Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Accurate Multiplex Cytokine Assay Developed with VeraCode ® Technology

Cytokines are low molecular weight hormone-like polypeptides that are secreted during the course of immunologic and inflammatory responses. They are important regulators of cell-mediated and humoral immune responses and their differential expression has been associated with a wide variety of immune disorders1-4. They function on a variety of cell types, having stimulatory or inhibitory effects on proliferation, differentiation, and maturation. Given this pleotropic effect, measuring the level of only a single cytokine in any biological system provides only partial information relevant to the response on a systematic level. Therefore, comprehensive tests for cytokine levels generally aim to measure the concentrations of a large set of cytokines to gain a better understanding of the underlying physiology.
Protective and Harmful Effects of Physical Activity for Low Back Pain: A Protocol for the AUstralian Twin BACK Pain (AUTBACK) Feasibility Study

Low back pain (LBP) is a major health problem globally, but approaches to prevention are not yet clearly identified because modifiable risk factors are not well established. Although physical activity is one promising modifiable risk factor, it is still not known what types and doses of physical activity are protective or harmful for LBP. The aim of this study is to establish the feasibility of a definitive cohort study that will investigate the effects of different types and doses of physical activity on the risk of developing recurrent LBP while accounting for genetic factors. This will be a pilot longitudinal twin study and twins will be recruited from the Australian Twin Registry, and will be followed over 1 year. Thirty adult complete twin pairs with a history of LBP, but symptom free at recruitment, will be included. Data on physical activity (predictor) will be collected using four questionnaires and an objective measure (accelerometer) at baseline and at 6-month follow-up. Twins will also complete an additional physical activity questionnaire monthly. Data on LBP (outcome) will be collected at baseline and weekly. Data will be collected using short message service (SMS) and email. We will keep records of the recruitment rate, follow-up rate, and completeness of data. Barriers to completing the study will be investigated. The results of this study will inform the design and implementation of a future definitive study, which will help to clarify the effects of different types and doses of physical activity on the risk of developing recurrent LBP.
Common antigens among systemic disease fungi analyzed by two-dimensional immunoelectrophoresis

The interpretation of immunological results in systemic mycoses has been complicated by cross-reactions among specimens from patients with blastomycosis, coccidioidomycosis, and histoplasmosis. The fungal preparations used in these tests evidently contained one or more antigens in common. Two-dimensional immunoelectrophoresis techniques were used to determine the number of antigens contained in several soluble extracts from Blastomyces dermatitidis and Histoplasma capsulatum that were common with those demonstrable in a coccidiodin-anticoccidioidin reference system. A total of 12 and 10 common antigens were found in preparations from B. dermatitidis and H. capsulatum, respectively. In addition, the crude preparations from each species of fungus exhibited some qualitative and quantitative differences in composition of antigens. Use of two-dimensional immunoelectrophoresis for standardization of fungus extracts, for monitoring separation of species-specific antigens, and for testing humoral antibody response should add further refinement to correlations with clinical disease.
Finite volume phases of large-N gauge theories with massive adjoint fermions

The phase structure of QCD-like gauge theories with fermions in various representations is an interesting but generally analytically intractable problem. One way to ensure weak coupling is to define the theory in a small finite volume, in this case S3 × S1. Genuine phase transitions can then occur in the large N theory. Here, we use this technique to investigate SU(N) gauge theory with a number Nf of massive adjoint-valued Majorana fermions having non-thermal boundary conditions around S1. For Nf = 1 we find a line of transitions that separate the weak-coupling analogues of the confined and de-confined phases for which the density of eigenvalues of the Wilson line transform from the uniform distribution to a gapped distribution. However, the situation for Nf > 1 is much richer and a series of weak-coupling analogues of partially-confined phases appear which leave unbroken a p subgroup of the centre symmetry. In these p phases the eigenvalue density has p gaps and they are separated from the confining phase and from one-another by first order phase transitions. We show that for small enough mR (the mass of the fermions times the radius of the S3) only the confined phase exists. The large N phase diagram is consistent with the finite N result and with other approaches based on 3 × S1 calculations and lattice simulations.
Application Semiotics Engineering Process

