Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Why has adolescent smoking declined dramatically? Trend analysis using repeat cross-sectional data from New Zealand 2002–2015

Objectives Adolescent smoking has declined in New Zealand and in many other countries since the late 1990s, yet the reasons for the decline are not well understood. We investigated the extent to which established risk factors for adolescent smoking (parental, sibling and peer smoking, and exposure to smoking in the home) explained the downward trend. Design Trend analysis of repeat cross-sectional data from an annual nationally representative survey. Setting New Zealand. Participants Secondary school students aged 14–15 (n=398 221). Outcome measure Regular (at least monthly) smoking. Methods For each risk factor (parental smoking, best friend smoking, older sibling smoking and past week exposure to smoking in the home) we plotted prevalence of exposure, 2002–2015. Next, using multivariable logistic regression, we modelled the trend in regular smoking (expressed as an OR for year) adjusting for age, sex, ethnicity and socioeconomic position. The risk factors were added to the model—individually and collectively—to test whether they attenuated the OR for year. Results Exposure to all risk factors except ‘past week exposure to smoking in the home’ decreased between 2002 and 2015. We observed a strong downward trend in regular smoking among adolescents (OR=0.88 per year, 95% CI 0.88 to 0.88, p<0.001). ‘Best friend smoking’ was the only risk factor that significantly attenuated the trend. However, due to circularity, this factor provides an unsatisfactory explanation for population level smoking decline. Conclusions The established risk factors that we explored do not appear to have contributed to the remarkable decline in adolescent smoking in New Zealand between 2003 and 2015. Further research is needed to assess the possible contribution of factors outside our model, such as changes in the policy context, the social meaning of smoking and broader social and economic conditions.
First Direct Experimental Studies of Hf0.5Zr0.5O2 Ferroelectric Polarization Switching Down to 100-picosecond in Sub-60mV/dec Germanium Ferroelectric Nanowire FETs

In this work, ultrafast pulses with pulse widths ranging from 100 ps to seconds were applied on the gate of Ge ferroelectric (FE) nanowire (NW) pFETs with FE Hf0.5Zr0. 5O2 (HZO) gate dielectric exhibiting steep subthreshold slope (SS) below 60 mV/dec bi-directionally. With applied gate bias pulses (VG = -1 to -10 V), high-mobility Ge drain current was monitored as a test vehicle to capture the polarization switching of HZO. It was found that HZO could switch its polarization directly by a single pulse with the minimum pulse width of 3.6 ns. The polarization switching triggered by pulse train with pulse width as short as 100 ps was demonstrated for the first time.
Structural and Functional Analysis of a Bidirectional Promoter from Gossypium hirsutum in Arabidopsis

Stacked traits have become an important trend in the current development of genomically modified crops. The bidirectional promoter can not only prevent the co-suppression of multigene expression, but also increase the efficiency of the cultivation of transgenic plants with multigenes. In Gossypium hirsutum, Ghrack1 and Ghuhrf1 are head-to-head gene pairs located on chromosome D09. We cloned the 1429-bp intergenic region between the Ghrack1 and Ghuhrf1 genes from Gossypium hirsutum. The cloned DNA fragment GhZU had the characteristics of a bidirectional promoter, with 38.7% G+C content, three CpG islands and no TATA-box. Using gfp and gus as reporter genes, a series of expression vectors were constructed into young leaves of tobacco. The histochemical GUS (Beta-glucuronidase) assay and GFP (green fluorescence protein) detection results indicated that GhZU could drive the expression of the reporter genes gus and gfp simultaneously in both orientations. Furthermore, we transformed the expression vectors into Arabidopsis and found that GUS was concentrated at vigorous growth sites, such as the leaf tip, the base of the leaves and pod, and the stigma. GFP was also mainly expressed in the epidermis of young leaves. In summary, we determined that the intergenic region GhZU was an orientation-dependent bidirectional promoter, and this is the first report on the bidirectional promoter from Gossypium hirsutum. Our findings in this study are likely to enhance understanding on the regulatory mechanisms of plant bidirectional promoters.
Sigma-Tree:Design of a Data Structure for Storing File Data Allocation Map in a Distributed File System

The growth of the volume of data is enormous and so is the computational requirement for processing data. With the fast pace of growth of data volume, the file system design also needs to evolve fast to meet the various requirements of processing data. A significant problem in file IO is the ability to locate and access blocks or objects of a file that constitute the data. We present, in this paper, a design of a block/object allocation methodology which can handle different types of file blocks/objects. We explain the design of the methodology and introduce a new data structure that can handle different types of file IO with ease and efficiency.
Energy-Efficient Convolution Architecture Based on Rescheduled Dataflow

