Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Optically Transparent Nanofiber Paper

M Optically Transparent Nanofiber Paper M U N IC By Masaya Nogi,* Shinichiro Iwamoto, Antonio Norio Nakagaito, and Hiroyuki Yano A T IO N Glass has well-suited low thermal expansion for use in electronic devices, but it is fragile, and the search for a stronger, more flexible optically clear medium has gone on for many years. Plastics have been widely studied; however, most of them have large coefficients of thermal expansion (CTE, approx. 50 ppm K ), and foldable plastics in particular exhibit extremely large CTEs, in excess of 200 ppm K . Further, the functional materials deposited on plastic substrates are prone to be damaged by the temperatures involved in the assembly and mounting processes due to themismatch between CTEs from differentmaterials. This article reports on what might be best described as optically transparent paper. It is a foldable nanofiber material with low thermal expansion (CTE <8.5 ppm K ) prepared using 15 nm cellulose nanofibers with the same chemical constituents as conventional paper and a production process also similar to that of conventional paper. The only difference is in the fiber width and the size of the interstitial cavities (Fig. 1). The foldable, low-CTE, and optically transparent nanofiber paper is the perfect candidate for substrates for continuous roll-to-roll processing in the future production of electronic devices, such as flexible displays, solar cells, e-papers, and a myriad of new flexible circuit technologies, and could replace the costly conventional batch processes based on glass substrates currently used. We project that it will also replace conventional paper as an advanced information medium, which can still be produced using traditional paper-making equipment that is used in production today. Cellulose nanofibers are the main component of plant and wood pulp fibers. These tiny elements with diameters of 15–20 nm are composed of bundles of cellulose microfibrils smaller than 4 nm in width, which, in turn, are composed of long cellulose molecules laterally stabilized by hydrogen bonds forming highly crystalline domains. As such, cellulose nanofibers have a CTE of 0.1 ppm K , which is as low as that of quartz glass, and an estimated strength of 2–3 GPa, rendering it five times stronger than mild steel. The nanofibers also exhibit good heat-transfer properties comparable to glass. Another significant property of the nanofibers is that light scattering can be suppressed. If the cellulose nanofibers are densely packed, and the interstices between the fibers are small enough to avoid
SketchREAD: a multi-domain sketch recognition engine

We present SketchREAD, a multi-domain sketch recognition engine capable of recognizing freely hand-drawn diagrammatic sketches. Current computer sketch recognition systems are difficult to construct, and either are fragile or accomplish robustness by severely limiting the designer's drawing freedom. Our system can be applied to a variety of domains by providing structural descriptions of the shapes in that domain; no training data or programming is necessary. Robustness to the ambiguity and uncertainty inherent in complex, freely-drawn sketches is achieved through the use of context. The system uses context to guide the search for possible interpretations and uses a novel form of dynamically constructed Bayesian networks to evaluate these interpretations. This process allows the system to recover from low-level recognition errors (e.g., a line misclassified as an arc) that would otherwise result in domain level recognition errors. We evaluated Sketch-READ on real sketches in two domains--family trees and circuit diagrams--and found that in both domains the use of context to reclassify low-level shapes significantly reduced recognition error over a baseline system that did not reinterpret low-level classifications. We also discuss the system's potential role in sketch based user interfaces.
Factors Associated With Delayed Hepatitis B Viral Suppression on Tenofovir Among Patients Coinfected With HBV-HIV in the CNICS Cohort

Background:Despite widespread use in HIV and hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, the effectiveness of tenofovir (TDF) has not been studied extensively outside of small cohorts of coinfected patients with HBV-HIV. We examined the effect of prior lamivudine (3TC) treatment and other factors on HBV DNA suppression with TDF in a multisite clinical cohort of coinfected patients. Methods:We studied all patients enrolled in the Centers for AIDS Research Network of Integrated Clinical Systems cohort from 1996 to 2011 who had chronic HBV and HIV infection, initiated a TDF-based regimen continued for ≥3 months and had on-treatment HBV DNA measurements. We used Kaplan–Meier curves and Cox-proportional hazards to estimate time to suppression (HBV DNA level <200 IU/mL or <1000 copies/mL) by selected covariates. Results:Among 397 coinfected patients on TDF, 91% were also on emtricitabine or 3TC concurrently, 92% of those tested were hepatitis B e antigen positive, 196 (49%) had prior 3TC exposure; 192 (48%) achieved HBV DNA suppression over a median of 28 months (interquartile range: 13–71). Median time to HBV DNA suppression was 17 months for those who were 3TC-naive and 50 months for those who were 3TC exposed. After controlling for other factors, prior 3TC exposure, baseline HBV DNA level >10,000 IU/mL, and lower nadir CD4 count were independently associated with decreased likelihood of HBV DNA suppression on TDF. Conclusions:These results emphasize the role of prior 3TC exposure and immune response on delayed HBV suppression on TDF.
Indexing of CNN Features for Large Scale Image Search

