Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Perceptual efficacy of electrical stimulation of human retina with a microelectrode array during short-term surgical trials.

PURPOSE This work is part of a feasibility assessment of a retinal prosthesis as a means to restore vision to patients with blindness caused by retinitis pigmentosa. The primary goal was to assess the concordance of the form of induced perception and the pattern of electrical stimulation of the retina, and the reproducibility of the responses. METHODS Five volunteers with severe retinitis pigmentosa and one with normal vision were studied. A companion paper in this issue provides details on demographics, visual function, surgical methods, general stimulation strategy, and data analysis. Volunteers were awake during surgery while a 10-microm-thick, microfabricated electrode array was placed on the retina. The array was connected to extraocular current sources that delivered charges to 50-, 100-, and 400-microm-diameter electrodes. Negative control trials were randomly included. Perceptual quality was judged by the similarity between the form of stimulation and perception (i.e., accuracy) and the reproducibility of responses. RESULTS Only 1 of 40 control tests yielded a false-positive result. On average, volunteers 3, 5, and 6 reported percepts that matched the stimulation pattern 48% and 32% of the time for single- and multiple-electrode trials, respectively. Two-point discrimination in the best cases may have been achieved in two blind subjects using (center-to-center) electrode separation of 600 and 1960 microm. Reproducibility was achieved 66% of the time in the blind subjects. By comparison, in the normal-sighted subject, perceptual form was reported accurately 57% of the time, with 82% reproducibility, and two-point discrimination may have been achieved in one trial with 620-microm electrode spacing and in two trials each with 1860- and 2480-microm electrode spacing. In subjects 5 and 6, perceptual size was inconsistently related to the charge, although relatively large differences in charge (median: 0.55 microcoulombs [microC]) between two trials produced differently sized percepts. Longer stimuli did not produce rounder percepts. CONCLUSIONS Single percepts induced by single-electrode stimulation were relatively small, but the form of percepts, especially after multielectrode stimulation, often did not match the stimulation pattern, even in a normal-sighted volunteer. Reproducible percepts were more easily generated than those that matched the stimulation pattern.
High-Fidelity Numerical Simulation of Shallow Water Waves

Tsunamis impose significant threat to human life and coastal infrastructure. The goal of my dissertation is to develop a robust, accurate, and computationally efficient numerical model for quantitative hazard assessment of tsunamis. The length scale of the physical domain of interest ranges from hundreds of kilometers, in the case of landslide-generated tsunamis, to thousands of kilometers, in the case of far-field tsunamis, while the water depth varies from couple of kilometers, in deep ocean, to few centimeters, in the vicinity of shoreline. The large multi-scale computational domain leads to challenging and expensive numerical simulations. I present and compare the numerical results for different important problems — such as tsunami hazard mitigation due to presence of coastal vegetation, boulder dislodgement and displacement by long waves, and tsunamis generated by an asteroid impact — in risk assessment of tsunamis. I employ depth-integrated shallow water equations and Serre-Green-Naghdi equations for solving the problems and compare them to available threedimensional results obtained by mesh-free smoothed particle hydrodynamics and volume of fluid methods. My results suggest that depth-integrated equations, given the current hardware computational capacities and the large scales of the problems in hand, can produce results as accurate as three-dimensional schemes while being computationally more efficient by at least an order of a magnitude. High-Fidelity Numerical Simulation of Shallow Water Waves
Color filters: When “optimal” is not optimal

It is well known that many more than three or four spectral measurements are required for accurate measurement of color. Previous work has shown seven to ten measurements can yield accurate results on average, but with significant numbers of errors above the threshold of obvious visual detection. Furthermore, the filters used for these measurements are very difficult to fabricate. We show that such filters are not needed and, in fact, have much poorer performance, in perceptual quality measured in ΔEab, than simple narrow-band filters. This is especially true in the presence of Poisson noise at a level common in current digital cameras. In realistic Poisson noise, our filter sets of up to 12 filters allow average ΔEab values around 0.5, with maximum errors below 3.
Opening Platforms: How, When and Why?

