Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Fabrication and Evaluation of a Micro(Bio)Sensor Array Chip for Multiple Parallel Measurements of Important Cell Biomarkers

This report describes the design and development of an integrated electrochemical cell culture monitoring system, based on enzyme-biosensors and chemical sensors, for monitoring indicators of mammalian cell metabolic status. MEMS technology was used to fabricate a microwell-format silicon platform including a thermometer, onto which chemical sensors (pH, O2) and screen-printed biosensors (glucose, lactate), were grafted/deposited. Microwells were formed over the fabricated sensors to give 5-well sensor strips which were interfaced with a multipotentiostat via a bespoke connector box interface. The operation of each sensor/biosensor type was examined individually, and examples of operating devices in five microwells in parallel, in either potentiometric (pH sensing) or amperometric (glucose biosensing) mode are shown. The performance characteristics of the sensors/biosensors indicate that the system could readily be applied to cell culture/toxicity studies.
Low Complexity MPA Detector Based on Sphere Decoding for SCMA

Sparse code multiple access (SCMA) has been proposed to obtain high capacity and support massive connections. Due to the sparse feature of codewords, SCMA achieves low complexity multiuser detection by utilizing message passing algorithm (MPA). However, the complexity reduction of MPA is still a significant issue. In this letter, a novel MPA based on sphere decoding, called SD-MPA, is proposed, which narrows down the range of believable superposed constellation points. Furthermore, simulation results show that SD-MPA detector can reach low complexity detection and maintain negligible bit error ratio performance decline compared with conventional MPA.
Treelet Probabilities for HPSG Parsing and Error Correction

Most state-of-the-art parsers take an approach to produce an analysis for any input despite errors. However, small grammatical mistakes in a sentence often cause parser to fail to build a correct syntactic tree. Applications that can identify and correct mistakes during parsing are particularly interesting for processing user-generated noisy content. Such systems potentially could take advantage of linguistic depth of broad-coverage precision grammars. In order to choose the best correction for an utterance, probabilities of parse trees of different sentences should be comparable which is not supported by discriminative methods underlying parsing software for processing deep grammars. In the present work we assess the treelet model for determining generative probabilities for HPSG parsing with error correction. In the first experiment the treelet model is applied to the parse selection task and shows superior exact match accuracy than the baseline and PCFG. In the second experiment it is tested for the ability to score the parse tree of the correct sentence higher than the constituency tree of the original version of the sentence containing grammatical error.
Towards a Linked-Data based Visualization Wizard

Datasets published in the LOD cloud are recommended to follow some best practice in order to be 4-5 stars Linked Data compliant. They can often be consumed and accessed by different means such as API access, bulk download or as linked data fragments, but most of the time, a SPARQL endpoint is also provided. While the LOD cloud keeps growing, having a quick glimpse of those datasets is getting harder and there is a need to develop new methods enabling to detect automatically what an arbitrary dataset is about and to recommend visualizations for data samples. We consider that "a visualization is worth a million triples", and in this paper, we propose a novel approach that mines the content of datasets and automatically generates visualizations. Our approach is directly based on the usage of SPARQL queries that will detect the important categories of a dataset and that will specifically consider the properties used by the objects which have been interlinked via owl:sameAs links. We then propose to associate type of visualization for those categories. We have implemented this approach into a so-called Linked Data Vizualization Wizard (LDVizWiz).
ASPREE-NEURO study protocol: A randomized controlled trial to determine the effect of low-dose aspirin on cerebral microbleeds, white matter hyperintensities, cognition, and stroke in the healthy elderly

