Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Recent advances in nonlinear control technologies for shape memory alloy actuators

This paper reviews recent developments in nonlinear control technologies for shape memory alloy (SMA) actuators in robotics and their related applications. SMA possesses large hysteresis, low bandwidth, slow response, and non-linear behavior, which make them difficult to control. The fast response of the SMA actuator mostly depends upon, (1) type of controller, (2) rate of addition and removal of heat, and (3) shape or form of the actuator. Though linear controllers are more desirable than nonlinear ones, the review of literature shows that the results obtained using nonlinear controllers were far better than the former one. Therefore, more emphasis is made on the nonlinear control technologies taking into account the intelligent controllers. Various forms of SMA actuator along with different heating and cooling methods are presented in this review, followed by the nonlinear control methods and the control problems encountered by the researchers.
A perspective on the physical scaling down of hafnia-based ferroelectrics

HfO2-based ferroelectric thin films have attracted significant interest for semiconductor device applications due to their compatibility with complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology. One of the benefits of HfO2-based ferroelectric thin films is their ability to be scaled to thicknesses as low as 10 nm while retaining their ferroelectric properties; a feat that has been difficult to accomplish with conventional perovskite-based ferroelectrics using CMOS-compatible processes. However, reducing the thickness limit of HfO2-based ferroelectric thin films below the sub 5 nm thickness regime while preserving their ferroelectric property remains a formidable challenge. This is because both the structural factors of HfO2, including polymorphism and orientation, and the electrical factors of HfO2-based devices, such as the depolarization field, are known to be highly dependent on the HfO2 thickness. Accordingly, when the thickness of HfO2 drops below 5 nm, these factors will become even more crucial. In this regard, the size effect of HfO2-based ferroelectric thin films is thoroughly discussed in the present review. The impact of thickness on the ferroelectric property of HfO2-based thin films and the electrical performance of HfO2-based ferroelectric semiconductor devices, such as ferroelectric random-access-memory, ferroelectric field-effect-transistor, and ferroelectric tunnel junction, is extensively discussed from the perspective of fundamental theory and experimental results. Finally, recent developments and reports on achieving ferroelectric HfO2 at sub-5 nm thickness regime and their applications are discussed.
MAPK/AP-1 Signaling Pathway Is Involved in the Protection Mechanism of Bone Marrow Mesenchymal Stem Cells-Derived Exosomes against Ultraviolet-Induced Photoaging in Human Dermal Fibroblasts

Introduction: The role of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells-derived exosomes (BMSCs-exo) in skin photoaging was explored in human dermal fibroblasts (HDFs). The underlying mechanism was further explored. Methods: HDFs were exposed to UVB irradiation to establish the cell photodamage models. The cell viability and levels of oxidative stress-related factors were tested. ELISA was done to detect TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-1β concentrations. Western blot was applied for protein examination. Results: UVB treatment led to the inhibition of cell viability. But after BMSCs-exo addition, the inhibitory effect was returned in a dose manner. UVB exposure contributed to the increase of reactive oxygen species and LDH and the downregulation of superoxide dismutase. In addition, excessive secretion of TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-1β was also detected in cells exposed to UVB. However, BMSCs-exo addition eliminated the effects of UVB on oxidative stress and inflammation in HDFs. BMSCs-exo inhibited matrix metalloproteinases MMP-1 and MMP-3 expression but promoted collagen I expression. UVB radiation activated the MAPK/AP-1 signaling, manifested as the increase of p-p38, c-Jun, and c-Fos protein levels, which were reversed by BMSCs-exo. As a p38 agonist, anisomycin counteracted the effect of BMSCs-exo on HDF’s viability, oxidative stress, and inflammation. Conclusion: BMSCs-exo protected HDFs against UVB-induced inhibition of cell viability and the activation of cell oxidative stress and inflammation, which might be related to the inhibition of the MAPK/AP-1 signaling pathway.
A coarse-to-fine kernel matching approach for mean-shift based visual tracking

