Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comparison of Calculations of Left Ventricular Wall Stress in Man from Thin‐Walled and Thick‐Walled Ellipsoidal Models

Using angiocardiographic data from 50 human subjects, a comparison was made of calculations of circumferential wall stress in the left ventricle based on the thin-walled ellipsoidal model of Sandler and Dodge and the thick-walled ellipsoidal model of Wong and Rautaharju. The Sandler and Dodge formula consistently overestimated mean stress as determined from the Wong and Rautaharju model. The degree of overestimation in terms of percent error usually varied between 5% and 15% and overall averaged about 10% at endsystole as well as at end-diastole. Analysis of the various factors influencing the discrepancy between calculations indicated that the expected increase in error associated with an increase in wall thickness during systole tended to be mitigated by a concomitant change in chamber geometry, specifically, an increase in the ratio of major to minor semiaxis. This study, then, offers an estimate of the error introduced by employing the Sandler and Dodge or similar thin-walled ellipsoidal models for computation of mean circumferential stress.
Local spatial structure of forest biomass and its consequences for remote sensing of carbon stocks

Advances in forest carbon mapping have the potential to greatly reduce uncertainties in the global carbon budget and to facilitate effective emissions mitigation strategies such as REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation). Though broad-scale mapping is based primarily on remote sensing data, the accuracy of resulting forest carbon stock estimates depends critically on the quality of field measurements and calibration procedures. The mismatch in spatial scales between field inventory plots and larger pixels of current and planned remote sensing products for forest biomass mapping is of particular concern, as it has the potential to introduce errors, especially if forest biomass shows strong local spatial variation. Here, we used 30 large (8-50 ha) globally distributed permanent forest plots to quantify the spatial variability in aboveground biomass density (AGBD in Mgha(-1)) at spatial scales ranging from 5 to 250m (0.025-6.25 ha), and to evaluate the implications of this variability for calibrating remote sensing products using simulated remote sensing footprints. We found that local spatial variability in AGBD is large for standard plot sizes, averaging 46.3% for replicate 0.1 ha subplots within a single large plot, and 16.6% for 1 ha subplots. AGBD showed weak spatial autocorrelation at distances of 20-400 m, with autocorrelation higher in sites with higher topographic variability and statistically significant in half of the sites. We further show that when field calibration plots are smaller than the remote sensing pixels, the high local spatial variability in AGBD leads to a substantial ``dilution'' bias in calibration parameters, a bias that cannot be removed with standard statistical methods. Our results suggest that topography should be explicitly accounted for in future sampling strategies and that much care must be taken in designing calibration schemes if remote sensing of forest carbon is to achieve its promise.
A Methodology for Accurate , Effective and Scalable Performance Analysis of Application Programs

We describe a unique and comprehensive methodology for accurately measuring and effectively analyzing the performance of an application’s execution. This methodology is 1) accurate, because it assiduously avoids systematic measurement error (such as that introduced by instrumentation); 2) effective, because it associates useful performance metrics (such as memory bandwidth) with important source code abstractions (such as loops); and 3) scalable, because it can be used to effectively analyze the performance of a single thread or a large parallel code. Our methodology has been implemented in HPCTOOLKIT, an open-source suite of multi-platform tools. One of HPCTOOLKIT’s unique capabilities is collecting call path profiles of fully-optimized SPMD parallel programs and pinpointing scalability bottlenecks.
SAR Image Compression Based on Bandelet Network

Finding efficient geometric representations of images is a central issue in improving the efficiency of image compression. Bandelet provides an efficient way for image representation based on geometric regularity. However, a degeneration of performance will appear in high ratio compression for all the transformation based compression approaches. Moreover, Bandelet is time consuming and lacks of flexibility. In this paper, we construct a Bandelet network for image compression based on discrete Bandelet frame, in which the Bandelet basis is adopted as the activation function in the hidden layer of a feed-forward neural network. The Bandelet basis can provide an efficient representation of image. Moreover, neural networks based methods is more flexible and can achieve high compression ratio with its parallel implementation structure, when compared with transformation based image compression approaches. The construction and the leaning of the Bandelet network are addressed. Experiment results show that it can provide a potential way for SAR image compression.
A 2.7-mW 1.36–1.86-GHz LC-VCO With a FOM of 202 dBc/Hz Enabled by a 26%-Size-Reduced Nano-Particle-Magnetic-Enhanced Inductor

