Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Recent advances in upscalable wet methods and ink formulations for printed electronics

This review deals with the use of solution processing approaches for organic electronics with a focus on material ink formulations as well as on their applicability. The solution processing techniques include methods like gravure printing, screen printing and ink-jet printing. Basic principles of each approach are understood and fundamental correlations between material (metals, semiconductors, and dielectrics) ink properties and final device performances can be drawn. Nevertheless, solution processing methods have the potential to evolve as the most promising tools in organic device fabrication techniques and have already been applied successfully in the fields of organic thin film transistors, solar cells and biosensing devices.
Preventing Alzheimer’s disease-related gray matter atrophy by B-vitamin treatment

Is it possible to prevent atrophy of key brain regions related to cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s disease (AD)? One approach is to modify nongenetic risk factors, for instance by lowering elevated plasma homocysteine using B vitamins. In an initial, randomized controlled study on elderly subjects with increased dementia risk (mild cognitive impairment according to 2004 Petersen criteria), we showed that high-dose B-vitamin treatment (folic acid 0.8 mg, vitamin B6 20 mg, vitamin B12 0.5 mg) slowed shrinkage of the whole brain volume over 2 y. Here, we go further by demonstrating that B-vitamin treatment reduces, by as much as seven fold, the cerebral atrophy in those gray matter (GM) regions specifically vulnerable to the AD process, including the medial temporal lobe. In the placebo group, higher homocysteine levels at baseline are associated with faster GM atrophy, but this deleterious effect is largely prevented by B-vitamin treatment. We additionally show that the beneficial effect of B vitamins is confined to participants with high homocysteine (above the median, 11 µmol/L) and that, in these participants, a causal Bayesian network analysis indicates the following chain of events: B vitamins lower homocysteine, which directly leads to a decrease in GM atrophy, thereby slowing cognitive decline. Our results show that B-vitamin supplementation can slow the atrophy of specific brain regions that are a key component of the AD process and that are associated with cognitive decline. Further B-vitamin supplementation trials focusing on elderly subjets with high homocysteine levels are warranted to see if progression to dementia can be prevented.
Statistical Blockade: A Novel Method for Very Fast Monte Carlo Simulation of Rare Circuit Events, and its Application

Circuit reliability under statistical process variation is an area of growing concern. For highly replicated circuits such as SRAMs and flip flops, a rare statistical event for one circuit may induce a not-so-rare system failure. Existing techniques perform poorly when tasked to generate both efficient sampling and sound statistics for these rare events. Statistical blockade is a novel Monte Carlo technique that allows us to efficiently filter - to block - unwanted samples insufficiently rare in the tail distributions we seek. The method synthesizes ideas from data mining and extreme value theory, and shows speed-ups of 10times - 100times over standard Monte Carlo
Paper for Regional Studies Association-Annual Conference 2008 Regions: The Dilemmas of Integration and Competition

A method for forming building products from heat insulated material and building products formed in accordance therewith includes providing a mold configured with inner dimensions equal to the desired configuration of the building material block; providing a fluid mixture of heat insulating material formed from a predetermined composition of ingredients; providing at least one rigid reinforcement member and placing the reinforcement member in the mold; introducing the fluid mixture into the mold with the at least one reinforcement member and allowing the fluid mixture to harden within the mold and removing the mixture from the mold resulting in a block of reinforced heat insulating building material. The present invention is also directed to a block of reinforced heat insulated building material according to the method.
Active sampling via tracking

To learn an object detector labeled training data is required. Since unlabeled training data is often given as an image sequence we propose a tracking-based approach to minimize the manual effort when learning an object detector. The main idea is to apply a tracker within an active on-line learning framework for selecting and labeling unlabeled samples. For that purpose the current classifier is evaluated on a test image and the obtained detection result is verified by the tracker. In this way the most valuable samples can be estimated and used for updating the classifier. Thus, the number of needed samples can be reduced and an incrementally better detector is obtained. To enable efficient learning (i.e., to have real-time performance) and to assure robust tracking results, we apply on-line boosting for both, learning and tracking. If the tracker can be initialized automatically no user interaction is needed and we have an autonomous learning/labeling system. In the experiments the approach is evaluated in detail for learning a face detector. In addition, to show the generality, also results for completely different objects are presented.
Differences in Anthropometric Measurements between Sudanese Newborn Twins and Singletons

