Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Genomic structure and organization of the high grade Myopia-2 locus (MYP2) critical region: mutation screening of 9 positional candidate genes.

PURPOSE Myopia is a common complex eye disorder, with implications for blindness due to increased risk of retinal detachment, chorioretinal degeneration, premature cataracts, and glaucoma. A genomic interval of 2.2 centiMorgans (cM) was defined on chromosome band 18p11.31 using 7 families diagnosed with autosomal dominant high myopia and was designated the MYP2 locus. To characterize this region, we analyzed 9 known candidate genes localized to within the 2.2 cM interval by direct sequencing. METHODS Using public databases, a physical map of the MYP2 interval was compiled. Gene expression studies in ocular tissues using complementary DNA library screens, microarray experiments, reverse transcription techniques, and expression data identified in external databases aided in prioritizing gene selection for screening. Coding regions, intron-exon boundaries and untranslated exons of all known genes [Clusterin-like 1 (CLUL1), elastin microfibril interfacer 2 (EMILIN2), lipin 2 (LPIN2), myomesin 1 (MYOM1), myosin regulatory light chain 3 (MRCL3), myosin regulatory light chain 2 (MRLC2), transforming growth beta-induced factor (TGIFbeta), large Drosophila homolog associated protein 1 (DLGAP1), and zinc finger protein 161 homolog (ZFP161)] were sequenced using genomic DNA samples from 9 affected and 6 unaffected MYP2 pedigree members, and from 5 external controls (4 unaffected and 1 affected). Gene sequence changes were compared to known variants from public single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) databases. RESULTS In total, 103 polymorphisms were found by direct sequencing; 10 were missense, 14 were silent, 26 were not translated, 49 were intronic, 1 insertion, and 3 were homozygous deletions. Twenty-seven polymorphisms were novel. Novel SNPs were submitted to the public database; observed frequencies were submitted for known SNPs. No sequence alterations segregated with the disease phenotype. CONCLUSIONS Mutation analysis of 9 encoded positional candidate genes on MYP2 loci did not identify sequence alterations associated with the disease phenotype. Further studies of MYP2 candidate genes, including analysis of putative genes predicted in silico, are underway.
A loosely coupled transformer with mixed winding and electromagnetic shielding for contactless power transmission

The loosely coupled transformer is the key component of a contactless power transmission (CPT) system. In order to reduce the size of the loosely coupled transformer, mixed winding arrangement containing planar winding and vertical winding is proposed in this paper. However, because of the using of the vertical winding, the proposed transformer has a large part of leakage flux at the back of the core, resulting in low coupling coefficient k of the transformer. An aluminium sheet is attached to the back of the core as electromagnetic shielding to avoid this problem and improve the coupling coefficient. After that, the length of the aluminium sheet is optimised. A loosely coupled transformer with mixed winding and shielding is fabricated in the lab. The optimization of the length of the shielding is verified with experimental measurement to be very accurate. A contactless transformer with k of 0.583 and length of 73 mm is achieved. Compared with the previous transformer having k of 0.523 and length of 90 mm, the proposed transformer offers smaller size and higher k.
The Bound Estimate of the Gender Wage Convergence under Employment Compositional Change

The gender wage gap among full-time workers has narrowed in the last 15 years in Japan. The demographic characteristics of full-time employees also has changed during the same period. The changed composition of workers could result in an observed gender wage convergence without any change in the underlying structure of the equilibrium o.ered wages. This paper develops a new method for estimating the convergence of the gender wage gap when the composition of workers of both genders changes. The newly developed estimators trim the wage distribution of certain groups characterized by observed characteristics so that the composition of workers in terms of these characteristics is stable over time. Applying two extreme trimming rules, based on two extreme distributional assumptions of unobserved characteristics, the trimming estimators identify the upper-and lower-bounds of the true gender wage convergence. The regression-adjusted gender wage gap for full-time workers has narrowed by 6 percentage points, changing from 33 percent in 1987 to 27 percent in 2002. However, the lower-bound estimate indicates an 18-percentage-point divergence and the upper-bound estimate indicates a 33-percentage-point convergence. However, once we assume that spousal income determines reservation wage, but not o.ered wage, we can signi.cantly tighten the bounds. The results highlight that the prediction from economic theory, combined with a reasonable excluded variable assumption, is crucial to making inferences about gender wage convergence in Japan. The method developed in this paper is applicable to other cases for examining the temporal variation of the average wage when the employment composition changes.
Five-axis stabilization system for a 2-DOF translational OIS

