Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
PolInSAR airborne principle verification experiment based on Ku-band multifunction radar system

With polarimetric techniques introduced into SAR interferometry, comprehensive information about vertical distribution and 2D distribution of scattering mechanisms with polarimetric characteristics can be achieved. As a result, polarization interferometric synthetic aperture radar can provide more accurate, rich data source for mapping, disaster monitoring, vegetation distribution, resource exploration etc. Ku-band Multifunction radar system built in the CAS key laboratory of microwave remote sensing provides a test bench for principle verification. In the recent airborne experiment, several system functions have been proved on this test bench. Effective data were obtained during experiments. Now, H and V channel data are imaging processed respectively using RD algorithm. From processed results, the polarization information of the target is obvious. Analyze the phase of each image of channel H and V.
EVALUATION OF THE EFFECTS OF HEADGEAR TRACTION ON MAXILLARY THIRD MOLAR ANGULATION

Background and Aim: To assess the changes in the angulation of maxillary third molar during orthodontic treatment in subjects having distalization of maxillary first molar with cervical headgear. Subjects and Methods: In this retrospective study, the sample consisted of 40 subjects (22 males and 18 females) with a mean age of 11.9 ± 0.8 years. In pre-treatment (T1) and post-treatment (T2), panoramic radiographs as the horizontal reference lines, the occlusal, and the orbital planes were used to measure and compare changes in the position of the developing maxillary third molars. The angulations of the right and left maxillary third molars were compared with the vertical axis of the adjacent second molars and in relation to the occlusal and orbital planes before and at the end of orthodontic treatment. Results: Compared with pre-treatment measurements, the average maxillary second and third molar angulations after orthodontic treatment with distalization by using the cervical headgear did not differ significantly (p>0.05). Conclusion: The effect of maxillary first molar distalization on the angulation of the maxillary third molar appears to be minimal before the eruption of the maxillary second molar.
Halistanol disulfate B, a novel sulfated sterol from the sponge Pachastrella sp.: inhibitor of endothelin converting enzyme.

As part of a search for novel inhibitors of endothelin converting enzyme (ECE), the MeOH extract of a South African sponge, Pachastrella sp. , was shown to be active. Bioassay-guided fractionation of the extract yielded a novel sterol sulfate, halistanol disulfate B (1). The structure and stereochemistry of 1 was established mainly by interpretation of spectral data. Disulfate (1) was found to be active at a micromolar concentration in the ECE assay.
Tumor regression in patients with metastatic synovial cell sarcoma and melanoma using genetically engineered lymphocytes reactive with NY-ESO-1.

PURPOSE Adoptive immunotherapy using tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes represents an effective cancer treatment for patients with metastatic melanoma. The NY-ESO-1 cancer/testis antigen, which is expressed in 80% of patients with synovial cell sarcoma and approximately 25% of patients with melanoma and common epithelial tumors, represents an attractive target for immune-based therapies. The current trial was carried out to evaluate the ability of adoptively transferred autologous T cells transduced with a T-cell receptor (TCR) directed against NY-ESO-1 to mediate tumor regression in patients with metastatic melanoma and synovial cell sarcoma. PATIENTS AND METHODS A clinical trial was performed in patients with metastatic melanoma or metastatic synovial cell sarcoma refractory to all standard treatments. Patients with NY-ESO-1-positive tumors were treated with autologous TCR-transduced T cells plus 720,000 iU/kg of interleukin-2 to tolerance after preparative chemotherapy. Objective clinical responses were evaluated using Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST). RESULTS Objective clinical responses were observed in four of six patients with synovial cell sarcoma and five of 11 patients with melanoma bearing tumors expressing NY-ESO-1. Two of 11 patients with melanoma demonstrated complete regressions that persisted after 1 year. A partial response lasting 18 months was observed in one patient with synovial cell sarcoma. CONCLUSION These observations indicate that TCR-based gene therapies directed against NY-ESO-1 represent a new and effective therapeutic approach for patients with melanoma and synovial cell sarcoma. To our knowledge, this represents the first demonstration of the successful treatment of a nonmelanoma tumor using TCR-transduced T cells.
Seismic evidence for complex sedimentary control of Greenland Ice Sheet flow

