Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Thick silicon membrane technology for reliable and high performance operation of high voltage LIGBTs in Power ICs

A step change in performance and reliability of thick SOI membrane devices compared to earlier generation of devices on ultra-thin SOI membranes is reported in here. The membrane concept first reported offered a landmark improvement in the trade-off between switching losses and breakdown capability (in excess of 700V) but its current capability was limited by the thickness of the silicon membrane (around 30 A/cm2 for LIGBTs on 0.25 mum silicon membranes, achieving a loss related power density approaching 100 W/cm2 ). This paper reports on membrane power devices with current densities which approach the best of those offered by vertical devices (current density greater than 100 A/cm with power density of 180 W/cm2 ), without sacrificing switching speed (toff < 60 ns for 1.5 mum membranes). HTRB results showing 1000 h+ operation at 125degC at 80% of the rated voltage are also presented. Finally, it is shown that both the static and dynamic high temperature operation of thick membrane LIGBTs is superior to that of state-of-the-art integrated LDMOSFETs.
Development of a reporter peptide that catalytically produces a fluorescent signal through α‐complementation

In α‐complementation, inactive N‐terminal (α‐domain) and C‐terminal (ω‐domain) fragments of β‐galactosidase associate to reconstitute the active protein. To date, the effect of α‐domain size on α‐complementation activity has not been systematically investigated. In this study, we compared the complementation activities of α‐domains of various sizes using an in vitro system. We found that the complementation activities are similar for α‐domains comprising between 45 and 229 N‐terminal residues but are significantly decreased for those containing less than 37 residues. However, these smaller α‐domains (15 and 25 residues) exhibited sufficient α‐complementation activity for application as reporters.
Molecular Targeted Therapy for Hepatocellular Carcinoma: Bench to Bedside

According to the International Agency for Research on Cancer, approximately 670,000 new cases of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) developed in 2005, making it the fifth most common cancer and third most common cause of cancer-related death worldwide. HCC is a complex and heterogeneous tumor with several genomic alterations. There is evidence of aberrant activation of several signaling cascades such as EGFR, Ras/Raf/MEK, PI3K/mTOR, HGF/MET, Wnt, Hedgehog and apoptotic signaling pathway. Recently a multikinase inhibitor, sorafenib, has shown survival benefits in patients with advanced HCC. It has been proposed that signaling pathway disruption in cancer can be grouped in six function capabilities, some of which need to be altered for cancer development: self-sufficiency in growth signals, insensitivity to anti-growth signals, evading apoptosis, limitless replicative potential, sustained angiogenesis and tumor invasion and metastases. The aim is to integrate these concepts into the molecular pathogenesis of HCC. It has also been proposed that there are common disturbances universal to all liver cancers on top of the more specific mechanisms. Based on this basic research, a molecular targeted agent has recently been developed. There have been no effective chemotherapeutic agents for advanced HCC. Sorafenib, an oral multikinase inhibitor, has set a milestone in the management of HCC in that it is the first agent to significantly improve the overall survival in patients with advanced HCC in a double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase III study. Clinical trials testing new agents for first- and second-line agents, as well as in combination with existing treatment options such as transarterial chemoembolization or arterial infusion chemotherapy, are ongoing. The results of these trials are therefore eagerly awaited.
Fat suppression at 7t using a surface coil: Application of an adiabatic half‐passage chemical shift selective radiofrequency pulse

The selective suppression of fat using chemical shift selective (CHESS) sinc, gaussian presaturation, or binomial radiofrequency pulses are widely implemented techniques in magnetic resonance imaging. For applications wherein transmitter coils that generate inhomogeneous magnetic (B1) fields are used (eg. surface coils), adlabatic radiofrequency pulses that are less susceptible to spatial variations in B1 amplitude will improve the spatial homogeneity of spin excitation angle. Herein, we describe the application of an adiabatic half‐passage hyperbolic secant CHESS pulse suitable for acquiring fat‐suppressed magnetic resonance images with surface coils on high‐field systems. Images obtained from a water/fat phantom and from the abdominal region of a rat are presented indicating excellent suppression of fat signal from the entire coil‐sensitive volume.
Asymmetrical Loading of the Human Triceps Surae: I. Mediolateral Force Differences in the Achilles Tendon

