Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An overview of multifunctional epoxy nanocomposites

Epoxy is a crucial engineered thermosetting polymer with wide industrial applications in adhesive, electronics, aerospace and marine systems. In this review, basic knowledge of epoxy resins and the challenge for the preparation of epoxy nanocomposites are summarized. The state-of-art multifunctional epoxy nanocomposites with magnetic, electrically conductive, thermally conductive, and flame retardant properties of the past few years are critically reviewed with detailed examples. The applications of epoxy nanocomposites in aerospace, automotives, anti-corrosive coatings, and high voltage fields are briefly summarized. This knowledge will have great impact on the field and will facilitate researchers in seeking new functions and applications of epoxy resins in the future.
Understanding Gender Differences in Thinking Styles of Gifted Children

The main purpose of the study was to characterize gender patterns regarding ways of thinking and learning among 242 fifth- and sixth-grade young gifted students in Israel. A written questionnaire was developed to assess ways of thinking as either connected (empathic) or separate (critical, detached). Findings showed that boys consistently rated separate knowing (SK) statements higher than girls, whereas girls showed a slight but not significant difference favoring connected knowing (CK) statements. Psychometric validation of the questionnaire showed that it measured stable, individual differences in ways of knowing and indicated that young gifted children exhibit gender patterns in their attitudes toward learning and knowledge similar to patterns found in the nongifted adult population. Gender differences were also found between different programs for the gifted (self-contained class versus pull-out program).
Facing the Challenge of Adapting to a Life 'Alone' and Nursing Shortage among the Empty Nest Elderly in Southwest China

The aim of this study is to explore the empty nest elderly's states to living a life characterized by aloneness, and the ways to cope with loneliness. A sample of 1200 empty nest elderly were surveyed using the University of California at Los Angeles Loneliness Scale (UCLA-LS), and the Yarnoz's loneliness classification for the evaluation of social and emotional loneliness in adults was used. Analyses revealed that the majority (93.9%) of empty nest elderly had moderate to high levels of loneliness. The level of loneliness showed significant differences in age, marital status and income. Income was negatively associated with loneliness, whereas being single was positively associated with loneliness for the empty nest group. In addition, the loneliness was mainly expressed by family loneliness and social loneliness, respectively, 84.3% and 15.7%. Family loneliness prevails among empty nest elderly. It may do great harm to the construction of harmonious society and individual harmony. To minimize the level of loneliness among the empty nest elderly, action must be taken in the care for the elderly, especially Senior Associations should be built to increase the chance to organize all forms of group activities suitable for the old people's participation, such as playing chess, painting, outings, group singing and dancing. On the other hand, these findings have implications for nursing in that nurses must seek to identify those who need help in managing their loneliness and give guidance and support. More research is needed to develop interventions that are effective in reducing loneliness among empty nest elderly. (Ge HR, Wang ZZ, Yin D. Facing the Challenge of Adapting to a Life 'Alone' and Nursing Shortage among the Empty Nest Elderly in Southwest China. Life Sci J 2013;10(3):180-183) (ISSN:1097-8135). http://www.lifesciencesite. com. 29
Perceived Interpersonal Speaker Attributes and their Acoustic Features

This work investigates acoustic correlates of interpersonal speaker characteristics. Previous research has studied the effects of speech parameters on listeners impressions of e.g. attractiveness, charisma, and personality. Differently, we have derived five new factors of perceived speaker characteristics by employing the newly compiled Nautilus Speaker Characterization Corpus, of 300 German speakers. These factors are warmth, attractiveness, confidence, compliance, and maturity. Analyses of feature importance have revealed that pitch and other spectral features directly extracted from the signals correlate most with the target factor scores. With the gained knowledge of relevant features for each speaker trait, prediction models will be trained and tested in future work pursuing satisfactory speaker characterization performance.
Eexpression Pattern of CyclinD 1 , PCNA and HSP 70 in Regenerating Liver of Rat

