Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Synthetic antifibrinolytics are not associated with an increased incidence of baffle fenestration closure after the modified Fontan procedure.

OBJECTIVE To determine if the lysine analog antifibrinolytic agents, epsilon-aminocaproic acid and tranexamic acid, are associated with early closure of the baffle fenestration after the modified Fontan procedure. DESIGN Retrospective chart review. SETTING University hospital. PARTICIPANTS Seventy-four successive patients underwent the modified Fontan procedure. Three patients received aprotinin and were excluded. A total of 71 patients were analyzed. INTERVENTIONS Charts were examined for variables known to be associated with baffle fenestration closure in the modified Fontan procedure. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS Occurrence of baffle fenestration closure, oxygen saturation, central venous pressure, left atrial pressure, transpulmonary gradient, chest tube drainage volume, chest tube drainage duration, intensive care unit (ICU) duration, and total inpatient duration were compared between the 33 patients who received antifibrinolytics and the 38 patients who did not. One patient of 71 had baffle fenestration closure in the first 48 hours after surgery. Oxygen saturation, central venous pressure, left atrial pressure, transpulmonary gradient, chest tube drainage volume, chest tube drainage duration, days in ICU, and total inpatient duration were not significantly different between the two groups. CONCLUSIONS Use of epsilon-aminocaproic acid and tranexamic acid is not associated with early baffle fenestration closure after the modified Fontan procedure. It is concluded that these agents can be used without increasing the risk of spontaneous baffle fenestration closure.
Graph drawing based WLAN indoor mapping and localization using signal correlation via edge detection

In indoor Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) localization, the Received Signal Strength (RSS) fingerprinting involved in fingerprint based localization is always time-consuming and labor intensive. To solve this problem, we propose a novel indoor mapping and localization approach by using the spectral clustered time-stamped WLAN RSS measurements to conduct indoor mapping, as well as locate the target. Specifically, we rely on the off-the-shelf smartphones to sporadically collect a batch of WLAN RSS sequences in target environment, and then perform spectral clustering on the RSS sequences to construct cluster graphs. Furthermore, by using the orthogonal algorithm in graph drawing, we represent each cluster graph in a more readable manner. After that, the edge detection approach in image is adopted to form the unique logic graph. Finally, we conduct indoor mapping from the logic graph to ground-truth graph. The experimental results prove that our approach can not only effectively characterize the environment, but also provide satisfactory localization accuracy.
Stage-specific patterns of collagen gene expression during development of Caenorhabditis elegans

Collagens are the major protein components of the Caenorhabditis elegans cuticle and are encoded by a large family of 40 to 150 closely related but nonidentical genes. We have determined temporal patterns of mRNA accumulation for a large number of collagen genes by screening recombinant phages and plasmids containing cloned collagen genes under high stringency conditions with 32P-labeled cDNA preparations specific for eggs or three postembryonic molts. We find that collagen mRNA levels are regulated both temporally and quantitatively during C. elegans development. Most genes studied exhibit one of four patterns of mRNA accumulation which correlate with changes in cuticle morphology and collagen protein composition during development. Our results suggest that, in general, there is a progressive activation of new collagen genes during normal development.
COS‐1 Cells as Packaging Host for Production of Lentiviruses

We present a protocol for in vitro production of recombinant lentiviruses using COS‐1 African green monkey kidney epithelial cells and HEK293T human embryonic kidney epithelial cells as packaging cells. COS‐1 and HEK293T express SV40 large T antigen, amplifying transfected circular plasmids harboring SV40 replication origin. Support protocols for evaluation of transfection efficiency by in situ β‐galactosidase enzyme activity assay and titer of infection‐capable virions are also provided. Advantages of using COS‐1 packaging cells over the standard HEK293T cells for contamination‐sensitive applications or automated processing are discussed. Curr. Protoc. Cell Biol. 50:26.7. 1‐26.7. 15. © 2011 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Misconceptions About Traumatic Brain Injury Among Correctional Health Care Professionals

This study explored the prevalence of misconceptions of traumatic brain injury (TBI) among a sample of correctional health care professionals. Prior research has identified a high prevalence of TBI among criminal offenders, and misconceptions about TBI exist among laypersons and nonexpert professionals. Participants (N = 155) completed a 25-item survey about the sequelae of TBI. Results were compared with previous studies. This sample performed significantly better than laypersons and commensurable to other nonexpert professionals. Misconceptions were higher on items related to loss of consciousness, memory, and recovery. Gender, prior familiarity to someone with a history of TBI, and prior training in TBI accounted for statistically fewer misconceptions. The findings support the need for continued training and increased awareness about TBI among inmates.
Sunlight-variation-adaptive charge pump circuit with self-reconfiguration for small-scale solar energy harvesting