As application semantics becomes more complex and dynamic in IT systems, it is necessary to engineer the application semantics in its own lifecycle of development parallel to system engineering. The application semiotics engineering process is under study as a methodology for engineering complex and dynamic business logic in intelligent applications. It stresses the informal specification, the traceability of engineering decisions and need of late-binding to a particular formal language representation and computational paradigm for distributed multidisciplinary collaborative modelling environment. The article describes how the application semiotics is developed in a lifecycle of iterative development.
A Dual-Band Port-Extended Branch-Line Coupler and Mitigation of the Band-Ratio and Power Division Limitations

In this paper, enhanced designs of port-extended branch-line coupler (BLC) are presented. Initially, the analysis of the conventional dual-band port-extended equal-division BLC is presented to deduce its operation from Riblet’s viewpoint. Subsequently, it is shown that extending the Riblet’s concept to dual-band design results in a novel dual-band BLC with arbitrary power division ratios. It has also been identified that the proposed design possesses a free design variable that allows realization of BLC with higher band-ratio. Furthermore, another BLC structure, capable of achieving enhanced band-ratio, utilizing two-section transmission line at each port is also proposed. All the reported design equations are in closed form and are very simple and do not go beyond a second-degree polynomial. The effectiveness of the proposed technique is demonstrated through test cases for equal and unequal power division ratio and for numerous band-ratio ( $= f_{2}/f_{1})$ . The good agreement between the electromagnetic simulated results and the measured results from the two unequal power division BLC prototypes, on Rogers RO4003C substrate, operating at 1.2 GHz/2.52 GHz and 1 GHz/2 GHz validate the proposed approach.
Hormonal Profile and Glucose Tolerance in Late Pregnancy and Postpartum

Oral glucose tolerance, plasma insulin and basal levels of glucagon, hGH, hPRL, hPL, TSH, T4, T3, thyroxine-binding globulin (TBG), cortisol, corticosteroid-binding globulin (CBG) and estriol were measured in 23 normal pregnant women in late gestation (31 +/- 0.4 weeks of pregnancy). Twelve of these subjects could be re-examined 14 +/- 2 weeks postpartum. Blood glucose was lower basal and after glucose load (100 g) in the pregnant group. Fasting plasma insulin and glucose-induced insulin release were higher in pregnancy. The insulinogenic index and the beta cell response were significantly greater antepartum, while peripheral insulin activity was unchanged. The insulin:glucagon ratio as well as TSH and hGH showed no significant differences between ante- and postpartum values. However, T4, T3, TBG, cortisol, CBG, estriol, hPRL and hPL were significantly higher during gestation than after delivery. T4:TBG and T3:TBG ratios were much lower antepartum, while the cortisol:CBG ratio was comparable ante- and postpartum. To our knowledge this is the first report in which such an extensive hormonal and metabolic analysis was performed in the same women ante- and postpartum. It could be shown that glucose tolerance is not worsened during pregnancy in healthy subjects. The higher gestational insulin values are discussed with respect to the various significant hormonal changes.
Data modeling patterns — Taxonomy

The paper presents the development and meaning of patterns for data modeling. Patterns are also used in the process of learning to design and in data modeling design itself. The purpose of this paper is to present the two faceted taxonomy; other specific contributions are: a) Operational definition of a data model pattern b) Defined practice for minimal data model pattern specification at the M2 MOF abstraction level c) Definitions of data model pattern measures of size and McCabe like complexity
Expanding Role of Circulating Adhesion Molecules in Assessing Prognosis and Treatment Response in Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection

To patrol the body effectively and to generate an immune response to infectious organisms, the effector cells of the immune system must be able to congregate in lymphoid organs, to migrate to inflammatory tissues by crossing endothelial and basement membrane barriers, and to adhere to cells bearing foreign antigens. These actions are mediated by a number of surface accessory molecules, the adhesion molecules, which bind to specific counter-receptors expressed on endothelial cells, other cells of the immune system, and/or extracellular matrix components (60, 82). Moreover, adhesion molecules transduce activating signals for T-helper, T-cytotoxic, and B cells (42) and are involved in their differentiation, proliferation, antigen recognition, migration and trafficking, cytokine production, and apoptosis (13, 76, 82). Adhesion molecules are classified into three families: the selectins, the integrins, and the immunoglobulin superfamily (60, 82). Expression of adhesion molecules on the surfaces of immune cells is widely induced by cytokines released during immune activation; therefore, aberrant expression has been described in various diseases characterized by immune activation, including autoimmune, malignant, and infectious diseases (29, 74). Proteolytic cleavage of several membrane-bound adhesion molecules results in the release of soluble isoforms into circulation. Although there is some evidence that circulating adhesion molecules (CAMs) interfere with various cell-cell interactions and may act as signal transducers, their possible biological role still remains unclear. Circulating adhesion molecules have been found in the sera of healthy individuals, and increased levels have been described in various immune-mediated diseases (29). Numerous studies, summarized in Table 1, have shown that human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection is associated with abnormalities in the synthesis and expression of various adhesion molecules. Consequently, abnormal levels of circulating isoforms have been reported in HIV-infected patients (29, 52). Although numerical and functional decline of CD4 T cells is a major feature, the immunodeficiency associated with HIV infection is a much more complex process involving several pathogenic mechanisms mediated by adhesion molecules, such as altered function, distribution, and migration of lymphocytes and dysfunction of neutrophils (58). The aim of this review is to summarize the available data on the aberrations of the levels of certain CAMs in HIV-infected patients, as well as on their biological significance, their prognostic value regarding the course of the disease, and their potential role in assessing the efficacy of highly active antiretroviral treatment (HAART).
120 GHz 256QAM GaAs Transceiver Module for Over-10Gbps Wireless Communications

120 GHz transceiver modules are developed to achieve over 10 Gbps point to point wireless communication. The transceiver module consists of the 120 GHz amplifier fabricated by 70 nm mHEMT technology, and the mixer with the band pass filter (BPF) fabricated by 0.13 μm p-HMET technology. The measured conversion gain is 2 dB with 1dB compression point (P1dB) of 0dBm and noise figure of 15 dB. Data transmission test based on real time hardware demodulation using FPGA shows Bit Error Rate (BER) <;10-12 at the data rate of 3.2 Gbps with 256QAM and bandwidth 500MHz (spectral efficiency of 6.4 bit/s/Hz). Wireless data transmission is applied to the module connected to a horn antenna of 23 dBi gain. The data rate of 2.4 Gbps with 64QAM at the distance of 3.7m is achieved.
A 1 GHz portable digital delay-locked loop with infinite phase capture ranges

Delay-locked loops (DLLs) are widely used to align signal phases in many high-speed microprocessors and memories. Phase-locked loops (PLLs) are also used but their jitter is larger than that of DLLs, because DLLs have no jitter accumulation. However, conventional DLLs have design problems. One is that their phase capture ranges are limited, and another is that a special reset sequence is required. Dual DLL architectures are developed to overcome these problems. In these architectures, the latency from the input to the output, however, is lengthened to attain high resolution, because these architectures require a number of multiplexers between the DLL input and output ports. As a result, supply-noise induced jitter increases. To reduce the jitter, a portable digital DLL uses the following techniques: (1) a master-slave architecture, which achieves infinite phase capture ranges and eliminates the special reset requirement, (2) a wave synchronous latch circuit, which maintains high resolution, and (3) a dynamic phase detector, which improves phase comparison sensitivity.
Virtual simple architecture (VISA): exceeding the complexity limit in safe real-time systems