The convolutional neural network (CNN) features can give a good description of image content, which usually represent images with unique global vectors. Although they are compact compared to local descriptors, they still cannot efficiently deal with large-scale image retrieval due to the cost of the linear incremental computation and storage. To address this issue, we build a simple but effective indexing framework based on inverted table, which significantly decreases both the search time and memory usage. In addition, several strategies are fully investigated under an indexing framework to adapt it to CNN features and compensate for quantization errors. First, we use multiple assignment for the query and database images to increase the probability of relevant images' co-existing in the same Voronoi cells obtained via the clustering algorithm. Then, we introduce embedding codes to further improve precision by removing false matches during a search. We demonstrate that by using hashing schemes to calculate the embedding codes and by changing the ranking rule, indexing framework speeds can be greatly improved. Extensive experiments conducted on several unsupervised and supervised benchmarks support these results and the superiority of the proposed indexing framework. We also provide a fair comparison between the popular CNN features.
Efficient Private File Retrieval by Combining ORAM and PIR

Recent research results on tree-based Oblivious RAM by Shi et al. [15] obtain communication complexity of O(l · log(N)) in the worst-case for an N -capacity storage with blocks size l. The individual nodes in the tree, however, are constructed using traditional ORAMs which have worst-case communication complexity linear in their capacity and block size. PIR protocols are able to provide better worst-case bounds (decoupling capacity from block size), but have traditionally been less practical than ORAM due to the fact that they require O(N) computational complexity on the server. This paper presents Path-PIR, a hybrid ORAM construction, using techniques from PIR, that overcomes the individual weaknesses of each. Path-PIR significantly reduces communication complexity when the block size of the ORAM is large. Compared to existing work, this leads to smaller data transfer costs by orders of magnitude for practical sized databases and achieves worst-case communication complexity of O(l · log (N)) for large block sizes. Additionally, the typically high computational cost of PIR is negated by the tree structure of the ORAM, which requires only a small fraction of the database to be operated on for each query. We also investigate the concept of an ORAM’s latency, which is the amount of communication required before users receive the result of their query. We show that Path-PIR achieves lower latency than any existing scheme, only about four times the block size. Using Amazon EC2 as an example, we demonstrate that even with the additional cost of PIR computation, Path-PIR provides a significant monetary saving compared to related work.
ER stress, autophagy, and RNA viruses

Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress is a general term for representing the pathway by which various stimuli affect ER functions. ER stress induces the evolutionarily conserved signaling pathways, called the unfolded protein response (UPR), which compromises the stimulus and then determines whether the cell survives or dies. In recent years, ongoing research has suggested that these pathways may be linked to the autophagic response, which plays a key role in the cell's response to various stressors. Autophagy performs a self-digestion function, and its activation protects cells against certain pathogens. However, the link between the UPR and autophagy may be more complicated. These two systems may act dependently, or the induction of one system may interfere with the other. Experimental studies have found that different viruses modulate these mechanisms to allow them to escape the host immune response or, worse, to exploit the host's defense to their advantage; thus, this topic is a critical area in antiviral research. In this review, we summarize the current knowledge about how RNA viruses, including influenza virus, poliovirus, coxsackievirus, enterovirus 71, Japanese encephalitis virus, hepatitis C virus, and dengue virus, regulate these processes. We also discuss recent discoveries and how these will produce novel strategies for antiviral treatment.
Elective neck dissection versus observation in early stage oral squamous cell carcinoma: recurrence and survival

Objectives To evaluate the results of elective neck dissection versus those of observation in the treatment of early stage oral squamous cell carcinoma and to identify factors related to recurrence and survival. Materials and Methods This was a retrospective study of 52 patients who underwent elective neck dissection and 27 who did not receive neck dissection. Results In survival analyses, elective neck dissection showed a benefit in overall recurrence (P=0.027), especially in stage I patients (P=0.024). With regard to survival, the benefit was statistically insignificant (P=0.990). In multivariable analysis, overall recurrence was independently related to poor histologic grade (odds ratio [OR]=9.65, P=0.006), and cancer-specific death was independently related to advanced age (OR=6.3, P=0.022), higher clinical T stage (OR=15.2, P=0.01), and poorly differentiated histologic grade (OR=6.6, P=0.025). Conclusion Though there was lower recurrence in the elective neck dissection group, there were no statistically significant results on survival. The characteristics of the tumor itself, such as clinical T stage and poor histologic grade, may be more important in cancer-specific survival.
The insulin and islet amyloid polypeptide genes contain similar cell-specific promoter elements that bind identical beta-cell nuclear complexes

