Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Extension of the LTP temperature diagnostics to the LISA band: first results

High-resolution temperature measurements are required in the LTP, i.e., 10 µK Hz−1/2 from 1 mHz to 30 mHz. This has already been accomplished with thermistors and a suitable low noise electronics. However, the frequency range of interest for LISA goes down to 0.1 mHz. Investigations on the performance of temperature sensors and the associated electronics at frequencies around 0.1 mHz have been performed. Theoretical limits of the temperature measurement system and the practical on-ground limitations to test them are shown demonstrating that 1/f noise is not observed in thermistors even at frequencies around 0.1 mHz and amplitude levels of 10 µK Hz−1/2.
Working to eat: Vulnerability, food insecurity, and obesity among migrant and seasonal farmworker families.

BACKGROUND Food insecurity and obesity have potential health consequences for migrant and seasonal farm workers (MSFW). METHODS Thirty-six Latino MSFW working in eastern North Carolina whose children attended Migrant Head Start completed interviews, focus groups and home visits. Content analysis, nutrient analysis, and non-parametric statistical analysis produced results. RESULTS MSFW (63.8%) families were food insecure; of those, 34.7% experienced hunger. 32% of pre-school children were food insecure. Food secure families spent more money on food. Obesity was prevalent in adults and children but the relationship to food insecurity remains unclear. Strategies to reduce risk of foods insecurity were employed by MSFW, but employer and community assistance is needed to reduce their risk. CONCLUSIONS Food insecurity is rooted in the cultural lifestyle of farmwork, poverty, and dependency. MSFW obesity and food insecurity require further study to determine the relationship with migration and working conditions. Networking and social support are important for MSFW families to improve food security. Policies and community/workplace interventions could reduce risk of food insecurity and improve the health of workers.
A hybrid chip interconnection architecture with a global wireless network overlaid on top of a wired network-on-chip

Multi-core platforms are emerging trends in the design of Systems-on-Chip(SoCs). Among a number of possible alternatives, the wireless network-on-chip (WNoC), enabled by the availability of miniaturized on-chip antennas, is envisioned as a revolutionary approach which may bring in significant performance gain. In this paper, we present a new WNoC architecture with a layered topology. In essence, the whole on-chip mesh-based network is divided into several subnetworks where each of these subnetworks has a wireless node sitting at its center. This architecture reduces the latency and the dynamic power consumption between two long distant nodes communication in the network and can improve the communications throughput in high traffic applications. Experiment results shows that the performance improvements are 8% and 13% respectively, compared with two other WNoC architectures.
I. Abstract

Effective image guided radiation treatment of a moving tumor requires adequate information of respiratory motion characteristics. For margin expansion, beam tracking, and respiratory gating, the tumor motion must be quantified for pretreatment planning and monitored on-line. We propose a finite state model for respiratory motion analysis that captures our natural understanding of breathing stages. In this model, a regular breathing cycle is represented by three line segments, exhale, end-of-exhale, and inhale, while abnormal breathing is represented by an irregular breathing state. In addition, we describe an on-line implementation this model in one dimension. We found this model can accurately characterize a wide variety of patient breathing patterns. Our model provides a convenient tool to quantify respiratory motion characteristics, such as patterns of frequency changes and amplitude changes, and can be applied to internal or external motion, including internal tumor position, abdominal surface, diaphragm, spirometry, and other surrogates.
Multi-Team Data Flow Optimization in Wireless Multi-Rate Multi-Hop Networks

In this article, we study the problem of join routing and scheduling of multi-team data flows multicasting in wireless multirate multi-hop networks with the objective of minimizing the time required to complete the transmission transactions. We prove in this paper that the optimal join routing and scheduling problem is NP-hard. Instead of trying to solve the optimization problem, we reformulate the problem into an intuitive form which provides intuitions to achieve optimal solution. Base on these observations, we propose a heuristic algorithm that locally optimally chooses multicast relays and multicast rates. The aim is to locally minimize the schedule time length within two-hop range so that the total transmission time approaches optimal. This algorithm explores multiteam multicast advantages as well as the multi-rate range tradeoffs. Simulations based on practical ISM band channel model and current IEEE802.11 standards' parameters show superior of our proposed algorithm in approaching optimal solution.
COP1 regulates plant growth and development in response to light at the post-translational level

