Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Block of inward rectification by intracellular H+ in immature oocytes of the starfish Mediaster aequalis

Intracellular pH was recorded in immature starfish oocytes using pH- sensitive microelectrodes, and inwardly rectifying potassium currents were measured under voltage clamp. When the intracellular pH was lowered using acetate-buffered artificial sea water from the normal value of 7.09 to 5.9, inward rectification was completely blocked. The relationship between inward rectification and internal pH between 7.09 and 5.9 could be fit by a titration curve for the binding of three H ions to a site with a pK of 6.26 to block the channel. The H+ block showed no voltage dependence, and the activation kinetics of the inwardly rectifying currents were not affected by the changes in internal pH.
Stochastic dynamical nonlinear behavior analysis of a class of single-state CSTRs

Abstract Abstract Motivated by the need of developing stochastic nonlinear model-based methods to characterize uncertainty for chemical process estimation, control, identification, and experiment design purposes, in this paper the problem of characterizing the global dynamics of single-state nonlinear stochastic system is addressed. An isothermal CSTR with Langmuir-Hinshelwood kinetics is considered as representative example with steady state multiplicity. The dynamics of the state probability distribution function (PDF) is modeled within a Fokker-Planck's (FP) global nonlinear framework, on the basis of FP's partial differential equation (PDE) driven by initial state and exogenous uncertainty. A correspondence between global nonlinear deterministic (stability, multiplicity and bifurcation) and stochastic (PDF stationary solution and mono/multimodality) characteristics is identified, enabling the interpretation of tunneling-like stationary-to-stationary PDF transitions, and the introduction of a bifurcation diagram with the consideration of stochastic features in the context of the CSTR case example.
Wireless Internet service providing for 5G with hybrid TV broadcast and visible light communications

Visible light communications (VLC) is a potential candidate to be utilized in future 5G networks with energy efficient indoor and outdoor communications with available hardware components such as LED bulbs, TV screens and camera receivers. In this article, a low cost cellular infrastructure is proposed for Internet service providing (ISP). Hybrid TV radio frequency (RF) broadcast and display screen based VLC transmitters are utilized for the downlink while telescopes, camera receivers and LED arrays placed on the roofs of the houses are utilized for the uplink. In the downlink, display screens with quantum dot (QD), organic light emitting diode (OLED) and liquid-crystal display (LCD) technologies are compared in terms of response time, color gamut, spectral color output, contrast ratio and power consumption. Uplink capacity reaches hundreds of Kbit/s data rates for hundreds of houses at tens of kilometer distances with a simple and low cost system with less than hundred watts power consumption at each house while downlink capacity promises several Mbit/s at each house.
Skeletal Graph Based Human Pose Estimation in Real-Time

We propose a new method to quickly and robustly estimate the 3D pose of the human skeleton from volumetric body scans without the need for visual markers. The core principle of our algorithm is to apply a fast center-line extraction to 3D voxel data and robustly fit a skeleton model to the resulting graph. Our algorithm allows for automatic, single-frame initialization and tracking of the human pose while being fast enough for real-time applications at up to 30 frames per second. We provide an extensive qualitative and quantitative evaluation of our method on real and synthetic datasets which demonstrates the stability of our algorithm even when applied to long motion sequences.
Longitudinal changes in aerobic power in older men and women.