This paper presents a rescheduled dataflow of convolution and its hardware architecture that can enhance energy efficiency. For convolution involving a large amount of computations and memory accesses, previous accelerators employed parallel processing elements to meet real-time constraints. Though the previous approaches made a success in implementing complex convolution models, they load the same input features and filter weights from on-chip memories multiple times due to the iterative property of convolution operations, suffering from high energy consumption. To mitigate redundant memory accesses, a novel dataflow is proposed that computes convolution operations incrementally so as to reuse the loaded data as maximally as possible. In addition, several convolution accelerators supporting the rescheduled dataflow are investigated, and qualitative and quantitative analyses are performed to suggest a promising candidate for various convolution models. Simulation results show that the energy efficiency of the proposed accelerator outperforms that of the previous accelerator significantly.
Antioxidants: Positive or Negative Actors?

The term “antioxidant” is one of the most confusing definitions in biological/medical sciences. In chemistry, “antioxidant” is simply conceived “a compound that removes reactive species, mainly those oxygen-derived”, while in a cell context, the conceptual definition of an antioxidant is poorly understood. Indeed, non-clinically recommended antioxidants are often consumed in large amounts by the global population, based on the belief that cancer, inflammation and degenerative diseases are triggered by high oxygen levels (or reactive oxygen species) and that through blocking reactive species production, organic unbalances/disorders can be prevented and/or even treated. The popularity of these chemicals arises in part from the widespread public mistrust of allopathic medicine. In fact, reactive oxygen species play a dual role in dealing with different disorders, since they may contribute to disease onset and/or progression but may also play a key role in disease prevention. Further, the ability of the most commonly used supplements, such as vitamins C, E, selenium, and herbal supplements to decrease pathologic reactive oxygen species is not clearly established. Hence, the present review aims to provide a nuanced understanding of where current knowledge is and where it should go.
The Effect of Pressure on Terahertz In Vivo Spectroscopic Imaging

Spectroscopic THz imaging of human skin can reveal hydration levels and yield insight into skin afflictions. However, in-vivo measurements necessitate careful studies of all variables that can affect the skin's response. Here, we investigate how pressure affects the response of human skin during THz in-vivo investigations. Our findings show that increasing the pressure increases the refractive index. Therefore, inconsistent control of the pressure during THz in-vivo imaging will cause measurement inaccuracies and hinder valid diagnosis. Here we present how to monitor and control the pressure, our results can potentially be used for calibration of THz in vivo measurements.
Accelerated Laboratory Evolution Reveals the Influence of Replication on the GC Skew in Escherichia coli

Abstract Most bacterial genomes display contrasting strand asymmetry in a variety of features, such as nucleotide composition and gene orientation, of the two replichores separated by the replication origin and terminus. The cause for the polarization is often attributed to mutations arising from the asymmetric replication machinery. Notably, a base compositional bias known as a GC skew is focused on as a footprint of the bacterial genome evolution driven by DNA replication. Previously, although a replication driven mutation pattern responsible for the GC skew formation or the related mathematical models have been well reported, an exact impact of the replication-related elements on the genomic structure is yet actively debated, and not confirmed experimentally. However, the GC skew formation is very time consuming and challenging in the laboratory. We, therefore, used cytosine deaminase as a DNA mutator, and by monitoring the mutations during an accelerated laboratory evolution procedure with Illumina sequencing, we enabled the trial and error of the GC skew formation in high resolution. Using this technology, we succeeded in reconfirming the influence of bacterial replication machinery on the genomic structure at high resolution.
High-Performance Three-Stage Single-Miller CMOS OTA With No Upper Limit of  ${C}_{L}$

This brief presents a low-power, area-efficient three-stage CMOS operational transconductance amplifier (OTA) suitable for very large capacitive loads, <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${C} _{L}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>. A single Miller capacitor and an inverting current buffer embedded in the input stage are exploited to implement the frequency compensation network. An additional feed-forward path and a slew rate enhancer are also utilized to improve the large-signal transient response. Detailed small-signal analysis reveals that the proposed OTA does not exhibit an upper limit of drivable <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${C} _{L}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>. The OTA is fabricated in a standard 0.35-<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${\mu }\text{m}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> technology and occupies 0.0027 mm<sup>2</sup> of die area. Under 1.4-V supply and 6.36-<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${\mu }\text{A}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> quiescent current consumption, it provides a dc gain greater than 110 dB and is stable for any <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${C} _{L}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> larger than 5 nF. Comparison with the state of the art shows remarkable improvement of both small- and large-signal performance.
The Design and Application of Simplified Insole-Based Prototypes with Plantar Pressure Measurement for Fast Screening of Flat-Foot

