Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The cellular functions of RASSF1A and its inactivation in prostate cancer

Epigenetic events significantly impact the transcriptome of cells and often contribute to the onset and progression of human cancers. RASSF1A (Ras-association domain family 1 isoform A), a well-known tumor suppressor gene, is frequently silenced by epigenetic mechanisms such as promoter hypermethylation in a wide range of cancers. In the past decade a vast body of literature has emerged describing the silencing of RASSF1A expression in various cancers and demonstrating its ability to reverse the cancerous phenotype when re-expressed in cancer cells. However, the mechanisms by which RASSF1A exerts its tumor suppressive properties have not been entirely defined. RASSF1A appears to mediate three important cellular processes: microtubule stability, cell cycle progression, and the induction of apoptosis through specific molecular interactions with key factors involved in these processes. Loss of function of RASSF1A leads to accelerated cell cycle progression and resistance to apoptotic signals, resulting in increased cell proliferation. In this review, we attempt to summarize the current understanding of the biological functions of RASSF1A and provide insight that the development of targeted drugs to restore RASSF1A function holds promise for the treatment of prostate cancer.
Thermal and mechanical properties of plasticized poly(L‐lactide) nanocomposites with organo‐modified montmorillonites

Nanocomposites of poly(lactide) (PLA) and the PLA plasticized with diglycerine tetraacetate (PL-710) and ethylene glycol oligomer containing organo-modified montmorillonites (ODA-M and PGS-M) by the protonated ammonium cations of octadecylamine and poly(ethylene glycol) stearylamine were prepared by melt intercalation method. In the X-ray diffraction analysis, the PLA/ODA-M and plasticized PLA/ODA-M composites showed a clear enlargement of the difference of interlayer spacing between the composite and clay itself, indicating the formation of intercalated nanocomposite. However, a little enlargement of the interlayer spacing was observed for the PLA/PGS-M and plasticized PLA/PGS-M composites. From morphological studies using transmission electron microscopy, a finer dispersion of clay was observed for PLA/ODA-M composite than PLA/PGS-M composite and all the composites using the plasticized PLA. The PLA and PLA/PL-710 composites containing ODA-M showed a higher tensile strength and modulus than the corresponding composites with PGS-M. The PLA/PL-710 (10 wt %) composite containing ODA-M showed considerably higher elongation at break than the pristine plasticized PLA, and had a comparable tensile modulus to pure PLA. The glass transition temperature (Tg) of the composites decreased with increasing plasticizer. The addition of the clays did not cause a significant increase of Tg. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2006
Smart Structural Control Strategies for the Dynamic Load Mitigation in Floating Offshore Wind Turbines Ningsu

Offshore wind energy is one of the fastest growing powers in the field of renewable energy. An offshore wind farm situated sufficiently far away from the coast can generate more wind power and will have a longer operation life since the winds are stronger and more consistent than those on or near the coast. It can also avoid some major problems of the traditional wind farms like the visual and noise impacts and potential damage to wildlife. From the technical point of view, it is difficult to anchor the wind turbines directly on the seabed in deep water. Thus, new constructive solutions based on floating support substructures are proposed. One of the main challenges is to reduce the fatigues of a floating offshore wind turbine so as to guarantee its proper functioning under the constraints imposed by the floating support substructures subject to a greater range of motion than that of the conventional fixed ones. This paper addresses the problem of designing semiactive controllers to mitigate the dynamic wind and wave loads on floating offshore wind turbines, which might cause undesirable vibrations that affect the structure integrity and system performance. The output feedback control strategy is proposed to avoid the dependence on the knowledge of the states of the system. The H∞ output feedback control technique is used for formulating the semiactive control law, which will be implemented using a TLCD. Numerical simulation is done to verify the obtained results.
The extraordinary reinforcing efficiency of single-walled carbon nanotubes in oriented poly(vinyl alcohol) tapes

This paper reports on oriented poly(vinyl alcohol)/single-walled carbon nanotube (PVA/SWNT) tapes that were prepared by a mild processing route, involving the use of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) as a solvent. Composite films with homogeneously dispersed SWNTs were cast from solution and drawn into oriented tapes using solid-state drawing. The obtained tapes showed the extraordinary reinforcing effects of the SWNTs, as the addition of 1.0 wt% SWNTs tripled the tensile strength of the PVA tapes. Micromechanical analysis showed that the nanotube contribution to the composite strength was as high as 88 GPa, which is very high when compared to other data reported in the literature, and for the first time begins to exploit the theoretical strength of nanotubes.
Safety of Intraventricular Sodium Nitroprusside and Thiosulfate for the Treatment of Cerebral Vasospasm in the Intensive Care Unit Setting