Seismic data show that subglacial sediment slip causes a complex flow response of the Greenland Ice Sheet to climate warming. The land-terminating margin of the Greenland Ice Sheet has slowed down in recent decades, although the causes and implications for future ice flow are unclear. Explained originally by a self-regulating mechanism where basal slip reduces as drainage evolves from low to high efficiency, recent numerical modeling invokes a sedimentary control of ice sheet flow as an alternative hypothesis. Although both hypotheses can explain the recent slowdown, their respective forecasts of a long-term deceleration versus an acceleration of ice flow are contradictory. We present amplitude-versus-angle seismic data as the first observational test of the alternative hypothesis. We document transient modifications of basal sediment strengths by rapid subglacial drainages of supraglacial lakes, the primary current control on summer ice sheet flow according to our numerical model. Our observations agree with simulations of initial postdrainage sediment weakening and ice flow accelerations, and subsequent sediment restrengthening and ice flow decelerations, and thus confirm the alternative hypothesis. Although simulated melt season acceleration of ice flow due to weakening of subglacial sediments does not currently outweigh winter slowdown forced by self-regulation, they could dominate over the longer term. Subglacial sediments beneath the Greenland Ice Sheet must therefore be mapped and characterized, and a sedimentary control of ice flow must be evaluated against competing self-regulation mechanisms.
Robust discriminative keyword spotting for emotionally colored spontaneous speech using bidirectional LSTM networks

In this paper we propose a new technique for robust keyword spotting that uses bidirectional Long Short-Term Memory (BLSTM) recurrent neural nets to incorporate contextual information in speech decoding. Our approach overcomes the drawbacks of generative HMM modeling by applying a discriminative learning procedure that non-linearly maps speech features into an abstract vector space. By incorporating the outputs of a BLSTM network into the speech features, it is able to make use of past and future context for phoneme predictions. The robustness of the approach is evaluated on a keyword spotting task using the HUMAINE Sensitive Artificial Listener (SAL) database, which contains accented, spontaneous, and emotionally colored speech. The test is particularly stringent because the system is not trained on the SAL database, but only on the TIMIT corpus of read speech. We show that our method prevails over a discriminative keyword spotter without BLSTM-enhanced feature functions, which in turn has been proven to outperform HMM-based techniques.
An Invitation to Chemical Process Philosophy

Process philosophy’—based on contributions of Alfred North Whitehead (1867-1947)—has resources that would be useful in philosophy of chemistry. This approach would particularly appropriate for dealing with questions involving time-dependent self-organization in far-from-equilibrium open systems. Such spontaneous generation of coherent dynamic structure is of central importance in many fields (including chemical engineering, systems biology, and economics). Some main concepts of process philosophy (and of Process Structural Realism, PSR) are briefly introduced.
Quantitative analysis of infrared contrast enhancement algorithms

Dynamic range reduction and contrast enhancement are two image-processing methods that are required when developing thermal camera systems. The two methods must be performed in such a way that the high dynamic range imagery output from current sensors are compressed in a pleasing way for display on lower dynamic range monitors. This research examines a quantitative analysis of infrared contrast enhancement algorithms found in literature and developed by the author. Four algorithms were studied, three of which were found in literature and one developed by the author: tail-less plateau equalization (TPE), adaptive plateau equalization (APE), the method according to Aare Mällo (MEAM), and infrared multi-scale retinex (IMSR). TPE and APE are histogram-based methods, requiring the calculation of the probability density of digital counts within an image. MEAM and IMSR are frequency-domain methods, methods that operate on input imagery that has been split into components containing differing spatial frequency content. After a rate of growth analysis and psychophysical trial were performed, MEAM was found to be the best algorithm.
The primary structure of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase of Escherichia coli. Nucleotide sequence of the ppc gene and deduced amino acid sequence.

The nucleotide sequence of the ppc gene, the structural gene for phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase [EC 4.1. 1.31], of Escherichia coli K-12 was determined. The gene codes for a polypeptide comprising 883 amino acid residues with a calculated molecular weight of 99,061. The amino acid sequence deduced from the nucleotide sequence was entirely consistent with the protein chemical data obtained with the purified enzyme, including the NH2- and COOH-terminal sequences and amino acid composition. The coding region is preceded by two putative ribosome binding sites, and is followed closely by a good representative of rho-independent terminator. The codon usage in the ppc gene suggests a moderate expression of the gene. The secondary structure of the enzyme was predicted from the deduced amino acid sequence.
Standby Leakage Reduction in Nanoscale CMOS VLSI Circuits

Most of the portable systems, such as cellular communication devices, and laptop computers operate from a limited power supply. Devices like cell phones have long idle times and operate in standby mode when not in use. Consequently, the extension of battery-based operation time is a significant design goal which can be made possible by controlling the leakage current flowing through the CMOS gate. This article reviews the off-state leakage mechanisms like weak inversion leakage, gate induced drain leakage and channel punchthrough current. Various circuit level techniques to reduce standby leakage and their design trade-off are discussed. Based on the surveyed techniques, a designer would be able to select the appropriate leakage optimization technique for a standby mode.
An Unusual Case of Primary Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection Presenting as Mononucleosis-like Syndrome and Acute Aseptic Meningoencephalitis. Report of a Case and Review of the Literature

