Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Customization of Poly(dimethylsiloxane) Stamps by Micromachining Using a Femtosecond‐Pulsed Laser

This work describes the use of focused, high-intensity light from a Ti:sapphire laser that generates femtosecond pulses to create topographical structure in a flat surface of poly(di-methylsiloxane) (PDMS), and the use of the PDMS surfaces patterned using this procedure for a range of purposes. PDMS patterned in surface bas-relief is the material most widely used for printing and stamping in soft lithography, [1,2] and a material widely used in microfluidic systems. [3] The bas-relief patterns required in these applications are usually fabricated by casting PDMS against a complementary bas-relief pattern in photoresist, fabricated in turn by photolithography. This process works well, but is not applicable to the preparation of PDMS stamps required for all types of problems; printing on spherical surfaces is an example. The technique described here permits the non-photolitho-graphic generation of surface topography for use in soft lithography and microfluidics; this technique has three useful characteristics: i) It generates features smaller than those generated by standard rapid-prototyping techniques based on printed transparency masks. [1,2] ii) It is applicable to fabrication on non-planar surfaces. iii) It can be used in fabrication of large-area patterns. The rough, recessed features generated by this technique are useful for applications where large surface area to volume ratios are desired, e.g., in catalysis, [7] for super-hydrophobic surfaces, [8±10] in surface-enhanced Raman scattering, [11,12] and as magnetic field concentrators. [13±15] It has the disadvantages that it is a serial process, and that the laser and positioning equipment are relatively specialized. The only requirement for the material is that it must be transparent to 800 nm light: PDMS works well, but other transparent elastomeric polymers should also work. Laser ablation is a common technique for direct writing of patterns into the surfaces of metals, semiconductors, and polymers. [16,17] Most of the techniques that have been described for laser writing work through an absorption mechanism for light that is linear in light intensity. This sort of photochemistry typically requires doping of the material with sensitizers [18±20] and/or the use of UV lasers. [21,22] We have previously described the production of stamps for microcontact printing (lCP) by ablation of a doped polymer with a diode-pumped Nd:YVO 4 laser. [20] Line widths of the features produced through this technique are ~ 5 lm. This technique, as described, is substantially less useful than rapid prototyping. Another process, developed by Hull and co-workers, used a focused ion beam (FIB) to write …
Delta sleep deficits in schizophrenia: evidence from automated analyses of sleep data.

BACKGROUND Several, though not all, polysomnographic studies that use conventional visual scoring techniques show delta sleep deficits in schizophrenia. Delta sleep (in particular, > or = 1- to 2-Hz frequency range), mediated by thalamocortical circuits, is postulated to be abnormal in schizophrenia. We investigated whether deficits in delta sleep occur in schizophrenia and whether these are primarily related to the illness or are epiphenomena of previous medication use or illness chronicity. METHODS We compared 30 unmedicated schizophrenic patients and 30 age- and sex-matched controls for sleep data evaluated by visual scoring as well as automated period amplitude analyses and power spectral analyses. RESULTS Schizophrenic patients had reduced visually scored delta sleep. Period amplitude analyses showed significant reductions in delta wave counts but not rapid eye movement counts; power spectral analyses showed reductions in delta as well as theta power. Delta spectral power was also reduced in the subset of 19 neuroleptic-naive, first-episode schizophrenic patients compared with matched controls. Delta deficits were more pronounced in the greater than 1- to 2-Hz frequency range. CONCLUSIONS Delta sleep deficits that occur in schizophrenia may be related to the primary pathophysiological characteristics of the illness and may not be secondary to previous neuroleptic use. Automated sleep quantification by means of period amplitude and power spectral analyses can complement the use of conventional visual scoring for understanding electrophysiological abnormalities in psychiatric disorders.
A study of multiscale communication and the influence of information pace on peripheral attention