Rationale Cerebral microbleeds seen on brain magnetic resonance imaging are markers of small vessel disease, linked to cognitive dysfunction and increased ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke risk. Observational studies suggest that aspirin use may induce cerebral microbleeds, and associated overt intracranial hemorrhage, but this has not been definitively resolved. Aims ASPREE-NEURO will determine the effect of aspirin on cerebral microbleed development over three years in healthy adults aged 70 years and over, participating in the larger ‘ASPirin in Reducing Events in the Elderly (ASPREE)’ primary prevention study of aspirin. Sample size Five hundred and fifty-nine participants provide 75% power (two-sided p value of 0.05) to determine an average difference of 0.5 cerebral microbleed per person after three years. Methods and design A multi-center, randomized placebo-controlled trial of 100 mg daily aspirin in participants who have brain magnetic resonance imaging at study entry, one and three years after randomization and who undergo cognitive testing at the same time points. Study outcomes The primary outcome is the number of new cerebral microbleeds on magnetic resonance imaging after three years. Secondary outcomes are the number of new cerebral microbleeds after one year, change in volume of white matter hyperintensity, cognitive function, and stroke. Discussion ASPREE-NEURO will resolve whether aspirin affects the presence and number of cerebral microbleeds, their relationship with cognitive performance, and indicate whether consideration of cerebral microbleeds alters the risk-benefit profile of aspirin in primary prevention for older people. Trial registration Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12613001313729.
Antiatherogenic effect of pioglitazone in type 2 diabetic patients irrespective of the responsiveness to its antidiabetic effect.

OBJECTIVE Thiazolidinediones (TZDs), a class of insulin-sensitizing agents used clinically to treat type 2 diabetes, are also antiatherogenic. This study was designed to elucidate the relationship between the antiatherogenic and antidiabetic effects of pioglitazone, a TZD, in type 2 diabetic patients. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS A total of 136 Japanese type 2 diabetic patients were included and divided into two groups: the pioglitazone-treated group (30 mg daily for 3 months) (n = 70) and the untreated control group (n = 66). The changes in glycolipid metabolism as well as plasma high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (CRP), leptin, adiponectin, and pulse wave velocity (PWV) were monitored to analyze the relationship between the antiatherogenic and antidiabetic effects of pioglitazone. RESULTS The pioglitazone treatment significantly reduced hyperglycemia, hyperinsulinemia, and HbA(1c) levels and increased plasma adiponectin concentrations relative to the control group (P < 0.01). It also significantly decreased CRP and PWV (P < 0.01). The antiatherogenic effect was observed in both the nonresponders showing <1% of reduction in HbA(1c) (n = 30) and responders showing >1% of reduction (n = 40). ANCOVA revealed that treatment with pioglitazone was associated with a low CRP and PWV, independent of the changes in parameters related to glucose metabolism. CONCLUSIONS This study represents the first demonstration of the antiatherogenic effect of pioglitazone in both nonresponders and responders with respect to its antidiabetic effect and suggests that pioglitazone can exert its antiatherogenic effect independently of its antidiabetic effect.
Channel estimation methods for MIMO-OFDM system: time domain versus frequency domain

This paper presents a simplified channel estimation technique for orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems with multiple input, multiple output (MIMO) antenna structure. The estimation technique is presented both in the frequency and time domains. Quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) modulation technique is used to modulate the transmitted data. To ensure low computational complexity, time domain estimated channel information is considered to evaluate the performance of the OFDM system in terms of symbol error rate (SER). For both channel estimation and performance evaluation, simulation results are presented for two-transmit and one-receive antenna configuration in the two-ray Rayleigh fading channel environment. The simulation results validate the analysis and justify the approximations made therein.
Author's Personal Copy Theoretical Computer Science Highly Concurrent Multi-word Synchronization

In most cases authors are permitted to post their version of the article (e.g. in Word or Tex form) to their personal website or institutional repository. Authors requiring further information regarding Elsevier's archiving and manuscript policies are encouraged to visit: Keywords: Multi-word synchronization Concurrent data structures Local nonblocking dcas a b s t r a c t The design of concurrent data structures is greatly facilitated by the availability of synchronization operations that atomically modify k arbitrary items, such as k-read–modify–write (krmw). Aiming to increase concurrency in order to exploit the parallelism offered by today's multi-core and multi-processing architectures, we propose a highly concurrent software implementation of krmw, with only constant space overhead. Our algorithm ensures that two operations delay each other only if they are within distance O(k) in the conflict graph, induced by the operations' data items. The algorithm uses double compare-and-swap (dcas). When dcas is not supported by the architecture, the algorithm of Attiya and Dagan (2001) [3] can be used to replace dcas with (unary) cas, with only a slight increase in the interference among operations.
DOES EXCHANGE RATE VARIABILITY AFFECT THE CAUSATION BETWEEN FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT AND ELECTRONICS EXPORTS? AN EMPIRICAL TEST USING MALAYSIAN DATA

