Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Young children’s contingent interactions with a touchscreen influence their memory for spatial and narrative content

ABSTRACT Young children have difficulty learning from two-dimensional (2D) sources (e.g., television). One reason for this may be that 2D media lacks the contingent feedback present in social interactions. Touchscreens can provide contingent, reciprocal responses in the absence of a social partner, and thus may have the potential to overcome the challenges of learning by viewing. We assessed 30- to 48-month-old children’s memory for eBook content and traced objects after interactive or observational touchscreen exposure. The degree of interactivity with the touchscreen varied by three conditions of (1) close-mapping in which the touchscreen input corresponded closely with the output, (2) far-mapping, and (3) watching a screen recording. Children who watched the screen recording did best on delayed object recognition for traced objects, whereas results for the eBook material revealed a condition by gender by age (months) interaction. Girls’ memory for eBook material improved with increasing age after interacting via near- or far-mapping. Results are discussed in terms of gender and age differences in executive functioning and the capacity of cognitive load, and the limitations of contingent interactions.
The Discourse Functions of Metadiscourse in Published Academic Writing: Issues of Culture and Language 1

Taking the non-integrative approach to metadiscourse (Adel 2006; 2008), this paper carries out a cross-cultural and cross-linguistic analysis of text- and participant-oriented metadiscourse in two rhetorically forceful research article sections (Introductions and Discussions). Results show that, across cultures, the average frequencies of the two types of metadiscourse are relatively similar in the two article sections. Findings also show that the micro-level discourse functions of these metadiscourse types seem to concentrate in specific information moves in these sections, suggestive of shared uniform conventions for academic writing across cultures and languages. The exploration of metadiscourse further reveals several culture- and language-specific traits regarding preferred lexicogrammatical realisations of metadiscourse units, different preferences for personal/impersonal metadiscourse types as well as different textual developments for constructing arguments.
Expression of alpha-smooth muscle (alpha-SM) actin during corneal stromal wound healing.

PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to correlate the temporal expression of alpha-smooth muscle specific actin (alpha-SM actin), a molecular marker for myofibroblast transformation, with corneal wound contraction. METHODS After full-thickness, central corneal injury in rabbit eyes, the anterior width of the wound (wound gape) was measured in the same animals using in vivo confocal microscopy. In addition, animals were sacrificed at various times after injury for the determination of alpha-SM actin expression by immunofluorescent microscopy using a mouse monoclonal antibody specific for human alpha-actin. Antibody specificity was confirmed by Western blot analysis of normal and wound fibroblasts. Expression of alpha-SM actin also was related spatially to f-actin and the wound margin by co-localization with phalloidin and DTAF (5([4,6-dichlorotriazin-2yl]amino)fluorescein), a fluorescent marker bound to the wound margin. RESULTS Wound contraction was most evident from days 7 to 42, when wound gape progressively decreased from 574 +/- 120 microns to 250 +/- 61 microns. Thereafter, the wound remained stable to day 84 (304 +/- 58 microns). Expression of alpha-SM actin directly correlated with wound contraction--appearing across the wound at day 7, the full thickness of the wound at day 14, and the posterior wound at day 28. alpha-SM actin was localized exclusively to phalloidin-stained, f-actin microfilament bundles or stress fibers within wound healing fibroblasts, and the disappearance of alpha-SM actin correlated with the concomitant disappearance of stress fibers at days 28 to 42. Staining of the wound margin with DTAF confirmed that the expression of alpha-SM actin was limited to fibroblasts within the wound. CONCLUSIONS The expression of alpha-SM actin was directly correlated to corneal wound contraction, appearing at the initiation of and disappearing at the completion of the contraction process. Furthermore, the exclusive expression of alpha-SM actin by fibroblasts present only within the wound suggests that local environmental factors unique to the wound may play an important role in myofibroblast transformation.
The Transforming Growth Factor-β Family Members Bone Morphogenetic Protein-2 and Macrophage Inhibitory Cytokine-1 as Mediators of the Antiangiogenic Activity of N-(4-Hydroxyphenyl)Retinamide

