Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Identification of primitive geometrical shapes rendered using electrostatic friction display

Electrostatic displays are an effective platform in enabling programmed haptic feedback on a touchscreen using variable friction. In this work, we investigate the extent to which users can correctly recognize 3D primitive geometrical shapes rendered using only the tangential friction force produced by an electrostatic display. The algorithm for that was based on a previous study that demonstrated using a force-feedback interface that lateral force has a dominant role in shape perception. The main findings of this study are two-fold: 1) Users do not naturally associate electrovibration patterns to primitive shapes unless guidance or context for that is given; and 2) Users can map electrovibration patterns to primitive shapes with moderately high accuracy if they are asked to do so. These results provide some promise that electrostatic displays can further improve the user experience of exploring the visual content displayed on a touchscreen.
Order and disorder in titanosilicate glass by 17O MAS, off-MAS, and 3Q-QCPMG-MAS solid-state NMR.

An 17O-enriched version of the titanosilicate glass, KTS2 (K(2)O.TiO(2). 2SiO(2)), was analyzed by 17O MAS, off-MAS, and 3Q-QCPMG-MAS experiments. Exploiting the variations in EFG and CSA parameters for the 17O sites in KTS2 glass, we detected four types of oxygen by reduction of spinning sideband intensities in the off-MAS experiments. From the 17O off-MAS and 3Q-QCPMG-MAS experiments, the Si-O-Ti and K-O-Ti resonances were characterized by a distribution of isotropic chemical shifts, whereas the Si-O-Si resonance was characterized by very small distributions of both EFG tensor and isotropic chemical shift, which means that the disorder in the glass is closely related to Ti. In addition to the order/disorder issue, the most striking feature about the 17O off-MAS experiments on KTS2 is the lack of signals from Ti-O-Ti, which contradicts linking between corner sharing TiO(5) units. Therefore, the structure must consist of linkages between TiO(5) units and SiO(4) tetrahedra and linkages between SiO(4) tetrahedra.
Manufacturing (Co)Agglomeration in a Transition Country: Evidence from Russia

We document the geographic concentration patterns of Russian manufacturing using detailed microgeographic data. About 80% of three‐digit industries are significantly agglomerated, and a similar share of three‐digit industry pairs is significantly coagglomerated. Industry pairs with stronger buyer–supplier links—as measured using Russian input–output tables—tend to be slightly more coagglomerated. This result is robust to instrumental variable estimation using either Canadian or US instruments. Using Canadian ad valorem transport costs as a proxy for transport costs in Russia, we further find that industries with higher transport costs are more dispersed, and industry pairs with higher transport costs are less coagglomerated.
Trade-off between exploration and reporting victim locations in USAR

In urban search and rescue (USAR) operations, there is a considerable amount of danger faced by rescuers. The use of mobile robots can alleviate this issue. Coordinating the search effort is made more difficult by the communication issues typically faced in these environments, such that communication is often restricted to line of sight. Since the rescue workers outside of the structure need to know the location of any victims, the task is two parted: 1) to locate the victims (Search Time), and 2) to get this data outside the structure (Delay Time). Communication with the outside is assumed to be performed by a static robot designated as the Command Station. Since it is unlikely that there will be sufficient robots to provide full communications coverage of the area, robots that discover victims are faced with the difficult decision of whether they should continue searching or return with the victim data. We investigate a variety of search techniques and see how the application of biological foraging models can help to streamline the search process, while we have also implemented an opportunistic network to ensure that data are shared whenever robots come within line of sight of each other or the Command Station. We examine this trade-off between performing a search and communicating the results.
A Finitary Analogue of the Downward Löwenheim-Skolem Property

