Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A gain-of-function sodium channel β2-subunit mutation in painful diabetic neuropathy

Diabetes mellitus is a global challenge with many diverse health sequelae, of which diabetic peripheral neuropathy is one of the most common. A substantial number of patients with diabetic peripheral neuropathy develop chronic pain, but the genetic and epigenetic factors that predispose diabetic peripheral neuropathy patients to develop neuropathic pain are poorly understood. Recent targeted genetic studies have identified mutations in α-subunits of voltage-gated sodium channels (Navs) in patients with painful diabetic peripheral neuropathy. Mutations in proteins that regulate trafficking or functional properties of Navs could expand the spectrum of patients with Nav-related peripheral neuropathies. The auxiliary sodium channel β-subunits (β1–4) have been reported to increase current density, alter inactivation kinetics, and modulate subcellular localization of Nav. Mutations in β-subunits have been associated with several diseases, including epilepsy, cancer, and diseases of the cardiac conducting system. However, mutations in β-subunits have never been shown previously to contribute to neuropathic pain. We report here a patient with painful diabetic peripheral neuropathy and negative genetic screening for mutations in SCN9A, SCN10A, and SCN11A—genes encoding sodium channel α-subunit that have been previously linked to the development of neuropathic pain. Genetic analysis revealed an aspartic acid to asparagine mutation, D109N, in the β2-subunit. Functional analysis using current-clamp revealed that the β2-D109N rendered dorsal root ganglion neurons hyperexcitable, especially in response to repetitive stimulation. Underlying the hyperexcitability induced by the β2-subunit mutation, as evidenced by voltage-clamp analysis, we found a depolarizing shift in the voltage dependence of Nav1.7 fast inactivation and reduced use-dependent inhibition of the Nav1.7 channel.
Towards an ecological approach to understanding the neurophysiological bases of human error-monitoring

La presente tesis doctoral proporciona nuevas alternativas y contribuciones con respecto al estudio de los mecanismos neurofisiologicos asociados a la monitorizacion de errores y procesos de control cognitivo, abordando nuevas cuestiones y desarrollando nuevos paradigmas que permitan el estudio de estos procesos cerebrales en contextos mas ecologicos y generales que abarquen la complejidad de nuestras interacciones con el ambiente. A lo largo de esta investigacion he combinado herramientas clasicas en neurociencia cognitiva de electrofisiologia, Potenciales Evocados y analisis tiempo-frecuencia, con nuevos paradigmas experimentales con el fin de dar respuestas a algunas preguntas que en todos estos anos han permanecido esquivos y dificiles de abordar experimentalmente.
Deep learning nanometrology of line edge roughness

Deep Learning (DL) techniques based on Denoising Convolutional Neural Networks (DeCNN) are applied in the denoising of SEM images of line patterns to contribute to noise-reduced (unbiased) LER nanometrology. The models of DeCNN are trained in a sufficiently large set of synthesized SEM images with controlled Gaussian and Poisson noise level. Due to the image-based nature of the DL approach, it can be combined sequentially with the state of the art PSD-based method especially for highly noisy images where the use of the PSD-based method alone fails. The results for test synthesized images show the high predicting capability of the DL assisted method for the commonly used LER parameters and functions (Rms, ξ, α, PSD) of the true (zero-noise) values revealing its potential for future use toward an unbiased LER metrology.
Depreciatie van menselijk kapitaal

Het menselijk kapitaal van werknemers kan verouderen wanneer bepaalde vaardigheden onvoldoende gebruikt worden en daardoor deels verloren gaan of doordat technologische en organisatorische innovaties van het productieproces nieuwe eisen stellen aan de kennis en vaardigheden van werknemers. In dit rapport wordt ingegaan op de ontwikkeling van iemands menselijk kapitaal gedurende de levensloop. Daarbij wordt in het bijzonder ingezoomd op het effect van inactiviteit vanwege zorgtaken en het effect van werkloosheid op de waarde van het menselijk kapitaal. De onderzoeksvragen luiden als volgt: Hoe ontwikkelt de waarde van het menselijk kapitaal zich over de levensloop? ; In welke mate daalt het menselijk kapitaal in waarde in perioden van inactiviteit in verband met de zorg voor kinderen? ; In welke mate daalt het menselijk kapitaal in waarde in perioden van werkloosheid? ; In welke mate verschilt de depreciatie van menselijk kapitaal op de arbeidsmarkt tussen verschillende groepen (bijvoorbeeld naar geslacht, opleidingsniveau, leeftijd, bedrijfssector)?
Single-Parameter Domains and Implementation in Undominated Strategies