This study proposes a novel 5-axis stabilization system for a new two degree-of-freedom (DOF) translational optical image stabilizer (OIS) of cell cameras installed on the mobile phone. The OIS can improves the blurring image caused by the hand shakings when shooting a picture because the OIS stabilize the movements of the lens holder to efficiently reduce the misalignment of the optical path between the focusing lens and center of the image sensor. Unlikely Other OIS designs, this OIS stabilizes the lens holder by a two-DOF translational mechanism actuated by voice coil motors (VCM) and compensates for up to five directions of camera motion. The work can be divided into three main parts: (1) mechanism designs, (2) establishments of the dynamic equation of motions (EOM) of a two-DOF translational structure, and (3) realizations of a lead and lag controller with high-precision. In the first part, mechanism designs of the OIS are focused on that the four-parallel-wire suspension structure of the lens holder provides the translational movements in vertical and lateral axes and magnets offer optimal magnetic field for actuation. The second part shows the dynamic characteristics of the translational OIS system has been analyzed and the EOM has been derived. Based on the Newton's laws, the motions of the OIS have been modeled through considering the moment of inertia and the mass. Finally, a lead and lag controller is applied and the associated simulations are conducted. Based on the simulation results, the lead and lag controller is forged with the assistances from MATLAB pre-simulation and tested by a FPGA module. The controller would be built up which contains the drive system for anti-shake mechanism. After a series of experiments and verifications, the prototype of the novel OIS is finally accomplished with satisfactory performance of vibration reduction. The designed OIS module can reach a control translational range of ±1 mm in the required 0.1 second.
Transmission Efficiency of Francisella tularensis by Adult American Dog Ticks (Acari: Ixodidae)

ABSTRACT The American dog tick, Dermacentor variabilis (Say) (Acari: Ixodidae), has been implicated as a potential bridging vector to humans of Francisella tularensis, the etiological agent of tularemia. Since the initial studies evaluating vector competency of D. variabilis were conducted, F. tularensis has been subdivided into subspecies and clades that differ in their geographical distribution in the United States and in the severity of infections caused in humans. Here, we demonstrate that D. variabilis nymphs efficiently acquire, transtadially maintain, and transmit each of the strains tested (clades A1b and A2, and type B). Transmission efficiency by adult females was similarly high among infection groups and ranged from 58% for type B to 89% for A2 infections. In addition, we demonstrated that transmission can occur shortly after tick attachment. These findings support the concept that D. variabilis adults may play a significant role in epizootic transmission of F. tularensis, and as a bridging vector to humans.
Coping with Diversity in Alliances for Innovation: The Role of Relational Social Capital and Knowledge Codifiability

Alliances are increasingly considered a key element for innovation, especially in knowledge‐intensive firms. While this is true, the mere membership to alliances does not explain innovation performance, and thus the alliance's characteristics that determine high performance must be examined. This research address the question of how the diversity of partners in a certain alliance for innovation affects innovation performance, and how this influence can be moderated by certain characteristics, such as the relational dimension of social capital and the type of knowledge shared among partners. The empirical analysis of a sample of 90 biotech companies shows that there is an inverted U‐shaped relationship between alliance partner diversity and innovation performance and confirms the positive moderating effects of relational social capital and knowledge codifiability. These findings contribute to the current research on alliances for innovation by providing empirical evidence on why some alliances perform better than others. Also, the results suggest that the study of alliance partner diversity, as a determinant of alliance performance, should not be addressed in isolation.
Idiopathic Pneumonia Syndrome after Bone Marrow Transplantation

Introduced in the early 1970s for treatment of aplastic anemia and leukemia, bone marrow transplantation offers potentially effective treatment for a growing number of patients. The procedure is now recognized as therapeutic for an increasing number of diseases. Furthermore, advances in transplant immunobiology, supportive care, and prevention of graft-versus-host disease, coupled with the availability of suitable donors, make the technique both effective and feasible. In 1990 more than 5,500 patients received allogeneic marrow transplants from matched or partially matched family members, and more than 5,000 autologous transplant procedures were performed. The recent creation of the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP), which currently lists more than 600,000 potential donors, has made identification of unrelated phenotypically HLA-identical donors possible for patients who do not have suitable donors among family members. It is estimated that more than 500 unrelated transplants will be performed in 1992.
Protective Effect of Milk Against in vitro Caries

Additions of milk solids to laboratory "cakes" made of sucrose and starch reduced in vitro (Orofax) "caries" and the dissolution of granular enamel, but increased the amounts of fermentation acids produced. Withdrawal of the milk component of ice cream, yogurt, and chocolate milk resulted in increased Orofax "caries. "
An indoor location system performance evaluation and electromagnetic measurements

