Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Spatial resolution and perception of patterns mediated by a subretinal 16-electrode array in patients blinded by hereditary retinal dystrophies.

PURPOSE The perception of 11 persons blinded by hereditary retinal degeneration elicited by a subretinally implanted 16-electrode array used for light-independent direct stimulation of the retina is described. This device is part of the Tübingen retina implant, which also employs a light-sensitive, multiphotodiode array (MPDA). The ability to reliably recognize complex spatial percepts was investigated. METHODS Eleven blind volunteers received implants and participated in standardized psychophysical tests investigating the size and shape of perceptions elicited by single-electrode activation, multiple-electrode activation, and activation of compound patterns such as simplified letters. RESULTS Visual percepts were elicited reliably in 8 of 11 patients. On single-electrode activation, percepts were generally described as round spots of light of distinguishable localization in the visual field. On activation of a pattern of electrodes, percepts matched that pattern when electrodes were activated sequentially. Patterns such as horizontal or vertical bars were identified reliably; the most recent participant was able to recognize simplified letters presented on the 16-electrode array. The smallest distance between sites of concurrent retinal stimulation still yielding discernible spots of light was assessed to be 280 μm, corresponding to a logMAR of 1.78. CONCLUSIONS Subretinal electric stimulation can yield reliable, predictable percepts. Patterned perception is feasible, enabling blind persons to recognize shapes and discriminate different letters. Stimulation paradigms must be optimized, to further increase spatial resolution, demanding a better understanding of physical and biological effects of single versus repetitive stimulation (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00515814).
Low-Complexity Robust MISO Downlink Precoder Design With Per-Antenna Power Constraints

This paper considers the design of beamformers for a multiple-input single-output downlink system with per-antenna power constraints (PAPCs) that seek to mitigate the impact of the imperfections in the channel state information that is available at the base station. The goal of the design is to minimize the outage probability of specified signal-to-interference-and-noise ratio targets, and to do so at a low computational cost. The proposed design strategy provides an efficient way to handle PAPCs, in addition to a total power constraint, for a variety of precoding techniques, including the offset maximization approach to robust beamforming, and the nominal zero-forcing and maximum ratio transmission approaches. Through observations regarding the structure of the optimality conditions for each of the design formulations, low-complexity iterative algorithms that involve the evaluation of closed-form expressions are developed. In systems with a large number of antennas, the computational cost of some of these algorithms can be reduced to being linear in the number of antennas, without a significant degradation in performance. Simulation results show that the proposed robust designs can provide substantial reductions in the outage probability while satisfying the PAPCs.
Driven to distraction: a prospective controlled study of a simulated ward round experience to improve patient safety teaching for medical students

Background Distraction and interruption are endemic in the clinical environment and contribute to error. This study assesses whether simulation-based training with targeted feedback can improve undergraduate management of distractions and interruptions to reduce error-making. Design A prospective non-randomised controlled study. Methods 28 final year medical students undertook a simulated baseline ward round. 14 students formed an intervention group and received immediate feedback on distractor management and error. 14 students in a control group received no feedback. After 4 weeks, students participated in a post-intervention ward round of comparable rigour. Changes in medical error and distractor management between simulations were assessed with Mann-Whitney U tests using SPSS V.21. Results At baseline, error rates were high. The intervention group committed 72 total baseline errors (mean of 5.1 errors/student; median 5; range 3–7). The control group exhibited a comparable number of errors—with a total of 76 observed (mean of 5.4 errors/student; median 6; range 4–7). Many of these errors were life-threatening. At baseline distractions and interruptions were poorly managed by both groups. All forms of simulation training reduced error-making. In the intervention group the total number of errors post-intervention fell from 72 to 17 (mean 1.2 errors/student; median 1; range 0–3), representing a 76.4% fall (p<0.0001). In the control group the total number of errors also fell—from 76 to 44 (mean of 3.1 errors/student; median 3; range 1–5), representing a 42.1% reduction (p=0.0003). Conclusions Medical students are not inherently equipped to manage common ward-based distractions to mitigate error. These skills can be taught—with simulation and feedback conferring the greatest benefit. Curricular integration of simulated ward round experiences is recommended.
Impact of access bandwidth on packet loss: A flow-level analysis

High-speed Internet connectivity is becoming more ubiquitous due to advances in access technologies. On the one hand, the increased access speed allows flows to consume the larger available bandwidth. On the other hand, large aggressive flows lead to more bursty traffic. In this paper, we study the impact of higher broadband access speeds on the resulting packet losses, and dissect those losses into their constituent flows. Based on tightly controlled experiments using open source tools, we show that as ISPs are increasing the access bandwidth of their residential customers, the effects on flow-level properties are nontrivial. Surprisingly, the average number of flows that participate in a packet loss burst remains small, as compared to the burst size. As expected, higher access bandwidth translates into larger packet loss bursts. Furthermore, large flows dominate packet losses, and even more so as access bandwidth increases. In contrast, irrespective of the access bandwidth, a few small flows systematically participate in loss episodes, and suffer significantly due to their limited size.
A Single Amino Acid Substitution in the Phosphoprotein of Respiratory Syncytial Virus Confers Thermosensitivity in a Reconstituted RNA Polymerase System

