Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Current sharing model of parallel connected IGBTs during turn-on

Paralleled IGBTs have drawn much attention to increase current capability in high power applications. However, the current imbalance must be carefully concerned, which is caused by device characteristic difference and asymmetric circuit. In this paper, a current sharing model during turn-on period is proposed on the basis of parameterized IGBT model. The discrepancy of device parameters can lead to the difference of turn-on delay time, then, the influence of different device parameters on current sharing can be analyzed quantitatively according to the model. Moreover, the model can be used to predict the mismatch of current sharing, and the compensation of delay time can be obtained directly when active gate control method is applied. Finally, the model is verified by the experiments of two parallel connected IGBT modules (1200V, 300A) with a high accuracy. And the application of this model is also presented in the paper.
Oxidative injury of the pulmonary circulation in the perinatal period: Short- and long-term consequences for the human cardiopulmonary system

Development of the pulmonary circulation is a complex process with a spatial pattern that is tightly controlled. This process is vulnerable for disruption by various events in the prenatal and early postnatal periods. Disruption of normal pulmonary vascular development leads to abnormal structure and function of the lung vasculature, causing neonatal pulmonary vascular diseases. Premature babies are especially at risk of the development of these diseases, including persistent pulmonary hypertension and bronchopulmonary dysplasia. Reactive oxygen species play a key role in the pathogenesis of neonatal pulmonary vascular diseases and can be caused by hyperoxia, mechanical ventilation, hypoxia, and inflammation. Besides the well-established short-term consequences, exposure of the developing lung to injurious stimuli in the perinatal period, including oxidative stress, may also contribute to the development of pulmonary vascular diseases later in life, through so-called “fetal or perinatal programming. ” Because of these long-term consequences, it is important to develop a follow-up program tailored to adolescent survivors of neonatal pulmonary vascular diseases, aimed at early detection of adult pulmonary vascular diseases, and thereby opening the possibility of early intervention and interfering with disease progression. This review focuses on pathophysiologic events in the perinatal period that have been shown to disrupt human normal pulmonary vascular development, leading to neonatal pulmonary vascular diseases that can extend even into adulthood. This knowledge may be particularly important for ex-premature adults who are at risk of the long-term consequences of pulmonary vascular diseases, thereby contributing disproportionately to the burden of adult cardiovascular disease in the future.
The extensional rheology of semidilute DNA solutions

The rheological behaviour of polymer melts and dilute polymer solutions in elongational flow have been extensively examined through experiments and theoretical predictions. However, an experimental study to understand the extensional rheological properties of polymer solutions in the semi-dilute regime is currently lacking in terms of a systematic examination of the effects of concentration and molecular weight. Previous experiments have demonstrated that significant viscoelastic effects characterize the rheological behaviour of semi-dilute polymer solutions in shear flows. It is anticipated that these effects will be even more pronounced in extensional flows, which play a critical role in a number of industrial contexts such as fibre spinning and ink-jet printing. In this work, the extensional rheology of linear DNA molecules in a wide range of molecular weights (25 - 289 kilobasepairs) and concentrations has been investigated. DNA solutions are now routinely used as model polymeric systems due to their near-perfect monodispersity. A filament stretching rheometer has been used since it is the most reliable method for obtaining an estimate of the elongational stress growth of a polymer solution. Steady-state uniaxial extensional viscosities of DNA dissolved in a viscous solvent under excess salt conditions have been determined in the semi-dilute regime at room temperature. The dependence of the steady state uniaxial extensional viscosities on concentration is observed to display universal behaviour, which can be validated by theoretical predictions. The material functions obtained in this work will provide benchmark data that are useful for the characterization of these industrially important systems.
Competition Under Diseconomies of Scale: The Role of Subcontracting and Single-Sourcing Commitment

This paper studies a supplier competition model in situations with flexible resources where suppliers face diseconomies of scale. Under such a situation, it is generally believed that a buyer may split an order across different suppliers; and even if the buyer chooses only one supplier, the winning supplier may subcontract part of the work to the others. Our results, however, show that the buyer always prefers to commit to single-sourcing prior to running a procurement auction. This is because such commitment eliminates the 'assurance' of getting a positive order from the buyer, thus intensifying supplier competition. We also find that subcontracting may be beneficial (detrimental) to the buyer if the subcontract is determined by the winning (losing) supplier of the bidding game. Finally, we show that, for the case with linear costs, the buyer is always better off when subcontracting is considered.
[Intestinal Microbiota in Migrating Barn Swallows around Osaka].

