Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Successive soliton explosions in an ultrafast fiber laser.

Soliton explosions, as one of the most fascinating nonlinear phenomena in dissipative systems, have been investigated in different branches of physics, including the ultrafast laser community. Herein, we reported on the soliton dynamics of an ultrafast fiber laser from steady state to soliton explosions, and to huge explosions by simply adjusting the pump power level. In particular, the huge soliton explosions show that the exploding behavior could operate in a sustained, but periodic, mode from one explosion to another, which we term as "successive soliton explosions. " The experimental results will prove to be fruitful to the various communities interested in soliton explosions.
Testing Explanatory Power of Two Behavioral Models for Price Continuation

The overconfidence and self-attribution model developed by Daniel, Hirshleifer and Subrahmanyam (1998) forecasts a stronger price continuation for low book-to-market stocks. Besides, Hong and Stein’s (1999) sluggish information spreading model predicts a higher price continuation for small firms. This study provides evidence that neither predictions can hold in the Taiwanese stock market, inconsistent with the strong confirmation of US evidence. The discrepancy of results in the two markets implies that existence of price continuation might be a global phenomenon, yet the underlying sources may be market specific.
Automatic calibration method using transmitting signals of an adaptive array for TDD systems

Adaptive arrays are especially effective in reducing cochannel interference and increasing channel capacity in time-division duplex (TDD) mobile communication systems because, ideally, the optimum pattern formed in the receiving mode can be applied to the transmitting pattern. However, since the radiation pattern of the adaptive array is generally formed on a baseband, the amplitude and phase errors must be calibrated between the branches of the array due to individual differences in the radio frequency (RF) devices of the receivers and transmitters. Moreover, since these errors change over time due to temperature variations, real-time calibration is required. This correspondence proposes an automatic calibration method using transmitting signals (ACT) for adaptive base station antennas that is suitable for TDD communication systems, i.e., it enables real-time calibration. The effectiveness of the proposed calibration method is demonstrated using an experimental adaptive array testbed.
A Deadline-Aware and Distance-Aware Packet Scheduling Algorithm for Wireless Multimedia Sensor Networks

We propose a wireless differentiated queuing service (WDQS) algorithm to meet the diverse delay requirements in wireless multimedia sensor networks (WMSNs). WDQS adopts novel latest departure time (LDT) scheduling criteria to differentiate forwarding emergency by considering the packets’ lifetime, the known delay it has already experienced, and the remaining delay it will experience. We also propose an effective approach to estimate the unknown delay for the remaining journey without any message overhead by exploiting the query mechanism of the sink. We further discuss analytically the packet's lifetime setting to meet the end-to-end (e2e) delivery requirement. The simulation results verify our analytical discussion and show performance improvements in terms of e2e delay and packet drop rate.
Synchronized synthesis of peptide-based macrocycles by digital microfluidics.

made with high chemoselectivity from amino acids or linear peptides, isocyanides, and amphoteric aziridine aldehydes in a one-step process. Importantly, the resulting products possess useful structural features that allow specific modification at defined positions. In our initial work, we formed serial batches of peptides using conventional macroscale synthetic techniques. The utility of this method is limited, however, without a high-throughput approach for generating focused libraries of peptide macrocycles. Such a method would be automated and would enable multistep reactions to be handled in parallel. Herein, we present a new miniaturized technique for synchronized on-chip synthesis of peptide macrocycles and related products. The most common format for miniaturized synthesis is enclosed microchannels in planar platforms. Such systems have been used for conventional organic synthesis, polymerization reactions, formation of biomolecules, such as peptides and DNA, and generation of nanoparticles and colloids. However, there are some challenges that limit the scope of their use for parallel chemical synthesis. For example, many microchannel platforms are formed from poly(dimethylsiloxane), a material that is susceptible to degradation in common organic solvents. Furthermore, control of many reagents simultaneously (a feature required to implement parallel synthetic reactions) in microchannels requires pumps, tubing, valves, and/or threedimensional channel networks that can be difficult to fabricate and operate. This has prompted researchers to develop specialized techniques to overcome this limitation. Another disadvantage associated with the microchannel format is the challenge inherent in the removal of solvents and re-dissolution of solids that are common steps in synthesis. Solid reagents and products can clog microchannels, making targeted reagent delivery difficult to control. Finally, the small volumes of samples in microchannels makes it difficult to recover them in sufficient quantities for off-line analysis techniques, such as NMR spectroscopy. In need of a platform capable of generating a) peptide macrocycles for downstream transfer onto functionalized surfaces, and b) spatially resolved macrocyclic peptide products in the solid state, we chose an alternative format for automation of synthesis, called digital microfluidics. In digital microfluidics, discrete nL to mL sized droplets of samples and reagents are controlled in parallel by applying a series of electrical potentials to an array of electrodes coated with a hydrophobic insulator (Figure 1). Digital microfluidics has become popular for biological and chemical applications, including cell culture and assays, enzyme assays, immunoassays, protein processing, clinical sample processing and analysis, and synthesis of anisotropic Scheme 1. Synthesis of peptide-based macrocycles and their structurally modified derivatives.
Does Fusion Status Correlate with Patient Outcomes in Lumbar Spinal Fusion?