Abstract Twin pregnancies are associated with disturbed fetal growth and a higher risk of low birthweight (LBW), which is one of the most important determinants of perinatal morbidity and mortality in Africa. In this study, we compare anthropometric measurements in Sudanese twins and their mothers with singletons. Methods: In 1000 Sudanese mothers with singleton births and 30 mothers with twins, maternal (weight, height, mid-arm circumference) and 11 newborn anthropometric measurements were taken within 24 hours of delivery. Maternal education and socio-economic status were additionally recorded. Results: Mothers of twins had a significantly higher body weight (p = .045) and lean body mass (p = .02) after delivery, and were from higher social classes in general (p = .014). In addition to gestational age, twins displayed a statistically significant reduction in all anthropometric data, compared to singletons, mainly in terms of birth-weight, chest and head circumference, whereas differences in triceps and subscapular skin fold thickness and ponderal index were distinctly lower. The LBW rate in twins was markedly higher than that in singletons (43.3% vs. 8.3%, p < .001). In 20 out of 30 twins (66.7%), Twin A weighed more than Twin B (difference (SD) of 443 (335) g), and in the remaining 10 cases (33.7%), the weight of Twin B was equal to or more than that of twin A (difference (SD) of 211 (240) g, p = . 039). In unlike-sex pairs, the mean (SD) difference between Twins A and B in birthweight was 459 (481) g, which was distinctly higher, compared to same-sex pairs (boys, 180 (325) g and girls, 36 (413) g). Conclusions: Sudanese twins displayed significantly reduced anthropometric measurements compared to singletons, but to different degrees. Gender had a higher impact on birthweight in twins than in singletons.
P4-to-VHDL: Automatic Generation of 100 Gbps Packet Parsers

Software Defined Networking and OpenFlow offer an elegant way to decouple network control plane from data plane. This decoupling has led to great innovation in the control plane, yet the data plane changes come at much slower pace, mainly due to the hard-wired implementation of network switches. The P4 language aims to overcome this obstacle by providing a description of a customized packet processing functionality for configurable switches. That enables a new generation of possibly heterogeneous networking hardware that can be runtime tailored for the needs of particular applications from various domains. In this paper we contribute to the idea of P4 by presenting design, analysis and experimental results of our packet parser generator. The generator converts a parse graph description of P4 to a synthetizable VHDL code suitable for FPGA implementation. Our results show that the generated circuit is able to parse 100 Gbps traffic with fairly complex protocol structure at line rate on a Xilinx Virtex-7 FPGA. The approach can be used not only in switches, but also in other appliances, such as application accelerators and smart NICs. We compare the generated output to a hand-written parser to show that the price for configurability is only a slightly larger and slower circuit.
Electrophysiological effects of cocaine in the mesoaccumbens dopamine system: studies in the ventral tegmental area

