Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Vibrotactile P300-Based Brain–Computer Interface for Consciousness Detection and Communication

Brain–computer interface (BCI) has been used for many years for communication in severely disabled patients. BCI based on electrophysiological signals has enabled communication, using auditory or visual stimuli to elicit event-related potentials (ERPs). The aim of this study was to determine whether patients with locked-in syndrome (LIS) could elicit a P300 wave, using a vibrotactile oddball paradigm for establishing somatosensory BCI-based communication. Six chronic LIS patients performed 2 electroencephalography (EEG)-based vibrotactile P300 oddball tasks. After a simple mental counting task of the target stimuli, participants were instructed to answer 5 questions by counting the vibration on either the right wrist for “yes” or the left wrist for “no.” All participants were able to elicit a P300 wave using the vibrotactile oddball paradigm BCI task. In the counting task, 4 patients got accuracies of 100% (average above chance). In the communication task, one patient achieved 100% accuracy (average above chance). We have shown the feasibility of eliciting a P300 response using vibrotactile stimulation in patients with LIS. The present study provides evidence that this approach can be used for EEG-based BCI communications in this patient group. This is the first study to prove the feasibility of a BCI based on somatosensory (vibratory) stimulation in a group of brain-injured patients. Furthermore, this approach could be used for the detection of consciousness in non-communicating patients due to severe brain injuries.
Distribution of Young's Modulus in Porcine Corneas after Riboflavin/UVA-Induced Collagen Cross-Linking as Measured by Atomic Force Microscopy

Riboflavin/UVA-induced corneal collagen cross-linking has become an effective clinical application to treat keratoconus and other ectatic disorders of the cornea. Its beneficial effects are attributed to a marked stiffening of the unphysiologically weak stroma. Previous studies located the stiffening effect predominantly within the anterior cornea. In this study, we present an atomic force microscopy-derived analysis of the depth-dependent distribution of the Young's modulus with a depth resolution of 5 µm in 8 cross-linked porcine corneas and 8 contralateral controls. Sagittal cryosections were fabricated from every specimen and subjected to force mapping. The mean stromal depth of the zone with effective cross-linking was found to be 219±67 µm. Within this cross-linked zone, the mean Young's modulus declined from 49±18 kPa at the corneal surface to 46±17 kPa, 33±11 kPa, 17±5 kPa, 10±4 kPa and 10±4 kPa at stromal depth intervals of 0–50 µm, 50–100 µm, 100–150 µm, 150–200 µm and 200–250 µm, respectively. This corresponded to a stiffening by a factor of 8.1 (corneal surface), 7.6 (0–50 µm), 5.4 (50–100 µm), 3.0 (100–150 µm), 1.6 (150–200 µm), and 1.5 (200–250 µm), when compared to the Young's modulus of the posterior 100 µm. The mean Young's modulus within the cross-linked zone was 20±8 kPa (2.9-fold stiffening), while it was 11±4 kPa (1.7-fold stiffening) for the entire stroma. Both values were significantly distinct from the mean Young's modulus obtained from the posterior 100 µm of the cross-linked corneas and from the contralateral controls. In conclusion, we were able to specify the depth-dependent distribution of the stiffening effect elicited by standard collagen cross-linking in porcine corneas. Apart from determining the depth of the zone with effective corneal cross-linking, we also developed a method that allows for atomic force microscopy-based measurements of gradients of Young's modulus in soft tissues in general.
Price, Quality, and Income in Child Care Choice.

Recent legislation may substantially expand federal assistance in paying for child care. This paper examines the potential effects of three aspects of federal assistance-reducing child care price (through vouchers or grants to providers), improving its quality (through incentives or regulation), and increasing family income (through tax credits)-on the child care choices employed mothers make. The data come from the 1985 wave of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, Ohio State University. Both multinomial and universal logit models are used. The results suggest that price is a critical variable in child care choice. The higher the price, the lower the probability a mode of care will be chosen. Parents do not consistently select high quality care, although overall quality improvements may increase the use of family day care. Mothers who earn more per hour and families who have higher incomes (other than the mother's earnings) are more likely to select center care over other modes. Consequently, subsidizing child care expenditures directly through vouchers and reduced fees or increasing other family income through tax credits consistently increases the use of center-based programs, all else equal.
Trans-scleral delivery of antiangiogenic proteins.

