Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Using infrared-transparent pigments to identify objects

With the goal of developing an invisible code that can be used to identify objects, we have created several pigments for color printing that share the characteristic of being transparent to near-infrared light, along with methods to print them. Our recent research has emphasized applications as we continue to pursue our investigations of the characteristics of these infrared-transparent pigments. In the course of our studies, we have discovered a black pigment with high transparency in the infrared (AM-BK) (Makino, Yamamiya, and colleagues, 1997). This pigment has visible light characteristics that are the same to the naked eye as ordinary pigments, and like these pigments it is “lightfast,” that is, resistant to bleaching by light. For this reason, we anticipate that there will be applications for AM-BK in the so-called “universal design” area, whose goals are to provide information to visually impaired people, to keep track of lost or disoriented elderly people noninvasively, and so on. With this in mind, we have recently attempted to create pigments with colors other than black, and to increase the information density they can encode, so as to extend the range of uses for such pigments. In this article, we describe the optical characteristics of the pigments we have developed, and our efforts to use them in a specific type of invisible code. The inks we used in our code experiments generally were of two types: inks that incorporate carbon black (CB), which absorbs infrared light, and inks that contain AM-BK pigment, which is transparent to infrared light. By mixing these two varieties of inks with solid-color pigments, we were able to make pigments in three visible-light colors—yellow, red, and blue. In an experiment with applications in mind, we then screen-printed a bright yellow lattice-like floral pattern on a T-shirt with a “marker” for identifying an individual—the numbers [911]—hidden in it. Our results confirmed that when these numbers were concealed in the T-shirt pattern by printing them with the above-mentioned IR-transparent pigments AM-BK and CB, a CCD camera was able to distinguish them with ease although they were invisible to the naked eye. These experiments also revealed that as the amount of CB added to the pigment increases, its transparency to near-infrared light falls off exponentially. This shows that it is possible to create gray-scale contrasts, which could be used to encode high-density two-dimensional bar codes. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Syst Comp Jpn, 33(10): 74–82, 2002; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/scj.1159
Natural disaster, older adults, and mental health–a dangerous combination

Natural disasters by their very nature occur suddenly and have the potential to cause great harm at an individual, family, community, and societal level. They occur frequently, and with the escalation in extreme events related to climate change, the frequency, and severity of natural disasters will only increase (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), 2014). Globally, a growing number of people are being exposed to natural disaster; however, the vulnerability to exposure is not equally shared. Those who are socially, physically, economically, culturally, politically, institutionally, or otherwise disadvantaged are especially vulnerable to experiencing natural disaster.
CMUT design equations for optimizing noise figure and source pressure

The key parameters for the design of a capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer (CMUT) cell are the dimensions of the vibrating plate, i.e. plate diameter and thickness, and the gap height. These dimensions together with the magnitude of the dc bias voltage determine the transducer's center frequency, bandwidth, and transmit and receive sensitivity. For a given center frequency, choosing the plate dimensions typically requires a tradeoff between bandwidth and sensitivity. The expected magnitude of the ac excitation and dc bias voltage guides selection of the gap height. Finite element modeling and simulation of the equivalent circuit model help examine these design tradeoffs. However, analytical expressions give better design insight and aid quick evaluation of designs for given specifications. In this work, we develop expressions for transmit pressure and receive noise figure for a circular CMUT cell with bending plate and an ideal parallel-plate CMUT cell. In order to simplify the analysis, we neglect atmospheric pressure, assume a linear spring constant for the plate stiffness, and assume the dc bias voltage to be close to the pull-in voltage. These assumptions are typically valid for CMUTs similar to those designed for medical imaging.
Laminar organization of the afferent and efferent systems of the torus semicircularis of Gymnotiform fish: Morphological substrates for parallel processing in the electrosensory system

