Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Mechanical Energy Harvesting Performance of Ferroelectric Polymer Nanowires Grown via Template‐Wetting

Abstract Nanowires of the ferroelectric co‐polymer poly(vinylidenefluoride‐co‐triufloroethylene) [P(VDF‐TrFE)] are fabricated from solution within nanoporous templates of both “hard” anodic aluminium oxide (AAO) and “soft” polyimide (PI) through a facile and scalable template‐wetting process. The confined geometry afforded by the pores of the templates leads directly to highly crystalline P(VDF‐TrFE) nanowires in a macroscopic “poled” state that precludes the need for external electrical poling procedure typically required for piezoelectric performance. The energy‐harvesting performance of nanogenerators based on these template‐grown nanowires are extensively studied and analyzed in combination with finite element modelling. Both experimental results and computational models probing the role of the templates in determining overall nanogenerator performance, including both materials and device efficiencies, are presented. It is found that although P(VDF‐TrFE) nanowires grown in PI templates exhibit a lower material efficiency due to lower crystallinity as compared to nanowires grown in AAO templates, the overall device efficiency was higher for the PI‐template‐based nanogenerator because of the lower stiffness of the PI template as compared to the AAO template. This work provides a clear framework to assess the energy conversion efficiency of template‐grown piezoelectric nanowires and paves the way towards optimization of template‐based nanogenerator devices.
Impact of Altered Mineral Metabolism on Pathological Cardiac Remodeling in Elevated Fibroblast Growth Factor 23

Clinical and experimental studies indicate a possible link between high serum levels of fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF23), phosphate, and parathyroid hormone (PTH), deficiency of active vitamin D (1,25D) and klotho with the development of pathological cardiac remodeling, i.e., left ventricular hypertrophy and myocardial fibrosis, but a causal link has not been established so far. Here, we investigated the cardiac phenotype in klotho hypomorphic (kl/kl) mice and Hyp mice, two mouse models of elevated FGF23 levels and klotho deficiency, but differing in parameters of mineral metabolism, by using histology, quantitative real-time PCR, immunoblot analysis, and serum and urine biochemistry. Additionally, the specific impact of calcium, phosphate, PTH, and 1,25D on hypertrophic growth of isolated neonatal rat cardiac myocytes was investigated in vitro. Kl/kl mice displayed high serum Fgf23 levels, increased relative heart weight, enhanced cross-sectional area of individual cardiac myocytes, activated cardiac Fgf23/Fgf receptor (Fgfr) 4/calcineurin/nuclear factor of activated T cell (NFAT) signaling, and induction of pro-hypertrophic NFAT target genes including Rcan1, bMHC, brain natriuretic peptide (BNP), and atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) as compared to corresponding wild-type (WT) mice. Investigation of fibrosis-related molecules characteristic for pathological cardiac remodeling processes demonstrated ERK1/2 activation and enhanced expression of Tgf-β1, collagen I, and Mmp2 in kl/kl mice than in WT mice. In contrast, despite significantly elevation of serum and cardiac Fgf23, and reduced renal klotho expression, Hyp mice showed no signs of pathological cardiac remodeling. Kl/kl mice showed enhanced serum calcium and phosphate levels, while Hyp mice showed unchanged serum calcium levels, lower serum phosphate, and elevated serum iPTH concentrations compared to corresponding WT mice. In cultured cardiac myocytes, treatment with both calcium or phosphate significantly upregulated endogenous Fgf23 mRNA expression and stimulated hypertrophic cell growth and expression of pro-hypertrophic genes. The treatment with PTH induced hypertrophic cell growth only, and stimulation with 1,25D had no significant effects. In conclusion, our data indicate that Hyp mice, in contrast to kl/kl mice appear to be protected from pathological cardiac remodeling during conditions of high FGF23 levels and klotho deficiency, which may be due, at least in part, to differences in mineral metabolism alterations, i.e., hypophosphatemia and lack of hypercalcemia.
Speaker Adapted Beamforming for Multi-Channel Automatic Speech Recognition

This paper presents, in the context of multi-channel ASR, a method to adapt a mask based, statistically optimal beamforming approach to a speaker of interest. The beamforming vector of the statistically optimal beamformer is computed by utilizing speech and noise masks, which are estimated by a neural network. The proposed adaptation approach is based on the integration of the beamformer, which includes the mask estimation network, and the acoustic model of the ASR system. This allows for the propagation of the training error, from the acoustic modeling cost function, all the way through the beamforming operation and through the mask estimation network. By using the results of a first pass recognition and by keeping all other parameters fixed, the mask estimation network can therefore be fine tuned by retraining. Utterances of a speaker of interest can thus be used in a two pass approach, to optimize the beamforming for the speech characteristics of that specific speaker. It is shown that this approach improves the ASR performance of a state-of-the-art multi-channel ASR system on the CHiME-4 data. Furthermore the effect of the adaptation on the estimated speech masks is discussed.
Formal Specification & Analysis of Autonomous Systems in PrCCSL/Simulink Design Verifier