Photoreceptors perceive different wavelengths of light and transduce light signals downstream via a range of proteins. COP1, an E3 ubiquitin ligase, regulates light signaling by mediating the ubiquitination and subsequent proteasomal degradation of photoreceptors such as phytochromes and cryptochromes, as well as various development-related proteins including other light-responsive proteins. COP1 is itself regulated by direct interactions with several signaling molecules that modulate its activity. The control of photomorphogenesis by COP1 is also regulated by its localization to the cytoplasm in response to light. COP1 thus acts as a tightly regulated switch that determines whether development is skotomorphogenic or photomorphogenic. In this review, we discuss the effects of COP1 on the abundance and activity of various development-related proteins, including photoreceptors, and summarize the regulatory mechanisms that influence COP1 activity and stability in plants.
Role of Leucine Zipper Motifs in Association of the Escherichia coli Cell Division Proteins FtsL and FtsB

ABSTRACT FtsL and FtsB are two inner-membrane proteins that are essential constituents of the cell division apparatus of Escherichia coli. In this study, we demonstrate that the leucine zipper-like (LZ) motifs, located in the periplasmic domain of FtsL and FtsB, are required for an optimal interaction between these two essential proteins.
AP-1 Transcription Factors Mediate BDNF-Positive Feedback Loop in Cortical Neurons

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a member of the neurotrophin family, regulates both survival and differentiation of several neuronal populations in the nervous system during development, as well as synaptic plasticity in the adult brain. BDNF exerts its biological functions through its receptor TrkB. Although the regulation of BDNF transcription by neuronal activity has been widely studied, little is known about TrkB signaling-dependent expression of BDNF. Using rat primary cortical neuron cultures, we show that the BDNF gene is a subject to an extensive autoregulatory loop, where TrkB signaling upregulates the expression of all major BDNF transcripts, mainly through activating MAPK pathways. Investigating the mechanisms behind this autoregulation, we found that AP-1 transcription factors, comprising Jun and Fos family members, participate in the induction of BDNF exon I, III, and VI transcripts. AP-1 transcription factors directly upregulate the expression of exon I transcripts by binding two novel AP-1 cis-elements in promoter I. Moreover, our results show that the effect of AP-1 proteins on the activity of rat BDNF promoters III and VI is indirect, because AP-1 proteins were not detected to bind the respective promoter regions by chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP). Collectively, we describe an extensive positive feedback system in BDNF regulation, adding a new layer to the elaborate control of BDNF gene expression. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Here, we show for the first time that in rat primary cortical neurons the expression of all major BDNF transcripts (exon I, II, III, IV, VI, and IXa transcripts) is upregulated in response to TrkB signaling, and that AP-1 transcription factors participate in the induction of exon I, III, and VI transcripts. Moreover, we have described two novel functional AP-1 cis-elements in BDNF promoter I, responsible for the activation of the promoter in response to TrkB signaling. Our results indicate the existence of a positive feedback loop for obtaining sufficient BDNF levels necessary for various TrkB signaling-dependent physiological outcomes in neurons.
Simultaneous dual-color imaging on singel-molecule level on a widefield microscope and applications