The torus semicircularis of Gymnotiform fish is an enlarged laminated midbrain structure which receives lemniscal input from electrosensory, mechanoreceptive lateral line, and auditory systems. The electrosensory input is confined to the dorsal torus, while the auditory and mechanoreceptive systems project to the ventral torus. Anterograde and retrograde techniques were used to determine the connections of the dorsal torus in Apteronotus and Eigenmannia. The dorsal torus can be divided into nine major laminae, each of which has distinct afferent and efferent connections. The dorsal torus receives five afferent inputs: (1) A contralateral topographic input from the posterior lateral line lobe (PLLL) projects to laminae III, V, VI, VII, VIIIB, and VIIID. (2) Eurydendroid cells of the caudal lobe of the cerebellum project contralaterally to lamina VIIIB. (3) A portion of the descending nucleus of V projects to laminae VIIIA, VIIIC, and IX. (4) Lamina I is a cap of fine myelinated fibers which may originate in the torus longitudinalis. They project to laminae II and III. (5) The ipsilateral optic tectum projects to the dorsal torus. The dorsal torus projects to six major targets: (1) Laminae VII, VIII, and IX project bilaterally to a lateral region of the diencephalon above n. preglomerulosus, herein named n. electrosensorius. An area below the dorsal thalamus receives a smaller ipsilateral projection. (2) Laminae II, V, VIvn, VII, VIII, and IX project topographically to the deeper laminae of the ipsilateral optic tectum. This projection is in spatial register with the visual map in the superficial layers of the tectum. (3) Lamina VIIID projects ipsilaterally to the lateral reticular formation. (4) All laminae other than I, VI, and VIIIB project topographically to the ipsilateral n. praeeminentialis, which provides a powerful descending projection to the PLLL. (5) Lamina IX projects to a dorsal pretectal area. (6) The ipsilateral inferior olive receives a projection from the dorsal torus.
CCR 9 antagonism : potential in the treatment of Inflammatory Bowel Disease

License. The full terms of the License are available at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/. Non-commercial uses of the work are permitted without any further permission from Dove Medical Press Limited, provided the work is properly attributed. Permissions beyond the scope of the License are administered by Dove Medical Press Limited. Information on how to request permission may be found at: http://www.dovepress. com/permissions.php Clinical and Experimental Gastroenterology 2015:8 119–130 Clinical and Experimental Gastroenterology Dovepress
Pediatric vacuum packing wound closure for damage-control laparotomy.

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE Recent studies advocate the use of the open-abdomen technique for managing the abdominal compartment syndrome and uncontrolled intraperitoneal sepsis. The authors have used vacuum packing (Vac-Pac) in pediatric patients with excellent results and have developed a method for closing widely distracted fascial edges to avoid the need for skin grafting. METHODS Patients who had an intraabdominal catastrophe best managed by a temporary open-abdomen technique were included. After damage control laparotomy, the Vac-Pac temporary closure was used. In 2 patients a corsetlike lacing was used to bring the widely separated fascial edges together gradually. RESULTS Five patients with intraabdominal sepsis and one with the abdominal compartment syndrome were included. The length of time the Vac-Pac was used ranged from 3 to 21 days. In 2 patients, the corset closure allowed wound approximation within 5 to 7 days. One patient died of overwhelming sepsis, the remainder of the patients survived. CONCLUSIONS The Vac-Pac technique for abdominal closure is a simple and inexpensive means by which to manage the open abdomen in the pediatric patient effectively. Use of a corset-type closure for wounds with widely distracted edges should eliminate the need for skin grafting over an open abdomen.
Dating Violence Victimization, Nonsuicidal Self-Injury, and the Moderating Effect of Borderline Personality Disorder Features in Adolescent Inpatients

