Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Theoretical analysis based on particle electro-mechanics for Au Pearl Chain Formation

This paper analyzes the fundamental mechanisms in driving Au pearl chain formation (PCF) based on dielectrophoresis (DEP) force. From experimental results, the PCF process strongly depends on the voltage and the frequency applied on electrodes, but weakly on the sizes of particles, which appears to be contrary to theoretical expectations. To explain the above phenomenon, we estimated the DEP force and the Brownian motion imposed on the Au nanoparticles, and then investigated the AC electro-osmosis force and the electro-thermal force which may possibly affect the PCF rate. Numerical modeling to compare the forces is presented. By matching experimental and numerical results, we validate the scaling laws of the DEP force and electro-mechanics in the PCF of Au nano-particles.
Suppression of T cell costimulator ICOS by Δ9‐tetrahydrocannabinol

Inducible costimulator (ICOS), a prototypic T cell costimulator, is induced on activated T cells. ICOS regulates T cell activation and Th cell differentiation and is principally involved in humoral immune responses. Previous work showed that T cell accessory function is modulated by the plant‐derived cannabinoid, delta‐9‐tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9‐THC). In light of an emerging role by ICOS in T cell‐mediated immunity, the objective of this study was to investigate the effect of Δ9‐THC on ICOS in activated mouse T cells. Induction of ICOS mRNA levels by phorbol ester (PMA) plus ionomycin (Io) activation in mouse splenocytes was attenuated by Δ9‐THC in a concentration‐related manner. Similar results were obtained in the mouse T cell line, EL4.IL‐2. Anti‐CD3/CD28 induced ICOS expression on CD4+ splenic T cells, which was suppressed by Δ9‐THC in a time‐ and concentration‐related manner. The PMA/Io‐induced icos promoter luciferase reporter activity was also down‐regulated by Δ9‐THC, suggesting that the suppression of ICOS expression by Δ9‐THC occurs at the transcriptional level. Moreover, transcriptional activation of the NFAT was also down‐regulated by Δ9‐THC as shown by a NFAT luciferase reporter assay, which is consistent with a putative role of NFAT in regulating ICOS expression. Collectively, Δ9‐THC suppresses ICOS expression in activated T cells, and this suppression may be related, in part, to its modulation of NFAT signaling. The emerging role of ICOS in a wide range of immune‐related diseases also suggests that it may represent a potential therapeutic target, which could be modulated by cannabinoid compounds.
Harvesting equipment to reduce particulate matter emissions from almond harvest

Almond harvest accounts for an estimated 12 Gg of PM10 emissions in California each harvest season. Emissions from three new, “low-dust” almond harvesters (Exact Harvest Systems E4000; Flory Industries 8550; Weiss-McNair 9800 California Special) and one exhaust abatement device (Joe DiAnna, Clean Air Concept) were compared to those from a conventional harvester operating in the same orchard. Emissions of TSP and PM10 trended lower for all new harvesters and were significantly lower for most harvesters (α < 0.10). Significant reductions in PM2.5 emissions were observed from two harvesters as well. Fractionation analysis was not conducted on nut samples collected in the second year of the project, but differences observed in the composition of material that would be delivered to the huller between the Exact E4000 and conventional harvesters were functionally insignificant. The results of these tests imply that new harvest technologies are able to reduce PM10 emissions from one of the largest sources in the San Joaquin Valley (SJV) of California without affecting product quality. As such, use of these new harvesters should be considered a conservation measure that would help the SJV Air Pollution Control District (SJVAPCD) meet the requirements of their PM10 maintenance plan. Implications: The results of this research indicate that new harvesting technologies have the potential to substantially reduce PM emissions from almond harvest operations over traditional harvester designs without negatively affecting product quality. As such, use of these new harvesters could aid the SJVAPCD in maintaining its attainment status for PM10 and should be considered as candidate conservation management practices for producers.
Space design for the multilayer minimum projection method in nonsmooth control Lyapunov function design

This paper considers a non-smooth control Lyapunov function (CLF) design problem for global asymptotic stabilization of a system defined on a manifold. This problem can be addressed by the multilayer minimum projection method with singular point assignment, which considers manifolds, called multilayered spaces, different from those where the control system is originally defined. This requires a multilayered space satisfying specific conditions. However, a design method for the required space has not previously been provided. In this paper, we propose a design method for a multilayered space guaranteed to satisfy the required conditions using the concept of a multigraph and apply it in a robot navigation example.
Simplified models of electron excitation and ionization at very high E/n.