Adult mammalian liver is best known for its exceptional regeneration ability, in which the remaining liver tissue can recover its original size in a week after 2/3 liver resection. Therefore, the investigation of the molecular mechanism underlying the liver regeneration is of vital importance in the treatment of many liver diseases. In this paper, western blot was employed to examine the changes of cyclin D1, PCNA and HSP70 during liver regeneration. Blot bands were assessed by Bio-Rad software and all data were assessed by SPASS software. The results showed that cyclin D1 was induced at 12h, appeared two peaks at 36h and 96h respectively after partial hepatectomy; Expression of PCNA increased dramatically at 12h, appeared three peaks at 16h, 36h and 96h respectively during liver regeneration; The up-expression of HSP70 occurred at 16h-24h after PH, at which hepatocytes enter S phase of cell cycle. The results indicated that cyclin D1, PCNA and HP70 could interact each other to mediate the cell cycle progression in liver regeneration. [Kexue Ma, Xingzi Xi, Keshi Ma. Eexpression Pattern of CyclinD1, PCNA and HSP70 in Regenerating Liver of Rat. Life Sci J 2013; 10(3): 63-66]. (ISSN: 1097-8135). http://www.lifesciencesite. com 11
Room temperature single photon source using fiber-integrated hexagonal boron nitride

Single photons are a key resource for quantum optics and optical quantum information processing. The integration of scalable room temperature quantum emitters into photonic circuits remains to be a technical challenge. Here we utilize a defect center in hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) attached by Van der Waals force onto a multimode fiber as a single photon source. We perform an optical characterization of the source in terms of spectrum, state lifetime, power saturation and photostability. A special feature of our source is that it allows for easy switching between fiber-coupled and free space single photon generation modes. In order to prove the quantum nature of the emission we measure the second-order correlation function g(2)(τ). For both fiber-coupled and free space emission, the g(2)(τ) dips below 0.5 indicating operation in the single photon regime. The results so far demonstrate the feasibility of 2D material single photon sources for scalable photonic quantum information processing.
The Cytokine Ciliary Neurotrophic Factor (CNTF) Activates Hypothalamic Urocortin-Expressing Neurons Both In Vitro and In Vivo

Ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) induces neurogenesis, reduces feeding, and induces weight loss. However, the central mechanisms by which CNTF acts are vague. We employed the mHypoE-20/2 line that endogenously expresses the CNTF receptor to examine the direct effects of CNTF on mRNA levels of urocortin-1, urocortin-2, agouti-related peptide, brain-derived neurotrophic factor, and neurotensin. We found that treatment of 10 ng/ml CNTF significantly increased only urocortin-1 mRNA by 1.84-fold at 48 h. We then performed intracerebroventricular injections of 0.5 mg/mL CNTF into mice, and examined its effects on urocortin-1 neurons post-exposure. Through double-label immunohistochemistry using specific antibodies against c-Fos and urocortin-1, we showed that central CNTF administration significantly activated urocortin-1 neurons in specific areas of the hypothalamus. Taken together, our studies point to a potential role for CNTF in regulating hypothalamic urocortin-1-expressing neurons to mediate its recognized effects on energy homeostasis, neuronal proliferaton/survival, and/or neurogenesis.
DUALMASK - Object Instance Segmentation

In past few years, Convolution Neural Networks have gained a significant attention from vision community due to its state of the art performance in Object Classification task. But when it comes to segmentation, feed-forward CNNs are not sufficient, because only abstract object level information present in higher layers of CNN is not enough. Pixel level information present in lower layers of CNN is equally important. To tackle this problem ”Skip Architectures” [7] were proposed, which involved averaging the independent prediction results from each layer. This works for semantic segmentation but is not well suited for instance segmentation. So, Sharpmask [9] proposed a refinement module that refines the coarse mask produced by CNN by successively integrating information from earlier layers in a top-down manner. We propose to duplicate this module and use features learned in the top-down pass of the first unit in the bottom-up pass of the second unit. The motivation behind it is that features learned for segmentation in the top-down pass of SharpMask unit can be useful in the bottom-up pass at first place itself to produce more refined mask; which in turn will produce more refined segmentation at the end of the top-down pass. We show that our results outperform SharpMask for centered object images.
Where Theory Meets Practice: A Case for an Activity Theory Based Methodology to Guide Computer System Design

