Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Drop test simulation of 3D stacked-die packaging with Input-G finite element method

Transient responses of 3D stacked-die package with through silicon via (TSV) structure under board level drop test load following the JEDEC standard are investigated using the Input-G finite element simulation method. In order to reduce the finite element mesh size the stacked-die package under investigation is modeled with details while the others are simplified as blocks with equivalent material properties. The deflection and velocity responses of the stacked-die package located at center of test board are obtained. The stress and strain of the copper via, and micro solder pumps and silicon dies are checked and compared. The simulation results show that the critical position is located at the corner of bottom layer of copper via, copper pad and micro solder bumps. The logarithmic strain evolutions of critical copper pad and micro solder bump are investigated.
Assessing the visual speech perception of sampled-based talking heads

Focusing on flexible applications for limited computing devices, this paper investigates the improvement on the visual speech perception obtained by the implicitly modeling of coarticulation on a sample-based talking head that is characterized by a compact image database and a morphing visemes synthesis strategy. Speech intelligibility tests were applied to assess the effectiveness of the proposed context-dependent visemes (CDV) model, comparing it to a simpler model that does not handle coarticulation. The results show that, when compared to the simpler model, the CDV approach improves speech intelligibility in situations in which the audio is degraded by noise. Moreover the CDV model achieves 80% to 90% of visual speech intelligibility of video of a real talker in the tested cases. Additionally, when the audio is heavily degraded by noise, the results suggest that the mechanisms that explain visual speech perception depends on the quality of the audible information.
Selective Changes in Cell Bodies and Growth Cones of Nerve Growth Factor‐Differentiated PC12 Cells Induced by Chemical Hypoxia

Abstract: Cytosolic free Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]i) was measured in differentiated PC12 cells to test whether chemical hypoxia selectively alters intracellular Ca2+ in growth cones and cell bodies. Hypoxia increased [Ca2+]i and exaggerated its response to K+ depolarization in both parts of the cells. [Ca2+]i in the cell bodies was greater than that in the growth cones under resting conditions and in response to K+ or hypoxia. Ca2+‐channel blockers selectively altered these responses. The L‐channel blocker nifedipine reduced [Ca2+]i following K+ depolarization by 67% in the cell bodies but only 25% in the growth cones. In contrast, the N‐channel blocker ω‐conotoxin GVIA (ω‐CgTX) diminished K+‐induced changes in [Ca2+]i only in the growth cones. During hypoxia, nifedipine was more effective in the cell bodies than in the growth cones. During hypoxia, ω‐CgTX diminished K+‐induced changes by 50–75% in both parts of the cell, but only immediately after depolarization. The combination of nifedipine and ω‐CgTX diminished the [Ca2+]i response to K+ with or without hypoxia by >90% in the cell body and 70% in the growth cones. Thus, the increased Ca2+ entry with K+ during hypoxia is primarily through L channels in the cell bodies, whereas in growth cones influx through L and N channels is about equal. The results show that chemical hypoxia selectively alters Ca2+ regulation in the growth cone and cell body of the same cell.
Variations in levator ani volume and geometry in women: the application of MR based 3D reconstruction in evaluating pelvic floor dysfunction.

OBJECTIVE We report on the comparative 3-dimensional (3D) living female pelvic floor geometry in five women, comparing the volume, morphology, and integrity of the levator sling, and pelvic anatomic relationships among study subjects. METHODS Five women of varying ages, parity, continence, and prolapse status were studied. Two-dimensional (2D) imaging of the pelvic floor organs was performed on each subject in the supine position. Manual segmentation techniques and solid modeling software was used to build 3D models of each patient's pelvic floor structures, which could then be viewed and measured on the computer screen. We measured levator muscle volume, posterior urethro-vesical angle, distance from the urethra to pubo-coccygeal line, and the levator plate angle. The integrity of pubo-coccygeal attachments was also recorded. RESULTS Levator muscle volume ranged from 68 ml in the nulliparous female, to 26 ml in the grand multipara with severe prolapse and mild genuine stress incontinence (GSI). The second lowest volume (30 ml) was in the multipara with GSI. Volumes in the parous subjects without stress urinary incontinence or pelvic organ prolapse were 36 and 39 ml. Pubo-coccygeal attachments were found to be torn in the 2 symptomatic subjects, and were intact in all 3 asymptomatic subjects. CONCLUSION MR based 3D modeling is feasible and can be used in a research setting to evaluate complex anatomic relationships which may accompany pelvic floor dysfunction. The technique can also be used to evaluate levator muscle morphology and volume, as well as pelvic floor support integrity and its possible role in GSI and prolapse. We are currently conducting a larger study to validate our technique, and to better define the relationship between pelvic floor geometry and pelvic floor dysfunction.
JNK1 Is Required for Lentivirus Entry and Gene Transfer

