Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
New CMOS digitally controlled variable gain amplifier

A novel current-mode CMOS digitally controlled variable gain amplifier (VGA) is presented in this paper. The proposed VGA is based on new ±0.75 V digitally programmable second-generation current conveyors (DPCCII) with digital current gain control. The input stage of the DPCCII is realized using two complementary MOS differential pairs connected in parallel to ensure rail-to-rail operation. The output stage consists of a class-AB push-pull circuit, which guarantees high current driving capability. The digital control of the DPCCII, based on transistor arrays and MOS switches, provides variable current gain using an n-bits code-word. All proposed circuits are simulated using PSPICE with CMOS TSMC 0.25 ¿m technology.
Morphology of a newly discovered sensory array on the mouthhooks of Gasterophilus larvae

The distal mouthhooks of Gasterophilus intestinalis (DeGeer) (Diptera: Gasterophilidae) and G. nasalis (Linnaeus) (Diptera: Gasterophilidae) larvae were studied with scanning electron microscopy to determine the morphology of a previously unknown sensory array. The design of the 3rd stage G. intestinalis sensory array was used as the model for comparison to the 2nd stage of this species and the 2nd and 3rd stadia of G. nasalis. Some components forming the sensory array of the 3rd stage G. intestinalis mouthhook were found in 3rd stage G. nasalis. A major difference between these species was the replacement of shallow pits with sensilla‐laden troughs in G. nasalis. Second‐stage G. intestinalis has a distal mouthhook that varies considerably from the model type, lacking shallow pits and associated peg‐like sensilla. By contrast, the sensory array of the 2nd stage G. nasalis larva is the most elaborate yet encountered, with extensive sensilla and troughs. The existence of other types of sensilla on the mouthhook is proposed, as well as a sensory role for the unsculptured surface. Possible uses of the sensory array by the parasite are discussed.
Early intervention in psychosis: the critical‐period hypothesis

The early phase of psychosis may be considered as a critical period that offers major opportunities for secondary prevention of impairments and disabilities accompanying psychosis. Prospective studies of first-episode schizophrenics support the critical period hypothesis and indicate that progression, where it occurs, does so early in the disorder, with patients reaching a relatively stable plateau within 2 years of the first psychotic episode. This suggests a window of opportunity for secondary prevention. Particular intervention strategies may be appropriate early in the disorder, such as early detection and prevention of relapse and cognitive therapy within an acute psychotic episode to reduce early treatment resistance.
[My country and my people].

In wondering the things that you should do, reading can be a new choice of you in making new things. It's always said that reading will always help you to overcome something to better. Yeah, my country and my people is one that we always offer. Even we share again and again about the books, what's your conception? If you are one of the people love reading as a manner, you can find my country and my people as your reading material.
Heterosexual Romantic Couples Mate Assortatively for Facial Symmetry, But Not Masculinity

Preferences for partners with symmetric and sex-typical faces are well documented and considered evidence for the good-genes theory of mate choice. However, it is unclear whether preferences for these traits drive the real-world selection of mates. In two samples of young heterosexual couples from the United Kingdom (Study 1) and the United States (Study 2), the authors found assortment for facial symmetry but not for sex typicality or independently rated attractiveness. Within-couple similarity in these traits did not predict relationship duration or quality, although female attractiveness and relationship duration were negatively correlated among couples in which the woman was the more attractive partner. The authors conclude that humans may mate assortatively on facial symmetry, but this remains just one of the many physical and nonphysical traits to which people likely attend when forming romantic partnerships. This is also the first evidence that preferences for symmetry transfer from the laboratory to a real-world setting.
Rate of suicide increases in middle age: primary care key to suicide prevention.

The recent suicide death of comedian Robin Williams drew attention to a worrisome public health trend: a rising rate of suicide among middle-aged individuals. An analysis by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found a 28.4% increase in suicides between 1999 and 2010 among people aged 35 to 64 years (Sullivan EM et al. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2013;62[17]:321-325). During that period, suicide rates for men aged 50 to 59 years increased by about 50%, and the rate for women aged 60 to 64 years grew nearly 60%. Language: en
CD22 is a functional ligand for SHP-1 in primary T cells

SHP-1 We and confirmed CD22 to be in primary T cells. The expression of CD22 has until now been thought to be restricted to the B cell lineage. However, consistent with CD22 expression in T cells, the co-engagement of CD22 and CD3 results in a raising of TCR signalling thresholds. Remarkably, the absence of CD22 in T cells results in increased responses to CD3 or allogeneic stimulation. These combined findings highlight a previously unrecognised inhibitory role for CD22 in T cells.
Proceedings of the 2008 ACM Workshop on Research Advances in Large Digital Book Repositories, BooksOnline 2008, Napa Valley, California, USA, October 30, 2008

