Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Stochastic and deterministic dynamics investigation of the microstructure of granular materials

STOCHASTIC AND DETERMINISTIC DYNAMICS INVESTIGATION OF THE MICROSTRUCTURE OF GRANULAR MATERIALS by Vishagan Ratnaswamy Granular materials are ubiquitous in one's daily life. They can be found in the cereal you eat, the sugar you put in your coffee or the sand you walk on in the beach. The study of granular materials has a rich history dating back to the 17 th century where Kepler studied the packing of particles. The compaction of granular materials is a problem that is studied by using theory, experiments and simulations. While these studies have yielded some important results, there still are many details about the mechanisms of granular compaction that are unknown. In this thesis, the density relaxation phenomenon is modeled using both Monte Carlo and discrete element simulations to investigate the effects of regular taps applied to a vessel having a planar floor filled with monodisperse spheres. Results suggest the existence of a critical tap intensity which produces a maximum bulk solids fraction. A key result that is found in this thesis is the mechanism responsible for the relaxation phenomenon is an evolving ordered packing structure propagating upwards from the plane floor. STOCHASTIC AND DETERMINISTIC DYNAMICS INVESTIGATION OF THE MICROSTRUCTURE OF GRANULAR MATERIALS by Vishagan Ratnaswamy A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of New Jersey Institute of Technology In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
Predation Danger Can Explain Changes in Timing of Migration: The Case of the Barnacle Goose

Understanding stopover decisions of long-distance migratory birds is crucial for conservation and management of these species along their migratory flyway. Recently, an increasing number of Barnacle geese breeding in the Russian Arctic have delayed their departure from their wintering site in the Netherlands by approximately one month and have reduced their staging duration at stopover sites in the Baltic accordingly. Consequently, this extended stay increases agricultural damage in the Netherlands. Using a dynamic state variable approach we explored three hypotheses about the underlying causes of these changes in migratory behavior, possibly related to changes in (i) onset of spring, (ii) potential intake rates and (iii) predation danger at wintering and stopover sites. Our simulations showed that the observed advance in onset of spring contradicts the observed delay of departure, whereas both increased predation danger and decreased intake rates in the Baltic can explain the delay. Decreased intake rates are expected as a result of increased competition for food in the growing Barnacle goose population. However, the effect of predation danger in the model was particularly strong, and we hypothesize that Barnacle geese avoid Baltic stopover sites as a response to the rapidly increasing number of avian predators in the area. Therefore, danger should be considered as an important factor influencing Barnacle goose migratory behavior, and receive more attention in empirical studies.
Barcoded pyrosequencing analysis of the bacterial community of Daqu for light‐flavour Chinese liquor

The bacterial community of Daqu affects its characteristics and functions by their metabolic products, such as amylase, protease, esterase. In this study, barcoded pyrosequencing was used to analyse the bacterial communities of three kinds of Daqu for light‐flavour Chinese liquor brewing. A total of 13672 sequences were identified as bacterial sequences. The Shannon index of QC, HX and GT for clusters sharing 97% homology was 5·0, 4·2 and 4·2, respectively, indicating that QC had the highest biodiversity. The Good's coverage index of QC, HX and GT was 88·2, 93·4 and 93%, respectively, indicating that the vast majority of phylotypes have been detected. Among the three kinds of Daqu, the majority of annotated reads were assigned to two phyla (Firmicutes and Actinobacteria). The phylum Firmicutes was the most abundant group in QC (74·2%), HX (81·4%) and GT (98·6%), and the phylum Actinobacteria was the second in QC (23·9%), HX (17·9%) and GT (1·1%). There were many lactic acid bacteria in all three kinds of Daqu QC (45·8%), HX (46·3%) and GT (24·7%). In addition, the most abundant family in GT was Bacillus, accounting for 65·0%, while in HX, the families Thermoactinomycetaceae and Streptomycetaceae accounted for 19·5 and 14·1%, respectively, and in QC, 13·1% were Streptomycetaceae, 12·2% were heterofermentative Leuconostocaceae.
Scalability of Parallel Algorithm-Machine Combinations