ABSTRACT Although a lot of progress has been made in development of lentiviral vectors for gene therapy, the interactions of these vectors with cellular factors have not been explored adequately. Here we show that lentivirus infection phosphorylates JNK and that blocking the kinase activity of JNK decreases gene transfer in a dose-dependent manner, regardless of the viral envelope glycoprotein. Knockdown by small interfering RNA (siRNA) revealed that JNK1 but not JNK2 was required for productive gene transfer. The effect of JNK on gene transfer was not due to changes in the cell cycle, as JNK knockdown did not affect the cell cycle profile of target cells and even increased cell proliferation. In addition, confluent cell monolayers also exhibited JNK phosphorylation upon lentivirus infection and a dose-dependent decrease in gene transfer efficiency upon JNK inhibition. On the other hand, JNK activation was necessary for lentivirus internalization into the cell cytoplasm, while inhibition of JNK activity decreased virus entry without affecting binding to the cell surface. These experiments suggest that JNK is required for lentivirus entry into target cells and may have implications for gene transfer or for development of antiviral agents.
[Function of the putative Na+/H+ antiporter gene PeNhaD1 from salt-resistant Populus euphratica Oliv].

Yeast complementation experiments were carried out to define the possible function of PeNhaD1, a Na(+)/H(+) antiporter gene from Populus euphratica Oliv. , a salt resistant tree. PeNhaD1 was introduced to the Saccharomyces cerevisiae mutant strain ANT3 (Deltaena1-4::HIS3 Deltanha1::LEU2), which lacks the plasma membrane Na(+)/H(+) antiporter gene ScNHA1 or GX1 (Deltanhx1::TRP1), which lacks tonoplast Na(+)/H(+) antiporter gene ScNHX1. Our results showed that PeNhaD1 rescued the normal growth of ANT3 in the presence of high salt (80 mmol/L NaCl on solid medium or 400 mmol/L in liquid medium, pH 6.0), but not that of GX1, suggesting that PeNhaD1 may play a role in salt tolerance of Populus euphratica by maintaining the capacity for salt exclusion under saline condition.
The secretome of Pleurotus sapidus

Due to their unique capability to attack lignified biopolymers, extracellular enzymes of white‐rot fungi enjoy an increasing interest in various fields of white biotechnology. The edible fungus Pleurotus sapidus was selected as a model organism for the analysis of the secretome by means of 2‐DE. For enzyme production, the fungus was grown in submerged cultures either on peanut shells or on glass wool as a carrier material. Identification of the secreted enzymes was performed by tryptic digestion, ESI‐MS/MS ab initio sequencing, and homology searches against public databases. The spectrum of secreted enzymes comprised various types of hydrolases and lignolytic enzymes of the manganese peroxidase/versatile peroxidase family. While peptidases were secreted mainly by the cultures grown on peanut shells, versatile peroxidase type enzymes dominated in the cultures grown on glass wool.
Regulating wireless access costs for not vertically integrated content providers

We consider a single, unaffiliated streaming content provider (CP) and another that is vertically integrated (affiliated) with a cellular wireless ISP. We formulate a non-cooperative game between these two CPs involving, e.g., linear demand-response to price by the end-users with long-duration sessions (e.g., streaming video), and a model as amplified noise of additional network delay jitter and reduced responsiveness to changing channel conditions by the unaffiliated CP. The effect of effective additional side-payments from the unaffiliated CP to the ISP, as may be set by a government regulator, is studied at Stackelberg equilibrium both analytically and numerically.
Enoyl-Acyl Carrier Protein Reductase I (FabI) Is Essential for the Intracellular Growth of Listeria monocytogenes

