Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The effect of ammonium chloride on calcium metabolism in sheep

1. A combination of balance and isotope techniques has been used to study the effects of dietary supplements of NH4Cl, given for 1 and 10 weeks, on calcium metabolism in 1- and 2-year-old wethers. 2. The main effects of the NH4C1 supplements were to decrease urinary pH, increase urinary Ca excretion and to increase Ca absorption and the percentage of dietary Ca absorbed. 3. The results were different from those obtained by other workers in man and rat, and possible explanations of this difference are discussed. 4. A difference was also found between 1- and 2-year-old animals in their long-term response to the NH4Cl supplement. This difference may have been due to a lack of available Ca in the diet of the younger animals, and prolonged ingestion of NH4C1 may increase the amounts of Ca absorbed and retained.
A "Generalization" of the Patel-Jordan Parallel Iterative Technique

In this paper we present a. generalized version of a parallel iterative technique introduced by Patel and Jordan. Our modifications were inspired by previous work with pipelined iterative techniques and involve the introduction of a spacing parameter which allows fine-tuning of the algoritbm for maximum efficiency. The algorithm is implemented on a Sequent Balance 21000 and the experimental results are presented. 'SUPPoEled in part by National Science Foundation graI1t CCR-8619817 'Supported in part by Na.tional Science Foundation grant CCR-8612676
Four specific immunoglobulin domains in UNC-52/Perlecan function with NID-1/Nidogen during dendrite morphogenesis in Caenorhabditis elegans

ABSTRACT The extracellular matrix is essential for various aspects of nervous system patterning. For example, sensory dendrites in flies, worms and fish have been shown to rely on coordinated interactions of tissues with extracellular matrix proteins. Here we show that the conserved basement membrane protein UNC-52/Perlecan is required for establishing the correct number of the highly ordered dendritic trees in the somatosensory neuron PVD in Caenorhabditis elegans. This function is dependent on four specific immunoglobulin domains, but independent of the known functions of UNC-52 in mediating muscle-skin attachment. Intriguingly, the four conserved immunoglobulin domains in UNC-52 are necessary to correctly localize the basement membrane protein NID-1/Nidogen. Genetic experiments further show that unc-52, nid-1 and genes of the netrin axon guidance signaling cassette share a common pathway to establish the correct number of somatosensory dendrites. Our studies suggest that, in addition to its role in mediating muscle-skin attachment, UNC-52 functions through immunoglobulin domains to establish an ordered lattice of basement membrane proteins, which may control the function of morphogens during dendrite patterning. Summary: Specific immunoglobulin domain-containing isoforms of the basement membrane protein UNC-52/Perlecan act in concert with the basement membrane protein NID-1/Nidogen via UNC-6/Netrin signaling to promote secondary branching of PVD somatosensory dendrites.
Scrapie Pathogenesis in Subclinically Infected B-Cell-Deficient Mice

ABSTRACT Prion infections can present without clinical manifestations. B-cell deficiency may be a model for subclinical transmissible spongiform encephalopathy, since it protects mice from disease upon intraperitoneal administration of scrapie prions; however, a proportion of B-cell-deficient mice accumulate protease-resistant prion protein in their brains. Here, we have characterized this subclinical disease. In addition, we have studied the possibility that a neurotoxic factor secreted by B cells may contribute to pathogenesis.
Intensity classification background model based on the tracing scheme for deep learning based CCTV pedestrian detection

This study has suggested an image analysis system based on the Deep Learning for CCTV pedestrian detection and tracing improvement and did experiments for objective verification by designing study model and evaluation model. The study suggestion is that if someone's face did not be recognized in crime scene CCTV footage, the same pedestrian would be traced and found in other image data from other CCTV by using Color Intensity Classification method for clothes colors as body features and body fragmentation technique into 7 parts (2 arms, 2 legs, 1 body, 1 head, and 1 total). If one of other CCTV footage has recorded its face, the identity of the person would be secured. It is not only detection but also search from stored bulk storage to prevent accidents or cope with them in advance by cost reduction of manpower and a fast response. Therefore, CIC7P(Color Intensity Classification 7 Part Base Model) had been suggested by learning device such as Machine Learning or Deep Learning to improve accuracy and speed for pedestrian detection and tracing. In addition, the study has proved that it is an advanced technique in the area of pedestrian detection through experimental proof.
A new approach of measuring muscle impairment during a functional task: quadriceps muscle activity recorded during chair stand.

