Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Bacteriocin BacSp222 and Its Succinylated Forms Exhibit Proinflammatory Activities Toward Innate Immune Cells 

Purpose The zoonotic opportunistic pathogen Staphylococcus pseudintermedius 222 produces BacSp222 – an atypical peptide exhibiting the features of a bacteriocin, a virulence factor, and a molecule modulating the host inflammatory reaction. The peptide is secreted in an unmodified form and, additionally, two forms modified posttranslationally by succinylation. This study is a comprehensive report focusing on the proinflammatory properties of such molecules. Methods The study was performed on mouse monocyte/macrophage-like and endothelial cell lines as well as human neutrophils. The following peptides were studied: BacSp222, its succinylated forms, the form deprived of formylated methionine, and a reference bacteriocin – nisin. The measurements of the nitric oxide (NO) level, induced NO synthase (iNOS) expression, the profile of secreted cytokines, NF-kappa-B activation, reactive oxygen species (ROS) biosynthesis, and the formation of extracellular traps were conducted to evaluate the proinflammatory activity of the studied peptides. Results BacSp222 and its succinylated forms effectively induced NO production and iNOS expression when combined with IFN-gamma in macrophage-like cells. All natural BacSp222 forms used alone or with IFN-gamma stimulated the production of TNF-alpha, MCP-1, and IL-1-alpha, while the co-stimulation with IFN-gamma increased IL-10 and IL-27. Upregulated TNF-alpha secretion observed after BacSp222 exposition resulted from increased expression but not from membrane TNF-alpha proteolysis. In neutrophils, all forms of bacteriocin upregulated IL-8, but did not induce ROS production or NETs formation. In all experiments, the activities of deformylated bacteriocin were lower or unequivocal in comparison to other forms of the peptide. Conclusion All naturally secreted forms of BacSp222 exhibit proinflammatory activity against monocyte-macrophage cells and neutrophils, confirming that the biological role of BacSp222 goes beyond bactericidal and cytotoxic effects. The atypical posttranslational modification (succinylation) does not diminish its immunomodulatory activity in contrast to the lower antibacterial potential or cytotoxicity of such modified form established in previous studies.
Investigation of Staggered PWM Scheme for AC Common Mode Current Minimization in SiC-Based Three-Phase Inverters

The advent of SiC devices which results in lower rise times and steep <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\text{d}v/\text{d}t$ </tex-math></inline-formula> at the inverter terminal can compromise the common mode (CM)-conducted emissions’ compliance, motor peak ac -CM currents, and leakage currents. Consequently, this results in a high ac and dc side CM filter weight. AC filters at the inverter output terminal are effective in reducing the slew rate of inverter voltage thereby reducing the peak CM current. However, a special case with high <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\text{d}v/\text{d}t$ </tex-math></inline-formula> arising from low duty cycles is found to increase the peak ac-CM current significantly. Reduced CM voltage (CMV) schemes are popular pulsewidth modulation (PWM) methods to minimize the peak CMV but suffer from high <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\text{d}v/\text{d}t$ </tex-math></inline-formula> under this special case as well. In this article, a staggered PWM scheme to minimize such peak ac -CM currents for a high-speed variable frequency drive (VFD) is evaluated using a three-level SiC-based T-type inverter as a demonstrator. From the analysis, the proposed switching pattern shows benefits over conventional sinusoidal PWM (SPWM) scheme and is found to be scalable to other PWM schemes and voltage levels. Simulation and experimental results are shown to validate the performance of the proposed switching pattern.
Reflection Channel Model for Terahertz Communications

Terahertz frequencies are an untapped resource for providing high-speed short-range communications. As a result, it is of interest to study the propagation characteristics of terahertz waves and to develop channel models. In previous work we used a measurement-based approach to develop an accurate channel model for line of sight (LoS) links. In this paper we extend that work by developing channel models for non-line of sight (NLoS) links where the signal suffers one reflection. We study reflections that occur off a metal plate as well as a piece of wood.Our model for received magnitude includes the effects of standing waves that develop between the transmitter and receiver. Measurements show an excellent agreement between empirical data and the model. In addition, we have analyzed the received phase of the reflected signal at frequencies in the range 320-480 GHz. We observed a linear error between the predicted and actual phase and developed a model to accommodate that discrepancy. The final model we have developed for predicting received phase is very accurate for the entire range 320 - 480 GHz and for both materials.
Secure Internet-of-Things Communications: Joint Precoding and Power Control

