Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Elucidation of peptide effects that control the activity of nanoparticles.

Natural processes have been developed to produce nanostructures that involve recognition between biomolecules and inorganic surfaces. Such methods have been exploited in the production of nanomaterials for use as catalysts, biosensors, batteries, and components for directed assembly; however, the interactions at the biotic/abiotic interface remain unclear. These interactions are likely to control the activity of the nanostructures, which could be optimized based upon the peptide sequence and arrangement on the nanomaterial surface. Whilst these studies have demonstrated the unique activity of such bio-enabled materials, to the best of our knowledge, no research is available that probes the critical effects of the surface peptide on nanomaterial activity. Previous reports have suggested that peptides bind to surfaces in a different manner to individual amino acids; 9] therefore, by understanding these interactions, the design of bionanomaterials that have superior functionality may be possible. The Pd4 peptide (Table 1), was isolated using a phage display technique with an affinity for palladium. 9] Using this sequence, palladium particles, which have a diameter of approximately 1.9 nm, were prepared that were active for Stille coupling reactions in water, at room temperature, with palladium loadings of 0.005 mol % (Scheme 1). Modeling of the peptide–nanoparticle interactions suggested that the histidine residues at positions 6 and 11 were most likely
Modelling Motivation as an Intrinsic Reward Signal for Reinforcement Learning Agents

Reinforcement learning agents require a learning stimulus in the form of a reward signal in order for learning to occur. Typically, this reward signal makes specific assumptions about the agent’s external environment, such as the presence of certain tasks which should be learned or the presence of a teacher to provide reward feedback. For many complex, dynamic environments, design time knowledge of the tasks to be learned, or the presence of a teacher, cannot be assumed. In order to extend reinforcement learning to such environments, this paper presents a model of motivation as an intrinsic reward signal based on the concept of events, which relaxes these assumptions. The model uses context-free grammars as an adaptable representation of environments about which there is limited design time knowledge, and events to represent potential learning tasks as changes in the agent’s environment. Within this framework, we evaluate a computational model of interest as a motivation process. This evaluation is performed in two reinforcement learning settings, flat reinforcement learning and hierarchical reinforcement learning, in terms of learning efficiency, behavioural variety and behavioural complexity. We show that motivation based on general, task-independent concepts are able to motivate learning of multiple, task-oriented behaviours in environments where neither design time knowledge of the tasks to be learned nor a teacher is available.
Publisher Accessed Terms of Use Detailed Terms Mathematics of the Neural Response

The MIT Faculty has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters. Abstract. We propose a natural image representation, the neural response, motivated by the neuroscience of the visual cortex. The inner product defined by the neural response leads to a similarity measure between functions which we call the derived kernel. Based on a hierarchical architecture, we give a recursive definition of the neural response and associated derived kernel. The derived kernel can be used in a variety of application domains such as classification of images, strings of text and genomics data.
5G MmWave Module for the ns-3 Network Simulator

The increasing demand of data, along with the spectrum scarcity, are motivating a urgent shift towards exploiting new bands. This is the main reason behind identifying mmWaves as the key disruptive enabling technology for 5G cellular networks. Indeed, utilizing new bands means facing new challenges; in this context, they are mainly related to the radio propagation, which is shorter in range and more sensitive to obstacles. The resulting key aspects that need to be taken into account when designing mmWave cellular systems are directionality and link intermittency. The lack of network level results motivated this work, which aims at providing the first of a kind open source mmWave framework, based on the network simulator ns-3. The main focus of this work is the modeling of customizable channel, physical (PHY) and medium access control (MAC) layers for mmWave systems. The overall design and architecture of the model are discussed in details. Finally, the validity of our proposed framework is corroborated through the simulation of a simple scenario.
Prognostic significance of red cell distribution width and other red cell parameters in patients with chronic heart failure during two years of follow-up.