ed from [1–4] The epifluorescence microscope, as we know it today, has come a long way. Starting as a spin-off to the UV microscope at the beginning of the twentieth century, its development over the last century has made it a powerful tool, allowing the study of biological processes on single-molecule level in unprecedented detail. The first fluorescence microscope, with UV illumination, was developed at Carl Zeiss by the german physicists Otto Heimstaedt and Heinrich Lehmann. Between 1925 and 1932, Philipp Ellinger and August Hirt from Heidelberg conceived the UV intravital microscope, that allowed them to study the distribution of previously injected fluorescent dyes in living kidney and liver of frogs and mice [5, 6] to study their deposition and transport through the blood vessels. The setup is considered the prototype epifluorescence microscope: Unlike the previously built transmitted light microscopes, where the illumination light source is transmitted from the opposite side of the specimen from the objective, in their setup, the objective itself acted as the illumination condenser. While the emitted red-shifted fluorescence was transmitted and imaged on a diapositive, the reflected UV light was blocked by a yellow filter, placed between the objective and the ocular. In contrast to the transmitted light microscope, the illumination light is not detected, resulting in a higher image contrast, while at the same time alignment problems could be avoided. The evolution to the modern epifluorescence microsope is due to the contributions of the russian scientist Evgenii Brumberg (State Optical Institue of Leningrad) and Johann Sebastiaan Ploem, a microscopist from the University of Amsterdam. They are responsible for the development of the dichroic beamsplitter, a key element in every modern fluorescence microscope. It physically separated the excitation light from the much weaker fluorescence signal, by deflecting the unwanted back-reflected excitation light [7]. Up to the 1950s, fluorescence microscopes used excitation light ranging from the UV to the blue spectra, that was isolated from (mercury or xenon) arc lamps by optical filters. The steadily increasing number of developed fluorophores were not necessarily optimally illuminated within the UV spectra only. In 1962, Ploem collaborated with the Schott glass company in Mainz to extend the spectral range for illumination, by producing dichroic filters (or mirrors), that deflected the blue and green spectra [8]. Furthermore, Ploem collaborated with the Ernst Leitz company, which constructed the first inverted microscope with epi-illumination and combined the optical filter(s) and the dichroic mirror in a unit (the filter cube). The filter cubes were arranged to match the excitation/emission spectra of the employed fluorophore. Mounted in a turret below the objective, they could be interchanged 2 Chapter
CD56‐negative extranodal nasal type NK/T‐cell lymphoma

Extranodal natural killer (NK)/T‐cell lymphoma, nasal type, is a rare lymphoma that occurs predominantly in Asian adults. In this report, we describe the clinical and pathologic features of an unusual aggressive lymphoid neoplasm in a child and review the literature on NK/T‐cell lymphoma in children. The patient was a 4‐year‐old Native American male with facial swelling, lymphadenopathy, and fevers. Biopsy demonstrated neoplastic lymphoid cells that expressed CD3, CD8, TIA‐1, and EBV‐encoded RNA without CD56. The patient failed multiagent chemotherapy and died of therapy‐related complications. This case represents an extranodal NK/T‐cell lymphoma, nasal type, with an unusual lack of CD56. Pediatr Blood Cancer 2010;55:186–189. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
A lightweight measurement platform for home internet monitoring

CheesePi is a lightweight measurement platform with the goal of performing active measurements directly from within users' homes. As an always on device, it provides better context on the network state, than those available from browser interaction (Speedtest, etc.) In this demonstration, we will show the frontend of CheesePi and how we incorporate data from several sources around Sweden into a dashboard. A testbed of CheesePi nodes has been deployed, where we have conducted several tests. The presentation will highlight how to make unbiased and neutral measurements of the telecommunications infrastructure (Table III). Measurements are of sufficient quality to be useful by an operator, plus requirements mandated by academia [3], regulatory bodies [1] and the IETF [4].
Early Supplementation of Phospholipids and Gangliosides Affects Brain and Cognitive Development in Neonatal Piglets

As human breast milk is a rich source of phospholipids (PHOS) and gangliosides (GLS), and breastfed infants have improved learning compared to formula fed, the importance of dietary PHOS and GLS for brain development is of interest. Herein, we sought to determine the effects of these lipids on brain and cognitive development. Male and female piglets were artificially reared and fed formula containing 0% (control), 0.8%, or 2.5% LACPRODAN® (PL‐20, Arla Foods Ingredients, DK), a PHOS/GLS supplement, from postnatal day (PD) 2 to PD28. Beginning PD14, performance in a spatial T‐maze task was assessed. At PD28, brain MRI data were acquired and piglet hippocampal tissue was obtained for metabolic profiling. Diet affected maze performance with piglets receiving 0.8% and 2.5% PL‐20 making fewer errors than 0% (80% vs 75% correct on average) (P<0.05) and taking less time to make a choice (3 seconds vs 5 seconds per trial) (P<0.01). Mean brain weight was 5% higher for piglets receiving 0.8% and 2.5% PL‐20 (P<0.05) compared to 0%; and voxel‐based morphometry revealed multiple brain areas with greater volumes and more gray and white matter in piglets receiving 0.8% and 2.5% PL‐20 compared to 0%. Metabolic profiling of hippocampal tissue revealed that multiple phosphatidylcholine metabolites were altered by diet. In summary, dietary PHOS and GLS improved spatial learning and affected brain growth and composition. (Supported by Arla Foods Ingredients and R01 HD069899).
Fast malware family detection method using control flow graphs