This paper studies Algorithmic Mechanism Design where the bidders are “single-parameter” (have the same private value for all desired outcomes), with a focus on Combinatorial Auctions (CA). We study four variants of the CA model: where each player desires a single bundle (“single-minded”) or he desires any one of several bundles (“multi-minded”), and where the desired bundles are public information (“known”) or private information (“unknown”). We provide several mechanisms and examples in these settings. Our first main result is a general technique to convert any algorithm to a truthful ascending mechanism for “known” domains (not only for CA). For the “known” single-minded CA domain, it almost preserves the approximation ratio of the original algorithm. Our second main result provides the first computationally efficient mechanism for the case of “unknown” single-parameter multi-minded bidders, with close to optimal welfare approximation. This mechanism also works in general, non singleparameter, combinatorial auctions, with some additional approximation loss. This mechanism is a computationally feasible implementation in undominated strategies, a notion that we define and justify, and which we believe is of independent interest.
Building Bridges to Postsecondary Training for Low-Skill Adults: Outcomes of Washington State's I-BEST Program. CCRC Brief. Number 42.

Each year, community colleges, schools, and community organizations offer basic skills instruction to more than 2.5 million adults with limited skills and education. Such programs include Adult Basic Education (ABE) and GED preparation programs for individuals who do not have a high school credential and English-as-a-SecondLanguage (ESL) programs for persons with limited proficiency in English. Yet few of these students advance successfully to college-level education and training, even when they attend a basic skills program offered by a community college. Not doing so limits the potential of these individuals to secure jobs that pay family-supporting wages and that offer opportunities for career advancement. Integrated Basic Education and Skills Training, or I-BEST, is an innovative program created to address this problem. First piloted in 2004-05, I-BEST was developed by the community and technical colleges in Washington State to increase the rate at which adult basic skills students enter and succeed in postsecondary occupational education and training. Under the I-BEST model, basic skills instructors and career-technical faculty jointly design and teach collegelevel occupational, or what in Washington State are called “workforce,” courses for adult basic skills students. Instruction in basic skills is thereby integrated with instruction in college-level career-technical skills. This model challenges the conventional notion that basic skills instruction should be completed by students prior to starting college-level courses. The approach thus offers the potential to accelerate the transition of adult basic skills students into college programs. This Brief, which summarizes a longer paper, presents findings from a CCRC study that investigated the outcomes of students who participated in the program. The study compared, over a two-year tracking period, the educational outcomes of I-BEST students with those of other basic skills students, including students who comprised a particularly apt comparison group — those non-I-BEST basic skills students who nonetheless enrolled in at least one workforce course in academic year 2006-07, the period of enrollment examined in the study. The analyses controlled for observed differences in background characteristics and enrollment patterns of students in the sample. We examined data on more than 31,000 basic skills students in Washington State, including nearly 900 I-BEST participants.
Interseismic coupling and seismic potential along the Central Andes subduction zone