ABSTRACT The single amino acid change Gly172 to Ser in the phosphoprotein (P) of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) has previously been shown to be responsible for the thermosensitivity and protein-negative phenotype of tsN19, a mutant of the B subgroup RSN-2 strain. This single change was inserted into the P gene of the A subgroup virus RSS-2, and the resulting phenotype was observed in a plasmid-driven reconstituted RSV RNA polymerase system. Expression from a genome analogue containing two reporter genes was thermosensitive when directed by plasmids containing the N, L, M2, and mutant P genes cloned under the control of T7 promoters. Analysis of RNA synthesis showed that mutant P protein was unable to produce genome, antigenome, or mRNA at the restrictive temperature. At a semipermissive temperature, genome, antigenome, and mRNA synthesis were all reduced, 6- to 30-fold, relative to synthesis directed by a wild-type P plasmid. Binding of the mutant P protein to N protein in the absence of other viral proteins was unaffected by temperature, indicating that the lesion did not produce a large enough structural change to disrupt this binding. These data suggest that the plasmid rescue system is suitable for investigation of the role of thermosensitive mutations in RSV polymerase components in RNA synthesis.
Smad6 promotes neuronal differentiation in the intermediate zone of the dorsal neural tube by inhibition of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway

Proliferation of the neural/neuronal progenitor cells (NPCs) at the ventricular zone of the dorsal spinal cord requires the stimuli of Wnt and bone morphogenic protein (BMP). However, how these two signaling pathways are regulated to initiate differentiation in the NPCs as they enter the intermediate zone is not known. Here, we show that Smad6, a negative regulator of BMP signaling, is expressed in the intermediate zone of the chick dorsal spinal cord. Knockdown experiments show that Smad6 is required for promoting NPCs to exit the cell cycle and differentiate into neurons. Although we find that Smad6 inhibits BMP signaling, as expected, we also find that Smad6 unexpectedly inhibits the Wnt/β-catenin pathway. The inhibition of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway by Smad6 is independent of its effect on the BMP pathway. Rather, Smad6 through its N-terminal domain and link region enhances the interaction of C-terminal binding protein with the β-catenin/T cell factor (TCF) complex and the TCF-binding element to inhibit β-catenin–mediated transcriptional activation. Our study provides evidence that transition of NPCs from a proliferative state to a differentiating state is controlled by the dual inhibitory role of Smad6 to both BMP and Wnt signaling at the level of transcription.
Identification of PrP sequences essential for the interaction between the PrP polymers and Aβ peptide in a yeast-based assay

Alzheimer disease is associated with the accumulation of oligomeric amyloid β peptide (Aβ), accompanied by synaptic dysfunction and neuronal death. Polymeric form of prion protein (PrP), PrPSc, is implicated in transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs). Recently, it was shown that the monomeric cellular form of PrP (PrPC), located on the neuron surface, binds Aβ oligomers (and possibly other β-rich conformers) via the PrP23–27 and PrP90–110 segments, acting as Aβ receptor. On the other hand, PrPSc polymers efficiently bind to Aβ monomers and accelerate their oligomerization. To identify specific PrP sequences that are essential for the interaction between PrP polymers and Aβ peptide, we have co-expressed Aβ and PrP (or its shortened derivatives), fused to different fluorophores, in the yeast cell. Our data show that the 90–110 and 28–89 regions of PrP control the binding of proteinase-resistant PrP polymers to the Aβ peptide, whereas the 23–27 segment of PrP is dispensable for this interaction. This indicates that the set of PrP fragments involved in the interaction with Aβ depends on PrP conformational state.
Identifying Overlapping Communities in Directed Networks via Triangles

A lot of complex systems in nature and society can be represented as the form of network. The small-scale subnets topological features are vital to understand the dynamics and function of the networks. Triangles comprised of three nodes are the simplest subnet in the network. Based on the triangle distribution of the complex network, we present a novel approach to detect overlapping community structure in directed networks. Different from previous studies focused on grouping nodes, our method defines communities as groups of links rather than nodes so that nodes naturally belong to more than one community. It can identify a suitable number of overlapping communities without any prior knowledge about the community. We evaluated our approach on several real-networks. Experimental results prove that the algorithm proposed is efficient for detecting overlapping communities in directed networks. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.11591/telkomnika.v11i10. 3401
Context of Globalization The Impact of Diverse National Values on Strategic Investment Decisions in the

