Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A 0.18-µm CMOS, −92-dB THD, 105-dBA DR, third-order audio class-D amplifier

This paper presents a third-order audio class-D amplifier, implemented in a 0.18-μm CMOS technology, achieving -92 dB of total harmonic distortion (THD) and 105 dBA of dynamic range (DR) with a quiescent current of 2 mA. The circuit delivers up to 2.4 W on a 4-Ω load with a peak efficiency of 88%. The THD performance, achieved thanks to the third-order loop filter, makes the proposed device suitable for high-end audio applications, where linear amplifiers are still the dominant solution.
Centrilobular Liver Necrosis Induced by Hypoxia in Chronic Ethanol‐Fed Rats

Rats fed ethanol from 21 to 130 days were subjected to one or more episodes of hypoxia (6% O2) in order to determine if ethanol predisposed to centrilobular liver necrosis induced by hypoxia. Pair‐fed control rats were fed the diet regimen in parallel with the ethanol‐fed rats through an indwelling gastric cannula. The diet and ethanol were fed continuously 24 hr per day so as to maintain high blood alcohol levels in the ethanol‐fed rats. Serum enzyme levels, SGOT and SGPT were measured before and after the hypoxic episodes as an indicator of centrilobular necrosis. Animal livers were studied for centrilobular necrosis by light and electron microscopy. Necrosis was documented to be present when flocculent densities were found in hepatocytic mitochondria or the plasma membrane permitted lanthanum entrance into the cell. The results showed that ethanol feeding to maintain high blood alcohol levels did increase the propensity of the liver to undergo centrilobular necrosis when the rats were subjected to hypoxia (1 hr 45 min to 5 hr 30 min). Centrilobular necrosis was observed in the ethanol‐fed rats only. Serum enzyme levels (SGPT and SGOT) rose to very high levels in these rats when they were permitted to die of hypoxia. Serum sediment from the ethanol‐fed rats contained numerous cell fragments and free organelles. Since the plasma membranes were missing along the sinusoidal face of centrilobular hepatocytes and microbodies were present, it was concluded that the cell fragments in the blood had originated from necrotic hepatocytes.
Cross-Word Arabic Pronunciation Variation Modeling Using Part of Speech Tagging

Speech recognition is often used as the front-end for many natural language processing (NLP) applications. Some of these applications include machine translation, information retrieval and extraction, voice dialing, call routing, speech synthesis/recognition, data entry, dictation, control, etc. Thus, much research work has been done to improve the speech recognition and the related NLP applications. However, speech recognition has some obstacles that should be considered. Pronunciation variations and small words misrecognition are two major problems that lead to performance reduction. Pronunciation variations problem can be divided into two parts: within-word variations and cross-word variations. These two types of pronunciation variations have been tackled by many researchers using different approaches. For example, cross-word problem can be solved using phonological rules and/or small-word merging. (AbuZeina et al., 2011a) used the phonological rules to model cross-word variations for Arabic. For English, (Saon & Padmanabhan, 2001) demonstrated that short words are more frequently misrecognized, they also had achieved a statistically significant enhancement using small-word merging approach.
Light Weight and Conformal 2-Bit, 1 $\,\times\,$4 Phased-Array Antenna With CNT-TFT-Based Phase Shifter on a Flexible Substrate

This paper presents the development and characterization of an ink-jet printed 2-bit, 1×4 phased-array antenna (PAA) system on a flexible Kapton polyimide substrate utilizing carbon nanotube thin-film transistors (CNT-TFTs) as switching elements in the phase-shifting network. A multilayer metal inter connection strategy is used to fabricate a complete PAA system with control lines. By appropriately controlling the ON and OFF states of various switches, a 4.99 GHz signal is steered from 0° to -27°, and the measured far-field radiation patterns agree very well with the simulated data. Bending tests performed on the fabricated system at bending radii of 6.5 cm, 9.5 cm, 12 cm, and 24 cm also demonstrate good agreement with the simulations.
Crisis management in schools: evidence based

Critical incidents in or involving schools include shootings, stabbings, other forms of homicide, terrorist activity, suicide, road traffic accidents, major fires and natural disasters, which result or might result in death and/or serious injury to students and staff. Where crisis management plans exist, they might be based on â€˜common senseâ€™ or clinical judgement, risking worsening rather than improving outcomes. The relevant evidence base is scattered and of very various quality. This systematic review addresses these difficulties. This first part of the review considers definitions, prevention (resilience building and mental health promotion), preparation (planning, education, training and practice) and response (prompt implementation of effective actions and mobilisation of appropriate resources). The beginnings of an evidence base can be seen. In â€˜preventionâ€™, effectiveness has been demonstrated for some suicide prevention, anti-depression and resilience-building programs. In â€˜preparationâ€™, the literature is largely descriptive and founded mainly on clinical judgement. This is also true for â€˜responseâ€™, but there is evidence that media portrayal of suicide generates more suicide. Although there is as yet no direct empirical evidence for the effectiveness of crisis management planning in schools, it would seem a wise course, provided it is not rigid and bureaucratic. Other implications for policy, practice and future research are outlined.
MLP neural network using constructive training algorithm: application to face recognition and facial expression recognition