BACKGROUND Studies published during the last decade seem to indicate red blood cell parameters as inexpensive, rapidly available, and simple tools for the assessment of prognosis in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF). AIM To evaluate the prognostic value of red cell parameters determined in a routine blood count in patients with CHF. METHODS The study group included 165 patients with the New York Heart Association (NYHA) class II-IV CHF hospitalised in the 2nd Department of Cardiology in Bydgoszcz. On the first day of hospitalisation, all patients in the study group underwent a complete blood count with an assessment of haemoglobin (Hb) level, mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean corpuscular haemoglobin (MCH), mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration (MCHC) and red blood cell distribution width (RDW). Follow-up was carried over 24 months by phone calls every 3 months. RESULTS MCV, MCH and MCHC were not shown to be significant predictors of mortality in CHF patients at 1 and 2 years of follow-up. In univariate analysis at 1-year follow-up, the following variables were significantly associated with the occurrence of the study endpoint: Hb level (p = 0.022; HR = 0.80), RDW (p = 0.004; HR = 1.257), and N-terminal pro-B-type na-triuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) level (p = 0.0001; HR = 1). At 2 years of follow-up, the following variables were significantly associated with the occurrence of the study endpoint: left ventricular ejection fraction (p = 0.018; HR = 0.956), NYHA class (p = 0.007; HR = 0.378), RDW (p = 0.044; HR = 1.175), and NT-proBNP level (p < 0.001; HR = 1). Multivariate analysis for 1-year follow-up showed that RDW and NT-proBNP level were independent significant predictors of mortality, while NT-proBNP level (p = 0.006; HR = 1) and NYHA class (p = 0.024; HR = 0.439) were significant predictors of mortality at 2 years of follow-up. Based on receiver operating characteristic curve analysis, the cut-off RDW was 15.00% (AUC = 0.63; 0.523-0.737), at 12 months of follow-up and 14.00% (AUC = 0.6; 0.504-0.697), at 24 months of follow-up. The cut-off for Hb level was 13.9 g/dL (AUC = 0.662; 0.553-0.77), at 12 months of follow-up and 12.2 g/dL (AUC = 0.581; 0.482-0.681), at 24 months of follow-up. CONCLUSIONS Baseline RDW and Hb level in patients hospitalised with the diagnosis of NYHA class II-IV CHF seem to be important predictors of mortality in this population. Among the red blood cell parameters, only RDW was shown to be an independent prognostic factor at 1 year of follow-up but it appeared to lose its significance during longer-term follow-up.
Uptake of hepatitis C treatment among people who inject drugs attending Needle and Syringe Programs in Australia, 1999–2011

The majority of new and existing cases of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection occur among people who inject drugs (PWID). Despite safe and efficacious HCV antiviral therapy, uptake remains low in this population. This study examined trends in HCV treatment uptake among a large national sample of PWID attending Australian Needle and Syringe Programs between 1999 and 2011. Annual cross‐sectional sero‐surveys conducted among PWID since 1995 involve completion of a self‐administered questionnaire and provision of a dried blood spot for HCV antibody testing. Multivariate logistic regression identified variables independently associated with HCV treatment uptake among 9478 participants with both self‐reported and serologically confirmed prior HCV infection. Between 1999 and 2011, the proportion currently receiving treatment increased from 1.1% to 2.1% (P < 0.001), while the proportion having ever received treatment increased from 3.4% to 8.6% (P < 0.001). Men were significantly more likely than women to have undertaken HCV treatment (P = 0.002). Among men, independent predictors of HCV treatment uptake were homosexual identity and older age; among women, independent predictors included homosexual identity and an incarceration history. Despite increases in HCV treatment among Australian PWID between 1999 and 2011, uptake remains low. Strategies are required to increase the proportion of PWID assessed and treated for HCV infection to address the increasing burden of disease. Specific approaches that target women may also be warranted. Continued surveillance of HCV treatment uptake among PWID will be important to monitor the roll‐out of simple, safe and more effective HCV treatments expected to be available in the future.
Apolipoprotein Localization in Human Cranial Arteries, Coronary Arteries, and the Aorta

Apolipoproteins from human plasma high density (HDL), low density (LDL) and very low density lipoproteins (VLDL) were visualized in human arteries employing immunofluorescence techniques. Comparison between the localization patterns in extracranial and intracranial arteries and those in coronary arteries and the aorta was made. ApoA-I from HDL, apoB from LDL, and apoCIII from VLDL, as well as neutral lipid, were all localized to connective tissue and extracellular lipid pools in atherosclerotic lesions, and only to areas of intimal thickening in grossly "uninvolved" arteries. The degree of superposition of localizations was similar in each vascular bed, and within the error resulting from the structural changes due to the focal nature of the atherosclerotic process. These results suggest a broad specificity in localization of apolipoproteins in most arterial lesions, and suggest that no differences in apolipoprotein accumulation exist between extracranial and intracranial arteries, coronary arteries, or the aorta. Variations in prevalence for atherosclerosis in each arterial bed must be accounted for on other bases.
‘My feet – visible, but ignored . . .’ A qualitative study of foot care for people with rheumatoid arthritis

