Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Graphene/fly ash geopolymeric composites as self-sensing structural materials

The reduction of graphene oxide during the processing of fly ash-based geopolymers offers a completely new way of developing low-cost multifunctional materials with significantly improved mechanical and electrical properties for civil engineering applications such as bridges, buildings and roads. In this paper, we present for the first time the self-sensing capabilities of fly ash-based geopolymeric composites containing in situ reduced graphene oxide (rGO). Geopolymeric composites with rGO concentrations of 0.0, 0.1 and 0.35% by weight were prepared and their morphology and conductivity were determined. The piezoresistive effect of the rGO-geopolymeric composites was also determined under tension and compression. The Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) results indicate that the rGO sheets can easily be reduced during synthesis of geopolymers due to the effect of the alkaline solution on the functional groups of GO. The scanning electron microscope (SEM) images showed that the majority of pores and voids within the geopolymers were significantly reduced due to the addition of rGO. The rGO increased the electrical conductivity of the fly ash-based rGO-geopolymeric composites from 0.77 S m−1 at 0.0 wt% to 2.38 S m−1 at 0.35 wt%. The rGO also increased the gauge factor by as much as 112% and 103% for samples subjected to tension and compression, respectively.
A SIMULATION ANALYSIS ON THE THERMAL ELASTO-PLASTIC DEFORMATION OF STEEL PLATE BY HIGH FREQUENCY INDUCTION HEATING

In order to estimate temperature history in steel plate induced by high frequency induction heating, eddy current analysis and transient heat conduction analysis are combined. Also, thermal elasto-plastic FEM analysis is conducted using multi-layered mindlin type plate element. Calculated temperature and deformation are in good agreement with experimental data.
Determination of J-integral for clay during desiccation

Fracture behaviour of clay during desiccation is an important area in soil mechanics that needs further development. The current approach is to use linear elastic fracture mechanics involving parameters such as fracture toughness, measured from load tests for analysis and modelling of crack propagation. However, the importance of taking crack tip plasticity of the material into consideration has been highlighted by several researchers. This may be especially true for soft and/or slurry clay. The recently developed double ring test is the only desiccation test available today that enables determination of the elastoplastic fracture mechanic parameter J-integral. This parameter accounts for the change in potential energy with fracture propagation. Currently, there are no data for J-integral in the literature as applicable to desiccation cracking. This paper fills this gap by presenting a set of J-integral data for Churchill clay and kaolin clay measured from the double ring test. J-integral values have been.
Immune Checkpoint Blockade: A New Paradigm in Treating Advanced Cancer

The approval of the immune checkpoint inhibitor ipilimumab for the treatment of advanced melanoma in 2011 spearheaded the development of other anticancer therapies with immune mechanisms of action, including other immune checkpoint inhibitors. Instead of acting directly on the tumor, these therapies work to "remove the brakes" on the immune system to restore antitumor immune responses. In addition to ipilimumab, which targets the cytotoxic T lymphocyte-associated antigen 4 pathway, several new drugs that target the programmed death-1 pathway are in phase III trials across tumor types, including melanoma, lung cancer, and renal cell carcinoma. In keeping with their unique mechanism of action, these immune checkpoint inhibitors have shown both conventional and unconventional response patterns, including initial apparent tumor progression followed by regression, and adverse events (AEs) that are likely immune-related. Advanced practitioners (APs) treating patients receiving immuno-oncology agents are in a key position to educate patients about expectations with these therapies and to screen patients for AEs and initiate appropriate and timely interventions. This review summarizes current immune checkpoint inhibitor data and provides patient management strategies for APs to optimize patient outcomes with these novel therapies.
A splitting theorem for equifocal submanifolds in simply connected compact symmetric spaces

