Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
In-situ Fabrication of Micro Pillars on Paraffin Substrate Using Laser Heating

In this paper, a fabrication method to form micro pillars with a high aspect ratio (more than 20) from a paraffin substrate is described. This technique makes use of an interesting phenomenon that solid paraffin, melted by laser heating, grows into a pillar-shaped structure and solidifies in a liquid. The smallest size in diameter of the fabricated pillars is about 60 mum and it is possible to fabricate more precise pillar by reducing the laser spot size. Features of fabrication using cooling medium with different heat transfer rates, such as the distilled water, the silicone oil and the air, are discussed in this paper. Furthermore, influence of the material temperature on the shape of micro pillars is presented. The reproducibility and the stability of the fabrication are especially optimized when the material temperature is approaching its melting point
Dynamic Analytical Initialization Method for Spacecraft Attitude Estimators

This paper proposes a dynamic analytical initialization method for spacecraft attitude estimators. In the proposed method, the desired attitude matrix is decomposed into two parts: one is the constant attitude matrix at the very start and the other encodes the attitude changes of the body frame from its initial state. The latter one can be calculated recursively using the gyroscope outputs and the constant attitude matrix can be determined using constructed vector observations at different time. Compared with traditional initialization methods, the proposed method does not necessitate the spacecraft being static or more than two non-collinear vector observations at the same time. Therefore, the proposed method can promote increased spacecraft autonomy by autonomous initialization of attitude estimators. The effectiveness and prospect of the proposed method in spacecraft attitude estimation applications have been validated through numerical simulations.
Multiple kinds of paper currency recognition using neural network and application for Euro currency

Up until now, we have developed banking machines for various kinds of paper currency using neural networks. In this paper, we report an enhanced neuro-recognition system to increase the number of recognition patterns using axis-symmetrical mask and two image sensors. One sensor's purpose is discrimination for a known image and another one is exclusion for an unknown image. Concretely, we implement the proposed method to an experimental system, which has two sensors, arranged one above and one below the moving banknote. Finally, we apply this proposed method to Euro currency, which will be issued in 2002, using dummy notes. The effectiveness of the proposed method is shown, numerically.
Pain-Causing Venom Peptides: Insights into Sensory Neuron Pharmacology

Venoms are produced by a wide variety of species including spiders, scorpions, reptiles, cnidarians, and fish for the purpose of harming or incapacitating predators or prey. While some venoms are of relatively simple composition, many contain hundreds to thousands of individual components with distinct pharmacological activity. Pain-inducing or “algesic” venom compounds have proven invaluable to our understanding of how physiological nociceptive neural networks operate. In this review, we present an overview of some of the diverse nociceptive pathways that can be modulated by specific venom components to evoke pain.
Caml trading – experiences with functional programming on Wall Street

Abstract Jane Street Capital is a successful proprietary trading company that uses OCaml as its primary development language. We have over twenty OCaml programmers and hundreds of thousands of lines of OCaml code. We use OCaml for a wide range of tasks: critical trading systems, quantitative research, systems software, and system administration. We value OCaml because it allows us to rapidly produce readable, correct, efficient code to solve complex problems, and to change that code quickly to adapt to a changing world. We believe that using OCaml gives us a significant advantage over competitors that use languages like VB, Perl, C++, C#, or Java. It also makes finding and hiring high-quality software developers easier than with mainstream languages. We have invested deeply in OCaml and intend to use OCaml and grow our team of functional programmers for the foreseeable future.
Lead neurotoxicity in children: Is prenatal exposure more important than postnatal exposure?

