Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Implications of Blood Pressure Measurement Methods on Treatment Targets for Blood Pressure.

Over the past 45 years, a number of clinical outcome trials have evaluated the effects of blood pressure (BP) reduction on cardiovascular outcomes.1 Most recently, SPRINT (Systolic Blood Pressure Intervention Trial) randomly assigned 9361 persons with a systolic blood pressure (SBP) of ≥130 mm Hg and increased cardiovascular risk to a SBP target <120 mm Hg versus <140 mm Hg. Although the results of SPRINT provide evidence that the goal SBP should be closer to 120 than 140 mm Hg, the methods of BP measurement were notably different between this trial and many others. More important, the methodology for measuring BP in SPRINT is not what is used in most clinical practices, and this difference has significant clinical implications. Most cardiovascular outcome trials, to date, have used either ausculatory or automatic oscillometric methods of seated BP measurement performed shortly after the patient’s arrival for a visit, with similar methods currently used in most clinical practices. The SPRINT methodology is not in widespread use clinically; BP was measured after the participant sat quietly alone for 5 minutes, after which study personnel returned to the room to measure BP 3 times at 1-minute intervals with all 3 values averaged. BP recorded in research studies using the standard BP …
An Error Rate Based Test Methodology to Support Error-Tolerance

Error-tolerance is an innovative technique to address the problem of low yields in nanometer very large scale integrated (VLSI) circuitry, which is the backbone of the system-on-a-chip (SOC) revolution. The basic principle of error-tolerance is that some chips may occasionally produce erroneous outputs, but still provide acceptable performance when used in certain systems. Using these chips in such systems results in an increase in effective yield. In this paper, a fault-oriented test methodology is presented for classifying whether or not a chip is acceptable based on error rate estimation. A sampling method is proposed to estimate error rate associated with each possible fault in the target circuit. According to this information, an approach is developed to identify a list of faults that are acceptable with respect to a specified upper bound on expected error rates of acceptable chips. Furthermore, a test pattern selection method, and an output masking technique are presented to identify tests which detect all of the unacceptable faults, and as few acceptable faults as possible, so as to maximize the effective yield. Experimental results indicate the high effectiveness of the proposed error rate estimation method, and the degree to which yield can be enhanced.
Detecting Connection-Chains: A Data Mining Approach

A connection-chain refers to a mechanism in which someone recursively logs into a host, then from there logs into another host, and so on. Connection-chains represent an important vector in many security attacks, so it is essential to be able to detect them. In this paper, we propose a host-based algorithm to detect them. We adopt a black-box approach by passively monitoring inbound and outbound packets at a host, and analyzing the observed packets using association rule mining. We first explain the proposed algorithm in greater details, then evaluations are presented to demonstrate its efficiency and detection capabilities. We conduct the evaluation using public network traces, and show that by appropriately setting underlying parameters we can achieve perfect detection, meaning a true positive rate (TPR) of 100% and a false positive rate (FPR) of 0%.
Voltage support for industrial distribution network by using positive/negative sequence passivity-based control

The voltage of point of common coupling (PCC) connects industrial distribution networks to the utility grid. Asymmetric sags often occur at PCC due to large load changes. To tackle this challenge, the energy storage system (ESS) is employed to improve the voltage stability of industrial distribution networks. However, there is lack of effective control methods to improve the stability of grid since the unstable energy control rate of ESS. Passivity-based control (PBC), which makes the unstable objects and energy storage resources into a passive system, is applied to improve the voltage stability. PBC is an energy-based approach, which aims to render the closed-loop system with a given storage function. In this paper, a PBC strategy based on euler-lagrange (EL) model is proposed for industrial distribution networks under asymmetrical utility grid voltage sag conditions. According to the passive control theory, the passivity based controller is designed by a new positive/negative sequence damping injection method. The power distribution of parallel-connected multiple inverters has been investigated to achieve coordinated operation. Simulation results verify the effectiveness of the proposed control strategy, such as faster response, good stability, and better voltage support performance.
A Fair Contention Access Scheme for Low-Priority Traffic in Wireless Body Area Networks

