Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Measurement of the Drug Sensitivity of Single Prostate Cancer Cells

Simple Summary Cells communicate mainly through the secretion of proteins. Impaired protein secretion can indicate the development of disease. Cancer cell heterogeneity and acquired resistance to therapy are, however, reducing the effectiveness of cancer treatments. As cancer cells change during the course of the disease, sampling of cancer cells at the time of treatment is needed in order to determine which drugs will be effective. This paper describes a method for measuring secreted prostate specific antigen (PSA) protein from thousands of prostate cancer (PCa) cells. Furthermore, we show that the PSA secretion of individual cells in microwells can be stimulated or inhibited with drugs. To this end, we believe that this method could accelerate the development of new drugs, improve our understanding of resistance to therapy, and, ultimately, improve personalized cancer therapy. Abstract The treatment of cancer faces a serious challenge as cancer cells within patients are heterogeneous and frequently resistant to therapeutic drugs. Here, we introduce a technology enabling the assessment of single cancer cells exposed to different drugs. PCa cells were individually sorted in self-seeding microwells, cultured for 24 h, and then exposed to several drugs to induce (R1881) or inhibit (Enzalutamide/Abiraterone) the secretion of a protein (PSA). Cell viability and PSA secretion of each individual prostate cell were monitored over a 3-day period. The PSA protein secreted by each cell was captured on a PVDF membrane through a pore in the bottom of each well. The basal PSA secretion was found to be 6.1 ± 4.5 and 3.7 ± 1.9 pg/cell/day for LNCaP and VCaP, respectively. After exposure to R1881, the PSA secretion increased by ~90% on average and was not altered for ~10% of the cells. PSA production decreased in the majority of cells after exposure to enzalutamide and abiraterone.
Analysis on waveguiding property of GaAs-AlGaAs MQW nonlinear optical waveguide

This paper investigates the characteristics of a nonlinear optical waveguide using the nonlinear index of refraction caused by room-temperature excitons in a multiple quantum well (MQW) structure. In the case where the MQW structure is used as a core, the MQW structure mentioned is considered as a single-layer nonlinear medium so that the entire structure is modeled as a three-layer slab waveguide. Further, the eigenmode expansion approach is applied to infinitesimal sections along the direction of propagation. Numerical analysis is carried out by this infinitesimal section eigenmode expansion technique. The change of the index of refraction accompanying the room-temperature exciton absorption line can take a positive or negative sign by detuning (of the frequency). When the optical propagation characteristics for both the positive and negative detunings are analyzed, it is found that the power trapping and power dissipation caused by the nonlinear effect occur significantly after a propagation within about one millimeter.
ECTyper: in silico Escherichia coli serotype and species prediction from raw and assembled whole-genome sequence data

Escherichia coli is a priority foodborne pathogen of public health concern and phenotypic serotyping provides critical information for surveillance and outbreak detection activities. Public health and food safety laboratories are increasingly adopting whole-genome sequencing (WGS) for characterizing pathogens, but it is imperative to maintain serotype designations in order to minimize disruptions to existing public health workflows. Multiple in silico tools have been developed for predicting serotypes from WGS data, including SRST2, SerotypeFinder and EToKi EBEis, but these tools were not designed with the specific requirements of diagnostic laboratories, which include: speciation, input data flexibility (fasta/fastq), quality control information and easily interpretable results. To address these specific requirements, we developed ECTyper (https://github.com/phac-nml/ecoli_serotyping) for performing both speciation within Escherichia and Shigella , and in silico serotype prediction. We compared the serotype prediction performance of each tool on a newly sequenced panel of 185 isolates with confirmed phenotypic serotype information. We found that all tools were highly concordant, with 92–97 % for O-antigens and 98–100 % for H-antigens, and ECTyper having the highest rate of concordance. We extended the benchmarking to a large panel of 6954 publicly available E. coli genomes to assess the performance of the tools on a more diverse dataset. On the public data, there was a considerable drop in concordance, with 75–91 % for O-antigens and 62–90 % for H-antigens, and ECTyper and SerotypeFinder being the most concordant. This study highlights that in silico predictions show high concordance with phenotypic serotyping results, but there are notable differences in tool performance. ECTyper provides highly accurate and sensitive in silico serotype predictions, in addition to speciation, and is designed to be easily incorporated into bioinformatic workflows.
Deterioration of Soil-Cement Piles in a Saltwater Region and Its Influence on the Settlement of Composite Foundations