In this paper, we consider a downlink internet-of-things (IoT) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) network wherein an access point (AP), multiple IoT users, and a single eavesdropper coexist. The eavesdropper attempts to wiretap confidential messages of the IoT users. In the considered system, we solve a sum secrecy rate maximization problem in the finite blocklength (FBL) regime. Due to the FBL, the secrecy rate has a back-off factor with respect to blocklength, decoding error probability, and information leakage, which makes the problem more challenging. The main challenges are: i) the problem is not tractable because of the back-off factor, ii) an objective function is inherently non-convex, and iii) information leakage by the eavesdropper needs to be considered. To address these difficulties, we first obtain a lower bound of the secrecy rate and transform the problem into a product of Rayleigh quotients form. Then, we derive a first-order Karush–Kuhn–Tucker (KKT) condition to find a local optimal solution and interpret the condition as a generalized eigenvalue problem. Consequently, we develop a low-complexity algorithm by adopting a generalized power iteration-based (GPI) method. Via simulations, we validate the secrecy rate performance of the proposed method for the short-packet IoT communication systems.
Fair Coexistence in Unlicensed Band for Next Generation Multiple Access: The Art of Learning

Opening the unlicensed bands provides additional spectrum resources for the next generation wireless network, while severe unfairness and performance degradation occur when one coexists with the incumbent users of these bands. Therefore, plenty of efforts have been made towards fair coexistence, mainly focusing on parameter tuning of listen-before-talk (LBT) and duty-cycle (DC) mechanisms. For better utilization of the unlicensed bands, it is of paramount importance to establish an access mechanism that guarantees the fairness objective among feasible mechanisms. Such access mechanism and the corresponding benchmark, nevertheless, remain largely unknown. To address this issue, this paper considers the coexistence between WiFi and the other unlicensed nodes, and aims to maximize the α-fairness between them. A benchmark is first given by solving the optimization problem. Then we propose a deep reinforcement learning (DRL) mechanism to help the unlicensed nodes make access decisions, such that they coexist with WiFi harmoniously. Extensive simulations have been carried out, and the results show that the DRL mechanism can approach the benchmark.
Design and Analysis of Rotating Cold Mass Support of Superconducting Wind Turbine Generator

To meet the design demands of the rotating cold mass support structure of a high temperature superconducting (refer to as HTS) magnets group in superconducting wind turbine generator, glass fiber composites material is selected for the design and optimization of the support structure. Through the stress analysis of two structures of straight rods, the basic principles of designing a typical rotating cold mass support structure are obtained: the circular section should be chosen in order to improve the stress state under the influence of thermal contraction, and arch structure should be selected instead straight bars to resist radial electromagnet load. Basis on those rules, we designed and analyzed two arch rods with different diameters, and obtained their stress and deformation results under the same load condition. At last, the glass fiber composites rod samples were made according to the design dimensions, and the mechanical properties of them were tested at room temperature. The results of this paper can provide an important reference for the subsequent design and optimization of rotating cold mass support structure.
m6A-Related lncRNA Signature Is Involved in Immunosuppression and Predicts the Patient Prognosis of the Age-Associated Ovarian Cancer

