Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Biomoc a reprodukční biomedicína: konceptuální inspirace pro český kontext

Text tematizuje koncept biomoci ve vztahu k soucasne reprodukcni medicině. Představuje analyticke ramce k uchopeni způsobů, jakými je uplatňovana a vyjednavana moc a hegemonie moderni zapadni mediciny (biomediciny) v oblasti lidske reprodukce, a nabizi možnosti pro jejich užiti při sociologickem zkoumani ceske reprodukcni mediciny. Jde zejmena o biomoc a biopolitiku jakožto analyticke představy o způsobu vladnuti a administrace moderni populace, governmentalitu, medicinizaci a autoritativni věděni. Stať pojima biomedicinu jako projev normalizace moderni spolecnosti, ztotožněný se zapadnim pojetim zdravi a nemoci ci s ideou technologickeho pokroku, a podrobuje ji kriticke sociologicke reflexi. Soustřeďuje se na analýzu reprodukcni mediciny, jedne z klicových oblasti biomoci. V kontextu biomoci je významna analýza normativniho charakteru reprodukcni mediciny a jeho konsekvenci v sirsim socialnim prostoru. Ty se týkaji intimity a sexuality, instituce přibuzenstvi, heteronormativni reprodukce, genderových identit, atd. Důvodem zacileni naseho zajmu na tuto oblast je výrazna propojenost reprodukcni mediciny s technologickým aparatem a s komodifikaci zdravi a nemoci. Cilem stati je take orientace v dosavadnich přistupech ceske sociologie v danem tematu; zejmena chceme nabidnout konceptualni perspektivu ceske sociologii mediciny a s jeji pomoci analyticky spojit tema biomoci a reprodukcni mediciny.
International Journal of Nanomedicine Dovepress Synthesis and Characterization of Silver/talc Nanocomposites Using the Wet Chemical Reduction Method

In this study, silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs) were synthesized using the wet chemical reduction method on the external surface layer of talc mineral as a solid support. Silver nitrate and sodium borohydride were used as the silver precursor and reducing agent in talc. The talc was suspended in aqueous AgNO 3 solution. After the absorption of Ag + on the surface, the ions were reduced with NaBH 4. The interlamellar space limits were without many changes (d s = 9.34–9.19 A º); therefore, Ag-NPs formed on the exterior surface of talc, with d ave = 7.60–13.11 nm in diameter. The properties of Ag/talc nanocomposites (Ag/talc-NCs) and the diameters of the Ag-NPs prepared in this way depended on the primary AgNO 3 concentration. The prepared Ag-NPs were characterized by ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, powder X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and Fourier transform infrared. These Ag/talc-NCs may have potential applications in the chemical and biological industries.
N-Terminal Acetylation Inhibits Protein Targeting to the Endoplasmic Reticulum

Amino-terminal acetylation is probably the most common protein modification in eukaryotes with as many as 50%–80% of proteins reportedly altered in this way. Here we report a systematic analysis of the predicted N-terminal processing of cytosolic proteins versus those destined to be sorted to the secretory pathway. While cytosolic proteins were profoundly biased in favour of processing, we found an equal and opposite bias against such modification for secretory proteins. Mutations in secretory signal sequences that led to their acetylation resulted in mis-sorting to the cytosol in a manner that was dependent upon the N-terminal processing machinery. Hence N-terminal acetylation represents an early determining step in the cellular sorting of nascent polypeptides that appears to be conserved across a wide range of species.
Common-mode noise cancellation circuit for wearable ECG

Wearable electrocardiogram (ECG) is attracting much attention for monitoring heart diseases in healthcare and medical applications. However, an imbalance usually exists between the contact resistances of sensing electrodes, so that a common mode noise caused by external electromagnetic field can be converted into the ECG detection circuit as a differential mode interference voltage. In this study, after explaining the mechanism of how the common mode noise is converted to a differential mode interference voltage, the authors propose a circuit with cadmium sulphide photo-resistors for cancelling the imbalance between the contact resistances and confirm its validity by simulation experiment. As a result, the authors found that the interference voltage generated at the wearable ECG can be effectively reduced to a sufficient small level.
A 6.5 GHz monolithic CMOS voltage-controlled oscillator