Migratory birds are considered as vectors of infectious diseases, owing to their potential for transmitting pathogens over large distances. The populations of barn swallow (Hirundo rustica) migrate from Southeast Asia to the Japanese mainland during spring and migrate back to Southeast Asia during autumn. This migratory population is estimated to comprise approximately hundreds to thousands of individuals per year. However, to date, not much is known about the gastrointestinal microbiota of the barn swallow. In this study, we characterized the fecal bacterial community in barn swallow. Using 16S rRNA gene metagenomic sequencing analysis, we examined the presence and composition of potentially pathogenic bacteria in the fecal samples, which were collected during spring season from Osaka. The number (±S.D.) of total bacteria was approximately 2.1(±3.4)×108 per gram of feces. In most samples, the bacterial community composition was dominated by families, such as Enterobacteriaceae, Pseudomonadaceae, Mycoplasmataceae, Enterococcaceae, Streptococcaceae, and Alcaligenaceae. However, no relationship was found between the bacterial community composition and geographical area in the fecal samples. Potentially pathogenic bacteria were detected at the rate of >0.1%, which included Pseudomonas spp. , Escherichia/Shigella spp. , Enterobacter spp. , Yersinia spp. , Mycoplasma spp. , Enterococcus spp. , Achromobacter spp. , and Serratia spp. Our results suggested that barn swallow is instrumental in the transmission of these genera over large distances.
SMAD7 polymorphisms and colorectal cancer risk: a meta-analysis of case-control studies

Mothers against decapentaplegic homolog 7 (SMAD7) inhibits the transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) signaling pathway, which regulates carcinogenesis and cancer progression. A number of studies have reported that SMAD7 polymorphisms (rs4464148, rs4939827, and rs12953717) are associated with colorectal cancer (CRC) risk, but the results from these studies remain conflicting. To determine a more precise estimation of the relationship between SMAD7 and CRC, we undertook a large-scale meta-analysis of 63 studies, which included a total of 187,181 subjects (86,585 cases and 100,596 controls). The results of our meta-analysis revealed that the C allele of rs4464148 [CC vs. TT+TC, odds ratio (OR) =1.23, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.14–1.33, P < 0.01], the T allele of rs4939827 [TT vs. CC+TC, odds ratio OR=1.15, 95%CI:1.07–1.22, P < 0.01] and the T allele of rs12953717 [TT vs. CC+TC, OR =1.22, 95%CI:1.16–1.29, P < 0.01] were all associated with the increased CRC risk. Subgroup analysis according to ethnicity showed rs4464148 and rs12953717 were associated with the risk of CRC in both Caucasians and Asians, whereas rs4939827 was a risk polymorphism for CRC specifically in Caucasians. In summary, this large-scale meta-analysis indicated that SMAD7 polymorphisms (rs4464148, rs4939827, and rs12953717) correlate with CRC.
Transport in Porous Media

Transport through porous medium occurs in numerous processes of environmental, chemical, petroleum and civil engineering. A lot of investigations have been done in order to understand the mechanisms of the transport of particulate suspension flow through porous medium. Transport of particulate suspensions and colloids in porous media is accompanied by particle capture and consequent permeability decline. In general, deep bed filtration studies have been conducted to analyse the mechanism involved in the processes of capturing and retaining particles occurs throughout the entire depth of the filter and not just on the filter surface. In this work, the steady-state transport equation is presented and the solution to the complete advective-dispersion equation for particulate suspension flow has been derived for the case of a constant filter coefficient. This model includes transport parameters which are particle advective velocity and particle longitudinal dispersion coefficient. This theoretical investigation of the transport of particles flowing in porous media is limited to flows with low Reynolds number (linear and laminar flow) and high Peclet number.
Health‐related quality of life in patients with primary open‐angle glaucoma. An Italian multicentre observational study