Models of electron excitation and ionization at very high electric-field\char21{}to\char21{}gas-density ratios E/n are compared under conditions appropriate to discharge experiments at low gas densities, such as those in ${\mathrm{N}}_{2}$ described in the preceding paper. The models considered use the monoenergetic beam approximation in a velocity moment technique for solution of the electron Boltzmann equation. They differ in the treatment of the electrons produced by ionization and in the use of either the momentum balance or the energy balance to obtain the effective frictional effect. A simplified single-beam model is found to agree reasonably well with multiple-beam models, with the few published Monte Carlo results, and with experimentally measured spatial ionization coefficients.
Developing CPDA schema in Privacy Preserving Data Aggregation for Wireless Sensor Networks

Due to high traffic load data in sensor networks, low bandwidth wireless links as well as high energy consumption for packet transfer, data aggregation techniques to acquire needed resources and energy. Data aggregation is a mechanism used in wireless sensor and VANETs networking to reduce energy consumption and extend the life of sensor nodes by sending data with stronger signals and avoid repetitive data transmission to the base station. Privacy preserving data aggregation in the network because of dynamic topologies, power limitations, memory, sensors and wireless communications media that could be eavesdropping is a major challenge in the outgoing data network contains important information and is lightweight so, security Information on these networks is very important. Privacy integration protocols aimed at preventing disclosure of confidential information to adversaries through the influence of the link or node data, so for security inevitably incur the overhead of communications and computing will be more. This Cluster-based Private Data Aggregation (CPDA) scheme could aggregate data without revealing any private information and consume fewer resources than others. Simulation results show that using the proposed algorithms, efficient data aggregation privacy of communications and computing overhead and energy consumption in wireless sensor network is improved and thus extend the life of the sensor nodes.
Impact Analysis on an Attributed Goal Graph

Requirements changes frequently occur at any time of a software development process, and their management is a crucial issue to develop software of high quality. Meanwhile, goal-oriented analysis techniques are being put into practice to elicit requirements. In this situation, the change management of goal graphs and its support are necessary. This paper presents a technique related to the change management of goal graphs, realizing impact analysis on a goal graph when its modifications occur. Our impact analysis detects conflicts that arise when a new goal is added, and investigates the achievability of the other goals when an existing goal is deleted. We have implemented a supporting tool for automating the analysis. Two case studies suggested the efficiency of the proposed approach.
Expressing Economic Risk—Review and Presentation of a Unifying Approach

Risk related to economic values is treated by many disciplines, including safety and production engineering, business, and project management. Within each of these and across these disciplines different nomenclature and principles are adopted for describing and communicating risk. The situation is rather confusing. In this article, we review various approaches and concepts that are used to express risk. We present and discuss a unifying approach for dealing with economic risk, with uncertainty being the key risk concept. The approach represents a rethinking on how to implement the Bayesian paradigm in practice to support decision making.
Extension of Dissection in Stent-Graft Treatment of Type B Aortic Dissection: Lessons Learned from Endovascular Experience

Endovascular treatment is becoming the most important treatment modality in the complex management of type B dissection, providing benefits to both acute and chronic patients. Growing technical experience and improving stent-graft devices have resulted in better patient outcome and expanded clinical indications. Nevertheless, similar to any treatment option, this less invasive method has its inherent risks. Several cases of iatrogenic dissection have been reported in the literature, underlying the need for guidelines to minimize this risk and improve procedural safety. Extension of the dissection after endovascular repair of type B dissection does not appear to be device-specific, but related primarily to aortic wall alterations or adverse anatomy that arise most frequently in hypertensive patients or those with challenging aortic configuration. An accurate examination of the aortic wall and dissection anatomy and careful intraprocedural device manipulation and balloon molding may help avoid this potentially life-threatening complication.
Crime, Corruption and Institutions