Phase noise and frequency tuning range are key performance parameters of high-frequency voltage-controlled oscillators (VCOs). To achieve low phase noise, LC sinusoidal oscillators with high quality factor (Q) are preferred to other topologies, such as inverter-based ring oscillators. The frequency tuning of LC oscillators can be readily achieved with varactor diodes either on-chip or external. The frequency tuning range is often limited by low supply voltage and maximum variable capacitance available to varactors at high frequencies when on-chip inductors are used. Other frequency tuning approaches include varying current in the resonator to alter effective capacitance, or varying relative weighting between two different LC resonators. While the former approach varies loop gain in addition to the phase, the latter requires careful choice of the resonators and their Qs for stable oscillations. This VCO architecture incorporates two coupled fixed-frequency LC oscillators to generate a variable-frequency output by varying the coupling between two oscillators.
A comparison of two methods for constructing evolutionary distances from a weighted contribution of transition and transversion differences.

Since the initial work of Jukes and Cantor (1969), a number of procedures have been developed to estimate the expected number of nucleotide substitutions corresponding to a given observed level of nucleotide differentiation assuming particular evolutionary models. Unlike the proportion of different sites, the expected number of substitutions that would have occurred grows linearly with time and therefore has had great appeal as an evolutionary distance. Recently, however, a number of authors have tried to develop improved statistical approaches for generating and evaluating evolutionary distances (Schöniger and von Haeseler 1993; Goldstein and Polock 1994; Tajima and Takezaki 1994). These studies clearly show that the estimated number of nucleotide substitutions is generally not the best estimator for use in reconstruction of phylogenetic relationships. The reason for this is that there is often a large error associated with the estimation of this number. Therefore, even though its expectation is correct (i.e., on average the expected number of substitutions is proportional to time--but see Tajima 1993), it is not expected to be as useful as estimators designed to have a lower variance.
Die Behandlung von bipolaren Störungen nach den Leitlinien des Canadian Network for Mood and Anxiety Treatments

Zusammenfassung Für die Behandlung bipolarer Störungen wurden von unterschiedlichen Arbeitsgruppen evidenzbasierte Leitlinien herausgegeben, bei denen die verschiedenen diagnostischen Untergruppen sowie die verschiedenen Behandlungsphasen berücksichtigt werden. Besonders aktuell und umfassend sind die Leitlinien des Canadian Network for Mood and Anxiety Treatments (CANMAT). Die dort gegebenen Empfehlungen begründen sich nicht nur auf den Evidenzgrad mit der jeweiligen Substanz, sondern beziehen auch Daten zur Sicherheit und Verträglichkeit sowie allgemeine klinische Erfahrungen mit ein. In diesem Beitrag werden die Empfehlungen des CANMAT aus den Leitlinien 2005 und dem Update 2007 zusammengefasst und kurz kommentiert.
A Junctionless Nanowire Transistor With a Dual-Material Gate

A dual-material-gate junctionless nanowire transistor (DMG-JNT) is proposed in this paper. Its characteristic is demonstrated and compared with a generic single-material-gate JNT using 3-D numerical simulations. The results show that the DMG-JNT has a number of desirable features, such as high ON-state current, a large ON/OFF current ratio, improved transconductance Gm, high unity-gain frequency fT, high maximum oscillation frequency fMAX, and reduced drain-induced barrier lowering. The effects of different control gate ratios Ra and varied work-function differences between the two gates are studied. Finally, the optimization of Ra and the work-function difference for the proposed DMG-JNT is presented.
Kolibri: tiny and fast gestures for large pen-based surfaces

