Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
InP HBT Technologies for THz Integrated Circuits

Highly scaled indium phosphide (InP) heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) technologies have been demonstrated with maximum frequencies of oscillation ( $f_{\max}$ ) of >1 THz and circuit operation has been extended into the lower end of the terahertz (THz) frequency band. InP HBTs offer high radio-frequency (RF) output power density, millivolt (mV) threshold uniformity, and high levels of integration. Integration with multilevel thin-film wiring permits the realization of compact and complex THz monolithic integrated circuits (TMICs). Circuit results reported from InP HBT technologies include: 200-mW power amplifiers at 210 GHz, 670-GHz amplifiers and fundamental oscillators, and fully integrated 600-GHz transmitter circuits. We review the state of the art in THz-capable InP HBT devices and integrated circuit (IC) technologies. Challenges in extending transistor bandwidth and in circuit design at THz frequencies will also be addressed.
Non‐invasive quantitation of human liver metabolites using image‐guided 31p magnetic resonance spectroscopy

Phosphorus‐containing metabolites in normal human liver have been quantitated non‐invasively with 31P magnetic resonance spectroscopy using surface coils. The location of the volume of interest (VOI) was defined by 1H magnetic resonance imaging. Subsequently, a modified three‐dimensional localization technique (ISIS) was used to acquire 31P magnetic resonance spectra from the VOI. To account for partial saturation produced by rapid signal averaging, the spin/lattice relaxation times (T1) of all hepatic phosphorus resonances were measured. The corrected resonance integrals were used to derive absolute molar concentrations for the following hepatic metabolites (mmol/kg wet weight): ATP, 2.0; inorganic phosphate, 2.1; phosphodiesters, 5.4; and phosphomonoesters, 0.9. These values are compared with previously reported values for humans using freeze‐clamping techniques, and provide a basis for comparison with studies of hepatic disease in this laboratory.
Model simplification for interactive applications

As modeling and visualization applications proliferate, there arises a need to simplify large polygonal models at interactive rates. We present a simplification algorithm suitable for interactive applications. The algorithm is fast and can guarantee displayable results within a given time limit. Results also have good quality. Inspired by splitting algorithms from the vector quantization literature, we simplify models in reverse, from coarse to fine.
Gastrointestinal illness and the biopsychosocial model.

The derivation of and concepts underlying the biopsychosocial model have not been well explained. This model does not relate psychosocial processes to illness in a linear fashion (e.g., as "psychogenic" or "psychophysiologic"). Rather, the model considers the degree to which factors interact to explain an illness condition. As an example, the irritable bowel syndrome is not caused by a single etiology. Rather, it may result from dysregulation of central and enteric nervous system (CNS/ENS) function manifest as dysmotility and/or visceral sensitivity, and modified by psychosocial processes, all of which uniquely determine the experience of the illness. In this discussion, I trace the derivation of the biopsychosocial model and its application in modern gastroenterologic research and clinical practice.
Colour information in natural scenes : frequency of metamerism and colour gamut

Colour is an important source of information in the natural world. It can be used for distinguishing and identifying surfaces and objects and separating one region from another. For instance, flowers and grasses in a garden can be distinguished by their colours despite a change in illuminant. Intuitively, the identifiability of surfaces in a scene can be described by their volumes of colour gamuts. But is this approximation of the identifiability accurate? On the other hand, the existence of metamerism in natural scenes shows that colour is sometimes unreliable for surfaces identification. Estimating frequency of metamerism normally requires many comparisons between surface colours to determine their distinguishability under different illuminants. Is there a simpler approach to predict the frequency of metamerism in natural scenes? The aim of this thesis was to address these two questions about the identifiability of surfaces in natural scenes. To answer the first question, the volumes of colour gamuts were estimated over 50 natural scenes under different illuminants. The logarithm of the gamut volume was regressed on the differential entropy of colours. It was found that gamut volume can be an accurate approximation, given a colour difference threshold representing the visual distinguishability within an approximately perceptually uniform colour space. To answer the second question, the frequency of metamerism was estimated over 50 natural scenes with changes in illuminant; and predictive models were constructed based on different combinations of Shannon differential entropies of colours. There was strong dependence of the frequency of metamerism on the combination of the differential entropy and the conditional differential entropy of colours. It means that the frequency of metamerism can be predicted by the informational quantities of the colours in a scene.
Robust maximum torque per amp (MTPA) control of PM-assisted synchronous reluctance motor

In this paper, a practical maximum torque per ampere control scheme along with a simple parameter estimator for PMa-SynRM is introduced. In this method, MTPA condition is achieved by calculation of the output torque and perturbing one variable while seeking the maximum output torque at the particular operating point. The maximization of the electromagnetic torque might be sensitive to the variation of the motor parameters and also load torque. In order to reduce this sensitivity, a simple online parameter estimator is introduced and used to estimate the motor parameters and calculate the electromagnetic torque more accurately. In this case, variation and dynamics of the load are not affecting the behavior of the introduced controller
Osteopontin combined with CD44, a novel prognostic biomarker for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma undergoing curative resection.

