Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A highly sensitive Pb(Zr,Ti)O/sub 3/ thin film ultrasonic micro-sensor with a grooved diaphragm

A highly sensitive piezoelectric ultrasonic micro-sensor with a grooved multilayer membrane was developed by a Si-based MEMS technique. The groove was located at one-quarter of the distance away from the edge of the membrane and opened into piezoelectric layer. The piezoelectric layer Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 (PZT) was 2.2 mum thick and was prepared by a sol-gel method. The prepared PZT film was pure perovskite and showed a highly (100) textured structure. The sensitivity of the fabricated piezoelectric ultrasonic sensor without the groove structure was 100 muV/Pa. In comparison, the sensitivity of the ultrasonic sensor with the groove structure was about 500 muV/Pa, which is 5 times that without the groove structure. The diaphragm having grooves showed a corrugate-like structure that was formed by residual stress. The high sensitivity of the membrane with the grooved diaphragm is considered to relate to the corrugate-like structure.
Inferring Time-Varying Network Topologies from Gene Expression Data

Most current methods for gene regulatory network identification lead to the inference of steady-state networks, that is, networks prevalent over all times, a hypothesis which has been challenged. There has been a need to infer and represent networks in a dynamic, that is, time-varying fashion, in order to account for different cellular states affecting the interactions amongst genes. In this work, we present an approach, regime-SSM, to understand gene regulatory networks within such a dynamic setting. The approach uses a clustering method based on these underlying dynamics, followed by system identification using a state-space model for each learnt cluster—to infer a network adjacency matrix. We finally indicate our results on the mouse embryonic kidney dataset as well as the T-cell activation-based expression dataset and demonstrate conformity with reported experimental evidence.
Experimentally-Enhanced Attachment Security Influences Obsessive Compulsive Related Washing Tendencies in a Non-Clinical Sample

In recent years, attachment insecurities in the form of anxiety and avoidance have been found to be associated with Obsessive Compulsive (OC) symptoms and cognitions. The hypothesized buffering role of attachment security on OC-related processes, however, has yet to be assessed. In the current study, we examined the effects of experimentally-enhanced attachment security ("security priming") on OC-related washing tendencies in a non-clinical sample (N = 85). As compared to a neutral priming, security priming reduced OC-related washing tendencies among participants scoring relatively high on attachment anxiety or avoidance. However, security priming led to higher OC-related washing tendencies than neutral priming among more securely attached participants (low scores on attachment anxiety or avoidance). Implications for theory and treatment are discussed.
Inhibition of Breast Cancer Metastasis Suppressor 1 Promotes a Mesenchymal Phenotype in Lung Epithelial Cells That Express Oncogenic K-RasV12 and Loss of p53

Expression of the breast cancer metastasis suppressor 1 (BRMS1) protein is dramatically reduced in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cells and in primary human tumors. Although BRMS1 is a known suppressor of metastasis, the mechanisms through which BRMS1 functions to regulate cell migration and invasion in response to specific NSCLC driver mutations are poorly understood. To experimentally address this, we utilized immortalized human bronchial epithelial cells in which p53 was knocked down in the presence of oncogenic K-RasV12 (HBEC3-p53KD-K-RasV12). These genetic alterations are commonly found in NSCLC and are associated with a poor prognosis. To determine the importance of BRMS1 for cytoskeletal function, cell migration and invasion in our model system we stably knocked down BRMS1. Here, we report that loss of BRMS1 in HBEC3-p53KD-K-RasV12 cells results in a dramatic increase in cell migration and invasion compared to controls that expressed BRMS1. Moreover, the loss of BRMS1 resulted in additional morphological changes including F-actin re-distribution, paxillin accumulation at the leading edge of the lamellapodium, and cellular shape changes resembling mesenchymal phenotypes. Importantly, re-expression of BRMS1 restores, in part, cell migration and invasion; however it does not fully reestablish the epithelial phenotype. These finding suggests that loss of BRMS1 results in a permanent, largely irreversible, mesenchymal phenotype associated with increased cell migration and invasion. Collectively, in NSCLC cells without p53 and expression of oncogenic K-Ras our study identifies BRMS1 as a key regulator required to maintain a cellular morphology and cytoskeletal architecture consistent with an epithelial phenotype.
Are you talking to me? Assessing discourses on reflection

This paper discusses the question of how to assess academic discourse on reflection from a dialogical point of view. The starting point of this research was Schön’s well-known ‘reflection-in-action’ model, which was expanded to include aspects of discursive analysis. A corpus of two sets of reflexive reports (26 in total) was analyzed along four analytical dimensions: self-reference, modality, meta-discourse and domains of reflection. These dimensions were subsequently subdivided into 13 variables. Statistical analysis of these variables resulted in the construction of five different modes of reflection, two of which highly correlate with an independent rating of perceived ‘good reflection’. This research gives evidence for the proposition that there are sensible patterns to be discovered in reflective writing, and that these patterns provide insights into the narrative styles used by the authors of reflection reports.
Validation of cardiac accelerometer sensor measurements

