Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Modeling and design of 2-element dual-band ceramic chip handset antennas

This paper presents the modeling and design of 2-element compact ceramic chip antenna for UMTS/GPS dual-band mobile handset applications. First, the design of ceramic chip monopole integrated with a simple matching circuit will be explained. The radiation characteristics including high gain and total efficiency of the proposed compact antenna element will be presented. Next, 2-element antenna system for dual-band handset design where one antenna element is used for UMTS operation while the another one works as an assisted GPS (A-GPS) antenna will be introduced. Parametric study illustrating the effect of antenna elements separation on the mutual coupling between antenna ports will be analyzed. It has been shown that low mutual coupling is the result of strong current being induced on the 3D monopole placed inside high density dielectric ceramic pad. Mobile handset applications of the proposed compact 2-element antenna system will be discussed in the details at the Conference.
Acute hepatitis A virus infection is associated with a limited type I interferon response and persistence of intrahepatic viral RNA

Hepatitis A virus (HAV) is an hepatotropic human picornavirus that is associated only with acute infection. Its pathogenesis is not well understood because there are few studies in animal models using modern methodologies. We characterized HAV infections in three chimpanzees, quantifying viral RNA by quantitative RT-PCR and examining critical aspects of the innate immune response including intrahepatic IFN-stimulated gene expression. We compared these infection profiles with similar studies of chimpanzees infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV), an hepatotropic flavivirus that frequently causes persistent infection. Surprisingly, HAV-infected animals exhibited very limited induction of type I IFN-stimulated genes in the liver compared with chimpanzees with acute resolving HCV infection, despite similar levels of viremia and 100-fold greater quantities of viral RNA in the liver. Minimal IFN-stimulated gene 15 and IFIT1 responses peaked 1–2 wk after HAV challenge and then subsided despite continuing high hepatic viral RNA. An acute inflammatory response at 3–4 wk correlated with the appearance of virus-specific antibodies and apoptosis and proliferation of hepatocytes. Despite this, HAV RNA persisted in the liver for months, remaining present long after clearance from serum and feces and revealing dramatic differences in the kinetics of clearance in the three compartments. Viral RNA was detected in the liver for significantly longer (35 to >48 wk) than HCV RNA in animals with acute resolving HCV infection (10–20 wk). Collectively, these findings indicate that HAV is far stealthier than HCV early in the course of acute resolving infection. HAV infections represent a distinctly different paradigm in virus–host interactions within the liver.
Epigenetic Decisions in Mammalian Germ Cells

Specific sequences are designated for de novo DNA methylation at CpG dinucleotides in mammalian germ cells. The result is the long-term transcriptional silencing of the methylated sequences, most of which are retrotransposons and CpG-rich sequences associated with imprinted genes. There is profound sexual dimorphism in both the nature of the sequences that undergo de novo methylation in germ cells and in the mechanism by which de novo methylation is regulated. The restriction of future gene expression by the imposition of heritable methylation patterns in germ cell genomes is characteristic of mammals but is rare in other taxa.
The Pathogenesis of Simian Varicella Virus in Cynomolgus Monkeys 1

Summary The MLM herpesvirus is infectious for cynomolgus monkeys. The disease in this species, possibly modulated by preinoculation antibody resembles human varicella. Virus has been recovered from blood during the early incubation period, and from liver, lymph nodes, kidney, bladder and urine during the eruptive period of infection. The major target organs were skin and liver; specific pathological changes developed in both. Appropriate antibody responses, including those to Herpesvirus varicellae followed infections mounted by parenteral inoculation of cynomolgus monkeys.
Patient Safety Climate in 92 US Hospitals: Differences by Work Area and Discipline

Background:Concern about patient safety has promoted efforts to improve safety climate. A better understanding of how patient safety climate differs among distinct work areas and disciplines in hospitals would facilitate the design and implementation of interventions. Objectives:To understand workers’ perceptions of safety climate and ways in which climate varies among hospitals and by work area and discipline. Research Design:We administered the Patient Safety Climate in Healthcare Organizations survey in 2004–2005 to personnel in a stratified random sample of 92 US hospitals. Subjects:We sampled 100% of senior managers and physicians and 10% of all other workers. We received 18,361 completed surveys (52% response). Measures:The survey measured safety climate perceptions and worker and job characteristics of hospital personnel. We calculated and compared the percent of responses inconsistent with a climate of safety among hospitals, work areas, and disciplines. Results:Overall, 17% of responses were inconsistent with a safety climate. Patient safety climate differed by hospital and among and within work areas and disciplines. Emergency department personnel perceived worse safety climate and personnel in nonclinical areas perceived better safety climate than workers in other areas. Nurses were more negative than physicians regarding their work unit's support and recognition of safety efforts, and physicians showed marginally more fear of shame than nurses. For other dimensions of safety climate, physician-nurse differences depended on their work area. Conclusions:Differences among and within hospitals suggest that strategies for improving safety climate and patient safety should be tailored for work areas and disciplines.
Satisfaction, commitment, and psychological well-being among HMO physicians.