AbstractSoil-cement mixed piles are widely used to improve soft subsoil. But in regions with high-salinity groundwater, the soil-cement is susceptible to deterioration. At present, however, the design code for soil-cement pile composite foundations does not consider the deterioration effect of soil-cement. The saltwater region in the Yellow River Delta of China is used as a case study. Based on early strength tests of soil-cement, a practical prediction method for the lifecycle bearing capacity of soil-cement piles is put forward, and the influence of deterioration on the settlement of composite foundations is studied using model tests and numerical simulation. The prediction method of pile bearing capacity considers the progressive deterioration of soil-cement, and it shows that the deterioration of soil-cement has a great influence on bearing capacity of mixed piles with an increase in age, and the loss ratio of bearing capacity quickly reduces with a decrease in pile diameter. The deterioration also in.
Rurality Versus Readiness: The Relationship Between State-Level Connection and Capacity Variables and the Management of Medical Stockpiles for a Public Health Emergency

This study investigates what factors contributed to the score a state received for managing its medical countermeasures stockpile pre-COVID-19. It is particularly interested in the relationship between a state’s level of rural population and its countermeasure management capacity. A fixed-effects regression analysis was run using data from 2016 to 2019 to test for a relationship between the percentage of rural population in a state and the states’ countermeasures management score, while controlling for other relevant social, economic, and political variables such as level of social associations, the segregation index, and the level of income inequality. Rurality and physicians per capita proved to be significant and negative. A subsequent analysis found that states with higher levels of rural populations have lower levels of COVID-19 vaccinations, even accounting for effective countermeasure management. This points to rural states having challenges in regard to medical countermeasures that cannot be completely solved with technocratic solutions.
Amygdala in Action: Functional Connectivity during Approach and Avoidance Behaviors

Abstract Motivation is an important feature of emotion. By driving approach to positive events and promoting avoidance of negative stimuli, motivation drives adaptive actions and goal pursuit. The amygdala has been associated with a variety of affective processes, particularly the appraisal of stimulus valence that is assumed to play a crucial role in the generation of approach and avoidance behaviors. Here, we measured amygdala functional connectivity patterns while participants played a video game manipulating goal conduciveness through the presence of good, neutral, or bad monsters. As expected, good versus bad monsters elicited opposing motivated behaviors, whereby good monsters induced more approach and bad monsters triggered more avoidance. These opposing directional behaviors were paralleled by increased connectivity between the amygdala and medial brain areas, such as the OFC and posterior cingulate, for good relative to bad, and between amygdala and caudate for bad relative to good monsters. Moreover, in both conditions, individual connectivity strength between the amygdala and medial prefrontal regions was positively correlated with brain scores from a latent component representing efficient goal pursuit, which was identified by a partial least squares analysis determining the multivariate association between amygdala connectivity and behavioral motivation indices during gameplay. At the brain level, this latent component highlighted a widespread pattern of amygdala connectivity, including a dorsal frontoparietal network and motor areas. These results suggest that amygdala-medial prefrontal interactions captured the overall subjective relevance of ongoing events, which could consecutively drive the engagement of attentional, executive, and motor circuits necessary for implementing successful goal-pursuit, irrespective of approach or avoidance directions.
Uncertainty-based computational robust design optimisation of dual-thrust propulsion system

This paper proposes a robust design optimisation methodology for performance evaluation of high-fidelity propulsion systems under both aleatory and epistemic uncertainties. In this paper, uncertainty-based robust design methodology is applied using first-order orthogonal design to estimate worst case of the uncertainties. The effectiveness and computational efficiency of proposed formulation is obtained by decoupling computation of both types of uncertainties in the optimisation process loop. The system robustness is measured by directly minimising the variance of target mean and standard deviation and adhering to performance constraints. A parametric sensitivity analysis of performance parameters due to input parameters variations is also performed to identify the most significant design variables. A hybrid genetic algorithm and simulated annealing approach are used as an optimiser. By using the proposed method, the objective function to maximise the booster phase to sustain phase thrust ratio and total impulse could be achieved while adhering to the motor performance constraints to provide an insensitive solution.
Influence of Settlements and Geometrical Imperfections on the Internal Stress State of Masonry Structures

Since a few decades, the Discrete Element Modelling (DEM) method has been adopted by many authors as a reliable tool for the structural assessment of unreinforced masonry (URM) structures. In this paper, through compas_dem and using 3DEC by Itasca as a solver in the background, we investigate the mechanical behaviour of a three-dimensional URM structure combining the effects of foundation displacements and geometrical imperfections. For this purpose, we consider three different models of the above-mentioned structure. The first one is a perfect digital model, while in the other remaining two models, random geometrical imperfections are applied to the perfect model in order to investigate their influence. After post-processing the 3DEC results, the influence of the applied vertical settlement and geometrical imperfections is explored in terms of crack pattern/mechanism, internal stress states, and the thrust exerted on the supports. The aim of this paper is not to find the actual stress state of the highly indeterminate structure, but to investigate the role played by the combined effects of foundation displacement and geometrical imperfections on the internal stress state.
Poplar Allene Oxide Synthase 1 Gene Promoter Drives Rapid and Localized Expression by Wounding