This study examines the effect of diverse national values on strategic investment decision (SID) making in the context of industry globalization. Whilst previous single country studies of strategic decision making have highlighted the effect of variables such as uncertainty, environmental stability, competition intensity and organizational position, we argue that diverse national values are also critical, albeit tempered by convergence pressures arising from globalization. Our incipient model, recognizing research from both these fields, is explored in closely matched automotive components businesses, one German, one American, one British and one Japanese. Transcripts of interviews focusing on recent SIDs were analysed against protocols generated from the alternative propositions. We found considerable diversity associated with differences in national values in respect to techniques, but also some points of convergence in respect to other process aspects driven by common industrial globalization pressures.
Enhancing SCI's fairness protocol for increased throughput

The scalable coherent interface (SCI) is a newly established IEEE standard which provides bus-like services to a network of nodes connected by very fast, unidirectional links. SCI provides an efficient flow control protocol that fairly allocates bandwidth to all nodes on the network. When global fairness is not required, it is desirable to relax its enforcement, in exchange for increased network utilization. This paper presents an extension to SCI's fairness protocol that increases attainable throughput by enforcing fairness only among conflicting nodes. The authors present extensive simulation results and compare them to the standard SCI protocol and to the desired performance, which is derived in the paper. The comparisons show that, on average, the enhancements substantially increase the performance of the original protocol. <<ETX>>
Origin of the Transition from Aquatic to Terrestrial Habits in Nothopsyche Caddisflies (Trichoptera: Limnephilidae) Based on Molecular Phylogeny

Abstract The larvae and pupae of most caddisflies (Trichoptera) are aquatic, whereas the adults are terrestrial. However, the trichopteran genus Nothopsyche includes species with terrestrial pre-pupal and pupal stages and with an entirely terrestrial life cycle. The phylogenetic relationships within this genus, inferred from sequences of mitochondrial 16S and nuclear 18S ribosomal RNA genes, suggest that Nothopsyche species were originally aquatic and that a single lineage acquired tolerance to terrestrial habitats at the pre-pupal and pupal stages. In this lineage, N. montivaga became completely terrestrial. In addition, the larval case materials changed from plant matter to sand at one point in the phylogeny of this genus.
Contribution of Metabotropic Glutamate Receptor mGluR4 to L‐2‐[3H]Amino‐4‐Phosphonobutyrate Binding in Mouse Brain

Abstract : The binding of L‐2‐[3H]amino‐4‐phosphonobutyrate ([3H]L‐AP4) was examined in brain sections of wild‐type mice and mice lacking the mGluR4 subtype of metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs). Very high relative densities of [3H]L‐AP4 binding were observed in the molecular layer of the cerebellar cortex, the nucleus basalis, the outer layer of the superior colliculus, and the substantia nigra. In mGluR4 knock‐out mice, very low levels of binding were observed in these regions. The moderate levels of binding observed with wild‐type mice in the molecular layer of the hippocampal dentate gyrus and in the thalamus were absent in mGluR4 knock‐out mice. In contrast, the moderate levels observed in most of the cerebral cortex, caudate putamen, and globus pallidus were not different in mGluR4 knock‐out mice compared with wild‐type. In these regions, mGluR8 is likely to be labeled by [3H]L‐AP4 because mGluR8 is expressed in such brain regions and, like mGluR4, has high affinity for L‐AP4. We conclude that mGluR4 contributes substantially to the high‐affinity binding site for [3H]L‐AP4 in several regions of mouse brain, including cerebellar cortex, nucleus basalis, thalamus, superior colliculus, substantia nigra, and hippocampal dentate gyrus.
Rac and Cdc42 GTPases control hematopoietic stem cell shape, adhesion, migration, and mobilization

Critical to homeostasis of blood cell production by hematopoietic stem/progenitor (HSC/P) cells is the regulation of HSC/P retention within the bone marrow microenvironment and migration between the bone marrow and the blood. Key extracellular regulatory elements for this process have been defined (cell–cell adhesion, growth factors, chemokines), but the mechanism by which HSC/P cells reconcile multiple external signals has not been elucidated. Rac and related small GTPases are candidates for this role and were studied in HSC/P deficient in Rac2, a hematopoietic cell-specific family member. Rac2 appears to be critical for HSC/P adhesion both in vitro and in vivo, whereas a compensatory increase in Cdc42 activation regulates HSC/P migration. This genetic analysis provides physiological evidence of cross-talk between GTPase proteins and suggests that a balance of these two GTPases controls HSC/P adhesion and mobilization in vivo.
Intellectual Capital: Perception of Public and Private Sector Knowledge-Based Organizations in Pakistan

