Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Optical and electrical properties of ion beam modified materials

This thesis deals with the optical and certain electrical properties of materials that have been modified by ion implantation and irradiation. A combination of the optical absorption and near-resonance Raman techniques have been used for the first time, to the best of the author’s knowledge, in the study of defect annealing mechanisms and reaction kinetics in proton implanted CsI crystals. From the optical absorption studies, the F2 and F bands are observed at 1.1 and 1.66 eV, respectively, while several V bands are revealed within an extended absorption envelope including those positively identified at 2.7, 3.4, 4.05, 4.2 and 4.35 eV. The V bands at 2.7 and 3.4 eV are associated with the I− 3 defects. Raman studies show the fundamental peak at 113 cm−1 and numerous overtones occurring at spectral positions close to integral multiples of the fundamental. The series of Raman transitions are attributed to I− 3 defects. A comparative analysis, to previous work, shows that similar defects are observed under certain conditions in Xand γ-irradiated KI and RbI suggesting a similar defect creation mechanism. Currently, the results of the isochronal annealing show a simultaneous decay of the F2 and V bands at 2.7 and 3.4 eV, suggesting an interstitial-vacancy recombination process. The results of the isothermal annealing at 397 K indicate the occurrence of a second order process. Further analysis of the optical and Raman data shows that this recombination process is correlated and consists of a single step. The isochronal annealing data of the decay of the F2 band or V band (2.7 eV) show that the activation energy for the recombination process is 1.28 eV. The defect creation mechanism in MgF2 is known to be excitonic in nature resulting primarily in vacancies and interstitial defects. In the present work, two V bands have been observed in the vacuum ultraviolet region and their behaviour with annealing temperature studied. The observation of the band at the lower photon energy, near 6.5 eV, represents the first report by optical absorption in this spectral region, to the
Communications and control for electric power systems: Power system stability applications of artificial neural networks

This report investigates the application of artificial neural networks to the problem of power system stability. The field of artificial intelligence, expert systems and neural networks is reviewed. Power system operation is discussed with emphasis on stability considerations. Real-time system control has only recently been considered as applicable to stability, using conventional control methods. The report considers the use of artificial neural networks to improve the stability of the power system. The networks are considered as adjuncts and as replacements for existing controllers. The optimal kind of network to use as an adjunct to a generator exciter is discussed.
Circle Equation-Based Fault Modeling Method for Linear Analog Circuits

Owing to the lack of feasible fault modeling method, hard (open and short) faults and discrete parameter faults are still the mostly used fault models. These models cannot characterize all soft faults occurring in analog circuits because the parameters of analog element are continuous. To address this concern, a new circle equation-based modeling method is developed. In a linear analog circuit, we prove that the real and imaginary parts of voltage phasor at any test node satisfy circle equation with respect to any network element. The equation is independent from the value of element to be modeled, and uniquely determined by its location and the nominal values of the remaining elements in the circuit under test. Hence, the circle equation can model any continuous parameter shifting (soft) or hard fault occurs to linear and piecewise linear circuits. Three points are sufficient to determine a circle; therefore, only three simulations corresponding to three distinct faulty parameters are enough to model all parameter shifting faults that occur in any network element. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is verified by simulation and comparison with other modeling methods.
Comparative electrophysiology of retinal Müller glial cells—A survey on vertebrate species

Müller cells are the dominant macroglial cells in the retina of all vertebrates. They fulfill a variety of functions important for retinal physiology, among them spatial buffering of K+ ions and uptake of glutamate and other neurotransmitters. To this end, Müller cells express inwardly rectifying K+ channels and electrogenic glutamate transporters. Moreover, a lot of voltage‐ and ligand‐gated ion channels, aquaporin water channels, and electrogenic transporters are expressed in Müller cells, some of them in a species‐specific manner. For example, voltage‐dependent Na+ channels are found exclusively in some but not all mammalian species. Whereas a lot of data exist from amphibians and mammals, the results from other vertebrates are sparse. It is the aim of this review to present a survey on Müller cell electrophysiology covering all classes of vertebrates. The focus is on functional studies, mainly performed using the whole‐cell patch‐clamp technique. However, data about the expression of membrane channels and transporters from immunohistochemistry are also included. Possible functional roles of membrane channels and transporters are discussed. Obviously, electrophysiological properties involved in the main functions of Müller cells developed early in vertebrate evolution. GLIA 2017;65:533–568
Co-occurring protein phosphorylation are functionally associated