BACKGROUND Biologic changes are expected to occur prior to disability. Compared with physical disability measures, measures of muscle impairment may be an earlier indicator of functional decline. The purpose of this study was to describe a new approach of measuring muscle impairment during a functional task. METHODS Right quadriceps muscle activity was recorded using surface electromyography (sEMG) from 160 older women (age 73.9 +/- 3.9 years, mean +/- SD). Specific patterns of muscle activity during the chair stand task were determined using an exploratory principal components factor analysis (PCFA). Muscle activity parameters were validated by comparison to the Physical Performance Test, gait speed, and the Functional Status Questionnaire. RESULTS The PCFA indicated two factors (magnitude and timing) that represented important components of quadriceps muscle activity during chair stand, explaining 68.6% of the variance in performance. The slope of the rise of muscle activity represents a combination of the magnitude and timing components of muscle activity. Compared with women with a slope <1, women with a slope > or = 1 walked faster (1.17 m/s vs 1.09 m/s; p = .02) and reported less difficulty with activities of daily living (ADL) (98.6 vs 95.8; p = .003) and instrumental ADL (97.3 vs 92.2; p = .001). CONCLUSIONS Quadriceps muscle activity recorded during chair stand is a valid and reliable measure of muscle performance during a functional task. As a biologic measure of muscle activation, sEMG may identify muscle impairment, which could indicate functional decline earlier than measures of functional status.
An international qualitative study of functioning in autism spectrum disorder using the World Health Organization international classification of functioning, disability and health framework

This is the third in a series of four empirical studies designed to develop International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) Core Sets for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The present study aimed to describe functioning in ASD (as operationalized by the ICF) derived from the perspectives of diagnosed individuals, family members, and professionals. A qualitative study using focus groups and semi‐structured interviews were conducted with 19 stakeholder groups (N = 90) from Canada, India, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, and Sweden. Meaningful concepts from the focus groups and individual interviews were linked to ICF categories using a deductive qualitative approach with standardized linking procedures. The deductive qualitative content analysis yielded meaningful functioning concepts that were linked to 110 ICF categories across all four ICF components. Broad variation of environmental factors and activities and participation categories were identified in this study, while body functions consisted mainly of mental functions. Body structures were sparsely mentioned by the participants. Positive aspects of ASD included honesty, attention to detail, and memory. The experiences provided by international stakeholders support the need to understand individuals with ASD in a broader perspective, extending beyond diagnostic criteria into many areas of functioning and environmental domains. This study is part of a larger systematic effort that will provide the basis to define ICF Core Sets for ASD, from which assessment tools can be generated for use in clinical practice, research, and health care policy making. Autism Res 2018, 11: 463–475. © 2017 The Authors Autism Research published by International Society for Autism Research and Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
New Perspectives in the Assessment of Future Remnant Liver

In order to achieve microscopic radical resection margins and thus better survival, surgical treatment of hepatic tumors has become more aggressive in the last decades, resulting in an increased rate of complex and extended liver resections. Postoperative outcomes mainly depend on the size and quality of the future remnant liver (FRL). Liver resection, when performed in the absence of sufficient FRL, inevitably leads to postresection liver failure. The current gold standard in the preoperative assessment of the FRL is computed tomography volumetry. In addition to the volume of the liver remnant after resection, postoperative function of the liver remnant is directly related to the quality of liver parenchyma. The latter is mainly influenced by underlying diseases such as cirrhosis and steatosis, which are often inaccurately defined until microscopic examination after the resection. Postresection liver failure remains a point of major concern that calls for accurate methods of preoperative FRL assessment. A wide spectrum of tests has become available in the past years, attesting to the fact that the ideal methodology has yet to be defined. The aim of this review is to discuss the current modalities available and new perspectives in the assessment of FRL in patients scheduled for major liver resection. i 2014 S. Karger AG, Basel
Study on reducing switching current in dual bridge series resonant DC/DC converter

Dual bridge series resonant DC/DC converter (DBSRC) usually works at continuous current mode (CCM), whose switching frequency is set higher than resonant frequency. Thus, soft switch-on and soft switch-off of power switch cannot be realized simultaneously with no extra snubber circuit connected. And the primary measure to reduce switching losses is to reduce the switching current of power devices. The commutations of DBSRC in different conditions are analyzed in this paper and the values of switch-on and switch-off current are derived from this model. From the view of reducing switching current, this paper gives a guideline to select the parameters of DBSRC correctly, including the voltage conversion ratio (M), the ratio between switching frequency and resonant frequency (F) and the characteristic impedance (Zr). The simulation obtains the switching currents at different F, M and Zr, whose results verify the effectiveness of theoretical analysis. And the experiment results prove a better system efficiency with a better selection of switching frequency.
An Empirical Study on the Practical Impact of Prior Beliefs over Policy Types

Many multiagent applications require an agent to learn quickly how to interact with previously unknown other agents. To address this problem, researchers have studied learning algorithms which compute posterior beliefs over a hypothesised set of policies, based on the observed actions of the other agents. The posterior belief is complemented by the prior belief, which specifies the subjective likelihood of policies before any actions are observed. In this paper, we present the first comprehensive empirical study on the practical impact of prior beliefs over policies in repeated interactions. We show that prior beliefs can have a significant impact on the long-term performance of such methods, and that the magnitude of the impact depends on the depth of the planning horizon. Moreover, our results demonstrate that automatic methods can be used to compute prior beliefs with consistent performance effects. This indicates that prior beliefs could be eliminated as a manual parameter and instead be computed automatically.
Cryptochromes—a potential magnetoreceptor: what do we know and what do we want to know?