Radio signals based indoor location systems is a hot topic. Even many papers deals with this subject, and some solutions were tested, currently we have no mature commercial implementations. Based on WLAN, RFID, WSN, ZigBee or proprietary solutions, location systems working principles implies the measurement of radio signals. Due to propagation issues in real working conditions, the practical demonstrated performances are far enough from theoretical simulation results. In indoor environments, the presence of different objects in rooms may cause multiple propagation paths, dynamic position changing objects or human presence affect the measurement precision. In this paper, we evaluate a 2.4 GHz WSN based location system both in an isolated environment setup — in a shielded room, and in real conditions in a laboratory room and compare the results. We measure the electromagnetic field generated by the system, in order to estimate the potential risks to humans if these systems are massively deployed.
Radiographic quantifications of joint space narrowing progression by computer-based approach using temporal subtraction in rheumatoid wrist.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the validity of a computer-based method using temporal subtraction in carpal joints of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), which can detect the difference in joint space between two images with the joint space difference index (JSDI). METHODS The study consisted of 43 patients with RA (39 females and 4 males) who underwent radiography at baseline and at 1-year follow-up. The joint space narrowing (JSN) of carpal joints on bilateral hand radiographs was assessed by our computer-based method, using the Sharp/van der Heijde method as the standard of reference. We compared the JSDI of joints with JSN progression in the follow-up period with that of those without JSN progression. In addition, we examined whether there is a significant difference in JSDI in terms of laterality or topology of the joint. RESULTS The JSDI of joints with JSN progression was significantly higher than that of those without JSN progression (Mann-Whitney U test, p < 0.001). There was no statistically significant difference in the JSDI between the left and right carpal joints, which was analysed for five different joints altogether and each joint separately (Mann-Whitney U test, p > 0.05). There was statistically significant difference in JSDI among different joints (Kruskal-Wallis test, p = 0.003). CONCLUSION These results suggest that our computer-based method may be useful to recognize the JSN progression on radiographs of rheumatoid wrists. ADVANCES IN KNOWLEDGE The computer-based temporal subtraction method can detect the JSN progression in the wrist, which is the single most commonly involved site in RA.
Bidirectional promoter elements of simian virus 40 are required for efficient replication of the viral DNA

Mutants of simian virus 40 (SV40) lacking parts of the 72- and 21-base-pair repeat regions were made deficient in large T antigen by recombination with dlA 4000, a mutant containing a frameshift deletion near the amino terminus of the T antigen genes. These double mutants were transfected into COS cells, and the amounts of replicated viral DNA were measured at various times thereafter. It was found that deletion of either the 72- or 21-base-pair repeat region did not significantly reduce the accumulation of viral DNA. However, cells transfected with mutants lacking both of these promoter elements accumulated 100-fold less viral DNA than cells transfected with wild-type SV40. This indicates that the 72- and 21-base-pair repeat regions are each sufficient for supplying a function required for efficient replication of SV40 DNA. In addition, the ability of either of these regions to support efficient replication was gradually reduced as the number of promoter elements within each was decreased. Since the 72- and 21-base-pair repeat regions bidirectionally induce transcription, our results indicate that bidirectional promoter elements play a role in the replication of viral DNA. However, fewer of these elements are required for efficient replication than for efficient transcription.
A novel hybrid detection approach for series compensation under grid perturbation

In this paper a novel hybrid harmonic compensation approach for non-linear loads is developed and analysed. This technique provides compensation for current harmonics coming from a nonlinear load and reactive power regulation even during grid's voltage disturbances. The method could be implemented on any Series Active Filter. Meanwhile the Transformerless configuration (TSeAF) is selected in this work to address power quality issues of a non-linear load. In the first step the source current distortions are extracted from the sensed nonlinear load currents. Then, to improve the compensation's behaviour this new strategy uses voltage harmonic distortions to make the grid current remain as clean as possible with a small gain G proportional to current harmonic components. The strategy is evaluated on an Ideal CSC non-linear load. Then a single-phase bridge rectifier with R-L load is taken as the nonlinear load. This strategy operates in regular conditions, while it keeps a perfectly sinusoidal current wave form during disturbances initiated by the grid. Simulations results confirm the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Orthogonal random beamforming with beam selection for MISO wiretap broadcast channels

This paper studies the downlink of a wireless system with an M-antenna base station, K single-antenna legitimate users and a single-antenna eavesdropper. A limited feedback-based scheduling and precoding scenario is considered that employs the orthogonal random beamforming (ORBF). The sum-rate of ORBF exhibits an identical growth rate as that of dirty paper coding for a large number of users. Unfortunately, for more realistic (low to moderate) K values, ORBF yields degraded performance. It is shown that having as many active beams as the number of transmit antennas is not always optimal for sparse network, thus scheduling strategies for ORBF with beam selection is investigated. Several user-beam selection algorithms featuring different complexity levels are proposed and their performance in terms of secrecy sum-rate is assessed. Numerical results are provided to illustrate the impact of the number of active beams on the secrecy performance.
Evolving Microbial Communities for Biofuel Production