We use about two decades of geodetic measurements to characterize interseismic strain build up along the Central Andes subduction zone from Lima, Peru, to Antofagasta, Chile. These measurements are modeled assuming a 3-plate model (Nazca, Andean sliver and South America Craton) and spatially varying interseismic coupling (ISC) on the Nazca megathrust interface. We also determine slip models of the 1996 M_w = 7.7 Nazca, the 2001 M_w = 8.4 Arequipa, the 2007 M_w = 8.0 Pisco and the M_w = 7.7 Tocopilla earthquakes. We find that the data require a highly heterogeneous ISC pattern and that, overall, areas with large seismic slip coincide with areas which remain locked in the interseismic period (with high ISC). Offshore Lima where the ISC is high, a M_w∼8.6–8.8 earthquake occurred in 1746. This area ruptured again in a sequence of four M_w∼8.0 earthquakes in 1940, 1966, 1974 and 2007 but these events released only a small fraction of the elastic strain which has built up since 1746 so that enough elastic strain might be available there to generate a M_w > 8.5 earthquake. The region where the Nazca ridge subducts appears to be mostly creeping aseismically in the interseismic period (low ISC) and seems to act as a permanent barrier as no large earthquake ruptured through it in the last 500 years. In southern Peru, ISC is relatively high and the deficit of moment accumulated since the M_w∼8.8 earthquake of 1868 is equivalent to a magnitude M_w∼8.4 earthquake. Two asperities separated by a subtle aseismic creeping patch are revealed there. This aseismic patch may arrest some rupture as happened during the 2001 Arequipa earthquake, but the larger earthquakes of 1604 and 1868 were able to rupture through it. In northern Chile, ISC is very high and the rupture of the 2007 Tocopilla earthquake has released only 4% of the elastic strain that has accumulated since 1877. The deficit of moment which has accumulated there is equivalent to a magnitude M_w∼8.7 earthquake. This study thus provides elements to assess the location, size and magnitude of future large megathurst earthquakes in the Central Andes subduction zone. Caveats of this study are that interseismic strain of the forearc is assumed time invariant and entirely elastic. Also a major source of uncertainty is due to fact that the available data place very little constraints on interseismic coupling at shallow depth near the trench, except offshore Lima where sea bottom geodetic measurements have been collected suggesting strong coupling.
EFFECTS OF NON-LINEAR WEAKENING ON EARTHQUAKE SOURCE SCALINGS

An earthquake is usually modeled as an extension of the Dugdale approach: as in LEFM, fracture energy G_c is completely spent in a relatively small region close to the crack tip, the process zone; and the fault strength is described by a slip weakening law that reaches a residual level at a characteristic slip D_c. Beyond its regularizing properties, slip weakening is a phenomenological fact of experimental rock mechanics. Recent laboratory observations show that slip weakening can be a persistent process over large amounts of slip, in contradiction to our usual view of a finite D_c. New seismological constraints from seismic nucleation phases and from the scaling of radiated energy with magnitude, seem to point to a similar interpretation. Persistent weakening can also be viewed as a lumped representation of off-fault non linear processes occurring in the wake of the process zone. On this basis, power law weakening laws have been proposed that feature a very steep weakening rate in the short slip range followed by a long tailed, non linear, weakening process with no characteristic slip. On the other hand there is growing interest in the apparent scaling of fault properties, such as D_c and G_c, with earthquake size. This is a key issue in understanding how much can be learned about large destructive earthquakes from the observation of smaller but more frequent ones and from laboratory experiments. I explore here the possible effects of non linear strength drop on macroscopic earthquake source parameters, such as magnitude, rupture size and radiated energy, and their interrelations mainly via numerical simulation of earthquake dynamics under a general family of empirical nonlinear slip weakening laws.
A new linguistic approach to sentiment automatic processing

With the growth of the Web2.0, e-commerce has become very popular in use, many websites offer the opportunity to make sales online and give the opportunity to get own an online review about objects, persons, and products. New opportunities and challenges arise as people can now actively use information technologies to seek and understand other people's opinions (sentiments) when to making their choices. In this paper, we propose a new two-step approach for an automatic sentiment processing, consisting a first step dealing with extract the subjective portions of reviews and a second one which determines the review overall sentiment by identifying whether a review appreciates (positive) or desappreciates (negative) its purpose. This approach consists of a four levels processing chain operating in a parallel way (i.e syntactic, semantic, linguistic and sentiment analysis).
Energy Efficient Joint Resource Scheduling for Delay-Aware Traffic in Cloud-RAN