Computer system developers are increasingly being challenged to develop tools that are not only usable, but more importantly useful in the sense of assisting the user to achieve desired goals. This requirement has highlighted the importance of accounting for the social and cultural issues of the computer tool user when developing a computer system. Activity Theory (AT) has emerged as a suitable framework for analysing social and cultural issues because it provides a language to describe what people do in context. However, many computer system developers have failed to benefit from this insight mainly due to lack of established methods to operationalise ideas from this framework for the purpose of guiding the design process. This paper proposes a methodology developed to direct the application of a version of AT based on Engestrom’s (1987) conceptualisation in order to support requirements capture during computer system design.
Process Variation and NBTI Tolerant Standard Cells to Improve Parametric Yield and Lifetime of ICs

Negative bias temperature instability (NBTI) has become a growing concern in nanometer technologies. It may reduce the lifetime of reliable operation of PMOS transistors in the design. Process variation has started impacting the nanometer ICs by reducing the parametric yield. Process variation together with NBTI can further reduce the reliable lifetime of ICs. Conventional ASIC design methodology uses pre-characterized standard cells to optimize the design as per specifications. The standard cells occupy nearly 75% of the chip real estate in a sea-of-gate design. Therefore process variation and NBTI tolerant robust standard cells may help in reducing the margin of performance variation thereby increasing the lifetime of reliable operation. The use of robust cells may further help in reducing the design time overhead. In this work, the authors model the combined effect of process variation and NBTI on intrinsic gate delay using a reduced dimension modeling technique. The authors use the models to optimize the standard cells in the presence of NBTI and process variations with a target lifetime of 10 years. Experimental results show that the use of optimized robust standard cells can considerably improve the tolerance of circuit in the self-timed sections of critical timing paths.
Predicting Malicious Intention in CPS under Cyber-Attack

Modern autonomous cyber-physical systems (CPS) have been demonstrated to be vulnerable to cyber-attacks like sensor spoofing in which an attacker compromises sensor readings while remaining stealthy to hijack the system toward undesired states. The majority of security techniques developed today are, however, reactive and concerned with detection and interdiction of attacks without considering predicting the intention of the attack. To deal with such problem, we propose a Reachability-based approach and a Bayesian Inverse Reinforcement Learning technique that leverages the history of sensor data and control inputs to assess the risk and predict the goal of sensor spoofing attacks, determine which sensors are compromised, and recover the system.
Exploiting Gaussian Embeddings for Directed Link Prediction ∗

Many systems can be represented as graphs where nodes represent components or actors in the system and edges represent interactions between said components and actors. Link Prediction refers to the task of using the current graphical representation of a system to suggest which interactions might not be captured by the system or which interactions might occur in the future. In this position paper, we present preliminary results on the usage of Gaussian embeddings of nodes for the task of link prediction in directed graphs.
Expression analysis and study of KLK4 in benign and malignant breast tumours