Post-translational modifications (PTMs) add a further layer of complexity to the proteome and regulate a wide range of cellular protein functions. With the increasing number of known PTM sites, it becomes imperative to understand their functional interplays. In this study, we proposed a novel analytical strategy to explore functional relationships between PTM sites by testing their tendency to be modified together (co-occurrence) under the same condition, and applied it to proteome-wide human phosphorylation data collected under 88 different laboratory or physiological conditions. Co-occurring phosphorylation occurs significantly more frequently than randomly expected and include many known examples of cross-talk or functional connections. Such pairs, either within the same phosphoprotein or between interacting partners, are more likely to be in sequence or structural proximity, be phosphorylated by the same kinases, participate in similar biological processes, and show residue co-evolution across vertebrates. In addition, we also found that their co-occurrence states tend to be conserved in orthologous phosphosites in the mouse proteome. Together, our results support that the co-occurring phosphorylation are functionally associated. Comparison with existing methods further suggests that co-occurrence analysis can be a useful complement to uncover novel functional associations between PTM sites.
Optimizing linkage to care and initiation and retention on treatment of adolescents with newly diagnosed HIV infection

Objective: Unsuccessful linkage to care and treatment increases adolescent HIV-related morbidity and mortality. This study evaluated the effect of a novel adolescent and youth Red Carpet Program (RCP) on the timing and outcomes of linkage to care. Design: A prepost implementation evaluation of the pilot RCP program. Settings: Healthcare facilities (HCFs) and schools in Homa Bay County, Kenya. Study participants: HIV-infected adolescents (15–19 years) and youth (20–21 years). Interventions: RCP provided fast-track peer-navigated services, peer counseling, and psychosocial support at HCFs and schools in six Homa Bay subcounties in 2016. RCP training and sensitization was implemented in 50 HCFs and 25 boarding schools. Main outcome measures: New adolescent and youth HIV diagnosis, linkage to and retention in care and treatment. Results: Within 6 months of program rollout, 559 adolescents and youths (481 women; 78 men) were newly diagnosed with HIV (15–19 years n = 277; 20–21 years, n = 282). The majority (n = 544; 97.3%) were linked to care, compared to 56.5% at preimplementation (P < 0.001). All (100.0%; n = 559) adolescents and youths received peer counseling and psychosocial support, and the majority (n = 430; 79.0%) were initiated on treatment. Compared to preimplementation, the proportion of adolescents and youths who were retained on treatment increased from 66.0 to 90.0% at 3 months (P < 0.001), and from 54.4 to 98.6% at 6 months (P < 0.001). Conclusion: Implementation of RCP was associated with significant improvement in linkage to and early retention in care among adolescent and youth. The ongoing study will fully assess the efficacy of this linkage-to-care approach.
Catalog of Realizations for DXCCII using Commercially Available ICs and Applications

This paper presents fifteen distinct practical realizations for dual-X second generation current conveyor (DXCCII) using commercially available integrated circuits. Detailed comparisons and results are presented to verify the utility of proposed realizations. The catalog of proposed realizations is a first attempt and is expected to be useful for testing newly developed circuits based on dual-X second generation current conveyor. Each of the first fourteen proposed realizations uses four ICs. One three IC based implementation is further given making the total count fifteen. Some additional features are also explored which further enhance the versatility of DXCCII. The paper further presents a novel and compact quadrature oscillator to verify the applicability of the proposed realizations. Single resistance control of the frequency of oscillation is also demonstrated by employing the new gain-variable DXCCII. Experimental results are also included along with simulation results to validate the proposed theory and its practical significance.
Brain‐derived Neurotrophic Factor Promotes the Migration of Olfactory Ensheathing Cells Through TRPC Channels