Meeting deadlines is a key requirement in safe real-time systems. Worst-case execution times (WCET) of tasks are needed for safe planning. Contemporary worst-case timing analysis tools can safely and tightly bound execution time on in-order single-issue pipelines with caches and static branch prediction. However, this simple pipeline appears to be a complexity limit, due to the need for analyzability. This excludes a whole class of high-performance processors from many embedded systems. We reconcile the complexity/safety trade-off by decoupling worst-case timing analysis from the processor implementation, through a virtual simple architecture (VISA). A VISA is the timing specification of a hypothetical simple pipeline and is the basis for worst-case timing analysis. However, the underlying microarchitecture can be arbitrarily complex. A task is divided into multiple subtasks which provide a means to gauge progress on the complex pipeline. Each subtask is assigned an interim deadline, or checkpoint, based on the latest allowable completion time of the subtask on the hypothetical simple pipeline. If no checkpoints are missed, then the complex pipeline is as timely as the safe pipeline. If a checkpoint is missed, the pipeline switches to a simple mode of operation that directly implements the VISA so that execution time of unfinished subtasks is safely bounded. The significance of our approach is that we circumvent worst-case timing analysis of the complex pipeline, by dynamically confirming its behavior is bounded by worst-case timing analysis of a simpler proxy pipeline. The benefit of using a high-performance processor is that tasks finish much sooner than they would have on an explicitly-safe processor. The new slack in the schedule can be exploited for higher throughput or lower power. With the VISA approach, an arbitrarily complex SMTprocessor can safely run nonreal-time tasks at the same time as a real-time task. Alternatively, frequency/voltage can be safely lowered to take up slack. We explore the latter application and show a VISA-compliant complex pipeline consumes 43-61% less power than an explicitly-safe pipeline.
Monetary Policy Rules, Asset Prices, and Exchange Rates

We examine empirically whether asset prices and exchange rates may be admitted into a standard interest rate rule, using data for the United States, the United Kingdom, and Japan since 1979. Asset prices and exchange rates can be employed as information variables for a standard “Taylor-type” rule or as arguments in an augmented interest rate rule. Our empirical evidence, based on measures of the output gap proxied by marginal cost calculations, suggests that monetary policy-makers may use asset prices and exchange rates not only as part of their information set for setting interest rates, but also to set interest rates to offset deviations of asset prices or exchange rates from their equilibrium levels. These results are open to several alternative interpretations.
Modulation of miRNA Expression by Dietary Polyphenols in apoE Deficient Mice: A New Mechanism of the Action of Polyphenols

Background Polyphenols are the most abundant antioxidants in the human diet and are widespread constituents of fruits and beverages, such as tea, coffee or wine. Epidemiological, clinical and animal studies support a role of polyphenols in the prevention of various diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases, cancers or neurodegenerative diseases. Recent findings suggest that polyphenols could interact with cellular signaling cascades regulating the activity of transcription factors and consequently affecting the expression of genes. However, the impact of polyphenol on the expression of microRNA, small non-coding RNAs, has not yet been studied. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of dietary supplementation with polyphenols at nutritional doses on miRNA expression in the livers of apolipoprotein E-deficient mice (apoE−/−) jointly with mRNA expression profiling. Methodology/Principal Findings Using microarrays, we measured the global miRNA expression in the livers of wild-type (C57B6/J) mice or apoE−/− mice fed diets supplemented with one of nine different polyphenols or a control diet. This analysis revealed that knock-out of the apoE gene induced significant modulation in the expression of miRNA. Moreover, changes in miRNA expression were observed after polyphenol supplementation, and five miRNAs (mmu-miR-291b-5p, mmu-miR-296-5p, mmu-miR-30c-1*, mmu-miR-467b* and mmu-miR-374*) were identified as being commonly modulated by these polyphenols. We also observed that these polyphenols counteracted the modulation of miRNA expression induced by apoE mutation. Pathway analyses on these five miRNA-target genes revealed common pathways, some of which were also identified from a pathway analysis on mRNA profiles. Conclusion This in vivo study demonstrated for the first time that polyphenols at nutritional doses modulate the expression of miRNA in the liver. Even if structurally different, all polyphenols induced a similar miRNA expression profile. Common pathways were identified from both miRNA-target and mRNA analysis, revealing cellular functions that could be regulated by polyphenols at both the miRNA and mRNA level.
Enforcing integrability by error correction using ℓ1-minimization

