatigue is reduced because high-frequency stimulation is employed and, furthermore, the user gazes at the stimulus only when a command must be sent to the robot.
Handwriting Without Tears versus Teacher-Designed Handwriting Instruction in First Grade Classrooms

Occupational therapists working in school-based practice provide handwriting interventions using a variety of approaches. A quasi-experimental pretest/posttest control group design was utilized to examine the effectiveness of the Handwriting Without Tears (HWT) program compared to standard, teacher-designed handwriting programs in eight first grade classrooms. At each of four schools, one first grade classroom participated in a standard handwriting program typically conducted by the teacher (control group, N = 54), and another first grade classroom utilized the HWT program (experimental group, N = 67). The Minnesota Handwriting Assessment was used to compare the handwriting skills of the students. The control group showed a higher average posttest scores compared to the HWT group in each subtest of the Minnesota Handwriting Assessment (p < 0.01). There were no significant differences in average posttest scores for the experimental and control groups for students receiving special education services. Though our study did not support HWT as being a more effective method of handwriting instruction than a standard method of handwriting instruction, the findings do demonstrate that handwriting skills of students in both groups improved, thus supporting the viability of using a multisensory handwriting approach, such as HWT, in the classroom.
A new control method for electronic ballasts based on magnetic regulators

In this paper a new control method for electronic ballasts based on using magnetic regulators is presented. The main goal is to perform the complete control of the electronic ballast maintaining constant switching frequency and without using other parameters of the transistor bridge, as the input voltage or the duty cycle. The magnetic regulator is controlled by means of a dc current, which allows performing both lamp soft starting and dimming. Apart from the important advantage of keeping constant frequency during full electronic ballast operation, the proposed method presents additional benefits when compared with other control methods, as inherent isolated control, more linear control characteristics and higher efficiency. Experimental results from a 36 W linear fluorescent lamp prototype are presented.