Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Nestin‐expressing neural stem cells identified in the scar following myocardial infarction

Nerve fiber innervation of the scar following myocardial damage may have occurred either via the growth of pre‐existing fibers and/or the mobilization of neural stem cells. The present study examined whether neural stem cells were recruited to the infarct region of the rat heart following coronary artery ligation. The neural stem cell marker nestin was detected in the infarct region of 1‐week post‐myocardial infarct (MI) male rats and cultured scar‐derived neural‐like cells. By contrast, nestin staining was undetected in either scar myofibroblasts or cardiac myocytes residing in the non‐infarcted left ventricle. Reactive astrocytes were isolated from the infarct region and characterized by the co‐expression of nestin, glial fibrillary acidic protein, and vimentin. Specific staining of oligodendrocytes and neurons was also detected in the infarct region and cultured scar‐derived neural‐like cells. Furthermore, neurofilament‐M positive fibers were identified in the scar and tyrosine hydroxylase immunoreactivity was observed in peripherin‐positive neurons. Neurite formation was induced in PC12 cells treated with the conditioned‐media of primary passage scar‐derived cells, highlighting the synthesis and secretion of neurotrophic factors. Nerve growth factor (NGF) and brain‐derived neurotrophic factor were detected in myofibroblasts and neural cells, and both cell types expressed the NGF receptors trkA and p75. These data highlight the novel observation that neural stem cells were recruited to the infarct region of the damaged rat heart and may contribute in part to nerve fiber growth and subsequent innervation of the scar. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Mycorrhizal fungi determine salt‐marsh plant zonation depending on nutrient supply

1 Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) can affect nutrient uptake of associated plants and can vary in function from mutualism to parasitism as nutrient availability increases; thus they may interact with nutrient availability to influence plant community structure. 2 We experimentally investigated the hypotheses that AMF can affect the community structure of salt marshes by affecting plant competitive ability. We focused on: Spartina densiflora, that dominates physically benign high marsh habitats and S. alterniflora, which dominates more stressful low marsh habitats. 3 Colonization by AMF increased S. densiflora growth at low nutrient levels, but reduced growth at high nutrient levels. Spartina alterniflora was not colonized by AMF and showed increased growth only with nutrient amendment. Nutrient or fungicide additions resulted in S. alterniflora migrating to higher marsh elevations, displacing S. densiflora. When nutrient and fungicide additions were made together, however, dominance of S. densiflora was maintained in the high marsh. 4 Synthesis. These results show that AMF can affect the competitive ability of plants and can have a large impact on plant community structure. The community impacts of these symbioses may be especially sensitive to human‐induced eutrophication, given that nutrient supply can modulate whether AMF positively or negatively affect associated plants.
Aerobic fitness and the attentional blink in preadolescent children.

OBJECTIVE Given the growing concern that children in today's industrialized and technologically advanced society are becoming more sedentary and less fit, a greater understanding of the extent to which aerobic fitness relates to brain health and cognition during development is of increasing importance. Accordingly, this study sought to use neuroelectric and behavioral measures during an attentional blink task to examine the temporal dynamics of attention as a function of children's aerobic fitness. METHOD Using a cross-sectional design, response accuracy and event-related brain potentials were assessed in preadolescent children with different levels of aerobic fitness. RESULTS Results indicated that higher fit children exhibited greater task performance and better attentional resources distribution, as measured via the P3 component, compared to lower fit children. CONCLUSION These findings indicate that aerobic fitness may benefit aspects of cognitive health that involve temporal dynamics of attentional processes during preadolescent maturation.
Entropy and the driving force for the filling of carbon nanotubes with water