The purpose of this study was to describe the longitudinal (10 yr) decline in aerobic power [maximal O(2) uptake (Vo(2 max))] and anaerobic threshold [ventilatory threshold (T(Ve))] of older adults living independently in the community. Ten years after initial testing, 62 subjects (34 men, mean age 73.5 +/- 6.4 yr; 28 women, 72.1 +/- 5.3 yr) achieved Vo(2 max) criteria during treadmill walking tests to the limit of tolerance, with T(Ve) determined in a subset of 45. Vo(2 max) in men showed a rate of decline of -0.43 ml.kg(-1). min(-1). yr(-1), and the decline in Vo(2 max) was consequent to a lowered maximal heart rate with no change in the maximum O(2) pulse. The women showed a slower rate of decline of Vo(2 max) of -0.19. ml.kg(-1). min(-1). yr(-1) (P < 0.05), again with a lowered HR(max) and unchanged O(2) pulse. In this sample, lean body mass was not changed over the 10-yr period. Changes in Vo(2 max) were not significantly related to physical activity scores. T(Ve) showed a nonsignificant decline in both men and women. Groupings of young-old (65-72 yr at follow-up) vs. old-old (73-90 yr at follow-up) were examined. In men, there were no differences in the rate of Vo(2 max) decline. The young-old women showed a significant decline in Vo(2 max), whereas old-old women, initially at a Vo(2 max) of 19.4 +/- 3.1 ml.kg(-1). min(-1), showed no loss in Vo(2 max). The longitudinal data, vs. cross-sectional analysis, showed a greater decline for men but similar estimates of the rates of change in women. Thus the 10-yr longitudinal study of the cohort of community-dwelling older adults who remained healthy, ambulatory, and independent showed a 14% decline in Vo(2 max) in men, and a smaller decline of 7% in women, with the oldest women showing little change over the 10-yr period.
European GaN device technologies for microwave and power switching applications

An overview on European GaN technologies towards high power microwave and high voltage power switching applications is presented. It contains a survey on the most important technological approaches, device performance data and reliability achievements. A special emphasis is devoted to the GaN technologies available at Ferdinand-Braun-Institut (FBH), Berlin.
Semisimplicity and Global Dimension of a Finite von Neumann Algebra

We prove that a finite von Neumann algebra A is semisimple if the algebra of affiliated operators U of A is semisimple. When A is not semisimple, we give the upper and lower bounds for the global dimensions of A and U . This last result requires the use of the Continuum Hypothesis.
Mechanical Stress Is a Pro-Inflammatory Stimulus in the Gut: In Vitro, In Vivo and Ex Vivo Evidence

Aims Inflammatory infiltrates and pro-inflammatory mediators are found increased in obstructive and functional bowel disorders, in which lumen distention is present. However, what caused the low level inflammation is not well known. We tested the hypothesis that lumen distention- associated mechanical stress may induce expression of specific inflammatory mediators in gut smooth muscle. Methods Static mechanical stretch (18% elongation) was applied in vitro in primary culture of rat colonic circular smooth muscle cells (RCCSMCs) with a Flexercell FX-4000 Tension Plus System. Mechanical distention in vivo was induced in rats with an obstruction band placed in the distal colon. Results In the primary culture of RCCSMCs, we found that static stretch significantly induced mRNA expression of iNOS, IL-6, and MCP-1 in 3 hours by 6.0(±1.4), 2.5(±0.5), and 2.2(±0.5) fold (n = 6∼8, p<0.05), respectively. However, gene expression of TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-8 was not significantly affected by mechanical stretch. In the in vivo model of colon obstruction, we found that gene expression of iNOS, IL-6, and MCP-1 is also significantly increased in a time-dependent manner in the mechanically distended proximal segment, but not in the sham controls or distal segments. The conditioned medium from the muscle strips of the stretched proximal segment, but not the distal segment or control, significantly induced translocation and phosphorylation of NF-κB p65. This treatment further increased mRNA expression of inflammatory mediators in the naïve cells. However, treatment of the conditioned medium from the proximal segment with neutralizing antibody against rat IL-6 significantly attenuated the activation of NF-κB and gene expression of inflammatory mediators. Conclusions Our studies demonstrate that mechanical stress induces gene expression of inflammatory mediators i.e. iNOS, IL-6, and MCP-1 in colonic SMC. Further ex vivo study showed that mechanical stress functions as a pro-inflammatory stimulus in the gut.
Etched-Core Fiber Bragg Grating Sensors Integrated With Microfluidic Channels

