Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Experimental and Theoretical Studies of Serpentine Microstructures Bonded To Prestrained Elastomers for Stretchable Electronics

Stretchable electronic devices that exploit inorganic materials are attractive due to their combination of high performance with mechanical deformability, particularly for applications in biomedical devices that require intimate integration with human body. Several mechanics and materials schemes have been devised for this type of technology, many of which exploit deformable interconnects. When such interconnects are fully bonded to the substrate and/or encapsulated in a solid material, useful but modest levels of deformation (<30–40%) are possible, with reversible and repeatable mechanics. Here, the use of prestrain in the substrate is introduced, together with interconnects in narrow, serpentine shapes, to yield significantly enhanced (more than two times) stretchability, to more than 100%. Fracture and cyclic fatigue testing on structures formed with and without prestrain quantitatively demonstrate the possible enhancements. Finite element analyses (FEA) illustrates the effects of various material and geometric parameters. A drastic decrease in the elastic stretchability is observed with increasing metal thickness, due to changes in the buckling mode, that is, from local wrinkling at small thicknesses to absence of such wrinkling at large thicknesses, as revealed by experiment. An analytic model quantitatively predicts the wavelength of this wrinkling, and explains the thickness dependence of the buckling behaviors.
The earth is round (p < .05)

After 4 decades of severe criticism, the ritual of null hypothesis significance testing (mechanical dichotomous decisions around a sacred .05 criterion) still persists. This article reviews the problems with this practice, including near universal misinterpretation of p as the probability that H₀ is false, the misinterpretation that its complement is the probability of successful replication, and the mistaken assumption that if one rejects H₀ one thereby affirms the theory that led to the test. Exploratory data analysis and the use of graphic methods, a steady improvement in and a movement toward standardization in measurement, an emphasis on estimating effect sizes using confidence intervals, and the informed use of available statistical methods are suggested. For generalization, psychologists must finally rely, as has been done in all the older sciences, on replication. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Naloxone increases electrophysiological measures of selective information processing in humans

The effects of the opiate antagonist naloxone on electrophysiological measures of human selective attention were examined utilizing a paradigm which dissociates selective information processing from any concurrent processes of general arousal that may be present. Subjects were injected with naloxone (2 mg, i.v.) or placebo prior to performing a three-channel selective listening task. The measure of selective attention was the difference between the auditory event-related potential (AERP) to a sequence of tones when they were attended and to the same sequence of tones when they were ignored. Typically, the AERP to attended channel tones is more negative, and this increased negativity is designated the attention effect. In this study, naloxone produced a significant augmentation of the AERP attention effect at frontal electrode sites, primarily by decreasing the negativity of AERPs to inattended tones. Naloxone had no effect on the AERPs from the undistracted and divided attention tasks or on the sensitivity of the AERP to a physical parameter of stimulus presentation, interstimulus interval. The effects of naloxone on selective attention appear to be independent of any alterations in arousal, as the drug had no effect on autonomic measures, reaction times, or auditory sensitivity, and the attention changes could be dissociated from any naloxone-induced alterations of mood. These data indicate that naloxone can have the specific effect of increasing AERP measures of selective information processing, thus suggesting a role for endogenous opioid peptides in the regulation of auditory selective attention in humans.
Initial Results of Posterior Leaflet Extension for Severe Type IIIb Ischemic Mitral Regurgitation

Background— Management of severe ischemic mitral regurgitation remains difficult with disappointing early and intermediate-term surgical results of valve repair. Methods and Results— Forty-four patients with severe (4+) Carpentier type IIIb ischemic mitral regurgitation underwent mitral valve repair, with or without surgical revascularization, by posterior leaflet extension with a patch of bovine pericardium and a remodeling annuloplasty. Serial echocardiography was performed preoperatively, intraoperatively, and postoperatively to assess mitral valve competence. The postoperative functional status of patients was assessed. The average Parsonnet score was 38±13. Thirty-day mortality was 11%, and late mortality was 14%. Mean follow-up was 38 months. The actuarial freedom from moderate or severe recurrent mitral regurgitation was 90% at 2 years, whereas 90% of patients were in New York Heart Association class I at 2 years. Conclusion— Posterior leaflet extension with annuloplasty of the mitral valve for severe type IIIb ischemic regurgitation is a safe, effective method that provides good early and intermediate-term competence of the mitral valve and therefore good functional status.
The holonomy of gerbes with connections

In this paper we study the holonomy of gerbes with connections. If the manifold, M, on which the gerbe is defined is 1-connected, then the holonomy defines a group homomorphism. Furthermore we show that all information about the gerbe and its connection is contained in the holonomy by proving an explicit reconstruction theorem. We comment on the general case in which M is not 1-connected, but there remains a conjecture to be proved in order to make things rigorous.
Statistical Models for Dental Caries Data

