Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Noise Limits in Thin-Film Magnetoelectric Sensors With Magnetic Frequency Conversion

To enable the measurement of low-frequency magnetic signals with cantilever type thin-film magnetoelectric sensors, magnetic frequency conversion transfers the frequency of the desired signal into the mechanical resonance of the cantilever. The system electronics for the realization of this approach and the approach itself introduce additional noise sources as compared with direct detection, which lowers the limit of detection. In this paper, the magnetic frequency conversion noise sources are reviewed, discussed, and evaluated for our setup. The model for the nonlinear transfer process is implemented in the time domain. This enables the consideration of the pump noise in a noise equivalent circuit. For the sensor type under investigation, the dominant noise near its optimal working point originates from the pump source. If the noise of the pump can be decreased and magnetic excess noise is not dominant, the noise limit is the thermal-mechanical noise of the sensor. The implementation of a filter after the excitation source decreases the limit of detection to 60 pT/ $\sqrt {\text {Hz}}$ at 10 Hz.
Reactions of Japanese industrial managers to government incentives to innovation — An empirical study

The set of studies employed a nine-stage model of the process indicating the potential influence of federal actions on the perceptions, attitudes, decisions, and innovation outputs of industrial firms and the further impact of the firms' innovations on the economy. This study focused on four of these stages: awareness of the Government Incentive Programmes (GIP), attitudes toward them, general behavior affected by them, and specific decisions related to them. In the Japanese firms, it was found that once a firm is in the `attitude' stage (implying awareness) it will very likely also be in the action stages (general and specific decisions related to the application of the GIPs by the firm). Acceptance of the GIPs (measured by the stage score) by the firms is positively related to the attractiveness of the GIP (measured by a scoring method), and has low correlation with the age of the GIP.
Adaptive Evolution of the Streptococcus pyogenes Regulatory Aldolase LacD.1

ABSTRACT In the human-pathogenic bacterium Streptococcus pyogenes, the tagatose bisphosphate aldolase LacD.1 likely originated through a gene duplication event and was adapted to a role as a metabolic sensor for regulation of virulence gene transcription. Although LacD.1 retains enzymatic activity, its ancestral metabolic function resides in the LacD.2 aldolase, which is required for the catabolism of galactose. In this study, we compared these paralogous proteins to identify characteristics correlated with divergence and novel function. Surprisingly, despite the fact that these proteins have identical active sites and 82% similarity in amino acid sequence, LacD.1 was less efficient at cleaving both fructose and tagatose bisphosphates. Analysis of kinetic properties revealed that LacD.1's adaptation was associated with a decrease in kcat and an increase in Km. Construction and analysis of enzyme chimeras indicated that non-active-site residues previously associated with the variable activities of human aldolase isoenzymes modulated LacD.1's affinity for substrate. Mutant LacD.1 proteins engineered to have LacD.2-like levels of enzymatic efficiency lost the ability to function as regulators, suggesting that an alteration in efficiency was required for adaptation. In competition under growth conditions that mimic a deep-tissue environment, LacD.1 conferred a significant gain in fitness that was associated with its regulatory activity. Taken together, these data suggest that LacD.1's adaptation represents a form of neofunctionalization in which duplication facilitated the gain of regulatory function important for growth in tissue and pathogenesis.
Evaluating Citizen Advisory Boards: The Importance of Theory and Participant‐Based Criteria and Practical Implications