This study aimed to find the correlation between conventional Arch Index (AI) measurements and our prototype of a simplified insole-based plantar pressure measurement system and to find out the effective plantar pressure sensor position. Twenty-one subjects participated in this study, which was divided into two groups: 10 subjects with flatfoot and 11 subjects with normal foot. Five force sensitive resistance sensors were used on this prototype using Arduino as the data acquisition device. Two types of trials, namely static and dynamic, were conducted to validate our system against the ink-type AI measurement as a golden standard. The results showed that in the static trial, there was a high linear correlation with the medial arch sensor configuration, while in the dynamic trial, there was a high linear correlation in the medial arch sensor configuration and sensor 5 configuration. This study showed that both static and dynamic tests using the self-developed device could effectively determine most of the flatfoot subjects and suggests that in the future, it can be applied in clinical applications because of its advantages when compared to the expensive-high tech graphic input board and conventional tools, like ink-type based measurements.
Complete Weight Distribution and MacWilliams Identities for Asymmetric Quantum Codes

In 1997, Shor and Laflamme defined the weight enumerators for quantum error-correcting codes and derived a MacWilliams identity. We extend their work by introducing our double weight enumerators and complete weight enumerators. The MacWilliams identities for these enumerators can be obtained similarly. With the help of MacWilliams identities, we obtain various bounds for asymmetric quantum codes.
Empirical Based Modeling for the Assessment of Dynamic Knee Stability: Implications for Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury Risk

Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries are common sports injuries, costing the U.S. roughly $1 billion annually. To better understand the underlying injury mechanism, Nyquist and Bode stability criteria were applied to assess frontal plane dynamic knee stability among male Australian Football players during the weight-acceptance phase of single-leg jump landing. Out of 30 landings, 19 were classified as stable and 11 as unstable. Medial and lateral vasti, hamstring and gastrocnemii muscle activation waveforms were analyzed in parallel to determine if individuals with stable and unstable frontal plane joint biomechanics possessed different lower limb neuromuscular strategies. The total quadriceps muscle activation during the stable landings were significantly higher (p=0.02) than during the unstable landings. Additionally, the vasti exhibited a medial dominance during the stable landings compared to the unstable (p=0.06). These results suggest that individuals with unstable frontal plane knee landing mechanics may have reduced recruitment of the muscles crossing the knee; specifically, the medial muscles, which could limit their ability to compress and support the joint. The stability criteria were able to classify stable and unstable knee mechanics. And the differences in muscle activation during these stable and unstable landings provided new insights towards the ACL injury mechanism and possible injury prevention countermeasures.
On Increasing Dependability of Web Services - an Approach to Design a Failure Detection Service

In recent years, the rapid proliferation of development and deployment of distributed systems based on service-oriented architecture (SOA) has been observed. Since for many SOA applications the dependability aspect is particularly important, the provision of a satisfactory level of failure monitoring in SOA systems is a crucial practical and research problem. To solve this problem, we have proposed FADE Failure Detection Service. In this paper we focus on the various aspects related to the communication layer of the proposed solution, used during exchanging the monitoring information. The proposed communications protocols aim in increasing the ef? ciency of FADE nodes cooperation and the scalability of the proposed service.
Rhetorical Relations in the Speech of Alzheimer's Patients and Healthy Elderly Subjects: An Approach from the RST

The study is aimed to extract discourse relations patterns in conversational speech of subjects with Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and adults with healthy aging processes using the Rhetorical Structure Theory (RST). By means of the RST, we analyzed semi-structured interviews of native Spanish speakers. Seven subjects were in the mild, moderate or advanced stages of AD, and 6 were cognitively intact individuals. The procedure involved the segmentation of each conversational discourse into Semantic Dialog Units (SDUs), the labeling of their rhetorical relations and the construction of tree diagrams. We perform acorrelation analysis to determine the significance of the use of rhetorical relations for each group. We found a significantly (p-value < .05) lower rhetorical relations production density in subjects with AD. We also observed that most rhetorical relations used by healthy older subjects were Elaboration, Concession, Interpretation, Non-Volitional Cause, Solutionhood and Volitional Result.
Evolution of leaf structure and drought tolerance in species of Californian Ceanothus.