Modeling and analysis of timing constraints is crucial in automotive systems. EAST-ADL is a domain specific architectural language dedicated to safety-critical automotive embedded system design. In most cases, a bounded number of violations of timing constraints in systems would not lead to system failures when the results of the violations are negligible, called Weakly-Hard (WH). We have previously specified EAST-ADL timing constraints in Clock Constraint Specification Language (CCSL) and transformed timed behaviors in CCSL into formal models amenable to model checking. Previous work is extended in this paper by including support for probabilistic analysis of timing constraints in the context of WH: Probabilistic extension of CCSL, called PrCCSL, is defined and the EAST-ADL timing constraints with stochastic properties are specified in PrCCSL. The semantics of the extended constraints in PrCCSL is translated into Proof Objective Models that can be verified using SIMULINK DESIGN VERIFIER. Furthermore, a set of mapping rules is proposed to facilitate guarantee of translation. Our approach is demonstrated on an autonomous traffic sign recognition vehicle case study.
Contrastive Explanations with Local Foil Trees

Recent advances in interpretable Machine Learning (iML) and eXplainable AI (XAI) construct explanations based on the importance of features in classification tasks. However, in a high-dimensional feature space this approach may become unfeasible without restraining the set of important features. We propose to utilize the human tendency to ask questions like "Why this output (the fact) instead of that output (the foil)? " to reduce the number of features to those that play a main role in the asked contrast. Our proposed method utilizes locally trained one-versus-all decision trees to identify the disjoint set of rules that causes the tree to classify data points as the foil and not as the fact. In this study we illustrate this approach on three benchmark classification tasks.
FHJ: A Formal Model for Hierarchical Dispatching and Overriding

© Yanlin Wang, Haoyuan Zhang, Bruno C. d. S. Oliveira, and Marco Servetto. Multiple inheritance is a valuable feature for Object-Oriented Programming. However, it is also tricky to get right, as illustrated by the extensive literature on the topic. A key issue is the ambiguity arising from inheriting multiple parents, which can have conflicting methods. Numerous existing work provides solutions for conflicts which arise from diamond inheritance: i.e. conflicts that arise from implementations sharing a common ancestor. However, most mechanisms are inadequate to deal with unintentional method conflicts: conflicts which arise from two unrelated methods that happen to share the same name and signature. This paper presents a new model called Featherweight Hierarchical Java (FHJ) that deals with unintentional method conflicts. In our new model, which is partly inspired by C++, conflicting methods arising from unrelated methods can coexist in the same class, and hierarchical dispatching supports unambiguous lookups in the presence of such conflicting methods. To avoid ambiguity, hierarchical information is employed in method dispatching, which uses a combination of static and dynamic type information to choose the implementation of a method at run-time. Furthermore, unlike all existing inheritance models, our model supports hierarchical method overriding: that is, methods can be independently overridden along the multiple inheritance hierarchy. We give illustrative examples of our language and features and formalize FHJ as a minimal Featherweight-Java style calculus.
Interplay of miRNAs and Canonical Wnt Signaling Pathway in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Hepatocellular carcinoma is one of the leading causes of cancer death worldwide and the activation of canonical Wnt signaling pathway is universal in hepatocellular carcinoma patients. MicroRNAs are found to participate in the pathogenesis of hepatocellular carcinoma by activating or inhibiting components in the canonical Wnt signaling pathway. Meanwhile, transcriptional activation of microRNAs by canonical Wnt signaling pathway also contributes to the occurrence and progression of hepatocellular carcinoma. Pharmacological inhibition of hepatocellular carcinoma pathogenesis and other cancers by microRNAs are now in clinical trials despite the challenges of identifying efficient microRNAs candidates and safe delivery vehicles. The focus of this review is on the interplay mechanisms between microRNAs and canonical Wnt signaling pathway in hepatocellular carcinoma, and a deep understanding of the crosstalk will promote to develop a better management of this disease.
Alpha-Synuclein Aggregation and Membrane Association in a Fission Yeast Model: Implications for PD Pathogenesis