A submanifold in a symmetric space is called equifocal if it has a globally flat abelian normal bundle and its focal data is invariant under normal parallel transportation. This is a generalization of the notion of isoparametric submanifolds in Euclidean spaces. To each equifocal submanifold, we can associate a Coxeter group, which is determined by the focal data at one point. In this paper we prove that an equifocal submanifold in a simply connected compact symmetric space is a non-trivial product of two such submanifolds if and only if its associated Coxeter group is decomposable. As a consequence, we get a similar splitting result for hyperpolar group actions on compact symmetric spaces. These results are an application of a splitting theorem for isoparametric submanifolds in Hilbert spaces by Heintze and Liu.
Benefits of Peer Support in Online Japanese Breast Cancer Communities: Differences Between Lurkers and Posters

Background Web 2.0 has improved interactions among peers on the Internet, especially for the many online patient communities that have emerged over the past decades. Online communities are said to be particularly beneficial peer support resources for patients with breast cancer. However, most studies of online patient communities have focused on those members who post actively (posters), even though there are many members who participate without posting (lurkers). In addition, little attention has been paid to the usage of online communities among non-English-speaking patients. Objective The present study explored the differences in peer support received by lurkers and posters in online breast cancer communities. It also examined the effects of such support on both groups’ mental health. Methods We conducted an exploratory, descriptive, cross-sectional, Web-based survey among members of four Japanese online breast cancer communities. In an online questionnaire, we asked questions regarding sociodemographics, disease-related characteristics, mental health, participation in online communities, and peer support received from those communities. Results Of the 465 people who accessed the questionnaire, 253 completed it. Of the respondents, 113/220 (51.4%) were lurkers. There was no significant difference between lurkers and posters with regard to sociodemographic variables. About half of the posters had been given a diagnosis of breast cancer less than a year previously, which was a significantly shorter period than that of the lurkers (P = .02). The 5 support functions extracted by factor analysis were the same for both posters and lurkers. These were emotional support/helper therapy, emotional expression, conflict, advice, and insight/universality. When the support scores were calculated, insight/universality scored highest for both posters and lurkers, with scores that were not significantly different between the two groups. Among the 5 support scores, emotional support/helper therapy and emotional expression were significantly higher among posters. For posters, emotional support/helper therapy and advice were negatively correlated with the anxiety subscale of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. Emotional expression, advice, and insight/universality were negatively correlated with the anxiety subscale for lurkers. Conclusion We found that posters felt they received more benefits from online communities than lurkers did, including emotional support, helping other patients, and expressing their emotions. Yet even lurkers were found to gain a certain amount of peer support through online communities, especially with regard to advice and insight/universality. The results demonstrate that participation in online communities—even as a lurker—may be beneficial to breast cancer patients’ mental health.
Fitting of Constitutive Material Parameters for FE-Based Machining Simulations for Functionally Graded Steel Components

The composition of different materials and their specific properties like tensile strength and toughness is one way to achieve workpiece characteristics which are tailored to the later application. Another approach is the subsequent local heat treatment of workpieces made of homogeneous materials. However, both ways are costly and go along with several subsequent process steps. Therefore, mono-material workpieces which were manufactured by thermo-mechanical forming processes may provide such tailored properties in the form of functional gradations. Furthermore, the process chain is shortened by the combination of forming and heat treatment, but nevertheless machining processes are still needed for proper workpiece finish. This puts the challenge of varying process conditions due to hardness alterations within a single process step, e.g. turning. In addition to experimental investigations simulative analysis techniques are desired to evaluate mechanical as well as thermal loads on tool and workpiece. In the case of FE-based microscopic chip formation simulations proper material behaviour needs to be determined with respect to material hardness. This paper describes the approach of fitting Johnson-Cook material parameters as a function of workpiece material hardness. In order to achieve realistic stress states within the process zone, this approach considers the yield strength as a linear function of the hardness. It is shown how the hardness influences the cutting conditions and how the Johnson-Cook parameters are identified. Then these parameters are validated in three-dimensional simulations of exterior dry turning by comparison of simulated process forces and chip formation to experimentally achieved ones.
Real-Time Traffic-Sign Recognition Using Tree Classifiers