This paper finds that exchange rate variability does affect the causation between FDI and electronics exports using Malaysiaâ€™s top five electronics exports by SITC (Standard International Trade Classification) product groups. The Granger causation runs from FDI to exports of automatic data processing equipment; and from the radio-broadcast receivers with sound recorders or reproducers exports to FDI.
An Improved AODV Routing Protocol for MANETs

A hybrid routing protocol for mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) called improved ad hoc on-demand distance vector (IAODV) is proposed in this paper. It merges the AODV routing protocol with multipath and path accumulation (PA). The performance of IAODV is compared with AODV by OPNET simulations. The results show that a significant reduction in delay and improvement in packet delivery ratio are achieved. It also reduces the routing overhead by reducing the frequency of route discovery process.
Research Statement

As Donald Norman famously said in his book Things That Makes Us Smart, the power of the unaided mind is greatly exaggerated, and we rely on various tools that allow us to overcome the limitations of memory and reasoning. Especially in this information-rich society, the tools for managing one’s own information is critical for the productivity and well-being of any individual. I have been passionate about this prospect of improving personal information management (PIM) to maximize one’s intellectual capability, and my research has been focused on developing tools and techniques to help people cope with their own information. In recent years, the distinction between personal information, public information and social information is no longer clear. However, most of the tools that support these information tasks are still designed without this convergence in mind, dealing with only the information of a specific type. From the view of an individual user, this means that one needs to use multiple tools to find a single piece of information. Also, from the perspective of tool design, each of them has a limited view of the user’s information and behavior, thereby losing opportunities to improve user experience. To overcome these limitations, I propose a user-centric approach to information access, where the goal is to provide an optimal experience for an individual user. Here, the problem of personal information access, social media filtering and personalized web search are solved on a common ground. All types of information should be accessible from the user regardless of type, and the signals from user’s behavior and data should be leveraged to minimize user’s efforts in any type of information access. Over the past few years, I have taken steps toward this user-centric approach by developing essential technical components. I have developed a unified framework for personal information access, and proposed retrieval and evaluation techniques which are tailored to the unique properties of personal information such as the existence of rich structure, multiple item types and user’s behavioral signals. Also, to enable personalized information access on the web, I proposed a re-ranking technique that can ease user’s re-finding of web documents, and a novel user modeling technique that can be used to provide personalized search results.
Optimizing Motion-Constrained Pathfinding

High-quality motion planning can be quite expensive to perform, yet is critical for many video games. As a result, many approximations are employed to reduce costs. Common approximations include pathfinding on a grid or on a navigation mesh instead of in a real-valued world. As a result, the paths that are found are not immediately appropriate for use, and often require post-processing, such as smoothing. An alternate approach is to incorporate pathfinding constraints directly into A* search. This approach is expensive and so it hasn't been widely applied in games. In this paper we analyze the complexity of planning with complex motion constraints and suggest optimizations which make such planning feasible for use in modern games. We propose the use of two ideas, abstract perimeter heuristics and intermediate search truncation, which can reduce the cost of search by an order of magnitude or more.
A data-driven block thresholding approach to wavelet estimation

A data-driven block thresholding procedure for wavelet regression is proposed and its theoretical and numerical properties are investigated. The procedure empirically chooses the block size and threshold level at each resolution level by minimizing Stein's unbiased risk estimate. The estimator is sharp adaptive over a class of Besov bodies and achieves simultaneously within a small constant factor of the minimax risk over a wide collection of Besov Bodies including both the ``dense'' and ``sparse'' cases. The procedure is easy to implement. Numerical results show that it has superior finite sample performance in comparison to the other leading wavelet thresholding estimators.
Long duration high temperature storage test on GaN HEMTs