This paper reports the first LC voltage-controlled oscillator (LC-VCO) in CMOS utilizing a novel nontraditional compact inductor with integrated vertical nano particles magnetic core (Ni-Zn-Cu) to improve the figure-of-merit (FOM) of the VCO circuit. The new magnetic-enhanced inductor, fabricated in an integrated-circuit back-end using a CMOS-compatible process, improves inductance density ( L-density) and quality factor ( Q-factor) up to 7 GHz. A 1.36-1.86-GHz VCO with a nano-ferrite-integrated inductor was fabricated in a 180-nm RF CMOS. Measurements show that the magnetic-cored inductor improves the L-density and Q-factor by 49.8% and 59.2% at 1.8 GHz, respectively, while reducing the size by 26%. The VCO achieves reduced power consumption of 2.7 mW at a 1.8-V supply, low phase noise of less than -121, and -126 dBc/Hz at 100-kHz and 1-MHz frequencies offset, and a high FOM of 202 dBc/Hz. This prototype VCO demonstrates that the new vertical-nano-magnetic-cored inductor technology is a potential solution to high-performance low-cost compact RF systems-on-chip.
Discovery of an essential nucleotidylating activity associated with a newly delineated conserved domain in the RNA polymerase-containing protein of all nidoviruses

RNA viruses encode an RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) that catalyzes the synthesis of their RNA(s). In the case of positive-stranded RNA viruses belonging to the order Nidovirales, the RdRp resides in a replicase subunit that is unusually large. Bioinformatics analysis of this non-structural protein has now revealed a nidoviral signature domain (genetic marker) that is N-terminally adjacent to the RdRp and has no apparent homologs elsewhere. Based on its conservation profile, this domain is proposed to have nucleotidylation activity. We used recombinant non-structural protein 9 of the arterivirus equine arteritis virus (EAV) and different biochemical assays, including irreversible labeling with a GTP analog followed by a proteomics analysis, to demonstrate the manganese-dependent covalent binding of guanosine and uridine phosphates to a lysine/histidine residue. Most likely this was the invariant lysine of the newly identified domain, named nidovirus RdRp-associated nucleotidyltransferase (NiRAN), whose substitution with alanine severely diminished the described binding. Furthermore, this mutation crippled EAV and prevented the replication of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) in cell culture, indicating that NiRAN is essential for nidoviruses. Potential functions supported by NiRAN may include nucleic acid ligation, mRNA capping and protein-primed RNA synthesis, possibilities that remain to be explored in future studies.
β-Arrestin-recruited phosphodiesterase-4 desensitizes the AKAP79/PKA-mediated switching of β2-adrenoceptor signalling to activation of ERK

Using combined dominant-negative and siRNA (small interfering RNA)-mediated knockdown strategies, the functional importance of specific PDE4 (phosphodiesterase-4) isoforms in modifying signalling through the β 2 -AR (β 2 -adrenoceptor) has been uncovered. The PDE4D5 isoform preferentially interacts with the signalling scaffold protein β-arrestin and is thereby recruited to the β 2 -AR upon agonist challenge. Delivery of an active PDE to the site of cAMP synthesis at the plasma membrane specifically attenuates the activity of a pool of PKA (protein kinase A) that is tethered to the β 2 -AR via AKAP79 (A-kinase anchoring protein 79). The specific functional role of this anchored PKA is to phosphorylate the β 2 -AR and allow it to switch its coupling with G i and thereby activation of ERK (extracellular-signal-regulated kinase). Our studies uncover a novel facet of the regulation of β 2 -AR signalling by showing that β-arrestin-recruited PDE4 provides the means of desensitizing the agonist-dependent coupling of β 2 -AR with G i and its consequential activation of ERK.
Proviral Structure, Chromosomal Location, and Expression of HERV-K-T47D, a Novel Human Endogenous Retrovirus Derived from T47D Particles