As attackers make variants of existing malware, it is possible to detect unknown malware by comparing with already-known malware's information. Control flow graphs have been used in dynamic analysis of program source code. In this paper, we proposed a new method which can analyze and detect malware binaries using control flow graphs and Bloom filter by abstracting common characteristics of malware families. The experimental results showed that processing overhead of our proposed method is much lower than n-gram based methods.
Exchange market mayhem: the antecedents and aftermath of speculative attacks

Exchange market mayhem The antecedents and aftermath of speculative attacks This paper evaluates the causes and consequences of episodes of turbulence in foreign exchange markets. Using data from 1959 through 1993 for twenty OECD countries, we consider the antecedents and aftermath of devaluations and revaluations, flotations, fixings and speculative attacks (which may not be successful). We find that realignments of fixed exchange rates are alike: devaluations are preceded by political instability, budget and current account deficits, and fast growth of money and prices. Revaluations are mirror images of devaluations. Speculative attacks resemble devaluations, but money growth and inflation are more endemic and there is no last-minute attempt to tighten monetary policy. In contrast, few consistent correlations link regime transitions like flotations or fixings to macroeconomic or political variables. Transitions between exchange rate regimes are largely idiosyncratic, and are neither consistently provoked ex ante by systematic imbalances, nor typically justified ex post by subsequent changes in policy. We conclude that there are no clear early warning signals of many speculative attacks, and no easy solutions for policy-makers. — Barry Eichengreen, Andrew K. Rose and Charles Wyplosz
Delay-Optimal Ordering of Wires in Interconnect Channels

The problem of ordering and sizing parallel wires residing in a single metal layer within an interconnect channel is addressed in this paper. Wires are ordered such that cross-capacitances between neighboring wires are optimally shared for circuit delay minimization. Using an Elmore delay model including cross capacitances, an optimal wire ordering is uniquely determined, such that average signal delay can be minimized by proper allocation of inter-wire spaces. For uniform-width wires, the optimal order depends on the size of drivers, and is independent of size of receivers. The optimal order corresponds to minimal differences between driver resistances of neighboring wires. This result applies to most practical VLSI design scenarios. The problem of simultaneously ordering and optimizing variablewidth wires is addressed also. The same ordering method is shown to be advantageous for minimizing the critical wire delay in most problem instances. Examples for 65-nanometer technology are analyzed and discussed.
Retinal Fundus Image Analysis for Diagnosis of Glaucoma: A Comprehensive Survey

The rapid development of digital imaging and computer vision has increased the potential of using the image processing technologies in ophthalmology. Image processing systems are used in standard clinical practices with the development of medical diagnostic systems. The retinal images provide vital information about the health of the sensory part of the visual system. Retinal diseases, such as glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, age-related macular degeneration, Stargardt's disease, and retinopathy of prematurity, can lead to blindness manifest as artifacts in the retinal image. An automated system can be used for offering standardized large-scale screening at a lower cost, which may reduce human errors, provide services to remote areas, as well as free from observer bias and fatigue. Treatment for retinal diseases is available; the challenge lies in finding a cost-effective approach with high sensitivity and specificity that can be applied to large populations in a timely manner to identify those who are at risk at the early stages of the disease. The progress of the glaucoma disease is very often quiet in the early stages. The number of people affected has been increasing and patients are seldom aware of the disease, which can cause delay in the treatment. A review of how computer-aided approaches may be applied in the diagnosis and staging of glaucoma is discussed here. The current status of the computer technology is reviewed, covering localization and segmentation of the optic nerve head, pixel level glaucomatic changes, diagonosis using 3-D data sets, and artificial neural networks for detecting the progression of the glaucoma disease.
Inflammation and insulin resistance.

