Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Research of the Precision Clock Synchronization Based on IEEE 1588

In distributed measurement and control system, it is the key to need a global time to determine the order of events happened in system, to achieve the effectiveness of monitoring and control data which is various information transmissions or operation state，therefore the clock synchronization technology is required to synchronize the every slave subsystem. IEEE 1588 precision clock synchronization protocol can effectively solve the time synchronization problem in distributed measurement and control system. First, the basic principles of the IEEE 1588 precision clock synchronization protocol and related program flow are introduced in this article. Second, two algorithms applied to clock synchronization including DS comparison algorithm and State decision algorithm was further proposed and discussed. Meanwhile, the clock synchronization with PTP (Precision Time Protocol) between two devices communication was implemented on the platform of embedded Linux operating system. Finally test showed the accuracy of synchronization was reached less than dozens of microseconds.
Using Bioinformatic Approaches to Identify Pathways Targeted by Human Leukemogens

We have applied bioinformatic approaches to identify pathways common to chemical leukemogens and to determine whether leukemogens could be distinguished from non-leukemogenic carcinogens. From all known and probable carcinogens classified by IARC and NTP, we identified 35 carcinogens that were associated with leukemia risk in human studies and 16 non-leukemogenic carcinogens. Using data on gene/protein targets available in the Comparative Toxicogenomics Database (CTD) for 29 of the leukemogens and 11 of the non-leukemogenic carcinogens, we analyzed for enrichment of all 250 human biochemical pathways in the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) database. The top pathways targeted by the leukemogens included metabolism of xenobiotics by cytochrome P450, glutathione metabolism, neurotrophin signaling pathway, apoptosis, MAPK signaling, Toll-like receptor signaling and various cancer pathways. The 29 leukemogens formed 18 distinct clusters comprising 1 to 3 chemicals that did not correlate with known mechanism of action or with structural similarity as determined by 2D Tanimoto coefficients in the PubChem database. Unsupervised clustering and one-class support vector machines, based on the pathway data, were unable to distinguish the 29 leukemogens from 11 non-leukemogenic known and probable IARC carcinogens. However, using two-class random forests to estimate leukemogen and non-leukemogen patterns, we estimated a 76% chance of distinguishing a random leukemogen/non-leukemogen pair from each other.
Autochthonous Outbreak and Expansion of Canine Visceral Leishmaniasis, Uruguay

We report an outbreak of canine visceral leishmaniasis in Uruguay. Blood specimens from 11/45 dogs tested positive for Leishmania spp. Specimens of Lutzomyia longipalpis sand flies were captured; typing revealed Leishmania infantum. Our findings document an expansion of visceral leishmaniasis to southern South America and risk for vectorborne transmission to humans.
Laser-based ultrasonic detection by using all-fiber adaptive fiber Bragg grating sensors

This paper introduces a novel nondestructive testing (NDT) method based on laser ultrasonic technology and fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors. A FBG sensor is employed as discrete sensing elements to detect the ultrasonic generated by pulsed laser. An all-fiber and adaptive acousto-ultrasonic (AU) monitoring system for the dynamic detection of impact damage is developed for the present work. A tunable distributed feedback semiconductor laser is used to track AU frequencies as a demodulation scheme. To continuously lock the laser wavelength to the middle-reflection wavelength of FBG, a proportional-integral-derivative (PID) device is integrated with the signals from the photodetector in a feedback loop, thus stabilizing the operating points against quasi-state perturbations such as temperature and vibration, while the high frequency dynamic strain shifts the FBG reflection spectral profiles. We demonstrate the all-fiber adaptive AU demodulating system that has the sensing capability to monitor the high frequency AU signals using FBG that is glued on a loaded aluminum plate.
Book review: Foraging with a prefrontal cortex makes all the difference

My cat is learning to catch squirrels in the back garden. It's a painfully slow process. He seems to be trying every available technique, improving step by step. He's tried sitting near the house and charging down the garden when a squirrel appeared, only for the squirrel to spot him and dash off. He's tried assaulting the squirrel when it came down the tree, only to find out that squirrels climb faster than cats. He doesn't seem to have an overview of the situation, grasping that his best strategy is to hide near the back fence, the only place where he can sneak up on the squirrel and cut off its escape route. Why isn't he capable of that seemingly simple strategic inference? A new book by Passingham and Wise (2012) provides a possible answer: because he doesn't have the large, primate prefrontal cortex (PFC). Passingham and Wise (2012) set out to understand the organization and function of the primate PFC by combining evolutionary and ecological perspectives. Large parts of PFC, and specifically those with a granular cortical layer, are a primate invention. The authors argue that the development of these areas reflects the changes in foraging niches encountered during the evolution of the primate order. There is a large body of work relating aspects of brain evolution to specific ecological variables, most notably foraging habits (Clutton-Brock and Harvey, 1980) and social organization (Dunbar, 1998). However, these studies have mostly focused on the relative size of the entire brain or neocortex. In contrast, work dealing with more detailed brain anatomy has tended to focus less on the evolutionary context. The unique contribution of this book is that it combines the two approaches without compromises, focusing on a detailed reconstruction of the ecological challenges encountered by the primate brain and the anatomical information that provides avenues to understanding how these challenges have been met.
Tight Sufficient Conditions on Exact Sparsity Pattern Recovery