Traffic-sign recognition (TSR) is an essential component of a driver assistance system (DAS), providing drivers with safety and precaution information. In this paper, we evaluate the performance of k-d trees, random forests, and support vector machines (SVMs) for traffic-sign classification using different-sized histogram-of-oriented-gradient (HOG) descriptors and distance transforms (DTs). We also use the Fisher's criterion and random forests for the feature selection to reduce the memory requirements and enhance the performance. We use the German Traffic Sign Recognition Benchmark (GTSRB) data set containing 43 classes and more than 50 000 images.
Intrinsic limbic and paralimbic networks are associated with criminal psychopathy

Background: Psychopathy is a personality disorder associated with impairments in decision‐making, empathy, and impulsivity. Recent brain imaging studies suggest that psychopathy is associated with abnormalities in limbic/paralimbic brain regions. To date, no studies have examined functional brain connectivity measures using independent component analyses (ICA) in adults with psychopathy. Here, we test hypotheses regarding paralimbic connectivity in adult incarcerated individuals stratified by psychopathy scores. Methods: One hundred and two prison inmates were rated using the Hare Psychopathy Checklist‐Revised (PCL‐R). FMRI data were collected while subjects performed an auditory target detection “oddball” task. FMRI data were analyzed using group ICA to identify functional networks responding to the oddball task correlating with psychopathy scores. Results: Components demonstrating significant correlations with psychopathy included a default mode network, a frontoparietal component, and a visual/posterior cingulate component. Modulation trends correlated strongly with factor 2 (impulsivity) and total PCL‐R scores in the frontoparietal and visual/posterior cingulate networks, and with factor 1 (affective) scores within the default mode network. The posterior cingulate region factored significantly in the modulation trends observed. Conclusion: Consistent with the hypothesis of limbic/paralimbic abnormalities associated with psychopathy, modulation trends correlated strongly with PCL‐R scores. There is strong evidence to implicate the posterior cingulate in aberrant functional connectivity associated with the manifestation of psychopathic symptoms. Future investigations comparing functional trends associated with the posterior cingulate in psychopathic subjects may provide further insight into the manifestation of this disorder. Hum Brain Mapp, 2013. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals Inc.
The YNP Metagenome Project: Environmental Parameters Responsible for Microbial Distribution in the Yellowstone Geothermal Ecosystem

The Yellowstone geothermal complex contains over 10,000 diverse geothermal features that host numerous phylogenetically deeply rooted and poorly understood archaea, bacteria, and viruses. Microbial communities in high-temperature environments are generally less diverse than soil, marine, sediment, or lake habitats and therefore offer a tremendous opportunity for studying the structure and function of different model microbial communities using environmental metagenomics. One of the broader goals of this study was to establish linkages among microbial distribution, metabolic potential, and environmental variables. Twenty geochemically distinct geothermal ecosystems representing a broad spectrum of Yellowstone hot-spring environments were used for metagenomic and geochemical analysis and included approximately equal numbers of: (1) phototrophic mats, (2) “filamentous streamer” communities, and (3) archaeal-dominated sediments. The metagenomes were analyzed using a suite of complementary and integrative bioinformatic tools, including phylogenetic and functional analysis of both individual sequence reads and assemblies of predominant phylotypes. This volume identifies major environmental determinants of a large number of thermophilic microbial lineages, many of which have not been fully described in the literature nor previously cultivated to enable functional and genomic analyses. Moreover, protein family abundance comparisons and in-depth analyses of specific genes and metabolic pathways relevant to these hot-spring environments reveal hallmark signatures of metabolic capabilities that parallel the distribution of phylotypes across specific types of geochemical environments.
Production, reproductive effort, reproductive value and reproductive cost in a population of the blue mussel Mytilus edulis from a subarctic environment

