Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
In-Socket Sensory System for Transfemoral Amputees Using Piezoelectric Sensors: An Efficacy Study

This paper presents the design and evaluation of an in-socket sensory system for a transfemoral prosthetic leg using a set of piezoelectric sensors. The design process includes identifying the optimal mounting configuration of the sensors and determining their best placement. Two experiments were performed separately to address each objective. Results of the experiment suggested that cushionall with fit size cantilever with elastic foundation should be adopted to mount the sensors on the socket's wall. As for the placement of the sensors, the result suggested that the sensors should be positioned in zig-zag orientation from top to bottom, which can cover all of the most active area on the quadriceps and hamstring muscle groups. With the identified design, the socket was fabricated and instrumented for a transfemoral amputee and the performance of the in-socket sensory system was evaluated. The amputee performed level walking at normal speed on a 5-m straight pathway multiple times while the output voltage signal from each sensor was recorded. The output signals consistency was assessed by calculating the cross correlation, r, within five trials. In order to measure the strength of the correlation matrix of each sensor, the Frobenius norm, ||A||F was calculated. The high norm value for all sensors pattern (||A||F>4.5) for quadriceps implies that the mounting and placement of the sensors is most suitable for a consistent and reliable signal. For Hamstring, results inferred that except for the two sensors located on the top most position and the most bottom sensor, the other sensors showed good performance (||A||F>4.4). Thus, the proposed design of the in-socket sensory system using piezo sensors was proven to be effective for a transfemoral prosthetic leg.
True regional purchasing power: evidence from the Czech Republic

There is probably no question that regional price levels must be taken into account when any regional analysis is done and that price levels should be reflected in regional policies as well. The current approach of most researchers and policy makers is to use regional indicators converted, for the case of EU regions, in Purchasing Power Standard (PPS). Although the PPS indicators work well for countries they probably fail for regions. The main reason is that regional purchasing power standards do not reflect actual regional price levels – there is only a national parity (price level) which is equally applied to all the regions within a country. This downgrades the reliability of regional PPS indicators and raises serious analytical and political issues. The key problem is that most regional socio-economic indicators can significantly change when regional price levels are taken into account. The aim of this article is to present results of research focused on regional price levels estimation in the Czech Republic. The results clearly show that there are substantial differences between newly computed real regional indicators and currently used PPS indicators. The impact of these findings on regional convergence, households' real income and the effectiveness of cohesion policy are considered. This topic is broadly discussed worldwide, although in the Czech Republic just first attempts can be seen. Nevertheless, its importance will probably increase, especially in relation to the system of European financial aid distributed according to regional gross domestic product (GDP) per capita in PPS.
The Influence of Audit Firm Specialization on Analysts’ Forecast Errors

SUMMARY: This study investigates audit firm specialization in settings where managers have incentives to modify earnings to achieve analysts’ earnings forecasts. The results indicate that audit firms that have a large market share of clients within a particular industry, and audit firms that receive a significant portion of their firm revenues from a specific industry, are associated with audited financial statement earnings that increase absolute levels of analysts’ forecast error and are less likely to just meet or beat analysts’ forecasts.
Multi Image Encryption and Steganography Based on Synchronization of Chaotic Lasers

The paper proposes a scheme for achieving steganography with multiple encrypted monochromatic images with keys obtained from a synchronized system of semiconductor lasers. The key selection scheme for steganography determines the robustness of the application. It is in this area that steganography may benefit from the properties of chaos synchronization. The encryption principle of the new algorithm is analyzed quantitatively by various statistical tests. The cover image used in the technique is also obtained from the visual representation of the chaotic sequences. This new scheme enjoys the benefit of added security, high key space, high embedding capacity, imperceptibility and robustness of the hidden information in conjunction with Least Significant Bit (LSB) based substitution. The result is important from the perspective of introducing a mechanism to multiplex and simultaneously transmit multiple images.
A prospective controlled study of kidney donors: baseline and 6-month follow-up.

