Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Miniaturized Polymer Grating for Topological Order Detection of Cylindrical Vector Beams

Polarization topological order of a cylindrical vector beam (CVB) can be defined as the repetition number of 360° polarization state change along the azimuthal axis, with its sign denoting the rotating direction of the polarization. In order to detect CVBs with different order, a miniaturized polymer grating is proposed and demonstrated. The grating is almost pure phase modulated and polarization independent. The CVB modes with different orders or with the same order but opposite sign can easily be separated by adding a quarter wave plate and a polarizer. The experimental results are consistent with the theoretical predictions, thus validating our proposed method.
Evaluation of Perseveration in Relation to Panic-Relevant Responding: An Initial Test

Background: Perseveration reflects the tendency to engage in a behavior even when it is no longer rewarding nor produces the expected consequences. Method: The current study explored whether (1) individuals endorsing a recent (past 2 years) history of nonclinical panic attacks would report greater levels of perseveration compared to individuals without such a history; (2) whether individuals endorsing higher levels of perseveration would evidence greater panic-relevant responding to a 4-minute 10% carbon dioxide-enriched air challenge. Results: Results indicated that individuals with, compared to without, a positive panic attack history endorsed significantly greater levels of perseveration. Additionally, greater pre-challenge levels of perseveration significantly predicted greater panic attack symptom severity as well as self-reported anxiety; these significant effects were evident above and beyond the variance accounted for by sex, trait-level negative affectivity, panic attack status, and distress tolerance as well as shared variance with the related constructs of persistence and perfectionism. Discussion: Together, the current findings provide initial, albeit preliminary, support for the utlity of investigating perseveration in relation to models of panic psychopathology specifically, and offer a further empirical context for perseveration-psychopathology relations in general.
Applications of the human p53 knock‐in (Hupki) mouse model for human carcinogen testing

Tumor‐driving mutations in the TP53 gene occur frequently in human cancers. These inactivating mutations arise predominantly from a singlepoint mutation in the DNA‐binding domain of this tumor suppressor gene (i.e., exons 4–9). The human p53 knock‐in (Hupki) mouse model was constructed using gene‐targeting technology to create a mouse strain that harbors human wild‐type TP53 DNA sequences in both copies of the mouse TP53 gene. Replacement of exons 4–9 of the endogenous mouse TP53 alleles in the Hupki mouse with the homologous normal human TP53 gene sequences has offered a humanized replica of the TP53 gene in a murine genetic environment. The Hupki mouse model system has proven to be an invaluable research tool for studying the underlying mechanisms of human TP53 mutagenesis. The utility of the Hupki mouse model system for exploring carcinogen‐induced TP53 mutagenesis has been demonstrated in both in vivo animal experiments and in vitro cell culture experiments. Here, we highlight applications of the Hupki mouse model system for investigating mutagenesis induced by a variety of environmental carcinogens, including sunlight ultraviolet radiation, benzo [a] pyrene (a tobacco smoke‐derived carcinogen), 3‐nitrobenzanthrone (an urban air pollutant), aristolochic acid (a component of Chinese herbal medicine), and aflatoxin B1 (a food contaminant). We summarize the salient findings of the respective studies and discuss their relevance to human cancer etiology. —Besaratinia, A. , Pfeifer, G. P. Applications of the human p53 knock‐in (Hupki) mouse model for human carcinogen testing. FASEB J. 24, 2612–2619 (2010). www.fasebj. org
A lightweight anonymous mutual authentication and key agreement scheme for WBAN

Wireless body area network (WBAN) is a special wireless mobile sensor network, which is mainly applied to the medical field. It can monitor the physical condition of patients and send this vital and sensitive information to a server that provides medical and health services. Because of the openness and mobility of WBAN, it is easier for the adversary to obtain, corrupt, or replace the data transmitted in the channel, or launch various attacks. Therefore, data security and privacy issues are the most challenging problems in WBANs. Moreover, most wearable sensors in WBAN are resource‐constrained devices, traditional security schemes may not be suitable for WBAN. Therefore, in this paper, we propose a lightweight anonymous mutual authentication and key agreement scheme for WBAN. This scheme uses only hash function operations and XOR operations. We use the automatic security verification tool ProVerif to verify the security properties of our scheme and informal security analysis is discussed. We also compared the proposed scheme with many related works and the results indicate that our scheme has either more advantages in terms of computation cost, energy consumption, and communication cost or lower security risk.
Criteria for generating specification-based tests