Triggering commands on large interactive surfaces is less efficient than on desktop PCs. It requires either large physical movements to reach an interaction area (e.g., buttons) or additional operations to call context menus (e.g., dwell). There is a lack of efficient ways to trigger shortcuts. We introduce Kolibri - a pen-based gesture system that allows fast access of commands on interactive whiteboards. Users can draw tiny gestures (approx. 3 mm) anywhere on the surface to trigger commands without interfering with normal inking. This approach does neither require entering a gesture mode, nor dedicated gesture areas. The implementation relies on off-the-shelf hardware only. We tested the feasibility and explored the properties of this technique with several studies. The results from a controlled experiment show significant benefits of Kolibri comparing to an existing approach.
A Comparison of Sorority and Non-Sorority Students' Perceptions Concerning Beliefs and Attitudes About Campus Safety, Victimization, and Personal Safety

This study examined female students' perceptions of campus safety, specifically sorority woman and non-sorority women. Previous research found that women feel less safe on campus than males. However, previous research concerning female students focused on sexual assaults. The purpose of this quantitative study was to explore female students' beliefs and attitudes about campus safety, victimization, and personal safety on campus. A demographic survey was used to subdivide the sample into sorority and non-sorority participants, college status (e.g. sophomore, graduate student etc.), ethnicity, whether they live on campus or off campus, age, and gender. A second survey created by Baker and Boland (2011) was used to answer the research questions. The overall findings from this study found that sorority women care about campus safety and that both subpopulations were unsatisfied with certain campus safety features. This study found that sorority women were victimized more than non-sorority women but both subpopulations were willing to take safety precautions in the future to keep themselves safe on campus.
The Design and Implementation of Data Cleaning Knowledge Modeling

Considering the limited extensibility of the current data cleaning tools, this paper designs a rule driven data cleaning knowledge modeling to solve this shortcoming. The modeling improves the efficiency of data cleaning and ensures the quality of data. It describes the design of some key technologies of the modeling, such as rule base, cleaning strategy, cleaning algorithm and data cleaning processing flow in detail. It also presents a dynamic verification, compilation and execution method by using the Object Pascal language which has the advantages of functionalism and logic.
Self-determination in interpersonal situations.

Self-determination theory (SDT) provides a thoughtful analysis of the psychological needs for competence, relatedness, and autonomy, the adaptive value of these needs, as well as how these needs relate to past contemporary theories of motivation. SDT is one of the few theories within psychology that extends and complements the "logic" that rewards and punishments always guide people in the predicted direction: Indeed, rewards may have hidden costs as well as hidden gains. Given that rewards and cost are so omnipresent, the processes outlined by SDT should be relevant to many different situations, varying from close relationships, educational settings, organizations, to societies at large. It also interesting to note that SDT seems particularly relevant to social dilemmas: conflicts between self-interest and collective interest (Komorita & Parks, 1995). According to SDT, people may not always respond to externally provided cost and rewards in a manner consistent with "economic theory" and rational choice models. For example, in regulating social dilemmas, governments may sometimes exert too much control, so that the provision of rewards for "cooperative" behavior (e.g., tax reduction for those who commute by public transportation rather than by car) tum out less effective than many policymakers had anticipated. Some work on social dilemmas provides at least indirect support for this reasoning, although it is not clear whether the hidden costs of rewards ultimately need to be understood in terms of the needs for competence, relatedness, or autonomy (e.g., Van Lange, Van Vugt, & De Cremer, 2000). In this commentary, I discuss the utility of SDT in the context of interpersonal situations. The basic thrust of this commentary is that although SDT can provide a reasonable account of motivational processes in interpersonal situations, this account needs to be considered in light of alternative theories that focus on the sequence of behavior (i.e., patterns of social interaction) and relationship-relevant features that shape motivation, behavior, and interaction.
Application of the Modular Approach to an In-House Validation Study of Real-Time PCR Methods for the Detection and Serogroup Determination of Verocytotoxigenic Escherichia coli

