Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Optimization of traction force microscopy for micron-sized focal adhesions

To understand how adherent cells regulate traction forces on their surrounding extracellular matrix (ECM), quantitative techniques are needed to measure forces at the cell–ECM interface. Microcontact printing is used to create a substrate of 1 µm diameter circles of ECM ligand to experimentally study the reconstruction of traction stresses at constrained, point-like focal adhesions. Traction reconstruction with point forces (TRPF) and Fourier transform traction cytometry (FTTC) are used to calculate the traction forces and stress field, respectively, at isolated adhesions. We find that the stress field calculated with FTTC peaks near the center of individual adhesions but propagates several microns beyond the adhesion location. We find the optimal set of FTTC parameters that yield the highest stress magnitude, minimizing information lost from over-smoothing and sampling of the displacement or stress field. A positive correlation between the TRPF and FTTC measurements exists, but integrating the FTTC stress field over the adhesion area yields only a small fraction of the force calculated by TRPF. An effective area similar to that defined by the width of the stress distribution measured with FTTC is required to reconcile these measurements. These measurements set bounds on the spatial resolution and precision of FTTC measurements on micron-sized adhesions.
ON THE DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF HIGH VOLTAGE GAIN MODULAR MULTILEVEL DC-DC CONVERTERS

ON THE DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF HIGH VOLTAGE GAIN MODULAR MULTILEVEL DC-DC CONVERTERS By Dennis K. Wey Switched capacitor DC-DC converters have features that make them ideal for many industries, including the aerospace and automotive industries. The converter solely relies on switches and capacitors to accomplish the energy transfer task. Additionally, this converter does not require the use of magnetic components to operate, thus enabling the switched capacitor circuit to be small, lightweight, and more immune to EMI problems, making it possible for the whole converter to be manufactured on a single IC chip. This study develops the design and implementation of modular multilevel switched capacitor DC-DC converters. The converter takes two charge pump paths feed the load directly, leading to less power loss in the energy transfer, and making the output voltage almost ripplefree. The converter is suitable for high voltage gain applications. This study also investigates the feasibility of implementing the converter with output power of 200 W for the photovoltaic (PV) applications using the TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor) T25HV process. A four-stage 8X converter has been developed and the circuit is fabricated in TSMC T25HV process. The simulation and experiment results are presented, and some issues regarding maximizing output power are also addressed.
Large vocabulary continuous speech recognition based on WFST structured classifiers and deep bottleneck features

Recently, structured classification approaches have been considered important with a view to achieving unified modeling of the acoustic and linguistic aspects of speech recognizers. With these approaches, unified representation is achieved by directly optimizing a score function that measures the correspondence between the input and output of the system. Since structured classifiers typically employ a linear function as a score function, extracting expressive features from the input and output of the system is very important. On the other hand, the effectiveness of deep neural networks has been verified by several experiments, and it has been suggested that the outputs of hidden layers in deep neural networks (DNNs) are essential speech features that purely express phonetic information. In this paper, we propose a method for structured classification with DNN features. The proposed method expands conventional DNN- based acoustic models so that they optimizes the weight terms of the arcs in a decoding WFST, which is constructed with the on-the-fly composition method. Since DNN-based features can be considered enhancements in the input representation, the enhancements in the output representation based on the WFST arcs are expected to complement the DNN-based features. The proposed method achieved an 8 % relative error reduction even compared with a strong acoustic model based on DNNs.
Time-Varying Interharmonics in Different Types of Grid-Tied PV Inverter Systems

Widely existing circuit topologies and inverter control strategies for photovoltaic (PV) systems allow customer flexibility but also introduce different kinds of interharmonics into the grid. A complete understanding of interharmonics from PV systems, with reasons behind their origin, remains needed. In addition, the time-varying nature of interharmonics and the potential impacts on other equipment are yet to be understood. In this paper, laboratory and field measurements of seven different inverter types at multiple locations are presented. A comprehensive analysis is performed to understand the existence, persistence, and propagation of interharmonics in PV systems on the dc side as well as grid side for different power levels. The origins of the interharmonics are established with experimental evidence and through a comparative analysis. A rural low voltage six customer network, with two different impedance profiles caused by the installation of PV, is considered to show the potential impact on customer voltage. To address the time-varying nature of interharmonics, a sliding window ESPRIT method is preferred over fast fourier transform (FFT)-based methods.
The takeover of science communication: how science lost its leading role in the public discourse on carbon capture and storage research in daily newspapers in Germany