This paper presents general criteria for generating test inputs from state-based specifications. Software testing can only be formalized and quantified when a solid basis for test generation can be defined. Formal specifications of complex systems represent a significant opportunity for testing because they precisely describe what functions the software is supposed to provide in a form that can easily be manipulated. These techniques provide coverage criteria that are based on the specifications, and are made up of several parts, including test prefixes that contain inputs necessary to put the software into the appropriate state for the test values. The test generation process includes several steps for transforming specifications to tests. Empirical results from a comparative case study application of these criteria are presented.
The effect of early surgical treatment of traumatic spine injuries on patient mortality.

INTRODUCTION The ideal timing of spinal fixation is controversial. A recent study showed that early spine fixation reduced morbidity and resource utilization. We previously noted a trend toward higher mortality in patients undergoing early spinal fixation. This study was done to analyze whether the timing of spinal fixation had a significant effect on mortality. METHODS The registry of our Level I trauma program was queried for all patients with at least one spinal vertebral injury. Anatomic and physiologic variables included age, initial Glasgow Coma Scale score, systolic blood pressure, heart rate, and Injury Severity Score. Outcome was evaluated in terms of ventilator days, intensive care unit length of stay, hospital length of stay (HLOS), and mortality. Patients were stratified by day of spinal operative fixation as early when done within 48 hours and late when done after 48 hours. Data were analyzed using chi and an unpaired t test, accepting p < 0.05 as significant. RESULTS Three hundred sixty-one patients between January 1988 and February 2003 required operative spinal fixation (158 early, within 48 hours vs. 203 late, beyond 48 hours). There was no significant difference between the two groups except mortality, which was significantly higher in the early group (7.6 vs. 2.5%; p = 0.0257), and HLOS, which was significantly shorter in the early group (14.42 vs. 17.64 days; p = 0.025). CONCLUSION Spinal fixation within 48 hours after vertebral fractures and dislocations appears to increase mortality despite similar anatomic and physiologic parameters in the later operative group. Incomplete resuscitation of patients before surgery may have contributed to this result. The shorter HLOS may have been because of the higher number of early deaths. Prospective studies to identify the optimal timing of spinal fixation and the reason for these outcome differences are warranted.
Psychometric Validation of a Short Acculturation Scale for Korean Immigrants

Background:Acculturation has been identified as a determinant of health behavior and outcome among ethnic minorities. The high prevalence of lifestyle-related chronic diseases and risk factors among Korean immigrants calls for a valid short acculturation scale to use in clinical practice and health research settings. Objectives:The aim of this study was to validate the psychometric properties of a short acculturation scale originally developed for Hispanics after translating the scale to Korean (SAS-K) to determine its suitability for use with Korean immigrants. Methods:A self-administered questionnaire was completed by 143 Korean immigrants with Type 2 diabetes aged 30-80 years from a Korean community in Southern California. Confirmatory factor analysis, criterion validity, and internal reliability were utilized to evaluate the psychometric properties of the SAS-K. Results:Using a second-order confirmatory factor analysis, a 3-factor structure, &khgr;2(51) = 121.49, p < . 001 (comparative fit index = .950, standardized root mean squared residual = .055, root mean square error of approximation = .099), was confirmed. The SAS-K was associated positively with length of residence, age of arrival, and English proficiency. Reliability for the total SAS-K was . 93. Cronbach's alpha coefficients for each subscale of the SAS-K ranged from . 80 (Ethnic Social Relations) to . 95 (Media). Discussion:The 12-item, easy-to-use SAS-K showed satisfactory reliability and validity and, thus, is an appropriate instrument for measuring acculturation in Korean immigrants. The short nature and ease of administration of the SAS-K make it an ideal choice for healthcare providers and researchers to assess acculturation levels quickly and easily and to further the development and use of more culture-appropriate interventions.
Detection of blood‐transmissible agents: can screening be miniaturized?