As part of a large reliability test campaign, a long duration high temperature storage test has been performed on GaN HEMTs to identify diffusion or contact related failure mechanisms. The storage test has been performed for 7000 hours and 17000 hours at 330°C and 275°C respectively and the changes in electrical and physical properties analyzed.
Gestational Diabetes Mellitus Resulting From Impaired β-Cell Compensation in the Absence of FoxM1, a Novel Downstream Effector of Placental Lactogen

OBJECTIVE The objectives of the study were to determine whether the cell cycle transcription factor, FoxM1, is required for glucose homeostasis and β-cell mass expansion in maternal islets during pregnancy and whether FoxM1 is essential for placental lactogen (PL)-induced β-cell proliferation. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS β-Cell mass, β-cell proliferation, and glucose homeostasis were assessed in virgin, pregnant, and postpartum mice with a pancreas-wide Foxm1 deletion (FoxM1Δpanc). Wild-type islets were cultured with or without PL and examined for Foxm1 induction. Transgenic mice overexpressing PL in β-cells were bred with FoxM1Δpanc mice, and β-cell proliferation was examined. RESULTS Foxm1 was upregulated in maternal islets during pregnancy. In contrast to controls, β-cell proliferation did not increase in pregnant FoxM1Δpanc females. Mutant islets showed increased Menin and nuclear p27. FoxM1Δpanc females developed gestational diabetes mellitus as pregnancy progressed. After parturition, euglycemia was restored in FoxM1Δpanc females, but islet size was significantly reduced. Strikingly, β-cell mass was normal in postpartum FoxM1Δpanc pancreata due to a combination of increased β-cell size and islet neogenesis. Evidence for neogenesis included increased number of endocrine clusters, increased proportion of smaller islets, and increased neurogenin 3 or insulin expression in cells adjacent to ducts. PL induced Foxm1 expression in cultured islets, and FoxM1 was essential for PL-mediated increases in β-cell proliferation in vivo. CONCLUSIONS FoxM1 is essential for β-cell compensation during pregnancy. In the absence of increased β-cell proliferation, neogenesis is induced in postpartum FoxM1Δpanc pancreata. Our results suggest that FoxM1 functions downstream of PL to mediate its effects on β-cell proliferation.
Colorectal Tumors from APC*I1307K Carriers Principally Harbor Somatic APC Mutations outside the A8 Tract

Purpose APC*I1307K (c.3920T>A) is an inherited variant associated with colorectal tumour risk found almost exclusively in those of Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry. A single nucleotide substitution creates an oligo-adenine tract (A8) that appears to be inherently prone to further mis-pairing and slippage. The reported multiple tumor phenotype of carriers is not easily reconciled with molecular and population genetics data. We postulated that some c.3920T>A carriers with multiple adenomas have other unidentified APC germ line or somatic mutations. Methods DNA from 82 colonic tumours and accompanying normal tissue collected from 29 carriers with multiple colorectal tumors was directly sequenced between codons 716 and 1604. We also assessed APC gene loss of heterozygosity. Results One patient (3.4%) was found to have an additional APC germ line mutation. Twenty-five of the tumours showed no significant somatic molecular change, 36 showed one change, 20 showed two, and one tumour showed more than 2 changes. Our data suggest a correlation between advancing histology and fewer beta-catenin binding sites remaining in the mutant proteins. Conclusions There were no other common germ line variants identified within the region of the APC gene examined, suggesting that any effect from this region on tumour production is attributable to the c.3920T>A allele. Our findings further suggest the only somatic genetic change clearly attributable to the c.3920T>A mutation is the c. 3924_3925insA.
"Too White to be Black and Too Black to be White": The Consequences of a Color-blind Orientation on Black/White Biracial Students' College Choice Process and Racial Identity Development