Olfactory ensheathing cells (OECs) are a unique type of glial cells with axonal growth‐promoting properties in the olfactory system. Organized migration of OECs is essential for neural regeneration and olfactory development. However, the molecular mechanism of OEC migration remains unclear. In the present study, we examined the effects of brain‐derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) on OEC migration. Initially, the “scratch” migration assay, the inverted coverslip and Boyden chamber migration assays showed that BDNF could promote the migration of primary cultured OECs. Furthermore, BDNF gradient attracted the migration of OECs in single‐cell migration assays. Mechanistically, TrkB receptor expressed in OECs mediated BDNF‐induced OEC migration, and BDNF triggered calcium signals in OECs. Finally, transient receptor potential cation channels (TRPCs) highly expressed in OECs were responsible for BDNF‐induced calcium signals, and required for BDNF‐induced OEC migration. Taken together, these results demonstrate that BDNF promotes the migration of cultured OECs and an unexpected finding is that TRPCs are required for BDNF‐induced OEC migration. GLIA 2016;64:2154–2165
IPMK and β-catenin mediate PLC-β1-dependent signaling in myogenic differentiation

In previous studies, we have reported that phospholipase C (PLC)-β1 plays a crucial role in myogenic differentiation and we determined the importance of its catalytic activity for the initiation of this process. Here we define the effectors that take part to its signaling pathway. We show that the Inositol Polyphosphate Multikinase (IPMK) is able to promote myogenic differentiation since its overexpression determines the up-regulation of several myogenic markers. Moreover, we demonstrate that IPMK activates the same cyclin D3 promoter region targeted by PLC-β1 and that IPMK-induced promoter activation relies upon c-jun binding to the promoter, as we have shown previously for PLC-β1. Furthermore, our data shows that IPMK overexpression causes an increase in β-catenin translocation and accumulation to the nuclei of differentiating myoblasts resulting in higher MyoD activation. Finally, we describe that PLC-β1 overexpression determines too an increase in β-catenin translocation and that PLC-β1, IPMK and β-catenin are mediators of the same signaling pathway since their overexpression results in cyclin D3 and myosin heavy chain (MYH) induction.
Understanding water treeing mechanisms in the development of diagnostic test method

Critical degradation is found to be associated with a more than proportional in crease of the dialectical properties when increasing the applied test voltage above a certain level. In this article, an explanation to this nonlinealy is presented, using a mechanical approach to the water treeing phenomenon. The water treed insulation is considered to consist of small water filled voids separated by crazing zones. At relatively low water content and low applied test voltage, some crazing zones are likely to be closed and insulating. But when increasing the test voltage, Maxwell mechanical stresses will cause water to penetrate into the crazing zones, thus making electric contact between the elongated water droplets. Results from FEM calculation of electric and losses show that the effect of this will enhance the electric field at the top of these conductive channels and to increase the deilectric losses of the water treed insulation.
Kinship underlies costly cooperation in Mosuo villages