Platform-mediated networks encompass several distinct types of participants, including end users, complementors, platform providers who facilitate users' access to complements, and sponsors who develop platform technologies. Each of these roles can be opened - that is, structured to encourage participation - or closed. This paper reviews factors that motivate decisions to open or close mature platforms. At the platform provider and sponsor levels, these decisions entail: 1) interoperating with established rival platforms; 2) licensing additional platform providers; or 3) broadening sponsorship. With respect to end users and complementors, decisions to open or close a mature platform involve: 1) backward compatibility with prior platform generations; 2) securing exclusive rights to certain complements; or 3) absorbing complements into the core platform. Over time, forces tend to push both proprietary and shared platforms toward hybrid governance models characterized by centralized control over platform technology (i.e., closed sponsorship) and shared responsibility for serving users (i.e., an open provider role).
Metalloproteases and Guidance of Retinal Axons in the Developing Visual System

Axonal growth cones read cues in their environment that guide them to their target. Metalloproteases have been implicated in vitro in modulating the interaction of these cues with receptors in the growth cone. To determine whether metalloprotease function is important in the guidance of vertebrate axons in vivo, we applied hydroxamate-based metalloprotease inhibitors to Xenopus retinal ganglion cell (RGC) axons as they extended through the optic tract. In the presence of two different inhibitors, 0.5–20 μmN-[(2R)-2(hydroxamideocarbonylmethyl)-4-methylpantanoyl]-l-tryptophan methylamide and batimastat, RGC axons made similar dose-dependent guidance errors. Most axons failed to make the expected caudal turn in the diencephalon and continued straight, growing aberrantly toward and across the dorsal midline. As a result, few RGC axons innervated their midbrain target, the optic tectum. Similarly, if the inhibitors were applied after the axons made the turn, many failed to grow into the optic tectum and instead turned to grow along its anterior border. Interestingly, in many instances pathfinding defects were observed in the absence of problems with axon extension, although outgrowth was impaired at the higher doses of the inhibitors. These data provide compelling in vivo evidence that metalloproteases are important for both axon guidance and extension in the developing visual system.
Capacity planning under uncertainty: an Asian option approach

This short paper introduces the concept of Asian options in the capacity choice literature. We develop a simple model for optimal capacity setting under average demand uncertainty for a single firm. When the firm faces moderate or significant stochastic demands in its current product line, expanding capacity is beneficial. If the demand is extremely stochastic, a capacity lag or reduction is more profitable.
An iterative parsing approach for contour fragments

This paper presents an approach for linking edge points into contour fragments, each of which is an ordered point sequence. In the problem of shape-based object detection, we investigate what characteristics of the contour fragments representation influence the detection performance. It is observed that if interest objects are represented by limited number of contour fragments, with moderate count of noisy points (not belonging to interest objects) brought in, the detection algorithm can reliably obtain interest objects. For this purpose, we propose to iteratively extract a pair of points which preserves the farthest geodesic distance in each connected component of edge map. We conduct experiments on the ETHZ dataset and compare with other typical methods for generating contour fragments. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed approach outperforms some existing ones in object detection.
Solvent Compatibility of Parylene C Film Layer

Parylene C has been preferred in various microfluidic and packaging applications as a chemical barrier; therefore, its durability in chemicals is critical to maintain functionality of the devices. In this paper, we investigated solvent compatibility of Parylene C in a range of solvents with regard to swelling of it and the change in its surface roughness at room temperature. The results of Parylene C swelling were associated with solubility parameter, δ (cal/cm3)1/2, which is predicted from the parameters of dispersion, polar, and hydrogen-bonding forces. Solvents that swelled Parylene C film layer mostly were benzene, chloroform, trichloroethylene, and toluene, while methanol, 2-propanol, ethylene glycol, and water did not cause any swelling. Subsequently, the adverse effects of diffusion of solvents through a Parylene C film layer were demonstrated by stripping of the encapsulated photoresist. In addition, a comparison was made between Parylene C and poly(dimethyl)siloxane (PDMS) considering the data of swelling ratios obtained from the experimental findings and the literature, respectively. Experimental findings showed that Parylene C is much more compatible to solvents than PDMS in high-throughput microfluidic and packaging applications. These results will be of great value to scientists for understanding compatibility of any selected solvent on Parylene C in the applications of micro devices.
Performance analysis of stealth DHT with mobile nodes