ABSTRACT Enoyl-acyl carrier protein reductase catalyzes the last step in each elongation cycle of type II bacterial fatty acid synthesis and is a key regulatory protein in bacterial fatty acid synthesis. Genes of the facultative intracellular pathogen Listeria monocytogenes encode two functional enoyl-acyl carrier protein isoforms based on their ability to complement the temperature-sensitive growth phenotype of Escherichia coli strain JP1111 [fabI(Ts)]. The FabI isoform was inactivated by the FabI selective inhibitor AFN-1252, but the FabK isoform was not affected by the drug, as expected. Inhibition of FabI by AFN-1252 decreased endogenous fatty acid synthesis by 80% and lowered the growth rate of L. monocytogenes in laboratory medium. Robust exogenous fatty acid incorporation was not detected in L. monocytogenes unless the pathway was partially inactivated by AFN-1252 treatment. However, supplementation with exogenous fatty acids did not restore normal growth in the presence of AFN-1252. FabI inactivation prevented the intracellular growth of L. monocytogenes, showing that neither FabK nor the incorporation of host cellular fatty acids was sufficient to support the intracellular growth of L. monocytogenes. Our results show that FabI is the primary enoyl-acyl carrier protein reductase of type II bacterial fatty acid synthesis and is essential for the intracellular growth of L. monocytogenes.
Expression and promoter methylation status of hMLH1, MGMT, APC, and CDH1 genes in patients with colon adenocarcinoma

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common cancer in men and the second in women worldwide. CRC development is the result of genetic and epigenetic alterations accumulation in the epithelial cells of colon mucosa. In the present study, DNA methylation, an epigenetic event, was evaluated in tumoral and matching normal epithelium in a cohort of 61 CRC patients. The results confirmed and expanded knowledge for the tumor suppressor genes hMLH1, MGMT, APC, and CDH1. Promoter methylation was observed for all the examined genes in different percentage. A total of 71% and 10% of the examined cases were found to be methylated in two or more and in all genes, respectively. mRNA and protein levels were also evaluated. Promoter methylation of hMLH1, MGMT, APC, and CDH1 genes was present at the early stages of tumor’s formation and it could also be detected in the normal mucosa. Correlations of the methylated genes with patient’s age and tumor’s clinicopathological characteristics were also observed. Our findings suggest that DNA methylation is a useful marker for tumor progression monitoring and that promoter methylation in certain genes is associated with more advanced tumor stage, poor differentiation, and metastasis.
Heterogeneity of long-history migration explains cultural

cultural Q:4; 5; 6 differences in reports of emotional expressivity and Q:7; 8; 9 the functions of smiles Magdalena Rychlowska, Yuri Miyamoto, David Matsumoto, Ursula Hess, Eva Gilboa-Schechtman, Shanmukh Kamble, Hamdi Muluk, Takahiko Masuda, and Paula Marie Niedenthal Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI 53706-1969; School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3AT, United Kingdom; San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA 94132; Department of Psychology, Humboldt University, Berlin, 12489 Berlin, Germany; Psychology Department and the Gonda Brain Science Center, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan 52900, Israel; Karnatak University, Pavate Nagar, Dharwad, Karnataka 580003, India; Universitas Indonesia, Fakultas Psikologi, Jalan Salemba Raya 10430, Indonesia; and Department of Psychology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada T6G 2E9 Q:10
Dynamic analysis of a new network topology for high power grid connected PV systems

In order to improve the efficiency of photovoltaic (PV) systems and to extend the application of PV power generation, a new architecture to connect the solar plant to the grid suitable for large PV plant is proposed discussing benefits and drawbacks respect to the other usually adopted architectures. Furthermore an EMTP-ATP model is developed to analyze the transient and steady state behavior of the PV system. A preliminary analysis of the dynamic system stability and of the voltage drop and power losses in the DC cables are presented.
Schistosoma japonicum egg antigen up-regulates fibrogenesis and inhibits proliferation in primary hepatic stellate cells in a concentration-dependent manner.