It is our pleasure to welcome you to the BooksOnline'08 Workshop on Research Advances in Large Digital Book Repositories. The objective of the workshop is to provide an opportunity for participants to exchange their views and share their experiences with research, applications, and services that involve digital book collections. Through discussions and brainstorming we expect to identify exciting new opportunities for innovation as well as issues that require immediate attention and should be part of our research agenda over the following five years. We are delighted that the workshop involves experts from academia, libraries, publishing industry, and online services, who will provide their perspective on the state-of-the-art, outstanding problems, and opportunities for innovation. In the proceedings we include selected position papers that span topics from unique characteristics of on-line book collections and new usage scenarios to requirements for innovative approaches to content representation and discovery. They point to the importance of social aspects of online collections and a need to assess quality of services through large scale experimentation.
How we enhanced medical academics skills and reduced social inequities using an academic teaching program

Abstract The training of future physicians should be concurrent with the development of different skills and attitudes. This warrants the need to regularly provide students with opportunities for self-development throughout their academic career. This approach was exemplified in a medical school in the Brazilian Amazon, where students were allowed to play the role of high school teachers. As part of this exercise, they conducted reinforcement classes for high school students to increase the number of university admissions. The medical students were solely responsible for organizing and implementing this project, giving them the opportunity to develop teaching and leadership skills, enhance their understanding of communication and administration and contribute toward the society.
Households and Housing: Choice and Outcomes in the Housing Market

Residential relocation is the household decision that generates housing consumption changes. It is not merely a decision about changing locations; it is also a decision about tenure-about whether to own or to rent. Research into housing markets has been largely focused on the process of changing from renting to owning, as most countries in the Western world have moved from predominantly rental societies to societies of homeowners. Households and Housing is designed to demonstrate the interconnections between the housing stock and households. The focus is on understanding the demand for housing and the way in which the demand is fulfilled as households select housing. This book is concerned with both the decision to move one's residence and the resulting type of housing choice. The housing supply-the stock of dwellings-is the context within which households make choices and acquire housing. The authors use the concepts of life course, housing career, and housing hierarchy to trace the movement of households through the housing market. They paint a comprehensive picture of housing consumption by age, income, and tenure choice, illustrated with nearly 150 figures and tables. US housing market data are contrasted with data from the Netherlands to document the differential effects of government intervention. This is the most up-to-date analysis available on the dynamics of housing choices and housing markets.
Deposit Insurance, Capital Constraints, and Risk Taking by Banks

The paper analyzes the moral hazard problem of the bank, which arises from the inability of claim holders to observe the bank's portfolio choice. The risk-incentive of debt is mitigated by diversification of the bank portfolio. It is shown that when the marginal source of funding of the bank is not deposits, but funds raised in the capital market, deposit insurance may induce the bank to take less risk rather than more. If deposit insurance is fairly priced, there is no scope for capital constraints, but, with a constant insurance premium, a capital requirement can reduce risk-taking by the bank.
Mass change, environmental variability and female fertility in wild Propithecus verreauxi.

Accurate estimates of mass and size are important in a wide range of research questions in population and evolutionary biology, and yet such data are still rare for wild primates. This study presents detailed longitudinal data from a large population of wild indriids, and demonstrates links between fluctuations in body mass, environmental cycles, and reproduction. Understanding these links is a necessary step toward explaining the function and evolution of distinctive features of lemur biology and behavior. During the first 12 years of an ongoing study of the sifaka, Propithecus verreauxi verreauxi, at Beza Mahafaly in southwest Madagascar, 320 animals were captured and weighed throughout the year. Adult males and females exhibit seasonal cycles of mass loss, with females losing significantly more mass than males. In 2 drought years this pattern was especially pronounced. Compared to lighter females, females who were heavier at the time of the mating season were more likely to give birth in the following birth season. By showing (1) seasonally greater mass loss in reproductive females compared to males, particularly in drought years, (2) a close link between female mass and fertility, and (3) an uncoupling of the periods of highest body mass and of gestation and lactation, these results suggest that energy acquisition and storage are critically important in the life history strategies of female sifaka, and that "capital breeding" may be a feature of sifaka reproductive strategies.
Effects of Polymorphism on the Lipid Interaction of Human Apolipoprotein E*

