Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Targeting of aminopeptidase n to bile canaliculi correlates with secretory activities of the developing canalicular domain

We have used human hepatoma cell lines as an in vitro model to study the development of hepatic bile canaliculi (BC). Well‐differentiated hepatoma cells cultured for 72 hours could develop characteristic spheroid structures at sites of cell‐cell contact that contained tight junctions and various membrane protein markers, resembling BC found in vivo. Intact cytoskeleton was essential for this differentiation process. In the coculture experiments in which cells of different origins were populated together, BC only formed between hepatic cells and preferentially among well‐differentiated cells. Poorly differentiated hepatoma cells never formed BC among themselves, but could be induced to undergo canalicular differentiation by interacting with well‐differentiated cells. During BC morphogenesis, integral canalicular membrane proteins were gradually delivered and accumulated at the developing BC. Among them, targeting of aminopeptidase N (APN) seemed to correlate with activation of certain secretory functions. Specifically, only APN‐positive BC supported excretion of fluorescein diacetate (FDA) and 70‐kd dextran, but had no relationship with secretion of horseradish peroxidase (HRP). Targeting of another BC protein, dipeptidyl peptidase IV (DPPIV), on the other hand, bore no association with any secretory activity examined. In addition, inhibition of enzymatic activity of APN could perturb canalicular differentiation without affecting cell proliferation. Our results suggest that targeting of APN proteins may reflect or even play an important role in the development and functional maturation of the canalicular structures.
The Status Of Stonecats (Noturus Flavus) In The Laplatte And Missisquoi Rivers, Vermont

Stonecats (Noturus flavus, Rafinesque 1818) are designated as a Vermont statelisted endangered species because their known distribution is limited to two systems, the LaPlatte and Missisquoi rivers. The restricted distribution and lack of knowledge on abundance in either river is cause for concern in the continued survival of these populations. Based on the capture numbers and large size range of individuals, we predicted that the population in the LaPlatte River, which provides quality benthic habitat, is stable. However, the Missisquoi River population has the potential for increased intermittent mortalities from two sources, lampricide (3-trifluoromethyl-4nitrophenol) treatment every four years and dewatering during drought conditions. In 2012, 2013, and 2014 we captured, PIT tagged (> 90 mm total length), and VIE marked all Stonecats collected using backpack electrofishing and minnow traps in the LaPlatte and Missisquoi rivers. A total of 1252 were PIT tagged in the LaPlatte River and 125 in the Missisquoi River. First we estimated survival and seniority of Stonecats in the LaPlatte River, using the Pradel model in Program Mark, and derived an average annual lambda of 0.9826. The population estimates from the LaPlatte River were modeled in a population viability analysis (PVA). Few Stonecats were captured in the Missisquoi River, so we used the PVA model to estimate the extinction rates with increased intermittent mortalities on 4-, 6-, and 8-year cycles to predict the long-term viability of the population. With an initial number of 2000 individuals, the population became extinct 100% of the time with an increase in mortality of 0.1 on a 4-year cycle. Our results indicate that the LaPlatte River population is stable, but the Missisquoi River population, in the area affected by lampricide, is not. These results are informative for developing future management scenarios, however, our approach has uncertainty that can only be addressed through obtaining more data on the Missisquoi River population.
D-Ultrasound probe calibration for computer-guided diagnosis and therapy

With the emergence of swept-volume ultrasound (US) probes, precise and almost real-time US volume imaging has become avail able. This offers many new opportunities for computer guided diagnosis and th erapy, 3-D images containing significantly more information than 2-D slices. However, computer guidance often requires knowledge about the exact position of US voxels relative to a tracking reference, which can only be achieved through p robe calibration. In this paper we present a 3-D US probe calibration system bas ed on a membrane phantom. The calibration matrix is retrieved by detec tion of a membrane plane in a dozen of US acquisitions of the phantom. Plane dete ction is robustly performed with the 2-D Hough transformation. The feature ex traction process is fully automated, calibration requires about 20 minutes and the calibration system can be used in a clinical context. The precision of the system was evaluated to a root mean square (RMS) distance error of 1.15mm and to an RMS angular error of 0.61◦. The point reconstruction accuracy was evaluated to 0.9mm a nd the angular reconstruction accuracy to 1.79 ◦.
Design of an electrically actuated lower extremity exoskeleton

Human exoskeletons add the strength and endurance of robotics to a human's innate intellect and adaptability to help people transport heavy loads over rough, unpredictable terrain. The Berkeley lower extremity exoskeleton (BLEEX) is the first human exoskeleton that was successfully demonstrated to walk energetically autonomous while supporting its own weight plus an external payload. This paper details the design of the electric motor actuation for BLEEX and compares it to the previously designed hydraulic actuation scheme. Clinical gait analysis data was used to approximate the torques, angles and powers required at the exoskeleton's leg joints. Appropriately sized motors and gearing are selected, and put through a thorough power analysis. The compact electric joint design is described and the final electric joint performance is compared with BLEEX's previous hydraulic actuation. Overall, the electric actuation scheme is about twice as efficient and twice as heavy as the hydraulic actuation.
Investigation on the performance of pico-hydro generation system using consuming water distributed to houses

