Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Novel architecture for inertial grade SOI MEMS inertial sensors

This work reports, for the first time, on a novel architecture for realizing high performance miniaturized micromachined inertial sensors based on Silicon on Insulator (SOI) technology. The new sensors are essential components for high precision Inertial Navigation Systems (INS) serving a wide range of applications varying from automotive to space. Similar to the state-of-the-art designs and architectures, our novel architecture utilizes SOI technology, which is crucial for realizing such electro-mechanical sensors. This is mainly due to the fact that it allows for having stress free suspensions and relatively very large proof masses (for bulk rather than surface micromachined MEMS) coupled with the flexibility of choosing between the presence or absence of electrical isolation between the upper and lower parts of the SOI wafer depending on the sensor's layout. This accordingly enables having the electrical contacts isolated from the rest of the sensor's structure. Typically, vibratory micromachined gyroscopes (VMG) and accelerometers are designed in-plane, i.e. the suspension and the proof mass vibrate in the same plane parallel to the substrate surface. Such in-plane architecture reduces dramatically the sensor's fill factor (typically around 17%); hence the Brownian noise level and overall sensitivity are degraded due to the reduced proof mass. Thus, a dramatic enhancement in performance can be achieved by improving the fill factor as this has a direct impact on increasing the proof mass significantly. Accordingly, we introduced, for the first time, the vertically suspended micromachined inertial sensor displayed in Figs. 1 and 2. Such design allows increasing the fill factor by more than a factor of four (up to 80–90%). Moreover, this design offers a decoupled geometric design of the proof mass and the support stiffness dimensions. The performance of the proposed sensors was analyzed using Finite Element Method (FEM) to determine the natural mode shapes and frequencies in addition to the mechanical stability and the drive-sense mode decoupling (1–2% similar to common designs) for the MEMS gyroscopes.
Biomarkers of inclusion body myositis

Purpose of reviewInclusion body myositis (IBM) is a poorly understood autoimmune and degenerative disorder of skeletal muscle. Here, pathophysiological and diagnostic biomarkers of IBM are reviewed. Recent findingsMuscle histopathological biomarkers have been successful in stimulating the study of IBM pathophysiology for over three decades. Their use as diagnostic biomarkers, in contrast, has significant limitations. A blood biomarker, autoantibodies against a 43-kDa muscle protein reported in 2011, has now been identified as targeting cytoplasmic 5′ nucleotidase (cN1A; NT5C1A), a protein involved in nucleic acid metabolism. Diagnostic testing for these autoantibodies is of high diagnostic performance for IBM. SummaryMuscle biomarkers have suggested that IBM pathophysiology is linked to myonuclear degeneration and disordered nucleic acid metabolism. A blood biomarker has high diagnostic performance for IBM, and through identification of its target links, IBM autoimmunity and degeneration together, supporting the view that IBM pathophysiology includes abnormal nucleic acid metabolism.
Image inpainting on satellite image using texture synthesis & region filling algorithm

Image inpainting is an interesting new research topic in image processing, which can be used in many thrust areas, such as computer graphics, image editing, film postproduction, image restoration and special effects and the restoration of old Photographs and damaged film, removal of superimposed text like dates, subtitles, or publicity and the removal of entire objects from the image. In image inpainting, missing (target) regions were filled by structural and textural information of an image in a visually plausible way, also known as image restoration. Though this technique is very useful, it is still a challenging problem in computer vision and computer graphics. In this paper, an algorithm is proposed for removing target objects from digital images. An algorithm was proposed to synthesize the structure & texture as well as fill the hole that is left behind in an undetectable form. An attempt has been made to compute actual color values using exemplar based texture synthesis and region filling method. A number of examples on removing occluding objects from real and satellite images demonstrate the effectiveness of proposed algorithm in terms of both inpainting quality and computational efficacy.
Why Don't Trade Preferences Reflect Economic Self-Interest?

Abstract The dominant approach to the study of international political economy assumes that the policy preferences of individuals and groups reflect economic self-interest. Recent research has called this assumption into question by suggesting that voters do not have economically self-interested preferences about trade policy. We investigate one potential explanation for this puzzling finding: economic ignorance. We show that most voters do not understand the economic consequences of protectionism. We then use experiments to study how voters would respond if they had more information about how trade barriers affect the distribution of income. We find that distributional cues generate two opposing effects: they make people more likely to express self-serving policy preferences, but they also make people more sensitive to the interests of others. In our study both reactions were evident, but selfish responses outweighed altruistic ones. Thus, if people knew more about the distributional effects of trade, the correlation between personal interests and policy preferences would tighten. By showing how the explanatory power of economic self-interest depends on beliefs about causality, this research provides a foundation for more realistic, behaviorally informed theories of international political economy.
Gastrin releasing peptide and its value in assessing gastric secretory function