ABSTRACT European Commission regulation 2073/2005 on the microbiological criteria for food requires that Escherichia coli is monitored as an indicator of hygienic conditions. Since verocytotoxigenic E. coli (VTEC) strains often cause food-borne infections by the consumption of raw food, the Biological Hazards (BIOHAZ) panel of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) recommended their monitoring in food as well. In particular, VTEC strains belonging to serogroups such as O26, O103, O111, O145, and O157 are known causative agents of several human outbreaks. Eight real-time PCR methods for the detection of E. coli toxin genes and their variants (stx 1, stx 2), the intimin gene (eae), and five serogroup-specific genes have been proposed by the European Reference Laboratory for VTEC (EURL-VTEC) as a technical specification to the European Normalization Committee (CEN TC275/WG6). Here we applied a “modular approach” to the in-house validation of these PCR methods. The modular approach subdivides an analytical process into separate parts called “modules,” which are independently validated based on method performance criteria for a limited set of critical parameters. For the VTEC real-time PCR module, the following parameters are being assessed: specificity, dynamic range, PCR efficiency, and limit of detection (LOD). This study describes the modular approach for the validation of PCR methods to be used in food microbiology, using single-target plasmids as positive controls and showing their applicability with food matrices.
Reduction of antithrombin III, protein C, and protein S levels and activated protein C resistance in polycythemia vera and essential thrombocythemia patients with thrombosis

Patients with polycythemia vera (PV) or essential thrombocythemia (ET) show a high frequency of thrombosis. The reduction of hematocrit after phlebotomy and normalization of platelet counts do not completely eliminate thrombotic risk. Some preliminary studies reported a reduction in the concentration of natural anticoagulants (NA) in this group of patients. For this reason we evaluated protein S (PS) total antigen, antithrombin III (AT III), and protein C (PC) activity in 81 patients with chronic myeloproliferative disorders (33 with PV and 48 with ET). Data were compared with those obtained in 70 healthy sex‐ and age‐matched subjects. Fifty‐seven percent of patients (46 out of 81) showed one or more thrombotic episodes at diagnosis or during follow‐up. Interestingly, we found a NA deficit in 43.5% of patients with thrombosis versus only 5.7% in the group of patients without thrombosis. These results may suggest new interpretations about the pathogenesis of thrombosis in PV or ET patients. © 1996 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Improved connectorization of compliant polymer waveguide ribbon for silicon nanophotonics chip interfacing to optical fibers

Optical packaging is one of the key challenges of silicon nanophotonics. Most of the existing optical packaging techniques, however, have scalability limitations in chip size, channel count of manufacturing cost. As the solution, we demonstrated a new method of low-cost, mechanically compliant polymer interface between standard single mode fibers and nanophotonic waveguides. This method gives better mechanical reliability and better optical performance than existing methods. To achieve the high precision assembly to meet with the single mode optics alignment accuracy, we used the self-alignment features to bridge the gap between the accuracy required by single-mode optics (1-2 um) and the capability of high-throughput microelectronic assembly equipment (~10 um). Although the self-alignment method was effective for lateral positioning, a precise thickness control of the polymer layer was necessary to achieve the positioning in the height direction. Since the tight thickness control of the polymer waveguide is sometimes difficult to realize, we have improved the precision alignment method without requiring tight thickness control of the polymer film. The new method has been confirmed in the passive assembly of polymer waveguide ribbon with the connector ferrule designed for this method.
Novel seed selection for multiple objects detection and tracking

This paper proposes a unified approach for initializing, detecting and tracking of multiple moving objects. Object initialization is achieved through novel seed selection which is adaptively activated, depending on the quality of tracking, to select the best possible frames along the temporal direction for object detection. EM algorithm is then employed to robustly segment and detect multiple objects in a selected frame. Each detected object is represented by an appearance-based model and mean shift tracking procedure is adopted to rapidly and effectively track the target objects.
Cell type‐specific dependence of muscarinic signalling in mouse hippocampal stratum oriens interneurones