In this paper, we demonstrate a fiber Bragg grating sensor for bio-chemical detection. In the sensor area, the fiber has been chemically etched to the core with a diameter of 7 μm. Due to increased index contrast, the etched-core fiber Bragg grating supports multiple guided modes which respond differently to the refractive index of the surrounding medium, temperature and the strain. An asymmetric adiabatic taper is created between the etched and the unetched parts of the fiber resulting in excitation of both the symmetrical and the asymmetrical modes which can be interrogated with an erbium doped fiber amplifier amplified spontaneous emission source. The sensor is integrated with a Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) microfluidic channel for introduction of chemicals to be tested. A refractive index sensitivity of 92 nm/riu was achieved using the 3rd order mode. Further the sensor can simultaneously measure the refractive index, temperature and strain to an accuracy of 1 × 10-4, 0.32°C and 10 με assuming a wavelength resolution of 0.01 nm. By using signal processing, these resolutions can be improved by a factor of 10.
Uliginosibacterium paludis sp. nov., isolated from a marsh.

A novel bacterial strain, designated KBP-13T, was isolated from a water sample taken from the Banping Lake Wetland Park in Taiwan and characterized using a polyphasic taxonomic approach. Cells of strain KBP-13T were Gram-stain-negative, aerobic, poly-β-hydroxybutyrate-accumulating, motile rods that formed light yellow colonies. Growth occurred at 15-40 °C (optimum, 30-40 °C), at pH 6.0-8.0 (optimum, pH 6.0) and with 0-2 % (w/v) NaCl (optimum, 0 %). Phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain KBP-13T belonged to the genus Uliginosibacterium within the family Rhodocyclaceae of the class Betaproteobacteria and its most closely related neighbour was Uliginosibacterium gangwonense 5YN10-9T with sequence similarity of 96.0 %. Strain KBP-13T contained summed feature 3 (comprising C16 : 1ω7c and/or C16 : 1ω6c), C16 : 0 and C14 : 0 as predominant fatty acids. The major respiratory quinone was Q-8. The DNA G+C content of the genomic DNA was 65.1 mol%. The polar lipid profile consisted of a mixture of phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol, diphosphatidylglycerol, one uncharacterized aminophospholipid, one uncharacterized aminolipid, two uncharacterized phospholipids and three uncharacterized glycolipids. On the basis of the genotypic, chemotaxonomic and phenotypic data, strain KBP-13T represents a novel species in the genus Uliginosibacterium, for which the name Uliginosibacterium paludis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is KBP-13T (=BCRC 80903T=LMG 28837T=KCTC 42655T).
The Case for Visual Analytics of Arsenic Concentrations in Foods

Arsenic is a naturally occurring toxic metal and its presence in food could be a potential risk to the health of both humans and animals. Prolonged ingestion of arsenic contaminated water may result in manifestations of toxicity in all systems of the body. Visual Analytics is a multidisciplinary field that is defined as the science of analytical reasoning facilitated by interactive visual interfaces. The concentrations of arsenic vary in foods making it impractical and impossible to provide regulatory limit for each food. This review article presents a case for the use of visual analytics approaches to provide comparative assessment of arsenic in various foods. The topics covered include (i) metabolism of arsenic in the human body; (ii) arsenic concentrations in various foods; (ii) factors affecting arsenic uptake in plants; (ii) introduction to visual analytics; and (iv) benefits of visual analytics for comparative assessment of arsenic concentration in foods. Visual analytics can provide an information superstructure of arsenic in various foods to permit insightful comparative risk assessment of the diverse and continually expanding data on arsenic in food groups in the context of country of study or origin, year of study, method of analysis and arsenic species.
Work in progress: Transfer students in engineering: A qualitative study of pathways and persistence

Our paper presents preliminary results of interviews of 28 transfer students in engineering at two institutions and is part of a larger mixed-methods study on engineering transfer students. The two institutions differ on a key dimension: one has many formal articulation agreements and the other does not. We discuss the reasons students begin their studies at the sending institution and describe their experiences with the applications and admissions process at the receiving institution. We describe the “culture shock” students experience when adjusting to the academic requirements and social culture of the new institution; we also highlight the transfer student capital and strategies students use to adjust to the receiving institution.
Magnetotactic bacteria form magnetite from a phosphate-rich ferric hydroxide via nanometric ferric (oxyhydr)oxide intermediates