Tooth decay is ubiquitous among humans and is one of the most prevalent oral diseases. Although this condition is largely preventable, more than half of all adults over the age of eighteen present early signs of the disease, and at some point in life about three out of four adults will develop the disease. Tooth decay is also common among children as young as five and remains the most common chronic disease of children aged five to seventeen years. It is estimated that tooth decay is four times more prevalent than asthma in childhood (Todem, 2008). Tooth decay and its correlates such as poor oral health place an enormous burden on the society. Poor oral health and a propensity to dental caries have been related to decreased school performance, poor social relationships and less success later in life. It is estimated that about 51 million school hours per year are lost in the U.S. alone because of dental-related illness. In older adults, tooth decay is one of the leading causes of tooth loss which has a dramatic impact on chewing ability leading to detrimental changes in food selection. This, in turn, may increase the risk of systemic diseases such as cardiovascular diseases and cancer.
Phakic iris-fixated intraocular lens placement in the anterior chamber: effects on aqueous flow.

PURPOSE Phakic intraocular lenses (pIOLs) are used for correcting vision; in this paper we investigate the fluid dynamical effects of an iris-fixated lens in the anterior chamber. In particular, we focus on changes in the wall shear stress (WSS) on the cornea and iris, which could be responsible for endothelial and pigment cell loss, respectively, and also on the possible increase of the intraocular pressure, which is known to correlate with the incidence of secondary glaucoma. METHODS We use a mathematical model to study fluid flow in the anterior chamber in the presence of a pIOL. The governing equations are solved numerically using the open source software OpenFOAM. We use an idealized standard geometry for the anterior chamber and a realistic geometric description of the pIOL. RESULTS We consider separately the main mechanisms that produce fluid flow in the anterior chamber. The numerical simulations allow us to obtain a detailed description of the velocity and pressure distribution in the anterior chamber, and indicated that implantation of the pIOL significantly modifies the fluid dynamics in the anterior chamber. However, lens implantation has negligible influence on the intraocular pressure and does not produce a significant increase of the shear stress on the cornea, while the shear stress on the iris, although increased, is not enough to cause detachment of cells. CONCLUSIONS We conclude that alterations in the fluid dynamics in the anterior chamber as a result of lens implantation are unlikely to be the cause of medical complications associated with its use.
Network Centrality of Metro Systems

Whilst being hailed as the remedy to the world’s ills, cities will need to adapt in the 21st century. In particular, the role of public transport is likely to increase significantly, and new methods and technics to better plan transit systems are in dire need. This paper examines one fundamental aspect of transit: network centrality. By applying the notion of betweenness centrality to 28 worldwide metro systems, the main goal of this paper is to study the emergence of global trends in the evolution of centrality with network size and examine several individual systems in more detail. Betweenness was notably found to consistently become more evenly distributed with size (i.e. no “winner takes all”) unlike other complex network properties. Two distinct regimes were also observed that are representative of their structure. Moreover, the share of betweenness was found to decrease in a power law with size (with exponent 1 for the average node), but the share of most central nodes decreases much slower than least central nodes (0.87 vs. 2.48). Finally the betweenness of individual stations in several systems were examined, which can be useful to locate stations where passengers can be redistributed to relieve pressure from overcrowded stations. Overall, this study offers significant insights that can help planners in their task to design the systems of tomorrow, and similar undertakings can easily be imagined to other urban infrastructure systems (e.g., electricity grid, water/wastewater system, etc.) to develop more sustainable cities.
Does Extended Surgery Influence Health-Related Quality of Life in Patients With Rectal Cancer?

BACKGROUND: In locally advanced rectal cancer, an extended resection peripheral to the mesorectal fascia is needed to achieve a radical resection. The influence of extended resections on health-related quality of life is unclear. OBJECTIVE: Differences in health-related quality of life and sexuality between patients receiving standard surgery and patients receiving extended surgery were examined, with a focus on age. DESIGN: Patients operated on for rectal cancer between 2000 and 2010 were selected from a database and invited to complete the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer quality-of-life questionnaires (C30 and ColoRectal 38). SETTINGS: All patients were treated at the Catharina Hospital, Eindhoven, the Netherlands. PATIENTS: All patients received total mesorectal excision surgery or extended surgery for rectal cancer. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Health-related quality of life and sexual activity was compared between patients treated with total mesorectal excision surgery and extended surgery and further stratified by age at the time of surgery (<70 and ≥70). RESULTS: Two hundred twenty-nine (64.1%) patients with standard surgery and 128 (35.9%) patients treated with extended resections responded. Extended surgery in patients <70 years resulted in lower body image compared with patients <70 years receiving standard surgery. Patients ≥70 years had lower sexual function and more male sexual dysfunction than patients <70 years undergoing standard surgery. In all groups, sexual activity dropped significantly after treatment. LIMITATIONS: No information was available of the patients' health-related quality of life before treatment except for the retrospective question about sexual activity. CONCLUSIONS: This study showed no major differences between patients undergoing total mesorectal excision surgery and those receiving extended surgery, with the exception of body image, which was significantly lower in patients <70 years undergoing extended surgery. In all patient groups, treatment for rectal cancer influenced sexual activity dramatically. Awareness of the impact of surgery on health-related quality of life and sexuality is needed.
DNA methylation dynamics, metabolic fluxes, gene splicing, and alternative phenotypes in honey bees