We present a model-theoretic property of finite structures, that can be seen to be a finitary analogue of the well-studied downward Lowenheim-Skolem property from classical model theory. We call this property as the *$\mathcal{L}$-equivalent bounded substructure property*, denoted $\mathcal{L}$-$\mathsf{EBSP}$, where $\mathcal{L}$ is either FO or MSO. Intuitively $\mathcal{L}$-$\mathsf{EBSP}$ states that a large finite structure contains a small "logically similar" substructure, where logical similarity means indistinguishability with respect to sentences of $\mathcal{L}$ having a given quantifier nesting depth. It turns out that this simply stated property is enjoyed by a variety of classes of interest in computer science: examples include various classes of posets, such as regular languages of words, trees (unordered, ordered or ranked) and nested words, and various classes of graphs, such as cographs, graph classes of bounded tree-depth, those of bounded shrub-depth and $n$-partite cographs. Further, $\mathcal{L}$-$\mathsf{EBSP}$ remains preserved in the classes generated from the above by operations that are implementable using quantifier-free translation schemes. We show that for natural tree representations for structures that all the aforementioned classes admit, the small and logically similar substructure of a large structure can be computed in time linear in the size of the representation, giving linear time fixed parameter tractable (f.p.t.) algorithms for checking $\mathcal{L}$ definable properties of the large structure. We conclude by presenting a strengthening of $\mathcal{L}$-$\mathsf{EBSP}$, that asserts "logical self-similarity at all scales" for a suitable notion of scale. We call this the *logical fractal* property and show that most of the classes mentioned above are indeed, logical fractals.
Shorten Bipolarity Checklist for the Differentiation of Subtypes of Bipolar Disorder Using Machine Learning

The differentiation of type I and type II of bipolar disorder is difficult. In clinical practices, corresponding diagnostic operability is poor since their criterions are similar and do not include past or lifetime characteristics. The aim of this study was to generate the clinical feasible scale by using machine learning algorithms based on the analysis of a Chinese multi-center cohort data. To evaluate the importance of each item of Affective Disorder Evaluation(ADE), a case-control study of Chinese samples including 281 type I of bipolar disorder and 79 type II of bipolar disorder patients conducted from 9 Chinese health facilities participating in CAFÉ-BD. The novel scale was formed by selected items from ADE according to its importance calculated by mutual information criteria of minimal-redundancy-maximal-relevance(mRMR).
Increased Expression of CD27 on Activated Human Memory B Cells Correlates with Their Commitment to the Plasma Cell Lineage1

Plasma cells (PC) or Ig-secreting cells (ISC) are terminally differentiated B cells responsible for the production of protective Ig. ISC can be generated in vitro by culturing human B cells with the T cell-derived stimuli CD40L, IL-2, and IL-10. ISC have traditionally been identified by the increased expression of CD38, analogous to primary human PC, and the acquired ability to secrete Ig. By tracking the proliferation history of activated B cells, we previously reported that the differentiation of memory B cells into CD38+ B cells is IL-10 dependent, and increases in frequency with cell division. However, <50% of CD38+ cells secreted Ig, and there was a population of CD38− ISC. Thus, the PC phenotype of CD38+ cells generated in vitro did not correlate with PC function. To address this, we have examined cultures of activated memory B cells to accurately identify the phenotype of ISC generated in vitro. We found that CD27 is also up-regulated on memory B cells in an IL-10-dependent and division-dependent manner, and that ISC segregated into the CD27high subset of activated memory B cells irrespective of the acquired expression of CD38. The ISC generated in these cultures expressed elevated levels of the transcription factors Blimp-1 and X box-binding protein-1 and reduced levels of Pax-5, and exhibited selective migration toward CXCL12, similar to primary PC. We propose that the differentiation of memory B cells into PC involves a transitional stage characterized by a CD27highCD38− phenotype with the acquired ability to secrete high levels of Ig.
High density indium bumping using electrodeposition enhanced by megasonic agitation