Numerous studies indicate that low‐level lead poisoning causes mild mental retardation and low IQ scores in children. The general mean lead intake in the adult European population corresponds to a reassuring 14% (0.5–56%) of the tolerable daily intake: at this low level of exposure only few children (less than 10%) have blood lead levels (PbB) higher than 10μg/dl, previously considered the PbB of concern. In more recent years data now suggest that even when ‘the lifetime average blood lead concentration’ is below 10μg/dl an inverse association exists with intelligence quotient (IQ) scores. Two‐thirds (45–75%) of lead in blood, however, comes from long‐term tissue stores and this is especially true for newborn infants and pregnant women. Several data suggest that for lead the main toxic event is prenatal exposure: therefore we should focus our attention on maternal lead stores and whenever possible avoid their mobilization during pregnancy. In this regard we should design appropriate studies to confirm whether dietary supplementations can reduce bone resorption and lead mobilization during pregnancy. The hypothesis that the amount of maternal bone lead stores is the relevant parameter for predicting the level of neurotoxicity of this metal gives some optimism for the future: if we study children whose mothers never underwent high environmental pollution (born after the withdrawal of lead from gasoline) and hence have relatively low bone lead stores we could find that, at the population level, lead has little influence on children IQ scores
Interpersonal Trust and Social Skill in Seeking Social Support Among Chinese and Americans

The present study examined how social skills and interpersonal trust facilitate the support-seeking process in two different cultures, namely, those of China and the United States. Drawing from Sensitive Interactions Systems Theory and attachment theory, the current study examines the connections between social skill, interpersonal trust, the perceived appropriateness of seeking support, and the likelihood of displaying emotional distress to friends. Results indicated both similarities and differences between Americans and Chinese in terms of support seeking. Across both cultural groups, interpersonal trust was associated with appropriate help seeking, which, in turn, predicted the likelihood of showing emotional distress to friends. The two culture groups differed in terms of attenuating displays of distress (showing less than one actually feels). Among Chinese participants, attenuating displays of emotion was seen as positive and was associated with appropriateness. Among European Americans, attenuating displays of distress was negatively associated with appropriateness.
COPD and the solar system: introducing the chronic obstructive pulmonary disease comorbidome.

on the degree of maternal stress, thus biasing the results of the study. The second limitation is unmeasured confounding. Although the authors of this study have gone to great length to capture data on social and environmental factors that could be associated with both maternal stress and early childhood wheeze, the authors did not factor in other early childhood illnesses (such as gastroesophageal reflux disease) that might be causally related to both postnatal maternal stress and early childhood wheeze. Despite these potential limitations, the strengths of Chiu and coworkers’ research buttress an evolving knowledge that points to the significance of maternal stress (both preand postnatal) in the development of childhood wheeze. Further studies are required to explore the exact biologic mechanisms by which maternal stress leads to childhood wheeze and subsequent asthma risk. Although maternal stress persisting throughout both preand postnatal periods appears to be important in the development of childhood wheeze, the relative influence of various stressors need to be better defined to direct primary prevention efforts at potentially modifiable risk factors.
A Prospective Investigation of Work and Nonvocational Outcomes in Adults With Severe Mental Illness

Abstract This study assessed the impact of steady competitive or noncompetitive employment on nonvocational outcomes for clients with severe mental illness receiving employment services. We conducted a secondary analysis of 2-year data for 187 clients participating in a randomized controlled trial comparing two employment programs. Participants were classified according to 2-year employment outcomes into four groups: steady competitive work, steady noncompetitive work, minimal work, and no work. We compared these groups on 2-year outcomes including symptoms, hospitalizations, quality of life, and social networks. During follow-up, working clients had fewer days of hospitalization than the no-work group. The steady competitive group had greater reduction in negative symptoms than did the no-work group. The steady noncompetitive group showed greater improvement in social networks compared with the other groups. Extended periods of work are associated with improvements in nonvocational outcomes. Beneficial effects may vary according to the type of employment.
Age Dependency of Myocardial Triglyceride Content: A 3T High-Field 1H-MR Spectroscopy Study