ABSTRACT We previously described that type B retrovirus-like particles released from the human mammary carcinoma cell line T47D are pseudotypes and package retroviral RNA of different origins (W. Seifarth, H. Skladny, F. Krieg-Schneider, A. Reichert, R. Hehlmann, and C. Leib-Mösch, J. Virol. 69:6408–6416, 1995). One preferentially packaged retroviral sequence, ERV-MLN, has now been used to isolate the corresponding full-length provirus from a human genomic library. The 9,315-bp proviral genome comprises a complete retroviral structure except for a 3′ long terminal repeat (LTR) truncation. A lysine tRNA primer-binding site and phylogenetic analyses assign this human endogenous retroviral element, now called HERV-K-T47D, to the HML-4 subgroup of the HERV-K superfamily. The gag,prt, pol, and env genes exhibit 40 to 60% amino acid identity to HERV-K10. HERV-K-T47D is located on human chromosome 10, with five closely related elements on chromosomes 8, 9, 15, 16, and 19 and several hundred HERV-K-T47D-related solitary LTRs dispersed over the human genome. HERV-K-T47D-related sequences are detected in the genomes of higher primates and Old World monkeys but not in those of New World monkeys. High HERV-K-T47D transcription levels were observed in human placenta tissue, whereas transcription in T47D cells was strictly steroid dependent.
Modeling and rendering viscous liquids

We present a particle‐based algorithm for modeling highly viscous liquids. Using a numerical time‐integration of particle acceleration and velocity, we apply external forces to particles and use a convenient organization, the adhesion matrix, to represent forces between different types of liquids and objects. Viscosity is handled by performing a momentum exchange between particle pairs such that momentum is conserved. Volume is maintained by iteratively adjusting particle positions after each time step. We use a two‐tiered approach to time stepping that allows particle positions to be updated many times per frame while expensive operations, such as calculating viscosity and adhesion, are done only a few times per frame. The liquid is rendered using an implicit surface polygonization algorithm, and we present an implicit function that convolves the liquid surface with a Gaussian function, yielding a smooth liquid skin. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Evolutionary History of Cucumber Mosaic Virus Deduced by Phylogenetic Analyses

ABSTRACT Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) is an RNA plant virus with a tripartite genome and an extremely broad host range. Previous evolutionary analyses with the coat protein (CP) and 5′ nontranslated region (NTR) of RNA 3 suggested subdivision of the virus into three groups, subgroups IA, IB, and II. In this study 15 strains of CMV whose nucleotide sequences have been determined were used for a complete phylogenetic analysis of the virus. The trees estimated for open reading frames (ORFs) located on the different RNAs were not congruent and did not completely support the subgrouping indicated by the CP ORF, indicating that different RNAs had independent evolutionary histories. This is consistent with a reassortment mechanism playing an important role in the evolution of the virus. The evolutionary trees of the 1a and 3a ORFs were more compact and displayed more branching than did those of the 2a and CP ORFs. This may reflect more rigid host-interactive constraints exerted on the 1a and 3a ORFs. In addition, analysis of the 3′ NTR that is conserved among all RNAs indicated that evolutionary constraints on this region are specific to the RNA component rather than the virus isolate. This indicates that functions other than replication are encoded in the 3′ NTR. Reassortment may have led to the genetic diversity found among CMV strains and contributed to its enormous evolutionary success.
The positive psychology of Christian repentance: An analysis of hope, gratitude, and forgiveness

• These concepts of hope theory, of “agency” and “pathways,” were shown to exist in various ways in the process of Christian repentance. The desire to overcome sin and life obstacles was shown to be motivated by many beliefs, such as the sacrifice and accomplishment of Jesus on humanity’s behalf. While the ability to achieve those goals was more than feasible due to the limitless power and influence believed to be held by God. This process of maintaining hopeful thoughts and motivations via repentance was shown to emulate hope theory and thus potentially reap its benefits.
siRNA Targeting NBS1 or XIAP Increases Radiation Sensitivity of Human Cancer Cells Independent of TP53 Status