A noisy underdetermined system of linear equations is considered in which a sparse vector (a vector with a few nonzero elements) is subject to measurement. The measurement matrix elements are drawn from a Gaussian distribution. We study the information-theoretic constraints on exact support recovery of a sparse vector from the measurement vector and matrix. We compute a tight, sufficient condition that is applied to ergodic wide-sense stationary sparse vectors. We compare our results with the existing bounds and recovery conditions. Finally, we extend our results to approximately sparse signals.
Disinfectant use as a risk factor for atopic sensitization and symptoms consistent with asthma: an epidemiological study.

Exposure to some nonallergenic compounds has been shown to increase the risk of atopic sensitization and asthmatic symptoms. In order to gain more insight into the largely unknown aetiology of respiratory symptoms in pig farmers, we studied the role of nonallergic exposure. We evaluated associations between chronic respiratory symptoms, specific and total serum immunoglobulin E (IgE) levels, use of disinfectants, and endotoxin exposure levels in a population of 194 Dutch pig farmers. Atopic sensitization (defined as increased production of IgE to common allergens) was found to occur more frequently in farmers who used disinfectants containing quaternary ammonium compounds (QACs) (odds ratio (OR) 7.4; 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.3-43.1). ORs for other disinfectants ranged 2.3-4.1 (NS). Atopic sensitization was not found to occur more frequently in farmers with a high endotoxin exposure. The use of disinfectants was only related to respiratory symptoms consistent with asthma in atopics. This is illustrated by the significantly elevated ORs for farmers with IgE to common allergens (house dust mite, grass pollen, birch pollen), and who used disinfectants containing QACs, in the total population and in a subgroup of the total population restricted according to bronchial hyperresponsiveness to histamine (symptomatics with a provocation dose of histamine producing a > or = 10% decrease in forced expiratory volume in one second (PC10) < or = 16 mg.mL-1, compared with asymptomatics with a PC10 > 16 mg.mL-1) (OR 4.4, 95% CI 1.3-14.6; and OR 8.2, 95% CI 1.6-42.6, respectively). Atopy and use of QACs and endotoxin exposure level taken individually were not associated with respiratory symptoms. A combination of atopic sensitization and high endotoxin exposure (> 101 ng.m-3) was strongly associated with respiratory symptoms in the restricted population (OR 6.1; 95% CI 1.0-36.2). Our results suggest that occupational exposure to nonallergenic agents (disinfectants) may induce immunoglobulin E sensitization to common aeroallergens, and that the combination of atopy and exposure to nonallergenic agents (disinfectants and endotoxin) is an important risk factor for development of symptoms consistent with asthma.
Halophilic Bacteria of Lunsu Produce an Array of Industrially Important Enzymes with Salt Tolerant Activity

The halophilic bacterial isolates SS1, SS2, SS3, SS5, and SS8 were characterized for production of industrially important enzymes like amylase, protease, lipase, and glutaminase. Halophilic bacterial isolates SS1 and SS3 exhibited salt dependent extracellular amylase and protease activities. Both the halophilic isolates SS1 and SS3 exhibited maximum amylase and protease activities in the presence of 1.5 and 1.0 M NaCl, respectively, with the optimum pH 8 and temperature 40°C. SS2 showed maximum extracellular protease and lipase activities in the presence of 0.75 M NaCl, at optimum pH of 7, and temperature 37°C. The glutaminase activity of SS3 increased with increase in concentration of NaCl up to 2.5 M. The optimum pH and temperature for L-glutaminase activity of SS3 was 8 and 40°C, respectively. The combined hydrolytic activities of these halophilic bacterial isolates can be used for bioconversion of organic materials to useful products.
ReType: Quick Text Editing with Keyboard and Gaze

When a user needs to reposition the cursor during text editing, this is often done using the mouse. For experienced typists especially, the switch between keyboard and mouse can slow down the keyboard editing workflow considerably. To address this we propose ReType, a new gaze-assisted positioning technique combining keyboard with gaze input based on a new 'patching' metaphor. ReType allows users to perform some common editing operations while keeping their hands on the keyboard. We present the result of two studies. A free-use study indicated that ReType enhances the user experience of text editing. ReType was liked by many participants, regardless of their typing skills. A comparative user study showed that ReType is able to match or even beat the speed of mouse-based interaction for small text edits. We conclude that the gaze-augmented user interface can make common interactions more fluent, especially for professional keyboard users.
Work-Family Conflict and Well-Being in University Employees