BACKGROUND Osteopontin (OPN) plays important roles in tumor progression and metastasis through binding to CD44 and integrin. The goal of this study was to elucidate the prognostic significance of OPN and CD44 in hepatocellular carcinoma patients. METHODS Tumor tissue microarray was used to detect the expression levels of OPN and CD44 in 302 hepatocellular carcinoma patients undergoing curative resection between 1997 and 2000 at our institute. Clinicopathologic data for these patients were investigated. The prognostic effects of OPN and CD44 were evaluated using the Kaplan-Meier method and compared using the log-rank test. The Spearman rank test and Fisher's exact test were applied to demonstrate correlations. RESULTS Both OPN and CD44 were independent predictors for overall survival and disease-free survival. When OPN and CD44 were taken into consideration together, the predictive range was extended and the sensitivity was improved, especially for those patients with normal serum alpha-fetoprotein levels. The 8-year overall survival and disease-free survival rates in OPN+ and/or CD44+ patients were 28.2% and 25.6%, respectively, which were significantly lower than those of OPN-CD44- patients (52.1% and 51.6%, respectively). CONCLUSIONS OPN combined with CD44 is a promising independent predictor of tumor recurrence and survival in hepatocellular carcinoma patients.
New Approach to Improvement and Measurement of the Performance of PHY Layer Links of WSN

This paper presents a new approach to the improvement of the sensor node - base station (SNBS) links of physical layer of wireless sensor networks performance. The key idea is the consideration of SNBS as the remote measurement and estimation systems and application of the corresponding analytical tools. It is shown that the main difficulty in the improvement of digital SNBS performance is impossibility to formulate and solve the optimization task using well developed methods of the optimal estimation theory. In turn, the SNBS transmitting the signals formed by the sensors using analog pulse-amplitude transmitter adjusted over the feedback channel permit the formulation of analytical form of the mean square error (MSE) and solution of optimization task. The obtained optimal transmission-reception algorithm enables designing of a low energy-size-cost analog SNBS, which transmit the signals with minimal MSE and a bit rate equal to the capacity of the link. Moreover, the MSE of transmission determines the information characteristics of the links, as well as enables a development of the unified methods of the SNBS real performance evaluation and measurement.
Do hearing protectors protect hearing?

BACKGROUND We examined the association between self-reported hearing protection use at work and incidence of hearing shifts over a 5-year period. METHODS Audiometric data from 19,911 workers were analyzed. Two hearing shift measures-OSHA standard threshold shift (OSTS) and high-frequency threshold shift (HFTS)-were used to identify incident shifts in hearing between workers' 2005 and 2009 audiograms. Adjusted odds ratios were generated using multivariable logistic regression with multi-level modeling. RESULTS The odds ratio for hearing shift for workers who reported never versus always wearing hearing protection was nonsignificant for OSTS (OR 1.23, 95% CI 0.92-1.64) and marginally significant for HFTS (OR 1.26, 95% CI 1.00-1.59). A significant linear trend towards increased risk of HFTS with decreased use of hearing protection was observed (P = 0.02). CONCLUSION The study raises concern about the effectiveness of hearing protection as a substitute for noise control to prevent noise-induced hearing loss in the workplace.
Quadtree-guided 3-D interpolation of irregular sonar data sets

Bottom-penetrating sonar can be used to visualize large areas, for example by normal logging and printing of collected pings. In many applications, it is necessary to obtain an impression of three-dimensional (3-D) structures, but this is not easy because of the irregular spatial sampling due to coarse ship trajectories. Normally, the ping map and the ping data, cover only a very small part of a region of interest. In this paper, we describe a new method for interpolating irregularly spaced sonar data. The basic idea is to use a two-dimensional quadtree of the ping map in order to guide the 3-D interpolation process: since gaps between pings become smaller at higher tree levels, the volume can be filled by marking neighborhood relations in the quadtree and interpolating available pings when they become neighbors. Different marking schemes and their central processing unit times are compared. In the interpolation process, we apply cross correlations of ping data in order to construct continuity of sloping reflections. Our results show that excellent results can be obtained on real sonar data sets, even for volumes filled for less than 7%, for which processing times are reasonable even for large areas, and that the interpolated data can be used for volumetric interactive visualization.
Ontogeny of EGF Receptors During Postnatal Development of Mouse Small Intestine