Abstract Ohnishi, K. , Scuric, Z. , Schiestl, R. H. , Okamoto, N. , Takahashi, A. and Ohnishi, T. siRNA Targeting NBS1 or XIAP Increases Radiation Sensitivity of Human Cancer Cells Independent of TP53 Status. Radiat. Res. 166, 454–462 (2006). NBS1 is essential for the repair of radiation-induced DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) in yeast and higher vertebrate cells. In this study, we examined whether suppressed NBS1 expression by small interference RNA (siRNA) could enhance radiation sensitivity in cancer cells with different TP53 status. We used human non-small cell lung cancer cells differing in TP53 gene status (H1299/wtp53 cells bearing wild-type TP53 or H1299/mp53 cells bearing mutant TP53). A DNA cassette expressing siRNA targeted for the NBS1 gene was transfected into those cell lines, and radiation sensitivity was examined with a colony-forming assay. Cellular levels of NBS1 and other proteins were analyzed using Western blotting. We found that the radiation sensitivity of H1299/wtp53 and H1299/mp53 cells was enhanced by transfection of the DNA cassette. In the NBS1-siRNA-transfected cells, we observed decreased constitutive expression of NBS1 protein and decreased radiation-induced accumulation of phosphorylated NBS1 protein. In addition, radiation-induced expression of the transcription factor NF-κB (NFKB) and XIAP (X-chromosome-linked inhibitor of apoptosis protein) was suppressed by NBS1-siRNA. Enhanced X-ray sensitivity after NBS1-siRNA transfection was achieved in TP53 wild-type cells and sensitivity was even more pronounced in TP53 mutant cells. The transfection of siRNA targeted for XIAP also enhanced X-ray sensitivity even more for TP53 mutant cells compared to TP53 wild-type cells. Our data suggest that the sensitization to radiation results from NBS1-siRNA-mediated suppression of DNA repair and/ or X-ray-induced cell survival signaling pathways through NFKB and XIAP. siRNA targeting appears to be a novel radiation-sensitizing agent, particularly in human TP53 mutant cancer cells.
Advances in Brief Mutant Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor UpRegulates Molecular Effectors of Tumor Invasion 1

The gene most commonly altered in human glioblastomas is the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). We profiled transcripts induced by mutant EGFR to better understand its role in tumor progression. The pattern found suggested enhanced tumor invasion. The highly induced genes included extracellular matrix components, metalloproteases, and a serine protease. We confirmed that mutant EGFR did make glioblastoma cells both more motile and invasive using in vitro assays. Furthermore, inhibitors of EGFR (OSI-774 and Tyrphostin AG1478) selectively downregulated these molecular effectors in glioblastoma cells, eliminating enhanced invasion.
Characteristics of the retrospectively assessed prodromal period in hospitalized patients with first-episode nonaffective psychosis: findings from a socially disadvantaged, low-income, predominantly African American population.

OBJECTIVE Because many heterogeneous symptoms and substantial psychosocial impairment develop during the prodrome of nonaffective psychosis, it is imperative to further characterize the prodrome, both retrospectively and prospectively. This study describes the prodromal period of 109 hospitalized first-episode patients from an urban, socially disadvantaged, predominantly African American population. METHOD Detailed data were gathered using established measures. Diagnoses of psychotic disorders were determined with the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I Disorders. The prodromal period was described, exploratory factor analysis was conducted to assess the latent structure of 14 prodromal features, and patients with and without a retrospectively determined prodrome were compared on a number of sociodemographic and clinical variables. RESULTS Some 76 patients (69.7%) had an identifiable prodrome, and the median duration of the prodrome was 107.7 weeks. The most prevalent prodromal features were deterioration in role function (65.8%), suspiciousness (63.2%), social withdrawal (60.5%), and trouble with thinking (57.9%). Factor analysis revealed 3 factors, termed depressive/deficit, subthreshold positive, and brief, intermittent psychotic symptoms, which were highly consistent with recently described prodromal syndromes in prospective research efforts. Patients without an identifiable prodrome had higher mean social functioning scores-in social engagement, prosocial, and employment domains-compared to those with an identifiable prodrome. Only 11 participants (14.5%) had sought professional help during the prodrome. CONCLUSIONS Given the highly variable duration and phenomenology of the prodrome, and the fact that relatively few individuals in this sample had sought professional help during their prodromal period, further research is needed to inform efforts aimed at identification of and intervention during the prodromal period of nonaffective psychosis.
Engineering mixed-criticality interactive applications