In this study we have investigated the accuracy of an accelerometer sensor designed for the measurement of cardiac motion and automatic detection of motion abnormalities caused by myocardial ischaemia. The accelerometer, attached to the left ventricular wall, changed its orientation relative to the direction of gravity during the cardiac cycle. This caused a varying gravity component in the measured acceleration signal that introduced an error in the calculation of myocardial motion. Circumferential displacement, velocity and rotation of the left ventricular apical region were calculated from the measured acceleration signal. We developed a mathematical method to separate translational and gravitational acceleration components based on a priori assumptions of myocardial motion. The accuracy of the measured motion was investigated by comparison with known motion of a robot arm programmed to move like the heart wall. The accuracy was also investigated in an animal study. The sensor measurements were compared with simultaneously recorded motion from a robot arm attached next to the sensor on the heart and with measured motion by echocardiography and a video camera. The developed compensation method for the varying gravity component improved the accuracy of the calculated velocity and displacement traces, giving very good agreement with the reference methods.
Short-Term Exposure to Warm Microhabitats Could Explain Amphibian Persistence with Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis

Environmental conditions can alter the outcomes of symbiotic interactions. Many amphibian species have declined due to chytridiomycosis, caused by the pathogenic fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), but many others persist despite high Bd infection prevalence. This indicates that Bd's virulence is lower, or it may even be a commensal, in some hosts. In the Australian Wet Tropics, chytridiomycosis extirpated Litoria nannotis from high-elevation rain forests in the early 1990 s. Although the species is recolonizing many sites, no population has fully recovered. Litoria lorica disappeared from all known sites in the early 1990 s and was thought globally extinct, but a new population was discovered in 2008, in an upland dry forest habitat it shares with L. nannotis. All frogs of both species observed during three population censuses were apparently healthy, but most carried Bd. Frogs perch on sun-warmed rocks in dry forest streams, possibly keeping Bd infections below the lethal threshold attained in cooler rain forests. We tested whether short-term elevated temperatures can hamper Bd growth in vitro over one generation (four days). Simulating the temperatures available to frogs on strongly and moderately warmed rocks in dry forests, by incubating cultures at 33°C for one hour daily, reduced Bd growth below that of Bd held at 15°C constantly (representing rain forest habitats). Even small decreases in the exponential growth rate of Bd on hosts may contribute to the survival of frogs in dry forests.
MDA: revenge of the modelers or UML utopia?

Modeling is at the core of many disciplines, but it is especially important in engineering because it facilitates communication and constructs complex things from smaller parts. Model engineering or model-driven development, treats software development as a set of transformations between successive models from requirements to analysis, to design, to implementation, to deployment. We discuss UML and MDA tools for developing software models. We also discuss domain specific languages, domain-oriented programming, platform-specific models and model engineering.
Fault-Tolerant Voltage Source Inverter for Permanent Magnet Drives

In this paper, a two-level fault-tolerant voltage source inverter (VSI) for permanent magnet drives is systematically designed and tested. A standard two-level inverter consists of three legs. In this case of fault-tolerant inverter, a redundant leg is added that replaces the faulted leg. Faulted leg isolation and redundant leg insertion are done by using independent back-to-back-connected thyristors. The proposed inverter provides tolerance to both short-circuit and open-circuit faults of the switching devices. The postfault performance is the same as the normal prefault operation and fault compensation is fast enough such that there is negligible disturbance in the drive operation. The fault tolerance of the inverter is verified using field-oriented control of a permanent magnet synchronous motor.
Price negotiation in differentiated products markets: Evidence from the Canadian mortgage market

This paper measures market power in a decentralized market where contracts are determined through a search and negotiation process. The mortgage industry has many institutional features which suggest competitiveness: homogeneous contracts, negotiable rates, and, for a given consumer, common lending costs across lenders. As a result, even with a small number of lenders, informed borrowers can gather multiple quotes. However, there is important heterogeneity in the ability of consumers to understand the subtleties of financial contracts, in their ability or willingness to search and negotiate for quotes, and also in their degree of loyalty to their main financial institution. We propose and estimate a model to disentangle the different channels through which market power can arise for a given transaction in this environment. There are two main sources of market power. The first is search frictions. We find that over the five year period of the contract the average search cost corresponds to an upfront sunk cost of between $1,047 and $1,590. The second main source of market power is switching costs. We estimate that consumers are willing to pay between $759 and $1,617 upfront to avoid having to switch banks.
Effect of eccentric and concentric muscle conditioning on tension and electrical activity of human muscle.