This paper describes the testing conducted that necessary to investigate the performance of pico-hydro generation system using consuming water distributed to houses. Water flow in the domestic pipes has kinetic energy that potential to generate electricity for energy storage purposes in addition to the routine activities such as laundry, cook and bathe. The inherent water pressure and water flow inside the pipe from utility's main tank that used for those usual activities are used to rotate small scale hydro turbine to drive a generator for electrical power generation. Results from the test significantly show the proposed system is feasible for electrification for energy storage purpose and indicate the prospect of further improvement and future research.
Pattern Recognition using Wavelet based Neural Networks

Control chart pattern recognition is one of the most important tools to identify the process state in statistical process control. The abnormal process state could be classified by the recognition of unnatural patterns that arise from assignable causes. In this study, a wavelet based neural network approach is proposed for the recognition of control chart patterns that have various characteristics. The procedure of proposed control chart pattern recognizer comprises three stages. First, multi-resolution wavelet analysis is used to generate time-shape and time-frequency coefficients that have detail information about the patterns. Second, distance based features are extracted by a bi-directional Kohonen network to make reduced and robust information. Third, a back-propagation network classifier is trained by these features. The accuracy of the proposed method is shown by the performance evaluation with numerical results. Keywords—Control chart pattern recognition, Multi-resolution wavelet analysis, Bi-directional Kohonen network, Back-propagation network, Feature extraction.
Basic performance of massive MIMO in indoor scenario at 20-GHz band

Massive multiple input multiple output (MIMO) enables the improvement on the transmission rate without increasing the burden on the signal processing by employing a large number of antennas at a base station. It was reported an effect of applying a massive MIMO to small cell at the 2-GHz band. However, main target of the massive MIMO will be the small cells at the high-frequency band, because the antenna size is very large when considering the massive MIMO in macro frequency band. In this paper, real propagation channels are measured by using a wideband channel sounder with horn antenna in 20-GHz band in an actual indoor propagation environment. Moreover, the performance of the interference rejection is evaluated when virtual circular array antenna with 24 elements is assumed.
Study the Effect of Eruca Sativa Leaves Extract on Male Fertility in Albino Mice

This study was designed to determine the effect of Eruca sativa leaves extract on testosterone levels, sperm activity, mortality and abnormalities, and histological changes of testes.The aqueous leaves extract of E. sativa was prepared and then chemical detection was done. Results revealed that alkaloids, glycosides, flavonoids, saponins, coumarines, resin, terpens and steroidswere present in E. sativa extract. The fertility effect was carried out by treating mice with two doses (30 and 40) mg/Kg of extract. Results showed a significant (p≤ 0.05) increase in testosterone level, sperm activity and a significant decrease in sperm mortality and abnormalities were recorded.Histological changes in testicular section exhibited a significant increase in the diameter of seminiferous tubules, spermatid and leyding cells. A significant decrease in the interstitial space was noticed.
Value of combining hydrogen production with wind power in short-term electricity markets

This paper presents a methodology for optimizing the operation of a hydrogen (H2) production plant in combination with stochastic generators, such as wind turbines, in short-term power markets. The method finds the optimal contracted power exchange with the market before gate-closure and produces an optimal operational plan. The method takes into account probabilistic wind forecasts, spot market prices and expected costs of balancing power. The value of combined operation is shown through a general case study. Results show that combining controllable H2 production with wind power can cost-effectively reduce a substantial share of the power imbalances resulting from wind forecast uncertainties. The operation of the H2 plant is also very dependent on the variations in the hourly spot price. A strategy that simply seeks to minimize the imbalance leads to a much greater imbalance reduction, however at the expense of a higher H2 production cost.
Measuring Potential User Interest and Active User Base in FLOSS Projects

This paper presents a novel method and algorithm to measure the size of an open source project's user base and the level of potential user interest that it generates. Previously unavailable download data at a daily resolution confirms hypothesized patterns related to release cycles. In short, regular users rapidly download the software after a new release giving a way to measure the active user base. In contrast, potential new users download the application independently of the release cycle, and the daily download figures tend to plateau at this rate when a release has not been made for some time. An algorithm for estimating these measures from download time series is demonstrated and the measures are examined over time in two open source projects.
Towards a first vertical prototyping of an extremely fine-grained parallel programming approach