ABSTRACT This is one of the first reported studies to have reviewed the role of work-family conflict in university employees, both academic and nonacademic. The goal of this research was to examine the role of work-family conflict as a mediator of relationships between features of the work environment and worker well-being and organizational outcomes. A sample of 3,326 Australian university workers responded to an online survey. Work-family conflict added substantially to the explained variance in physical symptoms and psychological strain after taking account of job demands and control, and to a lesser extent to the variance in job performance. However, it had no extra impact on organizational commitment, which was most strongly predicted by job autonomy. Despite differing in workloads and work-family conflict, academic (“faculty”) and nonacademic staff demonstrated similar predictors of worker and organizational outcomes. Results suggest two pathways through which management policies may be effective in improving worker well-being and productivity: improving job autonomy has mainly direct effects, while reducing job demands is mediated by consequent reductions in work-family conflict.
Mechanical ventilation: what's new when your patient is blue?

But that life may be restored to the animal, an opening must be attempted in the trunk of the trachea, into which a tube of reed or cane should be put; you will then blow into this, so that the lung may rise again and take air. -A. Vesalius, de Humani Corporis Fabrica, 1543 Technology: Mechanical
EarTouch: Facilitating Smartphone Use for Visually Impaired People in Mobile and Public Scenarios

Interacting with a smartphone using touch input and speech output is challenging for visually impaired people in mobile and public scenarios, where only one hand may be available for input (e.g., while holding a cane) and using the loudspeaker for speech output is constrained by environmental noise, privacy, and social concerns. To address these issues, we propose EarTouch, a one-handed interaction technique that allows the users to interact with a smartphone using the ear to perform gestures on the touchscreen. Users hold the phone to their ears and listen to speech output from the ear speaker privately. We report how the technique was designed, implemented, and evaluated through a series of studies. Results show that EarTouch is easy, efficient, fun and socially acceptable to use.
Ovary and ovulation: A model conforming the decline in follicle numbers to the age of menopause in women

The store of primordial follicles in the ovary is fixed before birth and dwindles with age until it is unable to provide enough Graafian stages to sustain menstrual cyclicity. According to a simple bi-exponential model of ageing, the rate of follicle disappearance increases at age 37.5 years (or when 25 000 follicles remain) so that the numbers fall to approximately 1000 at 51 years, the median age of menopause in the population. This study attempts to produce a biologically more realistic model of follicle disappearance and harmonizes follicle dynamics with the distribution of menopausal ages from an American survey. The step-change in the rate of follicle attrition was replaced by a model which assumed that this rate changes more gradually with the size of the follicle store. This produced a distribution of predicted menopausal ages (based on an assumed threshold of 1000 follicles) which was closer to observed data. The fit further improved when the model was modified by having a threshold that varied across the population. Using such a stochastic threshold model for menopause, the number of fertile years remaining could be forecast with an acceptable margin of uncertainty if it ever becomes possible to estimate the size of the follicle store in vivo.
Dihydroflavin-driven Adenosylation of 4-Coordinate Co(II) Corrinoids

The identity of the source of the biological reductant needed to convert cobalamin to its biologically active form adenosylcobalamin has remained elusive. Here we show that free or protein-bound dihydroflavins can serve as the reductant of Co2+Cbl bound in the active site of PduO-type ATP-dependent corrinoid adenosyltransferase enzymes. Free dihydroflavins (dihydroriboflavin, FMNH2, and FADH2) effectively drove the adenosylation of Co2+Cbl by the human and bacterial PduO-type enzymes at very low concentrations (1 μm). These data show that adenosyltransferase enzymes lower the thermodynamic barrier of the Co2+ → Co+ reduction needed for the formation of the unique organometalic Co–C bond of adenosylcobalamin. Collectively, our in vivo and in vitro data suggest that cobalamin reductases identified thus far are most likely electron transfer proteins, not enzymes.
Hopping-Based Channel Access in Cognitive Radio Systems

In multi-channel multi-user cognitive radio systems, there are two main challenges to support traffic with delaysensitive QoS requirements, namely, the coordination among the secondary users (SUs) and the long channel occupancy time of the primary users (PUs). In this paper, we propose a hopping-based channel access scheme for SUs to improve their performance. Each SU chooses one of the channels allocated to PUs in a hopping-based manner in each time slot to opportunistically sense and transmit. This scheme not only avoids collisions among SUs, but also reduces the effect of the long channel occupancy time of PUs on the QoS performance of the SUs' delay-sensitive applications. We analyze the effective capacity of SU's service process with our proposed scheme. Numerical results show that our proposed scheme can achieve a higher effective capacity compared to random or fixed channel allocation.
Folding–unfolding thermodynamics of a β‐heptapeptide from equilibrium simulations

