Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Electrotunable artificial molecules based on van der Waals heterostructures

Electrically controlled evolution from an artificial molecule to an artificial atom in atomically thin MoS2 is demonstrated. Quantum confinement has made it possible to detect and manipulate single-electron charge and spin states. The recent focus on two-dimensional (2D) materials has attracted significant interests on possible applications to quantum devices, including detecting and manipulating either single-electron charging behavior or spin and valley degrees of freedom. However, the most popular model systems, consisting of tunable double-quantum-dot molecules, are still extremely difficult to realize in these materials. We show that an artificial molecule can be reversibly formed in atomically thin MoS2 sandwiched in hexagonal boron nitride, with each artificial atom controlled separately by electrostatic gating. The extracted values for coupling energies at different regimes indicate a single-electron transport behavior, with the coupling strength between the quantum dots tuned monotonically. Moreover, in the low-density regime, we observe a decrease of the conductance with magnetic field, suggesting the observation of Coulomb blockade weak anti-localization. Our experiments demonstrate for the first time the realization of an artificial quantum-dot molecule in a gated MoS2 van der Waals heterostructure, which could be used to investigate spin-valley physics. The compatibility with large-scale production, gate controllability, electron-hole bipolarity, and new quantum degrees of freedom in the family of 2D materials opens new possibilities for quantum electronics and its applications.
Vascular Aging in Women: is Estrogen the Fountain of Youth?

Aging is associated with structural and functional changes in the vasculature, including endothelial dysfunction, arterial stiffening and remodeling, impaired angiogenesis, and defective vascular repair, and with increased prevalence of atherosclerosis. Cardiovascular risk is similar for older men and women, but lower in women during their fertile years. This age- and sex-related difference points to estrogen as a protective factor because menopause is marked by the loss of endogenous estrogen production. Experimental and some clinical studies have attributed most of the protective effects of estrogen to its modulatory action on vascular endothelium. Estrogen promotes endothelial-derived NO production through increased expression and activity of endothelial nitric oxide synthase, and modulates prostacyclin and thromboxane A2 release. The thromboxane A2 pathway is key to regulating vascular tone in females. Despite all the experimental evidence, some clinical trials have reported no cardiovascular benefit from estrogen replacement therapy in older postmenopausal women. The “Timing Hypothesis,” which states that estrogen-mediated vascular benefits occur only before the detrimental effects of aging are established in the vasculature, offers a possible explanation for these discrepancies. Nevertheless, a gap remains in current knowledge of cardiovascular aging mechanisms in women. This review comprises clinical and experimental data on the effects of aging, estrogens, and hormone replacement therapy on vascular function of females. We aim to clarify how menopause and aging contribute jointly to vascular aging and how estrogen modulates vascular response at different ages.
On-Wafer Noise Measurement at 300 GHz Using UTC-PD as Noise Source

We demonstrate on-wafer noise measurement based on the Y-factor technique at 300 GHz utilizing a uni-traveling-carrier photodiode (UTC-PD) as a noise source. Since the UTC-PD can provide high and scalable noise power for the hot state and has a waveguide output port, easy and reliable measurement is available even at terahertz frequencies, where the loss from the experiment setup is not ignorable. We describe the experimental procedure with the UTC-PD as a noise source and a diode mixer as a noise receiver and present a noise figure measurement for a 300 GHz amplifier MMIC in an on-wafer environment. In addition, we discuss the uncertainty due to using the UTC-PD.
Phase-dependent antifungal activity against Aspergillus fumigatus developing multicellular filamentous biofilms.