The iron oxide mineral magnetite (Fe3O4) is produced by various organisms to exploit magnetic and mechanical properties. Magnetotactic bacteria have become one of the best model organisms for studying magnetite biomineralization, as their genomes are sequenced and tools are available for their genetic manipulation. However, the chemical route by which magnetite is formed intracellularly within the so-called magnetosomes has remained a matter of debate. Here we used X-ray absorption spectroscopy at cryogenic temperatures and transmission electron microscopic imaging techniques to chemically characterize and spatially resolve the mechanism of biomineralization in those microorganisms. We show that magnetite forms through phase transformation from a highly disordered phosphate-rich ferric hydroxide phase, consistent with prokaryotic ferritins, via transient nanometric ferric (oxyhydr)oxide intermediates within the magnetosome organelle. This pathway remarkably resembles recent results on synthetic magnetite formation and bears a high similarity to suggested mineralization mechanisms in higher organisms.
Visual notation design 2.0: Towards user comprehensible requirements engineering notations

The success of requirements engineering depends critically on effective communication between business analysts and end users, yet empirical studies show that business stakeholders understand RE notations very poorly. This paper proposes a novel approach to designing RE visual notations that actively involves naïve users in the process. We use i*, one of the most influential RE notations, to demonstrate the approach, but the same approach could be applied to any RE notation. We present the results of 5 related empirical studies that show that novices outperform experts in designing symbols that are comprehensible to novices: the differences are both statistically significant and practically meaningful. Symbols designed by novices increased semantic transparency (their ability to be spontaneously interpreted by other novices) by almost 300% compared to the existing i* notation. The results challenge the conventional wisdom about visual notation design: that it should be conducted by a small group of experts; our research suggests that it should instead be conducted by large numbers of novices. The approach is consistent with Web 2.0, in that it harnesses the collective intelligence of end users and actively involves them in the notation design process as “prosumers” rather than passive consumers. We believe this approach has the potential to radically change the way visual notations are designed in the future.
A Fast Image Thresholding Method Based on Chaos Optimization and Recursive Algorithm for Two-Dimensional Tsallis Entropy

The two-dimensional (2-D) maximum Tsallis entropy method often gets ideal segmentation results , because it not only takes advantage of the spatial neighbor information with using the 2-D histogram of the image, but also has some flexibility with a parameter. However, its time-consuming computation is often an obstacle in real time application systems. In this paper, a fast image thresholding method based on chaos optimization and recursive algorithm for 2-D Tsallis entropy is presented. Firstly, improve the traditional chaos optimization algorithm(COA) so that it can get global solution with lower computation load, then propose a recursive algorithm with the stored matrix variables and prove the equation among Tsallis entropies of four parts in the 2-D histogram , finally combine the improved COA and the recursive algorithm to reduce much computational cost in the process of solving the 2-D maximum Tsallis entropy problem. Experimental results show the proposed approach can get better segmentation performance and has much higher speed .
Macrophage Fcγ2b receptor expression and receptor‐ mediated phospholipase activity: regulation by endogenous eicosanoids