OBJECTIVE To identify the factors that predict professional satisfaction, organizational commitment, and burnout among physicians working for health maintenance organizations (HMOs). METHODS AND PARTICIPANTS Data came from mail surveys of Kaiser Permanente physicians in the Northwest and Ohio regions. The average response rate was 80% (n = 608). RESULTS The single most important predictor for all 3 outcomes was a sense of control over the practice environment. Other significant predictors included perceived work demands, social support from colleagues, and satisfaction with resources. The relative importance of these predictors varied, depending on the outcome under consideration. All 3 outcomes were also related to physician age and specialty. Older physicians had higher levels of satisfaction and commitment and lower levels of burnout. Pediatricians were more satisfied and committed to the HMO and were less likely to burn out. CONCLUSIONS Physicians who perceive greater control over the practice environment, who perceive that their work demands are reasonable, and who have more support from colleagues have higher levels of satisfaction, commitment to the HMO, and psychological well-being. Interventions and administrative changes that give physicians more control over how they do their professional work and that enhance social supports are likely to improve both physician morale and performance.
Astrocytes and NG2‐glia: what's in a name?

Classic studies recognize two functionally segregated macroglial cell types in the central nervous system (CNS), namely astrocytes and oligodendrocytes. A third macroglial cell type has now been identified by its specific expression of the NG2 chondroitin sulphate proteoglycan (NG2‐glia). These NG2‐glia exist abundantly in both grey and white matter of the mature CNS and are almost as numerous as astrocytes. It is well established that NG2‐glia give rise to oligodendrocytes. However, the majority of NG2‐glia in the adult CNS proliferate very slowly and are non‐motile. Both astrocytes and NG2‐glia display a stellate morphology and express ion channels and receptors to neurotransmitters used by neurons. Both types of glia make intimate contacts with neurons in grey and white matter, and their functional differences and similarities are only beginning to be unravelled. Recent observations emphasize the need to examine the relationship between astrocytes and NG2‐glia, and address the question of whether they represent overlapping or two distinct glial cell populations. To be of any relevance, this classification must relate to specific functions in the neural network. At present, the balance of evidence is that NG2‐glia and astrocytes are functionally segregated populations.
Herpesvirus proteinase: site-directed mutagenesis used to study maturational, release, and inactivation cleavage sites of precursor and to identify a possible catalytic site serine and histidine

The cytomegalovirus maturational proteinase is synthesized as a precursor that undergoes at least three processing cleavages. Two of these were predicted to be at highly conserved consensus sequences--one near the carboxyl end of the precursor, called the maturational (M) site, and the other near the middle of the precursor, called the release (R) site. A third less-well-conserved cleavage site, called the inactivation (I) site, was also identified near the middle of the human cytomegalovirus 28-kDa assemblin homolog. We have used site-directed mutagenesis to verify all three predicted sequences in the simian cytomegalovirus proteinase, and have shown that the proteinase precursor is active without cleavage at these sites. We have also shown that the P4 tyrosine and the P2 lysine of the R site were more sensitive to substitution than the other R- and M-site residues tested: substitution of alanine for P4 tyrosine at the R site severely reduced cleavage at that site but not at the M site, and substitution of asparagine for lysine at P2 of the R site reduced M-site cleavage and nearly eliminated I-site cleavage but had little effect on R-site cleavage. With the exception of P1' serine, all R-site mutations hindered I-site cleavage, suggesting a role for the carboxyl end of assemblin in I-site cleavage. Pulse-chase radiolabeling and site-directed mutagenesis indicated that assemblin is metabolically unstable and is degraded by cleavage at its I site. Fourteen amino acid substitutions were also made in assemblin, the enzymatic amino half of the proteinase precursor. Among those tested, only 2 amino acids were identified as essential for activity: the single absolutely conserved serine and one of the two absolutely conserved histidines. When the highly conserved glutamic acid (Glu22) was substituted, the proteinase was able to cleave at the M and I sites but not at the R site, suggesting either a direct (e.g., substrate recognition) or indirect (e.g., protein conformation) role for this residue in determining substrate specificity.
Surgical management of intraductal papillary mucinous tumor of the pancreas.