Extracellular single-cell recording and microiontophoretic techniques were used to characterize the effects of cocaine on the activity of mesoaccumbens A10 dopamine (DA) neurons in the rat ventral tegmental area (VTA), which have been implicated in the rewarding effects of this and other drugs of abuse. Because cocaine inhibits the reuptake of DA, norepinephrine (NE), and serotonin (5-HT), and exerts local anesthetic actions, the possible involvement of each of these various mechanisms in the effects of cocaine on A10 DA neurons was investigated. Intravenous administration of cocaine caused a significant, dose- dependent, partial inhibition (50–70%) of the firing of antidromically identified mesoaccumbens DA neurons. Similar partial inhibition of A10 neurons was observed following intravenous administration of nomifensine, GBR-12909, and norcocaine, all of which inhibit DA reuptake. Neither the selective 5-HT uptake inhibitor fluoxetine nor the selective NE uptake inhibitor desmethylimipramine (DMI) inhibited the firing of A10 DA neurons. The local anesthetic agent procaine, which lacks DA uptake blocking efficacy, caused a slight, transient increase in firing rate. These results suggest that the effects of cocaine on A10 DA neurons are due to inhibition of DA reuptake, a conclusion that has been supported by several other findings. Pretreatment with reserpine to deplete vesicular stores of DA significantly reduced the ability of intravenous cocaine to suppress A10 DA neuronal activity. Microiontophoretic administration of cocaine caused only a weak (15–20%) inhibition of the activity of A10 DA neurons, but significantly increased and prolonged the inhibition produced by iontophoretic DA. This effect was not observed with iontophoretically administered procaine iontophoresis of cocaine also significantly potentiated the inhibition of A10 DA activity caused by electrical stimulation of the nucleus accumbens (NAc). Both unilateral ibotenic acid lesions of the NAc and hemitransections of the brain rostral to the VTA significantly reduced the inhibitory effects of intravenous cocaine on A10 DA neurons, suggesting that both somatodendritic impulse-regulating DA autoreceptors and inhibitory NAc- VTA feedback processes are involved in the effects of intravenous cocaine on A10 DA neurons. Therefore, it is hypothesized that the relatively weak inhibitory effects of cocaine on A10 DA neurons may represent a poor compensatory response to enhanced DA neurotransmission within the NAc, and may help to explain the extremely potent rewarding effects of this important drug of abuse.
Diversity-multiplexing tradeoffs in cooperative protocols with relay selection

We study the performance in cooperative diversity protocols employing relay selection, utilizing the diversity-multiplexing tradeoff. We note that for the class of orthogonal cooperation protocols studied by Laneman and Wornell, there is no loss in performance if only one (suitably chosen) relay participates in cooperation. This observation also holds in systems which incorporate decision feedback from the destination. We also quantify performance loss due to relay selection in non-orthogonal dynamic-decode-and-forward protocol studied by Azarian, El Gamal and Schniter. Our results present a simple alternative to distributed space-time codes for realizing the potential gains in multiple relay, user cooperation systems, and open new avenues for fruitful interaction between routing and cooperative diversity.
Electric discharge milling of polycrystalline diamond

Abstract Polycrystalline diamond (PCD) has been used widely in modern industry. However, the manufacture of PCD blanks is not an economical and efficient process. The shaping of PCD blanks with conventional machining methods (such as grinding), is a long, labour-intensive and costly process. Electromachining processes promise to be effective and economical techniques for the production of tools and parts from PCD blanks. Wire electric discharge machining is able to effectively slice PCD. Electrical discharge machining (EDM) and electrical discharge grinding (EDG) shape PCD blanks at a lower cost. However, EDM and EDG of a large surface area on PCD show lower efficiency. This paper presents a new process of machining PCD using electrical discharge (ED) milling. ED milling employs a DC source instead of the pulse generator used in EDM, and uses a water-based emulsion as the machining fluid. This process is able to effectively machine a large surface area on PCD, and effectively machine other advanced conducting materials such as cubic born nitride (CBN), and ceramics. The effect of pulse on-time, peak current, and polarity on the process performance has been investigated.
Type of surgical treatment and recurrence of oral leukoplakia: A retrospective clinical study