OBJECTIVES Aspergillus fumigatus undergoes morphological transition throughout its growth and development. These changes have direct implications for the effectiveness of antifungal treatment. Here we report the in vitro antifungal activity of voriconazole, amphotericin B and caspofungin against three specific phases of multicellular development of A. fumigatus. METHODS A. fumigatus conidia were propagated for 8, 12 and 24 h prior to antifungal challenge. The resultant activity of the three agents tested was determined using an XTT reduction assay to assess both endpoint and time-kill susceptibility profiles. RESULTS Endpoint susceptibility testing demonstrated a time-dependent decrease in efficacy for all three antifungal agents as the complexity of the A. fumigatus hyphal structure developed. Overall, amphotericin B exhibited the best spectrum of activity at each phase of growth, but was comparable to voriconazole against germinated conidial growth (8 h). Later, both voriconazole and caspofungin were ineffective against complex mycelial structures (12 and 24 h). Time-kill studies demonstrated that amphotericin B was significantly more efficacious at reducing A. fumigatus metabolism than both voriconazole and caspofungin for all three growth phases examined, most notably after 1 h of drug exposure (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS Overall, the data presented demonstrate that treatment of actively growing A. fumigatus cells with antifungal agents is more efficacious than treating mature structures in vitro. Amphotericin B was consistently more effective against each phase and displayed rapid effects, and therefore may be a suitable option for managing patient groups at risk from aspergillosis infections.
Foundation doctors’ views on whether their medical school prepared them well for work: UK graduates of 2008 and 2009

Purpose of the study The transition from medical student to junior doctor is a critical stage in career progression. We report junior doctors’ views 1 year after graduation on whether their medical school prepared them well for clinical work. Study design Questionnaire surveys of the medical graduates of 2008 and 2009, from all UK medical schools, 1 year after graduation. Responses were compared with those of UK medical graduates of 1999, 2000, 2002 and 2005. The main outcome measure was the doctors’ level of agreement that medical school had prepared them well for work. Results 53% of 2008 graduates and 49% of 2009 graduates agreed that their medical school had prepared them well. The percentage who felt unprepared has fallen from 31% of the 1999–2005 graduates, combined, to 19% of the 2008 and 2009 graduates (the remainder gave neutral responses). Combining 2008 and 2009 graduates’ responses, percentages who agreed that they had been well prepared ranged from 83% (95% CI 78 to 89) at the medical school with the highest level of agreement to 27% (95% CI 20 to 34) at the lowest. 25% of doctors specified that feeling unprepared had been a serious or medium-sized problem for them (only 2.7% regarded it as serious). Conclusions Medical schools need feedback from their graduates about elements of medical school training that could improve preparedness for medical work. It also seems likely that there are some reasonably straightforward lessons that medical schools could learn from each other.
Conflict-specific mechanisms of cognitive control and their neural implementation

One important task of cognitive control is to regulate behavior by resolving information processing conflicts. In the Stroop task, e.g., incongruent trials lead to conflict-related enhancements of cognitive control and to improved behavioral performance in subsequent trials. Several studies suggested that these cognitive control processes are functionally and anatomically related to working memory (WM) functions. The present study investigated this suggestion and tested whether these control processes are modulated by concurrent WM demands. For this purpose, we performed three experiments in which we combined different WM tasks with the Stroop paradigm and measured their effects on cognitive control. We found that high WM demands led to a suppression of conflict-triggered cognitive control, whereas our findings suggest that this suppression effect is rather due to WM updating than to maintenance demands. We explain our findings by assuming that WM processes interfere with conflict-triggered cognitive control, harming the efficiency of these
First eye movement verification and identification competition at BTAS 2012

This paper presents the results of the first eye movement verification and identification competition. The work provides background, discusses previous research, and describes the datasets and methods used in the competition. The results highlight the importance of very careful eye positional data capture to ensure meaningfulness of identification outcomes. The discussion about the metrics and scores that can assist in evaluation of the captured data quality is provided. Best identification results varied in the range from 58.6% to 97.7% depending on the dataset and methods employed for the identification. Additionally, this work discusses possible future directions of research in the eye movement-based biometrics domain.
Chrysin reduces proliferation and induces apoptosis in the human prostate cancer cell line pc-3