Background and Purpose— We have recently reported the safety of intraventricular sodium nitroprusside for the treatment of cerebral ischemia from vasospasm. Treatments have been accompanied previously by cerebral angiography to gauge treatment effect on established vasospasm. We presently report the safe coadministration of intraventricular sodium nitroprusside and thiosulfate in 10 patients with secured ruptured cerebral aneurysms in the intensive care unit, without the use of cerebral angiography for vasospasm treatment. Methods— Patients were considered eligible for treatment on the basis of subarachnoid hemorrhage grade or manifestation of cerebral vasospasm by either transcranial Doppler ultrasonography (TCD) or neurological examination criteria. The route of administration was intraventricular, by way of ventriculostomy. Two separate protocols differing in dosage frequency were used, depending on the presence or absence of a new neurological deficit. Response to treatment was measured by TCD and neurological criteria. Results— Good outcome was observed in 7 of 8 vasospasm patients presenting with clinical subarachnoid hemorrhage grade ≥3. Four patients demonstrated reversal of well-defined neurological deficits (hemiparesis, paraparesis) in the setting of treatment. Seven patients demonstrated a decrease in TCD velocities within 1 hour of treatment. Two patients died: 1 from intractable vasospasm despite maximal medical management and angioplasty and 1 from pulmonary causes. One episode of hypotension occurred in the setting of a high dose of medication. This responded promptly to medical management. Prolonged intracranial hypertension did not occur; modest elevations of both intracranial pressure and mean arterial blood pressure were observed when nausea and vomiting were associated with treatment, which occurred commonly in awake subjects. Conclusions— Intraventricular sodium nitroprusside with thiosulfate may be safely administered in the intensive care unit setting without the requirement of cerebral angiography to guide the effects of therapy.
250 V Thin-Layer SOI Technology With Field pLDMOS for High-Voltage Switching IC

A 250 V thin-layer SOI technology based on a 1.5-μm-thick SOI layer is developed for high-voltage (HV) switching IC. HV thin-layer silicon on insulator (SOI) field p-channel LDMOS (pLDMOS) with thick gate oxide layer, SOI RESURF n-channel LDMOS (nLDMOS) with thin gate oxide layer, and low-voltage CMOS are monolithically integrated. Compared with the conventional SOI technology integrating field pLDMOS, the thickness of SOI layer is reduced from above 5 μm to only 1.5 μm. The field implant (FI) technology is adopted to eliminate channel discontinuity underneath the bird's beak and achieve shallow junction depth to avoid back gate (BG) punchthrough breakdown for the field pLDMOS. A BG punchthrough model is presented with simulation results. The field pLDMOS with breakdown voltage (BV) of -329 V and RESURF nLDMOS with BV of 338 V are experimentally realized. A 250 V switching IC using the field pLDMOS and RESURF nLDMOS as the level-shift and the output stage is also presented based on the developed thin-layer SOI technology.
Interrelations between the Microbiotas in the Litter and in the Intestines of Commercial Broiler Chickens

ABSTRACT The intestinal microbiota of broiler chickens and the microbiota in the litter have been well studied, but the interactions between these two microbiotas remain to be determined. Therefore, we examined their reciprocal effects by analyzing the intestinal microbiotas of broilers reared on fresh pine shavings versus reused litter, as well as the litter microbiota over a 6-week cycle. Composite ileal mucosal and cecal luminal samples from birds (n = 10) reared with both litter conditions (fresh versus reused) were collected at 7, 14, 21, and 42 days of age. Litter samples were also collected at days 7, 14, 21, and 42. The microbiotas were profiled and compared within sample types based on litter condition using PCR and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR-DGGE). The microbiotas were further analyzed using 16S rRNA gene clone libraries constructed from microbiota DNA extracted from both chick intestinal and litter samples collected at day 7. Results showed significant reciprocal effects between the microbiotas present in the litter and those in the intestines of broilers. Fresh litter had more environmental bacteria, while reused litter contained more bacteria of intestinal origin. Lactobacillus spp. dominated the ileal mucosal microbiota of fresh-litter chicks, while a group of bacteria yet to be classified within Clostridiales dominated in the ileal mucosal microbiota in the reused-litter chicks. The Litter condition (fresh versus reused) seemed to have a more profound impact on the ileal microbiota than on the cecal microbiota. The data suggest that the influence of fresh litter on ileal microbiota decreased as broilers grew, compared with temporal changes observed under reused-litter rearing conditions.
Influence of Product Types on Consumer's Attitude towards Online Shopping: An Empirical Study in the Indian Context

The study empirically examined the product types of online shopping within a proposed model with respect to factors like personal internet awareness, product involvement, attitude and reason to shop online. Although prior research projects have examined the factors that impact the adoption of technology or Internet, there is limited empirical work in the Indian context which simultaneously captures the information on online shopping for different product types. The study found that product involvement, attitude and reason for online shopping varied with different product types.
Spectral Variation Alleviation by Low-Rank Matrix Approximation for Hyperspectral Image Analysis