Explicit-multithreading (XMT) is a parallel programming approach for exploiting on-chip parallelism. XMT introduces a computational framework with 1) a simple programming style that relies on fine-grained PRAM-style algorithms; 2) hardware support for low-overhead parallel threads, scalable load balancing, and efficient synchronization. The missing link between the algorithmic-programming level and the architecture level is provided by the first prototype XMT compiler. This paper also takes this new opportunity to evaluate the overall effectiveness of the interaction between the programming model and the hardware, and enhance its performance where needed, incorporating new optimizations into the XMT compiler. We present a wide range of applications, which written in XMT obtain significant speedups relative to the best serial programs. We show that XMT is especially useful for more advanced applications with dynamic, irregular access pattern, where for regular computations we demonstrate performance gains that scale up to much higher levels than have been demonstrated before for on-chip systems.
Prp22, a DExH‐box RNA helicase, plays two distinct roles in yeast pre‐mRNA splicing

In order to assess the role of Prp22 in yeast pre‐mRNA splicing, we have purified the 130 kDa Prp22 protein and developed an in vitro depletion/reconstitution assay. We show that Prp22 is required for the second step of actin pre‐mRNA splicing. Prp22 can act on pre‐assembled spliceosomes that are arrested after step 1 in an ATP‐independent fashion. The requirement for Prp22 during step 2 depends on the distance between the branchpoint and the 3′ splice site, suggesting a previously unrecognized role for Prp22 in splice site selection. We characterize the biochemical activities of Prp22, a member of the DExH‐box family of proteins, and we show that purified recombinant Prp22 protein is an RNA‐dependent ATPase and an ATP‐dependent RNA helicase. Prp22 uses the energy of ATP hydrolysis to effect the release of mRNA from the spliceosome. Thus, Prp22 has two distinct functions in yeast pre‐mRNA splicing: an ATP‐independent role during the second catalytic step and an ATP‐requiring function in disassembly of the spliceosome.
Elasticity reconstructive imaging by means of stimulated echo MRI

A method is introduced to measure internal mechanical displacement and strain by means of MRI. Such measurements are needed to reconstruct an image of the elastic Young's modulus. A stimulated echo acquisition sequence with additional gradient pulses encodes internal displacements in response to an externally applied differential deformation. The sequence provides an accurate measure of static displacement by limiting the mechanical transitions to the mixing period of the simulated echo. Elasticity reconstruction involves definition of a region of interest having uniform Young's modulus along its boundary and subsequent solution of the discretized elasticity equilibrium equations. Data acquisition and reconstruction were performed on a urethane rubber phantom of known elastic properties and an ex vivo canine kidney phantom using <2% differential deformation. Regional elastic properties are well represented on Young's modulus images. The long‐term objective of this work is to provide a means for remote palpation and elasticity quantitation in deep tissues otherwise inaccessible to manual palpation.
Structural and phenotypic varieties of gentamicin resistance plasmids in hospital strains of Staphylococcus aureus and coagulase-negative staphylococci

We previously described a neonatal nursery epidemic of infections caused by a single strain of Staphylococcus aureus bearing a gentamicin resistance plasmid (Vogel et al., Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 13:466-472, 1978). The same plasmid was present in two isolates of Staphylococcus epidermidis from the patients in this nursery and was transferable interspecifically from either S. aureus or S. epidermidis. During the ensuing 3 years, in the absence of further epidemics, we collected 162 gentamicin-resistant strains of S. aureus and coagulase-negative staphylococci from patients distributed throughout our hospital. Gentamicin resistance plasmids obtained from 41 representative S. aureus and coagulase-negative staphylococcal strains differed as determined by phenotypic and molecular analyses from the plasmid in the neonatal nursery epidemic. Nevertheless, these plasmids were structurally related to each other and to the plasmid of the original epidemic. Our results suggest an evolutionary relationship among these plasmids and support the hypothesis of a genetic reservoir of gentamicin resistance in coagulase-negative staphylococci transferable to S. aureus.
Human face attributes prediction with Deep Learning

We explore using deep Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) to predict human attributes like skin tune, hair color and age from a face image. Using a dataset of face images annotated with facial attributes, we train a linear classifier for attribute prediction using representations extracted from a CNN pre-trained for a general object classification task. Furthermore, we fine-tune the pre-trained CNN using the attributes-annotated dataset and conduct a set of experiments. We report on our experiments and discuss the achieved results. When trained on 20% of CelebA dataset, our method achieves an average accuracy of ∼ 89.9% predicting 40 different attributes per image. Figure 1: Attribute predictions for sample test images. Only 4 out 40 predicted attributes are shown per image. DD2427 Final Project Report Mohamed Abdulaziz Ali Haseeb
FDTD Method on a Lebedev Grid for Anisotropic Materials