The communication infrastructure around us is a rich but fragmented environment made of separated services corresponding to different levels of engagement. The multiscale approach to communication proposes instead to create systems that support a variable degree of engagement and smooth transitions between degrees. This paper reports on the design and evaluation of such a system called Pele-Mele. We present a longitudinal study of its use that notably illustrates the importance of providing gradual attention management mechanisms to support transitions between background and foreground communications. We then describe a quantitative experiment that shows the influence of peripheral update rate on subjects’ attention in a dual-task situation combining snapshot-based peripheral awareness with a central text correcting task. Overall, our results suggest that control over information pace and salience can help users of communication systems adjust both their local distraction and remote attractiveness.
Activation of TRPA1 Channel Facilitates Excitatory Synaptic Transmission in Substantia Gelatinosa Neurons of the Adult Rat Spinal Cord

TRPA1 is expressed in primary sensory neurons and hair cells, and it is proposed to be activated by cold stimuli, mechanical stimuli, or pungent ingredients. However, its role in regulating synaptic transmission has never been documented yet. In the present study, we examined whether activation of the TRPA1 channels affects synaptic transmission in substantia gelatinosa (SG) neurons of adult rat spinal cord slices by using the whole-cell patch-clamp technique. A chief ingredient of mustard oil, allyl isothiocyanate (AITC), superfused for 2 min markedly increased the frequency and amplitude of spontaneous EPSCs (sEPSCs), which was accompanied by an inward current. Similar actions were produced by cinnamaldehyde and allicin. The AITC-induced increases in sEPSC frequency and amplitude were resistant to tetrodotoxin (TTX) and La3+, whereas being significantly reduced in extent in a Ca2+-free bath solution. In the presence of glutamate receptor antagonists CNQX and AP5, AITC did not generate any synaptic activities. The AITC-induced increases in sEPSC frequency and amplitude were reduced by ruthenium red, whereas being unaffected by capsazepine. AITC also increased the frequency and amplitude of spontaneous inhibitory postsynaptic currents; this AITC action was abolished in the presence of TTX or glutamate receptor antagonists. These results indicate that TRPA1 appears to be localized not only at presynaptic terminals on SG neurons to enhance glutamate release, but also in terminals of primary afferents innervating onto spinal inhibitory interneurons, which make synapses with SG neurons. This central modulation of sensory signals may be associated with physiological and pathological pain sensations.
Health and social care in aging population: an integrated care institution for the elderly in Greece

Abstract Purpose To describe the nature of the services actually offered to the elderly in Greece by an institution of integrated care, as opposed to those that should be offered according to the relevant law, and to investigate the factors influencing the supply of those services. Background By the year 2020 about 20 million people will be aged 80 and over in the European Union. People of third age consist 16.9% of the total Greek population. Population aging has major implications on health services, employment and society as a whole. “Open Care Centres for the Elderly” (KAPI) is a rapidly developing and expanding institution providing integrated care for the elderly. Methods A questionnaire to be completed by the staff was sent to all 370 KAPI. Response rate reached 66%. For the analysis of the data multiple logistic regression analysis was performed using SPSS 10.0. Results Both medical and social care is provided by the KAPI to the elderly with different magnitude all over the country. Factors such as number of members, medical, paramedical and non-medical staff and fund availability in the KAPI mainly influence the supply of services. Conclusions Integrated care services are offered by the KAPI. However, more steps need to be taken towards the direction of other European countries' integrated care schemes, in order to improve both quality and quantity of the services provided.
Optimum Droop Parameter Settings of Islanded Microgrids With Renewable Energy Resources

Droop control is a key strategy for operating distributed generation (DG) islanded systems, i.e., islanded microgrids (IMGs). The droop parameter settings of the DG units can significantly impact the ability of an IMG to feed its demand. This paper proposes a new probabilistic algorithm for determining the optimum choice for such droop settings for the individual DG units in a distribution network in cases when a microgrid central controller is unavailable. The proposed algorithm adopts a constraint hierarchy approach to enhance the operation of IMGs by satisfying the operational constraints of the system and expanding its loading margin. The new algorithm takes into consideration the variety of possible IMG configurations that can be initiated in a distribution network (multi-microgrids), the uncertainty and variability associated with the output power of renewable DG units as well as the variability of the load, and the special features and operational philosophy associated with droop-controlled IMG systems. Simulation studies show that the proposed algorithm can facilitate the successful implementation of the IMG concept by reducing the customer interruptions and enhancing the IMGs' loadability margins.
Extending effect annotation with lexical decomposition