The aim of the study was to examine whether Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) features moderate the relation between dating violence victimization (DVV) experiences and nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) in adolescent inpatients. A total of 184 adolescent inpatients completed measures on DVV, BPD features, and NSSI at admission to treatment. Bivariate analyses revealed significant relations between DVV, BPD features, and NSSI. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses demonstrated a moderating effect of BPD features such that in the low BPD features group, more severe DVV was associated with greater NSSI frequency; adolescents in the high BPD group endorsed elevated, though stable, levels of NSSI at all levels of DVV. BPD features differentially affect the relationship between DVV and NSSI. Low BPD adolescents exposed to high DVV appear to self-injure more frequently and at rates similar to high BPD adolescents when faced with more severe DVV, while DVV appears neither necessary nor sufficient to be the cause of NSSI in high BPD adolescents. Our results indicate that DVV may be a particularly important focal point for treating adolescents who self-injure and have been victimized by a dating partner. As such, Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) may serve as valuable clinical interventions.
Comparison of Selected Methods for the Enumeration of Fecal Coliforms and Escherichia coli in Shellfish

In a comparison of five selected methods for the enumeration of fecal coliforms and Escherichia coli in naturally contaminated and sewage-seeded mussels (Choromytilus spp.) and oysters (Ostrea spp.), a spread-plate procedure with mFC agar without rosolic acid and preincubation proved the method of choice for routine quality assessment.
Genetic variation for the positioning of wing veins in Drosophila melanogaster

SUMMARY To define the components of variation for wing shape in Drosophila in relation to what is known about the developmental control of wing patterning, we have characterized shape variation in the wings of 12 randomly chosen highly inbred lines. Despite large differences in wing size between males and females, and between flies reared at 18°C or 25°C, wing shape is remarkably unaffected by these variables and is highly line specific. The shape of each intervein region of the wing appears to be independently regulated at the genetic level, consistent with the role of secreted growth factors in establishing the locations of wing veins. Sex and temperature were found to have different effects on cell number in two intervein regions, with the result that wing shape is to a large extent independent of cell density. Dietary cholesterol was also shown to affect the breadth of the central intervein region, consistent with an effect on the strength of Hedgehog signaling during wing development. We conclude that wing shape is under tighter genetic control than wing size, and hypothesize that this control is achieved in large part by gene activity at the level of wing vein determination and differentiation.
The future of command and control for disaster response. Utilizing information and virtual reality technology, the Cybercare system can link resources throughout the country for distributed yet coordinated command and control.

We have developed a bioresponse system concept to respond to large-scale medical disasters, including overwhelming, contagious bioagent events such as smallpox, plague, and influenza. This system, called Cybercare, aims to substantially increase the surge capacity of the healthcare system by allowing healthcare systems throughout the country to link together to provide specialists and other resources to augment those available at a disaster site. Key to the concept of Cybercare is the notion of a robust, distributed command and control system that will enable rapid and sustained responses to large-scale medical disasters. The Cybercare information infrastructure can also be utilized to support training and analysis of response procedures as well as a wide range of medical and disaster applications that occur on a frequent basis, such as home healthcare monitoring and rural and remote medical treatment. The purposes of this article are to: 1) define the problem set addressed by the Cybercare concept, 2) provide the reader with a fundamental knowledge of command and control and an emerging paradigm shift in command structure for the medical and disaster management domain, 3) define technologies that can be used to create a command and control system, and 4) illustrate how the technologies can be integrated into a disaster response system using the command and control paradigm.
A hybrid feature selection method based on genetic algorithm and information gain

The curse of dimensionality in machine learning we are introducing in this paper is caused by increasing data, and the research focus of feature selection is described. The formalized definitions of redundancy and relevance of feature are presented. Based on entropy and mutual information of information theory, the issue of how to measure the relevance between features is discussed. The main contributions of this paper can be summarized as follows: i.in this paper a general framework to solve the problem of feature selection is proposed, by using this framework the selected attributes are clear and the selection and use of attributes are separated; ii, a cross propagation method for generation of attribute subset is proposed; iii, a hybrid feature selection method based on genetic algorithm and information gain(HFSAGI) is proposed. The experiment results show that, the classification accuracy of HFSAGI is better than others in the case of more attributes.
Wearable pattern reconfigurable patch antenna