7 Chapter One: Introduction 8 Chapter Two: Review of the Literature 16 Chapter Three: Design and Methodology 76 Chapter Four: Findings 90 Chapt Five: Discussion, Implications and Future Research 152 Appendix A: Student Interview Protocol 173 Appendix B: Student Demographics Survey 175 References 177
Nanoelectromechanical (NEM) relays integrated with CMOS SRAM for improved stability and low leakage

We present a hybrid nanoelectromechanical (NEM)/CMOS static random access memory (SRAM) cell, in which the two pull-down transistors of a conventional CMOS six transistor (6T) SRAM cell are replaced with NEM relays. This SRAM cell utilizes the infinite subthreshold slope and hysteretic properties of NEM relays to dramatically increase the cell stability compared to the conventional CMOS 6T SRAM cells. It also utilizes the zero off-state leakage of NEM relays to significantly decrease static power dissipation. The structure is designed so that the relatively long mechanical delay of the NEM relays does not result in performance degradation. Circuit simulations are performed using a VerilogA model of a NEM relay. Compared to a 65nm CMOS 6T SRAM cell, when 10nm-gap NEM relays (pull-in voltage = 0.8V, pull-out voltage = 0.2V, on resistance = 1ki2) are integrated, hold and read static noise margin (SNM) improve by ~110% and ~250%, respectively. In addition, static power dissipation decreases by ~85%. The write delay decreases by ~60%, while read delay decreases by ~10%. The advantages in SNM and static power dissipation are expected to increase with scaling.
Mediterranean diet and type 2 diabetes

Consumption of selected dietary components is favourably associated with prevention of type 2 diabetes, but discordant results for some foods or single nutrients continue to appear. The study of complete dietary patterns represents the most adequate approach to assess the role of diet on the risk of diabetes. The term ‘Mediterranean diet’ essentially refers to a primarily plant‐based dietary pattern whose greater consumption has been associated with higher survival for lower all‐cause mortality. At least five large prospective studies report a substantially lower risk of type 2 diabetes in healthy people or at risk patients with the highest adherence to a Mediterranean diet. Five randomized controlled trials have evaluated the effects of a Mediterranean diet, as compared with other commonly used diets, on glycaemic control in subjects with type 2 diabetes. Improvement of HbA1c levels was greater with a Mediterranean diet and ranged from 0.1% to 0.6% for HbA1c. No trial reported worsening of glycaemic control with a Mediterranean diet. Although no controlled trial specifically assessed the role of a Mediterranean diet in reducing cardiovascular events in type 2 diabetes, there is evidence that post‐infarct or high‐risk patients, including diabetic patients, may have cardiovascular benefits from a Mediterranean diet. The evidence so far accumulated suggests that adopting a Mediterranean diet may help prevent type 2 diabetes; moreover, a lower carbohydrate, Mediterranean‐style diet seems good for HbA1c reduction in persons with established diabetes. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
StructMatrix: Large-Scale Visualization of Graphs by Means of Structure Detection and Dense Matrices

Given a large-scale graph with millions of nodes and edges, how to reveal macro patterns of interest, like cliques, bi-partite cores, stars, and chains? Furthermore, how to visualize such patterns altogether getting insights from the graph to support wise decision-making? Although there are many algorithmic and visual techniques to analyze graphs, none of the existing approaches is able to present the structural information of graphs at large-scale. Hence, this paper describes StructMatrix, a methodology aimed at high-scalable visual inspection of graph structures with the goal of revealing macro patterns of interest. StructMatrix combines algorithmic structure detection and adjacency matrix visualization to present cardinality, distribution, and relationship features of the structures found in a given graph. We performed experiments in real, large-scale graphs with up to one million nodes and millions of edges. StructMatrix revealed that graphs of high relevance (e.g., Web, Wikipedia and DBLP) have characterizations that reflect the nature of their corresponding domains, our findings have not been seen in the literature so far. We expect that our technique will bring deeper insights into large graph mining, leveraging their use for decision making.