The advances in wireless networking and the consequent emergence of new applications that wireless networks increasingly support inevitably leads to low capability mobile nodes connecting to peer-to-peer networks. However, the characteristics of mobile nodes and limitations of access point coverage often cause mobile nodes to lose connectivity, which can cause many mobile nodes to simultaneously leave the network. Continuous departures and joins due to the mobility of nodes leads to mobility churn, which can often degrade the performance of the underlying peer-to-peer network significantly. In this paper, we use simulations to demonstrate that the stealth distributed hash table (stealth DHT) algorithm is ideally suited for networks with mobile nodes. By avoiding storing state in unreliable nodes, a stealth DHT prevents mobile nodes from being used by other nodes to provide services. Consequently, stealth DHTs eliminates the mobility churn effect and significantly reduce the amount of overhead as compared to a generic DHT
RNA Is an Integral Component of Chromatin that Contributes to Its Structural Organization

Chromatin structure is influenced by multiples factors, such as pH, temperature, nature and concentration of counterions, post-translational modifications of histones and binding of structural non-histone proteins. RNA is also known to contribute to the regulation of chromatin structure as chromatin-induced gene silencing was shown to depend on the RNAi machinery in S. pombe, plants and Drosophila. Moreover, both in Drosophila and mammals, dosage compensation requires the contribution of specific non-coding RNAs. However, whether RNA itself plays a direct structural role in chromatin is not known. Here, we report results that indicate a general structural role for RNA in eukaryotic chromatin. RNA is found associated to purified chromatin prepared from chicken liver, or cultured Drosophila S2 cells, and treatment with RNase A alters the structural properties of chromatin. Our results indicate that chromatin-associated RNAs, which account for 2%–5% of total chromatin-associated nucleic acids, are polyA− and show a size similar to that of the DNA contained in the corresponding chromatin fragments. Chromatin-associated RNA(s) are not likely to correspond to nascent transcripts as they are also found bound to chromatin when cells are treated with α-amanitin. After treatment with RNase A, chromatin fragments of molecular weight >3.000 bp of DNA showed reduced sedimentation through sucrose gradients and increased sensitivity to micrococcal nuclease digestion. This structural transition, which is observed both at euchromatic and heterochromatic regions, proceeds without loss of histone H1 or any significant change in core-histone composition and integrity.
A Comparison of the Short-Term Outcome in Patients with Acute Low-Tone Sensorineural Hearing Loss

Purpose of the Study: We aimed to compare the short-term outcome of patients with acute low-tone sensorineural hearing loss (ALHL) treated with steroid alone, diuretics alone or combination treatment. Procedures: Between April 2000 and March 2009, we retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 156 patients with a diagnosis of ALHL. All patients were followed up until improvement or for 8 weeks from the initial examination. Patients were treated with steroid alone (n = 49), diuretics alone (n = 40), combination treatment (n = 46) or they received neither steroid nor diuretics (n = 21). Results: The steroid-diuretic combination therapy for ALHL showed significantly better results than the steroid or diuretic treatments alone (p < 0.05). There were no clinically significant differences in the outcome between the steroid- and diuretic-alone treatments. Conclusion and Message: The etiology of ALHL is described as both an endolymphatic hydrops and an autoimmunological mechanism so that, as expected, the steroid-diuretic combination therapy was more effective than the steroid or diuretic treatments alone.
N-((1S)-1-{[4-((2S)-2-{[(2,4-Dichlorophenyl)sulfonyl]amino}-3-hydroxypropanoyl)-1-piperazinyl]carbonyl}-3-methylbutyl)-1-benzothiophene-2-carboxamide (GSK1016790A), a Novel and Potent Transient Receptor Potential Vanilloid 4 Channel Agonist Induces Urinary Bladder Contraction and Hyperactivity: Part