This paper explores the link between crime and corruption, compares their magnitudes, determinants and their effects on growth rates. The study uses a large cross country data set containing individual responses to questions on crime and corruption along with information on the respondents’ characteristics. This data set is supplemented by country level indicators from a variety of sources on a range of macro variables and on institutions in the respondent’s country of residence. A methodological contribution of this study is the estimation of an ordered probit model based on outcomes defined as combinations of crime and bribe victimisation. The principal results include the evidence that while a male is more likely to be a corruption victim, a female is more exposed to crime, especially, serious crime. Older individuals and those living in the smaller towns and cities are less exposed to crime and corruption due presumably to their ability to form informal networks that act as protective mechanisms. With increasing levels of income and education, an individual is more likely to report both crime and bribe victimisation. A crime victim is more likely than a non victim to report receiving demands for a bribe. The results suggest that variables such as inequality, unemployment rate and population size have a strong effect on the country’s crime and corruption statistics though the sign and significance of the country effects are not always robust. However, the paper does provide robust evidence that a stronger legal system and a happier society result in a reduction in both crime and corruption. While the study finds that both crime and corruption rates decline as a country becomes more affluent, as measured by its per capita GNP at PPP, there is no evidence of a strong and uniformly negative impact of either crime or corruption on a country’s growth rate. There is limited OLS based evidence of a non linear relationship between growth and corruption rates, though the significance of the corruption effect on growth disappears on the use of IV estimation. The paper also provides evidence that there has been a decline in both crime and corruption during the latter half of the 1990s. This is true even after controlling for the individual and country characteristics.
The effectiveness of simulation activities on the cognitive abilities of undergraduate third-year nursing students: a randomised control trial.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES To provide evidence on the effectiveness of simulation activities on the clinical decision-making abilities of undergraduate nursing students. Based on previous research, it was hypothesised that the higher the cognitive score, the greater the ability a nursing student would have to make informed valid decisions in their clinical practice. BACKGROUND Globally, simulation is being espoused as an education method that increases the competence of health professionals. At present, there is very little evidence to support current investment in time and resources. METHODS Following ethical approval, fifty-eight third-year undergraduate nursing students were randomised in a pretest-post-test group-parallel controlled trial. The learning environment preferences (LEP) inventory was used to test cognitive abilities in order to refute the null hypothesis that activities in computer-based simulated learning environments have a negative effect on cognitive abilities when compared with activities in skills laboratory simulated learning environments. RESULTS There was no significant difference in cognitive development following two cycles of simulation activities. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that two simulation tasks, either computer-based or laboratory-based, have no effect on an undergraduate student's ability to make clinical decisions in practice. However, there was a significant finding for non-English first-language students, which requires further investigation. CONCLUSIONS More longitudinal studies that quantify the education effects of simulation on the cognitive, affective and psychomotor attributes of health science students and professionals from both English-speaking and non-English-speaking backgrounds are urgently required. It is also recommended that to achieve increased participant numbers and prevent non-participation owing to absenteeism, further studies need to be imbedded directly into curricula. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE This investigation confirms the effect of simulation activities on real-life clinical practice, and the comparative learning benefits with traditional clinical practice and university education remain unknown.
Reversible Nε‐lysine acetylation regulates the activity of acyl‐CoA synthetases involved in anaerobic benzoate catabolism in Rhodopseudomonas palustris

Rhodopseudomonas palustris grows photoheterotrophically on aromatic compounds available in aquatic environments rich in plant‐derived lignin. Benzoate degradation is regulated at the transcriptional level in R. palustris in response to anoxia and the presence of benzoate and/or benzoyl‐CoA (Bz‐CoA). Here, we report evidence that anaerobic benzoate catabolism in this bacterium is also regulated at the post‐translational level. In this pathway, benzoate is activated to Bz‐CoA by the AMP‐forming Bz‐CoA synthetase (BadA) enzyme. Mass spectrometry and mutational analysis data indicate that residue Lys512 is critical to BadA activity. Acetylation of Lys512 inactivated BadA; deacetylation reactivated BadA. Likewise, 4‐hydroxybenzoyl‐CoA (HbaA) and cyclohexanecarboxyl‐CoA (AliA) synthetases were also reversibly acetylated. We identified one acetyltransferase that modified BadA, Hba and AliA in vitro. The acetyltransferase enzyme is homologous to the protein acetyltransferase (Pat) enzyme of Salmonella enterica sv Typhimurium LT2, thus we refer to it as RpPat. RpPat also modified acetyl‐CoA (Ac‐CoA) synthetase (Acs) from R. palustris. In vivo data indicate that at least two deacetylases reactivate BadAAc. One is SrtN (encoded by srtN, formerly rpa2524), a sirtuin‐type NAD+‐dependent deacetylase (O‐acetyl‐ADPribose‐forming); the other deacetylase is LdaA (encoded by ldaA, for lysine deacetylase A; formerly rpa0954), an acetate‐forming protein deacetylase. LdaA reactivated HbaAc and AliAAcin vitro.
Efficient palladium-catalyzed aminocarbonylation of aryl iodides using palladium nanoparticles dispersed on siliceous mesocellular foam.

A highly dispersed nanopalladium catalyst supported on mesocellular foam (MCF), was successfully used in the heterogeneous catalysis of aminocarbonylation reactions. During the preliminary evaluation of this catalyst it was discovered that the supported palladium nanoparticles exhibited a "release and catch" effect, meaning that a minor amount of the heterogeneous palladium became soluble and catalyzed the reaction, after which it re-deposited onto the support.
A Philosopher's View of the Epistemic Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics

There are various reasons for favouring Ψ-epistemic interpretations of quantum mechanics over Ψ-ontic interpretations. One such reason is the correlation between quantum mechanics and Liouville dynamics. Another reason is the success of a specific epistemic model (Spekkens, 2007), in reproducing a wide range of quantum phenomena. The potential criticism, that Spekkens' restricted knowledge principle is counter-intuitive, is rejected using `everyday life' examples. It is argued that the dimensionality of spin favours Spekkens' model over Ψ-ontic models. van Enk's extension of Spekkens' model (2007) can even reproduce Bell Inequality violations, but requires negative probabilities to do so. An epistemic account of negative probabilities is the missing element for deciding the battle between Ψ-epistemic and Ψ-ontic interpretations in favour of the former.
MAPK and AKT Pathway Intersection in Neuroblastoma Cells