The thermodynamics of folding and unfolding of a β‐heptapeptide in methanol solution has been studied at four different temperatures, 298 K, 340 K, 350 K, and 360 K, by molecular dynamics simulation. At each of these temperatures, the 50‐ns simulations were sufficient to generate an equilibrium distribution between a relatively small number of conformations (∼102), showing that, even above the melting temperature (∼340 K), the peptide does not randomly sample conformational space. The free energy of folding and the free energy difference between pairs of conformations have been calculated from their relative populations. The experimentally determined folded conformation at 298 K, a left‐handed 31‐helix, is at each of the four temperatures the predominant conformation, with its probability and average lifetime decreasing with increasing temperature. The most common intermediates of folding and unfolding are also the same at the four temperatures. Paths and rates of interconversion between different conformations have been determined. It has been found that folding can occur through multiple pathways, not necessarily downhill in free energy, although the final step involves a reduced number of intermediates. Proteins 1999;34:269–280. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Capture Region of a GIPN Guidance Law for Missile and Target with Bounded Maneuverability

In this paper, a novel method is used to analyze the capture area of three-dimensional general ideal proportional navigation (GIPN) guidance laws. Using a line-of-sight (LOS) fixed natural coordinate and three modified polar variables (MPVs), the expression of relative dynamics between target and missile becomes simple, and no trigonometric functions are involved, which makes possible the analysis of the capture region when both target and missile are subject to bounded maneuverability. It can be shown that the determination of the desired capture area requires only the first two of the MPVs no matter if the maneuverability of missile and target are bounded or not. For the case of unbounded missile acceleration and known target acceleration, the capture region can be found analytically, while for the other cases, the capture region can be obtained graphically in a two-dimensional phase plane. The boundaries of these capture regions are characterized by the stable and unstable manifolds of related equilibrium points, which can only be determined numerically in general at this moment. The results of this work indicate that knowing the target acceleration and utilizing larger navigation coefficients increase the area of the capture region, which agrees with known results in literature.
Schizophrenia and Autism: Both Shared and Disorder-Specific Pathogenesis Via Perinatal Inflammation?

Prenatal exposure to infection and subsequent inflammatory responses have been implicated in the etiology of schizophrenia and autism. In this review, we summarize current evidence from human and animal studies supporting the hypothesis that the pathogenesis of these two disorders is linked via exposure to inflammation at early stages of development. Moreover, we propose a hypothetical model in which inflammatory mechanisms may account for multiple shared and disorder-specific pathological characteristics of both entities. In essence, our model suggests that acute neuroinflammation during early fetal development may be relevant for the induction of psychopathological and neuropathological features shared by schizophrenia and autism, whereas postacute latent and persistent inflammation may contribute to schizophrenia- and autism-specific phenotypes, respectively.
Transcriptional profiling of developing mouse epidermis reveals novel patterns of coordinated gene expression

The mammalian epidermis is the first line of defense against external environmental challenges including dehydration. The epidermis undergoes a highly intricate developmental program in utero, transforming from a simple to a complex stratified epithelium. During this process of stratification and differentiation, epidermal keratinocytes express a defined set of structural proteins, mainly keratins, whose expression is controlled by largely unknown mechanisms. In order to identify novel factors contributing to epidermal morphogenesis, we performed a global transcriptional analysis of the developing mouse epidermis after separating it from the underlying dermis (E12.5–E15.5). Unexpectedly, the recently identified genes encoding secreted peptides dermokine (Dmkn), keratinocyte differentiation‐associated protein (krtdap), and suprabasin (Sbsn) as well as a largely uncharacterized embryonic keratin (Krt77), were among the most highly differentially expressed genes. The three genes encoding the secreted proteins form a cluster in an ∼40‐Kb locus on human chromosome 19 and the syntenic region on mouse chromosome 7 known as the stratified epithelium secreted peptides complex (SSC). Using whole mount in situ hybridization, we show that these genes show a coordinated spatio‐temporal expression pattern during epidermal morphogenesis. The expression of these genes initiates in the nasal epithelium and correlates with the initiation of other epidermal differentiation markers such as K1 and loricrin (Byrne et al. [ 1994 ] Development 120:2369–2383), as well as the initiation of barrier formation. Our observations reveal a coordinated mode of expression of the SSC genes as well as the correlation of their initiation in the nasal epithelium with the initiation of barrier formation at this site. Developmental Dynamics 236:913–921, 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.