Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Phase-Preserving Power Limiting Function Using InP on SoI Photonic Crystal Nanocavity

We report on the use of an InP/silicon-on-insulator hybrid photonic crystal nanocavity for the realization of a phase-preserving all-optical power limiter. This function is experimentally demonstrated with 20-Gbit/s nonreturn-to-zero quadrature phase-shift-keying signals. Histogram-based measurements of the phase distributions indicate negligible variations of the phase noise, whereas the amplitude fluctuations are suppressed, confirming the effectiveness of cavity switching for implementing the power-limiter function. Significant power penalty reduction is achieved, indicating a promising application for future photonic circuits.
Safe-Zones for Monitoring Distributed Streams

In many emerging applications, the data which has to be monitored is of very high volume, dynamic, and distributed, making it infeasible to collect the distinct data streams to a central node and process them there. Often, the monitoring problem consists of determining whether the value of a global function, which depends on the union of all streams, crossed a certain threshold. A great deal of effort is directed at reducing communication overhead by transforming the monitoring of the global function to the testing of local constraints, checked independently at the nodes. Recently, geometric monitoring (GM) proved to be very useful for constructing such local constraints for general (non-linear, non-monotonic) functions. Alas, in all current variants of geometric monitoring, the constraints at all nodes share an identical structure and are, thus, unsuitable for handling heterogeneous streams, which obey different distributions at the distinct nodes. To remedy this, we propose a general approach for geometric monitoring of heterogeneous streams (HGM), which defines constraints tailored to fit the distinct data distributions at the nodes. While optimally selecting the constraints is an NP-hard problem, we provide a practical solution, which seeks to reduce running time by hierarchically clustering nodes with similar data distributions and then solving more, but simpler, optimization problems. Experiments are provided to support the validity of the proposed approach.
Mechanisms underlying HIV-1 Vpu-mediated viral egress

Viruses such as lentiviruses that are responsible for long lasting infections have to evade several levels of cellular immune mechanisms to persist and efficiently disseminate in the host. Over the past decades, much evidence has emerged regarding the major role of accessory proteins of primate lentiviruses, human immunodeficiency virus and simian immunodeficiency virus, in viral evasion from the host immune defense. This short review will provide an overview of the mechanism whereby the accessory protein Vpu contributes to this escape. Vpu is a multifunctional protein that was shown to contribute to viral egress by down-regulating several mediators of the immune system such as CD4, CD1d, NTB-A and the restriction factor BST2. The mechanisms underlying its activity are not fully characterized but rely on its ability to interfere with the host machinery regulating protein turnover and vesicular trafficking. This review will focus on our current understanding of the mechanisms whereby Vpu down-regulates CD4 and BST2 expression levels to favor viral egress.
Phase I and II cannabinoid disposition in blood and plasma of occasional and frequent smokers following controlled smoked cannabis.

BACKGROUND Δ(9)-Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), 11-hydroxy-THC (11-OH-THC), and 11-nor-9-carboxy-THC (THCCOOH) have been reported in blood from frequent cannabis smokers for an extended time during abstinence. We compared THC, 11-OH-THC, THCCOOH, cannabidiol, cannabinol, THC-glucuronide, and 11-nor-9-carboxy-THC-glucuronide (THCCOO-glucuronide) blood and plasma disposition in frequent and occasional cannabis smokers. METHODS Frequent and occasional smokers resided on a closed research unit and smoked one 6.8% THC cannabis cigarette ad libitum. Blood and plasma cannabinoids were quantified on admission (approximately 19 h before), 1 h before, and up to 15 times (0.5-30 h) after smoking. RESULTS Cannabinoid blood and plasma concentrations were significantly higher in frequent smokers compared with occasional smokers at most time points for THC and 11-OH-THC and at all time points for THCCOOH and THCCOO-glucuronide. Cannabidiol, cannabinol, and THC-glucuronide were not significantly different at any time point. Overall blood and plasma cannabinoid concentrations were significantly higher in frequent smokers for THC, 11-OH-THC, THCCOOH, and THCCOO-glucuronide, with and without accounting for baseline concentrations. For blood THC >5 μg/L, median (range) time of last detection was 3.5 h (1.1->30 h) in frequent smokers and 1.0 h (0-2.1 h) in 11 occasional smokers; 2 individuals had no samples with THC >5 μg/L. CONCLUSIONS Cannabis smoking history plays a major role in cannabinoid detection. These differences may impact clinical and impaired driving drug detection. The presence of cannabidiol, cannabinol, or THC-glucuronide indicates recent use, but their absence does not exclude it.
Influence of the variable-speed wind generators in transient stability margin of the conventional generators integrated in electrical grids