AIM To investigate the effects of different concentrations of Schistosoma japonicum (S. japonicum) egg antigen on fibrogenesis and apoptosis in primary hepatic stellate cells (HSCs). METHODS A mouse model of schistosomiasis-associated liver fibrosis (SSLF) was established by infecting mice with schistosomal cercaria via the abdomen. HSCs were isolated from SSLF mice by discontinuous density gradient centrifugation, and their identity was confirmed by immunofluorescence double staining of α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) and desmin. The growth inhibitory effect and 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50) of S. japonicum egg antigen for primary HSCs (24 h) were determined using a cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) assay. The expression levels of α-SMA, matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMOL/LP-9) and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases-1 (TIMP-1) in HSCs in response to different concentrations of S. japonicum egg antigen were detected by Western blotting and real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. The levels of phospho-P38 (P-P38), phospho-Jun N-terminal kinase (P-JNK) and phospho-Akt (P-AKT) in HSCs were detected by Western blotting. RESULTS An SSLF mouse model was established, and primary HSCs were successfully isolated and cultured. S. japonicum egg antigen inhibited HSC proliferation in a concentration-dependent manner. The IC50 of the S. japonicum egg antigen was 244.53 ± 35.26 μg/mL. S. japonicum egg antigen enhanced α-SMA expression at both the mRNA and protein levels and enhanced TIMP-1 expression at the mRNA level in HSCs (P < 0.05), whereas the expression of MMOL/LP-9 was attenuated at both the mRNA and protein levels in a concentration-dependent manner (P < 0.05). A high concentration of S. japonicum egg antigen enhanced P-P38, P-JNK and P-AKT activation (P < 0.05). The changes in α-SMA and MMOL/LP-9 expression induced by S. japonicum egg antigen were closely correlated with P-P38 and P-JNK activation (P < 0.05). The attenuation of MMOL/LP-9 was also correlated with P-AKT activation (P < 0.05), but the increase in α-SMA expression was not. TIMP-1 expression was not correlated with P-P38, P-JNK or P-AKT activation. CONCLUSION S. japonicum egg antigen promotes fibrogenesis, activates the P38/JNK mitogen-activated protein kinase and AKT/PI3K signaling pathways and inhibits proliferation in primary HSCs isolated from SSLF mice in a concentration-dependent manner.
Can RNNs reliably separate script and language at word and line level?

In this work, we investigate the utility of Recurrent Neural Networks (RNNs) for script and language identification. Both these problems have been attempted in the past with representations computed from the distribution of connected components or characters (e.g. texture, n-gram). Often these features are computed from a larger segment (a paragraph or a page). We argue that one can predict the script or language with minimal evidence (e.g. given only a word or a line) very accurately with the help of a pre-trained RNN. We propose a simple and generic solution for the task of script and language identification which do not require any special tuning. Our method represents the word images as a sequence of feature vectors, and employ the RNNs for the identification. We verify the method on a large corpus of more than 15.03M words from 55K document images comprising 15 scripts and languages. We report an accurate script and language identification at word and line level.
Iodine‐125 seeds to guide removal of impalpable breast lesions: radio‐guided occult lesion localization – a pilot study

The aim of this study was to confirm that radio‐guided occult lesion localization using low activity iodine 125 (I‐125) seeds (ROLLIS) could be safely and accurately used for localization and guided excision of impalpable breast lesions in different multidisciplinary settings and to prepare staff for a randomized controlled trial.
Fire Regimes and Their Drivers in the Upper Guinean Region of West Africa