PREMISE OF THE STUDY Studies across diverse species have established theory for the contribution of leaf traits to plant drought tolerance. For example, species in more arid climates tend to have smaller leaves of higher vein density, higher leaf mass per area, and more negative osmotic potential at turgor loss point (πTLP ). However, few studies have tested these associations for species within a given lineage that have diversified across an aridity gradient. METHODS We analyzed the anatomy and physiology of 10 Ceanothus (Rhamnaceae) species grown in a common garden for variation between and within "wet" and "dry" subgenera (Ceanothus and Cerastes, respectively) and analyzed a database for 35 species for leaf size and leaf mass per area (LMA). We used a phylogenetic generalized least squares approach to test hypothesized relationships among traits, and of traits with climatic aridity in the native range. We also tested for allometric relationships among anatomical traits. KEY RESULTS Leaf form, anatomy, and drought tolerance varied strongly among species within and between subgenera. Cerastes species had specialized anatomy including hypodermis and encrypted stomata that may confer superior water storage and retention. The osmotic potentials at turgor loss point (πTLP ) and full turgor (πo ) showed evolutionary correlations with the aridity index (AI) and precipitation of the 10 species' native distributions, and LMA with potential evapotranspiration for the 35 species in the larger database. We found an allometric correlation between upper and lower epidermal cell wall thicknesses, but other anatomical traits diversified independently. CONCLUSIONS Leaf traits and drought tolerance evolved within and across lineages of Ceanothus consistently with climatic distributions. The πTLP has signal to indicate the evolution of drought tolerance within small clades.
Automatic Leaf Segmentation for Estimating Leaf Area and Leaf Inclination Angle in 3D Plant Images

Automatic and efficient plant monitoring offers accurate plant management. Construction of three-dimensional (3D) models of plants and acquisition of their spatial information is an effective method for obtaining plant structural parameters. Here, 3D images of leaves constructed with multiple scenes taken from different positions were segmented automatically for the automatic retrieval of leaf areas and inclination angles. First, for the initial segmentation, leave images were viewed from the top, then leaves in the top-view images were segmented using distance transform and the watershed algorithm. Next, the images of leaves after the initial segmentation were reduced by 90%, and the seed regions for each leaf were produced. The seed region was re-projected onto the 3D images, and each leaf was segmented by expanding the seed region with the 3D information. After leaf segmentation, the leaf area of each leaf and its inclination angle were estimated accurately via a voxel-based calculation. As a result, leaf area and leaf inclination angle were estimated accurately after automatic leaf segmentation. This method for automatic plant structure analysis allows accurate and efficient plant breeding and growth management.
A feasibility study on an automated method to generate patient‐specific dose distributions for radiotherapy using deep learning

Purpose To develop a method for predicting optimal dose distributions, given the planning image and segmented anatomy, by applying deep learning techniques to a database of previously optimized and approved Intensity‐modulated radiation therapy treatment plans. Methods Eighty cases of early‐stage nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC) were included in the study. Seventy cases were chosen randomly as the training set and the remaining as the test set. The inputs were the images with structures, with each target and organs at risk (OARs) assigned a unique label. The outputs were dose maps, including coarse dose maps and converted fine dose maps (FDM) from convolution. Two types of input images with structures were used in the model building. One type of input included the images (with associated structures) without manipulation. The second type of input involved modifying the image gray label with information from radiation beam geometry. ResNet101 was chosen as the deep learning network for both. The accuracy of predicted dose distributions was evaluated against the corresponding dose as used in the clinic. A global three‐dimensional gamma analysis was calculated for the evaluation. Results The proposed model trained with the two different sets of input images and structures could both predict patient‐specific dose distributions accurately. For the out‐of‐field dose distributions, the model obtained from the input with radiation geometry performed better (dose difference in %, 4.7 ± 6.1% vs 5.5 ± 7.9%, P < 0.05). The mean Gamma pass rates of dose distributions predicted with both types of input were comparable for most OARs (P > 0.05), except for the bilateral optic nerves and the optic chiasm. Conclusions The proposed system with radiation geometry added to the input is a promising method to generate patient‐specific dose distributions for radiotherapy. It can be applied to obtain the dose distributions slice‐by‐slice for planning quality assurance and for guiding automated planning.
Editorial: Detection and Estimation of Working Memory States and Cognitive Functions Based on Neurophysiological Measures

Cognitive Systems Lab, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany, 2 Sleep and Human Factors Research, German Aerospace Center, Institute of Aerospace Medicine, Cologne, Germany, 3 Inria / LaBRI (CNRS Bordeaux INP Univ. Bordeaux), Talence, France, 4 School of Natural Sciences and Psychology, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, United Kingdom, 5 School for Mental Health and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, Netherlands