The role of risk communication and public participation in environmental and public policy decision making has significantly increased over the last 15 years and remains an important social policy issue. In spite of this emphasis, government officials and participants in the process continue to struggle with what makes for “good” public participation. This study used two frameworks—one theoretical and one participant‐based—to evaluate two U.S. Army Restoration Advisory Boards (RABs). The theoretical framework explores the extent to which the RABs facilitate Habermas's idealized conditions of speech as related to fairness. Not surprisingly, we found that the two RABs do not consistently foster the idealized aspects of fairness suggested by Habermas. The participant‐based criteria were elicited through interviews with participants from the various stakeholder groups represented on the RAB, direct observation of RAB meetings, and a review of RAB‐related documents. We found that participants' value outcomes (the results of participatory processes) and not just the process itself, which is the focus of the theoretical framework. We also found that participants in the various stakeholder groups had different perceptions of the goals of the participatory process, which were closely related to their notions of success. Our results illustrate both the complexity and importance of using multiple frameworks for evaluating participatory efforts and the need for more systematic evaluation.
Unequal access of chromosomal regions to each other in Salmonella: probing chromosome structure with phage λ integrase‐mediated long‐range rearrangements

We have investigated the fluidity of the Salmonella chromosome architecture using the phage lambda site-specific recombination system as a probe. We determined how chromosome position affects the extent of integrase-mediated recombination between pairs of inversely oriented att sites at various loci. We also investigated the accessibility of each chromosomal att site to an extrachromosomal partner carried on a low-copy plasmid. Recombination events were assayed by semi-quantitative polymerase chain reaction of the attP product. The extent of recombination between the chromosome and the plasmid was generally higher than intrachromosomal recombination except for two loci, araA::attL and galT::attL, which gave no detectable recombination with any other locus. Based on 20 intervals, we found that chromosomal locations are not equally accessible to each other. Although multiple factors probably affect accessibility, the most important is the specific combination of the end-points used. Neither the size of the intervals nor the accessibility of individual end-points to extrachromosomal sequences is as important. These results suggest that the chromosome is not completely fluid but rather organized in some way, with barriers that limit the movement of DNA within the cell. The nature of the barriers involved in chromosomal organization remains to be determined.
Association between wind speed and the occurrence of sickle cell acute painful episodes: results of a case‐crossover study

The role of the weather as a trigger of sickle cell acute painful episodes has long been debated. To more accurately describe the role of the weather as a trigger of painful events, we conducted a case‐crossover study of the association between local weather conditions and the occurrence of painful episodes. From the Cooperative Study of Sickle Cell Disease, we identified 813 patients with sickle cell anaemia who had 3570 acute painful episodes. We found an association between wind speed and the onset of pain, specifically wind speed during the 24‐h period preceding the onset of pain. Analysing wind speed as a categorical trait, showed a 13% increase (95% confidence interval: 3%, 24%) in odds of pain, when comparing the high wind speed to lower wind speed (P = 0·007). In addition, the association between wind speed and painful episodes was found to be stronger among men, particularly those in the warmer climate regions of the United States. These results are in agreement with another study that found an association between wind speed and hospital visits for pain in the United Kingdom, and lends support to physiological and clinical studies that have suggested that skin cooling is associated with sickle vasoocclusion and perhaps pain.
Defining of the Minimal Domain of Protein 4.1 Involved in Spectrin-Actin Binding (*)

The spectrin-actin-binding domain of protein 4.1 is encoded by a 21-amino acid alternative exon and a 59-amino acid constitutive exon. To characterize the minimal domain active for interactions with spectrin and actin, we functionally characterized recombinant 4.1 peptides containing the 21-amino acid cassette plus varying portions of the 59-amino acid cassette (designated 21.10 to 21.59). Peptide 21.43 was shown fully functional in binary interactions with spectrin (by cosedimentation and coimmunoprecipitation experiments) and in ternary complex formation with spectrin and actin (by an in vitro gelation assay). Further truncation produced peptides incapable of binary interactions but fully competent for ternary complex formation (peptides 21.36 and 21.31), shorter peptides with reduced ternary complex activity and altered kinetics (21.26 and 0.59), and inactive peptides (21.20 and 21.10). Binding studies and circular dichroism experiments suggested that residues 37-43 of the constitutive domain were directly involved in spectrin binding. These data indicate that 4.1-spectrin binary interaction requires the 21amino acid alternative cassette plus the 43 N-terminal residues of the constitutive domain. Moreover, the existence of two possible ternary complex assembly pathways is suggested: one initiated by 4.1-spectrin interactions, and a second by 4.1-actin interactions. The latter may require a putative actin binding motif within the 26 N-terminal residues of the constitutive domain.
Carnavon Gorge: A Comment on the Sensitivity of Consumer Surplus Estimation to Functional Form Specification