Scalability has become an important consideration in parallel algorithm and machine designs. The word scalable, or scalability, has been widely and often used in the parallel processing community. However, there is no adequate, commonly accepted definition of scalability available. Scalabilities of computer systems and programs are difficult to quantify, evaluate, and compare. In this paper, scalability is formally defined for algorithm-machine combinations. A practical method is proposed to provide a quantitative measurement of the scalability. The relation between the newly proposed scalability and other existing parallel performance metrics is studied. A harmony between speedup and scalability has been observed. Theoretical results show that a large class of algorithm-machine combinations is scalable and the scalability can be predicted through premeasured machine parameters. Two algorithms have been studied on an nCUBE 2 multicomputer and on a MasPar MP-1 computer. These case studies have shown how scalabilities can be measured, computed, and predicted. Performance instrumentation and visualization tools also have been used and developed to understand the scalability related behavior. >
Strategic financial management.

Finance and accounting are the tools that are fundamental to making management decisions. This program provides the knowledge necessary to evaluate financial performance and to understand how the economic outcomes of operating decisions effect the organization's financial statements. Participants develop or improve their understanding of financial statements, performance metrics, and analytical techniques to effectively evaluate their business, establish performance standards, and collaborate using a common financial language. These practices are extended to assess the financial position of suppliers, customers, and competitors. In addition, the participant will learn techniques to evaluate and value investments in a new product, capital project, or acquisition. Attendees in the Strategic Financial Management course will: Develop or improve their understanding of finance and accounting Understand how the economic outcomes of operating decisions are reflected in the organization's financial report Communicate and collaborate more effectively with finance professionals Increase comprehension of current performance measurement and analytical techniques using financial performance metrics Establish financial performance standards Learn corporate investment valuation techniques to assess capital investment decisions including new products and acquisitions Discuss appropriate investment rates of return The program is designed for company managers and leaders in decision making roles who want to improve their understanding of finance. The two-day program costs $1,245 per person and includes materials and meals.
The htpAB operon of Legionella pneumophila cannot be deleted in the presence of the groE chaperonin operon of Escherichia coli.

HtpB, the chaperonin of the intracellular bacterial pathogen Legionella pneumophila , displays several virulence-related functions in vitro. To confirm HtpB's role in vivo, host infections with an htpB deletion mutant would be required. However, we previously reported that the htpAB operon (encoding co-chaperonin and chaperonin) is essential. We attempted here to delete htpAB in a L. pneumophila strain carrying the groE operon (encoding the Escherichia coli co-chaperonin and chaperonin). The groE operon was inserted into the chromosome of L. pneumophila Lp02, and then allelic replacement of htpAB with a gentamicin resistance cassette was attempted. Although numerous potential postallelic replacement transformants showed a correct selection phenotype, we still detected htpAB by PCR and full-size HtpB by immunoblot. Southern blot and PCR analysis indicated that the gentamicin resistance cassette had apparently integrated in a duplicated htpAB region. However, we showed by Southern blot that strain Lp02, and the Lp02 derivative carrying the groE operon, have only one copy of htpAB. These results confirmed that the htpAB operon cannot be deleted, not even in the presence of the groE operon, and suggested that attempts to delete htpAB under strong phenotypic selection result in aberrant genetic recombinations that could involve duplication of the htpAB locus.
Thymosin β4 Induces Endothelial Progenitor Cell Migration via PI3K/Akt/eNOS Signal Transduction Pathway

Thymosin β4, a G-actin-sequestering peptide, has been shown to play an important role in cell migration. However, little is known about the effect of thymosin β4 on circulating endothelial progenitor cell (EPC) directional migration, which is essential for EPC-mediated reendothelialization and neovascularization. In our study, using a transwell migration assay, we showed that thymosin β4 induced EPC migration in a concentration-dependent manner. Western blot analysis revealed that treatment of EPCs with thymosin β4 resulted in a time and concentration-dependent phosphorylation of Akt, endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS), and extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK)1/2. Functional analysis showed that thymosin β4-induced EPC migration was blocked by phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase inhibitors (LY294002 or wortmannin) or eNOS inhibitor (Nω-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester) but was not significantly attenuated by mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK)/ERK inhibitor (PD98059). These findings suggest that thymosin β4 stimulates EPC directional migration via phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/Akt/eNOS, rather than via MAPK/ERK signal transduction pathway.
Electronic transport in nanoscale structures