Purpose: Tumor growth appears to be an angiogenesis-dependent process. N-(4-hydroxyphenyl)retinamide (fenretinide; 4HPR) has been found to inhibit and/or prevent tumor growth under diverse conditions. Although 4HPR is antiangiogenic, the molecular mechanisms of this effect remain largely unknown. Experimental Design: Endothelial cells were treated with 4HPR in vitro to study the effects on migration, invasion, and organization, as well as gene expression by microarray and quantitative PCR studies. In vivo angiogenesis was evaluated in the Matrigel model. Results: 4HPR treatment substantially modified the biological activities of endothelial cells, repressing their capacity to migrate, invade, and organize into capillary-like structures. The inhibition of invasion induced by 4HPR was also associated with decreased activities of the metalloproteases matrix metalloproteinase-2 and CD13/APN. Using oligonucleotide microarrays, we observed that bone morphogenetic protein-2 and macrophage inhibitory cytokine-1, two multifunctional cytokines of the transforming growth factor-β family that regulate the growth, differentiation, apoptosis, and matrix accumulation of a variety of cells, are up-regulated in vitro by 4HPR. Both these molecules specifically inhibited endothelial cell growth, migration, and invasion in vitro and suppressed angiogenesis in the Matrigel plug assay in vivo. Blocking antibodies to bone morphogenetic protein-2 were able to reverse the suppressive effects of 4HPR in vitro and in vivo. Conclusions: These data support the conclusion that 4HPR inhibits tumor growth by repression of new vessel growth and identify novel points of regulation of angiogenesis in transforming growth factor-β family proteins.
27.9 A 200kS/s 13.5b integrated-fluxgate differential-magnetic-to-digital converter with an oversampling compensation loop for contactless current sensing

High voltage applications such as electric motor controllers, solar panel power inverters, electric vehicle battery chargers, uninterrupted and switching mode power supplies benefit from the galvanic isolation of contactless current sensors (CCS) [1]. These include magnetic sensors that sense the magnetic field emanating from a current-carrying conductor. The offset and resolution of Hall-effect sensors is in the μT-level [1-3], in contrast to the μT-level accuracy of integrated-fluxgate (IFG) magnetometers [4]. Previously reported sampled-data closed-loop IFG readouts have limited BWs as their sampling frequencies (4) are limited to be less than or equal to the IFG excitation frequency, fEXC [5-7]. This paper describes a differential closed-loop IFG CCS with fs>fEXC. The differential architecture rejects magnetic stray fields and achieves 750x larger BW than the prior closed-loop IFG readouts [6-7] with 10×better offset than the Hall-effect sensors [1-3].
INFLUENCE OF TEMPERATURE ON SWARMBOTS THAT LEARN

The problem considered in this article is how a cybernetic system can learn to control its actions in a hostile environment. This article focuses on an approach to solving this problem in an environment with varying temperatures. In effect, machines that operate outdoors have higher survivability if actions are chosen during periods when it is cooler (e.g., night-time or early morning rather than mid- to late afternoon during summer months). The assumption made here is that learning to choose actions that compensate for the influence of temperature has beneficial influence on the functioning of individuals in robot societies (collections of cooperating robots called swarmbots or swarms). In keeping with this idea, a biologically-inspired form of adaptive learning is given in this article. Conventional actor-critic learning provides a framework for the control strategy introduced in this article. It is ethology (study of behavior of organisms) that provides a basis for monitoring the behavior of a swarmbot. Individual behaviours together with sensor measurements are recorded in tables called ethograms. Swarm behavior tends to be episodic. An ethogram is recorded during each episode during the lifespan of a swarm. Each ethogram is a source of measurements that can be used to influence learning during an episode. The contribution of this article is the introduction of a biologically-inspired approach to learning that adapts to changing temperatures.
Veno-Venous Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation: Anesthetic Management for Massive Intracranial Hemorrhage in H1N1 Infection