Background Epithelial ovarian cancers are age-associated diseases, usually diagnosed at an advanced stage. lncRNA has been discovered to interplay with N6-methyladenosine (m6A), working in tandem to promote cancer progression and worsening patient outcomes. This study is aimed at investigating the roles and mechanism of m6A-related lncRNA signature on ovarian cancers. Methods We retrieved TCGA and CGGA sequencing data to identify m6A-related lncRNA signature and constructed an m6A score (MS) using the LASSO algorithm. A clinical nomogram was then established to predict the overall survival of patients. Subsequently, GSEA analyses were conducted to obtain pathways involved. Expression of HLA genes, 28 tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte infiltration, and anticancer cycle were analyzed the immunological differences between high-MS and low-MS groups. Finally, immune checkpoint gene expressions and IC50 of chemotherapeutic drugs were calculated, and CMap was run to identify the potential compounds and their corresponding mechanisms. Results We identified 16 m6A-related lncRNAs and constructed an MS model. The high-MS group showed a poor prognosis. A clinical nomogram consists of MS, and age was constructed and predicted the 1-, 3-, and 5-year survival with high accuracy. GSEA analyses presented downregulated antigen processing and presentation pathways. Immunocyte infiltrating analyses demonstrated that high-MS was associated with high infiltration of Treg cells, macrophages, and low Th1/Th2 rate. Also, high expression of immune checkpoint genes NRP1, TNFSF9, and VSIR was observed in the high-MS group. Finally, the high-MS group also predicted low IC50 of vinorelbine and vorinostat. Conclusion This study constructed a robust prediction model for prognostic management and revealed the cross-talk between m6A and immunosuppression. Besides, the m6A lncRNA signature can predict the chemotherapeutic drug response. These will shed light on the development of novel therapeutic strategies and render survival benefits for ovarian patients.
An Attention Mechanism for Combination of CNN and VAE for Image-Based Malware Classification

Currently, malware is increasing in both number and complexity dramatically. Several techniques and methodologies have been proposed to detect and neutralize malicious software. However, traditional methods based on the signatures or behaviors of malware often require considerable computational time and resources for feature engineering. Recent studies have applied machine learning to the problems of identifying and classifying malware families. Combining many state-of-the-art techniques has become popular but choosing the appropriate combination with high efficiency is still a problem. The classification performance has been significantly improved using complex neural network architectures. However, the more complex the network, the more resources it requires. This paper proposes a novel lightweight architecture by combining small Convolutional Neural Networks and advanced Variational Autoencoder, enhanced by channel and spatial attention mechanisms. We achieve overperformance and sufficient time through various experiments compared to other cutting-edge techniques using unbalanced and balanced Malimg datasets.
Wideband dual-polarized Vivaldi antenna with improved balun feed

Abstract The paper researches a kind of wideband dual-polarized Vivaldi antenna with improved balun feed which consists of slot line and two bent coplanar strip lines. The whole of antenna structure is composed of two orthogonal Vivaldi antenna elements, and the mode of feeding adopts electromagnetic coupling from micro-strip line to slot line. The improved balun can avoid the intersection of transmission lines, reduce the size, and simplify the assembly. The electromagnetic simulation and optimization design of proposed antenna are carried out by using electromagnetic simulation software, CST. Simulation results show that the isolation between two polarized ports is more than 15 dB within working frequency range of 2–3.5 GHz and VSWRs of two ports are lower than 2.5 at the range of 2–3.5 GHz. The designed antenna is fabricated and measured. The measured results indicate that the designed antenna achieves anticipated patterns and feasible design of the dual-polarized Vivaldi antenna. The dual-polarized Vivaldi antenna with improved balun feed is suitable for some application fields, such as passive electronic reconnaissance, passive radar, and wideband communication and detection.
Compact D-CRLH resonator for low-pass filter with wide rejection band, high roll-off, and transmission zeros

Abstract A compact low-pass filter (LPF) with wide rejection band based on T-type circuit of an enhanced dual composite right-/left-handed (D-CRLH) resonator is presented in this paper. The resonator has only one cell with series and parallel tank circuit. The parallel LC tank circuit has been realized by an interdigital capacitor and one shorted finger, whereas its series LC tank circuit is realized by an air gap capacitance and a short circuit stub. The filter has wide rejection band bandwidth with three transmission zeros (TZs). The filter bandwidth and TZs frequencies are controlled by the D-CRLH element values. The results of the proposed filter demonstrate minimum insertion loss in passband, high roll-off rate, and good figure of merit. The measured results are in good agreement with the simulated results. The detailed filter design is discussed in terms of circuit modeling, dispersion analysis, and full-wave simulation. Finally, the filter size is compact (0.10 λg × 0.15 λg) at cut-off frequency.
Decreased Mortality and Subsequent Fracture Risk in Patients With a Major and Hip Fracture After the Introduction of a Fracture Liaison Service: A 3‐Year Follow‐Up Survey