BACKGROUND Intraductal papillary mucinous tumor (IPMT) is a type of pancreatic cystic neoplasm. IPMT consists of intraductal papillary mucinous adenoma (benign IPMT) and intraductal papillary mucinous carcinoma (malignant IPMT). Preoperative diagnosis of malignancy is difficult; the invasiveness and metastatic character are not well known. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the optimal diagnostic and therapeutic strategy of IPMT. METHODS Medical charts of 38 patients with final diagnosis of IPMT in Kyoto University Hospital were retrospectively reviewed. Preoperative imaging, mode of operation, and clinical and histopathologic findings were analyzed. RESULTS In 38 IPMTs, imaging of localization was correct in 82% by computed tomography, 90% by ultrasonography, 70% by endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography, 100% by magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography, and 100% by endoscopic ultrasonography. Evaluation of malignancy by endoscopic ultrasonography resulted in sensitivity and specificity of 81% and 78%, respectively. Pylorus-preserving pancreaticoduodenectomy was preferably performed in 20 of 38 patients with IPMT. Twenty-two patients had histologically malignant disease. Half of them had an invasive component in the adjacent stroma. One case of malignant IPMT showed lymph node metastasis, and the patient had no recurrence after pancreaticoduodenectomy with regional lymphadenectomy. No case was diagnosed as margin positive; however, 27% showed a dysplasia with atypia in the epithelial cells of the cut edge of the pancreas. One patient with negative atypia at the cut edge of the pancreas developed a recurrent tumor in the remnant pancreas. CONCLUSIONS The preoperative diagnosis of malignancy is difficult, and 50% of malignant IPMT showed an invasive component. Thus, radical resection of the pancreas with regional lymph node dissection should be the choice of treatment. Lymph node metastasis and intraductal distant invasion should be carefully managed in the surgical treatment of these lesions.
Transient analysis of bang-bang phase locked loops

This work gives insight into the behaviour of second-order bang-bang phase locked loops in the far from lock region. This region, while largely unexplored, is of particular interest as PLL behaviour in this region determines locking time and capture range. By analysing PLL cycle slipping behaviour in this region, the transient response for the system is derived. Expressions for first-order system stability and locking time are also presented.
Centralized clustering algorithm to enhance energy consumption in Wireless Sensor Networks

A Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) composed of a large number of sensor nodes within a sensing geographical area. Energy consumption is considered a major WSNs issue. Therefore, a considerable number of researches have investigated various ways to reduce energy consumption. One of the best techniques used to reduce energy consumption is clustering. Clustering helps to improve the network performance through extending the battery lifetime. Our study improves the work on LEACH Enhancements for WSNs based on the energy model by introducing the K-means clustering approach to improve energy and increase network lifespan. The proposed approach divides the nodes into member nodes and cluster head nodes. The member nodes transmit data to the cluster head, whereas, the cluster head nodes are responsible for communication with the base station. This approach is a centralized election technique where the base station makes the decision for selecting the cluster heads based on the information received from each node. The advantage of the proposed technique is that the information of each node is only sent once to the base station during the initialization phase. The base station performs weightage calculation for all nodes and nodes with the highest weights are elected as cluster heads. The base station also decides the cluster members and the decisions are then transmitted to all nodes in the network. This research introduces weightage calculation based on three important parameters which are remaining energy, number of neighbor nodes and the node’s distance to base station. The proposed technique consists of three phases: Initialization Phase, Setup Phase, and Selection Phase. The results of our proposed technique shows significant improvement of the residual energy, the total energy consumption, the total alive nodes, and total packets delivered compared to LEACH Enhancement for WSNs based on the energy model technique. In conclusion, the results of this study show improvements and achieved the objectives of this paper.
PDZ Protein Regulation of G Protein–Coupled Receptor Trafficking and Signaling Pathways

G protein–coupled receptors (GPCRs) contribute to the regulation of every aspect of human physiology and are therapeutic targets for the treatment of numerous diseases. As a consequence, understanding the myriad of mechanisms controlling GPCR signaling and trafficking is essential for the development of new pharmacological strategies for the treatment of human pathologies. Of the many GPCR-interacting proteins, postsynaptic density protein of 95 kilodaltons, disc large, zona occludens-1 (PDZ) domain–containing proteins appear most abundant and have similarly been implicated in disease mechanisms. PDZ proteins play an important role in regulating receptor and channel protein localization within synapses and tight junctions and function to scaffold intracellular signaling protein complexes. In the current study, we review the known functional interactions between PDZ domain–containing proteins and GPCRs and provide insight into the potential mechanisms of action. These PDZ domain–containing proteins include the membrane-associated guanylate-like kinases [postsynaptic density protein of 95 kilodaltons; synapse-associated protein of 97 kilodaltons; postsynaptic density protein of 93 kilodaltons; synapse-associated protein of 102 kilodaltons; discs, large homolog 5; caspase activation and recruitment domain and membrane-associated guanylate-like kinase domain-containing protein 3; membrane protein, palmitoylated 3; calcium/calmodulin-dependent serine protein kinase; membrane-associated guanylate kinase protein (MAGI)-1, MAGI-2, and MAGI-3], Na+/H+ exchanger regulatory factor proteins (NHERFs) (NHERF1, NHERF2, PDZ domain–containing kidney protein 1, and PDZ domain–containing kidney protein 2), Golgi-associated PDZ proteins (Gα-binding protein interacting protein, C-terminus and CFTR-associated ligand), PDZ domain–containing guanine nucleotide exchange factors (GEFs) 1 and 2, regulator of G protein signaling (RGS)–homology-RhoGEFs (PDZ domain–containing RhoGEF and leukemia-associated RhoGEF), RGS3 and RGS12, spinophilin and neurabin-1, SRC homology 3 domain and multiple ankyrin repeat domain (Shank) proteins (Shank1, Shank2, and Shank3), partitioning defective proteins 3 and 6, multiple PDZ protein 1, Tamalin, neuronal nitric oxide synthase, syntrophins, protein interacting with protein kinase C α 1, syntenin-1, and sorting nexin 27.
Definition of organ involvement and treatment response in immunoglobulin light chain amyloidosis (AL): A consensus opinion from the 10th International Symposium on Amyloid and Amyloidosis