Cholinergic signalling is critically involved in learning and memory processes in the hippocampus, but the postsynaptic impact of cholinergic modulation on morphologically defined subtypes of hippocampal interneurones remains unclear. We investigated the influence of muscarinic receptor (mAChR) activation on stratum oriens interneurones using whole‐cell patch clamp recordings from hippocampal slices in vitro. Upon somatic depolarization, mAChR activation consistently enhanced firing frequency and produced large, sustained afterdepolarizations (ADPs) of stratum oriens–lacunosum moleculare (O‐LM) interneurones. In contrast, stratum oriens cell types with axon arborization patterns different from O‐LM cells not only lacked large muscarinic ADPs but also appeared to exhibit distinct responses to mAChR activation. The ADP in O‐LM cells, mediated by M1/M3 receptors, was associated with inhibition of an M current, inhibition of a slow calcium‐activated potassium current, and activation of a calcium‐dependent non‐selective cationic current (ICAT). An examination of ionic conductances generated by firing revealed that calcium entry through ICAT controls the emergence of the mAChR‐mediated ADP. Our results indicate that cholinergic specializations are present within anatomically distinct subpopulations of hippocampal interneurones, suggesting that there may be organizing principles to cholinergic control of GABA release in the hippocampus.
Vehicle detection based on spatial-temporal connection background subtraction

This paper describes an application of computer vision techniques to road surveillance. We could detect and track vehicles in real traffic scenes to generate meaningful traffic parameters as well as new metrics suitable for improved automated surveillance. This paper adopts spatial-temporal connection method to detect the vehicles. We use background subtraction based on Gaussian mixture modelling to extract the foreground, next update the foreground by spatial information. Experimental results and analysis of the algorithm are presented in this paper.
Microtubule motors control membrane dynamics of Salmonella-containing vacuoles

Infection of host cells by Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium (S. typhimurium) leads to the formation of specialised membrane-bound compartments called Salmonella-containing vacuoles (SCVs). Bacteria remain enclosed by the vacuolar membrane as they divide, and by translocating effector proteins across the vacuolar membrane through the SPI-2 type III secretion system, they interfere with host cell processes in ways that promote bacterial growth. One such effector is SifA, which is required to maintain the integrity of the vacuolar membrane and for the formation in epithelial cells of long tubular structures called Sifs that are connected to SCVs. Unknown effector(s) mediate the assembly of a meshwork of F-actin around SCVs. We report that intracellular bacteria also cause a dramatic accumulation of microtubules around S. typhimurium microcolonies in both epithelial cells and macrophages. Although this process appears to be independent of SPI-2-mediated F-actin assembly, it does require bacterial protein synthesis. In epithelial cells, microtubule accumulation is accompanied by the recruitment of both kinesin and dynein. Inhibition of the activity of either motor prevented both Sif formation and the loss of vacuolar membrane from sifA mutant bacteria. It also resulted in morphologically abnormal vacuoles enclosing wild-type bacteria, and impaired their replication. Our experiments indicate that recruitment of dynein to SCVs is dependent on Rab7 activity. We show that the recently described Rab7 effector RILP is also recruited to SCVs in a Rab7-dependent manner. However, overexpression of RILP did not restore dynein recruitment to SCVs in cells expressing dominant negative Rab7, suggesting that RILP requires a functional Rab7 to be activated at the SCV membrane, or that dynein recruitment is mediated by an effector other than RILP. Together, these experiments indicate that microtubule motors play important roles in regulating vacuolar membrane dynamics during intracellular replication of S. typhimurium.
Development of a large, concept-oriented database for information retrieval

The development of concept-oriented databases using AI knowledge representation schemes is proposed as a step towards improving the precision and recall of information retrieval systems. Currently underway is the augmentation of a 238,000 citation database, Chemical Abstracts (CA) Volume 105, by addition of detailed conceptual information in the form of frames and hierarchies. The initial text data is parsed using natural language processing (NLP) techniques to create frames describing the semantics of the index entries in the database, with the slots in the frames being pointers into a very large semantic network of conceptual objects (956,000 objects). To examine the resultant knowledge base (KB), a simple hypertext system is proposed, with the conceptual information serving as pathways to connect related citations.