Gastrin releasing peptide (GRP) has proved to be a particularly valuable tool in detecting disturbances of gastric secretory function associated with duodenal ulcer disease and Helicobacter pylori infection, and it has furthered understanding of the pathophysiology of these conditions. Its attractiveness lies in the fact that it simultaneously activates many physiological control processes, both stimulatory and inhibitory. This facilitates the detection of a defect in any of the many controls involved in regulating biological function. Other gastrointestinal functions such as gall‐bladder contraction, pancreatic secretion and gastrooesophageal motility are also subject to complex regulatory controls, and GRP may also be of value in investigating disturbances of these processes.
Elder abuse: a systematic review of risk factors in community-dwelling elders.

OBJECTIVE to undertake a systematic literature review of risk factors for abuse in community-dwelling elders, as a first step towards exploring the clinical utility of a risk factor framework. Search strategy and selection criteria: a search was undertaken using the MEDLINE, CINAHL, EMBASE and PsycINFO databases for articles published in English up to March 2011, to identify original studies with statistically significant risk factors for abuse in community-dwelling elders. Studies concerning self-neglect and persons aged under 55 were excluded. RESULTS forty-nine studies met the inclusion criteria, with 13 risk factors being reproducible across a range of settings in high-quality studies. These concerned the elder person (cognitive impairment, behavioural problems, psychiatric illness or psychological problems, functional dependency, poor physical health or frailty, low income or wealth, trauma or past abuse and ethnicity), perpetrator (caregiver burden or stress, and psychiatric illness or psychological problems), relationship (family disharmony, poor or conflictual relationships) and environment (low social support and living with others except for financial abuse). CONCLUSIONS current evidence supports the multifactorial aetiology of elder abuse involving risk factors within the elder person, perpetrator, relationship and environment.
Rorschach Movement and Bleuler's Three Kinds of Thinking: A Contribution to the Psychology of Creativity

We have suggested that Rorschach's concept of inner creation operationalizes Bleuler's concept of autistic thinking. If we are correct, then Rorschach movement production should correlate with those phenomena Bleuler subsumed under his concept. Just as autistic and careless thought are non-overlapping, so are the tendencies to produce movement and poor form. If we are correct, then form-level should not distinguish high movement producers from low. If there is a close relation between autistic thinking and inner creation, on the one hand, and Werner's physiognomic perception on the other, Rorschach movement production should be higher in those “especially gifted in susceptibility to physiognomic experience” than in those who are not. Likewise, those especially gifted should score higher in measures of the phenomena Bleuler subsumed under autistic thinking. If autistic thinking, inner creation, and physiognomic perception have nothing as such to do with discovery and invention in science, etc., Rorschach movement and other measures of such cognition should not be higher in such discoverers and inventors than in their less creative colleagues. These measures should be higher, however, in all people demonstrated to be creative experiencers, i.e., who are known for their unusual ability to experience imaginatively. More specifically, they should be higher in people uncommonly prone to “Autistic thinking: thinking which is dominated by processes of the fantasy kind, rather than geared to reality, e.g., hallucination, hypnagogic imagery, etc.” (McKellar, 1957, p. 199).
Fair Value Accounting And Financial Stability – Based On The Adoption

Fair value accounting refers to the accounting method which an asset or liability is estimated based on the current market price, so called fair value. Under the fair value accounting, it is more difficult for managers to hide bad information, because the value of an asset or liabilities is re-estimated periodically to reflect the changes in fair value in the market. In this case, firms’ financial stability will be increased. On the other hand, fair value accounting can intensity the volatility of the numbers in the financial statement, which leads to decreases the financial stability. This papers empirically examines the effect of the fair value accounting on the financial stability based on the IFRS adoption in Korea. Using the non-financial firms listed in KOSPI and KOSDAQ from 2000 to 2013, we find that the expansion of fair value accounting increases financial stability. The results support the argument that fair value accounting prohibits managers from hiding bad information, rather it enforces the disclosure of value-relevant information to the investors. The results are consistent with a battery of robustness checks. Thus, the overall results show that the expansion of fair value accounting increase financial stability.
10 Years of Adult Learning