The relative importance of social evolution theories such as kin selection, direct reciprocity and need-based transfers in explaining real-world cooperation is the source of much debate. Previous field studies of cooperation in human communities have revealed variability in the extent to which each of these theories explains human sociality in different contexts. We conducted multivariate social network analyses predicting costly cooperation—labouring on another household's farm—in 128 082 dyads of Mosuo farming households in southwest China. Through information-theoretic model selection, we tested the roles played by genealogical relatedness, affinal relationships (including reproductive partners), reciprocity, relative need, wealth, household size, spatial proximity and gift-giving in an economic game. The best-fitting model included all factors, along with interactions between relatedness and (i) reciprocity, (ii) need, (iii) the presence of own children in another household and (iv) proximity. Our results show how a real-world form of cooperation was driven by kinship. Households tended to help kin in need (but not needy non-kin) and travel further to help spatially distant relatives. Households were more likely to establish reciprocal relationships with distant relatives and non-kin but closer kin cooperated regardless of reciprocity. These patterns of kin-driven cooperation show the importance of inclusive fitness in understanding human social behaviour.
Tunable phase detection sensitivity of grating-coupled surface plasmon resonance (SPR) Sensor in a Phase-Shift Interferometry (PSI) Image System

The surface plasmon resonance (SPR) phenomenon has commonly been applied in bio-chemical sensors [1]. There are two major coupling mechanisms, a prism or a grating coupler. The grating-coupled sensor chip can be fabricated by low cost nano-imprinting technique [2]. For the detection method, intensity or phase of incident light can be used. In our previous study, we report a phase detection method for the SPR sensor can be tuned by simply rotating the an-alyzer in a heterodyne interferometer (HI) system [3]. In this paper, we apply this method in an image type measurement to a grating- coupled SPR (GCSPR) sensor by using liquid crystal (LC) phase-shift interferometry (PSI) [4]. A prism-coupled SPR using PSI has been reported [5]. Comparing with our previous HI system, the major advantage of the image type PSI system can perform multi-channel measurement.
Noncoherent Capacity of Underspread Fading Channels

We derive bounds on the noncoherent capacity of wide-sense stationary uncorrelated scattering (WSSUS) channels that are selective both in time and frequency, and are underspread, i.e., the product of the channel's delay spread and Doppler spread is small. The underspread assumption is satisfied by virtually all wireless communication channels. For input signals that are peak constrained in time and frequency, we obtain upper and lower bounds on capacity that are explicit in the channel's scattering function, are accurate for a large range of bandwidth, and allow to coarsely identify the capacity-optimal bandwidth as a function of the peak power and the channel's scattering function. We also obtain a closed-form expression for the first-order Taylor series expansion of capacity in the infinite-bandwidth limit, and show that our bounds are tight in the wideband regime. For input signals that are peak constrained in time only (and, hence, allowed to be peaky in frequency), we provide upper and lower bounds on the infinite-bandwidth capacity. Our lower bound is closely related to a result by Viterbi (1967). We find cases where the bounds coincide and, hence, the infinite-bandwidth capacity is characterized exactly. The analysis in this paper is based on a discrete-time discrete-frequency approximation of WSSUS time- and frequency-selective channels. This discretization takes the underspread property of the channel explicitly into account.
Effects of Prednisolone on Serum and Tissue Fluid IGF‐I Receptor Activation and Post‐Receptor Signaling in Humans