Electrodeposition has been utilized to fulfill the demand of high density indium bumping used in high energy physics applications. Previous studies have shown the capability of electrodeposition to achieve high yield and high density indium bumps. The challenge exists to improve the bump height uniformity and consistency of electroplated indium bumps across the wafer at ultra-fine pitches with the highest yield. This paper reports progress towards the electroplating indium bumping process assisted by megasonic agitation. Electroplating of indium onto non-patterned substrates was initially conducted to investigate the performance of the solution with megasonic agitation. Further trials were carried out on 4 inch silicon dummy wafers to create indium bumps at 50 μm pitch. The results reflect that bubbles created during the plating process with megasonic agitation can affect the quality of the deposit and the yield of indium bumping, under the experimental conditions used in this study.
Cerebrospinal Fluid Amyloid β1–42 Levels in the Mild Cognitive Impairment Stage of Alzheimer's Disease

Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) levels of amyloid beta-protein ending at amino acid position 42 (CSF-A beta(1-42)) and CSF-tau levels were quantified by sandwich ELISAs in 19 patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) who eventually developed Alzheimer's disease (AD) on follow-up as well as in 15 age-matched normal controls and 54 AD patients at diverse stages of the disease. In the present study, the annual conversion rate was approximately 15%. The CSF-A beta(1-42) levels did not differ significantly between the normal control group and the MCI group, however, these values declined significantly once AD became clinically overt. In contrast to CSF-Abeta(1-42), CSF-tau levels were significantly increased in the MCI stage, and these values continued to be elevated thereafter, indicating that increased levels of CSF-tau may help in detecting MCI subjects who are predicted to develop AD. We propose that CSF-tau and CSF-A beta(1-42) must be used as two distinct biomarkers that should be applied appropriately in clinical settings.
Prolyl Isomerization as a Molecular Memory in the Allosteric Regulation of the Signal Adapter Protein c-CrkII

Background: Signaling by chicken c-CrkII (cellular CT10 regulator of kinase) involves native state prolyl isomerization. Results: Dynamic domain interactions are coupled with trans-to-cis isomerization at Pro-238 and down-regulation of chicken c-CrkII. Conclusion: The linkage between protein folding, prolyl isomerization, and function of c-CrkII is explained by a kinetic six-species reaction mechanism. Significance: The linkage with prolyl isomerization attenuates an allosteric transition and provides a molecular memory. c-CrkII is a central signal adapter protein. A domain opening/closing reaction between its N- and C-terminal Src homology 3 domains (SH3N and SH3C, respectively) controls signal propagation from upstream tyrosine kinases to downstream targets. In chicken but not in human c-CrkII, opening/closing is coupled with cis/trans isomerization at Pro-238 in SH3C. Here, we used advanced double-mixing experiments and kinetic simulations to uncover dynamic domain interactions in c-CrkII and to elucidate how they are linked with cis/trans isomerization and how this regulates substrate binding to SH3N. Pro-238 trans → cis isomerization is not a simple on/off switch but converts chicken c-CrkII from a high affinity to a low affinity form. We present a double-box model that describes c-CrkII as an allosteric system consisting of an open, high affinity R state and a closed, low affinity T state. Coupling of the T-R transition with an intrinsically slow prolyl isomerization provides c-CrkII with a kinetic memory and possibly functions as a molecular attenuator during signal transduction.
Next generation of the Albira small animal PET based on high density SiPM arrays

A new design of the small animal PET Albira system which detectors are based on arrays of SiPMs and monolithic LYSO scintillator is presented here. The system is made out of 3 rings of 8 detectors each, resulting on an axial and transaxial FOVs of 148 and 80 mm, respectively. The scanner is thermally stabilized using air-cooling. Working temperatures around 22-25°C are reached with individual detector variations around 0.2°C minimizing dark count rates and gain drifts. One of the most significant improvements of the current system is the accurate photon impact determination within the crystal volume, specially its depth of interaction. This allows the calculation of the true line of response and, therefore, minimizes the parallax error at the image FOV edges. As a result, the system returns a homogeneous volumetric spatial resolution FWHM for the entire FOV, of about 1 mm3 (MLEM algorithm). Applying the NEMA protocol, this prototype reaches a Noise Equivalent Count Rate of 576 kcps at 986 uCi using the mouse-like phantom and 330 kcps at 1275 uCi using the rat-like phantom. The current geometry, similar to the former design based on PSPMTs but with higher active detection area, shows a NEMA sensitivity of 9% using a 50% energy window.
Investigating the Relationship Between Financial Integration and Economic Growth in the East African Community