Transfusion safety relating to blood‐transmissible agents is a major public health concern, particularly when faced with the continuing emergence of new infectious agents. These include new viruses appearing alongside other known reemerging viruses (West Nile virus, Chikungunya) as well as new strains of bacteria and parasites (Plasmodium falciparum, Trypanosoma cruzi) and finally pathologic prion protein (variant Creutzfeldt‐Jakob disease). Genomic mutations of known viruses (hepatitis B virus, hepatitis C virus, human immunodeficiency virus) can also be at the origin of variants susceptible to escaping detection by diagnostic tests. New technologies that would allow the simultaneous detection of several blood‐transmissible agents are now needed for the development and improvement of screening strategies. DNA microarrays have been developed for use in immunohematology laboratories for blood group genotyping. Their application in the detection of infectious agents, however, has been hindered by additional technological hurdles. For instance, the variability among and within genomes of interest complicate target amplification and multiplex analysis. Advances in biosensor technologies based on alternative detection strategies have offered new perspectives on pathogen detection; however, whether they are adaptable to diagnostic applications testing biologic fluids is under debate. Elsewhere, current nanotechnologies now offer new tools to improve the sample preparation, target capture, and detection steps. Second‐generation devices combining micro‐ and nanotechnologies have brought us one step closer to the potential development of innovative and multiplexed approaches applicable to the screening of blood for transmissible agents.
Physically Proximate or Culturally Cohesive? Geography, Ethnic Ties, and Innovation in China

Recent scholarship suggests that collaboration between a firm’s headquarters personnel and indigenous overseas inventors enhances innovation by the latter. We explore how headquarters inventors’ physical proximity and intrafirm ethnic networks influence this knowledge spillover. Data from 104 U.S. multinational firms show that collaboration between inventors in the U.S. and on-site collaboration in China increase the number of inventions created by indigenous Chinese inventors. A cohesive intrafirm ethnic Chinese collaboration network strengthens knowledge spillover.
Recurrent brief depressive disorder reinvestigated: a community sample of adolescents and young adults

Background. This article presents prospective lower bound estimations of findings on prevalence, incidence, clinical correlates, severity markers, co-morbidity and course stability of threshold and subthreshold recurrent brief depressive disorder (RBD) and other mood disorders in a community sample of 3021 adolescents. Method. Data were collected at baseline (age 14–17) and at two follow-up interviews within an observation period of 42 months. Diagnostic assessment was based on the Munich Composite International Diagnostic Interview (M-CIDI). Results. Our data suggest that RBD is a prevalent (2·6%) clinical condition among depressive disorders (21·3%) being at least as prevalent as dysthymia (2·3%) in young adults over lifetime. Furthermore, RBD is associated with significant clinical impairment sharing many features with major depressive disorder (MDD). Suicide attempts were reported in 7·8% of RBD patients, which was similar to MDD (11·9%). However, other features, like gender distribution or co-morbidity patterns, differ essentially from MDD. Furthermore, the lifetime co-occurrence of MDD and RBD or combined depression represents a severe psychiatric condition. Conclusions. This study provides further independent support for RBD as a clinically significant syndrome that could not be significantly explained as a prodrome or residual of major affective disorders.
IMAGE RESOLUTION ENHANCEMENT SYSTEM USING DEEP CONVOLUTIONAL NEURAL NETWORK FOR IMAGE VISION APPLICATIONS