Lewy bodies of α-synuclein protein are prominent characteristics in the Parkinson’s disease (PD) pathology. The mechanism of Lewy body formation and consequent cytotoxicity was studied by Brandis et al. (2006) in a newly developed model organism of fission yeast. Though, the level of α α α αsynuclein expression studied was either high or low, the wild-type and A53T familial mutant of α α α αsynuclein followed the nucleation polymerization theory in the process of misfolding and aggregating. At high concentration, α α α α-synuclein formed cytoplasmic aggregates in a concentration and time-dependent manner. However, these aggregates appeared to be independent of cytotoxicity. In this current study, the fission yeast model is used again but to evaluate α α α α-synuclein misfolding, aggregation, and non-toxic properties when expression is moderate. The results indicate moderate α α α α-synuclein expression to obey the nucleation polymerization model. In light of this study, α α α α-synuclein aggregation requires a necessary threshold concentration. Moderately expressed α α α α-synuclein forms soluble aggregates, but at a slightly lower expression. So far, studies in fission yeast cells show that various concentrations of α-synuclein, neither target the plasma membrane nor are toxic. Because αsynuclein misfolding and aggregation is linked to Parkinson’s disease, absence of its toxicity in fission yeast is paradoxical. We expect that α α α
Biochemical and Functional Characterization of the Trace Amine-Associated Receptor 1 (TAAR1) Agonist RO5263397

Trace amine-associated receptor 1 (TAAR1) is a G protein-coupled receptor, which signals through elevating intracellular cAMP levels, and expressed in most vertebrates, including rodents and humans. In recent years, several lines of evidence indicated the role of TAAR1 in the regulation of dopaminergic system and its importance in physiological processes such as locomotion, control of emotional states and cognition. In our study, we used RO5263397, a selective TAAR1 agonist, as a tool and characterized its pharmacology in vitro in HEK293 cells and its effects in vivo in tests assessing potential antidepressant and antipsychotic actions. We found that RO5263397 not only increases cAMP levels at very low concentrations but also can induce the phosphorylation of ERK and CREB in a concentration- and time-dependent manner. Like other TAAR1 agonists, RO5263397 potently suppressed high dopamine-dependent hyperactivity in mice lacking the dopamine transporter. Moreover, RO5263397 produced a strong antidepressant-like effect in the forced swim test comparable to fluoxetine. Furthermore, the antidepressant-like activity was blocked by pretreatment with SCH23390 (dopamine D1 receptor antagonist) or NBQX (glutamate AMPA receptor antagonist) but only in part by WAY100635 (serotonin 5HT1A receptor antagonist). In conclusion, our study confirms some previous in vitro and in vivo findings in relation to the pharmacological effects of RO5263397 but more importantly provides new insight on intracellular signaling pathway and other neurotransmitter receptors modulated by TAAR1 receptor activation.
Detecting and interpreting myocardial infarction using fully convolutional neural networks

Objective: We aim to provide an algorithm for the detection of myocardial infarction that operates directly on ECG data without any preprocessing and to investigate its decision criteria. Approach: We train an ensemble of fully convolutional neural networks on the PTB ECG dataset and apply state-of-the-art attribution methods. Main results: Our classifier reaches 93.3% sensitivity and 89.7% specificity evaluated using 10-fold cross-validation with sampling based on patients. The presented method outperforms state-of-the-art approaches and reaches the performance level of human cardiologists for detection of myocardial infarction. We are able to discriminate channel-specific regions that contribute most significantly to the neural network’s decision. Interestingly, the network’s decision is influenced by signs also recognized by human cardiologists as indicative of myocardial infarction. Significance: Our results demonstrate the high prospects of algorithmic ECG analysis for future clinical applications considering both its quantitative performance as well as the possibility of assessing decision criteria on a per-example basis, which enhances the comprehensibility of the approach.
Coresidence with a child and happiness among older widows in Europe: Does gender of the child matter?

Abstract Both coresidence patterns and the reported well‐being of older people vary widely across Europe for a variety of economic, cultural, and historical factors. We investigate how far 2 indicators of well‐being, happiness and life satisfaction, vary according to whether or not older women live with their children and, in particular, with son(s) or daughter(s). We compare outcomes for women who are unpartnered widows, the great majority of whom will have had children, so those with and without coresident children may be compared. We use data for 34 countries in Europe by combining 7 waves of the European Social Survey for the period 2002–2014 (N = 18,500). We control for a range of other variables known to be associated with well‐being including health status, socioeconomic position, and social support. Results show that widows living with a child were happier than those living without a child (generally alone) but that in Eastern and Southern Europe it was only living with a daughter that had this positive effect. Older age was associated with higher levels of happiness and life satisfaction. Other associations, and regional differences, were as expected with lower levels of happiness in Eastern Europe and for those with poorer health and fewer social resources. These findings indicate the important influence of contextual factors on associations between living arrangements and the well‐being of older people and a need for further work on possible negative impacts of living alone on the well‐being of older Europeans.
Role of Rice miRNAs in Pathogen Response