Abstract Purpose: The role of myocardial triglyceride (mTG) content in the aging human heart is not entirely understood. The aim of this study was to measure concentrations of mTG content from healthy volunteers and to determine the association between age, mTG content and systolic heart function. Furthermore, the technical stability of the 1H-magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) and the reliability of peak evaluation at 3 T were evaluated. Materials and Methods: The total study population of 47 healthy volunteers was divided into 4 age classes, according to the age of the subjects (1st cohort 20 – 29 years (yrs.), n = 20; 2nd cohort 30 – 39 yrs. , n = 10; 3rd cohort 40 – 49 yrs. , n = 9; 4th cohort 50 – 60 yrs. , n = 8). Cardiac MRI and double triggered 1H-MRS of the myocardium were consecutively performed using a 3 T scanner. Each participant underwent spectroscopic measurements twice in the same investigation. Results: mTG content increases with age. The correlation of age and mTG is minimal (r = 0.48; p < 0.001). The following age-averaged mTG content values expressed as % of mTG signal compared to the water signal were determined for each cohort: 1st cohort 0.25 % (± 0.17); 2nd cohort 0.48 % (± 0.30); 3rd cohort 0.48 % (± 0.18); 4th cohort 0.77 % (± 0.70). There was no significant correlation (r = 0.04; p = n.s.) between LV mass and mTG content in healthy volunteers. Within our cohorts, no effects of age or mTG content on systolic heart function were seen (r = – 0.01; p = n.s.). The intraclass correlation coefficient of spectroscopic measurements was high (r = 0.965; p < 0.001). Conclusion: Myocardial TG content increases with age. The normal age-dependent concentration ranges of myocardial lipid metabolites reported in this study may be helpful for the correction of acquired 1H-MRS data in patients when evaluating metabolic and cardiovascular diseases in future magnetic resonance spectroscopy studies. Key Points: • 1H-MRS enables noninvasive myocardial lipid determination • Double triggered 1H-MRS of the heart at 3 T is a technically stable and reliable method • Myocardial triglyceride content increases with age • Myocardial triglyceride content is independent of LV mass and systolic function Citation Format: • Petritsch B, Gassenmaier T, Kunz AS et al. Age Dependency of Myocardial Triglyceride Content: A 3T High-Field 1H-MR Spectroscopy Study. Fortschr Röntgenstr 2015; 187: 1016 – 1021
A novel design of miniaturized power divider and branch coupler using interdigital circuit

This paper presents a novel design to reduce the size of both power dividers and branch couplers using interdigital circuit. The disadvantage of planar dividers and couplers working at low frequency is their large size. To overcome it, a design method by using interdigital circuit is proposed, which consists of two interdigital capacitors and a high characteristic impedance line. The design theory is explained using an equivalent circuit model, and the equation of the theory is presented in details. One 2.4GHz Wilkinson divider based on FR4 substrate and one 1.4GHz branch coupler based on RO4003C substrate using the interdigital circuit are simulated, fabricated and measured. The results show that a size reduction of about 40% is achieved with good performance.
Autoantibodies against aldehyde‐modified collagen type IV are associated with risk of development of myocardial infarction

Oxidation of LDL particles entrapped in the extracellular matrix of the arterial wall is a key factor in the development of atherosclerosis. Lipid oxidation products, such as malondialdehyde (MDA), react with surrounding extracellular matrix proteins and cause modifications that are recognized by the immune system. MDA modification of collagen type IV is increased in carotid lesions from symptomatic patients and correlates with autoantibodies against MDA‐modified collagen type IV in plasma.
A molecular link between the sudden infant death syndrome and the long-QT syndrome.

The sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) remains the leading cause of death in the first year of life and has a devastating impact on the affected families.1–4 Despite the fact that there have been many hypotheses,3,4 the cause or causes of SIDS are still uncertain; as a consequence, the only preventive measure recommended is to avoid having infants sleep in a prone position.5 In 1998, we reported the results of a 19-year prospective study of more than 34,000 infants who underwent electrocardiography on the third or fourth day of life.6 We tested the hypothesis7,8 that the congenital .
Anti-vascular approaches to solid tumour therapy: evaluation of combretastatin A4 phosphate.