The spontaneous filling of hydrophobic carbon nanotubes (CNTs) by water observed both experimentally and from simulations is counterintuitive because confinement is generally expected to decrease both entropy and bonding, and remains largely unexplained. Here we report the entropy, enthalpy, and free energy extracted from molecular dynamics simulations of water confined in CNTs from 0.8 to 2.7-nm diameters. We find for all sizes that water inside the CNTs is more stable than in the bulk, but the nature of the favorable confinement of water changes dramatically with CNT diameter. Thus we find (i) an entropy (both rotational and translational) stabilized, vapor-like phase of water for small CNTs (0.8–1.0 nm), (ii) an enthalpy stabilized, ice-like phase for medium-sized CNTs (1.1–1.2 nm), and (iii) a bulk-like liquid phase for tubes larger than 1.4 nm, stabilized by the increased translational entropy as the waters sample a larger configurational space. Simulations with structureless coarse-grained water models further reveal that the observed free energies and sequence of transitions arise from the tetrahedral structure of liquid water. These results offer a broad theoretical basis for understanding water transport through CNTs and other nanostructures important in nanofluidics, nanofiltrations, and desalination.
Resistance scaling and random walk dimensions for finitely ramified Sierpinski carpets

We present a new algorithm to calculate the random walk dimensionof finitely ramified Sierpinski carpets. The fractal structure isinterpreted as a resistor network for which the resistance scalingexponent is calculated using Mathematica. A fractal form of theEinstein relation, which connects diffusion with conductivity, isused to give a numerical value for the random walk dimension.
Women's Participation in Prison Education: What We Know and What We Don't Know.

The purpose of this article is to illustrate a number of the deficiencies that currently exist in our understanding of women's participation in prison education, and to offer alter native methods to reduce such deficiencies. Through a review of empirical studies that examine the conditions of women's prisons and two trend studies examining women's participation in prison education programming between 1979 and 1997,1 illustrate what we know and what we do not know about women 's participation in prison edu cation. Structural conditions of women 's prisons (current policies, program availability, and program quality) are shown to be factors that are known to restrict women s par ticipation. However, I argue that while these structural factors can offer much in our understanding of these phenomena, they do not offer a complete picture. Since very little is known about the unique and personal motivations of any particular inmate who manages to break through structural barriers that restrict her participation, I argue that new methodologies need to be developed to address these concerns. Suggestions are made concerning how relevant theoretical perspectives can be used to guide these new methodological techniques. Ultimately, this research project is designed to be a "call to arms" that attempts to persuade researchers to move beyond limited methodological procedures that examine the influence of prison education programs on recidivism, and onto projects that examine why some inmates participate and succeed in prison educa tion and others do not. Only through newly designed methodological procedures can we begin to understand if these motivational characteristics that may influence partici pation in prison education can also influence recidivism above and beyond the impact of the educational program itself.
Field and Petrographic Relationships between the Charnockitic and Associated Granitic Rock, Akure Area, Southwestern Nigeria

The charnockitic and associated granitic rocks of Akure area were studied for their field and petrographic relationship's. The outcrops locations were plotted in Surfer 8. The granitic rock exhibits a porphyritic texture and outcrops in the north-eastern side of the study area while the charnockitics outcrop in the central/western part. An essentially dark coloured and fine grained intrusive exhibiting xenoliths and xenocrysts (plagioclase phenocrysts) of the granite outcrops between the granitic and charnockitic rocks. Mineralogically, the central rock combines the content of the other two indicating that it is most likely a product of their hybridization. The charnockitic magma is believed to have intruded and assimilated the granite substantially thereby contaminating itself and consequently emplacing the hybrid. The presented model of emplacement elucidates the hybridization proposal. Conclusively, the charnockitics are believed to be (a) younger than the granite, (b) of Pan-African age and (c) of igneous origin. Keywords—Charnockitic rock; Hybrid rock; ImageJ; Xenocryst
Optimal Central Counterparty Risk Management

In order to protect themselves against the potential losses in case of a participant's default and to contain systemic risk, central counterparties (CCPs) need to maintain sufficient financial resources. Typically, these financial resources consist of margin requirements and contributions to a collective default fund. Based on a stylized model of CCP risk management, this article analyzes the main factors affecting the trade-off between margins and default fund. The optimal balance between these two risk management instruments is found to depend on collateral costs, participants' default probability, and the extent to which margin requirements are associated with risk-mitigating incentives. Given the increasing role of CCPs in financial markets in general and for financial stability in particular, these considerations are not only important for CCPs themselves, but also for financial regulators.
Objective Measurement of Daytime Napping, Cognitive Dysfunction and Subjective Sleepiness in Parkinson’s Disease

