Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Linearized wideband and multi-carrier link based on TL-ANN

The analog photonics link (APL) is widely used in microwave photonics. However, in wideband and multi-carrier systems, the third inter-modulation distortion (IMD3) and cross-modulation distortion (XMD) will jointly limit the spurious-free dynamic range (SFDR) of links. In this paper, we experimentally present a linearized wideband and multi-carrier APL, in which the IMD3 and XMD are mitigated simultaneously by using artificial neural networks with transfer learning (TL-ANN). In this experiment, with different artificial neural networks, which are trained with the knowledge obtained from the two- or three-sub-carrier system, the IMD3 and XMD are suppressed by 21.71 dB and 11.11 dB or 22.38 dB and 16.73 dB, and the SFDR is improved by 13.4 dB or 14.3 dB, respectively. Meanwhile, compared with previous studies, this method could reduce the training time and training epochs to 16% and 25%.
Gasoline in the Voter’s Pocketbook: Driving Times to Work and the Electoral Implications of Gasoline Price Fluctuations

Gasoline prices are often a heated topic during presidential election campaigns in the United States. Yet, presidents have limited control over gasoline prices. Do voters reward or punish the president for changes in gasoline prices? Why might voters blame the president for an outcome beyond direct presidential control? This study addresses these questions by testing the effects of gasoline prices on pocketbook retrospection by voters. To capture the personal economic burden of gasoline prices, we rely on average driving times to work, given the inelastic nature of gasoline consumption for commuting. The results provide evidence for pocketbook voting: constituencies with longer average driving times to work are more likely to hold the president accountable for gasoline price increases. These findings have broader implications regarding electoral accountability and rationality in voting.
Crystal Growth of a Bilin Reductase PcyA I86D Mutant–Substrate Complex for Neutron Crystallography

Neutron crystallography of proteins requires much larger crystals than those for X-ray crystallography. Obtaining large crystals of an enzyme–substrate complex is especially difficult because strict control of the stoichiometry is needed for crystal growth. Herein is reported a procedure for obtaining crystals large enough for neutron structural analysis of a bilin reductase PcyA I86D mutant complexed with its substrate, biliverdin, an open tetrapyrrol pigment. The enzyme/substrate ratio was estimated by observing changes in absorption spectra and compared to the theoretical value; 1.2 times the amount of biliverdin was required in the experiment. This proper stoichiometric ratio of PcyA I86D mutant/biliverdin reproducibly gave high-quality crystals. The buffer for the reservoir solution in the sitting drop vapor diffusion method was chosen by analysis of Wilson plots of room temperature X-ray data of the crystals obtained using three different buffers. The mixing ratio of the PcyA I86D mutant/biliverdin .
Transformational-transactional leadership and unethical pro-organizational behavior in the public sector: does public service motivation make a difference?

ABSTRACT This study focuses on a unique phenomenon known as ‘unethical pro-organizational behaviour (UPB)’ that an explicit discussion on it is rarely present within public administration. We investigate the role of transactional and transformational leadership on UPB in the public sector using survey data on 4,166 bureaucrats in South Korea. Also, we explore how public service motivation (PSM) moderates the relationship between leadership and UPB. The results reveal that transactional leadership is positively related to followers’ UPB. On the other hand, transformational leadership has a curvilinear relationship (inverted U-shaped) with employees’ UPB. These findings show that followers’ unethical behaviour for the sake of organization is vulnerable to the leaders’ influence, but the direction of impact may vary depending on their leadership style. Moreover, we find that PSM moderates the relationship between two different leadership styles and follower’s UPB. These results imply that individual civil servants, even if their behaviours are under the great influence of leaders, can control UPB through public service identity.
Determination of Anti-Phospholipase A2 and Anti-Thrombospondin Type 1 Domain-Containing Protein 7A in Latin Patients with Membranous Nephropathy

Primary membranous nephropathy (MN) is caused by antibodies against podocyte antigens, especially the type M receptor of phospholipase A2 (PLA2R) and thrombospondin type-1 domain containing 7 A (THSD7A). This study’s aim was the determination of anti-PLA2R, anti-THSD7A serum antibodies, and anti-PLA2R renal tissue staining prevalence in a Latin population with MN, as well as evaluating their role as biomarkers for disease activity. The performance of the two anti-PLA2R serum diagnostic methods—ELISA and indirect immunofluorescence (IFI)—was evaluated for the diagnosis of MN. Fifty-nine patients, including 29 with MN, 18 with lupus membranous nephropathy (LMN) and 12 with focal and segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS), were evaluated for serum antibodies. Renal biopsies were also evaluated for the presence of anti-PLA2R staining. Twenty-one patients with MN were followed for 1 year. Patients with LMN and FSGS were negative for both antibodies. All 29 MN patients were negative for anti-THSD7A; 16 MN patients were positive for anti-PLA2R by ELISA and/or IFI, and 3 MN patients were positive for anti-PLA2R only by IFI. Thus, the anti-PLA2R ELISA test demonstrated 45% sensitivity and 97% specificity, while the IFI test showed, respectively, 55% and 100% in our MN patients. Among the 28 MN renal biopsies, 20 presented anti-PLA2R positive staining, corresponding to a 72% sensitivity. Positive correlations were observed between the anti-PLA2R ELISA titer and proteinuria. In conclusion, determination of anti-PLA2R antibodies in the MN Latin population showed similar rates to those reported for other populations. The anti-PLA2R serum levels correlated with MN disease activity.
Pixels with add-on structures to enhance quantum efficiency in the near infrared