Study Design. Prospective cohort. Objectives. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between radiographic fusion and patient-reported health-related quality of life (HRQOL) measures in patients undergoing instrumented posterolateral lumbar fusion. Summary of Background Data. Previous studies have shown that a solid fusion does not always produce clinical success. However, these studies did not use validated patient-reported HRQOL measures. Methods. One hundred ninety-three patients who underwent instrumented posterolateral fusion with complete preoperative and 2-year HRQOL measures and a fine-cut computed tomographic (CT) scan with reconstructions done at 2 years after surgery specifically done to assess fusion status were identified. HRQOL measures included the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI), the Short Form-36 and back and leg pain numerical rating scales. The percentage of patients reaching the minimum clinically important difference and substantial clinical benefit for ODI and Short Form-36 were also calculated. CT scans were graded as fused or not by three independent reviewers. Comparisons were made in outcomes measures between the patients with solid fusions and those judged not to have a solid radiographic fusion. Results. There were 124 women and 69 men with an average age of 63 years. Patients judged to have a solid fusion demonstrated a better ODI score at 2 years than those who were not solidly fused (P = 0.023). There was a trend toward greater improvement in mean ODI score in those with a solid fusion (P = 0.074). A statistically greater number of patients who had a solid fusion (111 of 171, 65%) achieved the minimum clinically important difference for ODI than those who did not achieve a solid fusion (7 of 22, 32%) (P = 0.004). Conclusion. A greater proportion of patients achieved clinically relevant improvements in low back specific quality-of-life measures when they had achieved a solid fusion than patients who did not have a solid fusion. Although radiographic fusion may not be the true measure of clinical success, this study suggests that solid arthrodesis contributes to clinical outcome and is an important goal of fusion surgery.
In vivo delivery of lentiviral vectors expressing vasoactive intestinal peptide complementary DNA as gene therapy for collagen-induced arthritis.

OBJECTIVE Vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) has been shown to exert potent immunomodulatory activity, and the use of lentiviral vectors has been found to be an effective means of gene delivery. The present study was therefore undertaken to investigate the feasibility and efficiency of gene therapy using lentiviral vectors expressing VIP (LentiVIP) for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). METHODS We evaluated the therapeutic potential of the gene therapy strategy in the collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) mouse model, administering the vectors at different phases of the disease. The inflammatory response was determined by measuring the levels of various inflammatory cytokines and chemokines in the joints and serum. The Th1-mediated response was evaluated by determining the proliferative response and cytokine profile of T cells stimulated with autoantigen. RESULTS A single intraperitoneal injection of LentiVIP was highly effective in treating CIA. Mice with established, severe arthritis showed complete regression of the disease. The therapeutic effect of LentiVIP was associated with widespread biodistribution of the vector and increased VIP levels, especially in joints and lymphoid organs, and was mediated through a striking reduction of the 2 deleterious components of the disease, i.e., the autoimmune response (self-reactive Th1 cell activity and autoantibody production) and the inflammatory response. LentiVIP treatment also induced the generation and/or activation of CD4+,CD25+,FoxP3+ Treg cells in arthritic mice. CONCLUSION Our findings show that in vivo administration of lentiviral vector expressing VIP produces one of the most potent therapeutic effects described so far in any animal model of RA. We propose that VIP gene transfer should be further investigated as a potential novel, effective treatment of RA and other chronic autoimmune disorders.
SPATIAL-TEMPORAL NEURAL NETWORKS