Introduction Sleep-wake disturbances and concomitant cognitive dysfunction in Parkinson’s disease (PD) contribute significantly to morbidity in patients and their carers. Subjectively reported daytime sleep disturbance is observed in over half of all patients with PD and has been linked to executive cognitive dysfunction. The current study used daytime actigraphy, a novel objective measure of napping and related this to neuropsychological performance in a sample of PD patients and healthy, age and gender-matched controls. Furthermore this study aimed to identify patients with PD who may benefit from pharmacologic and behavioural intervention to improve these symptoms. Methods Eighty-five PD patients and 21 healthy, age-matched controls completed 14 days of wrist actigraphy within two weeks of neuropsychological testing. Objective napping measures were derived from actigraphy using a standardised protocol and subjective daytime sleepiness was recorded by the previously validated Epworth Sleepiness Scale. Results Patients with PD had a 225% increase in the mean nap time per day (minutes) as recorded by actigraphy compared to age matched controls (39.2 ± 35.2 vs. 11.5 ± 11.0 minutes respectively, p < 0.001). Significantly, differences in napping duration between patients, as recorded by actigraphy were not distinguished by their ratings on the subjective measurement of excessive daytime sleepiness. Finally, those patients with excessive daytime napping showed greater cognitive deficits in the domains of attention, semantic verbal fluency and processing speed. Conclusion This study confirms increased levels of napping in PD, a finding that is concordant with subjective reports. However, subjective self-report measures of excessive daytime sleepiness do not robustly identify excessive napping in PD. Fronto-subcortical cognitive dysfunction was observed in those patients who napped excessively. Furthermore, this study suggests that daytime actigraphy, a non-invasive and inexpensive objective measure of daytime sleep, can identify patients with PD who may benefit from pharmacologic and behavioural interventions to improve these symptoms.
Do GCMs predict the climate ... or macroweather

Abstract. We are used to the weather–climate dichotomy, yet the great majority of the spectral variance of atmospheric fields is in the continuous "background" and this defines instead a trichotomy with a "macroweather" regime in the intermediate range from ≈10 days to 10–30 yr (≈100 yr in the preindustrial period). In the weather, macroweather and climate regimes, exponents characterize the type of variability over the entire regime and it is natural to identify them with qualitatively different synergies of nonlinear dynamical mechanisms that repeat scale after scale. Since climate models are essentially meteorological models (although with extra couplings) it is thus important to determine whether they currently model all three regimes. Using last millennium simulations from four GCMs (global circulation models), we show that control runs only reproduce macroweather. When various (reconstructed) climate forcings are included, in the recent (industrial) period they show global fluctuations strongly increasing at scales > ≈10–30 yr, which is quite close to the observations. However, in the preindustrial period we find that the multicentennial variabilities are too weak and by analysing the scale dependence of solar and volcanic forcings, we argue that these forcings are unlikely to be sufficiently strong to account for the multicentennial and longer-scale temperature variability. A likely explanation is that the models lack important slow "climate" processes such as land ice or various biogeochemical processes.
ASCA X-Ray Spectroscopy of LMC Supernova Remnants and the Metal Abundances of the LMC