Due to their low-cost fabrication process and high efficiency, silicon-based Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) image sensors are the reference in term of detection in the visible range. However, their optical performances are toughly degraded in the Near Infrared (NIR). For such wavelengths, Silicon has a small absorption coefficient, leading to a very poor Quantum Efficiency (QE). A solution to improve it is to implement structures like pyramids that are etched in the Silicon layer. This will lead to diffraction inside the photodiode, enhancing the light path and therefore the absorption. Using Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) simulations, we demonstrated a huge QE enhancement at 940nm on real pixels, by implementing this kind of diffractive structures and we finally confirmed these results by characterizations. We obtained QE values up to 47% at 940nm for our 3. 2μm pixel, corresponding to a gain of 2 comparing to a pixel without any diffractive structures. We also measured the Modulation Transfer Function (MTF), to evaluate how this figure of merit is impacted by the addition of these structures. As expected, the MTF was degraded when we added these diffractive patterns but were still high looking at the values. We indeed demonstrated MTF values going up to 0.55 at Nyquist/2 frequency and 0.35 at Nyquist frequency. Looking not only at QE values but also at MTF ones, these are very promising results that could be used in many different NIR applications like face recognition, Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) or AR/VR.
Spatial ecological interactions between coyote and gray fox in a temperate forest

Coyotes (Canis latrans) and gray foxes (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) are abundant and widely distributed in México, with no information currently available about their spatial interactions in the country. Our objectives were to evaluate the habitat use of these species and the environmental interactions between them throughout the overlapping areas of their home ranges in temperate forests of Durango, México. We expected that their coexistence would be facilitated by the spatial segregation of their ecological niche, exhibited by the low or nil overlap between their home ranges or by differentiated habitat use. Radio-collars (VHF) were attached to nine individuals — four coyotes (two males and two females) and five gray foxes (females) — that were radio-tracked from September 2017 to August 2019. We estimated their home ranges and the size of their core areas through the minimum convex polygon and determined the extent of overlap between them. Also, we evaluated third-order habitat selection and use based on habitat availability using Manly’s habitat-selection ratios and simultaneous Bonferroni confidence intervals (95 %). The mean home range size for coyotes was larger (12.2 ± 1.74 km2) than for gray boxes (5.3 ± 0.67 km2); the interspecific mean overlap was 42 % (moderate). Of these two canids, just the gray fox showed a markedly selective habitat use. Our findings revealed a moderate overlap between the home ranges of both canids, so spatial segregation did not occur. Although a differential habitat use was observed, explaining the coexistence between these two canids in the areas where they thrive, they tend to avoid agonistic interactions.
Improving the function of a high obesity program: Findings from community-engaged Mississippi Delta focus groups

In this policy and practice brief, Mississippi State University Extension Services applies a coalition-driven approach to addressing the prevalence of obesity in communities in the Mississippi Delta through its High Obesity Program, funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Focus groups were conducted with coalition members from six counties to evaluate efforts by this program. The evaluation team used content and thematic analysis to report on coalition activities. Some of the barriers coalition members identified were limited access to healthy foods and the need for more assistance from program staff. Action items were developed and implemented in response to focus group feedback. These items included enhanced communication tools and coalition trainings. This evaluation brief describes some of the common challenges in coalition building and innovative ways to improve them. Our focus group findings are also valuable to public health scientists and practitioners working in rural communities.
Novel Ransomware Hiding Model Using HEVC Steganography Approach