This Is the second of two articles describing a symposium on the relationship between inflammation and insulin resistance that was held in Niagra Falls, NY, 20–21 September 2002. Antonio Ceriello (Udine, Italy) discussed the role of glucose intake and postprandial hyperglycemia in the development of diabetes complications, as well as the relationship of hyperglycemia to oxidative stress. The DECODE (Diabetes Epidemiology: Collaborative analysis Of Diagnostic criteria in Europe) study showed high 2-h postload glucose to be associated with increased mortality independent of fasting glucose (1), and the Pacific and Indian Ocean Study showed isolated 2-h hyperglycemia to double the risk of mortality (2). The Funagata Diabetes Study showed that impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) but not impaired fasting glucose was a risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD) (3). There is evidence that lowering postprandial glucose improves outcome. Post hoc analysis of the STOP-type 2 diabetes study showed that myocardial infarction and hypertension decrease with use of the prandial glucose-lowering agent acarbose (4). In the Kumamoto study, postprandial hyperglycemia strongly predicted retinopathy and nephropathy (5). Endothelial dysfunction (ED) is a potential mediator of the effect of prandial glycemia, with altered vasodilation and procoagulant abnormalities. ED can be induced by hyperglycemia following a 75-g oral glucose load in persons with normal or IGT or with diabetes, with reduction of flow-mediated brachial artery dilation proportional to the degree of hyperglycemia (6). In a study of 225 persons with hypertension followed for 32 months, forearm ED was a marker of future CVD events (7), with a 4.5-year follow-up of 281 persons showing both ED and measures of oxidative stress to predict CVD events (8). Acute hyperglycemia may suppress vasodilation, which may involve oxidant stress, as it is reversed with antioxidant or l-arginine treatment (9). Glucose increases endothelial cell free radical production leading …
Resistance Studies with Daptomycin

ABSTRACT We studied the in vitro emergence of resistance to daptomycin using three methods: spontaneous resistance incidence, serial passage in the presence of increasing drug concentrations, and chemical mutagenesis. No spontaneously resistant mutants were obtained for any organism tested (<10−10 for Staphylococcus aureus, <10−9 for Staphylococcus epidermidis, <10−9 for Enterococcus faecalis, <10−9 for Enterococcus faecium, <10−8 for Streptococcus pneumoniae). Population analysis demonstrated that bacterial susceptibility to daptomycin is heterogeneous. Assay results were sensitive to calcium concentration and culture density, both of which can affect apparent resistance rates. Stable S. aureus mutants were isolated by both serial passage in liquid media and chemical mutagenesis. The daptomycin MICs for these isolates were 8- to 32-fold higher than for the parental strain. Many mutants with high MICs (>12.5 μg/ml) had significant growth defects but did not display phenotypes typical ofS. aureus small colony variants. The voltage component (Δψ) of the bacterial membrane potential was increased in three independent resistant isolates. In vivo data showed that some daptomycin-resistant mutants had lost significant virulence. For other mutants, the degree of in vitro resistance was greater than the change in in vivo susceptibility. These results suggest that infection with some daptomycin-resistant organisms may still be easily treatable.
On Chinese text retrieval

In previous studies, Chinese text retrieval has often been dealt with on the character basis. This approach is not suited to deal with complex queries. We suggest that Chirmse text retrieval should work with words inslead of characters. The crucial problem is to segment originally continuous Chinese texts into words. In this paper, wc Ilrsi propose a hybrid segmentation approach which unifies the commonly used approaches. The systcm SMART is then udaptcd to index the segmented Chinese texls. Finally, wc suggest that Chinese text retrieval should move further to include a thesaurus in order to cope with dle rich vocabulary of Chinese.