Recently, wireless body area networks (WBANs) have attracted significant consideration in ubiquitous healthcare. A number of medium access control (MAC) protocols, primarily derived from the superframe structure of the IEEE 802.15. 4, have been proposed in literature. These MAC protocols aim to provide quality of service (QoS) by prioritizing different traffic types in WBANs. A contention access period (CAP)with high contention in priority-based MAC protocols can result in higher number of collisions and retransmissions. During CAP, traffic classes with higher priority are dominant over low-priority traffic; this has led to starvation of low-priority traffic, thus adversely affecting WBAN throughput, delay, and energy consumption. Hence, this paper proposes a traffic-adaptive priority-based superframe structure that is able to reduce contention in the CAP period, and provides a fair chance for low-priority traffic. Simulation results in ns-3 demonstrate that the proposed MAC protocol, called traffic- adaptive priority-based MAC (TAP-MAC), achieves low energy consumption, high throughput, and low latency compared to the IEEE 802.15. 4 standard, and the most recent priority-based MAC protocol, called priority-based MAC protocol (PA-MAC).
Investigation about the hot-carrier repelling effect in semiconductor devices, using an analytical solution of the hydrodynamic model

In this paper, the author discusses the consequences of the back-thermal diffusion of hot carriers, using an analytical solution of the hydrodynamic model (HDM). He observed a total deformation in the carrier distribution, around the reverse-biased semiconductor junctions, due to the back-thermal diffusion mechanism. At sufficient reverse bias, the diffusion of minority carriers (generation in neutral regions) is found to be influenced by the carrier-temperature gradient. Therefore, charge carriers are pushed forth (by electric-field effect) and back (by the thermal gradients) and the balance between these forces are controlled by the applied bias value. This may explain the origin of the terahertz oscillations in semiconductors after excitation by ultrafast laser pulses, which is currently an issue of debate. In order to confirm the validity of the proposed theory, the transport of hot carriers across a reverse-biased p-i-n diode is simulated using the HDM, and the conventional drift-diffusion model. He shows that the number of hot minority carriers is not null at the junction boundary, but has an appreciable value, as if they are repelled back from the junction boundary to the cold neutral-region side, by thermal diffusion. He also proposes a simple analytical solution of the set of hydrodynamic equations, to demonstrate his theory of hot-carrier transport in semiconductor devices in general and across p-n junctions in particular. On the basis of his analysis, he discusses the terahertz generation from a reverse-biased p-i-n diode, which is subjected to femtosecond laser pulses
Impostor Feelings as a Moderator and Mediator of the Relationship Between Perceived Discrimination and Mental Health Among Racial/Ethnic Minority College Students

This study investigated whether impostor feelings would both moderate and mediate the relationship between perceived discrimination and mental health in a sample of diverse ethnic minority college students (106 African Americans, 102 Asian Americans, 108 Latino/a Americans) at an urban public university. African American students reported higher perceived discrimination than Asian American and Latino/a American students, while no racial/ethnic group differences were reported for impostor feelings. Analyses revealed that among African American students, high levels of impostor feelings moderated the perceived discrimination and depression relationship and mediated the perceived discrimination and anxiety relationship. Among Asian American students, impostor feelings mediated the relationship between perceived discrimination and both depression and anxiety. Among Latino/a American students low levels of impostor feelings moderated the relationship between perceived discrimination and both depression and anxiety, and partially mediated the relationship between perceived discrimination and anxiety. Multigroup path analyses revealed a significantly stronger impact of impostor feelings on depression among African American students and a stronger impact of perceived discrimination on impostor feelings among African American and Latino/a American students. Clinical implications and future research directions are discussed.
Power control and pulsation decoupling in a single-phase grid-connected voltage-source inverter