Context: Short‐term glucocorticoid exposure increases serum insulinlike growth factor I (IGF‐I) concentrations but antagonizes IGF‐I tissue signaling. The underlying mechanisms remain unknown. Objective: To identify at which levels glucocorticoid inhibits IGF‐I signaling. Design and Methods: Nineteen healthy males received prednisolone (37.5 mg/d) and placebo for 5 days in a randomized, double‐blinded, placebo‐controlled crossover study. Serum was collected on days 1, 3, and 5, and abdominal skin suction blister fluid (SBF; ˜interstitial fluid) was taken on day 5 (n = 9) together with muscle biopsy specimens (n = 19). The ability of serum and SBF to activate the IGF‐I receptor (IGF‐IR) (bioactive IGF) and its downstream signaling proteins was assessed using IGF‐IR‐transfected cells. Results: Prednisolone increased IGF‐I concentrations and bioactive IGF in serum (P ≤ 0.001) but not in SBF, which, compared with serum, contained less bioactive IGF (˜28%) after prednisolone (P < 0.05). This observation was unexplained by SBF concentrations of IGFs and IGF‐binding proteins (IGFBPs) 1 to 4. However, following prednisolone treatment, SBF contained less IGFBP‐4 fragments (P < 0.05) generated by pregnancy‐associated plasma protein A (PAPP‐A). Concomitantly, prednisolone increased SBF levels of stanniocalcin 2 (STC2) (P = 0.02) compared with serum. STC2 blocks PAPP‐A from cleaving IGFBP‐4. Finally, prednisolone suppressed post‐IGF‐IR signaling pathways at the level of insulin receptor substrate 1 (P < 0.05) but did not change skeletal muscle IGF‐IR, IGF‐I, or STC2 messenger RNA. Conclusion: Prednisolone increased IGF‐I concentrations and IGF bioactivity in serum but not in tissue fluid. The latter may relate to a STC2‐mediated inhibition of PAPP‐A in tissue fluids. Furthermore, prednisolone induced post‐IGF‐IR resistance. Thus, glucocorticoid may exert distinct, compartment‐specific effects on IGF action.
Progress in Targeted Alpha-Particle Therapy. What We Learned about Recoils Release from In Vivo Generators

This review summarizes recent progress and developments as well as the most important pitfalls in targeted alpha-particle therapy, covering single alpha-particle emitters as well as in vivo alpha-particle generators. It discusses the production of radionuclides like 211At, 223Ra, 225Ac/213Bi, labelling and delivery employing various targeting vectors (small molecules, chelators for alpha-emitting nuclides and their biomolecular targets as well as nanocarriers), general radiopharmaceutical issues, preclinical studies, and clinical trials including the possibilities of therapy prognosis and follow-up imaging. Special attention is given to the nuclear recoil effect and its impacts on the possible use of alpha emitters for cancer treatment, proper dose estimation, and labelling chemistry. The most recent and important achievements in the development of alpha emitters carrying vectors for preclinical and clinical use are highlighted along with an outlook for future developments.
Scenes Unseen: The Parahippocampal Cortex Intrinsically Subserves Contextual Associations, Not Scenes or Places Per Se

The parahippocampal cortex (PHC) has been implicated in both place/scene processing and episodic memory. We proposed that this region should instead be seen as intrinsically mediating contextual associations and not place/scene processing or episodic memory exclusively. Given that place/scene processing and episodic memory both rely on associations, this modified framework provides a platform for reconciling what seemed like different roles assigned to the same region. Comparing scenes with scenes, we show here that the PHC responds significantly more strongly to scenes with rich contextual associations compared with scenes of equal visual qualities but less associations. This result adds unequivocal support to the view that the PHC mediates contextual associations in general rather than places or scenes proper, and necessitates a revision of the current view that the PHC contains a dedicated place/scenes “module. ”
Coordinated Interpersonal Behaviour in Collective Dance Improvisation: The Aesthetics of Kinaesthetic Togetherness

Collective dance improvisation (e.g., traditional and social dancing, contact improvisation) is a participatory, relational and embodied art form which eschews standard concepts in aesthetics. We present our ongoing research into the mechanisms underlying the lived experience of “togetherness” associated with such practices. Togetherness in collective dance improvisation is kinaesthetic (based on movement and its perception), and so can be simultaneously addressed from the perspective of the performers and the spectators, and be measured. We utilise these multiple levels of description: the first-person, phenomenological level of personal experiences, the third-person description of brain and body activity, and the level of interpersonal dynamics. Here, we describe two of our protocols: a four-person mirror game and a ‘rhythm battle’ dance improvisation score. Using an interpersonal closeness measure after the practice, we correlate subjective sense of individual/group connectedness and observed levels of in-group temporal synchronization. We propose that kinaesthetic togetherness, or interpersonal resonance, is integral to the aesthetic pleasure of the participants and spectators, and that embodied feeling of togetherness might play a role more generally in aesthetic experience in the performing arts.