Plant lignocellulose is the most abundant raw material on the planet and a promising substrate for biofuel production. While this complex polymer is efficiently degraded by a range of naturally occurring microbial communities, cost- and energy-efficient industrial use is hampered by its recalcitrance to degradation. By gaining a better understanding of how microbial lignocellulose degrading communities function we may be able to improve industrial processes. In this thesis, I used a combination of ecological and evolutionary approaches to uncover the species and functional traits that drive lignocellulolytic microbial community productivity. I found that the presence of key highly active cellulolytic bacteria increased the productivity of microbial consortia. Specifically, we identified two species, Cellulomonas sp. D13 and Paenibacillus sp. A8, with a range of cellulase and hemicellulase enzymes that have potential for application in industrial processes. Experimental evolution revealed that the rate of phenotypic adaptation of a focal bacterial species, Stenotrophomonas sp. D12, to growth on wheat straw was accelerated by the presence of other competing species. The trajectory of focal species evolution was determined by both the identity and the ecological and evolutionary responses of the competing species. Genome sequencing of evolved clones suggested that genetic adaptation by the focal species to degrade wheat straw involved mutations targeting regulatory genes involved in catabolite repression and carbon storage, two systems that may represent promising targets for the improvement of industrial strains. Overall these results suggest the ecological and evolutionary approaches can be used to design and improve microbial consortia for lignocellulose bioconversion.
A comprehensive survey of TDD-based mobile communication systems from TD-SCDMA 3G to TD-LTE(A) 4G and 5G directions

TDD (Time Division Duplex) is one of the two duplex modes. TD-SCDMA (Time Division Synchronous CDMA) is the first TDD-based cellular mobile system which is commercialized in wide area and large scale and TD-SCDMA is also the first cellular mobile system which adopted smart antenna technology (also called as beamforming). As the long term evolution of TD-SCDMA, TD-LTE(A) (Time Division-Long Term Evolution, and TD-LTE Advanced) introduced OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) and enhanced smart antenna technology together with MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output), which are adopted by LTE FDD (Frequency Division Duplex) either. It is indicated that TD-SCDMA and TD-LTE(A) have opened a sustainable utilization era of TDD and smart antenna technologies in the wireless mobile communication. This paper aims to present a systematic introduction to TDD-based mobile communications from TD-SCDMA to TD-LTE and beyond, with particular focuses on TDD key technologies, principles of TDD cellular mobile systems, TDD evolution path, and future TDD 5G directions. The comparisons between TDD and FDD are also included. We hope that this paper will provide a comprehensive overview of TDD technology upgrade and its standard evolution, and serve as a valuable reference for research on 5G mobile communication systems. It is believed that TDD will play more important role in 5G.
Sleep Disturbances in Newborns

The purpose of this review is to serve as an introduction to understanding sleep in the fetus, the preterm neonate and the term neonate. Sleep appears to have numerous important roles, particularly in the consolidation of new information. The sleep cycle changes over time, neonates spend the most time in active sleep and have a progressive shortening of active sleep and lengthening of quiet sleep. Additionally, the sleep cycle is disrupted by many things including disease state and environment, and the amplitude integrated EEG can be a useful tool in evaluating sleep, and sleep disturbances, in neonates. Finally, there are protective factors for infant sleep that are still being studied.
The Projective SUMT Method for Convex Programming

An algorithm for solving convex programming problems is derived from the differential equation characterizing the trajectory of unconstrained minimizers of the classical logarithmic barrier function. Convergence of the continuous version of this projective SUMT method is proved under minimal assumptions. Extension of the algorithm to a form which handles linear equality constraints produces a differential equation analogue of Karmarkar's method for linear programming. The discrete version uses the same method of search and finds the step size by minimizing the logarithmic method of centers function. An acceleration procedure based on the nonvanishing of the Jacobian of the Karush-Kuhn-Tucker system at a minimizer is shown to converge quadratically. When the problem variables are bounded, dual feasible points are available and the algorithm produces at each iteration lower and upper bounds on the global minimum. A matrix approximation is given which greatly reduces the traditional problems in inverting the.
Taxing the monopolistic polluter: A reconsideration

The response of a monopolistic polluter to the imposition of an emission tax and its welfare implications are examined. The cases of output reduction as the sole means for pollution control and of additional means being feasible are considered. It turns out that in the second case the tax may increase social welfare even in the case of a firm whose market power is more distorting than its externality generation. The tax, however, is unable to achieve a predetermined target level of pollution at minimum social cost in the case of a monopolistic polluter.