The pancreatic beta cell makes several unique gene products, including insulin, islet amyloid polypeptide (IAPP), and beta-cell-specific glucokinase (beta GK). The functions of isolated portions of the insulin, IAPP, and beta GK promoters were studied by using transient expression and DNA binding assays. A short portion (-247 to -197 bp) of the rat insulin I gene, the FF minienhancer, contains three interacting transcriptional regulatory elements. The FF minienhancer binds at least two nuclear complexes with limited tissue distribution. Sequences similar to that of the FF minienhancer are present in the 5' flanking DNA of the human IAPP and rat beta GK genes and also the rat insulin II and mouse insulin I and II genes. Similar minienhancer constructs from the insulin and IAPP genes function as cell-specific transcriptional regulatory elements and compete for binding of the same nuclear factors, while the beta GK construct competes for protein binding but functions poorly as a minienhancer. These observations suggest that the patterns of expression of the beta-cell-specific genes result in part from sharing the same transcriptional regulators.
Long-term outcome in rheumatoid arthritis: a simple algorithm of baseline parameters can predict radiographic damage, disability, and disease course at 12-year followup.

OBJECTIVES To predict the long-term outcome of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) with respect to radiographic damage, disability, and disease course using baseline variables, and to construct decision trees identifying patients on an individual level at the extremes of the outcome spectrum of these 3 dimensions. METHODS The 12-year outcome of 112 female RA patients from a prospective inception cohort was assessed by measuring the tertiles of radiographic damage (measured by the modified Sharp/van der Heijde method, SHS), disability (measured by the Health Assessment Questionnaire, HAQ), and severe disease course as defined by patients with either the 33% highest cumulative disease activity (area under the curve of all observed disease activity scores) or the highest tertile of radiographic damage. Patients in the lowest (mild) and highest tertile (severe) of each outcome measure were identified. All baseline parameters known to be associated with each outcome (demographic and socioeconomic parameters; disease duration; disease activity measures; laboratory measures including rheumatoid factor, HLA typing, percentage agalactosyl IgG, functional and radiographic measures) were entered into cross-validated stepwise logistic regression models to find the best predictive combination of baseline parameters for each of the outcomes. Using the results of the logistic regression models, simple decision trees were constructed to categorize patients at an individual level in a particular prognostic group. RESULTS After 12 years, the lowest and highest tertiles were, respectively, 42.3 and 189 for the SHS and 0.37 and 1.25 for the HAQ. Fifty-five patients had a severe disease course. Mild and severe radiographic damage could be predicted with an accuracy of 90% and 85%, respectively. Mild and severe HAQ could be predicted with an accuracy of 90% and 84%, respectively, and severe disease course with an accuracy of 81%. The baseline variables found to be predictive of all 3 outcome measures were very similar and consisted of combinations of the following baseline parameters: swollen joint count (SJC), Ritchie score, rheumatoid factor (RF), the presence of erosions, and the HAQ score. Additional knowledge of the HLA typing hardly improved the accuracy of the prediction. To predict outcome at the individual level, simple decision trees were constructed using the RF, HAQ, SJC, and presence of erosions at baseline. CONCLUSION The present study shows that prediction of outcome in long-term RA is possible and can be done using widely available baseline parameters.
Canonicalization of feature parameters for automatic speech recognition

Acoustic models (AMs) of an HMM-based classifier include various types of hidden variables such as gender type, speaking rate, and acoustic environment. If there exists a canonicalization process that reduces the influence of the hidden variables from the AMs, a robust automatic speech recognition (ASR) system can be realized. In this paper, we describe the configuration of a canonicalization process targeting gender type as a hidden variable. The proposed canonicalization process is composed of multiple distinctive phonetic feature (DPF) extractors corresponding to the hidden variable and a DPF selector in which the distance between input DPF and AMs is compared. In a DPF extraction stage, an input sequence of acoustic feature vectors is mapped onto three DPF spaces corresponding to male, female, and neutral voice by using three multilayer neural networks (MLNs). Experiments are carried out by comparing (A) the combination of the canonicalized DPF and a single HMM classifier, and (B) the combination of a single acoustic feature (MFCC) and multiple HMM classifiers. The result shows that the proposed canonicalization method outperforms both of the conventional ASR with MFCC and a single HMM and the ASR with multiple HMMs in spite of less memories and computation time.
An Energy-Efficient 15-Bit Capacitive-Sensor Interface Based on Period Modulation