PURPOSE In this study, we investigated the penetration of various proteins into the mouse eye after a periocular injection of the protein or an adenoviral vector (Ad) expressing the protein. METHODS At several time points after the injection, the retina, retinal pigmented epithelium/choroid, and sclera were dissected and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays were performed. RESULTS After a periocular injection of AdsFlt-1.10, AdTGFbeta.10, or AdPEDF.11, choroidal levels of pigment epithelium-derived factor (PEDF) and transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) were not significantly different from scleral levels, and choroidal levels of sFlt-1 (soluble Flt-1 or soluble VEGF receptor 1) were only moderately reduced from scleral levels, indicating that each of these proteins penetrate the sclera well. In contrast, retinal levels of each of the three proteins were low compared to choroidal levels, suggesting poor penetration into the retina. Levels of PEDF in the choroid peaked 2 h after a periocular injection of PEDF protein and returned to baseline between 6 and 24 h, and peak levels in the retina were 8.6% of peak choroidal levels. Levels of green fluorescent protein, a protein unlikely to have any binding sites in mouse tissues, peaked in the choroid 2 h after the periocular injection and were undetectable by 4 h, while peak levels in the retina were 64.3% of peak choroidal levels. CONCLUSIONS These data suggest that size and binding characteristics of proteins are likely to influence their ability to penetrate the eye from the periocular space, but in general, proteins as large as 50-75 kDa penetrate well into the choroid, but not into the retina. Periocular injections are feasible for the treatment of choroidal neovascularization with proteins or vectors that express them, but additional investigations are needed before they can be considered for treatment of retinal diseases.
Brain asymmetry as a potential biomarker for developmental TCDD intoxication: a dose-response study.

Previous studies have indicated that in ovo exposure to 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) and related compounds is correlated with the development of grossly asymmetric brains. This asymmetry is manifested as a difference between the two halves of the forebrain and the tecta. Previously, only wildlife species (heron, cormorant, and eagle) had been shown to manifest this response. In the wildlife studies, the frequency and degree of left-right interhemispheric differences had been correlated with the levels of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxin toxic equivalency factors (TEFs) in eggs from the same nest (heron, cormorant). We studied the effect of in ovo exposure to TCDD on the brain throughout development in a sensitive laboratory model (chicken). Embryos from chicken eggs (Gallus gallus) injected with one of several doses of TCDD or vehicle control were sacrificed after 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, or 20 days of incubation, or incubated to hatch and then sacrificed either within 24 hr or at 3 weeks post-hatch. Measurements of both chicken embryo and hatchling brains indicated that 1) TCDD alone induced the brain asymmetry in developing chickens; 2) this brain asymmetry was similar to that observed in animals exposed in the wild to a mixture of TCDD-related contaminants; 3) there was a dose-related increase in both the frequency and severity of brain asymmetry observed at all ages measured; and 4) the asymmetry was measurable in embryonic brains at an age when the braincase was a thin, flexible layer (embryonic day 9), implying that the effect of TCDD was directly on the developing brain and not indirectly via an effect on the braincase. ImagesFigure 1.Figure 2.Figure 2.Figure 2.Figure 2.Figure 2.Figure 2.Figure 3.Figure 3.Figure 3.Figure 3.Figure 3.Figure 3.Figure 4.Figure 4.Figure 4.Figure 4.Figure 4.Figure 4.Figure 5.Figure 5.Figure 5.Figure 5.Figure 5.Figure 5.Figure 6. AFigure 6. BFigure 6. CFigure 6. DFigure 7.
Sur une g\'en\'eralisation de la notion de syst\`eme dynamique de rang un d\'efinie par une propri\'et\'e de pistage (On a weak version of the rank one property defined by shadowing)