Summary The steroid hormone-regulated gene KLK4 (kallikrein 4) is a new member of the human kallikrein-related peptidase gene family. Up to date, studies report that KLK4 is differentially expressed in many tumours. The purpose of this study was the expression analysis and study of KLK4 in benign and malignant breast tumours. Total RNA was isolated from 16 benign and 45 malignant breast tissue specimens. After testing RNA quality, cDNA was prepared by reverse transcription. Highly sensitive quantitative real-time PCR method for KLK4 mRNA quantification was developed using the SYBR Green chemistry. GAPDH served as a housekeeping gene. Relative quantification analysis was performed using the comparative CT method 2-ΔΔCT. KLK4 expression was found to vary in both patients’ cohorts; however, a statistically significant elevation of the KLK4 mRNA levels was observed in malignant compared to benign tumour patients. Low KLK4 expression levels were found in well-differentiated tumours (p=0.011) as well as in stage I (p=0.024) patients. Moreover, a statistically significant (rs=-0.318, p=0.035) negative correlation between the KLK4 expression and progesterone receptor staining was observed. ROC and logistic regression analysis recommended that KLK4 gene expression may be used as a new potential biomarker in breast cancer.
Revolutionary Pathways: Leaders and the International Impacts of Domestic Revolutions

ABSTRACT How much and in what ways do individual leaders matter for international politics? This article sheds new light on these questions by considering the consequences of domestic revolutions in international relations. We argue that revolutions have international effects due to two separate pathways, one associated with the event and one associated with the new leader’s administration. In the first pathway, a revolutionary event disrupts established relationships and perceptions, creating uncertainty both within the state and abroad. In the second pathway, revolutions put individuals into office who are more willing to challenge the status quo and who have publicly committed to a sustained shift in policies during their administration. These two distinct pathways suggest that the important question about revolutions is not whether leaders or events matter most but rather the conditions under which they matter. Consequently, we studied these pathways on three phenomena: international economic sanctions, domestic economic growth, and interstate alliances. We find that revolutionary events have a short-term negative effect on domestic economic growth, while revolutionary leaders have a long-term effect on the probability that a revolutionary state is targeted for sanctions. Both the revolutionary leader and the revolution’s immediate events alter the state’s international alliances. Our findings suggest that no single level of analysis completely dominates, and the answer depends on the outcome of interest.
Modeling Kenya Domestic Radicalization like A Disease Incorporating Rehabilitation Centers

The study presents a deterministic model for radicalization process in Kenya and use the model to assess impact of rehabilitation centers to radicalization burden. The possibility of other drivers of radicalization to individuals who are not religious fanatics, and also individuals in rehabilitated subclass continuing being violent was considered. The model incorporated rehabilitation of the radicalized but peaceful individuals in subclass R (t), and also radicalized but violent individuals in subclass T (t), allowing recovery of individuals in subclass R (t) from the intervention of good clergies. The stationary points were computed, their stabilities investigated and important thresholds determining the progression of the radicalization evaluated. The model sensitivity indices indicate that high intervention rates hold great promise to reduce the radicalization burden.
A data streaming performance evaluation using resource constrained edge device

High-level automation comes as standard in the Industrial IoT(IIoT) environment. Automated IIoT devices lead the improvement of factory operational efficiency. They helped to reduce operational time and personnel expenses, and helped to increase operational accuracy. IIoT devices for smart factory are various in types, and they are designed to fulfill their designated works for factory in diverse ways. Their jobs include prediction of operation failure and anomaly detection to avert factory downtime. If stream data, which is generated by machines in the factory, can be processed faster than before, the downtime could be shorter and prediction could be made earlier. To make stream data processing time shorter, performing it close to the machine could be a good approach. If an IIoT device is smart enough to process data, it can obtain meaningful information by processing data by itself. We can also use another machine to collect data from small sensors, and process the data to make decision. We address this type of data processing which is performed at the machines as ”Edge Computing”. ”Edge” originally meant the edge of the network. If data processing can be performed without being transmitted to the cloud or another storage, it would be done faster. ”Edge” devices usually have lower hardware capacity than ”Server”, so we wanted to know which data processing engine can be used for edge devices. We selected three representative engines: Apache Flink, Apache Storm and Apache Spark streaming. We installed them on the Raspberry Pi 3 and evaluated their latencies and throughputs. The conclusion is that Apache Flink and Apache Spark Streaming showed competing results in all tests while Apache Storm showed worse performance than the others. It required more memory resources to excute its basic components, and this caused its long warming up time to perform our simple algorithms.
Assessment of the Molecular Mechanisms of Action of Novel 4-Phenylpyridine-2-One and 6-Phenylpyrimidin-4-One Allosteric Modulators at the M1 Muscarinic Acetylcholine Receptors