This paper presents an energy-efficient capacitive-sensor interface with a period-modulated output signal. This interface converts the sensor capacitance to a time interval, which can be easily digitized by a simple digital counter. It is based on a relaxation oscillator consisting of an integrator and a comparator. To enable the use of a current-efficient telescopic OTA in the integrator, negative feedback loops are applied to limit the integrator's output swing. To obtain an accurate ratiometric output signal, auto-calibration is applied. This eliminates errors due to comparator delay, thus enabling the use of a low-power comparator. Based on an analysis of the stability of the negative feedback loops, it is shown how the current consumption of the interface can be traded for its ability to handle parasitic capacitors. A prototype fabricated in 0.35 μm standard CMOS technology can handle parasitic capacitors up to five times larger than the sensor capacitance. Experimental results show that it achieves 15-bit resolution and 12-bit linearity within a measurement time of 7.6 ms for sensor capacitances up to 6.8 pF, while consuming only 64 μA from a 3.3 V power supply. Compared to prior work with similar performance, this represents a significant improvement in energy efficiency.
Nanorobot Movement: Challenges and Biologically inspired solutions

Abstract Nanorobotics is the technology of creating machines or robots of the size of few hundred nanometres and below consisting of components of nanoscale or molecular size. There is an all around development in nanotechnology towards realization of nanorobots in the last two decades. In the present work, the compilation of advancement in nanotechnology in context to nanorobots is done. The challenges and issues in movement of a nanorobot and innovations present in nature to overcome the difficulties in moving at nano-size regimes are discussed. The efficiency aspect in context to artificial nanorobot is also presented.
Limited-angle x-ray luminescence tomography: methodology and feasibility study

X-ray luminescence tomography (XLT) has recently been proposed as a new imaging modality for biological imaging applications. This modality utilizes phosphor nanoparticles which luminesce near-infrared light when excited by x-ray photons. The advantages of this modality are that it uniquely combines the high sensitivity of radioluminescent nanoparticles and the high spatial localization of collimated x-ray beams. Currently, XLT has been demonstrated using x-ray spatial encoding to resolve the imaging volume. However, there are applications where the x-ray excitation may be limited by geometry, where increased temporal resolution is desired, or where a lower dose is mandatory. This paper extends the utility of XLT to meet these requirements by incorporating a photon propagation model into the reconstruction algorithm in an x-ray limited-angle (LA) geometry. This enables such applications as image-guided surgery, where the ability to resolve lesions at depths of several centimeters can be the key to successful resection. The hybrid x-ray/diffuse optical model is first formulated and then demonstrated in a breast-sized phantom, simulating a breast lumpectomy geometry. Both numerical and experimental phantoms are tested, with lesion-simulating objects of various sizes and depths. Results show localization accuracy with median error of 2.2 mm, or 4% of object depth, for small 2–14 mm diameter lesions positioned from 1 to 4.5 cm in depth. This compares favorably with fluorescence optical imaging, which is not able to resolve such small objects at this depth. The recovered lesion size has lower size bias in the x-ray excitation direction than the optical direction, which is expected due to the increased optical scatter. However, the technique is shown to be quite invariant in recovered size with respect to depth, as the standard deviation is less than 2.5 mm. Sensitivity is a function of dose; radiological doses are found to provide sufficient recovery for µg ml−1 concentrations, while therapy dosages provide recovery for ng ml−1 concentrations. Experimental phantom results agree closely with the numerical results, with positional errors recovered within 8.6% of the effective depth for a 5 mm object, and within 5.2% of the depth for a 10 mm object. Object-size median error is within 2.3% and 2% for the 5 and 10 mm objects, respectively. For shallow-to-medium depth applications where optical and radio-emission imaging modalities are not ideal, such as in intra-operative procedures, LAXLT may be a useful tool to detect molecular signatures of disease.
Transient response of sap flow to wind speed

Transient responses of sap flow to step changes in wind speed were experimentally investigated in a wind tunnel. A Granier-type sap flow sensor was calibrated and tested in a cylindrical tube for analysis of its transient time response. Then the sensor was used to measure the transient response of a well-watered Pachira macrocarpa plant to wind speed variations. The transient response of sap flow was described using the resistance–capacitance model. The steady sap flow rate increased as the wind speed increased at low wind speeds. Once the wind speed exceeded 8.0 m s−1, the steady sap flow rate did not increase further. The transpiration rate, measured gravimetrically, showed a similar trend. The response of nocturnal sap flow to wind speed variation was also measured and compared with the results in the daytime. Under the same wind speed, the steady sap flow rate was smaller than that in the daytime, indicating differences between diurnal and nocturnal hydraulic function, and incomplete stomatal closure at night. In addition, it was found that the temporal response of the Granier sensor is fast enough to resolve the transient behaviour of water flux in plant tissue.
The Problem of Circularity in Evidence, Argument, and Explanation

A number of recent articles (Fiedler, 2011, this issue; Gigerenzer, 2009; Kriegeskorte, Simmons, Bellgowen, & Baker, 2009; Vul & Kanwisher, 2010) have highlighted seemingly circular arguments and explanations in psychological research, which suggests that the problem is rife within psychology. The article reviews the literature on circularity, and, in light of this, evaluates these recent examples from psychology to determine whether it is indeed circularity that is the underlying problem and to make suggestions for what paths improvements might pursue.