We investigate a shadowing property which appears naturally in the study of piecewise monotonic maps of the interval. It turns out to be a weak form of the rank one property, a well-known notion in abstract ergodic theory. We show that this new property is implied by finite or even local rank, but that it is logically independent of loose Bernoulliness. We give (counter)examples, including L.B. systems with arbitrarily high-order polynomial complexity. The shadowing property defines a small subset of all zero-entropy systems, in the sense that it defines a closed set with empty interior with respect to the $\db$-metric, induced by the Hamming distance. We also make some remarks on the link between the shadowed system and the sequence assumed by the shadowing property.
A Kick-Back Reduced Comparator for a 4-6-Bit 3-GS/s Flash ADC in a 90nm CMOS Process

This paper presents a kick-back reduced comparator based on a sense-amplifier type comparator. The kickback charge and resulting voltage peak is reduced by 6times, which corresponds to a power reduction in the input driver and the resistance ladder of the same magnitude. A 4-6-bit 3-GS/s low-power flash ADC using the proposed comparator has been implemented in a 90 nm CMOS process. The significantly lower requirements on input driver and resistance ladder have reduced the overall ADC power dissipation by 50%.
Shoulder Disease Patterns of the Wheelchair Athletes of Table-Tennis and Archery: A Pilot Study

Objective To investigate the shoulder disease patterns for the table-tennis (TT) and archery (AR) wheelchair athletes via ultrasonographic evaluations. Methods A total of 35 wheelchair athletes were enrolled, made up of groups of TT (n=19) and AR (n=16) athletes. They were all paraplegic patients and were investigated for their wheelchair usage duration, careers as sports players, weekly training times, the Wheelchair User's Shoulder Pain Index (WUSPI) scores and ultrasonographic evaluation. Shoulders were divided into playing arm of TT, non-playing arm of TT, bow-arm of AR, and draw arm of AR athletes. Shoulder diseases were classified into five entities of subscapularis tendinopathy, supraspinatus tendinopathy, infraspinatus tendinopathy, biceps long head tendinopathy, and subacromial-subdeltoid bursitis. The pattern of shoulder diseases were compared between the two groups using the Mann-Whitney and the chi-square tests Results WSUPI did not significantly correlate with age, wheelchair usage duration, career as players or weekly training times for all the wheelchair athletes. For the non-playing arm of TT athletes, there was a high percentage of subscapularis (45.5%) and supraspinatus (40.9%) tendinopathy. The percentage of subacromial-subdeltoid bursitis showed a tendency to be present in the playing arm of TT athletes (20.0%) compared with their non-playing arm (4.5%), even though this was not statistically significant. Biceps long head tendinopathy was the most common disease of the shoulder in the draw arm of AR athletes, and the difference was significant when compared to the non-playing arm of TT athletes (p<0.05). Conclusion There was a high percentage of subscapularis and supraspinatus tendinopathy cases for the non-playing arm of TT wheelchair athletes, and a high percentage of biceps long head tendinopathy for the draw arm for the AR wheelchair athletes. Consideration of the biomechanical properties of each sport may be needed to tailor specific training for wheelchair athletes.
THE IMPACT OF MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS ON PROFITABILITY AND EMPLOYEE REMUNERATION IN UK MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY

This paper provides a systematic empirical analysis of the effects of merger and acquisition activity on profitability and firm level employee remuneration in the United Kingdom, using a specially constructed database for the period 1979-1991. It finds that both profitability and wages rise following acquisition, and firms that merge within the same industry division experience larger increases in profitability and pay their workers higher wages than those engaged in unrelated acquisitions. * Warwick Business School, University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 7AL ** Department of Economics, University of Leicester, NG7 2RD *** School of Economics, University of Nottingham, University Park, NG7 2RD Fax/Tel 0115 9514159/9515470; E-Mail Peter.Wright@Nottingham.ac. uk
A simple and complete circuit model for the coupling between symmetrical spiral inductors in silicon RF-ICs