This work demonstrates that the integration of variable-speed wind systems with doubly fed induction generators (DFIG) and a four-quadrant AC-to-AC converter connected to the rotor windings increases the transient stability margin of the electrical grids, when compared with the case where the fixed speed wind systems with cage generators are used. It is due to the influence of the two dedicated rotor current regulators of the DFIG on the dynamic behavior of the other generators in the system. Besides, adequate models to represent the behavior of the DFIG in transient stability studies are presented. From the simulation results, some important conclusions can be extracted to guide the integration of the wind farms on weak or strong grids.
The Role of Nitric Oxide and Reactive Oxygen Species in the Killing of Leishmania braziliensis by Monocytes from Patients with Cutaneous Leishmaniasis

Human cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) caused by Leishmania braziliensis, presents an exaggerated Th1 response that is associated with ulcer development. Macrophages are the primary cells infected by Leishmania parasites and both reactive oxygen species (ROS) and nitric oxide (NO) are important in the control of Leishmania by these cells. The mechanism involved in the killing of L. braziliensis is not well established. In this study, we evaluate the role of ROS and NO in the control of L. braziliensis infection by monocytes from CL patients. After in vitro infection with L. braziliensis, the oxidative burst by monocytes from CL patients was higher when compared to monocytes from healthy subjects (HS). Inhibition of the ROS pathway caused a significant decrease in the oxidative burst in L. braziliensis infected monocytes from both groups. In addition, we evaluated the intracellular expression of ROS and NO in L. braziliensis-infected monocytes. Monocytes from CL patients presented high expression of ROS after infection with L. braziliensis. The expression of NO was higher in monocytes from CL patients as compared to expression in monocytes from HS. A strong positive correlation between NO production and lesion size of CL patients was observed. The inhibition of ROS production in leishmania-infected monocytes from CL patients allowed the growth of viable promastigotes in culture supernatants. Thus, we demonstrate that while production of ROS is involved in L. braziliensis killing, NO alone is not sufficient to control infection and may contribute to the tissue damage observed in human CL.
High prevalence of hepatitis delta virus infection detectable by enzyme immunoassay among apparently healthy individuals in Mongolia

A previous study revealed a high prevalence of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and hepatitis delta virus (HDV) RNA among 249 apparently healthy individuals (mean ± standard deviation age, 48.4 ± 13.9 years; 126 males and 123 females) in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. To investigate further the prevalence of HDV infection there, the same serum samples obtained from the cohort were tested for the presence of immunoglobulin G (IgG) class antibody to HDV (anti‐HDV) by a newly developed enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay using recombinant hepatitis delta antigen protein expressed in the pupae of silkworm as the antigen probe. Anti‐HDV was detected in 42 persons (16.9%), among whom 22 (52.4%) were positive for HBsAg and 20 (47.6%) had detectable HDV RNA. Among 170 persons with anti‐HBc in the absence of HBsAg, 20 (11.8%) tested positive for anti‐HDV, and 1 of the 20 subjects was positive for HDV RNA. Of note, none of 55 anti‐HBc‐negative persons had anti‐HDV, supporting the specificity of the anti‐HDV assay. The optical density (OD) value of anti‐HDV was significantly higher among HDV RNA‐positive subjects (n = 21) than among HDV RNA‐negative subjects (n = 21) (2.513 ± 0.514 vs. 0.836 ± 0.550, P < 0.0001). The present study confirmed the extremely high prevalence of HDV infection in Mongolia, and identified a person who was positive for both anti‐HDV and HDV RNA despite negativity for HBsAg and HBV DNA probably due to viral interference. The anti‐HDV assay may be useful for further epidemiological studies on HDV infection in larger cohorts in urban and rural areas of Mongolia, where elucidation of the transmission route of HDV is required urgently. J. Med. Virol. 76:333–340, 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
The role of the NLRP3 inflammasome in gout