Highlight Single image super-resolution (SR), which aims at recovering a high-resolution image from a single low-resolution image, is a classical problem in computer vision. This problem is inherently ill-posed since a multiplicity of solutions exists for any given low-resolution pixel. We propose a deep learning method for single image super-resolution (SR). Our method directly learns an end-to-end mapping between the low/high-resolution images. The mapping is represented as a deep convolution neural network (CNN) that takes the low-resolution image as the input and outputs the high-resolution one. We further show that traditional sparse-coding-based SR methods can also be viewed as a deep convolution network. But unlike traditional methods that handle each component separately, our method jointly optimizes all layers. This deep CNN has a lightweight structure, yet demonstrates state-of-the-art restoration quality, and achieves fast speed for practical on-line usage. We explore different network structures and parameter settings to achieve trade-offs between performance and speed. Moreover, we extend our network to cope with three colour channels simultaneously, and show better overall reconstruction quality. This system can be implemented in camera monitoring systems; It can be effectively used to convert low resolution images produced by systems to high quality image with with all the details.
Cloning and molecular characterization of chitinase from Bacillus licheniformis MS-3.

Chitin hydrolyzing enzymes are classifi ed into three categories (endochitinases, exochitinases, and Nacetylglucosaminases) according to the manner in which they cleave chitin chains. Endochitinases randomly cleave β-1,4-glycosidic bonds of chitin, whereas exochitinases cleave the chain from the non-reducing end to form diacetyl-chitobiose (GlcNAc2). N-Acetylglucosaminases hydrolyze GlcNAc2 into GlcNAc or produce GlcNAc from the non-reducing end of Nacetyl-chitooligosaccharides (Tanaka et al., 2001). To date, various chitinases have been isolated from aerobic microorganism such as Bacillus circulans (Alam et al., 1995), Serratia marcescens (Burberg et al., 1996), Aeromonas sp. (Shiro et al., 1996), Alteromonas sp. (Tsujibo et al., 1992), and Janthiobacterium lividum (Gleave et al., 1995). Chitinases are gaining much attention worldwide (Gkargkas et al., 2004; Makino et al., 2006; Wang et al., 2006). These chitinases are used in various applications such as biological control of fungal pathogens (Chang et al., 2007; Chernin et al., 1997; de la Vega et al., 2006; Mathivanan et al., 1998; Someya et al., 2001), preparation of oligosaccharides (Makino et al., 2006; Wang et al., 2006) and protoplasts from fi lamentous fungi (Balasubramanian et al., 2003; Yano et al., 2006). In recent years, efforts have been going on throughout the world to enhance the production and isolation of gene(s) encoding for the chitinase enzyme to be utilized as candidate gene(s) to combat fungal pathogens. In our previous report Bacillus licheniformis MS-3 isolated from agricultural fi elds, Giza, Egypt, was found to produce a large amount of chitinase (Kamil et al., 2007). Therefore, this isolate was selected in the present paper for cloning, sequencing and molecular analysis of the chitinase gene (ChiA-BL3). Escherichia coli strain was cultivated in Luria-Bertani medium (10 g of polypeptone, 5 g of yeast extract, and 5 g of NaCl in 1 L of deionized water, pH 7.0). Ampicillin was used at a fi nal concentration of 100 μg/ml. The cultures were incubated at 30°C for B. licheniformis and 37°C for E. coli. Bacillus licheniformis MS-3 was cultivated for chitinase production as described previously by Kamil et al. (2007). Escherichia coli JM109 used as a transformation host. The plasmid pGEM-T used as a cloning vector (Promega, Madison, USA). Total genomic DNA from B. licheniformis MS-3 was isolated using a Qiagen RNA/DNA kit according to the manufacturer’s instructions. The complete open reading frame (ORF) of chitinase A was amplifi ed from B. J. Gen. Appl. Microbiol. , 55, 241‒246 (2009)
Mechanisms for increased risk of diabetes in chronic liver diseases

Patients with chronic liver disease (CLD), both non‐alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and chronic hepatitis C (CHC), are at high risk of diabetes (T2D), but mechanisms are still unknown. Muscle/liver insulin resistance (IR) and pancreatic dysfunction are the major metabolic defects leading to T2D. However, if the risk of T2D in CLD patients is because of reduced insulin response and/or to IR, and the impact of liver histology has not been investigated.
In Vitro Susceptibilities of Malassezia Species to a New Triazole, Albaconazole (UR-9825), and Other Antifungal Compounds