In this contribution, we report on an effort to annotate German data with information relevant to opinion inference. Such information has previously been referred to as effect or couched in terms of eventevaluation functors. We extend the theory and present an extensive scheme that combines both approaches and thus extends the set of inference-relevant predicates. Using these guidelines to annotate 726 German synsets, we achieve good inter-annotator agreement.
The Okjökull Memorial and Geohuman Relations

Focusing on the life and death of Okjökull, the first of Iceland's major glaciers to disappear because of anthropogenic climate change, this article discusses the complex relationships between cryospheres and human communities in Iceland. It asks how distinctions between non-living entities and living beings can offer insights to anthropology, and transdisciplinarily, as a model for recognising mutual precarities between the living and non-living world in the face of anthropogenic climate change. Detailing the authors’ ethnographic encounters with Ok mountain and Okjökull (glacier), the authors argue that by attending to non-living forms, and by registering their ‘passing’ or loss, we are able to document and better comprehend threshold events in the larger life of the planet. En se concentrant sur la vie et la mort d'Okjökull, le premier des principaux glaciers islandais à disparaître en raison des changements climatiques anthropogéniques, cet article discute les relations complexes entre la cryosphère et les communautés humaines en Islande. Il questionne la manière dont les distinctions entre entités non vivantes et êtres vivants peuvent offrir des perspectives à l'anthropologie et la transdisciplinarité en tant que modèle pour reconnaitre des précarités mutuelles entre monde vivant et non vivant en face du changement climatique anthropogénique. En détaillant la rencontre ethnographique entre les auteurs, la montagne Ok et l'Okjökull (le glacier), les auteurs défendent l'idée qu'en prenant acte des formes non vivantes et en marquant leur « disparition » ou leur perte, nous sommes en mesure de documenter et de mieux comprendre les événements de bascule dans la vie de notre planète.
Vasomotor regulation during sleep in the cat.

MANIA, GIUSEPPE, GORGIO BACCELLI, DAVID B. ADAMS, AND ALBERTTO ZANCHETTI. Vusomotor regulation during sleep in the cat. Am. J. Physiol. 220(4) : 1086-1093. 197 I . -Synchronized and desynchronized sleep are accompanied by cardiovascular changes, which differ not only in magnitude but also sometimes in direction. Blood pressure, heart rate, atid cardiac output show a progressive decrease from quiet wakefulness to synchronized and then to desynchronized sleep. Changes in total peripheral conductance sometimes indicate slight vasoconstriction throughout synchronized sleep always followed by a marked vasodilatation during the desynchronized stage. The mesenteric and renal beds are variously affected during synchronized sleep, but an important vasodilatation supervenes in all animals during desynchronized sleep. A slight iliac vasoconstriction is often observed at the beginning of synchronized sleep, followed by an equally slight vasodilatation toward the end of the synchronized period. In all cats a marked vasoconstriction occurs throughout the desynchronized stage (reinforced by further vasoconstriction when rapid eye movement and hindlimb twitches occur). Vasomotor regulation during sleep, and particularly during desynchronized sleep, does not consist of a simple unidirectional readjustment, and vasoconstriction coexists with the predominant vasodifatation.
High-Level Design of Precision-Scalable DNN Accelerators Based on Sum-Together Multipliers