: In this paper, we propose a reconﬁgurable charge pump (RCP) circuit that could change its architecture according to sunlight variation. In strong sunlight, the RCP works by the parallel mode that can maximize the output current. In moderate sunlight, the RCP changes to the serial-parallel mode. When sunlight becomes weak, the RCP runs by the serial mode to keep its output voltage around the target voltage. Compared with the ﬁxed-mode circuit that maintains the serial mode all the time regardless of sunlight variation, the RCP can generate 2.5 times larger output current and has power eﬃciency better by 24%, in strong sunlight. The area penalty and overhead in power eﬃciency of the RCP are only 15.8% and 1.2%.
Off-line Foveated Compression and Scene Perception: An Eye-Tracking Approach

With the continued growth of digital services offering storage and communication of pictorial information, the need to efficiently represent this information has become increasingly important, both from an information theoretic and a perceptual point of view. There has been a recent interest to design systems for efficient representation and compression of image and video data that take the features of the human visual system into account. One part of this thesis investigates whether knowledge about viewers' gaze positions as measured by an eye-tracker can be used to improve compression efficiency of digital video; regions not directly looked at by a number of previewers are lowpass filtered. This type of video manipulation is called off-line foveation. The amount of compression due to off-line foveation is assessed along with how it affects new viewers' gazing behavior as well as subjective quality. We found additional bitrate savings up to 50% (average 20%) due to off-line foveation prior to compression, without decreasing the subjective quality. In off-line foveation, it would be of great benefit to algorithmically predict where viewers look without having to perform eye-tracking measurements. In the first part of this thesis, new experimental paradigms combined with eye-tracking are used to understand the mechanisms behind gaze control during scene perception, thus investigating the prerequisites for such algorithms. Eye-movements are recorded from observers viewing contrast manipulated images depicting natural scenes under a neutral task. We report that image semantics, rather than the physical image content itself, largely dictates where people choose to look. Together with recent work on gaze prediction in video, the results in this thesis give only moderate support for successful applicability of algorithmic gaze prediction for off-line foveated video compression.
Vowel recognition with a time-delay neural network

A time-delay neural network (TDNN) architecture is used for speaker independent recognition of the long vowel sounds. A brief introduction to the TDNN architecture and a description of the data used for the simulation are given. Previously published work is extended by training the network with the linear predictive coding (LPC) coefficients of speech along with fast Fourier transform bin energies and by allowing longer and variable length utterances. The training has been performed with multiple speakers using English rather than Japanese speech. With these modifications, 100% recognition of all vowels spoken by two speakers was obtained
SAR simulations for high‐field MRI: How much detail, effort, and accuracy is needed?

Accurate prediction of specific absorption rate (SAR) for high field MRI is necessary to best exploit its potential and guarantee safe operation. To reduce the effort (time, complexity) of SAR simulations while maintaining robust results, the minimum requirements for the creation (segmentation, labeling) of human models and methods to reduce the time for SAR calculations for 7 Tesla MR‐imaging are evaluated. The geometric extent of the model required for realistic head‐simulations and the number of tissue types sufficient to form a reliable but simplified model of the human body are studied. Two models (male and female) of the virtual family are analyzed. Additionally, their position within the head‐coil is taken into account. Furthermore, the effects of retuning the coils to different load conditions and the influence of a large bore radiofrequency‐shield have been examined. The calculation time for SAR simulations in the head can be reduced by 50% without significant error for smaller model extent and simplified tissue structure outside the coil. Likewise, the model generation can be accelerated by reducing the number of tissue types. Local SAR can vary up to 14% due to position alone. This must be considered and sets a limit for SAR prediction accuracy. All these results are comparable between the two body models tested. Magn Reson Med 69:1157–1168, 2013. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Horn shape compact printed monopole antenna for super ultra-wideband (SUWB) applications using DGS

In this paper we present the design concept for a compact printed monopole antenna for super ultra-wideband (SUWB) applications. The proposed antenna operates over a large bandwidth of 1.5GHz–120GHz with a wide impedance bandwidth and has a return loss value lower than −10dB over the entire ultra band. The monopole features looks like a unique horn-shaped configuration to achieve super wideband frequency response while maintaining a compact size. An additional feature of this antenna its shaped Defected Ground Structure (DGS) that supports the antenna feed by deploying a circular slot at the top edges of the ground plane and a rectangular slot of the middle of the ground plane. The main motivation for this design is to acquire a compact printed monopole antenna type radiating structure for most of the applications such as ISM band (2.4GHz) WIMAX (3.4 GHz), WLAN (2.4/5 GHz), UMTS and Ultra-wideband (UWB) (3.1–10.6 GHz), S-band (2–4GHz), C-band (48GHz), X-band (8–12GHz), Ku-band (12–18GHz), Ka-band (2640GHz) operation, 3G (1.6–2GHz), 4G (2–8GHz) etc.
CMOS LC-oscillator phase-noise analysis using nonlinear models