Gout is an inflammatory arthritis characterized by abrupt self-limiting attacks of inflammation caused by precipitation of monosodium urate crystals (MSU) in the joint. Recent studies suggest that orchestration of the MSU-induced inflammatory response is dependent on the proinflammatory cytokine IL-1β, underlined by promising results in early IL-1 inhibitor trials in gout patients. This IL-1-dependent innate inflammatory phenotype, which is observed in a number of diseases in addition to gout, is now understood to rely on the formation of the macromolecular NLRP3 inflammasome complex in response to the MSU ‘danger signal’. This review focuses on our current understanding of the NLRP3 inflammasome and its critical role in MSU-crystal induced inflammatory gout attacks. It also discusses the management of treatment-resistant acute and chronic tophaceous gout with IL-1 inhibitors; early clinical studies of rilonacept (IL-1 Trap), canakinumab (monoclonal anti-IL-1β antibody), and anakinra have all demonstrated treatment efficacy in such patients.
The efficacy of antidepressant drugs. A review of research (1958-1972).

An extensive review of published research on the efficacy of antidepressant medications is presented. To overcome the inconsistencies of previous reviews, we include 146 double-blind studies on medications actively promoted in the United States as antidepressants during 1972. In addition, we included double-blind studies of lithium carbonate, as well as five other drugs not actively promoted as antidepressants in the United States at that time. Results showed tricyclic antidepressants to be significantly more effective than a placebo in 61 of 93 group comparisons. No study reported a placebo as more effective than a tricyclic. The two monamine oxidase inhibitors that were actively marketed as antidepressants in the United States were significantly more effective than a placebo in 8 of 13 comparisons. Lithium carbonate was not conclusively shown to be an effective antidepressant on the basis of eight double-blind reports.
Induction of Ferritin Synthesis by Oxidative Stress

Ferritin, by regulating the “free” intracellular iron pool, controls iron-catalyzed generation of reactive oxygen species, but its role in oxidative damage is still unclear. We show that ferritin synthesis is significantly stimulated in the liver of rats subjected to oxidative stress by treatment with phorone, a glutathione-depleting drug. RNA-bandshift assays document reduced activity of iron regulatory factor, in particular of IRFB, the cytoplasmic protein that post-transcriptionally controls ferritin mRNA translation. Furthermore, Northern blot analysis shows increased accumulation of H and L subunit mRNAs, and nuclear run-on experiments provide evidence of transcriptional activation. Direct measurements of intracellular free iron levels by EPR indicate that the increased ferritin synthesis can be mediated by an expansion of the free iron pool. An early drop of ferritin content after phorone treatment indicates that part of the iron that fuels the free pool might derive from ferritin degradation. Present data seem to suggest that, under conditions of oxidative stress, liver ferritin can represent either a pro- or an anti-oxidant in a time-dependent manner. In fact, its early degradation contributes to expand the intracellular free iron pool that, later on, activates multiple molecular mechanisms to reconstitute ferritin content, thus limiting the prooxidant challenge of iron.
Coloring-Based Inter-WBAN Scheduling for Mobile Wireless Body Area Networks

In this study, random incomplete coloring (RIC) with low time-complexity and high spatial reuse is proposed to overcome in-between wireless-body-area-networks (WBAN) interference, which can cause serious throughput degradation and energy waste. Interference-avoidance scheduling of wireless networks can be modeled as a problem of graph coloring. For instance, high spatial-reuse scheduling for a dense sensor network is mapped to high spatial-reuse coloring; fast convergence scheduling for a mobile ad hoc network (MANET) is mapped to low time-complexity coloring. However, for a dense and mobile WBAN, inter-WBAN scheduling (IWS) should simultaneously satisfy both of the following requirements: 1) high spatial-reuse and 2) fast convergence, which are tradeoffs in conventional coloring. By relaxing the coloring rule, the proposed distributed coloring algorithm RIC avoids this tradeoff and satisfies both requirements. Simulation results verify that the proposed coloring algorithm effectively overcomes inter-WBAN interference and invariably supports higher system throughput in various mobile WBAN scenarios compared to conventional colorings.
Surviving paedophilia : traumatic stress after organised and network child sexual abuse