In this paper, we focus on the energy efficient joint resource scheduling scheme in time varying Cloud-RAN with delay sensitive traffic. We jointly consider the computation resources provided by baseband units (BBUs), which are modeled as the data processing rate of each virtual machine (VM) provided by the BBUs, and the antenna resources provided by the remote radio heads (RRHs), which are modeled as the beamforming vectors for each user equipment (UE) considering the limited fronthaul capacity and per-UE QoS requirement. Based on the Lyapunov optimization method, we divide the original problem into two subproblems, i.e., the BBU processing rate scheduling problem and the network-wide beamforming strategy problem. The first subproblem can be formulated as a convex programming problem, and we can solve the second subproblem with a weighted minimum mean square error (WMMSE) approach. With the detailed theoretical analysis and simulation results, it is clear that we can achieve a trade- off between energy efficiency and traffic delay, which can be controlled by the control parameter V.
Political Tendency Identification in Twitter using Sentiment Analysis Techniques

This paper describes an approach for political tendency identification of Twitter users. We define some metrics that take into account the polarity of the political entities in the tweets of each user. To obtain this polarities we present the sentiment analysis system developed. The evaluation was performed on the general corpus developed at TASS2013 workshop for Spanish. To our knowledge, the results obtained for the sentiment analysis task and the political tendency identification task are the best results published until now using this data set.
Whom God Hath Joined Together: The Work of Marriage Guidance

1. Changing Marriage and Changing Society: Conceptual Issues 2. Marriage Mending, 1920-50 3. Private Counselling Versus Public Voice, 1948-68 4. Rugby Magic: The Flowering of a Therapeutic Culture, 1968-85 5. From Marriage Guidance to Relate 6. Counselling, Therapy, Efficacy.
Research of cruor detecting system and method

On the basis of studing the traditional platelet aggregates instrument of blood-testing methods and principles, this paper studies the principles and methods of the platelet aggregates testing wiyh double beam heterometry. It also studies the software design, control hardware design and, the research of performance parameter. After a comprehensive analysis of the functional requirements, this thesis shoued the import and export of the system and decided the testing programe. Industrial control computer is the core of the system, which adopts Labview developing platform under windows platform in the software and multi-purpose data acquisition hardware card and control circuit boards for the control of the implementing agencies, while conditioning and collecting data based on different signals exported from plasma testing.
A human YAC transgene rescues craniofacial and neural tube development in PDGFR α knockout mice and uncovers a role for PDGFR α in prenatal lung growth

Three PDGF subunits (PDGF-A, -B and -C) have been identified to date. All three subunits form covalent homodimers. In addition, PDGF-A and PDGF-B can form heterodimers with each other, though probably not with PDGF-C (Heldin et al., 1998; Li et al., 2000). Each individual subunit binds one receptor, so PDGF dimers initiate signalling by inducing receptor dimerization and autophosphorylation. There are two known PDGF receptors with different ligand specificities: PDGFRαbinds all three PDGF subunits whereas PDGFRβmainly binds PDGF-B. Therefore, a cell’s response to PDGF depends both on the receptor(s) that it expresses and on the particular dimeric PDGF isoform(s) to which it is exposed. Whether or not a given PDGF ligand-receptor interaction can occur in vivo depends critically on the spatial and temporal expression patterns of receptors and ligands. The present paper is mainly concerned with the regulation of PDGFRα gene expression. PDGFRα is expressed in the embryo by several populations of progenitor cells that proliferate and migrate in response to PDGF (reviewed by Lindahl and Betsholtz, 1998). For example, PDGFRα is expressed in precursor cells of the cranial neural crest and is thought to be required for migration of crest cells into the branchial arches. In keeping with this idea, PDGFRα deficient mice [both the targeted knockout and the spontaneous deletion mutant Patch(Ph)] have a variety of defects in crest-derived tissues including gross craniofacial and skeletal abnormalities (Orr-Urtreger et al., 1992; MorrisonGraham et al., 1992; Schatteman et al., 1992; Payne et al., 1997; Soriano, 1997). They also have neural tube defects (spina bifida) and die in earlyto mid-gestation. PDGFRα is also expressed by smooth muscle progenitors in the developing lung (Lindahl et al., 1997) and by glial progenitor cells in the 4519 Development 127, 4519-4529 (2000) Printed in Great Britain © The Company of Biologists Limited 2000 DEV1581
Lagrangian vortex sheets for animating fluids