Combretastatin A4 phosphate has recently been identified by us as an agent which can selectively damage tumour neovasculature. In the current study we establish that combretastatin induces extensive blood flow shutdown in the tumour compared to normal tissues. Histological assessment of vascular shutdown shows that over 90% of vessels are rendered non-functional 6 hrs post-treatment with 100 mg/kg i.p. Measurement of blood flow using a diffusible tracer 86RbCl indicates an overall reduction in perfusion by only 50-60%. This discrepancy probably reflects increased blood flow in the normal tissue vasculature supplying the tumour rim, which is caused by the ischaemia-induced release of vasoactive mediators. The vascular shutdown induced by administration of 100 mg/kg of combretastatin A4 phosphate results in extensive cell loss in the 24 hrs following treatment, however this is not translated into any significant effect on tumour growth. The continued growth of the tumour is attributed to an actively proliferating population of cells at the periphery of the tumour, which are dependent on normal tissue vasculature for their survival. We have attempted to target this residual population by combining combretastatin A4 phosphate with cytotoxic approaches. Cis platinum and radiation have been used. The results show that combretastatin can significantly enhance tumour response to both cis platinum and radiation. In summary, the studies confirm combretastatin A4 phosphate as a novel agent which targets and damages tumour vasculature and, moreover, indicate its potential therapeutic usefulness as an adjuvant to conventional cytotoxic approaches.
Collaborative Information Seeking in Intercultural Computer-Mediated Communication Groups

This article examines the process of collaborative information seeking in intercultural computer-mediated communication (CMC) groups. The authors conducted a field experiment in which 86 students from three distant universities (one in the United States, two in Singapore) participated. The students participated in a collaborative learning practice in which they socially recommended information using a CMC system. The results demonstrate that the social context—that is, preexisting social networks, groups, and intergroup boundaries—significantly constrained the flow of information across intercultural CMC groups. The authors also found that the influence of the social context on CMC collaboration could be moderated by other contingent factors such as national culture and individuals' outcome expectancies of Internet use. The authors present the results from testing their hypotheses using multivariate p* and Quadratic Assignment Procedure network regression analyses and conclude with a discussion of the findings and implications for future research.
Fast Computation of Chebyshev Moments

Chebyshev moments were recently proposed to address problems of moments of continuous orthogonal basis. They are moments of a discrete basis and are orthogonal in the domain of the image coordinate space, a feature which presents a number of advantages over moments of continuous orthogonal basis. No effort has been devoted yet to the efficiency of their calculation. In this paper, we present a hardware architecture which enables real-time processing of binary and grayscale images of up to 4 Mpixels. This architecture is realized in a field-programmable gate array of typical clock frequency of 100 MHz
Box C/D small nucleolar RNA trafficking involves small nucleolar RNP proteins, nucleolar factors and a novel nuclear domain

Nucleolar localization of box C/D small nucleolar (sno) RNAs requires the box C/D motif and, in vertebrates, involves transit through Cajal bodies (CB). We report that in yeast, overexpression of a box C/D reporter leads to a block in the localization pathway with snoRNA accumulation in a specific sub‐nucleolar structure, the nucleolar body (NB). The human survival of motor neuron protein (SMN), a marker of gems/CB, specifically localizes to the NB when expressed in yeast, supporting similarities between these structures. Box C/D snoRNA accumulation in the NB was decreased by mutation of Srp40 and increased by mutation of Nsr1p, two related nucleolar proteins that are homologous to human Nopp140 and nucleolin, respectively. Box C/D snoRNAs also failed to accumulate in the NB, and became delocalized to the nucleoplasm, upon depletion of any of the core snoRNP proteins, Nop1p/fibrillarin, Snu13p, Nop56p and Nop5p/Nop58p. We conclude that snoRNP assembly occurs either in the nucleoplasm, or during transit of snoRNAs through the NB, followed by routing of the complete snoRNP to functional sites of ribosome synthesis.
Causes and consequences of glucocorticoid variation in zebra finches