The Upper Guinean region of West Africa exhibits strong geographic variation in land use, climate, vegetation, and human population and has experienced phenomenal biophysical and socio-economic changes in recent decades. All of these factors influence spatial heterogeneity and temporal trends in fires, but their combined effects on fire regimes are not well understood. The main objectives of this study were to characterize the spatial patterns and interrelationships of multiple fire regime components, identify recent trends in fire activity, and explore the relative influences of climate, topography, vegetation type, and human activity on fire regimes. Fire regime components, including active fire density, burned area, fire season length, and fire radiative power, were characterized using MODIS fire products from 2003 to 2015. Both active fire and burned area were most strongly associated with vegetation type, whereas fire season length was most strongly influenced by climate and topography variables, and fire radiative power was most strongly influenced by climate. These associations resulted in a gradient of increasing fire activity from forested coastal regions to the savanna-dominated interior, as well as large variations in burned area and fire season length within the savanna regions and high fire radiative power in the westernmost coastal regions. There were increasing trends in active fire detections in parts of the Western Guinean Lowland Forests ecoregion and decreasing trends in both active fire detections and burned area in savanna-dominated ecoregions. These results portend that ongoing regional landscape and socio-economic changes along with climate change will lead to further changes in the fire regimes in West Africa. Efforts to project future fire regimes and develop regional strategies for adaptation will need to encompass multiple components of the fire regime and consider multiple drivers, including land use as well as climate.
A Low-Noise Wide-BW 3.6-GHz Digital  $\Delta\Sigma$ Fractional-N Frequency Synthesizer With a Noise-Shaping Time-to-Digital Converter and Quantization Noise Cancellation

A 3.6-GHz digital fractional-N frequency synthesizer achieving low noise and 500-kHz bandwidth is presented. This architecture uses a gated-ring-oscillator time-to-digital converter (TDC) with 6-ps raw resolution and first-order shaping of its quantization noise along with digital quantization noise cancellation to achieve integrated phase noise of less than 300 fs (1 kHz to 40 MHz). The synthesizer includes two 10-bit 50-MHz passive digital-to-analog converters for digital control of the oscillator and an asynchronous frequency divider that avoids divide-value delay variation at its output. Implemented in a 0.13-mum CMOS process, the prototype occupies 0.95-mm2 active area and dissipates 39 mW for the core parts with another 8 mW for the oscillator output buffer. Measured phase noise at 3.67 GHz carrier frequency is -108 and -150 dBc/Hz at 400 kHz and 20 MHz offset, respectively.
A PageRank-based Mining Algorithm for User Influences on micro-Blogs

With the development of Web technology, the Micro-Blog has become one of the most popular social platforms, and calculating and ranking the influences of the users on Micro-Blogs has been issuing an important research problem. Through improving the traditional the PageRank model, this paper presents a called PR4MB (PageRank for Micro-Blog) algorithm, which can obviously improve mining precisions for evaluating user influences on a Micro-Blog. While considering user link relations like the PageRank method, the PR4MB algorithm also takes attention to the activity, quality and credibility of a user on a Micro-Blog, so it constructs a dynamic mining model for user influences on a MicroBlog by evaluation user online behaviors. The experimental results show that PR4MB algorithm, in comparing with the traditional PageRank algorithm, can more truly reflects the actual influences of different users on a Micro-Blog.
Self-association of the erythroid transcription factor GATA-1 mediated by its zinc finger domains

GATA-1, the founding member of a distinctive family of transcription factors, is expressed predominantly in erythroid cells and participates in the expression of numerous erythroid cell-expressed genes. GATA-binding sites are found in the promoters and enhancers of globin and nonglobin erythroid genes as well as in the alpha- and beta-globin locus control regions. To elucidate how GATA-1 may function in a variety of regulatory contexts, we have examined its protein-protein interactions. Here we show that GATA-1 self-associates in solution and in whole-cell extracts and that the zinc finger region of the molecule is sufficient to mediate this interaction. This physical interaction can influence transcription, as GATA-1 self-association is able to recruit a transcriptionally active but DNA-binding-defective derivative of GATA-1 to promoter-bound GATA-1 and result in superactivation. Through in vitro studies with bacterially expressed glutathione S-transferase fusion proteins, we have localized the minimal domain required for GATA-1 self-association to 40 amino acid residues within the C-terminal zinc finger region. Finally, we have detected physical interaction of GATA-1 with other GATA family members (GATA-2 and GATA-3) also mediated through the zinc finger domain. These findings have broad implications for the involvement of GATA factors in transcriptional control. In particular, the interaction of GATA-1 with itself and with other transcription factors may facilitate its function at diverse promoters in erythroid cells and also serve to bring together, or stabilize, loops between distant regulatory elements, such as the globin locus control regions and downstream globin promoters. We suggest that the zinc finger region of GATA-1, and related proteins, is multifunctional and mediates not only DNA binding but also important protein-protein interactions.