Clinical presentation of primary human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection includes a wide spectrum of manifestations from asymptomatic infection to a symptomatic and severe illness. Central nervous system involvement should be always considered as a severe clinical form of primary HIV infection. Physicians should be aware to the broad clinical spectrum of primary HIV infection. We report a case of a female with diagnosis of mononucleosis-like syndrome and acute aseptic meningoencephalitis during primary HIV infection.
Presumed sterile corneal ulcer following autologous limbal stem cell and amniotic membrane transplantation: report of an unusual complication

Sterile corneal ulceration is a well-defined clinical entity occurring either as an isolated ocular problem, as in cases of trauma, exposure keratitis, neurotrophic keratitis, recurrent corneal erosions and use of contact lenses or as a manifestation of various systemic diseases, as in Sjögren’s syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis, Wegener’s granulomatosis and polyarteritis nodosa. In addition, it has been reported to occur as a complication of cataract surgery, especially in patients with underlying Sjögren’s syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis and collagen vascular disease. Autologous limbal stem cell transplantation with adjunct amniotic membrane transplantation has been successfully used in the treatment of severe ocular burns with limbal stem cell deficiency. To the best of our knowledge, sterile corneal ulceration has not been reported as a complication of autologous limbal stem cell transplantation. We report a case of sterile corneal ulcer with ring infiltrate and hypopyon that occurred two months after autologous limbal stem cell transplantation with amniotic membrane transplantation as a treatment of a severe corneal burn.
Neural Circuits on a Chip

Neural circuits are responsible for the brain’s ability to process and store information. Reductionist approaches to understanding the brain include isolation of individual neurons for detailed characterization. When maintained in vitro for several days or weeks, dissociated neurons self-assemble into randomly connected networks that produce synchronized activity and are capable of learning. This review focuses on efforts to control neuronal connectivity in vitro and construct living neural circuits of increasing complexity and precision. Microfabrication-based methods have been developed to guide network self-assembly, accomplishing control over in vitro circuit size and connectivity. The ability to control neural connectivity and synchronized activity led to the implementation of logic functions using living neurons. Techniques to construct and control three-dimensional circuits have also been established. Advances in multiple electrode arrays as well as genetically encoded, optical activity sensors and transducers enabled highly specific interfaces to circuits composed of thousands of neurons. Further advances in on-chip neural circuits may lead to better understanding of the brain.
Role of calcium and calmodulin in reaction of gastric fundus contraction.

BACKGROUND The subject of this study is determination of the influence of calmodulin and calcium on gastric fundus smooth muscle contraction. During experiments, the author tested the influence of a serotonin receptor agonist, serotonin (5-HT), causing smooth muscle contraction. MATERIAL/METHODS Testing was conducted on tissues isolated from rat's stomach. Male Wistar rats with weight between 220 g and 360 g were anesthetized by intraperitoneal injection of urethane (120 mg/kg). The stomach was dissected, and later the gastric fundus was isolated. Tissue was placed in a dish for insulated organs with 20 ml in capacity, filled with Krebs fluid. Results contained in the study are average values ± SE. In order to determine statistical significance, the principles of receptor theory were used (Kenakin modification). RESULTS According to conducted tests, we can deduce that 8 Br cGMP stops the reaction of gastric fundus smooth muscle contraction induced by serotonin. The use of 8Br-cGMP in the range of concentrations between 10 and 300 µM leads to reduction of maximum effect from 100% to 46%. Similar changes were obtained after the use of guanylate cyclase activator (CG) - YC-1. Curves for the contractile activity of serotonin along with an increase of concentration YC-1 are shifted to the right, and the maximum effect of reaction decreases. Increasing concentrations of flunarizine, a calmodulin antagonist, in a concentration-dependent way blocks binding between calcium and calmodulin, and at the same time leads to the shift of concentration-effect curves for serotonin to the right and a decrease of maximum reaction. Increasing concentrations of ODQ, a guanylate cyclase inhibitor lead to statistically significant shift of the curves to the left, decrease of EC(50) value and simultaneous increase of maximum reaction to serotonin. CONCLUSIONS According to conducted testing, serotonin causes gastric fundus smooth muscle contraction dependent on concentration. Reaction of contraction induced by serotonin is stopped by a calmodulin antagonist, flunarizine. In addition, experiments confirmed participation of cyclical nucleotides in blocking reaction of gastric fundus contraction.
Pour un modèle diglossique de description du français: quelques implications théoriques, didactiques et méthodologiques

RÉSUMÉ Cet article défend l'hypothèse que le français (toutes zones géographiques confondues) présente aujourd'hui les propriétés caractérisant la situation diglossique, selon la définition classique de ce concept formulée par Ferguson (1959): la variété H est incarnée par la grammaire standard, et les variétés L par les grammaires appelées ici dialectales, activées par les locuteurs en situation informelle. Dans une optique générative de la grammaire, il est proposé de représenter la compétence linguistique des francophones par deux grammaires en intersection, schéma rendant compte de l'intuition que les deux algorithmes génèrent “la même langue”. L'article s'emploie à justifier pour le français l'hypothèse diglossique et la formalisation proposée, et à en explorer quelques avantages et implications pour la description et l'enseignement de cette langue.
Continuous-Time Analog Filtering: Design Strategies and Programmability in CMOS Technologies for VHF Applications