Buoyant turbulent smoke plumes with a sharp smoke-air interface, such as volcanic plumes, are notoriously hard to simulate. The surface clearly shows small-scale turbulent structures which are costly to resolve. In addition, the turbulence onset is directly visible at the interface, and is not captured by commonly used turbulence models. We present a novel approach that employs a triangle mesh as a high-resolution surface representation combined with a coarse Eulerian solver. On the mesh, we solve the interfacial vortex sheet equations, which allows us to accurately simulate buoyancy induced turbulence. For complex boundary conditions we propose an orthogonal turbulence model that handles vortices caused by obstacle interaction. In addition, we demonstrate a re-sampling scheme to remove surfaces that are hidden inside the bulk volume. In this way we are able to achieve highly detailed simulations of turbulent plumes efficiently.
Precise Asymptotic Analysis of the Tunstall Code

We study the Tunstall code using the machinery from the analysis of algorithms literature. In particular, we propose an algebraic characterization of the Tunstall code which, together with tools like the Mellin transform and the Tauberian theorems, leads to new results on the variance and a central limit theorem for dictionary phrase lengths. This analysis also provides a new argument for obtaining asymptotic results about the mean dictionary phrase length and average redundancy rates
A New Strategy for Providing Definitions In Task-Oriented Dialogues

Definitions may be made up of one or more components, which correspond to strategic predicates. The selection of which components to use in giving a definition in a task-oriented dialogue depends heavily on the needs of the user. The selection strategy we present involves weighting possible strategic predicates and the propositions used to fill them at multiple points throughout an ongoing dialogue and at the actual time of giving the definition. Weighting will be influenced by a model of the user's domain knowledge, task-related plans and goals, and receptivity to the different kinds of information that could be presented. An utterance can then be produced that incorporates the most important information while adhering to common rhetorical practices.
Experimental radiotherapy of receptor‐positive human prostate adenocarcinoma with 188Re‐RC‐160, a directly‐radiolabeled somatostatin analogue

The therapeutic potential of the somatostatin analogue RC‐160 radiolabeled with 188Re was evaluated in nude mice bearing xenografts of human prostate adenocarcinoma. 188Re‐RC‐160 was selectively retained in both DU‐145 and PC‐3 tumors following direct intra‐tumor injection at all time points examined (2, 6 and 24 hr post‐injection). Unbound 188Re‐RC‐160 was rapidly excreted via the hepatobiliary system and, with the exception of the gastrointestinal tract, very little normal organ uptake was found at any time point examined. Negative control compounds, 188Re‐perrhenate and 188Re‐mercaptoacetyl‐triglycine (188Re‐MAG3), were essentially washed out of the tumor by 6 hr post‐injection and were rapidly excreted through the kidneys. 131I‐RC‐160, used as a reference compound, had a biodistribution in tumor‐bearing animals similar to that of 188Re‐RC‐160. In PC‐3 xenografts, 188Re‐RC‐160 gave a dose‐dependent therapeutic response (stasis or regression) even in animals with relatively large tumor masses (greater than 600 mm3), whereas the macro‐aggregated form of 188Re‐RC‐160 did not. Long‐term studies with 188Re‐RC‐160 demonstrated a protracted reduction of tumor volume and a positive effect on animal survival. Neither RC‐160 by itself nor a 188Re‐labeled peptide, unrelated to somatostatin (PA‐22‐2, a laminin peptide), demonstrated the reduction in tumor mass observed with 188Re‐RC‐160. 188Re‐RC‐160 shows potential as a new clinical agent for treatment of somatostatin‐receptor‐positive cancers. © 1996 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Virtual guide dog: An application to support visually-impaired people through deep convolutional neural networks

Activity recognition applications is growing in importance due to two key factors: first there is increased need for more human assistance and surveillance; and second, increased availability of datasets and improved image recognition algorithms have allowed effective recognition of more sophisticated activities. In this paper we develop an activity recognition approach to support visually impaired people that leverages these advances. Specifically, our approach uses a dataset of videos taken from the point of view of a guide-dog to train a convolutional neural-network to recognize the activities taking place around the camera and provide feedback to a visually impaired human user. Our experiments show that our trained models surpass the current state-of-the-art for identifying activities in the doc-centric activity dataset.