The standing crop of mussels MytiIus edulis from Bellevue. Newfoundland, is similar to that of the densest beds in warmer waters, but population production is not as great. Production by individual mussels at Bellevue exceeds that in most populations for which appropriate data are available. Detailed comparison with a population in the Lynher estuary, southwest England, confirms previous conclusions, based on physiological measurements, that Lynher mussels experience greater stress than Bellevue mussels, despite the considerable temperature advantage enjoyed by the former. Expression of growth in terms of day-degrees suggests that there is no meaningful analysis based on temperature alone. Reproductive effort is high in M. edulis at Bellevue, reaching 0.94 in the oldest individuals. Residual reproductive value attains a maximum at 3 to 4 yr, after which it decreases rapidly.
Tight-binding description of graphene

We investigate the tight-binding approximation for the dispersion of the $\ensuremath{\pi}$ and ${\ensuremath{\pi}}^{*}$ electronic bands in graphene and carbon nanotubes. The nearest-neighbor tight-binding approximation with a fixed ${\ensuremath{\gamma}}_{0}$ applies only to a very limited range of wave vectors. We derive an analytic expression for the tight-binding dispersion including up to third-nearest neighbors. Interaction with more distant neighbors qualitatively improves the tight-binding picture, as we show for graphene and three selected carbon nanotubes.
Glutamine Synthetase Immunostaining Correlates with Pathologic Features of Hepatocellular Carcinoma and Better Survival after Radiofrequency Thermal Ablation

Purpose: Activation of the wnt pathway identifies a subgroup of hepatocellular carcinomas (HCC) with specific epidemiologic and genetic profiles. Wnt activation is predicted by mutation and/or nuclear translocation of β-catenin and by glutamine synthetase (GS) immunoreactivity. We investigated whether GS staining associates with specific pathologic features of HCC and with survival after radiofrequency thermal ablation. Experimental Design: Monoistitutional retrospective-prospective study in a tertiary hospital setting. Two hundred and seven cirrhotics (mean age, 70 years; 63% males, 82.1% hepatitis C virus positive) with early HCC were consecutively treated with radiofrequency thermal ablation (RFTA). Mean tumor size was 2.7 cm; 20.3% of patients had multiple nodules; and median follow-up was 36 months with 54.6% overall mortality. Tumor samples were mainly obtained by biopsy (92,5%) and examined by H&E and immunostaining for β-catenin and GS. Main outcome measures were overall and tumor-specific mortality by Kaplan-Meier analysis and Cox proportional hazard models corrected for competing risks. Results: Ninety-one patients (43.9%) had GS-positive HCCs by immunostaining. These tumors had larger size (P = 0.012) and characteristic histology (low grade, pseudoacini, hydropic changes, bile staining, lack of steatosis, and fibrosis). Other clinical or treatment variables were similar between groups. Variables correlating with tumor-specific and overall mortality by univariate analysis were tumor recurrence, advanced disease, posttreatment α-fetoprotein levels, and GS staining. Yearly, overall mortality rate was lower in GS-positive patients (12.4 versus 20% yearly; P = 0.006). By multivariate analysis, GS immunostaining correlated with reduced specific (hazard ratio, 0.58; 95% confidence interval, 0.34-0.97) and overall mortality (hazard ratio, 0.62; 95% confidence interval, 0.40-0.96). Conclusions: Standard histology and GS status identify a HCC subset with distinct clinical and pathologic features. Clin Cancer Res; 16(7); 2157–66. ©2010 AACR.
Adsorption-Desorption of Heavy Metal Ions

Adsorption and desorption studies on different types of adsorbents, including natural materials such as teak tree bark powder, rice husk, natural bentonite, different algae like Ecklonia maxima, Escherichia coli, Ascophyllum nodasum, Rhizopus nigricans, Cladophora fascicularis, goethite and soils of three nuclear power plant and artificial materials such as Fe oxide-coated sand, goethite pretreated with phosphate, dithizonemodified sodium trititanate whisker, modified nanometre sized TiO 2 , Chromosorb 102 resins and poly(m-phenylenediamine) are summarized. The kinetics, thermodynamics, sorption/desorption mechanism of different metal ions on different adsorbents under different experimental conditions are discussed. It is found that desorbing agent is greatly dependent on the adsorbate used. All the metal ions are desorbed using acids like HCl, HNO 3 and H 2 SO 4 in most of the cases, except Cr(VI). EDTA can be used to remove Pb 2+ and Zn 2+ in addition to acids. Since Cr(VI) is present in anionic form; it can be eliminated from the loaded adsorbents using bases like NaOH, Na 2 CO 3 or NaHCO 3 .
Quasars: the characteristic spectrum and the induced radiative heating