Author(s): Lagerqvist, Johan | Abstract: In this dissertation electronic transport in nanoscale structures is discussed. An expression for the shot noise, a fluctuation in current due to the discreteness of charge, is derived directly from the wave functions of a nanoscale system. Investigation of shot noise is of particular interest due to the rich fundamental physics involved. For example, the study of shot noise can provide fundamental insight on the nature of electron transport in a nanoscale junction. We report calculations of the shot noise properties of parallel wires in the regime in which the interwire distance is much smaller than the inelastic mean free path. The validity of quantized transverse momenta in a nanoscale structure and its effect on shot noise is also discussed. We theoretically propose and show the feasibility of a novel protocol for DNA sequencing based on the electronic signature of single-stranded DNA while it translocates through a nanopore. We find that the currents for the bases are sufficiently different to allow for efficient sequencing. Our estimates reveal that sequencing of an entire human genome could be done with very high accuracy in a matter of hours, e.g., orders of magnitude faster than present techniques. We also find that although the overall magnitude of the current may change dramatically with different detection conditions, the intrinsic distinguishability of the bases is not significantly affected by pore size and transverse field strength. Finally, we study the ability of water to screen charges in nanopores by using all-atom molecular dynamics simulations coupled to electrostatic calculations. Due to the short length scales of the nanopore geometry and the large local field gradient of a single ion, the energetics of transporting an ion through the pore is strongly dependent on the microscopic details of the electric field. We show that as long as the pore allows the first hydration shell to stay intact, e.g., 6 nearby water molecules, the electric field of the ion can be well screened. We also discuss the consequences of the formation of hydration layers and of the discrete nature of polarization at atomic length scales for the applicability of continuum dielectric models
Synthesis and characterization of Fe3O4/SiO2 composite with in-situ method: TEOS as SiO2 NPs precursor

The aim study, Fe3O4/SiO2 composites have been synthesized through two stages; first, the synthesis of Fe3O4 particles from iron sand material (from Lumajang area, in Indonesia); second, the synthesis of Fe3O4/SiO2 using the in-situ method by mixing Fe3O4 nanoparticles with ammonia, ethanol, and TEOS (as precursor SiO2 Nanoparticles) in one pot as a chemical reaction site. The Fe3O4/SiO2 composites were then characterized using XRD and FTIR, VSM and TEM. Characterization results showed that the phase structure of the Fe3O4/SiO2 composite was successfully formed. The findings are supported by the functional group vibration data on FTIR, and the identified absorption pattern has Fe-O-Fe and Si-O-Si bonds which states that the surface modification of Fe3O4 has been successfully carried out using SiO2. The VSM test results showed that the magnetization saturation of Fe3O4/SiO2 composites was 18 emus/g and based on the TEM test results it was seen that Fe3O4 particles were coated by SiO2 particles with Fe3O4/SiO2 particle size of ∼ 100 nm.
Clinical and economic consequences of antibiotic-impregnated cerebrospinal fluid shunt catheters.