This paper presents a constructive training algorithm applied to face recognition and facial expression recognition. The multi layer perceptron MLP neural network is formed by a single hidden layer using a predefined number of neurons and a small number of training patterns. During the learning, the hidden neuron number is incremented when the mean square error MSE on the training data TD is not reaches a predefined value. Input patterns are learned incrementally until all patterns of TD are presented. The proposed algorithm allows to find synthesis parameters as the number of patterns corresponding for subsets of each class to be presented initially in the training step, the initial number of hidden neurons, the iterations number as well as the MSE value. The feature extraction stage is based on the perceived facial images and the Gabor filter. Compared to the literature review and the fixed MLP architecture, experimental results demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed approach.
Comparison of methods for specific depletion of ATP in Salmonella typhimurium

Three methods of ATP depletion in Salmonella typhimurium were compared. ATP concentrations were lowest after arsenate treatment. Arsenate or alpha-methylglucoside-plus-azide treatment nonspecifically lowered all nucleotide triphosphate levels. Histidine starvation in a hisF mutant was relatively specific for ATP depletion and therefore has potential in distinguishing ATP-dependent processes from processes dependent on other nucleotides.
Effects of High Levels of Obesity on Lap and Shoulder Belt Paths

Obese occupants have higher risks of fatalities and injuries in frontal crashes than normal‐weight individuals. In particular the chest and the lower extremities are the body regions that are more likely to be injured for obese than non‐obese occupants. Previous studies demonstrated that obesity increases the amount of belt webbing used by drivers, and have shown that lap belt placement tends to be higher and further forward relative to the pelvis, but have not characterized the belt paths in detail with respect to skeletal landmarks. Moreover, previous studies have used data from only a few individuals with BMI>35 kg/m2. Driving postures and belt fit of 52 men and women with BMI from 31 to 59 kg/m2 (median 38 kg/m2) were measured in laboratory mockup. The paths of the lap and shoulder portions of the belt were captured using a three‐dimensional coordinate digitizer. The paths were fit using basis splines and a statistical analysis was conducted to examine the effects of overall body dimensions on belt paths. For both men and women, the torso portion of the belt routed further forward of the bony landmarks at the sternum and more laterally on the inboard (buckle) side, passing higher on the ribcage, but the effect was larger for women. The torso belt path was further forward, relative to the top of the sternum, for women than for men, reflecting greater thickness of breast tissue. For men, higher BMI was associated with a lower but more forward belt position relative to the pelvis. The effects of these differences in belt path with increased adiposity should be studied further using human body models.
Protection against type 1 diabetes upon Coxsackievirus B 4 infection and iNKT cell stimulation : role of suppressive macrophages

iNKT cells belong to the innate immune system and exercise a dual role as potent regulators of autoimmunity and also participants in responses against different pathogens. They have been shown to prevent type 1 diabetes development and promote antiviral responses. Many studies on the implication of environmental factors on the etiology of type 1 diabetes have suggested a link between enteroviral infections and the development of this disease. Our study using the pancreatropic enterovirus Coxsackievirus B4 (CVB4) shows that while infection accelerated type 1 diabetes development in a subset of pro-insulin 2 deficient (Pro-ins2 -/) NOD mice, the activation of iNKT cells by a specific agonist, α-Galactosylceramide (αGalCer), at the time of infection, inhibited the disease. Diabetes development was associated with the infiltration of pancreatic islets by inflammatory macrophages producing high levels of IL-1β, IL-6 and TNFα and activation of anti-islet T cells. On the contrary, macrophages infiltrating the islets after CVB4 infection and iNKT cell stimulation expressed a number of suppressive enzymes, among which IDO was sufficient to inhibit anti-islet T cell response and prevent diabetes. Our study highlights the critical interaction between virus and the immune system in the acceleration or prevention of type 1 diabetes. Abbreviations used in this paper: 1MT, 1-Methyltryptophan ; αGalCer or αGC αGalactosylceramide; DC, dendritic cell; CVB4, coxsackievirus B4; IDO, indoleamine 2,3dioxygenase; iNKT, invariant natural killer T cell; iNOS, inducible nitric oxide synthase; pDC, plasmacytoid dendritic cell; PLN, pancreatic lymph node. Page 2 of 48 Diabetes
Sensorless control for flux-switching permanent magnet machine based on sliding mode observer