Academic publications provide insights into a discipline’s history, knowledge base, and research norms, and thus analyzing publication activity provides learning about the field of study. To learn more about the field of adult and continuing education, this study used content analysis to examine 10 years of Adult Learning from 2006 through 2015, providing insights into the field, major findings related to journal issues; article authorship, keywords, purpose, frameworks, and research design; and five prevalent themes and trends.
Therapeutic Effects of Environmental Enrichment on Cognitive Function and Tissue Integrity Following Severe Traumatic Brain Injury in Rats

Postinjury environmental enrichment (EE) has been shown to alter functional and anatomical outcomes in a number of injury paradigms, including traumatic brain injury (TBI). The question of whether EE alters functional outcome following TBI in a model which produces overt histopathological consequences has not been addressed. We investigated this question using the severe, parasagittal fluid percussion injury (FPI) model. Rats (n = 7 per group, enriched and standard for behavior; n = 15 per group for histology) underwent severe (2.2-2.6 atm) FPI, with sham-operated rats (n = 7 per group, enriched and standard for behavior; n = 6 enriched, n = 3 standard for histology) serving as controls. Animals were allowed to recover for 11 days either in standard single housing or together (injured and sham) in an enriched environment consisting of a 92 x 61 x 77-cm ferret cage filled with various stimulatory objects. Consistent with earlier reports, injured animals recovering in the enriched environment showed significantly (P < 0.05) shorter latencies to find the platform in a Morris Water Maze task versus injured/standard animals on day 12 post-TBI. However, both injured groups showed significant deficits versus sham groups (P < 0.05). There were no differences between the sham/enriched and sham/standard groups. No significant group differences in swim speed were observed. At 14 days post-TBI, enriched animals had approximately twofold smaller lesion areas in regions of the cerebral cortex posterior to the injury epicenter (-4.5, -5.8, -6.8 mm relative to bregma; P < 0.05) compared to injured/standard animals. In addition, overall lesion volume for the entire injured cortical hemisphere was significantly smaller in animals recovering in the enriched environment. These results indicate that noninvasive environmental stimulation is beneficial in attenuating cognitive deficits and preserving tissue integrity in a TBI model which causes cerebral contusion and cell death.
Customer value of social network service website: Key components and impacts on Customer Loyalty

An increasing number of people are processing social communication online and the numbers are likely to increase rapidly in the near future. It is important to analyze the relationship between customer values of social network service and Customer Loyalty. The purpose of this paper is to answer the following questions. First, what are key components of customer value in social network service? Second, what influences the relationship between customer value and Customer Loyalty? Data collected from 160 respondents who participate in social network service website were used to test a research model. Several managerial implications were derived from the analysis and further studies were suggested.
Human Myocardial Pericytes: Multipotent Mesodermal Precursors Exhibiting Cardiac Specificity

Perivascular mesenchymal precursor cells (i.e., pericytes) reside in skeletal muscle where they contribute to myofiber regeneration; however, the existence of similar microvessel‐associated regenerative precursor cells in cardiac muscle has not yet been documented. We tested whether microvascular pericytes within human myocardium exhibit phenotypes and multipotency similar to their anatomically and developmentally distinct counterparts. Fetal and adult human heart pericytes (hHPs) express canonical pericyte markers in situ, including CD146, NG2, platelet‐derived growth factor receptor (PDGFR) β, PDGFRα, alpha‐smooth muscle actin, and smooth muscle myosin heavy chain, but not CD117, CD133, and desmin, nor endothelial cell (EC) markers. hHPs were prospectively purified to homogeneity from ventricular myocardium by flow cytometry, based on a combination of positive‐ (CD146) and negative‐selection (CD34, CD45, CD56, and CD117) cell lineage markers. Purified hHPs expanded in vitro were phenotypically similar to human skeletal muscle‐derived pericytes (hSkMPs). hHPs express mesenchymal stem/stromal cell markers in situ and exhibited osteo‐, chondro‐, and adipogenic potentials but, importantly, no ability for skeletal myogenesis, diverging from pericytes of all other origins. hHPs supported network formation with/without ECs in Matrigel cultures; hHPs further stimulated angiogenic responses under hypoxia, markedly different from hSkMPs. The cardiomyogenic potential of hHPs was examined following 5‐azacytidine treatment and neonatal cardiomyocyte coculture in vitro, and intramyocardial transplantation in vivo. Results indicated cardiomyocytic differentiation in a small fraction of hHPs. In conclusion, human myocardial pericytes share certain phenotypic and developmental similarities with their skeletal muscle homologs, yet exhibit different antigenic, myogenic, and angiogenic properties. This is the first example of an anatomical restriction in the developmental potential of pericytes as native mesenchymal stem cells. Stem Cells 2015;33:557–573
Margin Requirements, Bond Futures Prices and Volatilities