By means of providing control of reactive power injection/absorption, distributed photovoltaic-based voltage-source inverter can contribute to network voltage stability and works as static var compensation. The voltage-source inverter is general a single-phase grid-connected inverter. The single-phase grid-connected inverter has inherently twice frequency power pulsation that causes the output current distortion and reduces the utility of photovoltaic module. The power pulsation is double the line frequency and no manipulation of switching frequency or converter topology can reduce the energy requirements. Therefore, in this work a power control and power pulsation-decoupling method is proposed by integrated with digital phase-lock-loop, active and reactive power control, and power pulsation decoupling at dc side. Simulation results have demonstrated that this method provides the system with strong active power and reactive power regulation capability, few line current harmonics, and dramatic reduction of current and voltage pulsation at the output of photovoltaic module.
Promoting MERLOT Communities Based on OERs in Computer Science and Information Systems

In recent years, there has been considerable interest in setting up technology-focused communities of practice for teaching and learning purposes. Instructors and students can play a key role in these communities of learning by creating and/or using Open Educational Resources (OERs). In 2016 two new discipline-specific communities were created within the MERLOT OER user community: Information Systems and Information Technology (IT/IS), and Computer Science (CS). The OER taxonomies for these, predicated on the CSAB/ABET curricula were a key factor in the endorsement of these communities and their portals, by the IEEE Computer Society and the IEEE Education Society. This paper describes the process of creation of both communities with the aim of establishing Editorial Boards to peer review OERs in these disciplines. Moreover, some analytics of the recently-created IT Editorial Board in MERLOT are presented as well.
Molecular cloning of a novel cytokine cDNA encoding the ninth member of the fibroblast growth factor family, which has a unique secretion property

Glia-activating factor (GAF) is a novel heparin-binding growth factor purified from the culture supernatant of a human glioma cell line. It shows a spectrum of activity slightly different from those of other known growth factors. We have isolated the cDNA which encodes human GAF. A homology search revealed that GAF would be the ninth member of the FGF family, and we therefore call it FGF-9. The human FGF-9 cDNA cloned by using oligonucleotide probes encoded a polypeptide consisting of 208 amino acids. Sequence similarity to other members of the FGF family was estimated to be around 30%. Two cysteine residues and other consensus sequences in family members were also well conserved in the FGF-9 sequence. FGF-9 was found to have no typical signal sequence in its N terminus like those in acidic FGF and basic FGF. Acidic FGF and basic FGF are known not to be secreted from cells in a conventional manner. However, FGF-9 was found to be secreted from cells after synthesis despite its lack of a typical signal sequence. It could be detected exclusively in the culture medium of cDNA-transfected COS cells. The amino acid sequence of proteins purified from culture supernatant of the CHO cell line, which was cDNA transfected and selected as a high producer of FGF-9, showed that no peptides were cleaved from the N terminus except the initiation methionine. The rat FGF-9 cDNA was also cloned, and the structural analysis indicated that the PGF-9 gene is highly conserved. Expression of the FGF-9 gene could be detected in the brain and kidney of the adult rat. Restricted gene expression in organs and the unique secretion nature of the protein suggest that FGF-9 plays a physiological role which differs from those of well-characterized acidic FGF and basic FGF.
Influenza viruses in birds of the Atlantic flyway.

Isolation of type A influenza viruses from the feces of 5013 birds of 16 species was attempted during a 33-month study (1977-79). Seventy viruses were isolated from the feces of 3403 ring-billed gulls in Baltimore, Md. , during 16 months of sampling. Six hemagglutinin (HA) subtypes and seven neuraminidase (NA) subtypes in 15 combinations were found. The H13N6 virus was the only subtype found each year and accounted for 40% of the isolates. The rate of isolation from gulls was 0.26% in the cold months and 3.0% in the warm months. Hemagglutination-inhibition (HI) and elution-inhibition antibody profiles reflected the presence of some but not all of the viruses isolated. In mute swans, the rates of seroconversions were 16% for HA antibody and 14% for NA antibody, whereas the viral isolation rate was 0.4% over a 3-year period. Both the H5 and the N2 subtypes, which were responsible for the lethal chicken outbreaks in 1983 in Pennsylvania, were isolated from gulls in 1978 in association with subtypes not found in the chicken virus. Also, seroconversions for the H5 HA occurred in mute swans in 1978.
Interleukin 6 Receptor Is an Independent Prognostic Factor and a Potential Therapeutic Target of Ovarian Cancer