ApoE exists as three common isoforms, apoE2, apoE3, and apoE4; apoE2 and apoE3 preferentially bind to high density lipoproteins, whereas apoE4 prefers very low density lipoproteins (VLDL). To understand the molecular basis for the different lipoprotein distributions of these isoforms in human plasma, we examined the lipid-binding properties of the apoE isoforms and some mutants using lipid emulsions. With both large (120 nm) and small (35 nm) emulsion particles, the binding affinity of apoE4 was much higher than that of apoE2 and apoE3, whereas the maximal binding capacities were similar among the three isoforms. The 22-kDa N-terminal fragment of apoE4 displayed a much higher binding capacity than did apoE2 and apoE3. The apoE4(E255A) mutant, which has no electrostatic interaction between Arg61 and Glu255, showed binding behavior similar to that of apoE3, indicating that N- and C-terminal domain interaction in apoE4 is responsible for its high affinity for lipid. In addition, the apoE3(P267A) mutant, which is postulated to contain a long α-helix in the C-terminal domain, had significantly decreased binding capacities for both sizes of emulsion particle, suggesting that the apoE4 preference for VLDL is not due to a stabilized long α-helical structure. Isothermal titration calorimetry measurements showed that there is no significant difference in thermodynamic parameters for emulsion binding among the apoE isoforms. However, fluorescence measurements of 8-anilino-1-naphthalenesulfonic acid binding to apoE indicated that apoE4 has more exposed hydrophobic surface compared with apoE3 mainly due to the different tertiary organization of the C-terminal domain. The less organized structure in the C-terminal domain of apoE4 leads to the higher affinity for lipid, contributing to its preferential association with VLDL. In fact, we found that apoE4 binds to VLDL with higher affinity compared with apoE3.
Assessment of the Intrinsic Contractile Status of the Heart During Sepsis by Myocardial Pressure‐dimension Analysis

The effect of sepsis on the intrinsic contractile status of the myocardium is best examined in the awake, closed-chest animal with intact circulation because anesthesia, open thoracotomy, and circulatory support are all known to affect hemodynamics. To fulfill these criteria, 18 adult dogs were chronically studied in the awake state after instrumentation with left ventricular high-fidelity pressure catheters and ultrasonic dimension transducers to measure left ventricular transmural pressure and minor axis dimension. This allowed computer assessment of the left ventricular end-systolic pressure-dimension relationship in the control state and at intervals following cecal ligation in one group of dogs. A second group of control animals was studied over variable time intervals without cecal ligation to evaluate the temporal stability and reproducibility of the animal model and the end-systolic pressure-dimension relationship. Evaluation of contractility by use of the end-systolic pressure-dimension relationship was essential because this relationship is a sensitive indicator of the intrinsic myocardial contractile state while remaining insensitive to the wide swings in preload and afterload that are commonly seen in sepsis. In the control group of dogs, the temporal consistency and stability of the end-systolic pressure-dimension relationship in this model was confirmed; no significant changes in the slope and dimension-axis intercept were demonstrated over the study interval. In the septic group of dogs, however, the intrinsic myocardial contractility significantly deteriorated as the mean slope of the end-systolic pressure-dimension relationship (mmHg/mm) decreased from 16.87 ± 0.85 to 12.79 ± 1.67 over 120 hours following cecal ligation. Intrinsic contractility of the heart during sepsis was therefore isolated for the first time from the widely variant loading conditions seen during sepsis by pressure-dimension analyses in the chronically instrumented, awake, closed-chest canine with intact circulation.
Reduced fertility among shoe manufacturing workers

Objectives: To investigate whether fertility is reduced among female shoe manufacturing workers exposed to organic solvents. Methods: A retrospective study was conducted on time to pregnancy (TTP) among 250 Portuguese shoe manufacturing workers exposed to solvents and 250 unexposed women working in stores of food units and storehouses. Data on TTP and related factors were collected by face-to-face interviews. The participation rate was 92%, and 81% of the workers (197 exposed women and 209 unexposed women) provided data for the analyses. Exposure assessment was based on hygienic measurements in the workplaces. TTP data were analysed with discrete proportional hazards regression. Results: Female exposure to solvents was associated with reduced fertility (adjusted fecundability density ratio (FDR) 0.55, CI 0.40 to 0.74 for low exposure, and FDR 0.70, CI 0.52 to 0.94 for high exposure). The findings were robust in different sensitivity analyses. A slightly stronger association was found among women with regular menstrual cycles. Exposure for less than 6 years was more strongly associated with reduced fertility (FDR 0.50, CI 0.30 to 0.83 and FDR 0.50, CI 0.28 to 0.90 for low and high exposure, respectively) than at least 6 years of exposure (FDR 0.60, CI 0.39 to 0.92 and FDR 0.86, CI 0.57 to 1.29 for low and high exposure, respectively). There was an interaction between solvent exposure and female smoking or use of coffee, the exposed women who smoke or use coffee being highly fecund. Conclusions: The findings provide further evidence that exposure to organic solvents is hazardous for female reproduction. The observed association may be related to any of the following solvents commonly used in shoe manufacturing: n-hexane and hexane isomers, toluene, methyl ethyl ketone, acetone, ethyl acetate and dichloromethane.
Mechanisms of spermiogenesis and spermiation and how they are disturbed