BACKGROUND Most previous studies of living kidney donors have been retrospective and have lacked suitable healthy controls. Needed are prospective controlled studies to better understand the effects of a mild reduction in kidney function from kidney donation in otherwise healthy individuals. STUDY DESIGN Prospective, controlled, observational cohort study. SETTING & PARTICIPANTS Consecutive patients approved for donation at 8 transplant centers in the United States were asked to participate. For every donor enrolled, an equally healthy control with 2 kidneys who theoretically would have been suitable to donate a kidney also was enrolled. PREDICTOR Kidney donation. MEASUREMENTS At baseline predonation and at 6 months after donation, medical history, vital signs, measured (iohexol) glomerular filtration rate, and other measurements were collected. There were 201 donors and 198 controls who completed both baseline and 6-month visits and form the basis of this report. RESULTS Compared with controls, donors had 28% lower glomerular filtration rates at 6 months (94.6 ± 15.1 [SD] vs 67.6 ± 10.1 mL/min/1.73 m(2); P < 0.001), associated with 23% greater parathyroid hormone (42.8 ± 15.6 vs 52.7 ± 20.9 pg/mL; P < 0.001), 5.4% lower serum phosphate (3.5 ± 0.5 vs 3.3 ± 0.5 mg/dL; P < 0.001), 3.7% lower hemoglobin (13.6 ± 1.4 vs 13.1 ± 1.2 g/dL; P < 0.001), 8.2% greater uric acid (4.9 ± 1.2 vs 5.3 ± 1.1 mg/dL; P < 0.001), 24% greater homocysteine (1.2 ± 0.3 vs 1.5 ± 0.4 mg/L; P < 0.001), and 1.5% lower high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (54.9 ± 16.4 vs 54.1 ± 13.9 mg/dL; P = 0.03) levels. There were no differences in albumin-creatinine ratios (5.0 [IQR, 4.0-6.6] vs 5.0 [IQR, 3.3-5.4] mg/g; P = 0.5), office blood pressures, or glucose homeostasis. LIMITATIONS Short duration of follow-up and possible bias resulting from an inability to screen controls with kidney and vascular imaging performed in donors. CONCLUSIONS Kidney donors have some, but not all, abnormalities typically associated with mild chronic kidney disease 6 months after donation. Additional follow-up is warranted.
Induction of IFN-γ gene Expression by Thioredoxin: Positive Feed-Back Regulation of Th1 Response by Thioredoxin and IFN-γ

T cell differentiation, which leads to the generation of Th cells with a characteristic cytokine expression pattern, is regulated by diverse factors. In addition to the cytokine environment, the cellular redox status often serves as an important factor in survival and differentiation of Th cells. Thioredoxin, an intracellular redox sensor protein, has been suggested in the induction of Th1 response through the production of IL-12 by monocytes. Here we report that thioredoxin expression is up-regulated by IFN-γ and other Th1 type cytokines in human primary immune cells, and that the overexpression of thioredoxin resulted in a specific increase in the mRNA level and promoter activity of IFN-γ in mitogen-stimulated Jurkat T cells. Using the active site mutant (C32S/C35S) of thioredoxin, we demonstrate that such IFN-γ-inducing capacity of thioredoxin is dependent on the redox-sensing activity of thioredoxin and involves the activation of transcription factors such as NF-κB and Stat1. Together, the results of the present study suggest that thioredoxin is a direct stimulator of IFN-γ gene expression in human T cells and that there is a positive feed-back circuit by IFN-γ and thioredoxin in the regulation of Th1 immune response.
CALCIUM ANTAGONISTS AND THE VESTIBULAR SYSTEM: A CRITICAL REVIEW OF FLUNARIZINE AS AN ANTIVERTIGO DRUG