Ovarian cancer remains the most lethal gynecologic cancer and new targeted molecular therapies against this miserable disease continue to be challenging. In this study, we analyzed the expressional patterns of Interleukin-6 (IL-6) and its receptor (IL-6R) expression in ovarian cancer tissues, evaluated the impact of these expressions on clinical outcomes of patients, and found that a high-level of IL-6R expression but not IL-6 expression in cancer cells is an independent prognostic factor. In in vitro analyses using ovarian cell lines, while six (RMUG-S, RMG-1, OVISE, A2780, SKOV3ip1 and OVCAR-3) of seven overexpressed IL-6R compared with a primary normal ovarian surface epithelium, only two (RMG-1, OVISE) of seven cell lines overexpressed IL-6, suggesting that IL-6/IL-6R signaling exerts in a paracrine manner in certain types of ovarian cancer cells. Ovarian cancer ascites were collected from patients, and we found that primary CD11b+CD14+ cells, which were predominantly M2-polarized macrophages, are the major source of IL-6 production in an ovarian cancer microenvironment. When CD11b+CD14+ cells were co-cultured with cancer cells, both the invasion and the proliferation of cancer cells were robustly promoted and these promotions were almost completely inhibited by pretreatment with anti-IL-6R antibody (tocilizumab). The data presented herein suggest a rationale for anti-IL-6/IL-6R therapy to suppress the peritoneal spread of ovarian cancer, and represent evidence of the therapeutic potential of anti-IL-6R therapy for ovarian cancer treatment.
The effect of Zn2+ on Pelodiscus sinensis creatine kinase: unfolding and aggregation studies

We studied the effects of Zn2+ on creatine kinase from the Chinese soft-shelled turtle, Pelodiscus sinensis (PSCK). Zn2+ inactivated the activity of PSCK (IC50 = .079 ± .004 mM) following first-order kinetics consistent with multiple phases. The spectrofluorimetry results showed that Zn2+ induced significant tertiary structural changes of PSCK with exposure to hydrophobic surfaces and that Zn2+ directly induced PSCK aggregation. The addition of osmolytes such as glycine, proline, and liquaemin successfully blocked PSCK aggregation, recovering the conformation and activity of PSCK. We measured the ORF gene sequence of PSCK by rapid amplification of cDNA end and simulated the 3D structure of PSCK. The results of molecular dynamics simulations showed that eight Zn2+ bind to PSCK and one Zn2+ is predicted to bind in a plausible active site of creatine and ATP. The interaction of Zn2+ with the active site could mostly block the activity of PSCK. Our study provides important insight into the action of Zn2+ on PSCK as well as more insights into the PSCK folding and ligand-binding mechanisms, which could provide important insight into the metabolic enzymes of P. sinensis.
Neural Dynamics in Reconfigurable Silicon

A neuromorphic analog chip is presented that is capable of implementing massively parallel neural computations while retaining the programmability of digital systems. We show measurements from neurons with Hopf bifurcations and integrate and fire neurons, excitatory and inhibitory synapses, passive dendrite cables, coupled spiking neurons, and central pattern generators implemented on the chip. This chip provides a platform for not only simulating detailed neuron dynamics but also uses the same to interface with actual cells in applications such as a dynamic clamp. There are 28 computational analog blocks (CAB), each consisting of ion channels with tunable parameters, synapses, winner-take-all elements, current sources, transconductance amplifiers, and capacitors. There are four other CABs which have programmable bias generators. The programmability is achieved using floating gate transistors with on-chip programming control. The switch matrix for interconnecting the components in CABs also consists of floating-gate transistors. Emphasis is placed on replicating the detailed dynamics of computational neural models. Massive computational area efficiency is obtained by using the reconfigurable interconnect as synaptic weights, resulting in more than 50 000 possible 9-b accurate synapses in 9 mm2.
Boundaries of reduced free group C*‐algebras