Haploid round spermatids undergo a remarkable transformation during spermiogenesis. The nucleus polarizes to one side of the cell as the nucleus condenses and elongates, and the microtubule-based manchette sculpts the nucleus into its species-specific head shape. The assembly of the central component of the sperm flagellum, known as the axoneme, begins early in spermiogenesis, and is followed by the assembly of secondary structures needed for normal flagella. The final remodelling of the mature elongated spermatid occurs during spermiation, when the spermatids line up along the luminal edge, shed their residual cytoplasm and are ultimately released into the lumen. Defects in spermiogenesis and spermiation are manifested as low sperm number, abnormal sperm morphology and poor motility and are commonly observed during reproductive toxicant administration, as well as in genetically modified mouse models of male infertility. This chapter summarizes the major physiological processes and the most commonly observed defects in spermiogenesis and spermiation, to aid in the diagnosis of the potential mechanisms that could be perturbed by experimental manipulation such as reproductive toxicant administration.
Effects of bosentan, an endothelin receptor antagonist, on bile salt export pump and multidrug resistance–associated protein 2

The bile salt export pump (BSEP/Bsep/ABCB11) and multidrug resistance‐associated protein 2 (MRP2/Mrp2/ABCC2) are involved in bile acid‐dependent and ‐independent bile secretion, respectively. It has been reported that bosentan, an endothelin receptor antagonist, inhibits Bsep, which may lead to cholestatic liver injury due to the intracellular accumulation of bile salts, while increasing bile salt‐independent bile flow. Thus, in this study, the effects of bosentan on BSEP/Bsep and MRP2/Mrp2 were evaluated using membrane vesicles derived from Spodoptera frugiperda (Sf) 9 cells, which express these transporters. The adenosine 5′‐triphosphate (ATP)‐dependent uptake of 3H‐taurocholic acid into membrane vesicles for BSEP/Bsep was inhibited by bosentan, and its IC50 values were 76.8 and 101 µM for BSEP and Bsep, respectively. In contrast, bosentan stimulated the MRP2/Mrp2‐mediated ATP‐dependent vesicular transport of 3H‐estradiol 17β‐glucuronide by shifting the sigmoidal dependence of transport rate on substrate concentration to a more hyperbolic one. Collectively, these results suggest that bosentan inhibits BSEP in humans with a similar potency to rats, and that increased bile salt‐independent flow in rats by bosentan is at least partly attributable to the activation of Mrp2. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Technology Adoption and Product Differentiation: Market-Level Effects

The focus of the microeconomic technology adoption literature has been on the adoption and diffusion of new innovations: who adopts, and when they adopt. Implicit in the literature is that consumers will embrace the product that results from the use of the new technology. If producers have reason to believe that adopting a new technology may lead consumers to perceive differentiated products, then the decision of whether or not to adopt needs to consider not only the effectiveness of the new technology but also the consumer response to it. That is, producers have to incorporate the impact of consumer-driven market-level effects into their technology choice decisions. In these situations, producers considering the adoption of a new agricultural biotechnology have a more complex learning problem than the technology adoption literature generally addresses, because producers need to consider the interaction of demand and supply effects from the adoption of any new technology. We motivate our analysis with the case of recombinant bovine somatotropin (rbST). In order to address some of these issues, we construct an analytical model of technology adoption that considers a market with differentiated goods. We develop a multi-period economic model of a representative farmer’s technology choice decision and integrate it into a market-level analysis that links the industry’s use of the technology to the structure of consumer demand. The focus of the microeconomic technology adoption literature has been on the adoption and diffusion of new innovations: who adopts, and when they adopt. Implicit in the literature is that consumers will embrace the product that results from the use of the new technology. If producers have reason to believe that adopting a new technology may lead consumers to perceive differentiated products, then the decision of whether or not to adopt needs to consider not only the effectiveness of the new technology but also the consumer response to it. That is, producers have to incorporate the impact of consumer-driven market-level effects into their technology choice decisions. In these situations, producers considering the adoption of a new agricultural biotechnology have a more complex learning problem than the technology adoption literature generally addresses, because producers need to consider the interaction of demand and supply effects from the adoption of any new technology. We motivate our analysis with the case of recombinant bovine somatotropin (rbST). In order to address some of these issues, we construct an analytical model of technology adoption that considers a market with differentiated goods. We develop a multi-period economic model of a representative farmer’s technology choice decision and integrate it into a market-level analysis that links the industry’s use of the technology to the structure of consumer demand.