Summary— Flunarizine, a diphenylalkylamine, is one of the most popular antivertiginous drugs used nowadays in France. However, until now, there are very few preliminary data about the physiological or pathophysiological functions of calcium in the vestibular system. Moreover, experimental and clinical arguments are still insufficient to clearly demonstrate that 1) flunarizine is an effective antivertiginous drug and 2) this putative antivertiginous property is really due to the anticalcic action of the drug and not to a more classical antagonistic effect on Hl receptors. Much more work is needed before accepting the indication of any anticalcic drug as an effective antivertigo treatment.
When Research Meets Development : Antecedents and Implications of Transfer Speed

This paper focuses on the organization of new product development in large, R&D-intensive firms. In these firms, research and development activities are often separated. Research is conducted in dedicated research projects at specialized research labs. Once research results are achieved by research projects, they are transferred to business units for further development and commercialization. We investigate the speed whereby research projects transfer their first research results to business units (hereafter: transfer speed). In particular, we analyze the antecedents and performance implications of transfer speed. Based on data of 503 research projects from a European R&D intensive manufacturing firm, our results suggest that a fast transfer speed (as measured by the time it takes for a research project to develop and transfer its first research result to business units) is associated with a better research performance (as measured by the total number of transfers the research project generates). Moreover, we find that different types of external R&D partners�science-based and market-based partners�play distinct roles in speeding up project first research transfers. While market-based partnerships (i.e., customers and suppliers) generally contribute to a faster transfer of first research results, science-based partnerships (i.e., universities and research institutions) only speed up first research transfers of technologically very complex projects. Our results also show that early patent filings by research projects accelerate first research transfers.
Multi‐atlas based representations for Alzheimer's disease diagnosis

Brain morphometry based classification from magnetic resonance (MR) acquisitions has been widely investigated in the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and its prodromal stage, i.e., mild cognitive impairment (MCI). In the literature, a morphometric representation of brain structures is obtained by spatial normalization of each image into a common space (i.e., a pre‐defined atlas) via non‐linear registration, thus the corresponding regions in different brains can be compared. However, representations generated from one single atlas may not be sufficient to reveal the underlying anatomical differences between the groups of disease‐affected patients and normal controls (NC). In this article, we propose a different methodology, namely the multi‐atlas based morphometry, which measures morphometric representations of the same image in different spaces of multiple atlases. Representations generated from different atlases can thus provide the complementary information to discriminate different groups, and also reduce the negative impacts from registration errors. Specifically, each studied subject is registered to multiple atlases, where adaptive regional features are extracted. Then, all features from different atlases are jointly selected by a correlation and relevance based scheme, followed by final classification with the support vector machine (SVM). We have evaluated the proposed method on 459 subjects (97 AD, 117 progressive‐MCI (p‐MCI), 117 stable‐MCI (s‐MCI), and 128 NC) from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) database, and achieved 91.64% for AD/NC classification and 72.41% for p‐MCI/s‐MCI classification. Our results clearly demonstrate that the proposed multi‐atlas based method can significantly outperform the previous single‐atlas based methods. Hum Brain Mapp 35:5052–5070, 2014. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Corticocortical synaptic influences on morphologically identified pyramidal neurones in the motor cortex of the monkey.