INTRODUCTION: Honey is a common household product with many medicinal uses described in traditional medicine. Only recently has its antioxidant properties and preventive effects against disease been highlighted. Chrysin is a natural flavone commonly found in honey that has been shown to be an antioxidant agent. In this study, we investigated the antiproliferative and apoptotic effects of honey and chrysin on cultured human prostate cancer cells. METHODS: Cells were cultured in RPMI medium and treated with different concentrations of honey and chrysin for three consecutive days. Cell viability was quantitated by the 3-(4, 5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2, 5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. The percentage of apoptotic cells was determined by flow cytometry using Annexin V-fluorescein isothiocyanate. RESULTS: The MTT assay revealed that both compounds had an antiproliferative effect on PC-3 cells in a dose- and time-dependent manner. The IC50 values for honey and chrysin against PC-3 cells were 2.5% and 24.5% after 48 h and 1.8% and 8.5% after 72 h, respectively. Chrysin induced apoptosis in PC-3 cells, as determined by flow cytometry. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that honey has anti-proliferative effects on prostate cancer cells and the effects are mainly due to chrysin. Therefore, chrysin may be a potential compound for both cancer prevention and treatment. Further in vivo investigation is needed to support the use of chrysin in cancer therapy.
Study of a Low-Profile Substrate Integrated Waveguide based Bidirectional Dual-beam Array Antenna

This paper showcases a single-layer, compact substrate-integrated waveguide (SIW) based dual-beam bidirectional array antenna. The SIW is constructed using Rogers-8580 substrate with copper cladding on both sides. One end of the waveguide is fed through a 504$\omega$ microstrip line, while the other end is terminated with metal vias. To get array performance with a bidirectional pattern, some slots are cut strategically from the upper and lower metal walls of the following waveguide. A comparative analysis is conducted between this antenna and a one-sided slotted SIW array. The proposed antenna array radiates in bi-direction, yielding a realized gain of 7.5dBi, fractional bandwidth of 1.5%, and cross-polarization difference (XPD) of 29dB.
p53 regulates mitochondrial membrane potential through reactive oxygen species and induces cytochrome c‐independent apoptosis blocked by Bcl‐2

Downstream mediators of p53 in apoptosis induction remain to be elucidated. We report that p53‐induced apoptosis occurred in the absence of cytochrome c release into the cytosol. Although Bax was upregulated, it remained largely in the cytosol and there was no detectable translocation to the mitochondria. Bid was not activated as no cleavage could be detected. Thus, the absence of cytochrome c release may be due to the lack of Bax translocation to mitochondria and/or Bid inactivation. Nevertheless, p53‐induced apoptosis is still caspase dependent because it could be abolished by z‐VAD‐fmk. To search for alternative downstream targets of p53, we detected production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) as well as mitochondrial membrane potential (Δψ). p53 induced ROS generation, which then caused a transient increase of Δψ followed by a decrease. Antioxidants could inhibit the alterations of Δψ, thereby preventing apoptosis. z‐VAD‐fmk was unable to abrogate Δψ elevation but inhibited Δψ decrease, indicating that Δψ elevation and its decrease are two independent events. Bcl‐2 may abolish elevation as well as decrease of Δψ without interfering with ROS levels. Thus, the ROS‐mediated disruption of Δψ constitutes a pivotal step in the apoptotic pathway of p53, and this pathway does not involve cytochrome c release.
Analysis of Freeze-Thaw Embolism in Conifers. The Interaction between Cavitation Pressure and Tracheid Size1