Fracture liaison services (FLS) are considered to be the most effective organizational approach for secondary fracture prevention. In this study, we evaluated whether FLS care was associated with reduced subsequent fracture and mortality risk over 3 years of follow‐up. In total, 8682 consecutive patients aged 50–90 years with a recent fracture were included. Before FLS introduction, regular fracture treatment procedures were followed (pre‐FLS). After FLS introduction, patients were invited to the FLS and FLS attenders were assessed for osteoporosis, prevalent vertebral fractures, metabolic bone disorders, medication use, and fall risk, and treatment for fracture prevention was initiated according to Dutch guidelines. All fractures were radiographically confirmed and categorized into major/hip (pelvis, proximal humerus or tibia, vertebral, multiple rib, distal femur) and non‐major/non‐hip (all other fractures). Mortality risk was examined using age and sex adjusted Cox proportional hazard models. For subsequent fracture risk, Cox proportional hazard models were adjusted for age, sex, and competing mortality risk (subdistribution hazard [SHR] approach). The pre‐FLS group consisted of 2530 patients (72% women), of whom 1188 (46.9%) had major/hip index fractures, the post‐FLS group consisted of 6152 patients (69% women), of whom 2973 (48.3%) had major/hip index fractures. In patients with a non‐major/non‐hip fracture there was no difference in subsequent non‐major/non‐hip fracture risk or mortality between pre‐FLS and post‐FLS. In patients with a major/hip index fracture, mortality risk was lower post‐FLS (hazard ratio [HR] 0.84; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.73–0.96) and subsequent major/hip fracture risk was lower in the first 360 days after index fracture post‐FLS compared to pre‐FLS (SHR 0.67; 95% CI, 0.52–0.87). In conclusion, FLS care was associated with a lower mortality risk in the first 3 years and a lower subsequent major/hip fracture risk in the first year in patients with a major/hip index fracture but not in patients with a non‐major/non‐hip fracture. © 2022 The Authors. Journal of Bone and Mineral Research published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR).
Ensemble equivalence and phase transitions for general models in statistical mechanics and for the Curie -Weiss -Potts model

ENSEMBLE EQUIVALENCE AND PHASE TRANSITIONS FOR GENERAL MODELS IN STATISTICAL MECHANICS AND FOR THE CURIE-WEISS-POTTS MODEL MAY 2005 MARIUS F. COSTENIUC B.S., UNIVERSITATEA AL. I. CUZA M.S., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Ph.D., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Directed by: Professor Richard S. Ellis Using the theory of large deviations, we analyze in the first chapter the phase transition structure of the Curie-Weiss-Potts spin model, which is a mean-field approximation to the Potts model. This analysis is carried out both for the canonical ensemble and the microcanonical ensemble. Besides giving explicit formulas for the microcanonical entropy and for the equilibrium macrostates with respect to the two ensembles, we analyze ensemble equivalence and nonequivalence at the level of equilibrium macrostates, relating these to concavity and support properties of the microcanonical entropy. In the second chapter we extend the results in [23] significantly by addressing the following motivational question. Given that the microcanonical ensemble is not equiv-
Comparison of Continuous and Alternating Bulb Temperature Treatments on Growth and Flowering in Lilium longiflorum Thunb.1