Spectral variation is profound in remotely sensed images due to variable imaging conditions. The wide presence of such spectral variation degrades the performance of hyperspectral analysis, such as classification and spectral unmixing. In this letter, 11-based low-rank matrix approximation is proposed to alleviate spectral variation for hyperspectral image analysis. Specifically, hyperspectral image data are decomposed into a low-rank matrix and a sparse matrix, and it is assumed that intrinsic spectral features are represented by the low-rank matrix and spectral variation is accommodated by the sparse matrix. As a result, the performance of image data analysis can be improved by working on the low-rank matrix. Experiments on benchmark hyperspectral data sets demonstrate the performance of classification, and spectral unmixing can be clearly improved by the proposed approach.
High-speed rail for freight: Potential developments and impacts on urban dynamics

At present, high-speed rail is used only as a mode of passenger transport. Yet, the acceleration of logistics and freight transport flows could be compatible with high-speed rail capabilities. This article examines the experiences, literature and prospects of high-speed rail for freight. It uses three hypotheses to evaluate the development of freight high-speed rail services in Europe. The article concludes by describing the potential impacts on urban dynamics. It appears that the potential of freight high-speed rail services is limited in Europe, because of logistical constraints and network capabilities. Nevertheless, policies followed in Europe may change the situation.
Latent Boosting for Action Recognition

In this paper we present LatentBoost, a novel learning algorithm for training models with latent variables in a boosting framework. This algorithm allows for training of structured latent variable models with boosting. The popular latent SVM framework allows for training of models with structured latent variables in a max-margin framework. LatentBoost provides an analogous capability for boosting algorithms. The effectiveness of this framework is highlighted by an application to human action recognition. We show that LatentBoost can be used to train an action recognition model in which the trajectory of a person is a latent variable. This model outperforms baselines on a variety of datasets.
Coupled Thermo-Hydro-Geochemical Models of Engineered Barrier Systems: The Febex Project

FEBEX (Full-scale Engineered Barrier EXperiment) is a demonstration and research project dealing with the bentonite engineered barrier designed for sealing and containment of waste in a high level radioactive waste repository (HLWR). It includes two main experiments: an situ full-scale test performed at Grimsel (GTS) and a mock-up test operating since February 1997 at CIEMAT facilities in Madrid (Spain) [1,2,3]. One of the objectives of FEBEX is the development and testing of conceptual and numerical models for the thermal, hydrodynamic, and geochemical (THG) processes expected to take place in engineered clay barriers. A significant improvement in coupled THG modeling of the clay barrier has been achieved both in terms of a better understanding of THG processes and more sophisticated THG computer codes. The ability of these models to reproduce the observed THG patterns in a wide range of THG conditions enhances the confidence in their prediction capabilities. Numerical THG models of heating and hydration experiments performed on small-scale lab cells provide excellent results for temperatures, water inflow and final water content in the cells [3]. Calculated concentrations at the end of the experiments reproduce most of the patterns of measured data. In general, the fit of concentrations of dissolved species is better than that of exchanged cations. These models were later used to simulate the evolution of the large-scale experiments (in situ and mock-up). Some thermo-hydrodynamic hypotheses and bentonite parameters were slightly revised during TH calibration of the mock-up test. The results of the reference model reproduce simultaneously the observed water inflows and bentonite temperatures and relative humidities. Although the model is highly sensitive to one-at-a-time variations in model parameters, the possibility of parameter combinations leading to similar fits cannot be precluded. The TH model of the “in situ” test is based on the same bentonite TH parameters and assumptions as for the “mock-up” test. Granite parameters were slightly modified during the calibration process in order to reproduce the observed thermal and hydrodynamic evolution. The reference model captures properly relative humidities and temperatures in the bentonite [3]. It also reproduces the observed spatial distribution of water pressures and temperatures in the granite. Once calibrated the TH aspects of the model, predictions of the THG evolution of both tests were performed. Data from the dismantling of the in situ test, which is planned for the summer of 2001, will provide a unique opportunity to test and validate current THG models of the EBS.
Proficient Extraction and Management of Knowledge via Machine Intelligence

Artificial intelligence is the brainpower of machines. Due to the propagation of information knowledge and information systems increasingly have the ability to gather vast quantity of data in the various number of DB [3, 5]. A basic crisis in Artificial Intelligence (AI) is that no one be familiar with what intelligence is. The crisis is mainly sharp when a user want to think artificial systems which are appreciably diverse to humans [13]. In this paper, I approach the different ways such as a user take a number of familiar definitions of machine intelligence that have been specified by proficient, and extract their important aspects. In this paper, a study of the proposed model of the Machine Intelligence (MI) used for the knowledge extraction and Knowledge Management (KM) is presented. The system recognizes the regular attainment of knowledge. The research area also highlights how to systematize the extracted knowledge, selecting a method linked to the field of interest. It improves the reasoning aptitudes of expert systems with the facility of simplify and the management of knowledge in incomplete cases. General Terms Agents, Environment, Extraction, Intelligence, Learning
Preparation of NiO Nanosheets by Hydrothermal Method and its Electrochemical Capacitive Properties