This study was aimed at characterizing epidermal growth factor (EGF) receptors during postnatal development of the maturing mouse small intestine at a time when this tissue is in the constant presence of high levels of intraluminal EGF. Binding studies with [125I]EGF on isolated epithelial cells demonstrate the continued presence of EGF receptors along the entire length of the small intestine with minimal binding at birth (3.67 ± 0.30%/mg protein) and increasing steadily throughout postnatal life to reach adult values (10.39 ± 0.90%/mg protein) by the 26th day, with maximum binding on the 21st day (13.4 ± 2.2%/mg protein). This EGF binding pattern is similar for all three segments studied but was more pronounced for duodenum and jejunum, especially from day 14 on when binding capacity is more elevated in the proximal segments than in the ileum. Competition-inhibition curves of [125I]EGF by EGF reveal the presence of two classes of binding sites for which the number of sites and affinity constants are lower at birth than in adults. The continued presence of EGF receptors in mouse small intestine throughout the postnatal period thus provides support for the possible role of EGF as a modulator in the functional development of the maturing gastrointestinal (GI) tract.
Restriction endonuclease gene mapping studies of an Indian (Aγδβ)°‐thalassaemia, previously identified as Gγ‐HPFH

Summary. Restriction endonuclease mapping data are presented for the DNA of a young Indian homozygous patient (and his heterozygous parents) who were identified 10 years ago as having a Gγ‐hereditary persistence of fetal haemoglobin (Sukumaran et al, 1972). However, the present results indicate a genetic lesion in these persons which is similar to that observed in another Indian with (Aγδβ)°‐thalassaemia homozygosity (Amin et al, 1979) and is characterized by two relatively short deletions and an inversion involving the Aγ,δ and β globin genes (Jones et al, 1981a). Some additional blot hybridization studies have provided further data confirming the deletion‐inversion hypothesis.
Fission Yeast Homologs of Human Histone H3 Lysine 4 Demethylase Regulate a Common Set of Genes with Diverse Functions*

Schizosaccharomyces pombe contains two proteins, SWIRM1 and SWIRM2, with close homology to human histone H3 lysine 4 demethylase. Both proteins contain the amino oxidase catalytic domain and a recently described DNA interaction SWIRM domain. Here we describe the biochemical isolation and the functional characterization of SWIRM1 and SWIRM2. Our results indicate that while SWIRM2 is an essential gene, cells lacking SWIRM1 are viable. We found that SWIRM1 and SWIRM2 are stably associated in a multiprotein complex, but intriguingly, unlike their human counterpart, S. pombe SWIRM complex contains neither a histone deacetylase nor any detectable demethylase activity. Genome-wide chromatin immunoprecipitation unexpectedly showed the absence of both SWIRM proteins from heterochromatic domains. Instead, consistent with biochemical analyses, SWIRM1 and SWIRM2 co-localize to a common set of target gene promoters whose functions are implicated in diverse processes including mitochondrial metabolism and transcriptional regulation. Importantly, we show that SWIRM1 is not only required for optimum transcription of its target genes but also display a global role in regulation of antisense transcription.
Degraded character recognition based on gradient pattern

Degraded character recognition is a challenging problem in the field of Optical Character Recognition (OCR). The performance of an optical character recognition depends upon printed quality of the input documents. Many OCRs have been designed which correctly identifies the fine printed documents. But, very few reported work has been found on the recognition of the degraded documents. The efficiency of the OCRs system decreases if the input image is degraded. In this paper, a novel approach based on gradient pattern for recognizing degraded printed character is proposed. The approach makes use of gradient pattern of an individual character for recognition. Experiments were conducted on character image that is either digitally written or a degraded character extracted from historical documents and the results are found to be satisfactory.
Sensitive Detection of RNA Viruses Associated with Gastroenteritis by a Hanging-Drop Single-Tube Nested Reverse Transcription-PCR Method

ABSTRACT The detection of the human RNA viruses, calicivirus and astrovirus, requires high sensitivity and broad reactivity. A novel single-tube nested reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) method is described here, in which all of the required reagents are included in the one tube; however, those required for the nested amplification are separated in a “hanging drop” in the cap to be introduced by centrifugation after the RT and first-round cDNA amplification steps. Broad reactivity was obtained by using primer cocktails covering the published sequence variation in the primer targets. The method was evaluated with clinical fecal samples from outbreak and sporadic cases. Norwalk-like virus types 1 and 2 and rotavirus were the causal agents in 10 of 12 outbreaks. A viral agent was detected in 44% of 197 samples from sporadic infections in patients presenting to community health centers and a children's hospital. Interestingly, whereas rotavirus was more common than astrovirus in patients presenting to the hospital (33 and 7.6%, respectively), the reverse was true for patients presenting to community health centers (4.2 and 34%, respectively).
PROGINS Alu insertion and human genomic diversity