Abstract. CCS (carbon capture and storage) is an important issue within the context of climate-change mitigation options and has played a major role in the agendas of scientists, researchers, and engineers. While media representations of CCS in Germany from 2004 to 2014 demonstrated the significant mediatization of the topic, this cannot be ascribed to science. Instead, CCS media coverage in Germany has been dominated by other stakeholder groups. While CCS is linked to various industry sectors, such as cement and steel production, the German debate has dominantly focussed on the coal and energy branches. This study looks at the role of science and science public relations (PR) within the German public debate by analysing the media coverage of CCS in daily newspapers from 2004 to 2014. If science wishes to remain proactive within science communication, new approaches for future science PR have to be deduced to strengthen, once again, the role of science communication. Among these approaches, it is important to pursue a more differentiated understanding of target audiences and regional concerns. Science PR has to accept that science itself is no longer the only stakeholder and actor within science communication.
Cognitive decline affects diabetic women

Abstract Introduction: DM provokes peripheral complications and changes in central nervous system. Central changes in the course of diabetes mellitus (DM) include changes in brain tissue structure, electrophysiological abnormalities but also disturbances in neurotransmission leading to cognitive decline. Aim of the study: The aim of our study was to asses cognitive functioning of patients suffering from DM1 for at least 5 years but without any diagnosed complications. Materials and methods: Cognitive functions were assessed in 59 patients (35 men) with Trail Making Test A (TMT A) and B (TMT B), Maze Test (MT), Stroop Test (SCWT) and Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT). Mental disorders were excluded with Beck’s Depression Inventory (BT), Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) and psychiatric examination. Results: We stated that women, compared with men, presented worsening of executive functions, speed and motor control. Cognitive decline depended on number of episodes of at least moderate hypoglycemia and duration of disease. HbA1c below 8% resulted in better memory, speed and motor control. Cognitive decline was more escalated in the patients with atherogenic lipid profile. Conclusions: It seems that even apparent lack of complications is not unambiguous with lack of cognitive decline and women seem to be more susceptible. DM1 affects young individuals, whose cognitive functions are in the course of the development, so it is important to find the underlying mechanisms and the areas of disturbed cognitive functioning and further investigations are needed.
Nitrogen Stimulates the Growth of Subsurface Basalt-associated Microorganisms at the Western Flank of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge

Oceanic crust constitutes the largest aquifer system on Earth, and microbial activity in this environment has been inferred from various geochemical analyses. However, empirical documentation of microbial activity from subsurface basalts is still lacking, particularly in the cool (<25°C) regions of the crust, where are assumed to harbor active iron-oxidizing microbial communities. To test this hypothesis, we report the enrichment and isolation of crust-associated microorganisms from North Pond, a site of relatively young and cold basaltic basement on the western flank of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge that was sampled during Expedition 336 of the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program. Enrichment experiments with different carbon (bicarbonate, acetate, methane) and nitrogen (nitrate and ammonium) sources revealed significant cell growth (one magnitude higher cell abundance), higher intracellular DNA content, and increased Fe3+/ΣFe ratios only when nitrogen substrates were added. Furthermore, a Marinobacter strain with neutrophilic iron-oxidizing capabilities was isolated from the basalt. This work reveals that basalt-associated microorganisms at North Pond had the potential for activity and that microbial growth could be stimulated by in vitro nitrogen addition. Furthermore, iron oxidation is supported as an important process for microbial communities in subsurface basalts from young and cool ridge flank basement.
On the Evaluation of Channel Capacity of UWB Indoor Wireless Systems

This paper discusses the channel capacity of multiantenna ultra-wideband (UWB) indoor wireless systems. It is shown first that for both single-input single-output (SISO) and multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) cases, when the transmit SNR is lower than some value, say -20 dB, using optimal power spectrum allocation (OPSA) at the transmitter side can increase the reliable transmission rate considerably compared to the uniform power spectrum allocation scheme, while when the transmit signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is higher than some value, say 10 dB, the benefit of OPSA is very limited. Therefore, measures such as the water-filling algorithm should be taken to make full use of the frequency-selectivity of UWB systems if the transmit SNR is low. Second, in the multiple-input single-output (MISO) case, the outage probability decreases with the number of transmit antennas when the communication rate is lower than some value, but increases instead when the rate is higher than another value. A critical transmission rate is identified. Third, in the cases of SIMO and MIMO, the communication rate supportable by the channel with a given outage probability increases approximately logarithmically and linearly, respectively, with the number of receive antennas.
miR-193 b / 365 a cluster controls progression of epidermal squamous cell carcinoma

1UMR 7275, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Institut de Pharmacologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire, 660 route des Lucioles, F-06560 Valbonne, France, 2Université de Nice Sophia-Antipolis, 28 Avenue Valrose, F-06103 Nice Cedex 2, France, 3Department of Medicine, Molecular Dermatology Research Group, Unit of Dermatology and Venereology, Karolinska Institutet, SE-17176 Stockholm, Sweden, 4CNRS UMR 7284 – Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale U1081, Faculté de Médecine, Institue for Research on Cancer and Aging, 28 Avenue de Valombrose, F-06107 Nice Cedex 2, France and 5Department of Pathology, University Hospital of Nice, Nice, France
Relativity in space-times with short distance structure governed by an observer independent (Planckian) length scale