The effects of seven weeks of eccentric or concentric muscle conditioning on muscle tension and. integrated electrical activity (IEMG) were investigated on human subjects by using a special electrical dynamometer as a testing and training apparatus. The eccentric conditioning caused, on the average, a greater improvement in muscle tension than did the concentric conditioning. In early conditioning those in the eccentric group experienced soreness in their exercised muscles. This caused a concomitant drop in maximum strength. After the disappearance of pain symptoms, ability to develop tension increased in a linear fashion. Neither method was able to cause statistically significant changes in the maximum IEMG associated with any type of muscle contraction. The regression lino expressing the relationship between IEMG ( μ.v. per sec.) and isometric tension (in percent of maximal voluntary contraction) was parabolic. In this relationship muscle conditioning failed to cause any significant changes in IEMG per .
Unsupervised ensemble change detection using kernel PCA

: In this paper, we present a novel approach for unsupervised change detection on multi-spectral satellite images. The advantage of unsupervised approach over the supervised one is that the generation of an appropriated ground truth is not required. Especially, when the ground truth is not available, the unsupervised approach is the fundamental one. The unsupervised change detection method used in this paper is based on the concept of kernel Principal Component Analysis (PCA). The advantage of using kernel PCA over standard PCA is that it can handle non-linear relationships between data by projecting the data into higher dimension using kernel function. Assuming that relationship between data point after projecting data into higher dimensional space is linear, the principal basis vectors can then be extracted. A pixel is classiﬁed as unchanged if the absolute value of its second principal component is larger than a threshold. To improve the performance of kernel PCA, the ensemble approach is applied i.e., bootstrapped aggregating, which is also known as the bagging. The concept of bagging is to combine the change detection results from weak change detectors to improve overall performance. The proposed method begins with generating bootstrap samples. That is, the image pixels are random sampled with replacement. Each bootstrap sample is then used to construct a change detector using kernel PCA; a set of change detector is hence obtained. As a result, to classify a pixel as change or un-change, the change detection results from those change detectors are then fused by majority voting. By using random samples instead of using all image pixels at once for detecting change, the computation time is reduced. In other words, a large amount of computational resource is not required. To evaluated, the performance of the proposed methods, it was tested with multispectral satellite images i.e., Landsat 8. The experimental results will be illustrated as a change map. The analysis on principal basis vector extracted from the data using kernel PCA will be performed.
Gender differences in entrepreneurial networks: adding an alter perspective

Purpose – By adding an alter perspective to the traditional ego perspective on gender differences in entrepreneurial networks, the purpose of this study is to investigate whether involvement of family members who are not partners and exchange of emotional support is associated not only with the gender of the entrepreneurs but also the gender of entrepreneurs' alters.Design/methodology/approach – Building on homophily theory, relational theory and social support theory, three hypotheses are developed and tested on a representative sample of Danish entrepreneurs and their alters. A hierarchical logistic regression approach is applied.Findings – It is found that female focal entrepreneurs are more likely to involve female and family members who are not partners. Furthermore, it was found that female focal entrepreneurs would more likely involve female family members while male focal entrepreneurs would more likely involve male family members. And finally, it was found that females and males are equally likel.
The Efficacy of Moxifloxacin-Containing Triple Therapy after Standard Triple, Sequential, or Concomitant Therapy Failure for Helicobacter pylori Eradication in Korea

Background/Aims Retreatment after initial treatment failure for Helicobacter pylori is very challenging. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacies of moxifloxacin-containing triple and bismuth-containing quadruple therapy. Methods A total of 151 patients, who failed initial H. pylori treatment, were included in this retrospective cohort study. The initial regimens were standard triple, sequential, or concomitant therapy, and the efficacies of the two following second-line treatments were evaluated: 7-day moxifloxacin-containing triple therapy (rabeprazole 20 mg twice a day, amoxicillin 1,000 mg twice a day, and moxifloxacin 400 mg once daily) and 7-day bismuth-containing quadruple therapy (rabeprazole 20 mg twice a day, tetracycline 500 mg 4 times a day, metronidazole 500 mg 3 times a day, and tripotassium dicitrate bismuthate 300 mg 4 times a day). Results The overall eradication rates after moxifloxacin-containing triple therapy and bismuth-containing quadruple therapy were 69/110 (62.7%) and 32/41 (78%), respectively. Comparison of the two regimens was performed in the patients who failed standard triple therapy, and the results revealed eradication rates of 14/28 (50%) and 32/41 (78%), respectively (p=0.015). The frequency of noncompliance was not different between the two groups, and there were fewer adverse effects in the moxifloxacin-containing triple therapy group (2.8% vs 7.3%, p=0.204 and 25.7% vs 43.9%, p=0.031, respectively). Conclusions Moxifloxacin-containing triple therapy, a recommended second-line treatment for initial concomitant or sequential therapy failure, had insufficient efficacy.
Chemokine CXCL10 Promotes Atherogenesis by Modulating the Local Balance of Effector and Regulatory T Cells