Cryptochromes have been suggested to be the primary magnetoreceptor molecules underlying light-dependent magnetic compass detection in migratory birds. Here we review and evaluate (i) what is known about these candidate magnetoreceptor molecules, (ii) what characteristics cryptochrome molecules must fulfil to possibly underlie light-dependent, radical pair based magnetoreception, (iii) what evidence supports the involvement of cryptochromes in magnetoreception, and (iv) what needs to be addressed in future research. The review focuses primarily on our knowledge of cryptochromes in the context of magnetoreception.
Simulation of exoskeleton ZMP during walking for balance control

This paper presents Zero Moment Point (ZMP) based lower limb rehabilitation exoskeleton walking balance estimation. To acquire exoskeleton walking ZMP, simulation of exoskeleton 3D model was conducted by means of MatLab SimMechanics. Exoskeleton support leg hip abduction joint was driven to follow human normal walking hip abduction trajectory. Thanks to the hip abduction joint, most part of the exoskeleton ZMP overlapped with the sole area well. While without hip joint abduction, the exoskeleton ZMP of this common design disjoint from the sole area. Meanwhile, all kinds of hip abduction trajectories were applied to modify exoskeleton ZMP and the results proved that exoskeleton with only support leg hip joint driven to follow human normal walking hip abduction trajectory is the most suitable way to help balance walking.
Problem-based Web-based Teaching in a Computational Linguistics Curriculum

This paper presents an approach for combining web-based learning (WBL) with problem-based learning (PBL), aiming at computer aided learning (CAL) support for introductory lectures to Computational Linguistics. Contrary to most current learning paradigms, we neither follow the "platform + content"-approach of current learning management systems used for distance learning, nor focus on the collaborative aspects of PBL. Instead we propose a text-centred concept for individual learning featuring problem-based interactive learning applications (TIP).
MNSIM: Simulation Platform for Memristor-Based Neuromorphic Computing System

Memristor-based computation provides a promising solution to boost the power efficiency of the neuromorphic computing system. However, a behavior-level memristor-based neuromorphic computing simulator, which can model the performance and realize an early stage design space exploration, is still missing. In this paper, we propose a simulation platform for the memristor-based neuromorphic system, called MNSIM. A hierarchical structure for memristor-based neuromorphic computing accelerator is proposed to provides flexible interfaces for customization. A detailed reference design is provided for large-scale applications. A behavior-level computing accuracy model is incorporated to evaluate the computing error rate affected by interconnect lines and nonideal device factors. Experimental results show that MNSIM achieves over 7000 times speed-up than SPICE simulation. MNSIM can optimize the design and estimate the tradeoff relationships among different performance metrics for users.
A novel soft switching ZVS, sinusoidal input boundary current mode control of 6-switch three phase 2-level boost rectifier for active and active + reactive power generation

Recent advancements in semiconductor technology and the commercial availability of low on resistance and parasitic capacitors wide bandgap devices (SiC & GaN) has led power electronics systems to achieve efficiency as high as 99% for three phase boost PFC rectifier systems. However, this high efficiency is attainable only for rectifiers running at low switching frequencies (<70 kHz) as these converters operate in hard switching continuous conduction mode (CCM). Turn-on losses become dominant for high switching frequency operation with CCM. The trend for increasing switching frequency is driven by the fact that high switching frequency operation leads to significant reduction in filter size but high switching frequency operation is only feasible with soft switching ZVS turn-on control. Critical conduction mode (CRM) with ZVS turn-on has considerably high efficiency for single phase boost PFC at very high switching frequencies (>1 MHz). However, conventional boundary conduction mode (BCM)/CRM for three phase rectifier systems, does not generate sinusoidal average input current. A Zero Voltage Switching (ZVS) BCM control with sinusoidal input current for three phase 2-level converter is presented in this paper. This paper covers unity power factor (u.p.f.) operation, active + reactive power and also purely reactive power generation cases. The control scheme is presented in detail and ZVS turn-on operation is also discussed. The simulation and experimental results are discussed in the end. For a 1.2 KW converter, power density achieved by >500 kHz switching frequency operation is ∼80 W/in3 and with soft switching, 99 % efficiency is maintained.
Facial Expressions Recognition Based on Cognition and Mapped Binary Patterns