Promoters play critical roles in controlling the transcription of genes and are important as tools to drive heterologous expression for biotechnological applications. In addition to core transcription factor-binding motifs that assist in the binding of RNA polymerases, there are specific nucleotide sequences in a promoter region to allow regulation of gene expression. The allene oxide synthase (AOS) gene family are cytochrome P450s that are responsive to a variety of environmental stress, making them good candidates for the discovery of inducible promoters. Populus AOS homologs separate phylogenetically into two clades. Based on the 19 promoter motifs with significant abundance differences between the two clades, Clade I AOS genes are likely more responsive to hormones, salt, and pathogen, whereas clade II homologs are likely inducible by water stress. In this study, an upstream promoter from a Clade I poplar AOS encoding gene (AOS1) was cloned and used to drive the expression of a ß-glucuronidase (GUS) gene in Arabidopsis. AOS is an essential enzyme in the lipoxygenase pathway that is responsible for the production of many non-volatile oxylipins in plants, including the jasmonates, which are regulatory phytohormones coordinating a variety of biological and stress response functions. Consistent with AOS transcript expression patterns, we found that the poplar AOS1 promoter drives rapid and localized expression by wounding. The study provides insight on the responsive elements in the poplar AOS promoters, but more importantly identifies a strong wound-inducible and localized promoter for future applications.
Work-related strain and the prevalence of burnout syndrome in thoracic surgeons and research assistants in turkey

Background: Burnout syndrome (BS) is a slowly progressing clinical condition that can have negative effects on work life and cause serious social and economic losses. Our hypothesis in this study is that the working conditions of thoracic surgeons affect work-related stress and burnout levels (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, personal success). The aim of our study is to determine work-related strain and the prevalence of BS among the thoracic surgeons and research assistants in our country. Materials and Methods: Following the approval of the local ethics committee, 298 professionals were included in this cross-sectional survey study conducted between 01 December 2016 and 31 March, 2017. In addition to the 26 questions examining socio-demographic and work life sent via e-mail, participants were also sent the Work-Related Strain Inventory and the Maslach Burnout Inventory. Results: 81.9% of the participants were male and the age average was found to be 42.0 ± 7.6 (26-63) years. Participants consisted of 112 specialist physicians, 47 research assistants, 29 doctor lecturers/chief assistants, 59 associate professors, 51 professors, while 40.9% were working in university hospitals. The study found that there is no difference in terms of gender in the subscales of Work-Related Strain Inventory and the Maslach Burnout Inventory (p = 0.564, 0.760, 0.359 and 0.579 respectively), and that the score from Work-Related Strain Inventory increased in line with increased academic status, while physicians working at the university got higher scores from Work-Related Strain Inventory (p ˂ 0.0001). It was established that research assistants, and thoracic surgeons working in state hospitals and teaching hospitals had high scores in the emotional exhaustion (p < 0.001) and depersonalization subscales (p<0.001) of the Maslach Burnout Inventory, while professors and those working in university hospitals had higher personal accomplishment scores (p < 0.012). Conclusion: In the study, it was found that professors had higher point at Work-related Strain Inventory and personal accomplishment scores, whereas lower point at emotional burnout and depersonalization scores than in other academic titles. As a result, job-related strain was found to be significantly higher among academics with high workloads.
Assertion Driven Modified Booth Encoding and Post Computation Model for Speed MAC Applications

The Multiply-Accumulate Unit (MAC) is the core computational block in many DSP and wireless application but comes with more complicated architectures. Moreover the MAC block also decides the energy consumption and the performance of the overall design; due to its lies in the maximal path delay critical propagation. Developing high performance and energy optimized MAC core is essential to optimized DSP core. In this work, a high speed and low power signed booth radix enabled MAC Unit is proposed with highly configurable assertion driven modified booth algorithm (AD-MBE). The proposed booth core is based on core optimized booth radix-4 with hierarchical partial product accumulation design and associated path delay optimization and computational complexity reduction. Here all booth generated partial products are added as post summation adder network which consists of carry select adder (CSA) & carry look ahead (CLA) sequentially which narrow down the energy and computational complexity. Here increasing the operating frequency is achieved by accumulating encoding bits of each of the input operand into assertion unit before generating end results instead of going through the entire partial product accumulation. The FPGA implementation of the proposed signed asserted booth radix-4 based MAC shows significant complexity reduction with improved system performance as compared to the conventional booth unit and conventional array multiplier.
Quadratic MPC with ℓ0-input constraint