Positive allosteric modulators (PAMs) that target the M1 muscarinic acetylcholine (ACh) receptor (M1 mAChR) are potential treatments for cognitive deficits in conditions such as Alzheimer disease and schizophrenia. We recently reported novel 4-phenylpyridine-2-one and 6-phenylpyrimidin-4-one M1 mAChR PAMs with the potential to display different modes of positive allosteric modulation and/or agonism but whose molecular mechanisms of action remain undetermined. The current study compared the pharmacology of three such novel PAMs with the prototypical first-generation PAM, benzyl quinolone carboxylic acid (BQCA), in a recombinant Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell line stably expressing the human M1 mAChR. Interactions between the orthosteric agonists and the novel PAMs or BQCA suggested their allosteric effects were solely governed by modulation of agonist affinity. The greatest degree of positive co-operativity was observed with higher efficacy agonists, whereas minimal potentiation was observed when the modulators were tested against the lower efficacy agonist, xanomeline. Each PAM was investigated for its effects on the endogenous agonist ACh on three different signaling pathways [extracellular signal-regulated kinases 1/2 phosphorylation, inositol monophosphate (IP1) accumulation, and β-arrestin-2 recruitment], revealing that the allosteric potentiation generally tracked with the efficiency of stimulus-response coupling, and that there was little pathway bias in the allosteric effects. Thus, despite the identification of novel allosteric scaffolds targeting the M1 mAChR, the molecular mechanism of action of these compounds is largely consistent with a model of allostery previously described for BQCA, suggesting that this may be a more generalized mechanism for M1 mAChR PAM effects than previously appreciated.
Effects of T 208 E activating mutation on MARK 2 protein structure and dynamics : Modeling and simulation

Microtubule Affinity-Regulating Kinase 2 (MARK2) protein has a substantial role in regulation of vital cellular processes like induction of polarity, regulation of cell junctions, cytoskeleton structure and cell differentiation. The abnormal function of this protein has been associated with a number of pathological conditions like Alzheimer disease, autism, several carcinomas and development of virulent effects of Helicobacter pylori. Here we tried to verify the structural changes induced in MARK2 by T208E activating mutation using molecular modeling and molecular dynamics simulation. Our results show that the enzyme structure shifts toward the active state due to T208E mutation, but this process is not a uniform change in all through the expected regions. Within the N-lobe of the protein, those functional regions having little or no interaction with the UBA domain, like N-half of 2, 4 strands and C-helix, go through activating motions and those having close interactions with UBA domain like C-half of 1, 3 and 5 strands are comparatively held in-place and don’t accompany. Within the C-lobe, only activation segment has noticeable displacements. Free energy calculations also indicate higher affinity of UBA domain for protein N-lobe in mutant structure (∆∆G = 9 kJ/mol) which is suggestive of a more intimate interaction between the UBA domain and protein N-lobe in mutant structure.
Current source modular multilevel converter for HVDC and FACTS

A current source modular multilevel converter (MMC) is proposed for high voltage AC/DC power conversion applications, such as HVDC and FACTS. Current source converters possess the advantage of short-circuit fault tolerance, which is a pivotal feature for grid applications. By partially following the circuit duality transformations, the proposed converter is derived from the well-known voltage source MMC. Inductor-based current source cells are connected in parallel and form a current source arm that can synthesize a desired current waveform. By adding a reduced-energy capacitor in parallel to each current source arm, these arms can be further connected in series, thereby allowing voltage scaling. By using fully controllable switches, the converter is capable of providing full control on its active and reactive power. Protection schemes against open-circuit failures inside the inductor cells are also proposed. Simulation results show the operation of the current source MMC and its capability of DC fault tolerance.