Surface reconstruction from gradient fields is an important final step in several applications involving gradient manipulations and estimation. Typically, the resulting gradient field is non-integrable due to linear/non-linear gradient manipulations, or due to presence of noise/outliers in gradient estimation. In this paper, we analyze integrability as error correction, inspired from recent work in compressed sensing, particulary ℓ<inf>0</inf> - ℓ<inf>1</inf> equivalence. We propose to obtain the surface by finding the gradient field which best fits the corrupted gradient field in ℓ<inf>1</inf> sense. We present an exhaustive analysis of the properties of ℓ<inf>1</inf> solution for gradient field integration using linear algebra and graph analogy. We consider three cases: (a) noise, but no outliers (b) no-noise but outliers and (c) presence of both noise and outliers in the given gradient field. We show that ℓ<inf>1</inf> solution performs as well as least squares in the absence of outliers. While previous ℓ<inf>0</inf> - ℓ<inf>1</inf> equivalence work has focused on the number of errors (outliers), we show that the location of errors is equally important for gradient field integration. We characterize the ℓ<inf>1</inf> solution both in terms of location and number of outliers, and outline scenarios where ℓ<inf>1</inf> solution is equivalent to ℓ<inf>0</inf> solution. We also show that when ℓ<inf>1</inf> solution is not able to remove outliers, the property of local error confinement holds: i.e., the errors do not propagate to the entire surface as in least squares. We compare with previous techniques and show that ℓ<inf>1</inf> solution performs well across all scenarios without the need for any tunable parameter adjustments.
Super duplex stainless steels

AbstractThis paper presents an overview of duplex stainless steels (DSS) with particular emphasis on super DSS, i.e. steels containing sufficient amounts of chromium, molybdenum, and nitrogen to produce a pitting resistance equivalent greater than 40. Duplex stainless steels have an attractive combination of mechanical and corrosion properties and are thus suitable for many marine and petrochemical applications, particularly where chlorides are present. The paper covers the following aspects of DSS: physical metallurgy, mechanical properties, corrosion properties, metallurgy of welding, machinability, and applications. A large number of references to the literature are given to aid the reader who is interested in acquiring a deeper understanding of the behaviour of this family of steels.MST/1685
Excitability of the Primary Motor Cortex Increases More Strongly with Slow- than with Normal-Speed Presentation of Actions

Introduction The aim of the present study was to investigate how the speed of observed action affects the excitability of the primary motor cortex (M1), as assessed by the size of motor evoked potentials (MEPs) induced by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). Methods Eighteen healthy subjects watched a video clip of a person catching a ball, played at three different speeds (normal-, half-, and quarter-speed). MEPs were induced by TMS when the model's hand had opened to the widest extent just before catching the ball (“open”) and when the model had just caught the ball (“catch”). These two events were locked to specific frames of the video clip (“phases”), rather than occurring at specific absolute times, so that they could easily be compared across different speeds. MEPs were recorded from the thenar (TH) and abductor digiti minimi (ADM) muscles of the right hand. Results The MEP amplitudes were higher when the subjects watched the video clip at low speed than when they watched the clip at normal speed. A repeated-measures ANOVA, with the factor VIDEO-SPEED, showed significant main effects. Bonferroni's post hoc test showed that the following MEP amplitude differences were significant: TH, normal vs. quarter; ADM, normal vs. half; and ADM, normal vs. quarter. Paired t-tests showed that the significant MEP amplitude differences between TMS phases under each speed condition were TH, “catch” higher than “open” at quarter speed; ADM, “catch” higher than “open” at half speed. Conclusions These results indicate that the excitability of M1 was higher when the observed action was played at low speed. Our findings suggest that the action observation system became more active when the subjects observed the video clip at low speed, because the subjects could then recognize the elements of action and intention in others.