The travel cost method utilized by Beal (1995) for estimating consumer surplus is re-examined. An alternative more algebraically consistent estimation strategy is suggested. We demonstrate that estimation of consumer surplus is inherently unreliable when only a small number of observations are available, and when the consumer surplus estimate depends critically on extrapolation of the demand curve beyond the sample observations.
A 285 GHz sub-harmonic injection locked oscillator in 65nm CMOS technology

A 285 GHz Sub Harmonic Injection Locked Oscillator (SHILO) is presented using a standard 65nm CMOS process. The architecture of this oscillator is based on the differential LC tank with push-push but adapted to obtain a third harmonic oscillation. The output power is -19 dBm at 285 GHz for a dc power of 70 mW. This oscillator offers a measured phase noise of -96.3 dBc/Hz at 10 MHz and -80.5 dBc/Hz at 1 MHz, and a tuning range from 284.2 GHz to 289 GHz. The SHILO can be locked all along the tuning range with an injection signal corresponding to one sixth of the output frequency. The chip size is 921×451 μm2.
Closed incision negative pressure therapy: international multidisciplinary consensus recommendations

Surgical site occurrences (SSOs) affect up to or over 25% of patients undergoing operative procedures, with the subset of surgical site infections (SSIs) being the most common. Commercially available closed incision negative pressure therapy (ciNPT) may offer surgeons an additional option to manage clean, closed surgical incisions. We conducted an extensive literature search for studies describing ciNPT use and assembled a diverse panel of experts to create consensus recommendations for when using ciNPT may be appropriate. A literature search of MEDLINE, EMBASE and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials using key words ‘prevention’, ‘negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT)’, ‘active incisional management’, ‘incisional vacuum therapy’, ‘incisional NPWT’, ‘incisional wound VAC’, ‘closed incisional NPWT’, ‘wound infection’, and ‘SSIs’ identified peer‐reviewed studies published from 2000 to 2015. During a multidisciplinary consensus meeting, the 12 experts reviewed the literature, presented their own ciNPT experiences, identified risk factors for SSOs and developed comprehensive consensus recommendations. A total of 100 publications satisfied the search requirements for ciNPT use. A majority presented data supporting ciNPT use. Numerous publications reported SSI risk factors, with the most common including obesity (body mass index ≥30 kg/m2); diabetes mellitus; tobacco use; or prolonged surgical time. We recommend that the surgeon assess the individual patient's risk factors and surgical risks. Surgeons should consider using ciNPT for patients at high risk for developing SSOs or who are undergoing a high‐risk procedure or a procedure that would have highly morbid consequences if an SSI occurred.
Cloning, Expression, and Characterization of a New β-Agarase from Vibrio sp. Strain CN41

ABSTRACT A new agarase, AgaACN41, cloned from Vibrio sp. strain CN41, consists of 990 amino acids, with only 49% amino acid sequence identity with known β-agarases. AgaACN41 belongs to the GH50 (glycoside hydrolase 50) family but yields neoagarotetraose as the end product. AgaACN41 was expressed and characterized.
Suppression of Nitric Oxide Implicated in the Protective Effect of Echinacoside on H2O2-Induced PC12 Cell Injury