Objective: To explore patients’ experiences of foot problems associated with rheumatoid arthritis, from onset of symptoms to being provided with foot health interventions. Design: A qualitative design was used with an interpretive phenomenological approach to the data collection and analysis. Setting: University of Salford, School of Health Science. Subjects: Sixteen female and six male adults with rheumatoid arthritis-related foot problems and experience of receiving foot health interventions. Method: Data were collected through digital recordings of three focus groups which were conducted by an experienced researcher. An observer made field notes. Transcribed data were analysed using a thematic framework. Data were verified with randomly selected participants and agreement achieved with the participants, researcher and observer. Results: The results were organized into five themes: the significance of foot symptoms in relation to diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis; knowledge of and explanation about foot symptoms; accessing foot health interventions; the effectiveness of foot health interventions; and improvements to foot health interventions. Despite foot problems being of concern to the participants, they were often ignored by practitioners from before diagnosis through to foot management. Conclusions: This study has highlighted a polarity between what these participants need in relation to their foot symptoms and the management of them. That foot problems are often ignored is of concern at multiple levels. These range from the implications of ignoring foot symptoms that may aid diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis, to ignoring the need for effective foot health interventions.
Mobile Ambients and P-Systems

The mobile ambients and the P-systems are models developed in different areas of computer science, based on very similar concepts and structures. Given their resemblance, we point out how to transfer ideas and results from one framework to the other. Along this line, we prove that any P-system can be simulated in ambient calculus. We also introduce the mobile P-systems, well suited to model security features for membrane computing.
Weighted Separation of Surface Reflection of an Object Illuminated By Two Light Sources

Separating the diffuse and specular components from the reflection of a 3D object surface is very important for generating highly realistic synthesized images in computer graphics applications. Most research on this separation has con- sidered only the case in which an object is illuminated by a single point light source. However, when an object is illuminated by one source, it can be difficult or impossible to acquire the r texture information of some visible regions on the object surface because of shading. To overcome this problem, we used two point light sources to illuminate the object to reduce the shaded regions. We used an iterative algorithm to estimate the intensity variation curve parameters and to compute the separation of the two components. To improve the separation quality, we used a weighting function to reduce the effect of noise contained in the highlight regions. Experiments using both synthesized and real data demonstrated that our method is effective and produces clear separation.
Performance isolation: sharing and isolation in shared-memory multiprocessors

Shared-memory multiprocessors (SMPs) are being extensively used as general-purpose servers. The tight coupling of multiple processors, memory, and I/O provides enormous computing power in a single system, and enables the efficient sharing of these resources.The operating systems for these machines (UNIX or Windows NT) provide very few controls for sharing the resources of the system among the active tasks or users. This unconstrained sharing model is a serious limitation for a server because the load placed by one user can adversely affect other users' performance in an unpredictable manner. We show that this lack of isolation is caused by the resource allocation scheme (or lack thereof) carried over from singleuser workstations. Multi-user multiprocessor systems require more sophisticated resource management, and we show how the proposed "performance isolation" scheme can address the current weaknesses of these systems. We have implemented performance isolation in the Silicon Graphics IRIX operating system for three important system resources: CPU time, memory, and disk bandwidth. Running a number of workloads we show that our proposed scheme is successful at providing workstation-like isolation under heavy load, SMP-like latency under light load, and SMP-like throughput in all cases.
Forecasting Technology Emergence from Metadata and Language of Scientific Publications and Patents

This paper describes a multidisciplinary study and development effort to analyze full text and metadata of scientific articles and patents for indicators of new disruptive and game-changing technical breakthroughs. The system we are developing can scan millions of documents in two languages, English and Chinese, and extract meaningful trends and predictions. Whereas traditional approaches to innovation analytics rely on citation analysis to analyze impact or identify the most influential patents or researchers in the field, our system takes a step further and combines these methods with an analysis of text in order to identify and characterize emerging technologies. The paper describes the indicators and forecasting models, as well as presents the results of applying these indicators to forecast levels of interest in a particular technology based on the analysis of English and Chinese patents. It further shows how the indicators we developed can provide insights into the nature and the lifecycle of emerging technologies. Conference Topic Indicators
Design and Implementation of Control Mechanism for Standby Power Reduction

In other to save energy, several countries recently made laws related to standby power consumption. To success this exertion, we should consider not only power reduction of consumer electronics itself but also efficient automatic control in networked home environment. In this paper, we present a design approach and implementation result of control mechanism for standby power reduction. Proposed mechanism has the host-agent based structure and uses the IEEE 802.15. 4 based ZigBee protocol for communication and security between host and agents. We verified reliability of proposed mechanism and reduction effect of standby power; also, we applied implemented device to scenario which is similar to user living pattern. Experimental results demonstrate that in the proposed mechanism, standby power consumption of Agent which is connected to consumer electronics can be reduced by 203 mW.
On-Chip Networks Modeling and Simulation