Mean shift is an efficient pattern match algorithm. It is widely used in visual tracking fields since it need not perform whole search in the image space. It employs gradient optimization method to reduce the time of feature matching and realize rapid object localization, and uses Bhattacharyya coefficient as the similarity measure between object template and candidate template. This thesis presents a mean shift algorithm based on coarse-to-fine search for the best kernel matching. This paper researches for object tracking with large motion area based on mean shift. To realize efficient tracking of such an object, we present a kernel matching method from coarseness to fine. If the motion areas of the object between two frames are very large and they are not overlapped in image space, then the traditional mean shift method can only obtain local optimal value by iterative computing in the old object window area, so the real tracking position cannot be obtained and the object tracking will be disabled. Our proposed algorithm can efficiently use a similarity measure function to realize the rough location of motion object, then use mean shift method to obtain the accurate local optimal value by iterative computing, which successfully realizes object tracking with large motion. Experimental results show its good performance in accuracy and speed when compared with background-weighted histogram algorithm in the literature.
Functional near‐infrared spectroscopy shows that object relative clauses are more difficult to process than subject relative clauses in Turkish

It was suggested that processing subject relative clauses (SRCs) is universally easier than processing object relative clauses (ORCs) based on the studies carried out in head‐initial languages such as English and German. However, studies in head‐final languages such as Chinese and Basque contradicted this claim. Turkish is also a head‐final language. Existing relative clause processing literature in Turkish is based solely on behavioural metrics. Even though an ORC processing disadvantage was suggested for Turkish, the results were not conclusive. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the neural dynamics of relative clause processing in Turkish. We asked 14 native Turkish speakers to answer yes/no questions about 24 sentences each containing either a SRC or ORC while their prefrontal hemodynamic activity was recorded with functional near‐infrared spectroscopy. Our findings revealed hemodynamic activity in the lateral portions of the left prefrontal cortex for both conditions. However, hemodynamic activity was more widespread in prefrontal regions in ORC compared to SRC condition. Even though the behavioural metrics failed to produce a significant difference between the conditions, direct ORC > SRC contrast revealed significant activity in the left inferior frontal cortex, a region heavily involved in language processing, as well as in left and right dorsolateral prefrontal cortices, which are also known to be involved in language processing‐related and conflict monitoring‐related processes, respectively. Our findings indicate that processing ORCs is more difficult and requires further prefrontal resources than processing SRCs in Turkish, thus refuting the head‐directionality‐based explanations of relative clause processing asymmetries.
Resonance enhancement of oscillations in matter and solar neutrino spectroscopy

Matter can enhance neutrino oscillations (increase the mixing parameter sin/sup 2/ 2theta/sub m/). For small mixing angles in vacuum the enhancement displays a resonance behavior in the neutrino energies or the density of the medium. This resonance effect is important for solar neutrinos in a wide range of oscillation parameters . delta.m/sup 2/ = 10/sup -4/--10/sup -8/ eV/sup 2/ and sin/sup 2/ 2theta>10/sup -4/. It leads to a strong suppression of the neutrino flux even for small sin/sup 2/ 2theta.
Spin polarization of excitons in nonmagnetic quantum dots induced by a neighboring magnetic semiconductor quantum well

Magneto-photoluminescence (PL) experiments were carried out on double layer structures consisting of self-assembled nonmagnetic CdSe quantum dots (QDs) and a ZnCdMnSe diluted magnetic semiconductors quantum well (QW), separated by a thin ZnSe barrier layer. We observe two clearly defined PL peaks in all samples, corresponding to CdSe QD and ZnCdMnSe QW layers, respectively. The PL signal was detected using circular polarization. The degree of PL polarization from CdSe QDs in the double layer structures was much larger than that observed in single layers of nonmagnetic CdSe QD system. The effect was systematically studied by examining intensities, energy shifts, and polarizations of the PL peaks. We discuss the observed behavior in terms of antiparallel spin interaction between excitons localized in the nonmagnetic QDs and in the magnetic QWs.
Prdm6 drives ductus arteriosus closure by promoting ductus arteriosus smooth muscle cell identity and contractility