1. Corticocortical synaptic influences on pyramidal neurones in the precentral motor cortex of monkeys were examined using intracellular recordings. Corticocortical afferents from the postarcuate premotor area and the somatic sensory cortical areas were activated by bifocal stimulation of the cortical surface. Neurones that were found to respond orthodromically to such stimuli were labelled by intracellular ionophoresis of horseradish peroxidase. 2. Almost all neurones that were penetrated satisfactorily and labelled successfully were found to be pyramidal neurones located in lamina III or lamina V. Some labelled neurones in lamina V were also characterized as pyramidal tract neurones (PTNs) by antidromic activation from the cerebral peduncles or medullary pyramids. 3. Pyramidal neurones located in lamina III and lamina V (including PTNs) were excited at short latency by stimulation of the premotor cortex (1.1‐4.0 ms) and somatosensory cortex (1.1‐6.5 ms). There were no statistical differences in the distributions of latencies of corticocortical EPSPs between those evoked in lamina III neurones and those recorded in lamina V neurones, or between corticocortical EPSPs evoked from the premotor cortex in comparison with those from the somatosensory cortex. Excitatory responses to stimulation of the premotor area were usually more difficult to evoke and smaller in amplitude than those produced by stimulation of the somatosensory areas. 4. Corticocortical EPSPs were often followed by IPSPs. The amplitudes of the EPSPs and IPSPs could be increased by increasing the stimulus intensity. In a few neurones IPSPs that were not preceded by EPSPs were recorded.
The endopolygalacturonase gene Bcpg1 is required for full virulence of Botrytis cinerea.

Botrytis cinerea, a fungus that causes diseases in over 200 plant species, secretes a number of endopolygalacturonases that have been suggested to be involved in pathogenesis. However, so far the corresponding genes have not been isolated from this fungus. We cloned Bcpg1, encoding endopolygalacturonase, with the pgaII gene from Aspergillus niger as a heterologous probe. The Bcpg1 gene is expressed to similar levels in liquid cultures of B. cinerea containing either 1% polygalacturonic acid or 1% sucrose, and is expressed during infection of tomato leaves. The Bcpg1 gene was eliminated by partial gene replacement, and the resulting mutants were tested for virulence on tomato leaves and fruits, as well as on apple fruits. Although the mutants were still pathogenic and displayed similar primary infections when compared with control strains, a significant decrease in secondary infection, i.e., growth of the lesion beyond the inoculation spot, was observed on all three host tissues. These results indicate that the Bcpg1 gene is required for full virulence.
Induction and reversal of long‐term potentiation by repeated high‐frequency stimulation in rat hippocampal slices

Field potential recordings were made from area CA1 of hippocampal slices from young adult rats to study the effects of repeated tetanic stimulation on the development of LTP. Stimulation was applied to the Schaffer collateral afferents, and field excitatory postsynaptic potentials were recorded in stratum radiatum. Theta‐burst stimulation (TBS) resulted in variable amounts of long‐term potentiation (LTP), depending on how many trains of stimulation were delivered. Peak amounts of LTP occurred after 8–16 trains of TBS, but virtually no LTP occurred after 24 or 32 trains of TBS. There was thus an inverted U‐shaped relation between the amount of TBS and the degree of LTP. The temporal spacing of TBS trains was important for observing the lack of LTP after 32 trains (“over‐stimulation”). If the trains were grouped into blocks of 8, with 10 min between blocks, LTP occurred normally. This finding suggests that a time‐dependent LTP reversal process was occurring during the massed presentation of TBS trains. Over‐stimulation inhibited for 60–90 min the subsequent induction of LTP by a normally efficient LTP‐inducing protocol. This effect was input specific and dependent on activation of N‐methyl‐D‐aspartate (NMDA) receptors. Lowering extracellular [CA2+] from 2.5 to 2.0 mM, or adding the L‐type calcium channel antagonist nimodipine, had only a small protective effect on the lack of LTP induced by 32 trains of TBS. Addition of an NMDA receptor antagonist to the bath solution shortly after the beginning of the over‐stimulation protocol gave significantly more protection. Administration of an adenosine (A1) receptor antagonist during over‐stimulation permitted robust LTP to occur, indicating that A1 receptor activation during TBS contributes to the depotentiation process. These findings confirm previous findings in the dentate gyrus that repeated afferent tetanization within a narrow time frame can lead to a loss or reversal of LTP. Activation of adenosine receptors appears to trigger this effect. Hippocampus 7:137–145, 1997. © 1997 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
New Repetitive Bipolar Solid-State Marx Type Modulator