Ice formation in the xylem sap produces air bubbles that under negative xylem pressures may expand and cause embolism in the xylem conduits. We used the centrifuge method to evaluate the relationship between freeze-thaw embolism and conduit diameter across a range of xylem pressures (Px) in the conifers Pinus contorta and Juniperus scopulorum. Vulnerability curves showing loss of conductivity (embolism) with Px down to −8 MPa were generated with versus without superimposing a freeze-thaw treatment. In both species, the freeze-thaw plus water-stress treatment caused more embolism than water stress alone. We estimated the critical conduit diameter (Df) above which a tracheid will embolize due to freezing and thawing and found that it decreased from 35 μm at a Px of −0.5 MPa to 6 μm at −8 MPa. Further analysis showed that the proportionality between diameter of the air bubble nucleating the cavitation and the diameter of the conduit (kL) declined with increasingly negative Px. This suggests that the bubbles causing cavitation are smaller in proportion to tracheid diameter in narrow tracheids than in wider ones. A possible reason for this is that the rate of dissolving increases with bubble pressure, which is inversely proportional to bubble diameter (La Place's law). Hence, smaller bubbles shrink faster than bigger ones. Last, we used the empirical relationship between Px and Df to model the freeze-thaw response in conifer species.
Cyberinfrastructure Usage Modalities on the TeraGrid

This paper is intended to explain how the Tera Grid would like to be able to measure "usage modalities. " We would like to (and are beginning to) measure these modalities to understand what objectives our users are pursuing, how they go about achieving them, and why, so that we can make changes in the Tera Grid to better support them.
Efficient transform coding of two-channel audio signals by means of complex-valued stereo prediction

Traditional MDCT-based perceptual audio coding schemes employ mid/side and intensity stereo techniques to allow efficient joint coding of the two channels of a stereophonic signal. These techniques, however, provide only little coding gain for critical stereo signals characterized by spectral components with a distinct level or phase difference between the channels. To overcome this deficiency, we propose an extension to the mid/side coding paradigm that utilizes complex-valued inter-channel linear prediction in the MDCT spectral domain. The required imaginary spectrum (MDST) is calculated in a computationally efficient manner without additional algorithmic delay. A formal listening test conducted in the course of the ISO/MPEG standardization of the unified speech and audio codec USAC illustrates that the proposed stereo prediction approach provides significant improvements in coding efficiency and shows that at 96 kb/s, excellent quality can be obtained even for critical signals.
Pulmonary and respiratory tract receptors.

Nervous receptors in the lungs and respiratory tract can be grouped into four general categories. 1. Deep, slowly adapting end-organs, which respond to stretch of the airway wall and have large-diameter myelinated fibres; those in the lungs are responsible for the Breuer-Hering reflex. 2. Endings in and under the epithelium which respond to a variety of chemical and mechanical stimuli (i.e. are polymodal), usually with a rapidly adapting discharge, and with small-diameter myelinated fibres; they are responsible for defensive reflexes such as cough and sneeze, and for the reflex actions to inhaled irritants and to some respiratory disease processes. 3. Receptors with nonmyelinated nerve fibres which, being polymodal, are stimulated by tissue damage and oedema and by the mediators released in these conditions; these receptors may be similar in function to 'nociceptors' in other viscera, and set up appropriate reflexes as a reaction to respiratory damage. 4. Specialized receptors such as those for taste and swallowing, and those around joints and in skeletal muscle. Stimulation of any group of receptors may cause reflex changes in breathing (including defensive reflexes), bronchomotor tone, airway mucus secretion, the cardiovascular system (including the vascular bed of the airways), laryngeal calibre, spinal reflexes and sensation. The total pattern of motor responses is unique for each group of receptors, although it is probably unusual for one type of receptor to be stimulated in isolation. The variety of patterns of motor responses must reflect the complexity of brainstem organization of these systems.
Immunopathogenesis of Experimental Ulcerative Colitis Is Mediated by Eosinophil Peroxidase1