Written to assist those who have been in the family of a victim of paedophiles or worked with children who have been sexually abused, this is a personal account of how it feels to be suffering from a state of post traumatic stress disorder caused by being a primary or secondary victim of systematic paedophile abuse. For over 20 years the author has worked professionally with and also fostered child and adolescent victims of paedophile abuse. Some years ago she began to suffer from post traumatic disorder and brought herself through to recovery. In this book she describes her own experience of dealing with traumatised children who have been sexually abused and traumatised adults who have lived or worked with them.
Age-Related Weakness of Proximal Muscle Studied with Motor Cortical Mapping: A TMS Study

Aging-related weakness is due in part to degeneration within the central nervous system. However, it is unknown how changes to the representation of corticospinal output in the primary motor cortex (M1) relate to such weakness. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a noninvasive method of cortical stimulation that can map representation of corticospinal output devoted to a muscle. Using TMS, we examined age-related alterations in maps devoted to biceps brachii muscle to determine whether they predicted its age-induced weakness. Forty-seven right-handed subjects participated: 20 young (22.6±0.90 years) and 27 old (74.96±1.35 years). We measured strength as force of elbow flexion and electromyographic activation of biceps brachii during maximum voluntary contraction. Mapping variables included: 1) center of gravity or weighted mean location of corticospinal output, 2) size of map, 3) volume or excitation of corticospinal output, and 4) response density or corticospinal excitation per unit area. Center of gravity was more anterior in old than in young (p<0.001), though there was no significant difference in strength between the age groups. Map size, volume, and response density showed no significant difference between groups. Regardless of age, center of gravity significantly predicted strength (β = −0.34, p = 0.005), while volume adjacent to the core of map predicted voluntary activation of biceps (β = 0.32, p = 0.008). Overall, the anterior shift of the map in older adults may reflect an adaptive change that allowed for the maintenance of strength. Laterally located center of gravity and higher excitation in the region adjacent to the core in weaker individuals could reflect compensatory recruitment of synergistic muscles. Thus, our study substantiates the role of M1 in adapting to aging-related weakness and subtending strength and muscle activation across age groups. Mapping from M1 may offer foundation for an examination of mechanisms that preserve strength in elderly.
The MiSink Plugin: Cytoscape as a graphical interface to the Database of Interacting Proteins

UNLABELLED The MiSink Plugin converts Cytoscape, an open-source bioinformatics platform for network visualization, to a graphical interface for the database of interacting proteins (DIP: http://dip.doe-mbi.ucla.edu). Seamless integration is possible by providing bi-directional communication between Cytoscape and any Web site supplying data in XML or tab-delimited format. AVAILABILITY MiSink is freely available for download at http://dip.doe-mbi.ucla. edu/Software.cgi.
The mechanisms and control of bronchial mucous cell hyperplasia.

The studies presented here describe the involvement of cell proliferation, differentiation and transformation in the epithelial mucous cell increase observed in the airways of experimental animals exposed to tobacco smoke (TS) for 14 days: the inhibitory effect of concurrent administration by injection of non-steroidal and steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs is also presented. In response to T.S. mucous cells arise mainly by self-replication and transformation of existing serous (secretory) cells while the production of ciliated cells appears to be mainly by differentiation of basal cells. Indomethacin inhibits the T.S. -induced mucous cell increase in a dose related way, the extent of which is dependent on the initial degree of response to T.S. and the airway level studied. The steroids dexamethasone, prednisolone and hydrocortisone, whilst effective in their inhibition gave no particular advantage over and above that seen with Indomethacin.
Phase modulation-based response-inhibition outcome prediction in translational scenario of stop-signal task