Neuroblastoma is one of the most frequently seen pediatric extra cranial solid tumor and 98% of patients are under ten years old but it is among uncommon malignancies in adults [1]. It has a very poor prognosis that long-term survival ratio is only 30% [2,3]. Since it originates from migrating neural crest cells, neuroblastomas arise in peripheral nervous system. The reason for neuroblastoma to be both genotypically and phenotypically very hetero genious is its neural crest origin which has the potential of differentiating into various types of tissue and cell types. The most significant determinants of the disease are spontaneous genetic alterations such as oncogenic activation, deregulation of mitogenic and survival pathways and chromosomal anomalies [4,5].
Technology in Disaster Response and Management: Narratives of Ethical, Legal, and Social Issues

Ethical, legal and social issues (ELSI) are widely recognised as important in IT innovation for crisis response and management. However, attention often struggles to get beyond theorising basic concepts, when the realities of how difficulties and opportunities manifest are complex and practical. Unless these realities are understood, solutions to ELSI will remain at the surface, missing opportunities to responsibly and creatively leverage the potential of IT in disaster response. This workshop brings together narratives of lived experiences of ethical, legal, and social issues encountered in the context of IT innovation in disaster response, and analyses of normative, policy and regulatory backgrounds. In this editorial, we motivate this turn to narrative, summarise the contributions that will be presented on the day, and set out some key questions.
A Versatile and Compact USB System for Electrical and Thermal Characterization of Non-Volatile Memories

This paper presents a multipurpose, versatile and portable test equipment suitable for non-volatile memories performance evaluation. The system is based on a reconfigurable testing board which can be controlled and programmed by a personal computer through the USB interface. The proposed solution allows the device under test to be supplied with the required bias and control signals and to be measured by means of analog and digital acquisition channels. The system was conceived for the testing of program and erase algorithm to be used for non-volatile flash memories as well as for the temperature characterization of analog integrated circuits. In fact, the availability of a large number of signals (each one having independent and programmable voltage range) make it possible to easily implement flexible control routines needed for the testing of integrated devices which, in our case, typically include only a memory array. A smart graphic interface and the use of well known programming languages simplify the test flow and the processing of the measured data thus allowing fast and efficient device characterization
A computationally efficient Doppler compensation system for underwater acoustic communications

A Doppler compensation system is presented which is suitable for high-data-rate acoustic communication between rapidly moving platforms such as autonomous underwater vehicles. The proposed approach provides a generic preprocessor to conventional adaptive receiver structures with only a marginal increase in computational load and hardware cost. The preprocessor employs a novel Doppler estimation technique and efficient sample rate conversion to remove Doppler shift induced by platform velocity and acceleration. Performance predicted by simulation is compared to that of sea trials of a prototype communication system in the North Sea. Successful communication is demonstrated at 16 kbit/s with a transmitting platform moving at up to /spl plusmn/2.6 m/s.
Associations between Pituitary Imaging Abnormalities and Clinical and Biochemical Phenotypes in Children with Congenital Growth Hormone Deficiency: Data from an International Observational Study

Background/Aims: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is used to investigate the etiology of growth hormone deficiency (GHD). This study examined relationships between MRI findings and clinical/hormonal phenotypes in children with GHD in the observational Genetics and Neuroendocrinology of Short Stature International Study, GeNeSIS. Methods: Clinical presentation, hormonal status and first-year GH response were compared between patients with pituitary imaging abnormalities (n = 1,071), patients with mutations in genes involved in pituitary development/GH secretion (n = 120) and patients with idiopathic GHD (n = 7,039). Results: Patients with hypothalamic-pituitary abnormalities had more severe phenotypes than patients with idiopathic GHD. Additional hormonal deficiencies were found in 35% of patients with structural abnormalities (thyroid-stimulating hormone > adrenocorticotropic hormone > luteinizing hormone/follicle-stimulating hormone > antidiuretic hormone), most frequently in patients with septo-optic dysplasia (SOD). Patients with the triad [ectopic posterior pituitary (EPP), pituitary aplasia/hypoplasia and stalk defects] had a more severe phenotype and better response to GH treatment than patients with isolated abnormalities. The sex ratio was approximately equal for patients with SOD, but there was a significantly higher proportion of males (approximately 70%) in the EPP, pituitary hypoplasia, stalk defects, and triad categories. Conclusion: This large, international database demonstrates the value of classification of GH-deficient patients by the presence and type of hypothalamic-pituitary imaging abnormalities. This information may assist family counseling and patient management.