Background Oral leukoplakia (OL) is the most typical potentially malignant disorder of the oral mucosa. We aimed to evaluate the clinical outcome of oral leukoplakia treated with several types of lasers and with the use of quantic molecular resonance (QMR) lancet, in terms of recurrence rate. Material and Methods Eighty-seven previously untreated OL (52 occurring in females and 35 in males, mean age of 59.4 ± 13.9 years) were consecutively submitted to surgical treatment at University Hospital of Parma, Italy, and Hospital de Valongo, Portugal, (1999 to 2012). Interventions were subclassified into 5 groups according to the instrument used for the surgical removal of OL (cold blade – 17; Nd:YAG 1064nm laser – 14; Er:YAG 2940nm laser - 33; CO2 10600nm laser – 15; and QMR scalpel – 8). The mean follow-up period after treatment was 21.6 months (range 1-151 months). The outcome of treatment was scored through the same clinical protocol in the two participating units. Statistical analysis were carried by univariate analysis using chi-square test (or Pearson´s test when appropriate). Results Recurrences were observed in 24 cases of OL (27.6%). Malignant transformation occurred in one patient (1.1%) after a period of 35 months. Statistical comparison of the 5 surgical treatment modalities showed no differences in clinical outcomes nor in the recurrence rate of OL. However, when Er:YAG laser group was compared with traditional scalpel, a significantly better outcome in cases treated with Er:YAG laser (P = 0.015) was highlighted. Conclusions Our results suggests that Er:YAG laser could be a promising option for the treatment of OL. Key words:Oral leukoplakia; Potentially malignant disorders; Er:YAG Laser; CO2 Laser; Nd:YAG Laser; Quantic molecular resonance scalpel; malignant transformation rate.
De novo assembly of the pennycress (Thlaspi arvense) transcriptome provides tools for the development of a winter cover crop and biodiesel feedstock

Field pennycress (Thlaspi arvense L.) has potential as an oilseed crop that may be grown during fall (autumn) and winter months in the Midwestern United States and harvested in the early spring as a biodiesel feedstock. There has been little agronomic improvement in pennycress through traditional breeding. Recent advances in genomic technologies allow for the development of genomic tools to enable rapid improvements to be made through genomic assisted breeding. Here we report an annotated transcriptome assembly for pennycress. RNA was isolated from representative plant tissues, and 203 million unique Illumina RNA-seq reads were produced and used in the transcriptome assembly. The draft transcriptome assembly consists of 33 873 contigs with a mean length of 1242 bp. A global comparison of homology between the pennycress and Arabidopsis transcriptomes, along with four other Brassicaceae species, revealed a high level of global sequence conservation within the family. The final assembly was functionally annotated, allowing for the identification of putative genes controlling important agronomic traits such as flowering and glucosinolate metabolism. Identification of these genes leads to testable hypotheses concerning their conserved function and to rational strategies to improve agronomic properties in pennycress. Future work to characterize isoform variation between diverse pennycress lines and develop a draft genome sequence for pennycress will further direct trait improvement.
Optimal Region for Binary Search Tree , Rotation and Polytope

Given a set of keys and its weight, a binary search tree(BST) with the smallest path length among all trees with the keys and the weight is called optimal tree. Knuth showed that the optimal tree is computed in the time of square of the number of keys. In this paper, we propose algorithms that divide the weight space into regions corresponding to optimal trees by a construction algorithm of convex hull. It is proved that each BST has a non-empty region, called optimal region, for which only the tree is optimal and that two optimal regions are adjacent if the corresponding trees are transformed to each other by a single rotation. We describe a relation between associahedron and the convex hull of the whole BSTs.
Autoantibodies Against “Nuclear Dots” in Primary Biliary Cirrhosis

Autoantibodies against nuclear proteins are not always but rather frequently present in sera of patients with primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC). The specificity and diagnostic value of these autoantibodies for PBC have only recently become clear through cloning of the cDNA of some of the corresponding autoantigens which allowed the establishment of immunological assays with recombinant autoantigens expressed in E. coli and eukaryotic cells. In this report we summarize primarily the knowledge on the structure and putative function of two nuclear autoantigens, the Sp100 and PML proteins, which are present in so-called nuclear dots (NDs) and against which autoantibodies are present in a subpopulation of PBC patients. Furthermore, the type of autoimmune response (epitope specificity and immunoglobulin class) against both the Sp100 and PML proteins and the specificity of the anti-Sp100 and anti-PML autoantibodies for PBC patients and patients with other autoimmune diseases is reviewed. Current knowledge clearly indicates that determination of anti-Sp100 and anti-PML autoantibodies substantially improves diagnosis of PBC as these autoantibodies are highly specific for this disease even when autoantibodies against mitochondrial antigens, a hallmark of most PBC patients, are not found. The type of autoimmune response against the Sp100 and PML proteins also provides some clues about possible mechanisms which lead to autoantigenicity of both proteins.
Neural Tube Defects