: Ransomware is considered one of the most threatening cyberattacks. Existing solutions have focused mainly on discriminating ransomware by analyzing the apps themselves, but they have overlooked possible ways of hiding ransomware apps and making them difficult to be detected and then analyzed. Therefore, this paper proposes a novel ransomware hiding model by utilizing a block-based High-Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) steganography approach. The main idea of the proposed steganography approach is the division of the secret ransomware data and cover HEVC frames into different blocks. After that, the Least Significant Bit (LSB) based Hamming Distance (HD) calculation is performed amongst the secret data’s divided blocks and cover frames. Finally, the secret data bits are hidden into the marked bits of the cover HEVC frame-blocks based on the calculated HD value. The main advantage of the suggested steganography approach is the minor impact on the cover HEVC frames after embedding the ransomware while preserving the histogram attributes of the cover video frame with a high imperceptibility. This is due to the utilization of an adaptive steganography cost function during the embedding process. The proposed ransomware hiding approach was heavily examined using subjective and objective tests and applying different HEVC streams with diverse resolutions and different secret ransomware apps of various sizes. The obtained results prove the efficiency of the proposed steganography approach by achieving high capacity and successful embedding process while ensuring the hidden ransomware’s undetectability within the video frames. For example, in terms of embedding quality, the proposed model achieved a high peak signal-to-noise ratio that reached 59.3 dB and a low mean-square-error of 0.07 for the examined HEVC streams. Also, out of 65 antivirus engines, no engine could detect the existence of the embedded ransomware app.
Estimating land use/land cover change impacts on vegetation response to drought under ‘Grain for Green’ in the Loess Plateau

A series of serious environmental problems have appeared in North China, especially in the Loess Plateau. The 'Grain for Green Program' project has been implemented to address issues caused by vegetation degradation. Human beings play a key moderating role between drought and vegetation; however, it is not clearly understood how typical land cover changes from human activities impact the ability of vegetation to resist drought. To represent meteorological drought and vegetation dynamics, this study applied the standardized precipitation and evapotranspiration index and solar‐induced chlorophyll fluorescence. We investigated the vegetation response relationship to drought and how changing land cover affected it. The land cover changes associated with strategic human activity were also analyzed using the response relationship and environmental characteristics. Our results showed that land cover changes contributed to abnormal changes in vegetation dynamics and type. From 2001 to 2016, meteorological drought showed an insignificant difference in Loess Plateau. To a certain extent, land cover changes could extend vegetation response time with the implementation of the 'Grain for Green Progam'. Response time to the drought of different vegetation types in both changed and unchanged land cover showed an increasing trend from early‐period to later‐period. Similar response time to drought was among cropland, forest, grassland, construction land, and desert of unchanged land cover vegetation in different Grain for Green periods. Forest cover effectively improved vegetation response time and reduced vulnerability. This study improves the understanding of vegetation change and offers guidance for environmental protection projects and evaluating ecological restoration.
Evolutionary Learning-Derived Clinical-Radiomic Models for Predicting Early Recurrence of Hepatocellular Carcinoma after Resection

Background and Aims: Current prediction models for early recurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) after surgical resection remain unsatisfactory. The aim of this study was to develop evolutionary learning-derived prediction models with interpretability using both clinical and radiomic features to predict early recurrence of HCC after surgical resection. Methods: Consecutive 517 HCC patients receiving surgical resection with available contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CECT) images before resection were retrospectively enrolled. Patients were randomly assigned to a training set (n = 362) and a test set (n = 155) in a ratio of 7:3. Tumor segmentation of all CECT images including noncontrast phase, arterial phase, and portal venous phase was manually performed for radiomic feature extraction. A novel evolutionary learning-derived method called genetic algorithm for predicting recurrence after surgery of liver cancer (GARSL) was proposed to design prediction models for early recurrence of HCC within 2 years after surgery. Results: A total of 143 features, including 26 preoperative clinical features, 5 postoperative pathological features, and 112 radiomic features were used to develop GARSL preoperative and postoperative models. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curves (AUCs) for early recurrence of HCC within 2 years were 0.781 and 0.767, respectively, in the training set, and 0.739 and 0.741, respectively, in the test set. The accuracy of GARSL models derived from the evolutionary learning method was significantly better than models derived from other well-known machine learning methods or the early recurrence after surgery for liver tumor (ERASL) preoperative (AUC = 0.687, p < 0.001 vs. GARSL preoperative) and ERASL postoperative (AUC = 0.688, p < 0.001 vs. GARSL postoperative) models using clinical features only. Conclusion: The GARSL models using both clinical and radiomic features significantly improved the accuracy to predict early recurrence of HCC after surgical resection, which was significantly better than other well-known machine learning-derived models and currently available clinical models.
Teacher concerns about competency-based mathematics education in a rural Australian VET institution

ABSTRACT Within vocational education and training (VET), mathematics learning is often complicated by students’ problematic prior mathematics education experiences and associated low confidence and limited prerequisite knowledge. Teachers have insights into students’ mathematics learning needs and appropriate curriculum and assessment responses, but their views are often neglected within VET policy contexts. To better understand the challenges of mathematics education within VET programmes in Australia, we focused on three vocational qualifications within a rural VET institution in Victoria, chosen to vary the visibility of mathematics content, learning environment, and curriculum philosophy. Despite this diversity, teachers from each qualification made similar criticisms of the ways their institution implements mathematics curricula. They described how a behaviourist approach to competency-based education (CBE) constrains their capacity to respond to students’ needs, with adverse effects on students’ mathematics learning. We argue that the assessment and reporting regimes that currently govern education within Australian VET institutions contribute to negative experiences for already disadvantaged mathematics learners. We suggest that the disconnect that teachers described between students’ needs and the approach to curriculum and assessment speaks to a larger inconsistency between the social inclusion aims of Australian VET and the way that CBE is implemented.
Diagnosis of type 2 Brugada pattern: insights from a pilot survey.