An in vitro experiment was designed to identify whether tensile force on different triceps surae components would result in nonhomogenous force distribution across the human Achilles tendon. Medial tendon forces were significantly higher than lateral (23.2 ± 6.6%; P ≤ 0.05) when only the gastrocnemius medialis was subjected to force. Lateral forces were significantly higher when both gastrocnemii (30.6 ± 16.5%) or all three muscles (20.7 ± 10.9%) were loaded. Experimental identification of force concentrations in the human Achilles tendon contributes to the understanding of the origin of its injury.
Development of broadband phase shifter using slotted substrate integrated waveguide structure

This paper presents a novel broadband phase shifter that makes use of non-radiating longitudinal slots in the broad wall of a substrate integrated waveguide. The design concept is built up on different propagation constants of the TE10 mode and quasi-TEM mode, which are the fundamental modes of substrate integrated waveguides and our proposed slotted substrate integrated waveguides, respectively. The proposed method is then validated by both theory and experiments. In this work, a 90 degree phase shifter is designed and implemented over a broad bandwidth from 21 GHz to 28 GHz. Measured results agree well with simulated results. It is shown that our proposed phase shifter has features of wideband, low insertion loss, and easy to fabricate.
Lithium Niobate Polarization-Independent Modulator Using Integrated Polarization Splitters and Mode Converters

Compact lithium niobate polarization-independent electrooptic modulators using integration of polarization splitters and mode converters are presented. Experimental results show polarization-dependent loss as low as 0.04 dB can be achieved for devices fabricated on Z-cut substrates with an applied voltage of 26 V. The electrode lengths required for electrooptic modulation are 10 and 6 mm for TE and TM modes, respectively, and the total device length is only 1.6 cm. Moreover, only one diffusion step is required that greatly simplifies the fabrication process.
A comparison of screening times between the ThinPrep imager and conventional cytology

This small prospective study compared the time cytologists spend reviewing cervical cytology slides processed by the ThinPrep Imager (TPI) with screening times for conventional cytology slides (CS), to determine the effect, if any, of the TPI on productivity in our department. Some possible factors affecting TPI reading times, such as individual screener's experience with both specimen types, were also studied.
SOCIAL SUPPORT AND HEALTH AMONG ELDERLY KUWAITIS

Summary The aim of this study was to examine differences in several aspects of health between Kuwaiti men and women aged 60 years and over across three age categories (60–69, 70–79, 80+ years). The relationships between several social support variables, somatic symptoms and systolic and diastolic blood pressures were examined. A total of 1427 adult men (472) and women (955) aged 60 years and over representing all six governorates were selected. Data were collected during 2008–2009 by interview and completion of a questionnaire by participants in their own homes, after obtaining their informed consent. The Social Support Scale (SSS), Frequency of Contact Scale (FOC), Strength of Relations (SOR), Somatic Symptoms Inventory (SSI) and self-rated scales of general health were included. Systolic and diastolic blood pressures were measured. The data show that self-rated health and health in the last year differ significantly across age groups. Glycaemia differed significantly across the three age groups for the total sample. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure were higher in older respondents than younger ones, but no significant differences were observed between men and women. No significant differences in somatic symptoms were observed across the three age groups. Strength of relationship, frequency of contact, social support and children living with an elderly adult were all associated with fewer somatic symptoms, and all, except social support, were associated with lower systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Having children, the perception of social support, frequency of contact with, and strength of, relationships with kin are important modulators of somatic symptoms and blood pressure among elderly Kuwaitis.
Adaptive Robust Control of One-Link Joint Actuated by Pneumatic Artificial Muscles