A polymorphic Alu element belonging to the young Ya5 subfamily of Alu repeats located in the progesterone receptor gene has been characterized. Using a polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based assay, the genetic diversity associated with the PROGINS Alu repeat was determined in a diverse array of human populations. The level of insertion polymorphism associated with PROGINS suggests that it will be a useful marker for the study of human evolution. In addition, we determined the distribution of the PROGINS Alu insertion in two groups of women from greater New Orleans, LA with breast cancer. The PROGINS Alu insertion was not associated with breast cancer in the populations tested. © 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Comparison of sensorless AC drive operation using MRAS method or Luenberger observer

Induction motor is utilized in wide area of electric drive applications. If sophisticated control of speed or torque is required, the actual rotor angular velocity must be known at every time instant. To obtain the speed information, an optical sensor is usually utilized. However, the usage of such sensor brings some undesired effects. The paper compares two very often used methods on a specific induction motor drive. The MRAS (Model Reference Adaptive System) method and Luenberger observer are tested on the drive controlled through the DTC (Direct Torque Control) strategy. Operation principles of both methods are explained and a mathematical model of the drive system is created. These methods promise very precise speed estimation in simulation environments but in real operation they work less accurate. This paper brings the results measured on real drive and shows the limitations of the methods that do not occur in simulations.
Symbolic vs. Connectionist Accounts of SLA

Generative Linguists following (Chomsky 1965, 1982, and 1995) have argued that grammar is innate, exist in brain as domain-specific module, and is transmitted by genetic inheritance. They also argued for rule-governed nature of language and language acquisition. They have resorted to many arguments to justify these claims among which, the complexity of language, the poverty of stimulus and the lack of negative evidence can be mentioned (Cook and Newson, 1996). For some decades these theories have been widely accepted as being not controversial and even undeniable. But within the last two decades these ideas have been strongly disputed by emergentists, construction grammarians, associationists, and connectionists. These approaches differ strikingly from other accounts of language learning. They do not believe that language acquisition is the result of internalizing language rules. Instead, in these approaches, the importance is put on construction of associative patterns (Mitchell & Myles 2004). Among these approaches to language the last one, connectionism, is greatly distinguished by others in its research techniques. The development of neural network computer simulations or what has come to be known as Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) has helped researchers in this approach to make stronger claims about the nature of language and language acquisition. This has helped them to move from making abstract and obscurant theories toward entangling with concrete and physical realities. The present paper is an attempt to compare and contrast the symbolic and connectionist approaches to second language acquisition.
Transcription Termination by Phage HK022 Nun Is Facilitated by COOH-terminal Lysine Residues*

The 109-amino acid Nun protein of prophage HK022 excludes superinfecting bacteriophage λ by blocking transcription elongation on the λ chromosome. Multiple interactions between Nun and the transcription elongation complex are involved in this reaction. The Nun NH2-terminal arginine-rich motif binds BOXB sequence in nascent λ transcripts, whereas the COOH terminus binds RNA polymerase and contacts DNA template. Nun Trp108 is required for interaction with DNA and transcription arrest. We analyzed the role of the adjacent Lys106 and Lys107 residues in the Nun reaction. Substitution of the lysine residues with arginine (K106R/K107R) had no effect on transcription arrest in vitro or in vivo. Nun K106A/K107A was partially active, whereas Nun K106D/K107D was defective in vitro and failed to exclude λ. All mutants bound RNA polymerase and BOXB. In contrast to Nun K106R/K107R and K106A/K107A, Nun K106D/K107D did not cross-link DNA template. These results suggest that transcription arrest is facilitated by electrostatic interactions between positively charged Nun residues Lys106 and Lys107 and negatively charged DNA phosphate groups. These may assist intercalation of Trp108 into template.
Moloney Leukemia Virus 10 (MOV10) Protein Inhibits Retrovirus Replication*

Moloney leukemia virus 10 (MOV10) protein is a superfamily-1 RNA helicase, and it is also a component of the RNA-induced silencing complex. Recent studies have shown that MOV10 plays an active role in the RNA interference pathway. Here, we report that MOV10 inhibits retrovirus replication. When it was overexpressed in viral producer cells, MOV10 was able to reduce the infectivity of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1), simian immunodeficiency virus, and murine leukemia virus. Conversely, when MOV10 expression was reduced by small interfering RNAs, HIV-1 infectivity was increased. Consistently, silencing of MOV10 expression in a human T cell line enhanced HIV-1 replication. Furthermore, we found that MOV10 interacts with HIV-1 nucleocapsid protein in an RNA-dependent manner and is packaged into virions. It blocks HIV-1 replication at a postentry step. In addition, we also found that HIV-1 could suppress MOV10 protein expression to counteract this cellular resistance. All of these results indicate that MOV10 has a broad antiretroviral activity that can target a wide range of retroviruses, and it could be actively involved in host defense against retroviral infection.