BACKGROUND Differentiation of Type 2 Brugada Pattern (BP) from incomplete right bundle branch block or normal rSr' pattern can be insidious. The aim of this study was to assess inter-observer and intra-observer agreement in the diagnosis of type 2 BP in a cohort of cardiologists with different skills. METHODS We collected 14 ECGs with a positive terminal deflection of the QRS complex in lead V1 and V2 at the 4th intercostal space. We proposed these ECGs, specifying to use 2012 Consensus conference criteria for diagnosis of type 2 BP, to 42 participants: 14 arrhythmologists, 14 general cardiologists and 14 electrophysiology (EP) fellows. The same 14 ECGs, with a different order, were proposed fifteen days later to the same cohort to assess intra-observer variability. Authors analyzed all 14 ECGs in order to assess whether or not 2012 Consensus Conference criteria for BP were fulfilled. All patients underwent provocative test with IC antiarrhythmics drugs (flecainide) in order to exclude or confirm the diagnosis of Brugada Syndrome (BrS). RESULTS Slight inter-observer agreement (Fleiss K<0.20) in the diagnosis of type 2 BP was observed in all three categories of cardiologists. Considering five operators per class, intra-observer agreement is variable (k ranging from 0,000 to 0,857), with a slight superiority of arrhytmologists (k minimum value 0,276; k maximum value 0,857). CONCLUSIONS This study demonstrated, for the first time, a low inter-observer agreement in diagnosis of type 2 BP in categories of cardiologists with different abilities. Reproducibility of type 2 BP diagnosis (intra-observer agreement) is poor, even among experts. These findings highlight the difficulties in analysis of ECG with BrS suspicion and, therefore, underscore the key role of clinical and anamnestic data.
Ultra-Compact mm-Wave Monolithic IC Doherty Power Amplifier for Mobile Handsets

This work develops a novel dynamic load modulation Power Amplifier (PA) circuity that can provide an optimum compromise between linearity and efficiency while covering multiple cellular frequency bands. Exploiting monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMIC) technology, a fully integrated 1W Doherty PA architecture is proposed based on 0.1 μm AlGaAs/InGaAs Depletion-Mode (D-Mode) technology provided by the WIN Semiconductors foundry. The proposed wideband DPA incorporates the harmonic tuning Class-J mode of operation, which aims to engineer the voltage waveform via second harmonic capacitive load termination. Moreover, the applied post-matching technique not only reduces the impedance transformation ratio of the conventional DPA, but also restores its proper load modulation. The simulation results indicate that the monolithic drive load modulation PA at 4 V operation voltage delivers 44% PAE at the maximum output power of 30 dBm at the 1 dB compression point, and 34% power-added efficiency (PAE) at 6 dB power back-off (PBO). A power gain flatness of around 14 ± 0.5 dB was achieved over the frequency band of 23 GHz to 27 GHz. The compact MMIC load modulation technique developed for the 5G mobile handset occupies the die area of 3.2 mm2.
Invulnerability in innovation networks: the importance of technology cluster coupling and network centralization

ABSTRACT The high fragility and failure rate of technological innovation networks prevent firms and industries from successfully developing innovation capacity and competitiveness. This study offers a network perspective on how technology cluster coupling reinforces innovation network invulnerability. By using 142 patent citation networks from the renewable energy industry, we conduct patent citation network and regression analyses of a mediating model. The results show that network centralisation plays a partly negative mediating role in the positive relationship between technology cluster coupling and innovation network invulnerability. This study enriches the antecedent study of innovation network invulnerability by expanding interactions from the individual-level to the community-level and contributes to the internal mechanisms of technology cluster coupling and network invulnerability by emphasising the critical role of network centralisation. Our findings offer implications for policy makers who seek to govern technology clusters aimed at strengthening the steady development of innovation networks.
Do sources of money matter in risk-taking behaviour?

ABSTRACT Assuming that money is fungible, income and wealth affect risk aversion. In the present study, we investigate whether the source of money affects risk-related decision-making. We use the percentage of temporary income and sources of income to capture the heterogeneity of risk-taking behaviour. The results indicate the significant and robust role of the temporary portion of income in explaining risk-taking behaviour: a 1% increase in temporary income corresponds to up to a 12.7% increase in risk-taking. Furthermore, having multiple sources of money is associated with greater risk-taking, and the origin of money matters with regards to risk-taking.