As a progressive condition, glaucoma may impair health‐related quality of life (HRQoL), due to vision loss and other factors. This study evaluated HRQoL in a cohort of patients treated for primary open‐angle glaucoma (POAG) and assessed its association with clinical features.
Hybrid SPECT/CT Imaging in the Management of Differentiated Thyroid Carcinoma

Differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) has a good prognosis overall; however, lifelong follow-up is required for many cases. Radioiodine planar imaging with iodine-123 (I-123) or radioiodine-131 (I-131) remains the standard in the follow-up after initial surgery and ablation of residual thyroid tissue using I-131 therapy. Radioiodine imaging is also used in risk-stratifying and for staging of thyroid cancer, and in long-term follow-up. Unfortunately, the lack of anatomical detail on planar gamma camera imaging and superimposition of areas presenting with increased radioiodine uptake can make accurate diagnosis and localization of radioiodine-avid metastatic disease challenging, leading to false positive results and potentially to over-treatment of patients. Hybrid SPECT/CT allows precise anatomical localization and superior characterization of foci of increased tracer uptake when compared to planar imaging. This, in turn, allows the differentiation of pathological and physiological uptake, increasing the accuracy of image interpretation and ultimately improving the accuracy of DTC staging and subsequent patient management. In this review, we look at the unique and emerging role that SPECT/CT plays in the management of DTC, illustrated by examples from our own clinical practice.
PePIP : a Pipeline for Peptide-Protein Interaction-site Prediction

Protein-peptide interactions play a major role in several biological processes, such as cell proliferation and cancer cell life-cycles. Accurate computational methods for predicting protein-protein interactions exist, but few of these method can be extended to predicting interactions between a protein and a particularly small or intrinsically disordered peptide. In this thesis, PePIP is presented. PePIP is a pipeline for predicting where on a given protein a given peptide will most probably bind. The pipeline utilizes structural aligning to peruse the Protein Data Bank for possible templates for the interaction to be predicted, using the larger chain as the query. The possible templates are then evaluated as to whether they can represent the query protein and peptide using a Random Forest classifier machine learning algorithm, and the best templates are found by using the evaluation from the Random Forest in combination with hierarchical clustering. These final templates are then combined to give a prediction of binding site. PePIP is proven to be highly accurate when testing on a set of 502 experimentally determined protein-peptide structures, suggesting a binding site on the correct part of the protein-surface roughly 4 out of 5 times.
Influence of damming on anuran species richness in riparian areas: A test of the serial discontinuity concept

Abstract Almost all large rivers worldwide are fragmented by dams, and their impacts have been modeled using the serial discontinuity concept (SDC), a series of predictions regarding responses of key biotic and abiotic variables. We evaluated the effects of damming on anuran communities along a 245‐km river corridor by conducting repeated, time‐constrained anuran calling surveys at 42 locations along the Broad and Pacolet Rivers in South Carolina, USA. Using a hierarchical Bayesian analysis, we test the biodiversity prediction of the SDC (modified for floodplain rivers) by evaluating anuran occupancy and species diversity relative to dams and degree of urbanized land use. The mean response of the anuran community indicated that occupancy and species richness were maximized when sites were farther downstream from dams. Sites at the farthest distances downstream of dams (47.5 km) had an estimated ~3 more species than those just below dams. Similarly, species‐specific occupancy estimates showed a trend of higher occupancy downstream from dams. Therefore, using empirical estimation within the context of a 245‐km river riparian landscape, our study supports SDC predictions for a meandering river. We demonstrate that with increasing distance downstream from dams, riparian anuran communities have higher species richness. Reduced species richness immediately downstream of dams is likely driven by alterations in flow regime that reduce or eliminate flows which sustain riparian wetlands that serve as anuran breeding habitat. Therefore, to maintain anuran biodiversity, we suggest that flow regulation should be managed to ensure water releases inundate riparian wetlands during amphibian breeding seasons and aseasonal releases, which can displace adults, larvae, and eggs, are avoided. These outcomes could be achieved by emulating pre‐dam seasonal discharge data, mirroring discharge of an undammed tributary within the focal watershed, or by basing real‐time flow releases on current environmental conditions.
An Examination of Judge Reliability at a major U.S. Wine Competition*