A broad circuit topology for bipolar or unipolar high-voltage repetitive pulse power applications is proposed. This circuit constitutes a merging version of the negative and positive solid-state Marx modulator concepts, which take advantage of the intensive use of semiconductor devices to increase the performance of the classic circuit. The flexibility of the proposed modular circuit enables the operation with negative and/or positive pulses, with different duty cycles, frequencies and relaxation times between the positive and negative pulse. Additionally, the switching topology enables the discharge of the parasitic capacitances after each pulse, allowing the use of capacitive loads. A 60 kW peak power laboratory prototype was assembled with four stages, using 1200 V IGBTs and diodes, operating with 1000 V dc input voltage and 2 kHz frequency, giving 4 kV / 15 A bipolar pulses, with 5 mus pulse width and 5 mus relaxation time into a resistive load.
Genome‐wide screen of promoter methylation analysis of ES cells and ES derived epidermal‐like cells

Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) are a population of pluripotent cells which can differentiate into different cell types. However, there are few reports with regard to differentiate ESCs into epidermal cells in vitro. In this study, we aimed to investigate differentially methylated promoters involved in process of differentiation from ESCs into epidermal‐like cells (ELCs) induced by human amnion. We successfully induced ESCs into ELCs, which expressed the surface markers of CK19, CK15 and β1‐integrin. With MeDIP‐chip arrays, we identified 3435 gene promoters to be differentially methylated, involving 894 HCP (high CpG‐containing promoter), 974 ICP (intermediate CpG‐containing promoter) and 1567 LCP (low CpG‐containing promoter) among all the 17 500 DNA methylation regions of gene promoters in both ESCs and ELCs. Gene oncology and pathway analysis demonstrated that these genes were involved in all the three categories of GO enrichment analysis, including biological process, molecular function and cellular component. All these data suggested that embryonic stem cells can differentiate into epidermal‐like cells and promoter methylation is of great importance in this process. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Heterozygosity is unrelated to adult fitness measures in a large, noninbred population of great tits (Parus major)

The extent to which heterozygosity‐fitness correlations (HFCs) are expected in wild populations is an important and unresolved question in evolutionary biology, because it relates to our understanding of the genetic architecture of fitness. Here, we report a study of HFCs in a wild, noninbred population of great tits (Parus major), based on a sample comprising 281 individuals typed at 26 markers, resulting in a data set comprising over 5600 genotypes. We regressed pedigree‐derived f‐score and multilocus genetic diversity against eight life‐history traits known to be associated with fitness in this population, including lifetime reproductive success (LRS), as well as several morphological traits under weak selection. We found no evidence for either multilocus or single‐locus HFCs for any morphological or fitness trait, and further found no evidence that effect sizes were stronger for those life‐history traits more closely associated with reproductive fitness. This result may, in part, be explained by the fact that we found no evidence that our set of 26 markers had any power to infer genome‐wide heterozygosity in this population and that marker‐derived heterozygosity was uncorrelated with pedigree‐derived f‐score. Overall, these results emphasize the fact that the often‐reported strong HFCs detected in small, inbred populations do not reflect a general phenomenon of increasing individual reproductive fitness with increasing heterozygosity.
Mainstreaming and the engendering of policy-making: a means to an end?

The present United Kingdom government has pledged that it will put women at the heart of government. A variety of initiatives have been taken in order to honour this pledge including the implementation of an equality strategy known as mainstreaming. Mainstreaming requires the integration of a gender perspective into policy-making. This article will examine the case for mainstreaming and what practical steps have been taken to put it into effect at Westminster and in the arrangements for devolving power to the new regional assemblies in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Particular attention will be paid to the impact that mainstreaming has had on women's representation, their ability to play a role in government and the elimination of gender inequality. This analysis will conclude with an assessment of the potential of these mainstreaming initiatives to effect substantive change to policy-making judged on the basis of criteria developed during the course of the article.