We present an interconnect model library for the synthesis and design exploration of on-chip communication networks. This library can provide the energy and delay estimation interface to synthesis tools. We start from the definition of interconnect models at different abstract levels, and then estimate the energy consumption and delay of them. To help the synthesis which is oriented to the optimization of energy consumption, the library provides an interface to get the minimal energy within a given bandwidth bound. Furthermore, an quadratic approximation of the relation between energy and wire is proposed to make automatic synthesis easier and more quickly. Some examples on how the entire framework can be used are shown.
PRELIMINARY INTERINDUSTRY ANALYSIS OF SHORT TERM REGIONAL IMPACTS OF A COAL STRIKE

This paper describes the use of a Multiregional Input-Output Model of the United States to assess the short-term economic impacts of a severe resource shortage. Income and employment'multipliers are developed on a national and regional basis to assess the impact of a sudden curtailment in coal output. Beginning with an 82 sector (2 digit SIC level) interindustry structure, key sectors, particularly those which are heavy coal consumers, are disaggregated to permit more detailed analysis. Instead of adopting a comparative static view and solving the model for a new equilibrium condition based on curtailed coal output, an initial change is introduced and computations are run iteratively that impacts can be assess-ed "round by round. " This report an of work sponsored United Government. Neither United States Energy Research Development Administration, nor any of their employees, nor any of their contractors, subcontractors, or their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately rights.
The conceptual development of DSM-V.

Over the past 30 years, there has been a continuous testing of multiple hypotheses that are inherent in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, from the third edition (DSM-III) (1) to the fourth (DSM-IV) (2). Although DSM-III was the first official classification of APA to embrace these hypotheses, their intellectual origin is more properly attributed to Eli Robins and Samuel Guze's landmark 1970 article on the establishment of diagnostic validity in psychiatric illness (3) and the subsequent 1972 release of the St. Louis " Feighner diagnostic criteria " (4). These formed the basis for the 1978 Research Diagnostic Criteria (RDC) (5), which were used in the longitudinal collabora-tive study on the psychobiology of depression supported by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) (6) and ultimately were the prototypical diagnoses adopted in DSM-III in 1980. The expectation of Robins and Guze (3) was that each clinical syndrome described in the Feighner criteria (4), RDC (5), and DSM-III (1) would ultimately be validated by its separation from other disorders, common clinical course, genetic aggregation in families , and further differentiation by future laboratory tests—which would now include anatomical and functional imaging, molecular genetics, pathophysiological variations, and neuropsychological testing. To the original vali-dators Kendler (7) added differential response to treatment, which could include both pharmacological and psychotherapeutic interventions. After almost 40 years of testing these hypotheses , we are impressed by the remarkable advances in research and clinical practice that were facilitated by having explicit diagnostic criteria that produced greater reliability in diagnosis across clinicians and research investigators in many countries. The benefit of using explicit criteria to increase reliability in the absence of etio-logical understanding was an outcome predicted by the British psychiatrist Ervin Sten-gel (8). However, as these criteria have been tested in multiple epidemiological, clinical, and genetic studies through slightly revised DSM-III-R (9) and DSM-IV editions, the lack of clear separation of these syndromes became apparent from the high levels of co-morbidity that were reported (10, 11). A particularly clear discussion of the inability to identify " zones of rarity " between mental disorders was presented by Kendell and Jablensky (12). In addition, treatment response became less specific as selective seroto-nin reuptake inhibitors were found to be effective for a wide range of anxiety, mood, and eating disorders and atypical antipsychotics received indications for schizophrenia, bi-polar disorder, and treatment-resistant major depression. More recently, it was found that …
Range-free passive localization using static and mobile sensors

In passive localization, sensors try to locate an event without any knowledge of event's emitted power. So, this is a more challenging problem compared to active localization. Existing passive localization schemes use expensive and noise-vulnerable range-based techniques. In this paper, we propose, to the best of our knowledge for the first time, a cost-effective range-free passive localization scheme exploiting hybrid sensor network model where mobile sensors are deployed on demand once an event is sensed by a static sensor. Efficient use of mobile sensors leads to two concomitant optimization problems: (1) positioning the mobile sensors so that the expected possible event location area is minimized; and (2) minimizing their overall traversed distance. To solve the first problem, we have developed a novel arc-coding based range-free localization technique that can accurately define the area of possible event location from the feedback of arbitrarily placed sensors without relying on expensive hardware to estimate range of signals. We have achieved significantly high localization accuracy with a low number of mobile sensors even after considering significant environmental noise. To solve the second problem, three alternative deployment strategies for the mobile sensors were simulated to recommend the best.