In this paper, a method is proposed to predict the resting-state outcomes of participants based on their electroencephalogram (EEG) signals recorded before the successful /unsuccessful response inhibition. The motivation of this study is to enhance the shooter performance for shooting the target, when their EEG patterns show that they are ready. This method can be used in brain-computer interface (BCI) system. In this study, multi-channel EEG from twenty participants are collected by the electrodes placed at different scalp locations in resting-state time. The EEG trials are used to predict two possible outcomes: successful or unsuccessful stop. Four classifiers (QDC, KNNC, PARZENDC, LDC) are used in this study to evaluation the accuracy of our system. Based on the collected time-domain EEG signals, the phase locking value (PLV) from 5-pair electrodes are calculated and then used as the feature input for the classifiers. Our experimental results show that the proposed method prediction accuracy (leave-one-out) was obtained 95% by QDC classifier.
A statistical perspective on algorithmic leveraging

One popular method for dealing with large-scale data sets is sampling. Using the empirical statistical leverage scores as an importance sampling distribution, the method of algorithmic leveraging samples and rescales data matrices to reduce the data size before performing computations on the subproblem. Existing work has focused on algorithmic issues, but none of it addresses statistical aspects of this method. Here, we provide an effective framework to evaluate the statistical properties of algorithmic leveraging in the context of estimating parameters in a linear regression model. In particular, for several versions of leverage-based sampling, we derive results for the bias and variance. We show that from the statistical perspective of bias and variance, neither leverage-based sampling nor uniform sampling dominates the other. This result is particularly striking, given the well-known result that, from the algorithmic perspective of worst-case analysis, leverage-based sampling provides uniformly superior worst-case algorithmic results, when compared with uniform sampling. Based on these theoretical results, we propose and analyze two new leveraging algorithms: one constructs a smaller least-squares problem with "shrinked" leverage scores (SLEV), and the other solves a smaller and unweighted (or biased) least-squares problem (LEVUNW). The empirical results indicate that our theory is a good predictor of practical performance of existing and new leverage-based algorithms and that the new algorithms achieve improved performance.
Thinking Fragments: Psychoanalysis, Feminism, and Postmodernism in the Contemporary West

"Thinking Fragments" provides a brilliant critique of psychoanalytic, feminist, and postmodern theory. Examining the writings of Freud, Winnicott, Lacan, Chodorow, Irigaray, Derrida, Rorty, and Foucault, among others, Flax conducts a "conversation" among psychoanalysts, feminist thinkers, and postmodern theorists, evaluating the ways in which each group of thinkers succeeds in coming to terms with crises in contemporary Western culture. As she analyzes each theory in turn, the others are used to identify and interrogate its gaps and omissions. The result is a postmodern text of intertwined ideas, devoid of clear beginnings, endings, conclusions. Flax addresses the question, "how is it possible to theorize in the contemporary West? " With the demise of objective notions of truth, knowledge, self and power, intellectuals have devised these new modes of thinking which both reflect and contribute to the uncertainties of the contemporary West.Each also addresses at least one aspect of what has become most problematic to modern individuals: How to come to terms with self, gender, knowledge and power without resorting to concepts that stress objectivity, universal knowledge, and a unitary self. Flax finds that neither psychoanalysis, nor feminism, nor postmodernism is adequate to the task for which it was conceived. Each can illuminate certain aspects of problems of self, gender, knowledge, and power, but none is sufficient on its own. In fact, each incorporates characteristic blindnesses rooted in part in the very difficulties it addresses.Despite their failures, Flax concludes that these modes of theorizing are our best tools thus far, compelling us to use them even while we grapple with the problems they raise. "Thinking Fragments" is a wide-ranging study that will elicit much discussion and debate. It is an essential text for social scientists and humanists alike, as well as anyone else who thinks about how to "do" theory in the contemporary West.
Efficient lane detection system based on monocular camera

Recent years, lane detection has become of high interest in the area of intelligent vehicles and it provides the fundamental information which can be applied to the further development of Driving Assistance System. In this paper, we propose a lane detection system based on iterative searching and Random Sample Consensus (RANSAC) curve fitting. Experimental results show the effectiveness of our approach which detects lanes at a high correct rate and can be applied in intelligent vehicles.