This paper proposes a pattern reconfigurable wearable antenna based on a composite right/left-handed transmission line (CRLH TL). By turning switches on or off, the antenna can resonate both at the zeroth-order mode and the +1 mode, yielding a monopole and a patch like radiation pattern, respectively. Both operating modes cover the 2.4 GHz industrial, scientific and medical (ISM) band. The antenna is fabricated with textile material. It is robust under deformations and shows a low specific absorption rate (SAR).
Enhanced production of human influenza virus in PBS-12SF cells with a reduced interferon response

Influenza is one of the most important infectious diseases in humans. The best way to prevent severe illness caused by influenza infection is vaccination. Cell culture-derived influenza vaccines are being considered in addition to the widely used egg-based system in order to support the increasing seasonal demand and to be prepared in case of a pandemic. Cell culture based systems offer increased safety, capacity, and flexibility with reduced downstream processing relative to embryonated eggs. We have previously reported a chick embryo cell line, termed PBS-12SF, that supports replication of human and avian influenza A viruses to high titers (>107 PFU/ml) without the need for exogenous proteases or serum proteins. Viral infections in cells are limited by the Interferon (IFN) response typified by production of type I IFNs that bind to the IFNα/β receptor and activate an antiviral state. In this study, we investigated how neutralizing the interferon (IFN) response in PBS-12SF cells, via shRNA-mediated knock-down of IFNAR1 mRNA expression, affects influenza virus production. We were successful in knocking down ∼90% of IFNAR1 protein expression by this method, resulting in a significant decrease in the response to recombinant chIFNα stimulation in PBS-12SF cells as shown by a reduction in expression of interferon-responsive genes when compared to control cells. Additionally; IFNAR1-knock-down cells displayed enhanced viral HA production and released more virus into cell culture supernatants than parental PBS-12SF cells.
Prognostic with Local Variables of Papi Invasion Ilary Thyroid Carcinomas

To evaluate the significance of the extrathyroid extension (ETE) of papillary thyroid carcinoma at the time of diagnosis and the prognostic variables of patients, we retrospectively reviewed 1,013 thyroid cancer patients. Of the 741 papillary thyroid cancer patients, 466 (62.9%) were categorized in clinical stage I and 114 (15.4%) were categorized in clinical stage III. Of the 114 patients in clinical stage III, 81 were female (mean age 44.4 ± 15.7 years) and 33 were male (mean age 46.9 ± 18.1 years). Of the clinical stage III patients, 104 patients received post-operative radioactive iodide (1311) therapy while 22 patients received external radiotherapy in the neck and upper mediastinum area post-operatively. In the study, age, gender, 1311 accumulated dose, post-operative serum thyroglobulin (Tg) levels, and survival rate were demonstrated to be statistically significant in the groups with no recurrence and recurrence after treatment. The average follow-up period of these patients was 6.0 years. During this follow-up period, 11 patients expired. Eight died of thyroid cancer (7.0%) and 3 died of intercurrent diseases including asthma, renal cell carcinoma and propranolol overdose. Four of the 8 patients (50%) died of airway obstruction due to cancer cell invasion. Another 4 died of distant metastases, including 2 patients with skull metastases and brain invasion. The 5and 10-year survival rates were 0.981 and 0.956 in clinical stage I and 0.923 and 0.843 in clinical stage III, respectively. In conclusion, the survival rate of the ETE of papillary thyroid cancer was lower when compared with stage I, especially in older male patients with higher post-operative serum Tg levels.
Miniaturization of Rat-Race Coupler With Dual-Band Arbitrary Power Divisions Based on Stepped-Impedance Double-Sided Parallel-Strip Line

Generalized equations are presented for the design of a rat-race coupler with a phase inverter and an arbitrary power division, where its four arms are built by symmetric reciprocal lossless two-port networks. According to these equations, uniform- and stepped-impedance rat-race couplers are analyzed and synthesized with dual-band arbitrary power divisions. The relationships between the geometries and the design specifications of proposed dual-band rat-race couplers are completely determined. Under such circumstances, the most compact configuration of the stepped-impedance rat-race coupler is achieved when the maximum allowable impedance ratio is applied for all its arms. Several prototypes are realized with double-sided parallel-strip lines (DSPSLs) and DSPSL phase inverters. As the stepped-impedance arms are not limited to simulate 90° sections and the phase inverters are implemented into our proposed dual-band couplers, the component circumferences are reduced significantly by 65%-70%, in comparison with their conventional 540° counterpart. Their good performances are demonstrated by the simulated and measured results.
High frequency soft switching half bridge series-resonant DC-DC converter utilizing gallium nitride FETs