The evolution of wireless applications (the performance as well as the number of users) has undergone explosive growth in the last years, resulting in an increasing demand for smaller, low-cost wireless transceivers with low power consumption. In order to meet this demand, continuous development must take place both in CMOS technology and in RF electronics, the goal of which should be to achieve a fully-integrated single-chip receiver in a low-cost CMOS process. This demand for complex read channel and multi-standard receiver ICs calls for the design and implementation of one category of analog interface chips as continuoustime (CT) filters, suitable for high speed with variable ban dwidths over a wide frequency range, preferably using the Gm-C approach rather than other existing solutions. Filters based on the Gm-C technique were used quite early on with bipolar technology and they have now become the dominant option to implement monolithic filters for very high frequency. The basic building block of a Gm-C filter is the integrator, which involves the use of transconductors and capacitors only and whose structure is therefore simpler than others, such as operational amplifiers. The simplicity of the transconductor coupled with the openloop operation, which does not involve any complex frequency compensation schemes, point to this cell as the basic active element to be considered and the best option to operate in a VHF range with low supply voltages.
A Potential Error in Evaluating Cancer Screening: A Comparison of 2 Approaches for Modeling Underlying Disease Progression

Background. Evaluating cancer screening often requires modeling the underlying disease process and not observed disease, particularly in the absence of direct evidence linking screening to a survival benefit. Methods. To illustrate a potential error in modeling disease progression among healthy persons with a history of a precancerous lesion, we constructed 2 models with 4 basic health states (disease free, presence of a precancerous lesion, presence of cancer, dead), calibrated to predict the same 10-year cancer incidence. We assumed a homogeneous cohort enters each model free of disease, the probability of developing a precancerous lesion was greater for patients with a history of a prior lesion, and the screening test was perfect and riskless. In one model, we assigned a higher transition probability from a precancerous lesion to cancer in those with a history of a previously removed lesion; in the other, we assumed it was equal to those with no history. Results. Using the 1st model, life expectancy without screening was 2.4 months longer than with screening. This error did not occur using the 2nd model, in which the transition from precancerous lesions to cancer was not conditional on a history of a lesion. This modeling error's magnitude was examined under a variety of assumptions. Conclusions. We have identified an important error to avoid when modeling the underlying disease process in evaluating screening programs for cancers associated with precancerous states.
A Haptic Back Display for Attentional and Directional Cueing

We have been developing a haptic back display using a 3-by-3 tactor array. This paper reports two studies that investigated the use of such a display for delivering attention- and direction-related information to its user. The first study measured the effectiveness of haptic cues in redirecting an observer’s visual spatial attention. The observer was first tapped on the back, and then asked to detect a change between two similar visual scenes. We found that reaction time decreased by an average of 41% (1630 ms) when the location of the tactor coincided with the quadrant of the visual scene where a change occurred. We also found that reaction time increased by an average of 19% (781 ms) when the locations of the tapping and visual change did not coincide. Such a haptic attentional cueing system can be beneficial to a user who must attend to information in small areas within a large and complex visual display (e.g., an aircraft cockpit). In the second study, sequenced pulses were employed to impart directional information. We found that naive and minimally-trained observers were able to discern the directions of a set of horizontal, vertical and diagonal directional lines with an overall accuracy of 81%. Means of improving the overall accuracy were suggested and tested. These directional lines can be applied to a haptic navigation guidance or situation awareness system.
Fast fully dynamic landmark-based estimation of shortest path distances in very large graphs

Computing the shortest path between a pair of vertices in a graph is a fundamental primitive in graph algorithmics. Classical exact methods for this problem do not scale up to contemporary, rapidly evolving social networks with hundreds of millions of users and billions of connections. A number of approximate methods have been proposed, including several landmark-based methods that have been shown to scale up to very large graphs with acceptable accuracy. This paper presents two improvements to existing landmark-based shortest path estimation methods. The first improvement relates to the use of shortest-path trees (SPTs). Together with appropriate short-cutting heuristics, the use of SPTs allows to achieve higher accuracy with acceptable time and memory overhead. Furthermore, SPTs can be maintained incrementally under edge insertions and deletions, which allows for a fully-dynamic algorithm. The second improvement is a new landmark selection strategy that seeks to maximize the coverage of all shortest paths by the selected landmarks. The improved method is evaluated on the DBLP, Orkut, Twitter and Skype social networks.