We investigated whether suppression of nitric oxide (NO) implicated in the protective effect of echinacoside (ECH), a phenylethanoid glycoside, on H2O2-induced injury to the rat pheochromocytoma cell line (PC12 cells). Data show that application of ECH to H2O2-injured PC12 cells (HIPCs) increased cell viability and decreased the necrotic ratio. Laser scanning confocal microscopic (LSCM) analysis suggested that ECH exerted an inhibitory effect on the formation of NO. In addition, RT-PCR analysis revealed that ECH down-regulated p65 and iNOS mRNA expressions in HIPCs. In summary, suppression of NO is related to the protective effect of ECH on HIPCs.
Parallel-link robot for pipe inspection

In air conditioning equipment, it is very important to diagnose in-pipe corrosion for preventing various troubles such as water leakage, deterioration of performance and so on. We have been developing a pipe diagnostic system for decreasing the time and workload of the inspection and improving the accuracy of the diagnosis, especially a pipe thickness measuring robot with ultrasonic probe which can conduct inspections from outside of the pipe. Existing inspection robots using ultrasonic probes are not suitable for measuring the entire surface of pipes because they use rails fixed to the pipe for scanning, or even if they have unfixed rails and can move along the pipe, they cannot measure joints such as elbow. Therefore, we propose a new pipe inspection robot with parallel-link mechanism, which has a circular rail for scanning the ultrasonic probe, a manipulator for setting the rail and a mobile robot for moving along the pipes. The manipulator and the mobile robot are constructed with the parallel-link mechanism. The feature of this robot is that it can pass elbows and so can measure every section of them. In this paper, we describe the robot mechanism and control method, and the results of experiments with the robot.
Liquidity-adjusted CAPM — An empirical analysis on Indian stock market

Abstract This article examines the impact of various sources of systematic liquidity risk and idiosyncratic liquidity risk on expected returns in the Indian stock market. The study tested the liquidity-adjusted capital asset pricing model (LCAPM) which is previously tested on developed markets. Systematic liquidity risk is found to be significant in impacting asset returns through various channels, viz. commonality in liquidity and illiquidity sensitivity to market returns. Covariance between individual stock returns and associated stock liquidity has a commanding influence as an idiosyncratic liquidity risk factor. The estimated asset pricing model is found to be robust across the two sub-time periods. The findings indicate that given the multidimensional nature of risk, the alternative of LCAPM along with the idiosyncratic risk is persuasive for consideration in investment decisions.
Disease named entity recognition and normalization with DNorm

Automated techniques for locating and identifying key biomedical entities such as diseases in biomedical publications have a wide range of applications, including semantic literature indexing, biocuration support and knowledge discovery. Machine learning methods to automatically locate entity mentions -- the task of named entity recognition (NER) -- have matured significantly, providing high performance and facilitating the adaptation of systems to new domains. Many applications, however, require the mentions found to be identified within a controlled vocabulary such as SNOMED-CT or MeSH, the task of normalization. One task a normalization system must address is term variation: the identification of terms which are functionally similar but textually distinct (e.g. "nephropathy" and "kidney disease"). DNorm [1] is the first machine learning method to address term variation by learning similarities between mentions and entity names from a controlled vocabulary directly from training data. We apply DNorm to PubMed abstracts using the NCBI Disease Corpus, resulting in 80.3% precision and 76.3% recall -- an increase of 19.1% precision and 7.8% recall over the highest results achieved by other techniques. We also use DNorm to normalize diseases in clinical narrative text to concepts in SNOMED-CT through a community-wide shared task, ShARe/CLEF eHealth 2013, where it achieved the highest performance of all participants [2]. We conclude that DNorm -- the first machine learning method to normalize disease names -- provides a new state of the art for disease normalization and also represents a promising step towards normalization methods that are both high performing and fully adaptable. DNorm is open source and available with an online demonstration at: http://www.ncbi. nlm.nih. gov/CBBresearch/Lu/Demo/DNorm/
Temporal Relationship between Sucrose-Associated Changes in Dental Biofilm Composition and Enamel Demineralization