Neural tube defects (NTDs) are congenital malformations of the central nervous system and axial skeleton that range from the fatal to the asymptomatic. NTDs can be classified according to the embryonic event that is disturbed, and can result from a variety of genetic defects and environmental influences. Understanding the genetic and embryonic basis of NTDs is revealing the underlying developmental mechanisms, and enabling new approaches towards prevention of these serious birth defects. This strategy is exemplified by the ability of folic acid and other small molecules to prevent spina bifida. Keywords: birth defects; nervous system; embryo; genes; developmental biology
Molecular characterization of the sor gene, which encodes the sulfur oxygenase/reductase of the thermoacidophilic Archaeum Desulfurolobus ambivalens

A 5.8-kbp HindIII fragment containing the sor gene which encodes the aerobically induced sulfur oxygenase/reductase of the thermoacidophilic, chemolithoautotrophic, and facultatively anaerobic archaeum Desulfurolobus ambivalens, was cloned in pUC18 by using an oligonucleotide derived from the N-terminal amino acid sequence for identification (pSOR-1/17). The native enzyme is a 550,000-molecular-weight oligomer composed of single 40,000-molecular-weight subunits; this oligomer is capable of the simultaneous oxidation and reduction of sulfur (A. Kletzin, J. Bacteriol. 171:1638-1643, 1989). From the fragment, 3,025 bp that contained the entire sor gene were sequenced. The sor gene encoded a protein with 309 amino acid residues (molecular weight, 35,317). The transcript length was determined by Northern RNA hybridization to be 960 to 1,020 nucleotides, and the transcriptional start site was mapped by primer extension analysis. The transcript of the sor gene in aerobically grown cells was amplified 38- to 42-fold relative to that in anaerobically grown cells. An initial transcriptional characterization of three neighboring genes of unknown function is also reported.
Complete Genome Sequences of Three Erwinia amylovora Phages Isolated in North America and a Bacteriophage Induced from an Erwinia tasmaniensis Strain

ABSTRACT Fire blight, a plant disease of economic importance caused by Erwinia amylovora, may be controlled by the application of bacteriophages. Here, we provide the complete genome sequences and the annotation of three E. amylovora-specific phages isolated in North America and genomic information about a bacteriophage induced by mitomycin C treatment of an Erwinia tasmaniensis strain that is antagonistic for E. amylovora. The American phages resemble two already-described viral genomes, whereas the E. tasmaniensis phage displays a singular genomic sequence in BLAST searches.
Evaluation of dimensionality reduction methods for image auto-annotation

Image auto-annotation is a challenging task in computer vision. The goal of this task is to predict multiple words for generic images automatically. Recent state-of-theart methods are based on a non-parametric approach that uses several visual features to calculate distances between image samples. While this approach is successful from the viewpoint of annotation accuracy, the computational costs, in terms of both complexity and memory use, tend to be high, since non-parametric methods require many training instances to be stored in memory to compute distances from a query. In this paper, we investigate several linear dimensionality reduction methods for efficient image annotation. Using the additional information provided by multiple labels, we can obtain a small representation preserving (and hopefully improving) the semantic distance of a visual feature. Linear methods are computationally reasonable and are suitable for practical large-scale systems, although only limited comparison of such methods is available in this research field. Extensive experiments and analyses on various datasets and visual features show how these simple methods can be applied effectively to image annotation.
Fault recovery for a distributed QoS-based multicast routing algorithm

This paper proposes a new minimum spanning tree (MST) based distributed QoS-based multicast routing algorithm which is capable of constructing a delay constrained multicast tree when node failures occur during the tree construction period and recovering from any node failure in a multicast tree during the on-going multicast session without interrupting the running traffic on the unaffected portion of the tree. The proposed algorithm performs the failure recovery efficiently, which gives better performance in terms of the number of exchanged messages and the convergence time than the existing MST based distributed multicast routing algorithms.