OBJECT The authors evaluated the safety and efficacy of antibiotic-impregnated shunt catheters (AISCs) and determined the cost-benefit ratio related to the fact that AISCs increase the implant costs of a shunt procedure by approximately $400 per patient. METHODS The control group comprised 98 adults with chronic hydrocephalus and 22 children, who were treated without AISCs (non-AISCs). In the treatment group, AISCs (Bactiseal, Codman, Johnson & Johnson) were implanted in 171 adults and 26 children. The minimum follow-up period was 6 months. RESULTS Important risk factors for shunt infections (such as age, comorbidity, cause of hydrocephalus, operating time, and duration of external cerebrospinal fluid drainage prior to shunt placement) did not differ between the study and control groups. In the pediatric AISC group, the frequency of premature, shunt-treated infants and the incidence of external ventricular drainage prior to shunt insertion were actually higher than those in the non-AISC group. When using AISCs, the shunt infection rate dropped from 4 to 0.6% and from 13.6 to 3.8% in the adult and the pediatric cohort, respectively. Overall the infection rate decreased from 5.8 to 1%, which was statistically significant (p = 0.0145). The average costs of a single shunt infection were $17,300 and $13,000 in children and adults, respectively. The cost-benefit calculation assumed to have saved shunt infection-related costs of approximately $50,000 in 197 AISC-treated patients due to the reduction in shunt infection rate in this group compared with costs in the control group. Despite the incremental implant costs associated with the use of AISCs, the overall reduction in infection-related costs made the use of AISCs cost beneficial in the authors' department. CONCLUSIONS From clinical and economic perspectives, AISCs are seemingly a valuable addition in hydrocephalus therapy.
Interaction of multiplexing gains and power exponents allocation of two-level superposition coding relaying

A two-level rate superposition coding relaying (SC-relaying) scheme is discussed, in which only the relay-to-source channel state information feedback (CSF) is considered and, at source, a long power constraint is imposed on the basic signal S0 and the additional signal S1 whose multiplexing gains are r0 and r1, respectively. The CSF index is constructed based on the correct decoding of the signal S0 at relay. For the SC-relaying scheme, we propose a multilevel iteration constructing rule for the CSF index. With the proposed CSF constructing rule, the allocation method of the power signal-to-noise ratio exponents is first obtained by the investigation of the optimal outage exponent of the signal S0. Secondly, we obtain the value range of p11, p11 ∈ [1,1∕r0], by studying the outage exponent lower bound of the signal S0, where p11 denotes the minimum of the power signal-to-noise ratio exponent of the signal S. Lastly, to observe the interaction between the multiplexing gains r0 and r1, we discuss the closed-form solution of the lower bound of the optimal outage exponent for the signal S1, through which we find that the multiplexing gain constraint is r1 ≤ 1 −r0p11, p11 ≥ 1. The substantial numerical analyses show that the results in this paper are reasonable. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Pica Behavior Induced by Body Rotation in Mice

Objectives: To study whether rotational stimulus induced pica and whether the vestibular apparatus was necessary for obtaining rotation-induced pica in mice. Methods: Pica behavior in mice was investigated following 60 min of rotation once daily at 70 rpm (15 s on with 5 s off) for 3 consecutive days. After evaluating vestibular function and histology of vestibular epithelia, we examined rotation-induced kaolin intake, so-called pica, in sham-lesioned and chemically labyrinthectomized mice. Results: The labyrinthectomized mice exhibited loss of the contact righting and swimming capability while the destruction of hair cells of vestibular epithelia was observed. Moreover, mice subjected to rotation, but not labyrinthectomized mice, showed a significant increase in kaolin intake at the last 2 rotation sessions and the first postrotation session. Conclusions: The findings indicated that a functioning vestibular system is necessary for rotation-evocating pica in mice and thus pica can be a behavioral index of motion sickness in mice.
Connectivity in Autism: A Review of MRI Connectivity Studies

Learning ObjectiveAfter participating in this activity, learners should be better able to:Assess the resting state and diffusion tensor imaging connectivity literature regarding subjects with autism spectrum disorder. AbstractAutism spectrum disorder (ASD) affects 1 in 50 children between the ages of 6 and 17 years. The etiology of ASD is not precisely known. ASD is an umbrella term, which includes both low- (IQ < 70) and high-functioning (IQ > 70) individuals. A better understanding of the disorder and how it manifests in individual subjects can lead to more effective intervention plans to fulfill the individual’s treatment needs.Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a non-invasive investigational tool that can be used to study the ways in which the brain develops or deviates from the typical developmental trajectory. MRI offers insights into the structure, function, and metabolism of the brain. In this article, we review published studies on brain connectivity changes in ASD using either resting state functional MRI or diffusion tensor imaging.The general findings of decreases in white matter integrity and in long-range neural coherence are well known in the ASD literature. Nevertheless, the detailed localization of these findings remains uncertain, and few studies link these changes in connectivity with the behavioral phenotype of the disorder. With the help of data sharing and large-scale analytic efforts, however, the field is advancing toward several convergent themes, including the reduced functional coherence of long-range intra-hemispheric cortico-cortical default mode circuitry, impaired inter-hemispheric regulation, and an associated, perhaps compensatory, increase in local and short-range cortico-subcortical coherence.
Neural tube defects.