Dieren leven in een wereld van constante verandering, en glucocorticoide hormonen (zoals corticosteron & cortisol) spelen een belangrijke rol in het reageren op voorspelbare en onvoorspelbare uitdagingen vanuit hun omgeving. Gezien glucocorticoide hormoonconcentraties aanzienlijk toenemen na een onvoorspelbare uitdaging worden deze hormonen vaak beschouwd als ‘stress hormonen’. Individuen, soorten, en populaties laten, echter, grote variatie zien in hun glucocorticoide concentraties en het interpreteren van de oorzaken en gevolgen van deze variatie is nog steeds een omstreden kwestie. In dit onderzoek gebruiken we zebravinken die leven in buitenvolieres, waarin we de mate van omgevingsuitdagingen manipuleren tijdens hun ontwikkeling en tijdens hun volwassen leven. We onderzochten omgevings- (temperatuur, tegenslag tijdens de ontwikkeling & foerageerkosten) en interne (geslacht, gewicht & glucose regulatie) factoren die de glucocorticoide variatie aansturen en hiernaast hebben we enkele fysiologische mechanismen onderzocht die betrokken zijn bij het glucocorticoide systeem. We concluderen dat de belangrijkste oorzaak van glucocorticoide variatie het metabolisme is, gezien we gevonden hebben dat glucocorticoiden gemoduleerd worden in overeenstemming met veranderingen in energieverbruik (zoals psychologische stressoren, temperatuursveranderingen & foerageerkosten), in zowel gecontroleerde binnenomstandigheden als meer natuurlijke buitenvolieres. Dit roept de vraag op of glucocorticoiden indicators zijn van ‘stress’, los van het effect van stressoren op het metabolisme, gezien we gevonden hebben dat de fysiologische reactie op een verlaging van de temperatuur niet te onderscheiden valt van de reactie op een psychologische stressor, welke het metabolisme op eenzelfde manier verhoogde. Ons werk biedt nieuwe inzichten op de interpretatie van glucocorticoide variatie en ligt ten grondslag aan de noodzaak om de traditionele interpratie van glucocorticoiden als ‘stress’ indicatoren en dierwelzijn te herzien.
The Small Envelope Protein E Is Not Essential for Murine Coronavirus Replication

ABSTRACT The importance of the small envelope (E) protein in the assembly of coronaviruses has been demonstrated in several studies. While its precise function is not clearly defined, E is a pivotal player in the morphogenesis of the virion envelope. Expression of the E protein alone results in its incorporation into vesicles that are released from cells, and the coexpression of the E protein with the membrane protein M leads to the assembly of coronavirus-like particles. We have previously generated E gene mutants of mouse hepatitis virus (MHV) that had marked defects in viral growth and produced virions that were aberrantly assembled in comparison to wild-type virions. We have now been able to obtain a viable MHV mutant in which the entire E gene, as well as the nonessential upstream genes 4 and 5a, has been deleted. This mutant (ΔE) was obtained by a targeted RNA recombination method that makes use of a powerful host range-based selection system. The ΔE mutant produces tiny plaques with an unusual morphology compared to plaques formed by wild-type MHV. Despite its low growth rate and low infectious titer, the ΔE mutant is genetically stable, showing no detectable phenotypic changes after several passages. The properties of this mutant provide further support for the importance of E protein in MHV replication, but surprisingly, they also show that E protein is not essential.
Neural-Logic Belief Networks-A tool for knowledge representation and reasoning

The author sketches a new architecture for representing knowledge and performing commonsense reasoning. It is an acyclical directed graph formalism with a neural network computation model and a Prolog-style unification mechanism called Neural-Logic Belief Network. In this representation, a concept is either believed, its negation is believed, unknown, or in the state of contradiction. Each proposition also has a degree-of-belief value to represent its reliability and/or certainty. Every directed link carries a tuple of real numbers to model a three-valued logic and other relations such as the commonsense IF-THEN rules. Due to the nature of network computation, it has an extreme level of tolerance to contradictory input knowledge.