Abstract Wine judge performance at a major wine competition has been analyzed from 2005 to 2008 using replicate samples. Each panel of four expert judges received a flight of 30 wines imbedded with triplicate samples poured from the same bottle. Between 65 and 70 judges were tested each year. About 10 percent of the judges were able to replicate their score within a single medal group. Another 10 percent, on occasion, scored the same wine Bronze to Gold. Judges tend to be more consistent in what they don't like than what they do. An analysis of variance covering every panel over the study period indicates only about half of the panels presented awards based solely on wine quality. (JEL Classification: Q13, Q19)
Changes at the nuclear lamina alter binding of pioneer factor Foxa2 in aged liver

Increasing evidence suggests that regulation of heterochromatin at the nuclear envelope underlies metabolic disease susceptibility and age‐dependent metabolic changes, but the mechanism is unknown. Here, we profile lamina‐associated domains (LADs) using lamin B1 ChIP‐Seq in young and old hepatocytes and find that, although lamin B1 resides at a large fraction of domains at both ages, a third of lamin B1‐associated regions are bound exclusively at each age in vivo. Regions occupied by lamin B1 solely in young livers are enriched for the forkhead motif, bound by Foxa pioneer factors. We also show that Foxa2 binds more sites in Zmpste24 mutant mice, a progeroid laminopathy model, similar to increased Foxa2 occupancy in old livers. Aged and Zmpste24‐deficient livers share several features, including nuclear lamina abnormalities, increased Foxa2 binding, de‐repression of PPAR‐ and LXR‐dependent gene expression, and fatty liver. In old livers, additional Foxa2 binding is correlated to loss of lamin B1 and heterochromatin (H3K9me3 occupancy) at these loci. Our observations suggest that changes at the nuclear lamina are linked to altered Foxa2 binding, enabling opening of chromatin and de‐repression of genes encoding lipid synthesis and storage targets that contribute to etiology of hepatic steatosis.
Nitric Oxide Mediates Insect Cellular Immunity via Phospholipase A2 Activation

After infection or invasion is recognized, biochemical mediators act in signaling insect immune functions. These include biogenic amines, insect cytokines, eicosanoids, and nitric oxide (NO). Treating insects or isolated hemocyte populations with different mediators often leads to similar results. Separate treatments with an insect cytokine, 2 biogenic amines, and an eicosanoid lead to a single result, hemocyte spreading, understood in terms of intracellular cross-talk among these signaling systems. This study focuses on the cross-talk between NO and eicosanoid signaling in our model insect, Spodoptera exigua. Bacterial injection increased NO concentrations in the larval hemocytes and fat body, and RNA interference (RNAi) of the S. exigua NO synthase (NOS) gene suppressed NO concentrations. RNAi treatment also led to a significant reduction in hemocyte nodulation following bacterial injection. Similar RNAi treatments led to significantly reduced PLA2 activities in the hemocytes and fat body compared to control larvae. Injection of L-NAME also prevented the induction of PLA2 activity following bacterial challenge. An injected NO donor, S-nitroso-N-acetyl-DL-penicillamine, increased PLA2 activity in a dose-dependent manner. However, eicosanoids did not influence NO concentrations in immune-challenged larvae. We infer that NO and eicosanoid signaling operate via cross-talk mechanisms in which the elevated NO concentrations activate PLA2 and eicosanoid biosynthesis, which finally mediates various immune responses.
Current-Mode Phase-Locked Loops— A New Architecture