The pneumatic artificial muscle is very promising in the field of medical robots for its biological muscle-like and other distinct properties. But its inherent highly nonlinear features and compressibility of air bring many difficulties to high performance tracking control. This paper presents the modeling and tracking control of one-link joint driven by pneumatic artificial muscles. Due to its parametric uncertainty and unmodeled dynamics, a class of saturated adaptive robust control(SARC) laws using discontinuous projection method are applied. The proposed method synthesizes the robust control and adaptive control systematically. Both guaranteed global stability and transient performance of closed-loop system are achieved Simulation results demonstrated that the tracking error converges to the designed region in a finite time under different uncertain conditions, the effects of model uncertainties are reduced and the tracking performance is improved significantly by using the adaptation law.
Aligning operational and corporate goals: A case study in cultivating a whole-of-business approach using a supply chain simulation game

This paper outlines the development and use of an interactive computer-based supply chain game to facilitate the alignment of disconnected operational and corporate goals. A multi-enterprise internal cattle supply chain was simulated targeting the operational property managers and the overall impacts of their decision making on corporate goals A three stage multidisciplinary approach was used. A case study based financial analysis was undertaken across the internal cattle supply chain, a participative action research component (developing the game to simulate the flow of product and associated decisions and financial transactions through the internal supply chain of the company for different operational scenarios using measurable and familiar operational and financial criteria as tracking tools), and a qualitative analysis of organisational learning through player debriefing following playing the game. Evaluation of the managers' learning around the need for a change in general practice to address goal incongruence was positive evidenced by changes in practice and the game regarded by the users as a useful form of organisational training. The game provided property managers with practical insights into the strategic implications of their enterprise level decisions on the internal supply chain and on overall corporate performance. The game is unique and is a tool that can be used to help address an endemic problem across multi-enterprise industries in the agrifood sector in Australia.
Channel Selection for Optimizing Feature Extraction in an Electrocorticogram-Based Brain-Computer Interface

Feature extractor and classifier are two major components in a brain-computer interface system, in which the feature extractor plays a critical role. To increase the discriminability of features or feature vectors used for classification, it is necessary to select a suitable number of task-related data recording channels. In this article, a machine-learning algorithm is proposed for optimizing feature extraction in an electrocorticogram-based brain-computer interface. Common spatial pattern was used for feature extraction, and channel selection was performed by genetic algorithm for optimizing the feature extraction. Fisher discriminant analysis was used as classifier, and the channel subset chosen at each generation was evaluated by classification accuracy. The algorithm was applied to three electrocorticogram datasets that were recorded during two kinds of motor imagery tasks. The results suggest that the channel number used for building a brain-computer interface system could be significantly decreased without losing classification accuracy, and the accuracy rate could be noticeably improved by using the optimal channel subsets chosen by genetic algorithm.
Robust coordinated downlink beamforming for multicell-cognitive radio networks

In this paper, we design downlink (DL) beamforming vectors for a multiuser multicell cognitive radio (CR) network with imperfect channel state information (CSI) at base stations (BS). Specifically, we consider deterministic error in both channel gain and channel covariance. Our objective is to minimize the total DL transmit power subject to quality of service (QoS) constraints of each secondary user (SU) and primary user (PU). The optimization problems for both uncertainty models can be transformed into convex semidefinite programming (SDP) from the standard rank relaxation approach. Interestingly, numerical results show that the obtained solutions fulfill the rank constraint and are therefore exact.
Hair Simulation for Real-Time Applications Computer Generated Imagery Techniques

Hair simulation, especially in real time, is one of the most challenging areas of simulation for virtual humans. The human head has roughly 100,000 hairs, each of which has a complex mechanical behaviour that is simply not feesable to simulate in real time. This project proposes to implement the mass spring model to create guide hairs which will be used to drive the simulation. Rendering will be discussed and considered, but is not the main focus of this project.
Unobtrusive classification of sleep and wakefulness using load cells under the bed