I show that it is possible to formulate the Relativity postulates in a way that does not lead to inconsistencies in the case of spacetimes whose short-distance structure is governed by an observer-independent length scale. The consistency of these postulates proves incorrect the expectation that modifications of the rules of kinematics involving the Planck length would necessarily require the introduction of a preferred class of inertial observers. In particular, it is possible for every inertial observer to agree on physical laws supporting deformed dispersion relations of the type E2-c2 p2-c4m2 + f(E, p, m; Lp) =0, at least for certain types of f.
An Integrated Interpolation-based Super Resolution Reconstruction Algorithm for Video Surveillance

This paper aims at implementing an integrated super resolution reconstruction algorithm to interpolate the missing pixels in the grid to create a high resolution image for a specific purpose. One of the most important application areas of super resolution reconstruction is video surveillance for the purpose of public security. Although, the video surveillance technology are going under tremendous transformation from analog generation to IP-based systems. However, their replacement rate is still not encouraging due to installation and operating costs as well as low output video quality. To overcome this problem, we propose a new hybrid model to integrate super resolution reconstruction into video surveillance. Our proposed algorithm is based on interpolation of cropped low resolution frames extracted from a low quality video surveillance sequence for effective and efficient reconstruction of a high resolution license plate recognition image. Our super resolved image utilizing multiple frames provides far more detail information than any interpolated image from a single frame. The proposed algorithm requires a relatively small number of self extracted low resolution frames from a low quality input sequence. This is important for practical applications, because if a large number of low resolution frames were required the accumulation of imaging errors would adversely affect the reconstruction accuracy. We apply our proposed algorithm to a real sequence from video surveillance and compare our results with those obtained via well-established techniques. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm performs much better than the conventional MISO super resolution techniques. We also noticed significant reduction in the computational cost and memory requirement during the whole reconstruction process.
Learning State Grounding for Optimal Visual Servo Control ofDynamic

We present an experiment in sequential visual servo control of a dynamic manipulation task with unknown equations of motion and feedback from an uncalibrated camera. Our algorithm constructs a model of a Markov decision process (MDP) by means of grounding states in observed trajectories, and uses the model to nd a control policy based on visual input, which maximizes a prespeciied optimal control criterion balancing performance and control eeort.
Economics of Predator Control to Protect Agriculture: The Unanswered Questions

For centuries humans have attempted to control populations of mammalian predators to protect livestock populations. The United States government officially entered the predator control arena in 1915, when Congress appropriated funds for the control of wolves and coyotes (GAO, 2001). Federal and state agencies have since invested significant public resources to control predators to protect and to compensate agricultural producers for incurred losses. In 2007, for example, USDA APHIS Wildlife Services invested over $39 million in predation programs (USDA, 2008). Concurrently, growth in the environmental movement has raised concerns about the efficacy and morality of such resource use (Connolly, 2001, Hewitt, 2001). Recent controversy surrounding the removal of endangered species status for the gray wolf (Canis lupus), specifically the negative public opinion of state management plans that would manage wolves similarly to coyotes, is a case in point.
Scheme for Localization using Curvilinear Component Analysis

The performance of applications of wireless sensor network depend upon the precise location of the nodes. The localization protocol patches together the relative coordinate, local maps into a global coordinate map. These protocols require some nodes that know their absolute coordinates, called anchor nodes. While many factors influence the node position errors, in this class of protocols, using Procrustes Analysis, the placement of the anchor nodes can significantly impact the error. Through simulation, using the Curvilinear Component Analysis (CCA-MAP) protocol, we show the impact of anchor node placement and propose a set of guidelines to ensure the best possible outcome, while using the smallest number of anchor nodes possible.
Subgrid Parameterization of the Soil Moisture Storage Capacity for a Distributed Rainfall-Runoff Model