The transient receptor potential (TRP) vanilloid 4 (TRPV4) member of the TRP superfamily has recently been implicated in numerous physiological processes. In this study, we describe a small molecule TRPV4 channel activator, (N-((1S)-1-{[4-((2S)-2-{[(2,4-dichlorophenyl)sulfonyl]amino}-3-hydroxypropanoyl)-1-piperazinyl]carbonyl}-3-methylbutyl)-1-benzothiophene-2-carboxamide (GSK1016790A), which we have used as a valuable tool in investigating the role of TRPV4 in the urinary bladder. GSK1016790A elicited Ca2+ influx in mouse and human TRPV4-expressing human embryonic kidney (HEK) cells (EC50 values of 18 and 2.1 nM, respectively), and it evoked a dose-dependent activation of TRPV4 whole-cell currents at concentrations above 1 nM. In contrast, the TRPV4 activator 4α-phorbol 12,13-didecanoate (4α-PDD) was 300-fold less potent than GSK1016790A in activating TRPV4 currents. TRPV4 mRNA was detected in urinary bladder smooth muscle (UBSM) and urothelium of TRPV4+/+ mouse bladders. Western blotting and immunohistochemistry demonstrated protein expression in both the UBSM and urothelium that was absent in TRPV4−/− bladders. TRPV4 activation with GSK1016790A contracted TRPV4+/+ mouse bladders in vitro, both in the presence and absence of the urothelium, an effect that was undetected in TRPV4−/− bladders. Consistent with the effects on TRPV4 HEK whole-cell currents, 4α-PDD demonstrated a weak ability to contract bladder strips compared with GSK1016790A. In vivo, urodynamics in TRPV4+/+ and TRPV4−/− mice revealed an enhanced bladder capacity in the TRPV4−/− mice. Infusion of GSK1016790A into the bladders of TRPV4+/+ mice induced bladder overactivity with no effect in TRPV4−/− mice. Overall TRPV4 plays an important role in urinary bladder function that includes an ability to contract the bladder as a result of the expression of TRPV4 in the UBSM.
Modeling and analysis of queuing effect on Mobile IPv6 handoff performance

This paper proposes an analytic model to study queuing effect on the handoff performance of Mobile IPv6 (MIPv6), which has not been particularly investigated in previous literature. The presented model regards handoff process as tandem service system, and adopts a simple two-moment approximation throughout the theoretic modeling. Without other specific assumptions, the model presents a generic approach that can be further utilized to evaluate new design and development toward the MIPv6. Specifically, Fast Handovers for MIPv6 (FMIPv6) and Hierarchical Mobile IPv6 (HMIPv6), are studied and compared in this paper. Handoff latencies both with and without consideration of the queuing effect are calculated for these two handoff processes. The analysis results show that handoff latency of HMIPv6 (intra-MAP) is lower than the one of FMIPv6 (predictive) under the same handoff request arrival rate. Handoff latencies are also evaluated with varying wireless link delay and Frame Error Rate (FER). Decreases in the maximum wireless link delay and the maximum FER can be quantitatively determined for meeting the specific latency requirements of VoIP in mobile systems.
MORPHOLOGICAL AND GENETIC VARIATION IN LEGGADINA (THOMAS, 1910) WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO WESTERN AUSTRALIAN POPULATIONS

Recent collections of specimens from the Pilbara attributed to Leggadina lakedownensis stimulated an investigation of genetic and morphometric variation in L. lakedownensis and L. forresti to confirm the taxonomic status of these species, determine the extent of intraspecific variation, and develop useful markers for classification. Extensive analyses of both morphology and allozymes confirm the clear taxonomic separation of these two species. Leggadina lakedownensis shows considerably more intraspecific morphological variation than L. forresti, reflecting the former's much greater geographic range and ecological diversity. The mean body size of Thevenard Island L. lakedownensis is markedly larger than the other populations examined. Despite this morphological diversity, populations of L. lakedownensis, including those from mainland Pilbara and Thevenard Island, are genetically similar across their range. An individual from Queensland is genetically the most divergent but we have been unable to assess the morphological relationship of the topotypical population.
Dynamic Behavior Modeling and Verification of Advanced Electrical-Generator Set Concept