ABSTRACT The in vitro activity of the new triazole albaconazole (UR-9825) in comparison with those of flucytosine, fluconazole, ketoconazole, itraconazole, and voriconazole against 70 strains of Malassezia spp. was determined by a microdilution method using a colorimetric indicator for metabolic activity. Albaconazole showed an in vitro profile similar to those of the different antifungals tested (MIC ≤ 0.06 μg/ml for all the strains).
Web-based 3D urban decision support through intelligent and interoperable services

The application of information and communications technology to support urban operational decision makers has received vast interest from industry and academia. This has helped to mature several fields of research within the smart city domain, such as the internet of things, cybernetics, and informatics. However, these fields of research remain siloed, which leads to a clear gap in the literature. The paper recognizes the mentioned gap manifesting in a new smart urban area in Wales, UK, and presents a platform which intends to demonstrate the benefits of exploiting the synergies between these fields of research. Following consultation with various stakeholders at the pilot site, the platform utilizes advanced sensing, analytics, interoperability, and visualization components to provide valuable human-machine interactions to facility managers in the district. Delivering this high value knowledge in a timely, engaging, and accessible manner through advanced decision support interfaces. The paper presents the platform's software architecture, before discussing the decision support interface, intelligent web services, and interoperability components in more detail. The solution's key contributions beyond existing internet of things platforms are the use of a 3D game engine, machine learning and optimization web services, and the integration across the knowledge value chain. This knowledge integration is achieved through semantic modelling of the buildings, urban environment, socio-technical systems, and smart devices in the district.
Verbal self-monitoring in psychosis: a non-replication

Background. Current cognitive models of positive symptoms of psychosis suggest a mechanism of defective self-monitoring that may be relevant for (i) expression of psychosis at the clinical and subclinical level and (ii) transmission of risk for psychosis. Method. The study included 41 patients with psychosis, 39 non-psychotic first-degree relatives, 39 subjects from the general population with a high level of positive psychotic experiences, and 52 healthy controls with an average level of positive psychotic experiences. All subjects performed a speech attribution task in which single adjectives with a complimentary or derogatory meaning were presented to them on a computer screen; subjects had to read aloud and determine the source (self/other/uncertain) of the words they heard. In some of the trials, participants’ speech was distorted, in others they heard someone else's voice (alien feedback condition) that could also be distorted. Results. No large or significant differences in errors in the speech attribution task were found between the four groups in any of the conditions. Conclusions. Contrary to previous work using this paradigm, this study found no evidence that either expression of psychosis or risk for psychosis was associated with impairment in self-monitoring.
Improvement of Dissolution Behavior for Poorly Water-Soluble Drug by Application of Cyclodextrin in Extrusion Process: Comparison between Melt Extrusion and Wet Extrusion

The purpose of this study was to improve dissolution behavior of poorly water-soluble drugs by application of cyclodextrin in extrusion processes, which were melt extrusion process and wet extrusion process. Indomethacin (IM) was employed as a model drug. Extrudates containing IM and 2-hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin (HP-β-CyD) in 1:1 w/w ratio were manufactured by both melt extrusion process and wet extrusion process. In vitro drug release properties of IM from extrudates and physiochemical properties of extrudates were investigated. The dissolution rates of IM from extrudates manufactured by melt extrusion and wet extrusion with HP-β-CyD were significantly higher than that of the physical mixture of IM and HP-β-CyD. In extrudate manufactured by melt extrusion, γ-form of IM changed to amorphous completely during melt extrusion due to heating above melting point of IM. On the other hand, in extrudate manufactured by wet extrusion, γ-form of IM changed to amorphous partially due to interaction between IM and HP-β-CyD and mechanical agitating force during process. Application of HP-β-CyD in extrusion process is useful for the enhancement of dissolution rate for poorly water-soluble drugs.