This study set out to investigate the relationship between financial integration and economic growth in the EAC community states. Secondary data on financial integration and GDP was obtained from worldbank and the East African Community(EAC) community secretariat. The data was subjected to simple linear regression and correlation analysis to achieve the set objective. The study found that, Gross capital flow to GDP (financial openness) is positively correlated to economic growth (r=0.2093, p <0.05). The study also found that, 3.98% of the variations in economic growth, as measured by GDP per capita, within the countries are explained by financial integration, as measured by the ratio of gross capital flows, 38.98% of the variations in economic growth between the countries are explained by financial integration while 4.38% of the variations in economic growth of the East African communityEAC as an economic bloc (considering panel data) are explained by financial integration. The findings confirm that, when capital flows increase, economic growth also increases, pointing to the necessity of the East African member states to explore ways of increasing the capital flows between the countries. The researcher recommends conducting of a comparative study between the old and the new EAC to establish whether the inclusion of Rwanda and Burundi, has had any positive impact (catalyzed) on the level of financial integration and economic growth.
Knockdown of STMN1 enhances osteosarcoma cell chemosensitivity through inhibition of autophagy

Chemoresistance is a major cause for the poor prognosis of osteosarcoma (OS) patients. However, our understanding of mechanisms underlying chemoresistance in OS are limited. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of stathmin 1 (STMN1) on paclitaxel-induced chemoresistance, as well as the underlying mechanism. Western blot analysis data revealed that the expression level of STMN1 was dramatically increased in OS cell lines (HOS, Saos-2, U-2OS and MG-63), when compared to normal osteoblast hFOB1.19 cells. Furthermore, treatment with paclitaxel led to upregulation of STMN1 in U-2OS cells, accompanied by activation of autophagy, which may attenuate the cytotoxicity of paclitaxel in OS cells. Following knockdown of STMN1 expression, paclitaxel-induced autophagy was significantly reduced, accompanied by increased cytotoxicity of paclitaxel to U-2OS cells. In addition, blockade of mammalian target of rapamycin signaling attenuated the inhibitory effect of STMN1 knockdown on autophagy in OS cells. In conclusion, the present study demonstrated that knockdown of STMN1 enhances osteosarcoma cell chemosensitivity to paclitaxel through inhibition of autophagy. Therefore, STMN1 may be a potential target for the treatment of chemoresistant OS.
Effects of Age and Sex on Inspiratory Muscle Activation Patterns during Exercise

Purpose To characterize the effects of age, sex, and their interaction on inspiratory muscle activation patterns during exercise. Methods Twenty younger (20–30 yr, n = 10 women) and 20 older (60–80 yr, n = 10 women) subjects performed an incremental cycle exercise test. Electromyography (EMG) of the scalene (EMGsca) and EMG of the sternocleidomastoid (EMGscm) muscles were measured using skin surface electrodes, whereas diaphragm EMG (EMGdi) and esophageal and transdiaphragmatic pressures were measured using an esophageal catheter. Electromyography data were transformed into root mean square with a 100-ms time constant. Esophageal and diaphragmatic pressure–time products were used as indices of total inspiratory muscle pressure production and diaphragmatic pressure production, respectively. Results At absolute minute ventilations (V˙E), women and older subjects had greater EMGdi than men and younger subjects, respectively (all P < 0.05), but no differences were noted when V˙E was expressed in relative terms (all P > 0.05). Women had greater EMGsca activity than men at absolute and relative levels of V˙E (all P < 0.05). Older subjects had greater EMGsca than younger subjects when V˙E was expressed in relative (all P < 0.05) but not absolute terms (all P > 0.05). At absolute and relative levels of V˙E, women and older subjects had greater EMGscm than men and younger subjects, respectively (all P < 0.05). Women and older subjects had a greater esophageal and diaphragmatic pressure–time products at a V˙E of 70 L·min−1 than men and younger subjects, respectively (both P < 0.05), but no differences were noted when V˙E was expressed in relative terms (all P > 0.05). No significant interactions between age and sex were noted (all P > 0.05). Conclusions Age and sex significantly affect inspiratory muscle activation patterns during exercise; however, the extent of the effects depends on whether comparisons are made at absolute or relative V˙E.
Modern proteomic methodologies for the characterization of lactosylation protein targets in milk