Neural tube defects refer to any defect in the morphogenesis of the neural tube, the most common types being spina bifida and anencephaly. Spina bifida has been recognised in skeletons found in north-eastern Morocco and estimated to have an age of almost 12 000 years. It was also known to the ancient Greek and Arabian physicians who thought that the bony defect was due to the tumour. The term spina bifida was first used by Professor Nicolai Tulp of Amsterdam in 1652. Many other terms have been used to describe this defect, but spina bifida remains the most useful general term, as it describes the separation of the vertebral elements in the midline.
Oxidative stress is associated with migraine and migraine‐related metabolic risk in females

Background and purpose: Oxidative stress is discussed to be implicated in the pathophysiology of migraine. However, data are in part controversial and the possible underlying mechanisms remain elusive to date. The aim of this study was to investigate the oxidative stress status of female patients with migraine and its implications on migraine‐related metabolic alterations.
Effect of acute hypoxia on central fatigue during repeated isometric leg contractions

To determine whether hypoxia has a direct influence on the central command independently of the working muscles, 16 subjects performed intermittent isometric unilateral knee extensions until exhaustion either in normobaric hypoxia (inspired O2 fraction=0.11, arterial oxygen saturation ∼84%) or in normoxia while the knee extensor muscles were exposed to circulatory occlusion with a 250 mmHg cuff. Among the subjects, 11 also performed the tests in hypoxia and normoxia without occlusion. Single electrical stimulations were regularly delivered to the femoral nerve to measure the changes in the knee extensor peak twitch force. With the cuff, the average slope of decrease in peak twitch did not depend on the inspired oxygen fraction. Performance was slightly but significantly lower during hypoxia than in normoxia (8.2±2.6 vs 9.4±3.1 repetitions, P<0.05) with the cuff on. The number of repetitions was much higher during hypoxia with maintaining leg blood flow (15.6±4.5 repetitions) than with circulatory occlusion in normoxia. In conclusion, this study showed that a direct effect of hypoxia in reducing the motor drive to the working muscles exists but this effect is moderate.
Mapping the Functional Domains within the Carboxyl Terminus of -Tropomyosin Encoded by the Alternatively Spliced Ninth Exon (*)

Tropomyosins are highly conserved, coiled-coil actin binding proteins found in most eukaryotic cells. Striated and smooth muscle α-tropomyosins differ by the regions encoded by exons 2 and 9. Unacetylated smooth tropomyosin expressed in Escherichia coli binds actin with high affinity, whereas unacetylated striated tropomyosin requires troponin, found only in striated muscle, for strong actin binding. The residues encoded by exon 9 cause these differences (Cho, Y.-J., and Hitchcock-DeGregori, S. E.(1991) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 88, 10153-10157). We mapped the functional domains encoded by the α-tropomyosin exon 9a (striated muscle-specific) and 9d (constitutively expressed), by measuring actin binding and regulation of the actomyosin MgATPase by tropomyosin exon 9 chimeras and truncation mutants expressed in E. coli. We have shown that: 1) the carboxyl-terminal nine residues define the actin affinity of unacetylated tropomyosin; 2) in the presence of Ca, the entire exon 9a is required for troponin to promote fully high affinity actin binding; 3) the first 18 residues encoded by exon 9a are critical for the interaction of troponin with tropomyosin on the thin filament, even in the absence of Ca. The results give new insight into the structural requirements of tropomyosin for thin filament assembly and regulatory function.