The precise role that individual inflammatory cells and mediators play in the development of gastrointestinal (GI) dysfunction and extraintestinal clinical manifestations of ulcerative colitis (UC) is unknown. In this study, we have used a mouse model of UC to establish a central role for eotaxin and, in turn, eosinophils in the development of the immunopathogenesis of this disease. In this model the administration of dextran sodium sulfate (DSS) induces a prominent colonic eosinophilic inflammation and GI dysfunction (diarrhea with blood and shortening of the colon) that resembles UC in patients. GI dysfunction was associated with evidence of eosinophilic cytolytic degranulation and the release of eosinophil peroxidase (EPO) into the colon lumen. By using IL-5 or eotaxin-deficient mice, we show an important role for eotaxin in eosinophil recruitment into the colon during experimental UC. Furthermore, using EPO-deficient mice and an EPO inhibitor resorcinol we demonstrate that eosinophil-derived peroxidase is critical in the development of GI dysfunction in experimental UC. These findings provide direct evidence of a central role for eosinophils and EPO in GI dysfunction and potentially the immunopathogenesis of UC.
A relação entre renda e morar sozinho para idosos paulistanos: 2000

The number of people living alone in Sao Paulo is not high compared to other living arrangements, but the number of elderly people living alone has been increasing over the years. The present study discusses the relationship between income and living alone among the elderly in the City of Sao Paulo, 2000, using the SABE database. Since living alone is influenced by demographic, socioeconomic and health-related aspects, these variables were also considered in this study, and a binary logistic regression was used. Two models were built. Model 1 included only income as a predictor; model 2 included other variables and income as predictors. The results show a significant association between income and living alone. Even after controlling for other explanatory variables, income remained significant.
Plexin-B1/RhoGEF–mediated RhoA activation involves the receptor tyrosine kinase ErbB-2

Plexins are widely expressed transmembrane proteins that mediate the effects of semaphorins. The molecular mechanisms of plexin-mediated signal transduction are still rather unclear. Plexin-B1 has recently been shown to mediate activation of RhoA through a stable interaction with the Rho guanine nucleotide exchange factors PDZ-RhoGEF and LARG. However, it is unclear how the activity of plexin-B1 and its downstream effectors is regulated by its ligand Sema4D. Here, we show that plexin-B family members stably associate with the receptor tyrosine kinase ErbB-2. Binding of Sema4D to plexin-B1 stimulates the intrinsic tyrosine kinase activity of ErbB-2, resulting in the phosphorylation of both plexin-B1 and ErbB-2. A dominant-negative form of ErbB-2 blocks Sema4D-induced RhoA activation as well as axonal growth cone collapse in primary hippocampal neurons. Our data indicate that ErbB-2 is an important component of the plexin-B receptor system and that ErbB-2–mediated phosphorylation of plexin-B1 is critically involved in Sema4D-induced RhoA activation, which underlies cellular phenomena downstream of plexin-B1, including axonal growth cone collapse.
Emotion recognition using bimodal data fusion

This paper proposes a bimodal system for emotion recognition that uses face and speech analysis. Hidden Markov models - HMMs are used to learn and to describe the temporal dynamics of the emotion clues in the visual and acoustic channels. This approach provides a powerful method enabling to fuse the data we extract from separate modalities. The paper presents the best performing models and the results of the proposed recognition system.
On-Chip Photovoltaic Energy Conversion in Bulk-CMOS for Indoor Applications

Modeling and design aspects of on-chip photovoltaic energy conversion, voltage boosting and storage in bulk CMOS are investigated under the constraints of indoor illumination and small form factor. A power-supply architecture consisting of a photovoltaic converter, a clock generator, a charge-pump and a storage capacitor is considered. Maximization of the recharging rate of the capacitor at the low end of irradiance is adopted as the aim of design optimization. First, photodiodes available for conversion in bulk CMOS are comparatively evaluated, and potentially the most efficient ones are experimentally characterized for the typical range of indoor irradiance. Next, a generic model is developed and experimentally verified for a clock generator powered by a converter built with these photodiodes. This is followed by the modeling and experimental verification of a Dickson charge-pump whose single-device rectifier is free of body effect and near-ideal in forward characteristic. These models are based on the subthreshold operation of devices as necessitated by optimization under the limitations of bulk-CMOS stacking and indoor irradiance. Guidelines for design optimization are derived from these models. Experimental work is based on two test chips fabricated in 0.18- μm bulk CMOS with deep n-well option.