The precursor Ni (OH)2 was synthesized by a simple hydrothermal method with NiSO4•6H2O and (CH2)6N4 as reactants. Both concentrations of reactants are 0.02 M, 0.04 M, 0.06 M, 0.08 M for experiment contrast, and then NiO was gained after calcination at 400°C. The phase and morphology of the synthesized product were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM). The electrochemical capacitive characterization was performed using cyclic voltammetry (CV), galvanostatic charge/discharge (GCD) and electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurements in a 6mol/L KOH aqueous solution electrolyte. The result shows that with the increase of concentrations of reactants, nanosheets stack together and turn into thick slices. CV curves have obvious redox peak, the GCD curves are nonlinear and EIS curves of high frequency area are semicircle. From electrochemical analysis, the capacitance type is pseudocapacitance. And a maximal specific capacitance value when two reactants concentration both are 0.08 M which the specific capacitance decreases from 97 F/g (at a current density of 0.3A/g) to 56 F/g (at a current density of 1 A/g).
Load balancing using multipath routing in network functions virtualization

Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) is a new approach in architectural model of communication networks, where network functions are softwarized and can be deployed dynamically on most different spots in the network, replacing the specialized equipments located at predetermined locations. NFV comes out as an important transformation trend in the recent development of communication networks due to advantages such as the ability to highly customize the network scale and minimize the investment costs. In this research, we analyze and solve the load balancing problem using multipath routing in NFV to optimize network performance and improve responsive ability of a network system based on NFV according to the dynamic changes of user demands. We propose the FAST-RACE algorithm which has ability to give a weight system on the links of the NFV infrastructure in order to equally distribute load among the several shortest paths and minimize the network delay of data flows in the network. The experiment results show that FAST-RACE declines the average delay of data flows about 26% and could support approximately a 14% increase in the number of service demands in comparison to the load balancing solution using hop-count. Specially, the effective performance of FAST-RACE is not subject to a number of service demands and a number of nodes in the NFV infrastructure.
THE EVALUATION OF ONTOLOGIES Toward Improved Semantic Interoperability

: Recent years have seen rapid progress in the development of ontologies as semantic models intended to capture and represent aspects of the real world. There is, however, great variation in the quality of ontologies. If ontologies are to become progressively better in the future, more rigorously developed, and more appropriately compared, then a systematic discipline of ontology evaluation must be created to ensure quality of content and methodology. Systematic methods for ontology evaluation will take into account representation of individual ontologies, performance (in terms of accuracy, domain coverage and the efficiency and quality of automated reasoning using the ontologies) on tasks for which the ontology is designed and used, degree of alignment with other ontologies and their compatibility with automated reasoning. A sound and systematic approach to ontology evaluation is required to transform ontology engineering into a true scientific and engineering discipline. This chapter discusses issues and problems in ontology evaluation, describes some current strategies, and suggests some approaches that might be useful in the future.
Statin adherence and mortality in patients enrolled in a secondary prevention program.

OBJECTIVES To determine statin adherence rates in patients enrolled in a cardiovascular secondary disease prevention program and to evaluate the impact of adherence on subsequent clinical events. METHODS Patients who had an incident cardiac event between January 1, 2000, and December 31, 2005, and began statin therapy within 90 days of that event were identified and followed until death, a recurrent nonfatal cardiac event, or December 31, 2006. Analysis was conducted in 2007 and 2008. Adherence was calculated using proportion of days covered (PDC), which was dichotomized into overall PDC >80% and PDC <or=80%. Cox proportional hazards models were used to assess the association between PDC and time to death from any cause and/or recurrent nonfatal events. RESULTS There were 2201 patients in the study. The overall PDC was 75.4% over 3 years. The risk of any-cause death was lower in patients with a PDC >80% compared with those with a PDC <or=80% (adjusted hazard ratio [HR] = 0.44; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.30, 0.64). There was no difference between groups in nonfatal cardiac events. Patients with a PDC >80% had decreased risk of the combined outcome of death or nonfatal recurrent cardiac event compared with those with a PDC <or=80% (HR = 0.75; 95% CI = 0.61, 0.93). CONCLUSION Although our adherence rates were higher than those previously reported in the literature, statin nonadherence still is associated with higher mortality, demonstrating the need to continue to improve statin adherence in this population.