Using information on the cosmic X-ray background and the cumulative light of active galactic nuclei (AGN) at infrared wavelengths, the estimated local mass density of galactic massive black holes (MBHs) and published AGN composite spectra in the optical, UV and X-ray, we compute the characteristic angular-integrated, broad-band spectral energy distribution of the average quasar in the universe. We demonstrate that the radiation from such sources can photoionize and Compton heat the plasma surrounding them up to an equilibrium Compton temperature (T C ) of 2 x 10 7 K. It is shown that circumnuclear obscuration cannot significantly affect the net gas Compton heating and cooling rates, so that the above T C value is approximately characteristic of both obscured and unobscured quasars. This temperature is above typical gas temperatures in elliptical galaxies and just above the virial temperatures of giant ellipticals. The general results of this work can be used for accurate calculations of the feedback effect of MBHs on both their immediate environs and the more distant interstellar medium of their host galaxies.
Normal chiasmatic routing of uncrossed projections from the ventrotemporal retina in albino Xenopus frogs

Albino mammals lacking melanin in the embryonic retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) have abnormal retinal decussation patterns at the optic chiasm: their uncrossed projections are smaller and arise from fewer, more peripheral temporal retinal ganglion cells than in con‐specific wild‐types. To determine whether these abnormalities generalize to nonmammalian mutants, we used anterograde and retrograde labeling methods to compare the distribution of retinal projections to the thalamus in adult normal and albino Xenopus frogs. In both pigmentation phenotypes, crossed retinal terminations covered ∼80% of the neuropil of Bellonci (nB) and corpus geniculatum thalamicum (cgt) and uncrossed inputs occupied, respectively, approximately 75% and 25% of these two main visual centers. In the wild‐type frogs and in the albinos, ganglion cells giving rise to the crossed projections were distributed throughout the retina, whereas ipsilaterally projecting cells were confined to a specific ventrotemporal retinal division. This region comprised ∼40% of the total retinal area, was bordered by a well‐defined line of decussation, and contained an average of ∼3,000 ipsilaterally projecting ganglion cells of equivalent soma sizes in the two pigmentation phenotypes. In summary, we found no evidence of chiasmatic misrouting in the uncrossed retinothalamic projections of albino Xenopus, even though these pathways are substantial in normal frogs and share features in common with mammalian retinogeniculate projections. Our findings suggest that congenital RPE melanin deficiency results in major defects in the development of the retina and its central projections only in mammals. J. Comp. Neurol. 458:425–439, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Impairment of recognition memory in schizophrenia: Event‐related potential study using a continuous recognition task

Abstract Recognition memory and the dissociation of immediate and delayed repetition in schizophrenic patients were investigated using event‐related potential (ERP) and a continuous word recognition task. In total, 14 schizophrenic patients and 14 age and gender‐matched control subjects, were recruited. Among 240 stimulus words used, 40 words were not repeated, 100 were repeated immediately, and 100 were repeated after five intervening words. Both schizophrenic and control groups responded faster to words repeated immediately than to words repeated after a delay and to new words. However, schizophrenic patients responded less accurately to words repeated immediately and to words repeated after a delay than the controls. In terms of ERP, schizophrenic patients showed significantly reduced N200, late positive component (LPC), and N400 amplitudes, and a more frontally‐distributed N200 topography than the controls. For controls, immediate repetition was associated with a large LPC amplitude and the absence of N400, while delayed repetition was associated with a small LPC amplitude and the presence of N400. However, this dissociation between immediate and delayed repetition was not observed in schizophrenic patients. All of these results suggest that schizophrenic patients have recognition memory impairment, the cause of which may range from early encoding, and memory search to late retrieval.