To enhance the reliability, sensorless vector control strategy based on sliding mode observer was adopted in flux-switching permanent magnet machine. The rotor position and speed estimation algorithm was obtained according to the voltage equation on αβ coordinate system of flux-switching permanent magnet machine, which contains the information of rotor positron. Further, a flux-switching permanent magnet machine prototype and its control system were designed. At last, the sensorless control strategy based sliding mode observer was designed and verified well by experiments.
An infra‐red light‐transmitting aperture controller for use in single‐cell fluorescence photometry

Photometric techniques are commonly used to monitor the output from fluorescent indicators during the study of cellular signalling. At the single‐cell level, the region of interest is normally set by a variable aperture placed within the microscope emission pathway. The present study reports an improved aperture controller which adjusts the area for fluorescence measurement, whilst allowing objects throughout the field of view to be continuously monitored using infra‐red illumination. A rectangular aperture is selected by four 715‐nm long‐pass glass filters which block > 99.9% of the fluorescence emission at 480–600 nm. A 780‐nm long‐pass glass filter is used to provide infra‐red illumination which does not interfere with the fluorescence signal, yet is detectable by a standard CCD camera. This allows detection of morphological events throughout the field of view and facilitates manipulation of extracellular pipettes, without interruption to a single‐cell fluorescence recording. The infra‐red light‐transmitting controller is suitable for use with a range of other fluorescent indicators, including those routinely used to detect Ca2+, Cl−, Na+ and pH. Data are presented which demonstrate the use of this controller to measure ADP‐evoked [Ca2+]i increases in single human erythroleukaemia cells loaded with the Ca2+ indicator fura‐2.
C-terminal region of activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID) is required for efficient class switch recombination and gene conversion

Significance Activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID) initiates class switch recombination (CSR) by inducing Ig locus-specific single-strand breaks (SSBs). AID C-terminal mutants (C-mt) generate SSBs efficiently but fail to support CSR. We found that residual CSR junctions in AID C-mt were repaired predominantly by alternative end-joining repair and that the recruitment of classical nonhomologous end-joining factors such as Ku80 to the S region was reduced consistently. Conversely, the accumulation of poly (ADP)-ribose polymerase1 was observed in the AID C-mt JP8Bdel. AID C-mt also showed a relative reduction in gene conversion (GC). Moreover, AID C-mt did not support synapse formation in the donor switch regions, indicating that the C-terminal region of AID is essential for efficient generation of double-strand breaks in CSR and GC and possibly for synapse formation during CSR. Activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID) introduces single-strand breaks (SSBs) to initiate class switch recombination (CSR), gene conversion (GC), and somatic hypermutation (SHM). CSR is mediated by double-strand breaks (DSBs) at donor and acceptor switch (S) regions, followed by pairing of DSB ends in two S regions and their joining. Because AID mutations at its C-terminal region drastically impair CSR but retain its DNA cleavage and SHM activity, the C-terminal region of AID likely is required for the recombination step after the DNA cleavage. To test this hypothesis, we analyzed the recombination junctions generated by AID C-terminal mutants and found that 0- to 3-bp microhomology junctions are relatively less abundant, possibly reflecting the defects of the classical nonhomologous end joining (C-NHEJ). Consistently, the accumulation of C-NHEJ factors such as Ku80 and XRCC4 was decreased at the cleaved S region. In contrast, an SSB-binding protein, poly (ADP)-ribose polymerase1, was recruited more abundantly, suggesting a defect in conversion from SSB to DSB. In addition, recruitment of critical DNA synapse factors such as 53BP1, DNA PKcs, and UNG at the S region was reduced during CSR. Furthermore, the chromosome conformation capture assay revealed that DNA synapse formation is impaired drastically in the AID C-terminal mutants. Interestingly, these mutants showed relative reduction in GC compared with SHM in chicken DT40 cells. Collectively, our data indicate that the C-terminal region of AID is required for efficient generation of DSB in CSR and GC and thus for the subsequent pairing of cleaved DNA ends during recombination in CSR.
Cerebrospinal Fluid Neuron-Specific Enolase Following Seizures in Children: Role of Etiology