The expression of Fcγ2b receptors and receptor‐mediated arachidonic acid metabolism by murine peritoneal macrophages was examined in vitro. The expression of Fcγ2b receptors was found to increase progressively with time in culture and this increase was dependent on protein synthesis and glycosylation. The increase in Fcγ2b receptor expression was inhibited by hydrocortisone and by BW755C, an inhibitor of both the lipoxygenase and cyclo‐oxygenase pathways of arachidonic acid metabolism. Inhibition by BW755C was found to be reversed in the presence of exogenous leukotriene D4. In contrast, selective inhibition of the cyclo‐oxygenase pathway by indomethacin enhanced the increase in receptor expression. This enhancement was only partially reversed by exogenous prostaglandin (PG)E2. Interaction of the FCγ2b receptor with ligand in the form of erythrocytes specifically sensitized with IgGzb resulted in the release and subsequent metabolism of arachidonic acid. PGE2 was found to be the principal product. Occupation of the Fcγ2a receptor did not result in arachidonic acid release. Down regulation of Fcγ2b receptor expression produced a commensurate reduction in receptor‐mediated phospholipase activity measured by arachidonic acid release. Macrophages cultured for 24 h in the presence of fetal calf serum without additional stimuli produced substantial amounts of eicosanoids. PGI2 was the principal product. Taken together these data demonstrate a potential feedback regulation of receptor‐triggered arachidonic acid metabolism by eicosanoids acting at the level of Fcγ2b receptor expression.
Interactions between Time and Knowledge in a First-order Logic for Multi-Agent Systems

We investigate a class of first-order temporal epistemic logics for the specification of multi-agent systems. We consider well-known properties of multi-agent systems including perfect recall, synchronicity, no learning, unique initial state, and define natural correspondences between these and quantified interpreted systems. Our findings identify several monodic fragments of first-order temporal epistemic logic that we prove to be both sound and complete with respect to the corresponding classes of quantified interpreted systems. The results show that interaction axioms for propositional temporal epistemic logic can be lifted to the monodic fragment.
Clinical validation of a highly sensitive assay to detect EGFR mutations in plasma cell-free DNA from patients with advanced lung adenocarcinoma

Background Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) is a promising biomarker for noninvasive epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations detection in lung cancer patients, but the existing methods have limitations in sensitivity or in availability. In this study, we evaluated the performance of a novel assay called ADx-SuperARMS in detecting EGFR mutations in plasma cell-free DNA from patients with advanced lung adenocarcinoma. Methods A total of 109 patients with metastatic advanced adenocarcinoma were recruited who provided both blood samples and matched tumor tissue samples. EGFR mutation status in plasma samples were tested with ADx-SuperARMS EGFR assay and tumor tissue samples were tested with ADx-ARMS EGFR assay. The clinical sensitivity, specificity, positive prediction value (PPV), and negative prediction value (NPV) of ADx-SuperARMS EGFR assay were calculated by using EGFR mutation status in tumor tissue as standard reference. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was implemented and an area under the curve (AUC) was calculated to evaluate sensitivity and specificity of exon 19 deletion (E19Del) and L858R mutation detection. The objective response rate (ORR) were calculated according to the EGFR mutation status determined by ADx-superARMS as well. Results 0.2% analytical sensitivity and 100% specificity of the ADx-SuperARMS EGFR assays for EGFR E19Del, L858R, and T790M mutants were confirmed by using a series of diluted cell line DNA. In the clinical study, EGFR mutations were detected in 45.9% (50/109) of the plasma samples and in 56.9% (62/109) of the matched tumor tissue samples. The sensitivity, specificity, PPV and NPV of the ADx-SuperARMS EGFR assay for plasma EGFR mutation detection were 82.0% (50/61), 100% (48/48), 100% (50/50), and 81.4% (48/59), respectively. In ROC analysis, ADx-SuperARMS achieved sensitivity and specificity of 88% and 99% in E19Dels as well as sensitivity and specificity of 89% and 100% in L858R, respectively. Among the 35 patients who were plasma EGFR mutation positive and treated with first generation of EGFR-tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs), 23 (65.7%) achieved partial response, 11 (31.4%) sustained disease, and 1 (2.9%) progressive disease. The ORR and disease control rate (DCR) were 65.7% and 97.1%, respectively. Conclusions ADx-SuperARMS EGFR assay is likely to be a highly sensitive and specific method to noninvasively detect plasma EGFR mutations of patients with advanced lung adenocarcinoma. The EGFR mutations detected by ADx-SuperARMS EGFR assay could predict the efficacy of the treatment with first generation of EGFR-TKIs. Hence, EGFR blood testing with ADx-SuperARMS could address the unmet clinical needs.