In this paper, a second-order stochastic differential equation is used as a tool for the analysis of phase noise in a submicron CMOS LC oscillator. A cross-coupled topology typical of integrated CMOS designs is considered. Nonlinear limiting and mobility degradation effects in the circuit are modeled and used to predict the statistics of the random amplitude and phase deviations in terms of design variables. Assuming Gaussian noise disturbances and describing the phase noise as a random diffusion process, the average phase-noise power spectrum is derived and its accuracy verified with measurement and simulation results. Calculations for phase noise arising from stationary tank noise, nonstationary channel thermal noise, and flicker noise are discussed. The analysis is used to emphasize the fundamental power/performance tradeoff associated with compensation of tank losses via adjustments in the power supply and device size.
Changes of Trigonelline, Nicotinic Acid and Proline Content in Early Growth Stages of Trigonella foenum-graecum L. under Saline Condition

Background: Some health-protecting secondary metabolites can be found at a higher concentration in the sprouts compared to other stages of plant growth. In addition, environmental stresses such as salt stress may be resulting in the increase or decrease of specific secondary metabolites in sprouts and plants. Objective: Evaluation the changes of trigonelline, nicotinic acid, and proline content of fenugreek sprouts under saline and non-saline condition in the different harvesting times. Methods: This experiment was conducted on the base of factorial experiment in completely randomized design with three replications. The treatments were included three levels of salinity (0, 75 and 150 mM of NaCl), and three harvesting times of sprouted fenugreek (4, 8 and 12 days after beginning the experiment). Results: In each level of salinity, the highest trigonelline content of sprouts was obtained on the fourth day, and its content was reduced on the eighth and twelfth days. The nicotinic acid amount under moderate (75 mM of NaCl), and severe (150 mM of NaCl) salinity was gradually reduced from the fourth up to twelfth days. Thus, the highest amount of nicotinic acid was observed on the fourth day, and its lowest was obtained on the twelfth day. The proline content of sprouted fenugreek was increased from the fourth up to twelfth day at different levels of salinity, so that the highest proline content of sprouts was observed on the twelfth day especially under 150 mM salinity. Conclusion: In general, the trigonelline and nicotinic acid content of sprouted fenugreek was reduced from the fourth up to twelfth days, and the highest content of them was observed under 150 mM salinity on the fourth day.
Supportive Evidence for a Brown Dwarf Solar Companion

We have previously given evidence based on Oort cloud comet orbital elements which suggested that there may be a Jovian-mass brown dwarf in our solar system. An extended cometary database is now available. The analyses have been repeated and we find that the set of statistically significant correlated anomalies is enhanced. We also respond to unsupported objections that have been raised to this conjecture. If real, the wide-binary object would constitute a natural dynamical intermediary between gas giant planetary objects and isolated objects.
Twofold Reflectionless Filters of Inverse-Chebyshev Response With Arbitrary Attenuation

A twofold circuit is introduced as a reflectionless filter having inverse-Chebyshev response with arbitrary attenuation in the reject band. The proposed configuration consists of two complementary circuits. A methodology and some equations are described to exactly design a prototype odd order low-pass reflectionless filter. Finally, a filter is built and measured to verify the presented configuration and its design equations.
Electrical Stimulation Improves Microbial Salinity Resistance and Organofluorine Removal in Bioelectrochemical Systems

ABSTRACT Fed batch bioelectrochemical systems (BESs) based on electrical stimulation were used to treat p-fluoronitrobenzene (p-FNB) wastewater at high salinities. At a NaCl concentration of 40 g/liter, p-FNB was removed 100% in 96 h in the BES, whereas in the biotic control (BC) (absence of current), p-FNB removal was only 10%. By increasing NaCl concentrations from 0 g/liter to 40 g/liter, defluorination efficiency decreased around 40% in the BES, and in the BC it was completely ceased. p-FNB was mineralized by 30% in the BES and hardly in the BC. Microorganisms were able to store 3.8 and 0.7 times more K+ and Na+ intracellularly in the BES than in the BC. Following the same trend, the ratio of protein to soluble polysaccharide increased from 3.1 to 7.8 as the NaCl increased from 0 to 40 g/liter. Both trends raise speculation that an electrical stimulation drives microbial preference toward K+ and protein accumulation to tolerate salinity. These findings are in accordance with an enrichment of halophilic organisms in the BES. Halobacterium dominated in the BES by 56.8% at a NaCl concentration of 40 g/liter, while its abundance was found as low as 17.5% in the BC. These findings propose a new method of electrical stimulation to improve microbial salinity resistance.
Accelerated Degeneration of the Segment Adjacent to a Lumbar Fusion