This paper proposes a novel method using deep spatialtemporal neural networks based on deep Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) for multimedia event detection. To sufficiently take advantage of the motion and appearance information of events from videos, our networks contain two branches: a temporal neural network and a spatial neural network. The temporal neural network captures motion information by Recurrent Neural Networks with the mutation of gated recurrent unit. The spatial neural network catches object information by using the deep CNN, to encode the CNN features as a bag of semantics with more discriminative representations. Both the temporal and spatial features are beneficial for event detection in a fully coupled way. Finally, we employ the generalized multiple kernel learning method to effectively fuse these two types of heterogeneous and complementary features for action recognition. Experiments on TRECVID MEDTest 14 dataset show that our method achieves better performance than the state of the art.
Intention to Use E-Government Websites among Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) Students

In almost every country, government agencies are making their services available online. The success of e-Government initiatives is contingent upon citizen’s willingness to use these Web-enabled services. This study investigates and examines the intention to use e-Government services among students in Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Penang. A research framework based on the PCI (Perceived Characteristics of Innovating) by Moore and Benbasat (1991) to identify factors that would determine and influence the intention to use e-Government websites and services. A survey involving a total of 145 university students was conducted. The results reveal that relative advantage and ease of use are the significant drivers of intention to use e-Government whereas image and compatibility were not important. The implications for research and practice are also explored.
Exploring the Linkage between Awareness and Perception of High-performance Work Practices with Employee Well-being at Workplace: A New Dimension for HRM

The present study is an attempt to examine critical perspective of high-performance work system in Indian settings. As per critical perspective, high-performance work practices (HPWPs) may lead to increase in job demands and pressure, which, in turn, may result into poor employee attitudes and well-being. The article seeks to examine the perspective by exploring the direct linkage between HPWPs and employee well-being. Employee well-being is studied through three constructs, namely, employee commitment, job satisfaction, and work–life balance satisfaction. Data reveal direct statistical relationship between awareness and perception of employees with all three constructs of employee well-being. Thus the article statistically discards critical perspective and approves mutual gain perspective of high performance practices. Further managerial implications and theoretical contribution of the article is also discussed.
Evaluation of Peripheral Vascular Endothelial Function with a Portable Ultrasound Device

Endothelial function can be assessed noninvasively by imaging the brachial artery with ultrasound before and during reactive hyperemia. However, the standard ultrasound equipment typically used for this purpose is limited by size and expense of the machinery. In this study, we compared the ability of a portable ultrasound device to standard ultrasound equipment to visualize the brachial artery for purposes of assessing peripheral vascular endothelial function. The portable device provided comparable imaging of the brachial artery at rest and during hyperemia to that of standard ultrasound technology. These findings support the feasibility of noninvasive evaluation of peripheral endothelial function in the ambulatory setting.
Statement nterpreting the Clinical Importance of Treatment Outcomes n Chronic Pain Clinical Trials : IMMPACT Recommendations

A consensus meeting was convened by the Initiative on Methods, Measurement, and Pain Assessment in Clinical Trials (IMMPACT) to provide recommendations for interpreting clinical importance of treatment outcomes in clinical trials of the efficacy and effectiveness of chronic pain treatments. A group of 40 participants from universities, governmental agencies, a patient self-help organization, and the pharmaceutical industry considered methodologic issues and research results relevant to determining the clinical importance of changes in the specific outcome measures previously recommended by IMMPACT for 4 core chronic pain outcome domains: (1) Pain intensity, assessed by a 0 to 10 numerical rating scale; (2) physical functioning, assessed by the Multidimensional Pain Inventory and Brief Pain Inventory interference scales; (3) emotional functioning, assessed by the Beck Depression Inventory and Profile of Mood States; and (4) participant ratings of overall improvement, assessed by the Patient Global Impression of Change scale. It is recommended that 2 or more different methods be used to evaluate the clinical importance of improvement or worsening for chronic pain clinical trial outcome measures. Provisional benchmarks for identifying clinically important changes in specific outcome measures that can be used for outcome studies of treatments for chronic pain are proposed. Perspective: Systematically collecting and reporting the recommended information needed to evaluate the clinical importance of treatment outcomes of chronic pain clinical trials will allow additional validation of proposed benchmarks and provide more meaningful comparisons of chronic pain treat-
Importance and methodologies of endodontic microleakage studies: A systematic review