This brief introduces current-mode phase-locked loops (PLLs). The proposed current-mode PLLs differ from conventional voltage-mode PLLs by replacing their RC loop filter with a RL loop filter, eliminating the need for large on-chip capacitors. The large inductance of the current-mode loop filter is obtained from CMOS active inductors, taking the advantage of their large and tunable inductance and small silicon area. Both types I and II current-mode PLLs are introduced. Implemented in TSMC 0.18-mum CMOS technology, the simulation results of a 3-GHz current-mode PLL demonstrate that the PLL has the lock time 50 ns, silicon area 2800 mum2, dc power consumption 12.2 mW, and phase noise of -84.5 dBc at 1-MHz frequency offset and the maximum -74 dBc reference spurs
On the contributions of Fernand Widal to the classification of chronic kidney disease.

Introduction It was in the closing decades of the 19 th century that medicine began its metamorphosis from the empirical profession it had been theretofore to the scientific discipline it would become by the end of the 20 th century (1, 2). The ground rules driving that changeover were laid in 1865 by Claude Bernard (1813-1878) in his iconic “Introduction to the Study of Experimental Medicine” as: testable hypotheses that lend themselves to experimental verification (3). It was also then that the etiology of diseases due to specific causes began to be explored driven by the studies of Louis Pasteur (1822-1895), subsequently formulated as the ‘germ theory’ of disease by Jakob Henle (1809-1885) and Robert Koch (1843-1910) (4). The story of this transformational change has been told mainly in terms of the contributions of selected individuals shaded by overtones of hero worship and portrayed along nationalistic lines. In actuality, the progress made was more of an integrated, interrelated, and interdependent evolution of science in general, and medicine in particular, that was as much a product of its changing times (industrial, political, cultural, social) as it was that of the work of countless committed but forgotten investigators that made it happen (1, 5). However, as much as the final product was the work of many, research then was in fact mostly an individual was as much a product of its changing times (industrial, political, cultural, social) as it was that of the work of countless committed but forgotten investigators that made it happen (1, 5). However, as much as the final product was the work of many, research then was in fact mostly an individual endeavor in which most labored, some excelled, others were lucky in the laboratory, and a few gifted ones who could synthesize and present their contributions better than others. It is the work of the latter whose ideas have survived and names dominate the narrative of how it all happened, while that of many others is mentioned only in passing, and that of most is totally forgotten. This article pays tribute to the seminal contributions of a clinical scientist of that period to the development of nephrology who is mentioned only in passing but deserves better recognition.
Review of Recent Metamaterial Microfluidic Sensors

Metamaterial elements/arrays exhibit a sensitive response to fluids yet with a small footprint, therefore, they have been an attractive choice to realize various sensing devices when integrated with microfluidic technology. Micro-channels made from inexpensive biocompatible materials avoid any contamination from environment and require only microliter–nanoliter sample for sensing. Simple design, easy fabrication process, light weight prototype, and instant measurements are advantages as compared to conventional (optical, electrochemical and biological) sensing systems. Inkjet-printed flexible sensors find their utilization in rapidly growing wearable electronics and health-monitoring flexible devices. Adequate sensitivity and repeatability of these low profile microfluidic sensors make them a potential candidate for point-of-care testing which novice patients can use reliably. Aside from degraded sensitivity and lack of selectivity in all practical microwave chemical sensors, they require an instrument, such as vector network analyzer for measurements and not readily available as a self-sustained portable sensor. This review article presents state-of-the-art metamaterial inspired microfluidic bio/chemical sensors (passive devices ranging from gigahertz to terahertz range) with an emphasis on metamaterial sensing circuit and microfluidic detection. We also highlight challenges and strategies to cope these issues which set future directions.