Previously reported biomechanical studies on the effects of various types of spinal fusion procedures upon the adjacent segment indicate a significant degree of increased stress at that segment. This study presents 18 patients in whom new symptoms developed from the segment adjacent to a fusion after an average symptom-free interval of 8.5 years (1-38 years). The most common pathologic condition at the adjacent segment was hypertrophic degenerative arthritis of the facet joints. Spinal stenosis was found there in eight cases; severe disc degeneration in five; degenerative spondylolisthesis in two; and spondylolysis acquislta in one.
Optimization of One Dimensional Photonic Crystal Elliptical-Hole Low-Index Mode Nanobeam Cavities for On-Chip Sensing

We report the design of one dimensional photonic crystal nanobeam cavities with elliptical holes that is fully encapsulated in the water environment and can confine the light in the low index region. The proposed structure, based on the principle of gentle confinement of the electromagnetic field, is designed by tapering the width of the host photonic crystal waveguide away from the center of the cavity while keeping other parameters constant. With elliptical-hole low-index mode nanobeam cavities and tapered waveguide widths, through three dimensional finite-difference time-domain simulations, large band-gap and high reflectivity are achieved to confine the optical mode. Also, the electric field is confined in the elliptical holes, which helps to enhance the sensitivity. The simulation results demonstrate that we achieve the highest quality factor of 1.35 × 105 when 15 taper segments and 15 additional mirror segments are placed on both sides of the host waveguide. A sensitivity of 390 nm/RIU (refractive index unit) and mode volume of 2.23 (λres/nsi)3 are achieved in the water environment, thus showing exceptionally good on-chip sensing properties with respect to high sensitivity, small footprints and masses.
How to Report App Feedback?: Analyzing Feedback Reporting Behavior

Users face various usability issues when interacting with mobile apps. While collecting quality in-situ feedback is extremely valuable for the developers for UX improvement, our understanding of user feedback reporting behavior and interface design is very limited. In this paper, we conducted a user study to solicit feedback from five mobile apps using think-aloud protocol with video recordings. Using the collected data, we investigated the attributes of usability issues related to feedback reporting behavior. We identified four key attributes of usability issues related to feedback reporting behavior, i.e., usability issue topics, origin of usability issues, types of actions, and content/context dynamicity. Our analysis will provide a useful foundation for building a feedback reporting system for end users.
Altered phosphorylation and desensitization patterns of a human beta 2‐adrenergic receptor lacking the palmitoylated Cys341.

Exposure of beta 2‐adrenergic receptors to agonists causes a rapid desensitization of the receptor‐stimulated adenylyl cyclase, associated with an increased phosphorylation of the receptor. Agonist‐promoted phosphorylation of the beta 2‐adrenergic receptor (beta 2AR) by protein kinase A and the beta‐adrenergic receptor kinase (beta ARK) is believed to promote a functional uncoupling of the receptor from the guanyl nucleotide regulatory protein Gs. More recently, palmitoylation of Cys341 of the receptor has also been proposed to play an important role in the coupling of the beta 2‐adrenergic receptor to Gs. Here we report that substitution of the palmitoylated cysteine by a glycine (Gly341 beta 2 AR) using site directed mutagenesis leads to a receptor being highly phosphorylated and largely uncoupled from Gs. In Chinese hamster fibroblasts (CHW), stably transfected with the human receptor cDNAs, the basal phosphorylation level of Gly341 beta 2AR was found to be approximately 4 times that of the wild type receptor. This elevated phosphorylation level was accompanied by a depressed ability of the receptor to stimulate the adenylyl cyclase and to form a guanyl nucleotide‐sensitive high affinity state for agonists. Moreover, exposure of this unpalmitoylated receptor to an agonist did not promote any further phosphorylation or uncoupling. A modest desensitization of the receptor‐stimulated adenylyl cyclase response was observed but resulted from the agonist‐induced sequestration of the unpalmitoylated receptor and could be blocked by concanavalin A. This contrasts with the agonist‐promoted phosphorylation and uncoupling of the wild type receptor. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Access to Bridge Employment: Who Finds and Who Does Not Find Work After Retirement?

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY Empirical studies on the determinants of bridge employment have often neglected the fact that some retirees may be unsuccessful in finding a bridge job. We present an integrative framework that emphasizes socioeconomic factors, health status, social context, and psychological factors to explain why some people fully retired after career exit, some participated in bridge jobs, while others unsuccessfully searched for one. DESIGN AND METHODS Using Dutch panel data for 1,221 retirees, we estimated a multinomial logit model to explain participation in, and unsuccessful searches for, bridge employment. RESULTS About 1 in 4 retirees participated in bridge employment after retirement, while 7% searched unsuccessfully for such work. Particularly those who experienced involuntary career exit were found to have a higher probability of being unsuccessful at finding bridge employment. IMPLICATIONS The current study provides evidence for the impact of the social context on postretirement work and suggests a cumulative disadvantage in the work domain in later life.