Background— Studies to define the overall contribution of lymphocytes to lesion formation in atherosclerosis-susceptible mice have demonstrated relatively subtle effects; the use of lymphocyte-deficient mice, however, compromises both the effector and regulatory arms of the immune system. Here, we tested the hypothesis that deletion of CXCL10 (IP-10), a chemokine specific for effector T cells that has been localized within atherosclerotic lesions, would significantly inhibit atherogenesis. Methods and Results— Compound deficient Apoe−/−/Cxcl10−/− mice fed a Western-style diet for either 6 or 12 weeks demonstrated significant reductions in atherogenesis as compared with Apoe−/− controls, as assessed by both aortic en face and cross-sectional analyses. Immunohistochemical studies revealed a decrease in the accumulation of CD4+ T cells, whereas quantitative polymerase chain reaction analysis of lesion-rich aortic arches demonstrated a marked reduction in mRNA for CXCR3, the CXCL10 chemokine receptor. Although overall T-cell accumulation was diminished significantly, we found evidence to suggest that regulatory T-cell (Treg) numbers and activity were enhanced, as assessed by increased message for the Treg-specific marker Foxp3, as well as increases in immunostaining for the Treg-associated cytokines interleukin-10 and transforming growth factor-β1. We also documented naturally occurring Treg cells in human atherosclerotic lesions. Conclusions— We provide novel evidence for a functional role for the effector T-cell chemoattractant CXCL10 in atherosclerotic lesion formation by modulating the local balance of the effector and regulatory arms of the immune system.
World Health Organization

The Executive Board of the World Health Organization (WHO) held its 21st session in Geneva, January 14–28, 1958, under the chairmanship of Sir John Charles. After discussing in detail the Director-General's proposed program of activities and budget estimates for 1959, the Board endorsed the Director-General's effective working budget of$14, 287, 600. It was suggested that in preparing the 1960 budget a greater percentage of the total expenditure should be set aside for strengthening the technical services at headquarters. In pursuance of WHO's policy of complete malaria eradication, the Director-General had drawn up a detailed program covering the operations for the following five years. Noting that the total resources available in the malaria eradication special account amounted to $5,112,000, and that the estimated expenditure for 1958 alone was $5,058,000, the Board expressed the hope that governments able to do so would make voluntary contributions to the account and requested the Director-General to take the necessary steps, including adequate publicity, to obtain additional funds, whether from governmental or from private sources.
oneM2M Architecture Based User Centric IoT Application Development

This paper presents a user centric and cross-domain IoT application development framework for smart devices. The framework includes automatic discovery of M2M devices, provisioning of sensors and IoT domains, semantic reasoning on sensor data and actuation based on the suggestions. The framework integrates a lightweight version of the Machine-to-Machine Measurement framework and has been adapted for smart devices enabling them to reason on sensor data. This allows us to build cross-domain IoT applications for end users. The issues of interoperability, heterogeneity of domains and multimodality of M2M devices are handled by the semantic web technologies. The framework is integrated into one M2M architecture and its prototype implementation is also presented. The performance of the mobile application is evaluated in terms of CPU load and power consumption. Finally overall contributions and future directions are summarized.
Fisher's Theory of Interest Rates and the Notion of 'Real': A Critique

By providing five different criticisms of the notion of real rate, the paper argues that this concept, as Fisher defined it or as a definition, is not relevant to economic analysis. Following Keynes and other post-Keynesians, the article shows that the notion of real rate is microeconomically and macroeconomically unfounded. Adjusting interest rates for inflation does not protect the purchasing power of wealth, and it is impossible to do so at the macroeconomic level. In addition, an empirical interpretation of the break in the correlation between interest rates and inflation since 1953 is provided.
Proposing a Multidimensional Machiavellianism Conceptualization

Machiavellianism (Christie & Geis, 1970) deals with (a) a cold and cynical world view with pragmatic and immoral beliefs, (b) a lack of emotionality, (c) strategic long-term planning in self-beneficial goal pursuit, and (d) various manipulative behaviors. Although Machiavellianism comprises several different aspects (Jones & Paulhus, 2009), thus far, there is uncertainty concerning the higher and lower order factors. Further, no scale accounts for all of these, measuring a fuzzy unidimensional construct. In this article a hierarchical and multidimensional structure of Machiavellianism is presented based on a thorough literature analysis. Merits of this and future lines of research are delineated.