We prove that the crossed product C*‐algebra C*r(Γ, ∂Γ) of a free group Γ with its boundary ∂Γ sits naturally between the reduced group C*‐algebra C*rΓ and its injective envelope I(C*rΓ). In other words, we have natural inclusion C*rΓ ⊂ C*r(Γ, ∂Γ) ⊂ I(C*rΓ) of C*‐algebras.
A least squares enhanced smart DFT technique for frequency estimation of unbalanced three-phase power systems

The problem of off-nominal frequency estimation in unbalanced three-phase power systems is addressed from the frequency domain perspective. It is first established that the original Smart discrete Fourier transform (SDFT) technique designed for real-valued single-phase voltage can be extended to deal with complex-valued αβ transformed voltage. By observing that the underlying time series relationship among the consecutive DFT fundamental components employed by SDFT technique does not hold when noise or unexpected higher order harmonics are present, resulting in suboptimal estimation performances, the least squares framework is then built upon the underlying relationship among the consecutive DFT fundamental components to minimise the mean square model error. The benefits of the proposed LS-SDFT over the time-domain widely linear least squares (WL-LS) frequency estimator are verified by simulations for unbalanced power system conditions in the presence of noise and higher order harmonic pollution, as well as for real-world measurements.
Adding the Third Dimension to Virus Life Cycles: Three-Dimensional Reconstruction of Icosahedral Viruses from Cryo-Electron Micrographs

Viruses are cellular parasites. The linkage between viral and host functions makes the study of a viral life cycle an important key to cellular functions. A deeper understanding of many aspects of viral life cycles has emerged from coordinated molecular and structural studies carried out with a wide range of viral pathogens. Structural studies of viruses by means of cryo-electron microscopy and three-dimensional image reconstruction methods have grown explosively in the last decade. Here we review the use of cryo-electron microscopy for the determination of the structures of a number of icosahedral viruses. These studies span more than 20 virus families. Representative examples illustrate the use of moderate- to low-resolution (7- to 35-A) structural analyses to illuminate functional aspects of viral life cycles including host recognition, viral attachment, entry, genome release, viral transcription, translation, proassembly, maturation, release, and transmission, as well as mechanisms of host defense. The success of cryo-electron microscopy in combination with three-dimensional image reconstruction for icosahedral viruses provides a firm foundation for future explorations of more-complex viral pathogens, including the vast number that are nonspherical or nonsymmetrical.
Nanoparticles alloying in liquids: Laser-ablation-generated Ag or Pd nanoparticles and laser irradiation-induced AgPd nanoparticle alloying

Laser irradiation of a mixture of single-element micro/nanomaterials may lead to their alloying and fabrication of multi-element structures. In addition to the laser induced alloying of particulates in the form of micro/nanopowders in ambient atmosphere (which forms the basis of the field of additive manufacturing technology), another interesting problem is the laser-induced alloying of a mixture of single-element nanoparticles in liquids since this process may lead to the direct fabrication of alloyed-nanoparticle colloidal solutions. In this work, bare-surface ligand-free Ag and Pd nanoparticles in solution were prepared by laser ablation of the corresponding bulk target materials, separately in water. The two solutions were mixed and the mixed solution was laser irradiated for different time durations in order to investigate the laser-induced nanoparticles alloying in liquid. Nanoparticles alloying and the formation of AgPd alloyed nanoparticles takes place with a decrease of the intensity of the surface-plasmon resonance peak of the Ag nanoparticles (at ∼405 nm) with the irradiation time while the low wavelength interband absorption peaks of either Ag or Pd nanoparticles remain unaffected by the irradiation for a time duration even as long as 30 min. The nanoalloys have lattice constants with values between those of the pure metals, which indicates that they consist of Ag and Pd in an approximately 1:1 ratio similar to the atomic composition of the starting mixed-nanoparticle solution. Formation of nanoparticle networks consisting of bimetallic alloyed nanoparticles and nanoparticles that remain as single elements (even after the end of the irradiation), joining together, are also formed. The binding energies of the 3d core electrons of both Ag and Pd nanoparticles shift to lower energies with the irradiation time, which is also a typical characteristic of AgPd alloyed nanoparticles. The mechanisms of nanoparticles alloying and network formation are also discussed.