Abstract Micro RNAs (miRNAs) have emerged as the master regulator of many biological functions in both plant and animal systems. In this post-genomic era, studies on miRNA regulation in plants are not limited to Arabidopsis thaliana, rather it is shifting towards rice (Oryza sativa), one of the potent staple foods for world’s inhabitants. Till date, many rice miRNAs have been identified with cloning methods and computational approaches. Huge numbers of potential targets have been identified and some of those have been validated experimentally. Increasing evidence supports that plant miRNAs contribute in immune responses to pathogens. Under different developmental stages and stress conditions, significant changes in the expression profile of miRNAs suggest that they can regulate the production of mRNA targets by cleaving or suppressing. Here we report recent advancement in miRNA mediated regulation in rice and its future direction towards bioengineering.
Effects of No-No Prompting on Teaching Expressive Labeling of Facial Expressions to Children with and without a Pervasive Developmental Disorder

Discrete trial teaching is a systematic form of instruction found to be effective for children diagnosed with autism. Three areas of discrete trial teaching warranting more research are the effectiveness and efficiency of various prompting procedures, the effectiveness of implementing teaching in a group instructional format, and the ability of children with autism to observationally learn from their peers. This study evaluated the effectiveness of a no-no prompting procedure implemented in a group instructional format to teach five children, four of whom were diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder, to correctly label facial expressions. Addition- ally, this study evaluated whether participants observationally learned to expressively label facial expressions not directly taught to them but taught to their peers. Using a multiple baseline design, results of this study indicated that all participants learned to expressively label facial expressions taught to them directly with a no-no prompting procedure. The participants also learned through observation to expressively label facial expressions taught only to their peers using the same procedure.
Method to Annotate Arrhythmias by Deep Network

This study targets to automatically annotate on arrhythmia by deep network. The investigated types include sinus rhythm, asystole (Asys); supraventricular tachycardia (Tachy); ventricular flutter or fibrillation (VF/VFL); ventricular tachycardia (VT). Methods: 13s limb lead ECG chunks from MIT malignant ventricular arrhythmia database (VFDB) and MIT normal sinus rhythm database were partitioned into subsets for 5-fold cross validation. These signals were resampled to 200Hz, filtered to remove baseline wandering, projected to 2D gray spectrum and then fed into a deep network with brand-new structure. In this network, a feature vector for a single time point was retrieved by residual layers, from which latent representation was extracted by variational autoencoder (VAE). These front portions were trained to meet a certain threshold in loss function, then fixed while training procedure switched to remaining bidirectional recurrent neural network (RNN), the very portions to predict an arrhythmia category. Attention windows were polynomial lumped on RNN outputs for learning from details to outlines. And over sampling was employed for imbalanced data. The trained model was wrapped into docker image for deployment in edge or cloud. Conclusion: Promising sensitivities were achieved in four arrhythmias and good precision rates in two ventricular arrhythmias were also observed. Moreover, it was proven that latent representation by VAE, can significantly boost the speed of convergence and accuracy.
Application and Utility of Pharmacogenetics in the Clinical Laboratory

The administration of pharmaceuticals presents a challenge for the healthcare system, as inappropriate drug or dose selection can result in diminished therapeutic efficacy or adverse drug reactions. Genetic variability is a major regulator of drug action which should be taken into account during drug and dose selection. The correlation of drug responses (phenotypes) to specific polymorphisms (genotype) has contributed to the development of many targeted genotyping approaches. Incorporation of such testing into the clinical laboratory requires the evaluation of current testing platform characteristics as well as the selection of appropriate polymorphisms to be tested. Here we describe known genotype – phenotype relationships pertinent to drug action and present currently available targeted genotyping platforms for pharmacogenetics (PGx) testing. We additionally discuss considerations regarding platform and polymorphism selection for successful integration of PGx testing into the clinical laboratory and attainment of clinically useful results.
High-performance Execution of Scientific Multi-Physics Coupled Applications in a Private Cloud

—Scientists are increasingly interested in simulating complex chemical systems and physical phenomenon by coupling distinct individual physical models of different phenomena in order to provide an accurate simulation of the system under study. In computational terms, coupled model applications are distributed applications, in which the components of the application are synchronized via exchange of information during runtime. Such applications are long-running parallel applications, which require high-performance distributed environment in order to run. Emerging Cloud computing technology offers cheap and large-scale high-performance computing environment for the benefit of scientific applications. However, coupled model applications require complex communication/computation pattern, such as optimized MPI for communication, which is a challenging in a Cloud environment. This paper presents a framework for the execution of long running MPI multi-physics coupled applications on a private Cloud environment. Further, the paper presents a performance analysis of the execution of the MPI coupled application on virtual resources managed by Eucalyptus Cloud.