In the field of critical systems, safety standards such as DO-178C define Development Assurance Levels (DALs) for software systems (or sub-systems). The higher the consequence of a failure the higher DAL is required by certification authorities. Developing a system at a DAL A requires the use of formal description techniques and is thus expensive. For lower DALs, standard software development is accepted. While operating such systems, reaching a given goal might require operators to perform tasks using sub-systems of different DALs. Operations thus take place via mixed-criticality systems developed using several different techniques. In order to guarantee the effectiveness of the developed systems, it is necessary to ensure the compatibility of the operators' tasks and the system (whatever technique has been used for its development). While DAL identification is outside the scope of the paper, this article presents a task-model based approach for addressing multiple DALs for mixed-criticality interactive software. That approach proposes a systematic process for engineering mixed-criticality interactive applications. This process is supported by a software modeling and development environment integrating both formal description techniques and standard software programming techniques. The process and the development environment are illustrated with a case study of a mixed-criticality interactive cockpit application.
Saving energy through predictive control of longitudinal dynamics of heavy trucks

1. Abstract This paper outlines a joint research project of the Kingston University (London), Technische Universität München, and the MAN Nutzfahrzeuge AG on economically optimal driving strategies. The project deals with the implementation of predictive optimal control algorithms operating the truck at economically favourable operation points by considering the costs of operation (fuel, driver, leasing, maintenance, income) and the dynamics of the vehicle (engine, brakes, fuel consumption, mass etc.). The approach considers GPS positioning and 3D maps for slope, curve and speed limit information of future road segments. It is planned to include radar information (position and speed of preceding vehicle), traffic information (traffic flow and density) and transportation job constraints like fixed arrival times and use of time buffers for optimisation. The goal of the project is to reduce the fuel consumption and driving time under the restriction of overall economic considerations in truck operation. In the following, the current state of the work, some results and outline the future road map is outlined.
sensus Statement on Optimal Implantable Cardioverter-Defibrillator Programming and Testing

Bruce L. Wilkoff MD, FHRS, CCDS (Chair), Laurent Fauchier MD, PhD (co-Chair), Martin K. Stiles MBCHB, PhD (co-Chair), Carlos A. Morillo MD, FRCPC, FHRS (co-Chair), Sana M. Al-Khatib MD, MHSc, FHRS, CCDS, Jesús Almendral MD, PhD, FESC, Luis Aguinaga MD, PhD, FACC, FESC, Ronald D. Berger MD, PhD, FHRS, Alejandro Cuesta MD, PhD, FESC, James P. Daubert MD, FHRS, Sergio Dubner MD, FACC, Kenneth A. Ellenbogen MD, FHRS, N.A. Mark Estes III MD, Guilherme Fenelon MD, PhD, Fermin C. Garcia MD, Maurizio Gasparini MD, David E. Haines MD, FHRS, Jeff S. Healey MD, MSc, FRCPC, FHRS, Jodie L. Hurtwitz MD, Roberto Keegan MD, Christof Kolb MD, Karl-Heinz Kuck MD, FHRS, Germanas Marinskis MD, FESC, Martino Martinelli MD, PhD, Mark McGuire MBBS, PhD, Luis G. Molina MD, DSc, Ken Okumura MD, PhD, Alessandro Proclemer MD, Andrea M. Russo MD, FHRS, Jagmeet P. Singh MD, DPhil, FHRS, Charles D. Swerdlow MD, FHRS, Wee Siong Teo MBBS, FHRS, William Uribe MD, FHRS, Sami Viskin MD, Chun-Chieh Wang MD, Shu Zhang MD