Poor quality of sleep increases the risk of many adverse health outcomes. Some measures of sleep, such as sleep efficiency or sleep duration, are calculated from periods of time when a patient is asleep and awake. The current method for assessing sleep and wakefulness is based on polysomnography, an expensive and inconvenient method of measuring sleep in a clinical setting. In this paper, we suggest an alternative method of detecting periods of sleep and wake that can be obtained unobtrusively in a patient's own home by placing load cells under the supports of their bed. Specifically, we use a support vector machine to classify periods of sleep and wake in a cohort of patients admitted to a sleep lab. The inputs to the classifier are subject demographic information, a statistical characterization of the load cell derived signals, and several sleep parameters estimated from the load cell data that are related to movement and respiration. Our proposed classifier achieves an average sensitivity of 0.808 and specificity of 0.812 with 90% confidence intervals of (0.790, 0.821) and (0.798, 0.826), respectively, when compared to the “gold-standard” sleep/wake annotations during polysomnography. As this performance is over 27 sleep patients with a wide variety of diagnosis levels of sleep disordered breathing, age, body mass index, and other demographics, our method is robust and works well in clinical practice.
Sirtuin-3 modulates Bak- and Bax-dependent apoptosis

Summary Sirtuin-3 exhibits properties of a tumor suppressor partly emanating from its ability to control the state of mitochondrial metabolism, with depletion of sirt-3 increasing tumor cell survival. In the present study we demonstrate that depletion of sirtuin-3 brings about an anti-apoptotic phenotype via stimulating cyclophilin-D activity, which promotes the binding of hexokinase II to the mitochondria, thereby preventing Bak/Bax dependent mitochondrial injury and cell death. By contrast, increased expression of sirtuin-3 decreases cyclophilin-D activity, resulting in detachment of hexokinase II from the mitochondria and potentiation of Bak- and Bax-induced mitochondrial injury and loss of cell viability.
Rapid detection of tuberculosis and drug-resistant tuberculosis.

Tuberculosis remains one of the major unresolved global health problems, and the situation is worsening in many parts of the world, primarily because of the association between tuberculosis and the epidemic of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and AIDS and the growing prevalence of drug resistance. The highest prevalence of both tuberculosis and drug resistance is found in countries with limited resources, which cannot afford to implement modern methods of epidemic control of tuberculosis. The detection of new cases of tuberculosis in these areas is based on provisional diagnosis by means of direct acid-fast bacilli testing of sputum smears, a .
Multifarious Transcriptional Regulation of Adhesion Protein Gene ap65-1 by a Novel Myb1 Protein in the Protozoan Parasite Trichomonas vaginalis

ABSTRACT The transcription efficiency of an adhesion protein gene, ap65-1, in Trichomonas vaginalis varies with changes in the iron supply and with the growth stage. In the present study, two Myb recognition elements, MRE-1/MRE-2r and MRE-2f, were found to play antagonistic roles in regulating the iron-inducible activity of an ap65-1 reporter gene. Intriguingly, either of these elements was shown to be sufficient to repress basal activity, but together they were also shown to activate growth-related activity of the reporter gene in iron-depleted cells. A myb1 gene which encodes a 24-kDa protein containing a Myb-like R2R3 DNA binding domain was identified from Southwestern screening of MRE-2f-binding proteins. The Myb1 protein was detected as a major 35-kDa protein which exhibited variations in nuclear concentration with changes in the iron supply. A recombinant Myb1 protein was shown to differentially interact with MRE-1/MRE-2r and MRE-2f in vitro. Overexpression of hemagglutinin-tagged Myb1 in T. vaginalis resulted in repression or activation of ap65-1 transcription in iron-depleted cells at an early and a late stage of cell growth, respectively, while iron-inducible ap65-1 transcription was constitutively repressed. The hemagglutinin-tagged Myb1 protein was found to constantly occupy the chromosomal ap65-1 promoter at a proximal site, but it also selected two more distal sites only at the late growth stage. Together, these observations suggest that Myb1 critically regulates multifarious ap65-1 transcription, possibly via differential selection of multiple promoter sites upon environmental changes.
Crack Tip Dislocation Nucleation in FCC Solids