Background: Extracorporeal membrane oxygenator (ECMO) use is dramatically increasing in recent years. This case report describes a patient on veno-venous (VV) ECMO for H1N1 who underwent emergent craniotomy twice for intracranial hemorrhage. Case presentation: A 38-year-old male presented to a community hospital for worsening shortness of breath. He had experienced cough, malaise and fatigue for two weeks prior to presentation. On arrival, his arterial oxygen saturation was 64%. He was placed on oxygen via non-rebreather mask and started on Tamiflu plus antibiotics. He was intubated for worsening respiratory failure. Despite maximal ventilator settings, the arterial oxygen saturation was approximately 90%. He was placed in the prone position and nitric oxide was initiated. Severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) secondary to influenza was diagnosed by viral PCR, clinical presentation, and diagnostic imaging. Within 24 hours of his intubation, a decision was made to initiate veno-venous (V-V) ECMO for respiratory support. Five days following the initiation of ECMO, asymmetric pupils and a nonreactive right pupil were noted. A massive right frontal intraparenchymal hemorrhage with midline shift and downward uncal herniation was found on computed tomography (CT). A decision was made to surgically intervene. He was taken to the operating room for immediate right frontal craniotomy and clot evacuation under general anesthesia. Conclusion: With the dramatic increase in ECMO use, anesthesiologists are encountering patients on ECMO in the operating room with more frequency. When the situation does arise, it is imperative that the anesthesiologist is knowledgeable about ECMO and how to appropriately administer anesthesia for these critically ill patients. Challenges confronting the anesthesiologist with ECMO patients include managing bleeding or coagulopathy, ventilation and oxygenation, volume status, transporting and positioning these patients, and altered pharmacokinetics of anesthetic drugs.
Ground penetrating radar signal processing for road monitoring and damage detection

Ground penetrating radar (GPR) signal processing is a nondestructive technique, particularly promising for soil characteristics interpretation. In fact, pavement damage is actually one of the most crucial problems in roads. A preliminary detection and a subsequent classification of the pavement damage, based on an automatic GPR analysis, have been performed and experimentally validated. An optimum detection procedure is performed. It implements the classical Neyman-Pearson radar test. All the settings needed by the procedure have been estimated from a training set of measures. The overall performance has been evaluated by looking at the usual receiver's operating curve. The results evidence that a reasonable performance has been achieved by a suited analysis of GPR images exploiting the spatio-temporal correlation properties of the received signal. Although a generalization is not reliable, this study shows that an automatic GPR-based evaluation of subgrade soil characteristics is feasible.
Evidence for Two Distinct Forms of Native Glutamic Acid Decarboxylase in Rat Brain Soluble Extract: An Immunoblotting Study

Abstract: Immunoblots of the soluble proteins from a rat brain high‐speed supernatant dissociated under reducing conditions showed two monomers (molecular weights, 59,000 and 62,000 ± 2,000) immunolabeled by a glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) antiserum. In this extract, a GAD monoclonal antibody trapped the same two monomers, thus confirming that they are both constitutive sub‐units of GAD. Without treatment under reducing conditions, two additional bands were stained by immunoblotting. Their molecular weights were estimated to be 115,000 and 122,000 ± 5,000. These results demonstrate the presence, in rat brain soluble extract, of two distinct forms of native GAD. They further support our previous hypothesis that each form is composed by the homodimeric association of each constitutive subunit through disulfide bridges.
RAPID COMMUNICATION: SERUM IMMUNOREACTIVE MELATONIN IN BOYS WITH DELAYED PUBERTY