We present the results of X-ray spectroscopy of a ﬂux-limited sample of seven middle-aged supernova remnants (SNRs) in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC): N23, N49, N63A, DEM71, N132D, 0453 − 68.5, and N49B. We constructed self-consistent nonequilibrium ionization SNR models assuming a Sedov solution for the dynamical evolution, and then applied the resulting spectral models to the data obtained by the Solid-state Imaging Spectrometer onboard the Advanced Satellite for Cosmology and Astrophysics . All the remnants were reasonably well described by the model, allowing us to derive accurate values for their physical parameters, i.e., ages, densities, initial explosion energies, and metal abundances. The derived explosion energies vary from 5 × 10 50 erg to 6 × 10 51 erg. A restricted subset of the sample exists for which the ionization and Sedov dynamical ages agree quite well under the assumption that the electron and ion temperatures are not fully equilibrated at the shock front; for these four SNRs the mean value of the initial explosion energy is (1 . 1 ± 0 . 5) × 10 51 erg. We show that it is likely that the other three remnants exploded within preexisting cavities in the interstellar medium. The limits on high energy X-ray emission ( > ∼ 3 keV) that we present indicate that these 2–4. Overall these results are consistent with previous ones based on optical and UV data, but do not show the anomalous overabundance of magnesium and silicon seen by others.
Multi-group multicast beamforming in cognitive radio networks via rank-two transmit beamformed Alamouti space-time coding

In this paper, we consider transmit design in multiple-input single-output (MISO) multi-group multicast (MM) cognitive radio (CR) systems. Previously, semidefinite relaxation (SDR)-based transmit beamforming has been very successful in transmit design. However, recent research shows that further performance gain is possible by suitably modifying the transmit structure. Here, we propose a transmit beamformed Alamouti space-time code scheme for MM-CR systems, whose corresponding transmit design problem can be reformulated as a rank-2 constrained fractional semidefinite program. We then develop an SDR framework for this scheme and study its signal-to-interference-and-noise ratio (SINR) performance via both theoretical analysis and simulations. Specifically, we show that the worst-case approximation accuracy of the proposed scheme scales on the order of √MS log MP, where MP (resp. MS) is the number of primary (resp. secondary) users in the CR network. This unifies and generalizes a number of results in the literature and is, to the best of our knowledge, the first provable bound on the performance of a beamforming scheme in a general MM-CR system. Finally, simulation results show that our proposed scheme indeed has a better performance in both MM and MM-CR scenarios than the traditional beamforming scheme.
Issues in the design of studies to test the effectiveness of stereo imaging

Recently, there has been a great increase in interest in using three dimensional stereoscopic displays to provide viewers with realistic 3D views of objects of interest. Some applications where stereoscopic displays are becoming popular include medical visualization, visualization of meteorological data, and various virtual reality applications. To quantify the effectiveness of stereoscopic systems over conventional monoscopic systems, well-designed experiments and data analysis methods are necessary. This task requires the combined effort of application scientists and experts in experimental design. Lack of interdisciplinary collaboration is a primary weakness of many stereoscopic display studies, resulting in the neglect of many important but subtle experimental issues. In this paper, we discuss specific issues that arise in the design of studies to determine the effectiveness of digital stereo imagery. Issues concerning statistical analysis of the experimental data are also discussed. References to related literature from engineering, computer graphics, and psychophysics are given. The issues developed herein provide a guideline for the design of studies to compare observer performance when using different imaging modalities.
Gendered geographies of food security in Blantyre, Malawi

II DEDICATION . IV ACKNOWLEDGMENTS . V TABLE OF CONTENTS . VI LIST OF TABLES . IX LIST OF FIGURES . X LIST OF APPENDICES . XII LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS . XIII CHAPTER 1: THE GENDERED CHALLENGES OF FOOD SECURITY IN BLANTYRE . 1 1.1. INTRODUCTION . 1 1.2. LEVELS OF FOOD INSECURITY IN BLANTYRE . 8 1.3. POVERTY, SPACE, AND THE EVOLUTION OF FOOD INSECURITY IN BLANTYRE . 11 1.4. STRUCTURE OF THE DISSERTATION . 19 1.5. CONCLUSION . 26 CHAPTER 2: APPROACH . 28 2.1. INTRODUCTION . 28 2.2. ACCESSING THE FIELD . 32 2.3. METHODS . 40 2.3. 1. Observation of food access points . 40 2.3. 2. In-­‐depth interviews . 42
High Glucose Attenuates Shear-Induced Changes in Endothelial Hydraulic Conductivity by Degrading the Glycocalyx