We present results of molecular dynamic simulations aimed at examining crack tip dislocation emission in fcc solids. The results are analyzed in terms of recent continuum formulations of this problem. In mode II, Au, Pd, and Pt displayed a new unanticipated mechanism of crack tip dislocation emission involving the creation of a pair of Shockley partials on a slip plane one plane below the crack plane. In mode I, for all the materials examined, Rice{close_quote}s continuum formulation [J.thinspthinspMech. thinspthinspPhys.thinspthinspSolids {bold 40}, 239 (1992)] underestimated the stress intensity for dislocation emission by almost a factor of 2. Surface stress corrections to the emission criterion brought the agreement between continuum predictions and simulations to within 20{percent}. {copyright} {ital 1999} {ital The American Physical Society}
Price volatility in the silver spot market : An empirical study using Garch applications

This paper examines the price volatility in the silver spot (cash) market. A host of Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity (GARCH) models are used to analyze and gain a better understanding of the volatility of silver prices. We find the TGARCH (1,1) model indicates that both positive and negative shocks do not have a significant effect on volatility in the silver spot market, while both the GARCH (1,1) and EGARCH (1,1) models indicate that past silver spot price volatility is significant and that volatility is observed to not be constant over time. This study has implications for both practitioners and academic researchers interested in price volatility in the silver spot market.
Microcomputed tomography assessment of lipopolysaccharide-induced acute lung injury in rat

ABSTRACT Purpose: High-resolution microcomputed tomography (micro-CT) is an extremely flexible and accurate technique for three-dimensional examination of biological tissues. The aim was to evaluate the feasibility of micro-CT as a noninvasive tool for analyzing the lung structure during lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced acute lung injury (ALI) in rats. Materials and Methods: ALI was induced in rats by intratracheal instillation of LPS (2 mg/kg) in 0.3 ml saline, and the control treatment consisted of intratracheal instillation of an equal volume of normal saline. Morphological changes were assessed by using micro-CT and a light microscope at 24 and 48 hours after LPS instillation. Total volume is the sum of all pixels marked as the whole lung and total air volume (Air V) is the sum volume of all air in the lung. Results: The saline groups exhibited no major histological abnormalities, whereas the LPS groups exhibited patchy areas of haemorrhage and thickened alveolar walls with inflammatory cell infiltration at 24 and 48 hours. The LPS groups had significantly smaller Air V and percent total air volume (Air V/TV) compared with those of the saline groups at 24 and 48 hours. Air V/TV was strongly negatively correlated with the lung injury score (r = −0.641, P = .004). Conclusions: Micro-CT is a feasible tool for evaluating the lung structure and lung injury progression during LPS-induced ALI.
Efficient Monte Carlo option pricing under CEV model

ABSTRACT One of the financial model with nonconstant volatiltiy is the constant elasticity of varinace model, or CEV model for short. The CEV model is an altrnative to the Black–Scholes model of stock price movements. In this diffusion process, unlike the Black–Scholes model, the volatility is a function of the stock price and involves two parameters. In this article, we propose an efficient Monte-Carlo algorithm for pricing arithmetic Asian option under CEV model. In an earlier work by Mehrdoust, an efficient Monte Carlo simulation algorithm for pricing arithmetic Asian options under Black–Scholes model is proposed. The proposed algorithm has proved extremely successful in decreasing the standard deviation and the error of simulation in pricing of the arithmetic Asian options. In this article, we find that the proposed algorithm under the geometric Brownian motion assumption in the Black–Scholes model can effectively apply for pricing arithmetic Asian options when the stock price process follows the CEV model. Numerical experiments show that our algorithm gives very accurate results.