In this paper, a new expression recognition approach is presented based on cognition and mapped binary patterns. At first, the approach is based on the LBP operator to extract the facial contours. Secondly, the establishment of pseudo-3-D model is used to segment the face area into six facial expression sub-regions. In this context, the sub-regions and the global facial expression images use the mapped LBP method for feature extraction, and then use two classifications which are the support vector machine and softmax with two kinds of emotion classification models the basic emotion model and the circumplex emotion model. At last, we perform a comparative experiment on the expansion of the Cohn–Kanade (CK+) facial expression data set and the test data sets collected from ten volunteers. The experimental results show that the method can effectively remove the confounding factors in the image. And the result of using the circumplex emotion model is obviously better than the traditional emotional model. By referring to relevant studies of human cognition, we verified that eyes and mouth express more emotion.
Dopaminergic modulation of motor network dynamics in Parkinson’s disease

Using connectivity analyses based on functional MRI, Michely et al. investigate dopaminergic modulation of neural network dynamics involved in motor control in Parkinson’s disease. The findings provide insights into the pathophysiology underlying bradykinesia and deficits in executive function, and help to explain why dopaminergic treatments have a greater effect on the former.
Voltage‐gated proton channels: what's next?

This review is an attempt to identify and place in context some of the many questions about voltage‐gated proton channels that remain unsolved. As the gene was identified only 2 years ago, the situation is very different than in fields where the gene has been known for decades. For the proton channel, most of the obvious and less obvious structure–function questions are still wide open. Remarkably, the proton channel protein strongly resembles the voltage‐sensing domain of many voltage‐gated ion channels, and thus offers a novel approach to study gating mechanisms. Another surprise is that the proton channel appears to function as a dimer, with two separate conduction pathways. A number of significant biological questions remain in dispute, unanswered, or in some cases, not yet asked. This latter deficit is ascribable to the intrinsic difficulty in evaluating the importance of one component in a complex system, and in addition, to the lack, until recently, of a means of performing an unambiguous lesion experiment, that is, of selectively eliminating the molecule in question. We still lack a potent, selective pharmacological inhibitor, but the identification of the gene has allowed the development of powerful new tools including proton channel antibodies, siRNA and knockout mice.
Identification of the IRXB gene cluster as candidate genes in severe dysgenesis of the ocular anterior segment.

PURPOSE Anterior segment ocular dysgenesis (ASOD) is a broad heterogeneous group of diseases detectable at the clinical and molecular level. In a patient with bilateral congenital ASOD including aniridia and aphakia, a complex chromosomal rearrangement, inv(2)(p22.3q12.1)t(2;16)(q12.1;q12.2), was characterized at the molecular level, to identify candidate genes implicated in ASOD. METHODS After negative sequencing of the PAX6, FOXC1, and PITX2 genes, we used fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and Southern blot analysis to characterize the chromosomal breakpoints. Candidate genes were selected, and in situ tissue expression analysis was performed on human fetuses and embryos. RESULTS Molecular analyses showed that the 16q12.2 breakpoint in this rearrangement occurs in a 625-bp region centromeric to the IRX3 gene, which belongs to the IRXB cluster. In situ hybridization expression studies showed that during early human embryonic development, the IRX3 gene is expressed in the anterior segment of the eye. Of interest, it has been shown previously that a highly conserved noncoding region (HCNCR) is located 300 kb centromeric to the IRX3 gene and induces, in a murine transgenic assay, an expression pattern fitting that of the IRX3 gene. CONCLUSIONS The authors propose that the 16q12.2 breakpoint of this complex translocation is causally related to the ocular anterior segment dysgenesis observed in this patient. This translocation is assumed to separate the HCNCR from the IRXB cluster genes, thus deregulating the IRXB cluster and leading to the ASOD observed by a positional effect.
Conjoint Routing and Resource Allocation in OFDMA-Based D2D Wireless Networks

In this paper, we develop a highly efficient two-tier technique for jointly optimizing the routes, the subcarrier schedules, the time-shares, and the power allocations in device-to-device communication networks with thousands of randomly dropped wireless nodes. The network is first divided into a set of non-overlapping sub-networks, each with its own regional controller. The role of such a controller is to optimize the sub-network within its region and to act as an interface between nodes communicating across regions. The first tier of the proposed technique uses a novel approach for splitting a set of highly non-convex constraints into effectively two sets of convex ones and optimization proceeds by using two loops: an outer loop for iterating between the power allocations and the subcarrier schedules, and an inner loop for iterating between the two sides of the split constraints. In the second tier, a technique analogous to the one used in the first tier is applied to the network composed of the regional controllers. Optimization in this tier is performed by a global controller. The proposed technique is capable of efficiently optimizing networks with tens of thousands of nodes and with significantly better performance than existing joint design techniques, which can only optimize networks with a few tens of nodes.