Based upon our demonstration that the smooth muscle cell–selective (SMC-selective) putative methyltransferase, Prdm6, interacts with myocardin-related transcription factor-A, we examined Prdm6’s role in SMCs in vivo using cell type–specific knockout mouse models. Although SMC-specific depletion of Prdm6 in adult mice was well tolerated, Prdm6 depletion in Wnt1-expressing cells during development resulted in perinatal lethality and a completely penetrant patent ductus arteriosus (DA) phenotype. Lineage tracing experiments in Wnt1Cre2 Prdm6fl/fl ROSA26LacZ mice revealed normal neural crest–derived SMC investment of the outflow tract. In contrast, myography measurements on DA segments isolated from E18.5 embryos indicated that Prdm6 depletion significantly reduced DA tone and contractility. RNA-Seq analyses on DA and ascending aorta samples at E18.5 identified a DA-enriched gene program that included many SMC-selective contractile associated proteins that was downregulated by Prdm6 depletion. Chromatin immunoprecipitation–sequencing experiments in outflow tract SMCs demonstrated that 50% of the genes Prdm6 depletion altered contained Prdm6 binding sites. Finally, using several genome-wide data sets, we identified an SMC-selective enhancer within the Prdm6 third intron that exhibited allele-specific activity, providing evidence that rs17149944 may be the causal SNP for a cardiovascular disease GWAS locus identified within the human PRDM6 gene.
Modeling of the optical properties of nonspherical particles in the atmosphere

Modeling of the Optical Properties of Nonspherical Particles in the Atmosphere. (August 2007) Guang Chen, B.S., Jilin University; M.S., University of Southern California Chair of Advisory Committee: Dr. Ping Yang The single scattering properties of atmospheric particles are fundamental to radiative simulations and remote sensing applications. In this study, an efficient technique, namely, the pseudo-spectral time-domain (PSTD) method which was first developed to study acoustic wave propagation, is applied to the scattering of light by nonspherical particles with small and moderate size. Five different methods are used to discretize Maxwell’s equations in the time domain. The perfectly matched layer (PML) absorbing boundary condition is employed in the present simulation for eliminating spurious wave propagations caused by the spectral method. A 3-D PSTD code has been developed on the basis of the five aforementioned discretization methods. These methods provide essentially the same solutions in both absorptive and nonabsorptive cases. In this study, the applicability of the PSTD method is investigated in comparison with the Mie theory and the T-matrix method. The effects of size parameter and refractive index on simulation accuracy are discussed. It is shown that the PSTD method is quite accurate when it is applied to the scattering of light by
Clinical significance of papillary thyroid carcinoma with solid/trabecular growth

The clinical relevance of solid/trabecular (ST) growth in papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) is unclear. In this study, we investigated the impact of any amount of ST growth on tumour characteristics and patient outcomes. Furthermore, we evaluated whether ST growth per se affected patients' prognosis in the absence of aggressive features, namely vascular invasion.
Promoter methylation of the glucocorticoid receptor following trauma may be associated with subsequent development of PTSD

Abstract Objectives The ability to identify persons at elevated risk for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) soon after exposure to trauma, could aid clinical decision-making and treatment. In this study, we explored whether cytosine methylation of the 1 F promoter of the NR3C1 (glucocorticoid receptor [GR]) gene obtained immediately following a trauma could predict PTSD. Methods Our sample comprised 52 trauma survivors (28 women, 24 men), presenting to the Emergency Department (ED) within six hours of a traumatic event and followed for 13 months. Blood samples were taken at intake (n = 42) and again at the end of the study (13 months later, n = 27) to determine NR3C1-1F promoter methylation as well as plasma levels of cortisol, adrenocorticotropic-hormone (ACTH), and neuropeptide-Y (NPY). Results At the 13-month follow-up, participants who met the PTSD criteria (n = 4) showed significantly lower NR3C1-1F promoter sum percent methylation compared to the non-PTSD group (n = 38). Further, NR3C1-1F methylation at ED intake was inversely correlated with PTSD severity 13 months later, indicating that lower NR3C1-1F promoter methylation in the immediate aftermath of trauma was associated with the development of PTSD. Conclusion To the extent that reduced promoter methylation is associated with greater GR expression and responsivity, this finding is consistent with the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal dysregulation previously described for PTSD.
Lidocaine inhibits osteogenic differentiation of human dental pulp stem cells in vitro