Optimum temperatures for rapid shoot emergence from non-cooled bulbs was a constant 12.8°C with ‘Ace’ and ‘Nellie White’ lilies. Twenty-four hour cycles of 1.7°/12.8°C delayed shoot emergence of both cultivars. Using 115 days from shoot emergence to flowering as a standard, 6 weeks of 24 hour cyclic temperature treatments of 1.7°/12.8°C produced more flower buds in ‘Ace’ than did 1.7°/7.2° or 7.2°/1.7° treatments. In ‘Nellie White’ constant 1.7°, 1.7°/12.8°, or 12.8°/1.7° temperature treatments produced more flower buds than 1.7°/7.2° or 7.2°/1.7° treatment. Leaf number and plant height were not affected by alternating temperature treatments. With ‘Nellie White’ an intercalation of 3 weeks at 15.6°C temperature treatment to bulbs after 1, 2, or 3 weeks of 4.4°C increased secondary flower bud (development) when compared to a continuous 4.4°C bulb treatment for 5 or 6 weeks. No differences in days to flower from potting and in plant height were obtained among the various temperature treatments in both ‘Ace’ and ‘Nellie White’. Increases in total flower bud number were due to the increases in the secondary bud number.
Ca2+‐dependent interactions between lipids and the tumor‐targeting peptide pHLIP

Cancerous tissues undergo extensive changes to their cellular environments that differentiate them from healthy tissues. These changes include changes in extracellular pH and Ca2+ concentrations, and the exposure of phosphatidylserine (PS) to the extracellular environment, which can modulate the interaction of peptides and proteins with the plasma membrane. Deciphering the molecular mechanisms of such interactions is critical for advancing the knowledge‐based design of cancer‐targeting molecular tools, such as pH‐low insertion peptide (pHLIP). Here, we explore the effects of PS, Ca2+, and peptide protonation state on the interactions of pHLIP with lipid membranes. Cellular studies demonstrate that exposed PS on the plasma membrane promotes pHLIP targeting. The magnitude of this effect is dependent on extracellular Ca2+ concentration, indicating that divalent cations play an important role in pHLIP targeting in vivo. The targeting mechanism is further explored with a combination of fluorescence and circular dichroism experiments in model membranes and microsecond‐timescale all‐atom molecular dynamics simulations. Our results demonstrate that Ca2+ is engaged in coupling peptide‐lipid interactions in the unprotonated transmembrane conformation of pHLIP. The simulations reveal that while the pH‐induced insertion leads to a strong depletion of PS around pHLIP, the Ca2+‐induced insertion has the opposite effect. Thus, extracellular levels of Ca2+ are crucial to linking cellular changes in membrane lipid composition with the selective targeting and insertion of pHLIP. The characterized Ca2+‐dependent coupling between pHLIP sidechains and PS provides atomistic insights into the general mechanism for lipid‐coupled regulation of protein‐membrane insertion by divalent cations.
Pseudocontinuous Arterial Spin Labeling: Clinical Applications and Usefulness in Head and Neck Entities

Simple Summary Conventional imaging methods, such as ultrasonography, computed tomography, and magnetic resonance imaging may be inadequate to accurately diagnose lesions of the head and neck because they vary widely. Recently, the arterial spin labeling technique, especially pseudocontinuous arterial spin labeling (pCASL) with the three-dimensional (3D) readout method, has been dramatically developed to improve diagnostic performance for lesion differentiation, which can show prominent blood flow characteristics. Here, we demonstrate the clinical usefulness of 3D pCASL for diagnosing various entities, including inflammatory lesions, hypervascular lesions, and neoplasms in the head and neck, for evaluating squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) treatment responses, and for predicting SCC prognosis. Abstract As functional magnetic resonance imaging, arterial spin labeling (ASL) techniques have been developed to provide quantitative tissue blood flow measurements, which can improve the performance of lesion diagnosis. ASL does not require contrast agents, thus, it can be applied to a variety of patients regardless of renal impairments and contrast agent allergic reactions. The clinical implementation of head and neck lesions is limited, although, in recent years, ASL has been increasingly utilized in brain lesions. Here, we review the development of the ASL techniques, including pseudocontinuous ASL (pCASL). We compare readout methods between three-dimensional (3D) turbo spin-echo and 2D echo planar pCASL for the clinical applications of pCASL to head and neck lesions. We demonstrate the clinical usefulness of 3D pCASL for diagnosing various entities, including inflammatory lesions, hypervascular lesions, and neoplasms; for evaluating squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) treatment responses, and for predicting SCC prognosis.