Serum immunoreactive melatonin was measured in thirty‐three male subjects with delayed puberty, thirty of whom had simple (idiopathic) delayed puberty (SDP) and three of whom were GH deficient. The results were compared with a control population of twenty‐six subjects. Significantly elevated values of serum melatonin were demonstrated in both groups of abnormal subjects as compared with the control population (P < 0.0001). No significant fall of serum melatonin was noted in the subjects with simple pubertal delay prior to the onset of puberty. However, there was a significant fall of serum melatonin in these subjects between mid and late puberty (P < 0.025). The results suggest that whilst melatonin may inhibit puberty, a fall in serum levels is not essential for the commencement of puberty in man.
Single therapeutic and supratherapeutic doses of anacetrapib, a cholesteryl ester transfer protein inhibitor, do not prolong the QTcF interval in healthy volunteers

Anacetrapib is a cholesteryl ester transfer protein inhibitor in Phase III development. This double‐blind, double‐dummy, randomized, placebo‐ and active‐comparator‐controlled, 4‐period, balanced crossover study evaluated the effects of anacetrapib (100 mg and 800 mg) on QTcF interval in healthy subjects. QTcF measurements were made up to 24 h following administration of single doses of anacetrapib 100 or 800 mg, moxifloxacin 400 mg, or placebo in the fed state. The primary hypothesis was supported if the 90% CI for the least squares (LS) mean differences between anacetrapib 800 mg and placebo in QTcF interval change from baseline were entirely <10 msec at every post‐dose time point (1, 2, 2.5, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 12, and 24 h). The upper bounds of the 90% CIs for LS mean differences from placebo in changes from baseline in QTcF intervals for anacetrapib 100 and 800 mg were <5 msec at every time point. In conclusion, single doses of anacetrapib 100 and 800 mg do not prolong the QTcF interval to a clinically meaningful degree relative to placebo and are generally well tolerated in healthy subjects.
Green fluorescent protein as a reporter for spatial and temporal gene expression in Streptomyces coelicolor A 3 ( 2 )

2 Departamento de Microbiologı! a y Gene! tica, Instituto de Microbiologı! a Bioquı! mica, CSIC/Universidad de Salamanca, Edificio Departmental, Campus ‘Miguel de Unamuno’, 37007 Salamanca, Spain The enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) gene is a modified version of the green fluorescent protein gene of the jellyfish Aequorea victoria with a codon usage that corresponds well to that found in many GC-rich streptomycete genes. Here the use of EGFP as a reporter for the analysis of spatially and temporally regulated gene expression in Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2) is demonstrated. The EGFP gene was inserted into plasmids that can replicate in Escherichia coli, greatly facilitating the construction of EGFP gene fusions. The plasmids can be transferred readily to S. coelicolor by conjugation, whereupon two of them (pIJ8630 and pIJ8660) integrate at the chromosomal attachment site for the temperate phage φC31. These vectors were used to analyse the spatial and temporal expression of sigF, which encodes a σ factor required for spore maturation, and of redD, a pathway-specific regulatory gene for the production of undecylprodigiosin, one of the four antibiotics made by S. coelicolor. While transcription of sigF appeared to be confined to developing and mature spore chains, transcription of redD occurred only in ageing substrate mycelium. A further plasmid derivative (pIJ8668) was made that lacks the φC31 attachment site, allowing the EGFP gene to be fused transcriptionally to genes of interest at their native chromosomal locations.
Evaluation of lesion clustering in irradiated plasmid DNA

Purpose: To measure the yield of DNA strand breaks and clustered lesions in plasmid DNA irradiated with protons, helium nuclei, and γ-rays. Materials and methods: Plasmid DNA was irradiated with 1.03, 19.3 and 249 MeV protons (linear energy transfer = 25.5, 2.7, and 0.39 keV μm – 1 respectively), 26 MeV helium nuclei (25.5 keV μm) and γ-rays (137Cs or 60Co) in phosphate buffer containing 2 mM or 200 mM glycerol. Single-and double-strand breaks (SSB and DSB) were measured by gel electrophoresis, and clustered lesions containing base lesions were quantified by converting them into irreparable DSB in transformed bacteria. Results: For protons, SSB yield decreased with increasing LET (linear energy transfer). The yield of DSB and all clustered lesions seemed to reach a minimum around 3 keV μm – 1. There was a higher yield of SSB, DSB and total clustered lesions for protons compared to helium nuclei at 25.5 keV μm – 1. A difference in the yields between 137Cs and 60Co γ-rays was also observed, especially for SSB. Conclusion: In this work we have demonstrated the complex LET dependence of clustered-lesion yields, governed by interplay of the radical recombination and change in track structure. As expected, there was also a significant difference in clustered lesion yields between various radiation fields, having the same or similar LET values, but differing in nanometric track structure.
Stable Switching Characteristics of Organic Nonvolatile Memory on a Bent Flexible Substrate