Abstract In this paper we propose a novel quadratic model predictive control technique that constrains the number of active inputs at each control horizon instant. This problem is known as sparse control. We use an iterative convex optimization procedure to solve the corresponding optimization problem subject to sparsity constraints defined by means of the l 0 -norm. We also derive a sufficient condition on the minimum number of active of inputs that guarantees the exponential stability of the closed-loop system. A simulation example illustrates the benefits of the control design method proposed in the paper.
Full wave analysis of short-circuit discontinuities in open coplanar waveguide with finite conductor thickness

A full wave spectral domain analysis used to characterize discontinuities in an open coplanar waveguide with finite metallization thickness is presented. This approach utilizes the extended deterministic spectral domain method to accurately model the dispersion and radiation losses of discontinuities in the coplanar waveguide with considerable metallization thickness at higher frequencies in millimeter waves. The effects of surface wave and radiation phenomena are taken into account by making use of the exact Green's function in the spectral domain. The analysis also includes the effects of both longitudinal and transverse electric field components in the apertures, and mode conversion near the short-circuit end. Numerical results for the calculations of the short-circuit reflection coefficient are presented for different conductor thicknesses of the open coplanar waveguide. It is shown that the finite conductor thickness has a significant effect on characteristics of the discontinuities at higher frequencies. <<ETX>>
Power quality detection and classification using digital filters

This paper presents a power disturbance detection and classification method based on a digital filtering technique. The key idea underlying the approach is to decompose a disturbed or distorted signal using a multi-channel filter bank. The decomposed signals are then processed to classify and evaluate the power disturbances. The proposed method has the potential to evaluate various power quality disturbances, such as interruptions, sags and steady state distortions. The effectiveness of the proposed method has been demonstrated under simulated typical power disturbances.
Perceived Brand Authenticity and LGBTQ Publics: How LGBTQ Practitioners Understand Authenticity

ABSTRACT This research seeks to shed light on perceived brand authenticity as it relates to LGBTQ stakeholders. Through in-depth interviews, this study centers the voices of LGBTQ practitioners to explore perceived brand authenticity. The empirical purpose of this study is exploratory: to gain a better understanding of perceived brand authenticity of LGBTQ marketing, as well as its drivers and consequences. The practical purpose of this study provides insights for both scholars and practitioners, suggesting methods for engaging in meaningful LGBTQ brand communication. Drawing from extant research, this article grounds its exploration in four dimensions of perceived brand authenticity: credibility, integrity, symbolism, and continuity. The article then identifies the prominence of skepticism in working with historically marginalized groups and proposes adding a fifth dimension: representativeness.
The Oil Spill Science Triad: Viewpoint on the Coexistence and Optimization of Models, Laboratory Tests, and Empirical Field Observations and Data for Natural Resource Damage Assessments

This paper provides a viewpoint on ways to blend and optimize the use of various scientific tools to address information needs as part of oil spill natural resource damage assessments (NRDAs). Oil spills are complex events of multidisciplinary interest, requiring the application of a blend of established, generally accepted approaches to answer the many scientific questions related to oil spill response and NRDAs arising during and after each spill. Each spill scenario is unique and demands different information, but central to all assessment strategies are questions around the needs for and the feasibility of collecting adequate representative field data versus (or more productively in concert with) the application of spill models, remembering that models alone can't create facts. Useful information also comes from considering the degree to which the processes and ambient measures in a new spill can be represented by extrapolations of data and information from prior spills. Through a discussion of a three-part “toolkit” or “triad” applied to different types of oil spill NRDAs, this discussion offers insights and suggestions, largely from a strategic scientific perspective, for optimizing the blend of these tools to sufficiently address the assessment of injuries to natural resources so restoration can be appropriately evaluated, scaled, planned, and implemented.
Can Broad Land Use Policies Maintain Connections Between Protected Green Spaces in an Urbanizing Landscape?

Green space protection is often used to counteract the ecological impacts of urban development. There is growing evidence, however, that protecting patches of green space will not ensure long-term sustainability of ecological conditions unless connections between patches are also maintained. In North America, very few residentially dominated regions have management plans that explicitly seek to maintain green space connectivity, short of purchasing land. The absence of such policies is likely due to the difficulty of devising and enforcing regulations that create discrete connecting corridors across private properties. This paper examines whether an alternative, and potentially more feasible, approach using broader land use policies can maintain green space connections across private property through the modification of residential development patterns. The potential of three land use policies (downzoning, cluster development, and water and wetlands buffers) is explored in detail through an analysis of policy simulations for two watersheds in New Jersey, USA. The scenarios’ green space connectivity was measured using two metrics designed to highlight the relationship between protected green space patches and conditions on the surrounding land. The results of the analysis suggest that none of the policies would be able to maintain protected green space connectivity if current development trends continue.