The aim of this study was to investigate the temporal relationship between changes in biofilm composition and enamel demineralization following exposure to sucrose. A crossover blind study was conducted in situ in three phases, during which 12 volunteers, divided into three groups, subjected enamel slabs 8 times/day to water (negative control), 10% glucose + 10% fructose (active control) or 20% sucrose solution. Biofilms accumulated for 3, 7 and 14 days were collected and analyzed biochemically and microbiologically, and mineral loss from enamel (ΔZ) was evaluated. Significantly higher ΔZ was found in the sucrose group after 7 days. However, on the 3rd day, lactobacilli, insoluble extracellular polysaccharide (EPS) and intracellular polysaccharide were significantly higher, and the calcium, inorganic phosphorus and fluoride concentrations in the biofilm were significantly lower in the sucrose group than in the negative controls. The only significant difference compared to glucose + fructose treatment was a higher insoluble EPS concentration. The data suggest that, although sucrose induces significant enamel demineralization only after 7 days of biofilm accumulation, changes in the biofilm composition are observed earlier.
Risk Aversion and 51% Attack Resistance in Proof-of-Work Cryptocurrencies

Cryptocurrency mining is nowadays an intrinsic part of the Blockchain technology as it is fundamental to ensure the safety of this asset class. Nonetheless, the mining activity might be seen as a rational investment choice as it implies in costs -- hardware and electricity -- to have profit in the cryptocurrency operation. In this paper, mining is studied under a mean-variance approach to address the impact of Bitcoin's financial risks in its technological safety. It is found that the hash power of a cryptocurrency decreases according to risk-aversion and volatility. Using Bitcoin data and an ARDL model, the risk aversion of miners is tested. Price increases significantly hash power, and volatility decreases, but it is not statistically significant. The results suggest Bitcoin miners have a low degree of risk aversion and its security is not affected by volatility. Robustness tests confirm this result.
Relational bonds, customer engagement, and service quality

ABSTRACT Relational bonds represent a vital concept in relational marketing. Past research indicates that it can increase customer satisfaction and foster WOM. Although relational bonds have been shown to provide a long-lasting competitive advantage, the theoretical mechanisms underlying these relationships are less clear. This study investigates the relationships among relational bonds, customer engagement, service quality, satisfaction and WOM. A structured, self-administered questionnaire was distributed to customers who received aesthetic medicine services from a large medical center in Taiwan. The survey yielded 500 usable responses, with a response rate of 98.61%. The partial least squares method was utilized to obtain parameter estimates and test proposed hypotheses. Measurement accuracy was assured given satisfactory reliability and convergent/discriminant validity assessments, and all hypotheses were supported. The results indicate that relational bonds affect the extent of customer engagement, which in turn influences service quality. Service quality also leads to customer satisfaction and WOM.
The Vif and Gag proteins of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 colocalize in infected human T cells

The Vif protein of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) and other lentiviruses is required for efficient replication in primary cells and certain immortalized cell lines in vitro and, in all likelihood, for the establishment of pathogenic infections in vivo. Current hypotheses concerning Vif's mechanism of action posit that it operates in virus-expressing cells during virion assembly, budding, or maturation such that released virions are modified in a manner that enables them to undergo productive infection in subsequent viral challenges. To gain further insight into the mechanism of action of lentivirus Vif proteins, we have performed a variety of in situ localization and biochemical fractionation studies using cells in which Vif is essential for efficient replication. Double-label immunofluorescence analyses of cells productively infected with HIV-1 or feline immunodeficiency virus revealed dramatic patterns of colocalization between Vif and the virally encoded Gag proteins. Subcellular fractionations of human T cells expressing HIV-1 Vif performed in the absence of any detergent demonstrated that greater than 90% of Vif is associated with cellular membranes. Additional purification using a continuous density gradient indicated that the majority of the membrane-bound Vif copurifies with the plasma membrane. Taken together, these observations suggest that lentivirus Vif and Gag proteins colocalize at the plasma membrane as virion assembly and budding take place. As a result, Vif is able to exert its modulatory effect(s) on these late steps of the virus life cycle.