Current development trends regarding mobile electrical-generator sets (EGSs) indicate that enhancement of efficiency is to be sought in means to operate the driving engine (either diesel or gasoline) continuously at its optimum speed. The engine-generator dynamics at a sudden load change (from low load to high load) remains a challenge in this regard. The dynamic behavior analysis presented here proves that the introduction of an energy storage element into the EGS with variable-engine-speed concept eliminates this drawback. This paper addresses the identification of the dynamic behavior of such variable-speed EGS systems and the problems encountered during a sudden increase of load (power and voltage drops).
Agent-Based Modeling Approach of Immune Defense Against Spores of Opportunistic Human Pathogenic Fungi

Opportunistic human pathogenic fungi like the ubiquitous fungus Aspergillus fumigatus are a major threat to immunocompromised patients. An impaired immune system renders the body vulnerable to invasive mycoses that often lead to the death of the patient. While the number of immunocompromised patients is rising with medical progress, the process, and dynamics of defense against invaded and ready to germinate fungal conidia are still insufficiently understood. Besides macrophages, neutrophil granulocytes form an important line of defense in that they clear conidia. Live imaging shows the interaction of those phagocytes and conidia as a dynamic process of touching, dragging, and phagocytosis. To unravel strategies of phagocytes on the hunt for conidia an agent-based modeling approach is used, implemented in NetLogo. Different modes of movement of phagocytes are tested regarding their clearing efficiency: random walk, short-term persistence in their recent direction, chemotaxis of chemokines excreted by conidia, and communication between phagocytes. While the short-term persistence hunting strategy turned out to be superior to the simple random walk, following a gradient of chemokines released by conidial agents is even better. The advantage of communication between neutrophilic agents showed a strong dependency on the spatial scale of the focused area and the distribution of the pathogens.
Effects of Heat Stress on Dairy Cattle

In the design of dairy cattle shelters, behavior of the animals, climatic environmental factors and herd management have a significant impact. The most important function of dairy cattle barns to protect animals from unfavorable environmental conditions and to increase productivity will be achieved per animal providing with adequate housing environment for them. The most three important factors affecting yield in livestock raising are genetic, nutrition and environmental conditions, respectively. These three factors in order to achieve the highest level efficiency from the animals should be handled at the same time. Stress factors in dairy cattle are composed of structural, climatical and social environments. The stress resulting from the climatic environmental conditions occur due to changes of climatic values in the environment in which hosted of the animals. The most important parameter affecting the productivity of dairy cattle is climatical factors. Climatic environmental conditions consist of temperature, air velocity, relative humidity, solar radiation and light etc. parameters. The temperatures within the climatic environmental conditions are more important with regards to can exhibit normal behavior of the animals and their ability to sustain physiological activities. In dairy cattle, associated with rise above of optimum temperature zone of temperature will be broken heat balance of the body and the animals will enter the heat stress if this excess heat does not take away the of body. Shortly after the start of heat stress, declines will occur in milk yield and animal losses will be inevitable if necessary precautions are not taken. In this review, studies conducted related to in dairy cattle breeding how it should be of climatic environmental conditions suitable to animal behavior and effects on dairy cattle of heat stress were summarized.
Interventions to Reduce Tobacco-Related Health Disparities

The science of tobacco-related health disparities has come a long way since the release of the 1998 Report of the Surgeon General, “Tobacco Use Among US Racial/Ethnic Minority Groups”. 1 In that report, there was a small section devoted to “tobacco control and education efforts of smokers from four racial/ethnic minority groups. ” A major conclusion in the 1998 report was that prevention and cessation efforts in racial/ethnic communities are limited by underdeveloped tobacco control infrastructures and low levels of resources for research, program development, and program dissemination. This report inspired a number of national, regional, and local initiatives by funding agencies, health departments, and individuals to begin to address some of the concerns.