Heat treatment of milk induces the Maillard reaction between lactose and proteins; in this context, β‐lactoglobulin and α‐lactalbumin adducts have been used as markers to monitor milk quality. Since some milk proteins have been reported as essential for the delivery of microelements and, being resistant against proteolysis in the gastrointestinal tract, also contributing to the acquired immune response against pathogens and the stimulation of cellular proliferation, it is crucial to systematically determine the milk subproteome affected by the Maillard reaction for a careful evaluation of aliment functional properties. This is more important when milk is the unique nutritional source, as in infant diet. To this purpose, a combination of proteomic procedures based on analyte capture by combinatorial peptide ligand libraries, selective trapping of lactosylated peptides by m‐aminophenylboronic acid‐agarose chromatography and collision‐induced dissociation and electron transfer dissociation MS was used for systematic identification of the lactosylated proteins in milk samples subjected to different thermal treatments. An exhaustive modification of proteins was observed in milk powdered preparations for infant nutrition. Globally, this approach allowed the identification of 271 non‐redundant modification sites in 33 milk proteins, which also included low‐abundance components involved in nutrient delivery, defence response against virus/microorganisms and cellular proliferative events. A comparison of the modified peptide identification percentages resulting from electron transfer dissociation or collision‐induced dissociation fragmentation spectra confirmed the first activation mode as most advantageous for the analysis of lactosylated proteins. Nutritional, biological and toxicological consequences of these findings are discussed on the basis of the recent literature on this subject, emphasizing their impact on newborn diet.
SEXTUALLY ACTIVE: TEENAGE VIEWS ON SEXTING AND ITS INTERVENTIONS

The opportunities presented by digital mobile technologies to young people are extensive. These opportunities are countered by considerable challenges. These are especially evident in the sophisticated and commonplace practice of 'sexting', the sharing of sexually explicit content via digital means. In the UK, child protection laws are such that the use of sexual images of minors (u-18) is a criminal offence, which has the paradoxical effect of potentially criminalising the people the law is meant to protect. Legislative issues are compounded by conflicting media commentary which confuses children and caregivers resulting in the practice of sexting being misunderstood. While some qualitative research has been undertaken into sexting, this has focussed on recommendations to caregivers, child welfare professionals and ISPs meaning young people's position in forming constructive discourse has been minimised. Using qualitative data from participatory and interactive exercises with young people in a UK Midlands school, this project seeks to provide young people with a forum for exploring the impact of sexting on their daily lives, the role of digital technologies in enabling these practices to take place and the co-creation of tools to educate peers and professionals in the oversight of practice regarding sexting. The researchers on the project are from a multidisciplinary background and it is hoped that this will enable broad contribution to debates around education, sexual health and media usage.
Wideband Millimeter-Wave On-Chip Quadrature Coupler With Improved In-Band Flatness in 0.13- $\mu$ m SiGe Technology

This letter proposes a compact and broadband quadrature coupler with a center frequency of 55 GHz, which consists of a 90° broadside coupled-line to support the differential signal propagation and two T-type <italic>L-C</italic> networks to support the common signal propagation. To analyze the proposed coupler, an equivalent circuit model is provided for estimation of the distributed and lumped component values. The measured results of the proposed on-chip quadrature coupler show that the return loss and isolation are greater than 20 dB with a bandwidth of 105%, while the insertion loss is about −0.85 dB. The magnitude imbalances are less than 1 dB within the bandwidth of 56% and the phase differences are with ±1° errors within the bandwidth of 96.9%. The chip size, excluding the test pads, is only <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$0.31\times0.22$ </tex-math></inline-formula> mm<sup>2</sup>.