The need for efficient, smaller, lighter and cheaper power supply units drive the investigation of using high switching frequency soft switching resonant converters. This work presents an 88% efficient 48V nominal input converter switching at 6 MHz and output power of 21 Watts achieving power density of 7 W/cm3 for Power-over-Ethernet LED lighting applications. The switching frequency is used to control the output current delivered to the load resistance. The converter was tested using a constant resistance load. The performance and thermal behavior were investigated and reported in this work.
Cutting edge: novel RNA ligands able to bind CD4 antigen and inhibit CD4+ T lymphocyte function.

The value of high affinity-specific reagents in immunology is exemplified by the use of mAbs. Recent in vitro selection methods suggested that oligonucleotides may provide a useful alternative, especially where Abs have been insufficient thus far. We used a systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment (SELEX) procedure to derive high affinity oligonucleotide ligands (aptamers) recognizing CD4. These RNase-resistant aptamers bound with high affinity and specificity as demonstrated using BIAcore (Stevenage, U.K.) technology. They also bound native CD4 on rat lymphocytes and specifically interfered with labeling by high affinity mAbs. All aptamers recognized the same binding site in the CDR2-like region in domain 1 of CD4. The applicability of these aptamers for immunologic studies was clearly demonstrated by their ability to block a fully allogeneic MLR in a CD4-specific manner. The high affinity and stability of aptamers point to their value in the analysis and functional manipulation of the immune system.
Vancomycin and Ceftazidime Bioactivities Persist for at Least 2 Weeks in the Lumen in Ports: Simplifying Treatment of Port-Associated Bloodstream Infections by Using the Antibiotic Lock Technique

ABSTRACT The residual antibiotic concentration of vancomycin (2 mg/ml)- or ceftazidime (2 mg/ml)-heparin solutions instilled in ports in pediatric hematology-oncology patients 1 to 34 days earlier was measured. Antibiotic concentrations of ≥100 μg of either antibiotic per ml persisted for at least 21 days. For treatment of lumenal port infections, antibiotic-heparin dwell times of ≥2 weeks may be appropriate.
MicroRNAs and lung cancer: Biology and applications in diagnosis and prognosis

MicroRNAs are tiny non-coding RNA molecules which play important roles in the epigenetic control of cellular processes by preventing the translation of proteins from messenger RNAs (mRNAs). A single microRNA can target different mRNAs, and an mRNA can be targeted by multiple microRNAs. Such complex interplays underlie many molecular pathways in cells, and specific roles for many microRNAs in physiological as well as pathological phenomena have been identified. Changes in expression of microRNAs have been associated with a wide variety of disease conditions, and microRNA-based biomarkers are being developed for the identification and monitoring of such states. This review provides a general overview of the current state of knowledge about the biology of microRNAs, and specific information about microRNAs with regard to the diagnosis and prognosis of lung cancer.
Design and implementation of digital controller using FPGA for 200-kHz PWM inverter

This paper presents design procedure of a 200 kHz PWM inverter with a current controller. The switching devices of the inverter consist of Si-MOSFETs and SiC-SBDs, and an FPGA is used for digital control of output current waveforms. The authors have developed an FPGA controller with high-speed and synchronous AD converter. The processing time of FPGA can be ignored because of less than 100 ns, and the time delay of an AD converter could not also be taken into account. A laboratory system rated at 200-kHz PWM inverter is confirmed that the validity of the design procedure from the experimental results. Finally, the experimental results of 10-kHz sinusoidal current control will be shown.