Neuron-specific enolase, a marker for neuronal injury, is elevated following seizures in adults, but relatively few data exist on postictal neuron-specific enolase levels in children. This study measured cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) neuron-specific enolase levels after seizures in 49 consecutive pediatric patients and investigated the role of seizure type, duration, and etiology in influencing neuron-specific enolase. Overall, there was no significant difference in neuron-specific enolase levels between patients with seizures and a control group. However, 4 of the 49 seizure patients (8%) had neuron-specific enolase levels clearly above the normal range. Seizure patients with symptomatic etiologies had significantly increased neuron-specific enolase compared to cryptogenic/idiopathic or febrile seizures. The four individual patients with elevated cerebrospinal fluid neuron-specific enolase all had identified metabolic or genetic etiologies and presented with medically refractory status epilepticus. No individuals with cryptogenic/idiopathic or febrile seizures had abnormal neuron-specific enolase. There was no significant effect of seizure duration or type on cerebrospinal fluid neuron-specific enolase. In contrast to adults, acute seizure-induced neuronal injury in children as detected by neuron-specific enolase is rare and may occur primarily with severe symptomatic etiologies. Children with cryptogenic, idiopathic, or febrile seizures, including status epilepticus, are at relatively low risk for neuronal damage following seizures. (J Child Neurol 2002;17:261-264).
Robust utterance classification using multiple classifiers in the presence of speech recognition errors

In order to achieve an utterance classifier that not only works robustly against speech recognition errors but also maintains high accuracy for input with no errors, we propose the following techniques. First, we propose a classifier training method in which not only error-free transcriptions but also recognized sentences with errors were used as training data. To maintain high accuracy whether or not input has recognition errors, we adjusted a scaling factor of the number of transcriptions for training data. Second, we introduced three classifiers that utilize different input features: words, phonemes, and words recovered from phonetic recognition errors. We also introduced a selection method that selects the most probable utterance class from outputs of multiple utterance classifiers using recognition results obtained from enhanced and non-enhanced speech signals. Experimental results showed our method cuts 55% of classification errors for speech recognition input while accuracy degradation rate for transcription input is 0.7%.
Interactive 4D overview and detail visualization in augmented reality

In this paper we present an approach for visualizing time-oriented data of dynamic scenes in an on-site AR view. Visualizations of time-oriented data have special challenges compared to the visualization of arbitrary virtual objects. Usually, the 4D data occludes a large part of the real scene. Additionally, the data sets from different points in time may occlude each other. Thus, it is important to design adequate visualization techniques that provide a comprehensible visualization. In this paper we introduce a visualization concept that uses overview and detail techniques to present 4D data in different detail levels. These levels provide at first an overview of the 4D scene, at second information about the 4D change of a single object and at third detailed information about object appearance and geometry for specific points in time. Combining the three levels of detail with interactive transitions such as magic lenses or distorted viewing techniques enables the user to understand the relationship between them. Finally we show how to apply this concept for construction site documentation and monitoring.
Algorithms for Telemetry Data Mining using Discrete Attributes

As the cost of collecting and storing large amounts of data continues to drop, we see a constant rise in the amount of telemetry data collected by software applications and services. With the data mounding up, there is an increasing need for algorithms to automatically and efficiently mine insights from the collected data. One interesting case is the description of large tables using frequently occurring patterns, with implications for failure analysis and customer engagement. Finding frequently occurring patterns has applications both in an interactive usage where an analyst repeatedly query the data and in a completely automated process queries the data periodically and generate alerts and or reports based on the mining. Here we propose two novel mining algorithms for the purpose of computing such predominant patterns in relational data. The first method is a fast heuristic search, and the second is based on an adaptation of the apriori algorithm. Our methods are demonstrated on real-world datasets, and extensions to some additional fundamental mining tasks
Molecular cloning and characterization of FBXO47, a novel gene containing an F‐box domain, located in the 17q12 band deleted in papillary renal cell carcinoma

Genetic alterations of chromosome arm 17q occur in numerous tumor types, including breast and ovarian tumors, suggesting the presence of a tumor‐suppressor gene on the long arm of chromosome 17 that is critical for carcinogenesis. Previous studies have shown an allelic imbalance (70% gain or loss) of 17q in papillary renal cell carcinoma (pRCC). In this study, we analyzed 15 cases of pRCC for loss of heterozygosity with the use of 7 microsatellite markers between 17q11 and 17q23. We identified a minimal deleted region in which the D17S250 marker (17q12) was deleted in 50% (7 of 14) of informative cases. We isolated the cDNA of a novel gene named FBXO47, which is near D17S250. Human FBXO47 is composed of 11 exons and spans approximately 30 kb of genomic DNA. FBXO47 cDNA consists of 2,269 bp with a 1,359‐bp open‐reading frame. Of note is that FBXO47 is preferentially expressed in normal tissue relative to the corresponding tumor tissue, particularly in the kidney, liver, and pancreas and to a lesser extent in the thyroid gland, stomach, and small intestine. The putative protein encoded by this gene is made up of 453 amino acids and belongs to the F‐box family, most of whose members, such as SKP2 and FBW7, have been implicated in carcinogenesis. Together, these results indicate that FBX047 has a potential role as a tumor‐suppressor gene. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.