Modern RFICs have achieved an impressively high integration level, making cross-coupling effects among different sections of the circuit a potential limit to their functionality. Integrated spiral inductors are a potential source of EM interference. This paper presents a physical equivalent circuit for the accurate wideband modeling of coupling between spiral inductors in CMOS technology, validated by experiments performed on custom test structures. The model proves to be very accurate up to frequencies well above the inductor self-resonance. A simple approximate expression for the mutual inductance is also introduced, useful for the quick estimate of cross talk between different circuit blocks.
Classifying Tight Weyl-Heisenberg Frames

A Weyl-Heisenberg frame for L^2(R) is a frame consisting of translates and modulates of a fixed function. In this paper we give necessary and sufficient conditions for this family to form a tight WH-frame. This allows us to write down explicitly all functions g for which all translates and modulates of g form an orthonormal basis for L^2(R). There are a number of consequences of this classification, including a simple direct classification of the alternate dual frames to a WH-frame (A result originally due to Janssen).
Dementia : prevalence and risk factors

The increasing prevalence of dementia already has dramatic effects on lives of millions of people across the regions and on public health costs. There is no cure yet but much can be done to improve the quality of life of people with dementia and the families who care for them. An extensive review of the literature in several pertinent areas of inquiry that may determine and delineate the prevalence, potential risk factors related to dementia was undertaken. The overall prevalence for males and females doubled for every five years increase in age after the age of 65. It is largely a disease of older people, but 2% of those affected were under 65 years of age. Results highlight a number of risk factors associated with dementia. Inter alia, these include physical activities, education, occupation, stress, cholesterol and APOE gene. Dementia is increased in certain population and the trend is on the rise. A number of risk factors associated with dementia are modifiable and may have potential as strategies useful in preventing or delaying dementia among elderly subjects. Further research is needed to determine the validity and strength of associations of risk factors of dementia including ascertainment of its causality.
Mobilization of Endogenous Retroviruses in Mice after Infection with an Exogenous Retrovirus

ABSTRACT Mammalian genomes harbor a large number of retroviral elements acquired as germ line insertions during evolution. Although many of the endogenous retroviruses are defective, several contain one or more intact viral genes that are expressed under certain physiological or pathological conditions. This is true of the endogenous polytropic retroviruses that generate recombinant polytropic murine leukemia viruses (MuLVs). In these recombinants the env gene sequences of exogenous ecotropic MuLVs are replaced with env gene sequences from an endogenous polytropic retrovirus. Although replication-competent endogenous polytropic retroviruses have not been observed, the recombinant polytropic viruses are capable of replicating in numerous species. Recombination occurs during reverse transcription of a virion RNA heterodimer comprised of an RNA transcript from an endogenous polytropic virus and an RNA transcript from an exogenous ecotropic MuLV RNA. It is possible that homodimers corresponding to two full-length endogenous RNA genomes are also packaged. Thus, infection by an exogenous virus may result not only in recombination with endogenous sequences, but also in the mobilization of complete endogenous retrovirus genomes via pseudotyping within exogenous retroviral virions. We report that the infection of mice with an ecotropic virus results in pseudotyping of intact endogenous viruses that have not undergone recombination. The endogenous retroviruses infect and are integrated into target cell genomes and subsequently replicate and spread as pseudotyped viruses. The mobilization of endogenous retroviruses upon infection with an exogenous retrovirus may represent a major interaction of exogenous retroviruses with endogenous retroviruses and may have profound effects on the pathogenicity of retroviral infections.
Orthogonal hermite functions based orthogonal pulse shaping method