Precison-scalable (PS) multipliers are gaining traction in Deep Neural Network accelerators, particularly for enabling mixed-precision (MP) quantization in Deep Learning at the edge. This paper focuses on the Sum-Together (ST) class of PS multipliers, which are subword-parallel multipliers that can execute a standard multiplication at full precision or a dot-product with parallel low-precision operands. Our contributions in this area encompass multiple aspects: we enrich our previous comparison of SoA ST multipliers by including our recent radix-4 Booth ST multiplier and two novel designs; we extend the explanation of the architecture and the design flow of our previously proposed ST-based PS hardware accelerators designed for 2D-Convolution, Depth-wise Convolution, and Fully-Connected layers that we developed using High-Level Synthesis (HLS); we implement the uniform integer quantization equations in hardware; we conduct a broad HLS-driven design space exploration of our ST-based accelerators, varying numerous hardware parameters; finally, we showcase the advantages of ST-based accelerators when integrated into System-on-Chips (SoCs) in three different scenarios (low-area, low-power, and low-latency), running inference on MP-quantized MLPerf Tiny models as case study. Across the three scenarios, the results show an average latency speedup of 1.46x, 1.33x, and 1.29x, a reduced energy consumption in most of the cases, and a marginal area overhead of 0.9%, 2.5% and 8.0%, compared to SoCs with accelerators based on fixed-precision 16-bit multipliers. To sum up, our work provides a comprehensive understanding of ST-based accelerators’ performance in an SoC context, paving the way for future enhancements and the solution of identified inefficiencies.
The neonatal behavioral assessment scale as a biomarker of the effects of environmental agents on the newborn.

The organization of the newborn's brain and the nature of the effects of toxins and pollutants conspire to produce complex and difficult problems for the assessment of the behavioral effects of environmental agents. The newborn's brain can be characterized as relatively undifferentiated, and more vulnerable to, but potentially more capable of recovery from, the effects of environmental agents specific to this time period than it will be later in development. Environmental agents tend to have nonspecific, possibly subtle, effects that invade many areas of newborn functioning. These characteristics of the newborn and the behavioral effects of teratogens make assessment at this point in development difficult. Further exacerbating this difficulty is the nature of development. Development is critically dependent on the care the newborn receives. Distortions of a newborn's behavior can produce disturbances in the caretaking environment, and these caretaking disturbances can amplify the original behavioral distortion and produce other distortions. Attention to these types of effects must be built into an assessment. These considerations lead to the conclusion that an apical assessment of newborn behavior is required. The most standardized, valid, and reliable instrument currently available is the Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale developed by Brazelton. It assesses the integrated actions of the infant that function to regulate simultaneously the infant's internal state and exchanges with the animate (caretaking) and inanimate environment. The scale uses a set of reflex and behavioral items to assess the critical domains of infant functioning (e.g., the infant's ability to control his states of consciousness). (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Effect of Electrical Stimulation on Human Skeletal Muscle

The acute and adaptive effects of electrical stimulation of the quadriceps muscle were investigated in healthy male volunteers. The acute effects, i.e., depletion of phosphagen and glycogen stores and formation of lactate as well as decreases in certain enzyme activities, were similar to those found earlier for intense muscular exercise. Intermittent electrical stimulation for 4 to 5 weeks did not cause any significant changes in enzyme activities, muscle fiber characteristics, or mitochondrial properties. A 4-week period of electrical stimulation resulted in improvements of muscle strength comparable to the results of a corresponding program of voluntary training. However, the effects of electrical stimulation appeared more "position-specific" and less "speed-specific" than those of voluntary training with slow isokinetic contractions.
Determining the generation length and level of morphological and genetic differentiation in the Data Deficient glossy grass skink (Pseudemoia rawlinsoni)