Organic-based electronics have received great attention due to their material variety and advantageous properties such as fl exibility, printability, and light-weightness. [ 1 , 2 ] Their low costs, based on their ease of fabrication and large-area processing capabilities, increase the merits of organic electronics even more. [ 3 , 4 ] Consequently, organic electronics, including organic solar cells, light-emitting diodes, thin-fi lm transistors, and memories, have been extensively investigated for the realization of practical device applications. [ 5–8 ] Among these, organic memories have emerged as an excellent candidate for the nextgeneration information storage media because of their potential application in fl exible memory devices. [ 8–18 ] There are different types of organic memories. They are distinguished as ferroelectric, [ 13 , 14 , 18 ] fl ash, [ 15 , 18 ] and resistive-type organic memories [ 16–18 ]
State-observers for differential flatness model based-control of high-performance DC servomotor drives

Recently, the model based control has been successful applied for motion control applications. It improves better performance than a classic linear control. However, a model base control needs to know some parameters for exact estimations, here a load torque and stator resistance. In this paper, it presents three-observers for a differential flatness model based control approach for a DC permanent magnet motor drive. Observer I is based on the well-known Luenberger estimation (linear approach); Observer II is based on the non-linear approach which guarantees the asymptotical stability; and Obserser III is also based on the non-linear approach which guarantees the exponential stability. To validate the proposed methods, a prototype DC servomotor drive (GEC Alsthom: 2-kW, 2400 rpm) is realized in the laboratory. Simulation and experimental results demonstrate system performance.
The Protective Effect of Testosterone on Streptozotocin-Induced Apoptosis in &bgr; Cells Is Sex Specific

Objectives: To investigate the protective role of steroid hormones on streptozotocin (STZ)-induced apoptosis in rat pancreatic &bgr; cells. Methods: Two sets of experiments were performed. In the first, male rats were orchidectomized and substituted 72 hours later with testosterone, estradiol, or progesterone, and 24 hours later, administered with STZ. Subjects were killed 6 hours later, and apoptosis was determined in sections of the pancreas. In the second experiment, male or female rats were gonadectomized, were further substituted with testosterone, and then administered STZ. Six hours later, the animals were killed, and apoptosis, as well as immunoreactive expression of insulin, catalase, or Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase, was determined in sections of the pancreas. In addition, gonadectomized male or female subjects were substituted with testosterone and administered STZ, and 24 hours later, serum glucose and insulin were measured. Results: It was found that the cytoprotective effect was only shown in testosterone-treated male rats but not progesterone- or estradiol-treated male rats. In addition, the effect was seen in male rats but not in female rats, and there was an inverse correlation between apoptotic index and antioxidant enzyme immunoreactivity. Conclusions: The cytoprotective effect of testosterone is sex specific and is related to the induction of antioxidant enzyme activities in pancreatic &bgr; cells.
Large-Maturity Regimes of the Heston Forward Smile

We provide a full characterisation of the large-maturity forward implied volatility smile in the Heston model. Although the leading decay is provided by a fairly classical large deviations behaviour, the algebraic expansion providing the higher-order terms highly depends on the parameters, and different powers of the maturity come into play. As a by-product of the analysis we provide new implied volatility asymptotics, both in the forward case and in the spot case, as well as extended SVI-type formulae. The proofs are based on extensions and refinements of sharp large deviations theory, in particular in cases where standard convexity arguments fail.