We undertook this study to develop uniformly accepted criteria for the definition of organ involvement and response for patients on treatment protocols for immunoglobulin light‐chain amyloidosis (AL). A consensus panel was convened comprising 13 specialists actively involved in the treatment of patients with amyloidosis. Institutional criteria were submitted from each, and a consensus was developed defining each organ involved and the criteria for response. Specific criteria have been developed with agreed on definitions of organ and hematologic response as a result of discussions at the 10th International Symposium on Amyloid and Amyloidosis held in Tours, France, April 2004. These criteria now form the working definition of involvement and response for the purposes of future data collection and reporting. We report criteria that centers can now use to define organ involvement and uniform response criteria for reporting outcomes in patients with light‐chain AL. Am. J. Hematol. 79:319–328, 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Estimation of time delay and roughness parameters by GPR using esprit method

In civil engineering, ground penetrating radar is widely used for road pavement surveys. In this paper, the influence of interface roughness is taken into account. We propose a Modified ESPRIT algorithm for the data processing of radar signal, in order to jointly estimate the time delay and the interface roughness. The algorithm is tested on simulated data from the propagation inside layer expansion (PILE) method. Numerical examples are provided to demonstrate the performance of the algorithm.
How Income Inequality Affects Government Redistribution: The Median Voter Versus the Elites

This study examines the link between income inequality and redistribution. Specifically, how inequality of market incomes affects (1) the size of the tax and transfer system, and (2) the redistributive effect of the tax and transfer system. Two models of government decision-making — the median voter model and the elites model — suggest there is a relationship between inequality and redistribution and the models predict a different relationship between the two. Panel data from 15 countries over 29 years is used to estimate the relation between inequality and redistribution. The results are consistent with the elites model — a higher concentration of income at the top of the income distribution leads to a lower redistributive effect of the tax and transfer system.
Fertility, Longevity and International Capital Flows

The neoclassical growth model predicts large capital flows towards fast-growing emerging countries. We show that incorporating fertility and longevity into a lifecycle model of savings changes the standard predictions when countries differ in their ability to borrow inter-temporally and across generations through social security. In this environment, global aging triggers capital flows from emerging to developed countries, and countries’ current account positions respond to growth adjusted by current and expected demographic composition. Data on international capital flows are broadly supportive of the theory. The fact that fast-growing emerging countries are also aging faster, while having less developed credit markets and pension systems, explains why they are more likely to export capital. Our quantitative multi-country overlapping generations model explains a significant fraction of the patterns of capital flows, across time and across developed and emerging countries.
Product Line Architecture Recovery: An Approach Proposal (Extended Abstract)

The Product Line Architecture (PLA) is an important asset for the success of Software Product Line (SPL) projects. Due to the complexity of managing the architectural variability, maintain the PLA up-to-date and synchronized with the project source code is a hard problem. The systematic use of Software Architecture Recovery (SAR) techniques enables the PLA recovery and keeps the PLA aligned with the development. In this context, we present our initial proposal that consists of an approach to recover PLAs based on the use of (bottom-up) SAR techniques. We performed some studies (such as surveys, literature reviews, and exploratory studies) to investigate the relationship between SAR and PLA to identify gaps and define the research area state-of-the-art. The combination of SAR and PLA is an important strategy to address some issues of PLA design. We identified that few studies address architectural variability, PLA variability traceability, and empirical evaluation such as experiments, surveys, mixed-methods, and so on.
Multiple organ dysfunction syndrome

Multiple organ dysfunction syndrome, including acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and renal failure, is described, its clinical features outlined, its origins in tissue oxidative stress following severe infections, surgical trauma, ionizing radiation, high-dosage drugs and chemicals, severe hemorrhage, etc., are defined, and its prevention and treatment prescribed.