Using a partial equilibrium model where the margin level is defined to be equivalent to the settlement interval, we show that the effects of the margin requirement on both prices and price volatilities of bond futures depend on the autoregressive covariance structure of the interest rate process and on the margin level. While such effects are predictable, they may reverse themselves during the life of the futures contract. This result may explain the prolonged and unresolved debate in the literature about the empirical relationship between margin levels and volatility. This result confirms in part and generalizes the theoretical results of Hartzmark (1986) and Kupiec and Sharpe (1991). We also show by using simulations that margin requirements, as proxied by the settlement interval, have a positive effect on volatility and futures prices, and that they induce a leverage effect. Other results are that the futures price decreases with volatility, and that futures on longer term bonds have higher volatility. Margin Requirements, Bond Futures Prices and Volatilities
Influenza A virus NS1 protein binds p85β and activates phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase signaling

Influenza A virus NS1 is a multifunctional protein, and in virus-infected cells NS1 modulates a number of host-cell processes by interacting with cellular factors. Here, we report that NS1 binds directly to p85β, a regulatory subunit of phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K), but not to the related p85α subunit. Activation of PI3K in influenza virus-infected cells depended on genome replication, and showed kinetics that correlated with NS1 expression. Additionally, it was found that expression of NS1 alone was sufficient to constitutively activate PI3K, causing the phosphorylation of a downstream mediator of PI3K signal transduction, Akt. Mutational analysis of a potential SH2-binding motif within NS1 indicated that the highly conserved tyrosine at residue 89 is important for both the interaction with p85β, and the activation of PI3K. A mutant influenza virus (A/Udorn/72) expressing NS1 with the Y89F amino acid substitution exhibited a small-plaque phenotype, and grew more slowly in tissue culture than WT virus. These data suggest that activation of PI3K signaling in influenza A virus-infected cells is important for efficient virus replication.
Potential of FBG sensors for vibration control in smart structures

The large use of lightweight structures has emphasized the need to reduce undesired vibrations which can compromise the integrity and the safety of flexible structures. The advancements in materials technology have made available a new generation of materials regarded as smart. Thanks to the results obtained in this field, many research are focusing on the study of intelligent structures, able to modify their mechanical properties. Composite materials are interesting in the construction of smart structures, thanks to their high mechanical properties which allow to obtain lightweight structures with high resistance and due to the possibility of embedding sensors and actuators inside the structure. Among all, optical fiber sensors are widely used in the development of smart structures. However, while they are usually considered for structural health monitoring, this paper proposes their use in active control application. A structure made of carbon fiber with Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) sensors and piezoelectric actuators is able to self-sense its state of vibration and to provide control forces to reduce it. The peculiarity of this structure is represented by the possibility to monitor a large number of sensors (to approximate distributed measurements), suitable for physical feedback or modal control. The experimental tests carried out allow to investigate the effectiveness of these setup in the active vibration control and to evaluate the limits of this technology.
Absence of GH-releasing hormone (GHRH) mutations in selected patients with isolated GH deficiency.

CONTEXT Although numerous reports of mutations in GH1 and GHRHR (GHRH receptor) causing isolated GH deficiency (IGHD) have been published, mutations in GHRH itself have not been hitherto reported but are obvious candidates for GH deficiency. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to identify mutations in GHRH in a large cohort of patients with IGHD. PATIENTS AND METHODS DNA was isolated from 151 patients diagnosed with IGHD at national and international centers. Seventy-two patients fulfilled all the following criteria: severe short stature (height sd score ≤ -2.5), low peak GH after stimulation (peak ≤ 5 ng/ml), eutopic posterior pituitary lobe, and absence of mutations in GH1 and GHRHR and therefore were strong candidates for GHRH mutations. The coding sequence and splice sites of GHRH were amplified by PCR with intronic primers and sequenced. RESULTS In five of 151 patients (four of 42 from Brazil), the GHRH c.223 C>T, p.L75F change was identified in heterozygosity. This variant has been previously reported as a polymorphism and is more frequent in African than European and Asian populations. Six allelic variants (five novel) that do not predict change of amino acids or splice sites were identified in five patients: c.147 C>T, p.S49S, IVS1 -70 G>A, IVS1 -74 T>C, IVS3 -47 del1, and IVS3 +7 G>A /IVS3+41 G>A. No functional mutations were found in this cohort. CONCLUSIONS GHRH mutations were not identified in a selected cohort of patients with IGHD, suggesting that, if they exist, they may be an extremely rare cause of IGHD. Other, as-yet-unidentified genetic factors may be implicated in the genetic etiology of IGHD in our cohort.