Ultra-Wideband (UWB) communication has attracted more attentions due to its advantages in short range applications. As one of the key techniques in UWB systems, many pulse shaping methods have been proposed. The semi-definite programming (SDP) based pulse shaping method can obtain the pulse with highest power efficiency by far. However, an accurate timing of 40ps is required, and such requirement cannot be implemented precisely using modern hardware. Furthermore, the power efficiency of the second orthogonal pulse will be lower than the first pulse. To solve such problems, the linear combination of orthogonal Hermite functions is used in the SDP method and a modification method is then proposed to eliminate the direct current (DC) component. Simulation results show that orthogonal pulses without DC component can be obtained and the power efficiency of the obtained pulses are more than 80%. Moreover, the obtained orthogonal pulses will have shorter pulse duration due to the energy concentration property of orthogonal spaces.
Diversity-Controlled Quantum-Behaved Particle Swarm Optimization Based on Local Search

Quantum-behaved particle swarm optimization (QPSO) algorithm has shown an effective performance for solving variant benchmark and real-world optimization problems. However, it suffers from premature convergence because of quick losing of diversity. In order to enhance its performance, this paper proposes a new algorithm, called DCSQPSO, which employs a diversity-controlled into QPSO enhancing mechanism and local search strategies to improve the solution quality. A comprehensive experimental study is conducted on a set of benchmark functions, Comparison results show that DCSQPSO obtains a promising performance on the majority of the test problems.
Stretched input-output characteristic in inhomogeneously broadened 1asing system

We have measured the input-output curve of an organic vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (OVCSEL), made of Alq3:DCM, over more than 2 orders of magnitude beyond threshold. The characteristics cannot be explained by the standard theory of lasing, which uses a single spontaneous emission factor, beta. By assuming an inhomogeneously broadened distribution of beta values we are able to qualitatively model the observed input-output curve.
Government formation in Multi-Level Settings: Party Strategy and Institutional Constraints

Acknowledgements List Of Party Acronyms List Of Tables And Graphs Introduction Towards A Theory Of Coalition Formation In Multi-Level Settings Research Design - Concepts, Methods And Country Selection Multi-Level Polities - Institutions, Decision-Making, Parties & Party Systems Regional Coalition Governments In Spain And Germany - A Statistical Exploration Subnational Coalition Formation As A Multi-Level Game Coalition Formation - The Process Conclusions - Subnational Coalition Formation In Multi-Level Settings Appendix A: List Of Governments Included In The Conditional Logit Analysis (Only Real Governments Listed) Appendix B: Additional Tables Appendix C: List Of Interviews (Interviewee's Name, Party Affiliation, Location And Date) List Of References
Putting Race in Context: Identifying the Environmental Determinants of Black Racial Attitudes

Prior research on the contextual determinants of black racial attitudes has focused on the effects of residential segregation while overlooking differences in the socioeconomic character of neighborhoods. I posit that socioeconomic environments, in particular, the quality and socioeconomic composition of neighborhoods, may affect whether blacks view race as a defining interest in their lives. I test these propositions with a multilevel dataset that merges the 1992–1994 Multi-City Survey of Urban Inequality with block-group–level demographic statistics from the 1990 Census. The results indicate that neighborhood quality and neighborhood socioeconomic composition work at cross-purposes in affecting black racial attitudes. The salience of race recedes with improvements in neighborhood quality yet advances with greater exposure to the race-oriented predispositions of high-status blacks. In closing, I discuss the implications of shifting residential patterns for the future of political consensus and group-based mobilization among African Americans.
AN INFRARED NEBULA ASSOCIATED WITH δ CEPHEI: EVIDENCE OF MASS LOSS?

We present the discovery of an infrared nebula around the Cepheid prototype δ Cephei and its hot companion HD 213307. Large-scale (∼2.1 × 104 AU) nebulosity is detected at 5.8, 8.0, 24, and 70 μm. Surrounding the two stars, the 5.8 and 8.0 μm emission is largely attributable to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon emission swept from the interstellar medium by a wind originating from δ Cephei and/or its companion. Stochastically heated small dust grains are the most likely source of the 24 and 70 μm extended emission. The 70 μm emission, in particular, resembles a bow shock aligned in the direction of the proper motion of δ Cephei. This discovery supports the hypothesis that δ Cephei may be currently losing mass, at a rate in the range of ≈5 × 10−9 to 6 × 10−8 M☉ yr−1.