The finite-difference time-domain method is derived on a Lebedev grid for lossy anisotropic media. The Lebedev grid uses collocated field components and supports spurious solutions but an intuitive method for removing the extra solutions is presented. Update equations at material discontinuities and metal planes are derived and shown to take the same form as updates in bulk media. Additionally, a dispersion relation and stability criteria are presented. A numerical comparison with the Yee grid shows that the Lebedev grid suffers from greater numerical dispersion but better represents material discontinuities when compared using equal memory requirements. Furthermore, the small stencil on the Lebedev grid decreases the required number of calls to memory and simplifies the programming structure.
Haptic feedback : from force-reflecting robots to tactile interfaces

During the last century, technical means of broadcasting sounds and pictures came into existence. And today, many scientific and industrial efforts are being made to develop means of broadcasting tactile and haptic sensations. This review covers the latest technological systems and smart actuators used to stimulate the sense of touch and deliver programmable haptic sensations.
Probleme der Validierung mit Strukturgleichungsmodellen

Dieser Beitrag setzt sich mit der Leistungsfahigkeit von Strukturgleichungsmodellen bei der Validitatsprufung von Messmodellen fur hypothetische Konstrukte auseinander und geht auf ausgewahlte Problembereiche bei der gangigen Anwendung dieser Methodik fur die Skalenkonstruktion ein. Insbesondere werden mit der Kontrolle verschiedener Arten von Methodeneffekten Alternativen zur Elimination von Indikatoren ausschlieslich auf Basis statistischer Kriterien (z. B. interne Konsistenz) aufgezeigt.
Consumer Empowerment Through Internet-Based Co-creation

Cost-efficient and multimedia-rich interaction opportunities offered by the Internet and the existence of online communities have made virtual co-creation a suitable means of creating value and improving the overall success of new products. Information technology enables new forms of producer-consumer collaboration in new product development processes. However, little research exists on consumers' experiences during virtual co-creation tasks. Drawing on the literature on organizational behavior, we introduce the construct of consumer empowerment to describe consumers' perceived influence on product design and decision making. This paper presents the first large-scale empirical study investigating how consumers are empowered through Internet-based co-creation activities. To analyze the impact of applied interaction tools, 727 consumers having taken part in virtual co-creation projects were asked about their experienced tool support, their perceived empowerment, how much they enjoyed the task, and their readiness to participate in future co-creation opportunities. The results show that consumers engaging in co-creation feel more or less empowered. The level of experienced empowerment depends on the design of the applied virtual interaction tool, the related enjoyment of the virtual interaction, the participants' task and product involvement, as well as their creativity and lead-user characteristics. The design of the interaction tool determines to what extent consumers with varying capabilities are able to solve the assigned co-creation task. It determines the consumers' perceived empowerment and experienced enjoyment. Both the levels of perceived empowerment and enjoyment have a strong impact on the consumers' willingness to participate in future virtual new product development projects. These findings contribute to a better understanding of antecedents and consequences of successful consumer co-creation. They provide recommendations on how to design a compelling virtual new product co-creation experience.
Potential bottom-up control of blue crab distribution at various spatial scales

Top-down (i.e., predation), bottom-up (i.e., food availability), and physical factors may influence blue crab (Callinectes sapidus) distribution. To assess the role of bottom-up and physical process in blue crab distributions, we concurrently measured density of the blue crab (Callinectes sapidus), density of its principal prey, the Baltic clam (Macoma balthica), and physical characteristics in mud and sand habitats spanning various spatial scales (1-10 km and 10-50 km) in the York River, Chesapeake Bay. Clam and crab densities were intermediate in mud, low in downriver sand, and high in upriver sand. Clam and crab densities were not correlated in mud, whereas in sand, they were significantly and positively con-elated at both the local scale (1 km) and at the broadest spatial scale (10-50 km). Crab density also correlated with salinity at the broad spatial scale. After removing the effect of salinity, crab density remained significantly correlated with clam density. Using a hydrodynamic model for the York River. potential transport of clams from downriver coves was primarily to upriver habitats, but transport of crabs was mainly to downriver seagrass habitats. At the local scale, upriver zones where crab and clams were abundant, crab density was highly correlated (r 2 = 0.93) with clam density, but not with salinity, suggesting that the distribution of blue crabs was driven mostly by their primary food item-clams. The collective findings are consistent with the hypotheses that crab density is driven by both food availability and salinity at broad spatial scales (10-50 km), whereas food availability is a primary control at smaller spatial scales (1-10 km). Bottom-up control of upper trophic levels may be distinctive; thus far, in marine and freshwater systems, bottom-up control has not been demonstrated to filter from basal to upper trophic levels. Furthermore, unvegetated habitats where food, such as clams, is abundant may be important in the population dynamics of the blue crab, even in systems where seagrass beds are common.