This paper explores the perception of public and private sector managers regarding intellectual capital in knowledge based organizations in Pakistan. Due to the intangible nature of intellectual capital resources, a qualitative methodology is chosen to get in-depth perception from the managers. Ten interviews were conducted in public and private sector organizations chosen on the basis of knowledge organization criteria and senior managers were interviewed to get an in-depth understanding of the phenomenon. The data was coded in Atlas.ti and analyzed. It was discovered that there are several themes related to the different components of intellectual capital, which are common within both types of organizations. However, several elements were also found whose importance is differs across the organizations. Overall, it was found that management of intellectual capital is more organized and systematic in the private organizations. However, understanding of intellectual capital is also increasing in the public sector managers. The utilization of intellectual capital is increasing in both types of organizations however, more steps are needed at the strategic level to manage the intellectual capital resources within the organizations
Black Monday, Globalization and Trading Behavior of Stock Investors

Using a simple sign test, we report new empirical evidence, taken from both the US and the German stock markets, showing that trading behavior substantially changed around Black Monday in 1987. It turned out that before Black Monday investors behaved more as in the momentum strategy; and after Black Monday more as in the contrarian strategy. We argue that crashes, in general, themselves are merely a manifestation of uncertainty on stock markets and the high uncertainty due to globalization is mainly responsible for this change.
Mandatory IFRS Adoption And Financial Analysts' Information Environment: Evidence From Korean Market

The paper examines the effects of the mandatory adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) on financial analysts’ information environment, specifically on analysts forecast accuracy in the Korean market. We find that financial analysts’ forecast accuracy improves after the mandatory IFRS adoption. We further investigate the source of observed accuracy enhancements and find that the improved forecast accuracy is attributable to the increased precision in analysts’ information sets for KOSPI firms and increased opportunity for earnings management for KOSDAQ firms. We also find that the analyst coverage in Korean market is reduced after mandatory IFRS adoption.
Photoplethysmography of the Distal Pulp in the Assessment of the Vasospastic Hand

A procedure for assessing the peripheral vasculature and a new technique for determining the characteristics of the a.c. (arterial) photoplethysmographic (PPG) waveform are described. Comparing 12 normal female volunteers and 12 female patients with Raynaud's phenomenon, PPG amplitude is as good as the results of a standard thermographic test in distinguishing between the groups. The limb arterial flow measured by strain gauge plethysmography (SPG) and the timing of features in the PPG waveform showed differences between the groups, which did not reach statistical significance. The rise time of the PPG waveform, however, was found to be correlated with age independently of vasospasticity.
The experimental analysis of the grid- connected PV system applied by POS MPPT

The goal of this study about photovoltaic (PV) power generation system is to keep output power of photovoltaic cells maximized under any weather conditions. In a conventional MPPT (Maximum Power Point Tracking) control method, both voltage and current coming out from PV array have to be fedback. Thus, the system has a complex structure, and may fail to track MPP of PV array when unexpected weather conditions happen. This paper proposes a novel PV Output Senseless (POS) Control method to solve the mentioned problem. The main advantage of this method is that the current flowing into the load is the only one considerable factor. In case of a huge PV generation system, it can be operated much more safely than a conventional system. To verify this theory, results that compare and analyze the simulated data with experimental data under real weather condition of the manufactured PV generation system are shown in this paper. Authors vividly states that this theory uses constant resistors and variable resistors of DC-DC converter in the PV system. Authors emphasize that it is a very useful method to maximize power from PV cells to load with only the feedback of the load current. Authors also emphasize that this theory is applicable to a 1 phase DC-AC converter in the PV- system.
SAFETY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS IMPLEMENTATION: A STUDY UTILIZING THE GROUNDED THEORY ANALYSIS

The objectives of the study were to investigate the issues surrounding the successful and satisfactory delivery of Safety Management Systems (SMS) solely from Malaysian contractors’ perspective and to develop a theory related to the reasons for those issues. An inductive approach is used for a study on investigation of Safety Management Systems (SMS) implementation among Malaysian contractors in processing plants. The approach aims at identifying the problems encountered by contractors and sought to develop a theory, to gauge the issues from contractors’ perspective and how these issues appear and affect the outcomes of SMS implementation. The issue and underlying problems of SMS implementation were analyzed through in depth semi-structured interviews with 13 respondents. An adapted Grounded Theory analysis, following the original Glaser and Strauss (1967) philosophy, was used to analyze the data extracted from the interviews. Through the use of Grounded Theory approach, the root causes of issues and underlying problems of SMS implementation among Malaysian contractors was uncovered. Subsequently, a theory of problems encountered by contractors was developed. Keywords: grounded theory analysis; in-depth semi-structured interview; inductive approach; theory development