Objective Lidocaine is an amide local anaesthetic commonly used for pain control, however, few studies have investigated the effect of lidocaine on the osteogenic differentiation of human dental pulp stem cells (HDPSCs). The present study aimed to determine the effect of lidocaine on HDPSC viability and osteogenic differentiation. Methods HDPSCs were incubated with 0, 0.05, 0.2, 0.5, and 1 mM lidocaine for 24, 48 and 72 h, after which, MTT assays were performed. HDPSCs cultured with the above lidocaine concentrations and osteogenic differentiation medium for 7 and 14 days were stained for alkaline phosphatase (ALP). Protein and mRNA levels of relevant osteogenic factors (bone morphogenetic protein-2 [BMP-2] and runt-related transcription factor 2 [RUNX2]) were examined using western blotting and real-time reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction, respectively. Results Lidocaine did not affect the viability of HDPSCs, however, lidocaine reduced ALP activity in HDPSCs. Levels of ALP, BMP-2, and RUNX2 mRNA were reduced with lidocaine, and levels of BMP-2 and RUNX2 proteins were decreased, versus controls. Conclusions Lidocaine inhibits osteogenic differentiation markers in HDPSCs in vitro, even at low concentrations, without cytotoxicity. This study suggests that lidocaine may inhibit osteogenic differentiation in HDPSC-mediated regenerative medicine, including pulp regeneration and repair.
Combined heart-liver transplantation practices survey in North America: Evaluation and organ listing practices

We conducted a web-based survey to characterize liver transplant (LT) evaluation and listing practices for patients being evaluated for combined heart-liver transplantation (CHLT), with a specific emphasis on patients with congenital heart disease (CHD), around transplant centers in North America. Very few protocols for liver evaluation and listing in patients undergoing combined heart-liver transplantation are published, and no guidelines currently exist on this topic. A subject of intense debate in the transplant community is the decision of which patients with CHD and liver disease benefit from CHLT compared with heart transplantation. A focus group from the American Society of Transplantation Liver-Intestine Community of Practice Education Subcommittee developed a web-based survey that included questions (1) respondee demographic information; (2) LT evaluation practices in CHLT; (3) liver organ listing practices in CHLT, and (4) 4 clinical vignettes with case-based scenarios in CHLT liver listings among CHD patients who underwent Fontan palliation. The survey was distributed to medical and surgical LT program directors of 47 centers that had completed at least 1 CHLT up to July 2021 in the US and the University of Toronto, Canada. The survey had an excellent 83% response rate (87% for centers that completed at least 1 CHLT in the past 5 y). Total 66.7% used transjugular liver biopsy with HVPG measurements, 30% used percutaneous liver biopsy with no consensus on the use of a fibrosis staging system, 95% mandated contrasted cross-sectional imaging, and 65% upper endoscopy. The following isolated findings evaluation mandated CHLT listing: isolated elevated HVPG (61.5%); the presence of portosystemic collaterals on imaging (67.5%); the endoscopic presence of esophageal or gastric varices (75%), and the presence of HCC (80%), whereas the majority of centers did not feel that the presence of isolated splenomegaly (100%), thrombocytopenia (81.6%), endoscopic findings of portal hypertensive gastropathy (66.7%), or highly sensitized patients (84.6%) justified CHLT. In our survey of North American centers that had performed at least 1 CHLT in the past 5 years, we observed heterogeneity in practices for both evaluation and listing protocols in these patients.
Forecasting upper respiratory tract infection burden using high-dimensional time series data and forecast combinations

Upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs) represent a large strain on primary health resources. To mitigate URTI transmission and public health burdens, it is important to pre-empt and provide forward guidance on URTI burden, while taking into account various facets which influence URTI transmission. This is so that appropriate public health measures can be taken to mitigate strain on primary care resources. This study describes a new approach to forecasting URTIs which can be used for national public health resource planning. Specifically, using environmental and disease data comprising more than 1000 dimensions, we developed sub-models which optimizes model explainability, in-sample model fit, predictive accuracy and combines many weaker predictors over a 2-month time horizon to generate direct, point forecasts over a 1–8 week ahead forecast horizon. Predictive performance was evaluated using rolling out-of-sample forecast assessment within both periods with/without structural breaks in transmission over the period of 2012–2022. We showed that forecast combinations of 5 other forecasting models had better and more consistent predictive performance than other modelling approaches, over periods with and without structural breaks in transmission dynamics. Furthermore, epidemiological analysis on high dimensional data was enabled using post-selection inference, to show the dynamic association between lower temperature, increases in past relative humidity and absolute humidity and increased URTIs attendance. The methods proposed can be used for outbreak preparedness and guide healthcare resource planning, in both stable periods of transmission and periods where structural breaks in data occur.
Animal models of human insomnia

Insomnia disorder (chronic sleep continuity disturbance) is a debilitating condition affecting 5%–10% of the adult population worldwide. To date, researchers have attempted to model insomnia in animals through breeding strategies that create pathologically short‐sleeping individuals or with drugs and environmental contexts that directly impose sleeplessness. While these approaches have been invaluable for identifying insomnia susceptibility genes and mapping the neural networks that underpin sleep–wake regulation, they fail to capture concurrently several of the core clinical diagnostic features of insomnia disorder in humans, where sleep continuity disturbance is self‐perpetuating, occurs despite adequate sleep opportunity, and is often not accompanied by significant changes in sleep duration or architecture. In the present review, we discuss these issues and then outline ways animal models can be used to develop approaches that are more ecologically valid in their recapitulation of chronic insomnia's natural aetiology and pathophysiology. Conditioning of self‐generated sleep loss with these methods promises to create a better understanding of the neuroadaptations that maintain insomnia, including potentially within the infralimbic cortex, a substrate at the crossroads of threat habituation and sleep.
Lung Cancer Resection after Immunochemotherapy Versus Chemotherapy in Oligometastatic Nonsmall Cell Lung Cancer

Abstract Background Neoadjuvant immunochemotherapy is currently being tested in pivotal trials for stage I to III nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The impact of immunochemotherapy in patients with oligometastatic disease (OMD) remains undefined. This study aimed to compare the outcomes of radical treatment after the neoadjuvant course of immunochemotherapy versus chemotherapy. Methods We retrospectively analyzed patients with OMD who were treated with immunochemotherapy or chemotherapy combined with local ablation of metastases and radical primary tumor resection between 2017 and 2021. Group A included eight patients with immunochemotherapy; Group B included seven patients with chemotherapy. Descriptive statistical analysis included the characteristics of the patients, tumors, and outcomes. Results There was no difference in postoperative morbidity rates between the groups ( p = 0.626). The 30-day mortality in both groups was 0%. The median overall survival for Group A was not reached, with a median follow-up time of 25 (range: 13–35) months; the median overall survival for Group B was 26 (range: 5–53) months. In Group A, all patients remained alive; in contrast, in Group B, four patients died ( p = 0.026). There was no local thoracic recurrence in either group. In Group B, the recurrent disease was identified significantly more often (12.5 vs. 85.75%; p = 0.009). The rates of complete and major pathologic response were 37.5 and 0% in Group A and 42.85 and 14.25% in Group B, respectively. Conclusion Despite the small patient number and short-term results, the progression-free and overall survival in patients with OMD after local therapy for metastases and primary tumor resection following a neoadjuvant course of immunochemotherapy might be promising compared with chemotherapy.