Spatial variability plays an important role in nonlinear hydrologic processes. Due to the limitation of computational efficiency and data resolution, subgrid variability is usually assumed to be uniform for most grid-based rainfall-runoff models, which leads to the scale-dependence of model performances. In this paper, the scale effect on the Grid-Xinanjiang model was examined. The bias of the estimation of precipitation, runoff, evapotranspiration and soil moisture at the different grid scales, along with the scale-dependence of the effective parameters, highlights the importance of well representing the subgrid variability. This paper presents a subgrid parameterization method to incorporate the subgrid variability of the soil storage capacity, which is a key variable that controls runoff generation and partitioning in the Grid-Xinanjiang model. In light of the similar spatial pattern and physical basis, the soil storage capacity is correlated with the topographic index, whose spatial distribution can more readily be measured. A beta distribution is introduced to represent the spatial distribution of the soil storage capacity within the grid. The results derived from the Yanduhe Basin show that the proposed subgrid parameterization method can effectively correct the watershed soil storage capacity curve. Compared to the original Grid-Xinanjiang model, the model performances are quite consistent at the different grid scales when the subgrid variability is incorporated. This subgrid parameterization method reduces the recalibration necessity when the Digital Elevation Model (DEM) resolution is changed. Moreover, it improves the potential for the application of the distributed model in the ungauged basin.
Fear of hypoglycemia and its determinants in insulin-treated patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus

The aim of the present study was to investigate the prevalence of fear of hypoglycemia, in association with severe hypoglycemia and social factors, in insulin‐treated patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. A questionnaire survey on hypoglycemia and patient–physician communication was carried out in 355 patients with insulin‐treated type 2 diabetes mellitus patients at 16 hospitals and clinics. A fear of hypoglycemia was reported by 27.7% of patients. A stepwise logistic regression analysis found that severe hypoglycemia during the past 1 year was a significant determinant of fear of hypoglycemia (odds ratio 2.16, 95% confidence interval 1.06–4.41; P = 0.034), and age (odds ratio 1.02, 95% confidence interval 1.00–1.05, P = 0.038) and living alone (odds ratio 1.93, 95% confidence interval 1.00–3.73, P < 0.05) were significantly higher in patients with fear of hypoglycemia than in those without it.
INQIRE: a software approach to monitoring QoS in ATM networks

Unlike traditional best-effort packet networks, ATM networks support a wide range of services by providing a specified QoS on each ATM connection. Currently, QoS can be measured with specialized high-speed testing equipment but their complexity and cost prevent them from wide field use. This article describes the INQIRE project approach based on software for enabling common personal computers (with an ATM network interface card) to function as QoS monitoring stations at the edges of an ATM network. The main objective is to develop a low-cost, off-the-shelf alternative to broadband testing equipment. An INQIRE station, consisting of a PC running the INQIRE application, can actively probe any selected connection and collect sample measurements of the QoS. The monitoring approach is intended to be non-intrusive and work with any ATM network without requiring any modifications to existing ATM switch equipment or interruptions to active services.
Adding Flexibility to a Remote Memory

Traditional operating systems use magnetic disks as paging devices although the cost of each page fault measured in processor cycles continues to increase In this paper we argue that applications should be given the opportunity to use as backing store either mag netic disk or the memory of idle workstations within the same LAN We have implemented a pager that pro vides this exibility measured its performance over an Ethernet and found it to be superior to traditional disk paging We conclude that as the available net work bandwidth increases the use of network memory as backing store becomes a evenmore attractive alter
Author's response to reviews Title: Transperineal prostate brachytherapy, using I-125 seed with or without adjuvant androgen deprivation, in patients with intermediate-risk prostate cancer: study protocol for a phase III, multicenter, randomized, controlled trial Authors:

Kenta Miki (JU) (kentamiki@jikei.ac.jp) Takayoshi Kiba (TRI) (kiba@tri-kobe.org) Hiroshi Sasaki (JU) (hs06@jikei.ac.jp) Masahito Kido (JU) (kidomasa@jf7.so-net.ne.jp) Manabu Aoki (JR) (mih-blue@mc.rosenet.ne.jp) Hiroyuki Takahashi (JP) (toritaka@jikei.ac.jp) Keiko Miyakoda (TRI) (miyakoda@tri-kobe.org) Takushi Dokiya (SR) (dokiya@saitama-med.ac.jp) Hidetoshi Yamanaka (KH) (takahana@amber.plala.or.jp) Masanori Fukushima (TRI) (mfukushi@tri-kobe.org) Shin Egawa (s-egpro@jikei.ac.jp)
Recognizing reverberant speech with RASTA-PLP

The performance of the PLP (perceptual linear predictive), log-RASTA-PLP, and J-RASTA-PLP front ends for recognition of highly reverberant speech is measured and compared with the performance of humans and the performance of an experimental RASTA-like front end on reverberant speech, and with the performance of a PLP-based recognizer trained on reverberant speech. While humans are able to reliably recognize the reverberant test set, achieving a 6.1% word error rate, the best RASTA-PLP-based recognizer has a word error rate of 68.7% on the same test set, and the PLP-based recognizer trained on reverberant speech has a 50.3% word error rate. Our experimental variant on RASTA processing provides a statistically significant improvement in performance on the reverberant speech, with a best word error rate of 64.1%.