Diabetes mellitus is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease; however, the mechanisms through which diabetes impairs homeostasis of the vasculature have not been completely elucidated. The endothelium interacts with circulating blood through the surface glycocalyx layer, which serves as a mechanosensor/transducer of fluid shear forces leading to biomolecular responses. Atherosclerosis localizes typically in regions of low or disturbed shear stress, but in diabetics, the distribution is more diffuse, suggesting that there is a fundamental difference in the way cells sense shear forces. In the present study, we examined the effect of hyperglycemia on mechanotranduction in bovine aortic endothelial cells (BAEC). After six days in high glucose media, we observed a decrease in heparan sulfate content coincident with a significant attenuation of the shear-induced hydraulic conductivity response, lower activation of eNOS after exposure to shear, and reduced cell alignment with shear stress. These studies are consistent with a diabetes-induced change to the glycocalyx altering endothelial response to shear stress that could affect the distribution of atherosclerotic plaques.
HIGH-RESOLUTION DARK MATTER DENSITY PROFILES OF THINGS DWARF GALAXIES: CORRECTING FOR NONCIRCULAR MOTIONS

We present a new method to remove the impact of random and small-scale noncircular motions from H i velocity fields in (dwarf) galaxies in order to better constrain the dark matter properties for these objects. This method extracts the circularly rotating velocity components from the H i data cube and condenses them into a so-called bulk velocity field. We derive high-resolution (∼0.2 kpc) rotation curves of IC 2574 and NGC 2366 based on bulk velocity fields derived from The H i Nearby Galaxy Survey obtained at the Very Large Array. We compare the bulk velocity field rotation curves with those derived from the traditional intensity-weighted mean velocity fields and find significant differences. The bulk velocity field rotation curves are significantly less affected by noncircular motions and constrain the dark matter distribution in our galaxies, allowing us to address the discrepancy between the inferred and predicted dark matter distribution in galaxies (the “cusp/core” problem). Spitzer Infrared Nearby Galaxies Survey 3.6 μm data, which are largely unaffected by dust in these systems, as well as ancillary optical information, are used to separate the contribution of the baryons from the total matter content. Using stellar population synthesis models, assuming various sets of metallicity and star-formation histories, we compute stellar mass-to-light ratios for the 3.6 μm and 4.5 μm bands. Using our predicted value for the 3.6 μm stellar mass-to-light ratio, we find that the observed dark matter distributions of IC 2574 and NGC 2366 are inconsistent with the cusp-like dark matter halo predicted by Λ Cold Dark Matter models, even after corrections for noncircular motions. This result also holds for other assumptions about the stellar mass-to-light ratio. The distribution of dark matter within our sample galaxies is best described by models with a kpc-sized constant-density core.
nPlug: An Autonomous Peak Load Controller

The Indian electricity sector, despite having the world's fifth largest installed capacity, suffers from a 12.9% peaking shortage. This shortage could be alleviated, if a large number of deferrable loads, particularly the high powered ones, could be moved from on-peak to off-peak times. However, conventional Demand Side Management (DSM) strategies may not be suitable for India as the local conditions usually favor inexpensive solutions with minimal dependence on the pre-existing infrastructure. In this work, we present a completely autonomous DSM controller called the nPlug. nPlug is positioned between the wall socket and deferrable load(s) such as water heaters, washing machines, and electric vehicles. nPlugs combine local sensing and analytics to infer peak periods as well as supply-demand imbalance conditions. They schedule attached appliances in a decentralized manner to alleviate peaks whenever possible without violating the requirements of consumers. nPlugs do not require any manual intervention by the end consumer nor any communication infrastructure nor any enhancements to the appliances or the power grids. Some of nPlug's capabilities are demonstrated using experiments on a combination of synthetic and real data collected from plug-level energy monitors. Our results indicate that nPlug can be an effective and inexpensive technology to address the peaking shortage. This technology could potentially be integrated into millions of future deferrable loads: appliances, electric vehicle (EV) chargers, heat pumps, water heaters, etc.