Context Human activities are having a significant impact on biodiversity worldwide, to the extent that we are in the midst of the sixth mass extinction event. Although a substantial proportion of species globally have an elevated risk of extinction, some species are poorly known and there is insufficient information available to adequately assess their risk of extinction. Aims and methods One such species is the glossy grass skink (Pseudemoia rawlinsoni), a widespread but enigmatic lizard species in south-eastern Australia. In order to improve our knowledge of its life history, and particularly its generation length, we examined museum specimens collected from across the range of the species, supplemented with measurements from field-caught individuals. Key results We estimated that the species reaches sexual maturity in 3 years, at approximately 40 mm snout–vent length. Its generation length was estimated as 5 years. Sexual dimorphism was evident, and female body size was positively related to litter size. Although there was no evidence for substantial variation in morphology across the range of the glossy grass skink, a phylogeographic analysis using mitochondrial DNA sequence data (ND4) revealed the presence of seven genetic sublineages (up to 5.1% genetic divergence) within the species. Conclusions The glossy grass skink appears to be a single, but widespread and genetically variable, species. Implications Our study demonstrates how a targeted, multifaceted study can be effective at rapidly gathering data that can be used to contribute vital information to the assessment of extinction risk in Data Deficient species.
Fibonacci heaps and their uses in improved network optimization algorithms

In this paper we develop a new data structure for implementing heaps (priority queues). Our structure, <italic>Fibonacci heaps</italic> (abbreviated <italic>F-heaps</italic>), extends the binomial queues proposed by Vuillemin and studied further by Brown. F-heaps support arbitrary deletion from an <italic>n</italic>-item heap in <italic>O</italic>(log <italic>n</italic>) amortized time and all other standard heap operations in <italic>O</italic>(1) amortized time. Using F-heaps we are able to obtain improved running times for several network optimization algorithms. In particular, we obtain the following worst-case bounds, where <italic>n</italic> is the number of vertices and <italic>m</italic> the number of edges in the problem graph:<list><item><italic>O</italic>(<italic>n</italic> log <italic>n</italic> + <italic>m</italic>) for the single-source shortest path problem with nonnegative edge lengths, improved from <italic>O</italic>(<italic>m</italic>log<subscrpt>(<italic>m/n</italic>+2)</subscrpt><italic>n</italic>); </item><item><italic>O</italic>(<italic>n</italic><supscrpt>2</supscrpt>log <italic>n</italic> + <italic>nm</italic>) for the all-pairs shortest path problem, improved from <italic>O</italic>(<italic>nm</italic> log<subscrpt>(<italic>m/n</italic>+2)</subscrpt><italic>n</italic>); </item><item><italic>O</italic>(<italic>n</italic><supscrpt>2</supscrpt>log <italic>n</italic> + <italic>nm</italic>) for the assignment problem (weighted bipartite matching), improved from <italic>O</italic>(<italic>nm</italic>log<subscrpt>(<italic>m/n</italic>+2)</subscrpt><italic>n</italic>); </item><item><italic>O</italic>(<italic>mβ</italic>(<italic>m, n</italic>)) for the minimum spanning tree problem, improved from <italic>O</italic>(<italic>m</italic>log log<subscrpt>(<italic>m/n</italic>+2)</subscrpt><italic>n</italic>); where <italic>β</italic>(<italic>m, n</italic>) = min {<italic>i</italic> ↿ log<supscrpt>(<italic>i</italic>)</supscrpt><italic>n</italic> ≤ <italic>m/n</italic>}. Note that <italic>β</italic>(<italic>m, n</italic>) ≤ log<supscrpt>*</supscrpt><italic>n</italic> if <italic>m</italic> ≥ <italic>n</italic>. </item></list>Of these results, the improved bound for minimum spanning trees is the most striking, although all the results give asymptotic improvements for graphs of appropriate densities.
Distributed Generation for Mitigating Voltage Dips in Low-Voltage Distribution Grids

The presence of synchronous and induction generators has a positive effect on the retained voltage (the lowest rms voltage during the event) during voltage dips in high voltage networks. The impact of converter-connected distributed-generation (DG) units has been reported to be negligible, as most converters operate at unity power factor, and the currents injected in the grid are limited to the nominal current of the converter. However, the impact of DG units on the distorted grid voltage is strongly dependent on the voltage level, and thus the grid impedance, of the concerned grid. This paper investigates and compares the effects of converter-based DG units, synchronous and asynchronous generators on the retained voltage during voltage dips in low voltage distribution grids.