In honey bees (Apis mellifera), the development of a larva into either a queen or worker depends on differential feeding with royal jelly and involves epigenomic modifications by DNA methyltransferases. To understand the role of DNA methylation in this process we sequenced the larval methylomes in both queens and workers. We show that the number of differentially methylated genes (DMGs) in larval head is significantly increased relative to adult brain (2,399 vs. 560) with more than 80% of DMGs up-methylated in worker larvae. Several highly conserved metabolic and signaling pathways are enriched in methylated genes, underscoring the connection between dietary intake and metabolic flux. This includes genes related to juvenile hormone and insulin, two hormones shown previously to regulate caste determination. We also tie methylation data to expressional profiling and describe a distinct role for one of the DMGs encoding anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK), an important regulator of metabolism. We show that alk is not only differentially methylated and alternatively spliced in Apis, but also seems to be regulated by a cis-acting, anti-sense non–protein-coding transcript. The unusually complex regulation of ALK in Apis suggests that this protein could represent a previously unknown node in a process that activates downstream signaling according to a nutritional context. The correlation between methylation and alternative splicing of alk is consistent with the recently described mechanism involving RNA polymerase II pausing. Our study offers insights into diet-controlled development in Apis.
Is a Pink Cow Still a Cow? Individual Differences in Toddlers' Vocabulary Knowledge and Lexical Representations

When a toddler knows a word, what does she actually know? Many categories have multiple relevant properties; for example, shape and color are relevant to membership in the category banana. How do toddlers prioritize these properties when recognizing familiar words, and are there systematic differences among children? In this study, toddlers viewed pairs of objects associated with prototypical colors. On some trials, objects were typically colored (e.g., Holstein cow and pink pig); on other trials, colors were switched (e.g., pink cow and Holstein-patterned pig). On each trial, toddlers were directed to find a target object. Overall, recognition was disrupted when colors were switched, as measured by eye movements. Moreover, individual differences in vocabularies predicted recognition differences: Toddlers who say fewer shape-based words were more disrupted by color switches. "Knowing" a word may not mean the same thing for all toddlers; different toddlers prioritize different facets of familiar objects in their lexical representations.
Congenital abnormality effect of methamphetamine on histological, cellular and chromosomal defects in fetal mice

Background: Methamphetamine (MA) is a potent psychomotor stimulant with high abuse and addictive potential. MA is a neurotoxic drug which is widely abused by females of childbearing age, raising serious public health concerns in terms of exposure of the fetus to the drug. Neurotoxic effects of MA on adult are well known, such as dopaminergic nerve terminal degeneration and cell death in regions of brain in some doses. Objective: In the present study, we examined effect of prenatal MA exposure on mouse fetuses. Materials and Methods: In this study, forty 8-12 week-old NMRI female mice were used which were mated with male mice in serial days. When sperm plug was observed it was designated as gestational day (GD) 0. Pregnant mice were individually housed in plastic cages. Pregnant mice were divided into four groups: in first group 10 mg/kg /day MA, in second group 5 mg/kg /day MA and in third group saline were injected subcutaneously from GD 6 to GD 14, corresponding to organogenesis period, while fourth or control group were without injection. On GD 14 fetuses were removed and accomplished chromosome preparation from fetal liver. Then fetal were fixed in formalin for brain hematoxilin and eosine staining and TUNEL assay. Results: We observed morphological abnormality including exencephal fetus in 5mg/kg MA group and premature fetuses in 10 mg/kg MA group. Also brain histological study showed subarachnoid hemorrhage in fetal brain in both experimental groups. Fetal liver karyotyping analysis was normal in fetuses of all groups and TUNEL assay in fetal striatum did not show significant difference in number of apoptotic cells between groups. Conclusion: From our results, it could be concluded that chronic abuse of MA by pregnant females during organogenesis period can cause teratogenic effect and brain hemorrage in fetus.
Estimating the impact of forest use on biodiversity in protected areas of developing tropical regions.