Introduction It is very important to obtain a tight seal in obturated root canal, making it necessary to conduct clinical or laboratory studies on the sealability of endodontic materials. Different methodologies have been historically used to assess microleakage of different endodontic materials. The aim of the present study was to comprehensively review different material testing methods used in microleakage studies, their interpretation and importance in endodontic literature. Material and Methods A systematic search was conducted in Medline, Cochrane, and Web of Science databases. In addition, the reference lists of review articles on the topic were searched. No language restriction was applied. Two independent reviewers screened the article. Results Microleakage is considered the single most important risk factor responsible for apical periodontitis. Dye penetration, dye diffusion, bacterial and endototoxin infiltration, fluid filtration, glucose, caffeine and protein infiltration, radioisotope penetration, animal studies, and electrochemical or 3D evaluation are different methodologies used to assess dental leakage. 91 out of 177 articles in the primary search were included in the study. These methods are very divergent in their viewpoints; that is why their results cannot be easily compared. It is necessary to standardize microleakage detection methods in order to more correctly evaluate the phenomena that are found between the root canal wall and the root canal filling materials. Conclusions All the methods are useful if studies are performed strictly with large sample sizes and proper control groups and if the technique can be standardized. Furthermore, more evaluations of the reliability of the methods are strongly recommended. Key words:Dental leakage, review, root canal, material testing methods, data interpretation.
Smad4 is required for maintaining normal murine postnatal bone homeostasis

Transforming growth factor β (TGFβ) is a multifunctional cytokine involved in skeletal development. Smad4 is the central intracellular mediator of TGFβ signaling. Our previous studies reveal that Smad4 is required for maintaining the normal development of chondrocytes in the growth plate. However, its biological function during postnatal bone remodeling is largely unknown. To investigate the role of Smad4 in maintaining bone homeostasis, we disrupted the Smad4 gene in differentiated osteoblasts using the Cre-loxP system. The Smad4 mutant mice exhibited lower bone mass up to 6 months of age. The proliferation and function of the mutant osteoblasts were significantly decreased. Bone mineral density, bone volume, bone formation rate and osteoblast numbers were remarkably reduced in Smad4 mutants. Intriguingly, the trabecular bone volume in Smad4 mutant mice older than 7 months was higher than that of controls whereas the calvarial and cortical bone remained thinner than in controls. This correlated with reduced bone resorption possibly caused by downregulation of TGFβ1 and alteration of the ligand receptor activator of NF-κB (RANKL)-osteoprotegerin (OPG) axis. These studies demonstrate essential roles of Smad4-mediated TGFβ signaling in coupling bone formation and bone resorption and maintaining normal postnatal bone homeostasis.
Final Evaluation of the 2005 to 2007 National Pediatric Emergency Medicine Fellows' Conferences

Objective: Evaluate the effectiveness of the 2005 to 2007 National Pediatric Emergency Medicine (PEM) Fellows Conference series in achieving predefined objectives in the domains of scholarship, leadership, and partnership. Methods: Conference attendees included fellows in the existing PEM fellowship programs. Self-administered preconference and postconference questionnaires measured knowledge, research-related confidence, beliefs about institutional support for Emergency Medical Services for Children (EMSC) research, and intentions to engage in 7 specific behaviors relating to scholarship, leadership, and partnership. Pearson product-moment correlations measured relationships among continuous variables. Repeated-measures analysis of variance measured change between preconference and postconference measures. Hierarchical multiple linear regression models identified predictors of postconference intentions to engage in each of the 7 specific behaviors, controlling for preconference intention. Results: Approximately one third of all PEM fellows attended the conference each year. Preconference and postconference questionnaires were completed by at least 70% of attendees each year. Because several fellows attended more than one conference, data were analyzed from the first conference that a fellow attended. In each year, we observed significant increases in attendees' conference-specific knowledge, confidence, and intentions to continue in EMSC research, join national collaborative research networks, and establish national mentoring relationships. Conclusions The National PEM Fellows' Conference is an effective means to increasing fellows' knowledge about scholarship, leadership, and partnership in EMSC and increasing their confidence and intentions to conduct research in EMSC.