In many developing tropical regions, especially indigenous people are often deprived of their traditional land use rights due to the establishment of protected areas. This conservation practice jeopardizes people's livelihoods and ultimately counteracts conservation efforts by provoking illegal use of natural resources. Thus, approaches that consider local livelihood needs in conservation planning are of high importance. In this regard, methods to quantify human impact on conservation-relevant biodiversity features, e.g., species richness, are required to objectively evaluate the effectiveness of current management practices and to facilitate tradeoffs between land use and nature conservation. We introduce an approach that draws on the degree of human-induced forest fragmentation as a proxy for land use intensity. Quantitative information on forest fragmentation was obtained by applying landscape metrics on satellite imagery. We analyzed relations between this proxy and vascular plant species data from an Indian protected area. In our case, species richness on a local scale was only marginally affected by forest fragmentation. However, ongoing land use throughout the reserve resulted in distinct alterations of species composition and promotion of biological invasion.
Conditionally Specified Space-Time Models for Multivariate Processes

This article proposes a class of conditionally specified models for the analysis of multivariate space-time processes. Such models are useful in situations where there is sparse spatial coverage of one of the processes and much more dense coverage of the other process(es). The dependence structure across processes and over space, and time is completely specified through a neighborhood structure. These models are applicable to both point and block sources; for example, multiple pollutant monitors (point sources) or several county-level exposures (block sources). We introduce several computational tricks that are integral for model fitting, give some simple sufficient and necessary conditions for the space-time covariance matrix to be positive definite, and implement a Gibbs sampler, using Hybrid MC steps, to sample from the posterior distribution of the parameters. Model fit is assessed via the DIC. Predictive accuracy, over both time and space, is assessed both relatively and absolutely via mean squared prediction error and coverage probabilities. As an illustration of these models, we fit them to particulate matter and ozone data collected in the Los Angeles, CA, area in 1995 over a three-month period. In these data, the spatial coverage of particulate matter was sparse relative to that of ozone.
Experimental study on synchronizing spatiotemporal chaos via active-passive decomposition

We design a circuit model of open coupled map lattices and implement spatiotemporal chaotic synchronization of this circuit with active-passive method. The synchronization conditions are given for any size in theory and demonstrated in the experiment. The simulation results are in agreement with the ones obtained by simulating numerically and analyzing theoretically.
Predator transitory spillover induces trophic cascades in ecological sinks

Understanding the effects of cross-system fluxes is fundamental in ecosystem ecology and biological conservation. Source-sink dynamics and spillover processes may link adjacent ecosystems by movement of organisms across system boundaries. However, effects of temporal variability in these cross-system fluxes on a whole marine ecosystem structure have not yet been presented. Here we show, using 35 y of multitrophic data series from the Baltic Sea, that transitory spillover of the top-predator cod from its main distribution area produces cascading effects in the whole food web of an adjacent and semi-isolated ecosystem. At varying population size, cod expand/contract their distribution range and invade/retreat from the neighboring Gulf of Riga, thereby affecting the local prey population of herring and, indirectly, zooplankton and phytoplankton via top-down control. The Gulf of Riga can be considered for cod a “true sink” habitat, where in the absence of immigration from the source areas of the central Baltic Sea the cod population goes extinct due to the absence of suitable spawning grounds. Our results add a metaecosystem perspective to the ongoing intense scientific debate on the key role of top predators in structuring natural systems. The integration of regional and local processes is central to predict species and ecosystem responses to future climate changes and ongoing anthropogenic disturbances.
Improved viability and metabolic behavior of hepatocytes after liver storage in the presence of a succinic acid ester.

BACKGROUND Selected esters of succinic acid were recently proposed as novel nutrients to support ATP generation in cells endangered by an imbalance between the formation and breakdown of this adenine nucleotide. In the present study, a new ester, glycerol-1,2,3-trimethylsuccinate, was examined for its potential beneficial effect in the procedures preceding liver transplantation. METHODS The viability and metabolic behavior of hepatocytes were examined after perfusion and storage of rat livers for 20 hr at 4 degrees C with a Belzer UW-CSS solution in the absence or presence or 2 mM glycerol-1,2,3-trimethylsuccinate. RESULTS Although it failed to affect significantly the release of cellular enzymes during storage and the protein or glycogen content of the liver, and was unable to prevent the storage-induced decrease in both biosynthetic activity and D-[U-14C]glucose incorporation into glycogen in isolated hepatocytes, the ester restored to a close-to-normal value the viability of the hepatocytes and opposed the starvation-like effects of liver storage upon both the conversion of D-[U-14C]glucose to 14CO2 and radioactive amino acids and the de novo generation of 14C-labeled D-glucose from [2-14C]pyruvate. CONCLUSIONS Because succinic acid esters are efficiently metabolized in several cell types, the present results suggest that such esters may have a wide field of application in transplantation procedures.