Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Optimization of pin-fin heat sinks using entropy generation minimization

In this study, an entropy generation minimization, EGM, technique is applied as a unique measure to study the thermodynamic losses caused by heat transfer and pressure drop in cylindrical pin-fin heat sinks. The use of EGM allows the combined effect of thermal resistance and pressure drop to be assessed through the simultaneous interaction with the heat sink. A general expression for the entropy generation rate is obtained by considering the whole heat sink as a control volume and applying the conservation equations for mass and energy with the entropy balance. Analytical/empirical correlations for heat transfer coefficients and friction factors are used in the optimization model, where the characteristic length is used as the diameter of the pin and reference velocity used in Reynolds number and pressure drop is based on the minimum free area available for the fluid flow. Both in-line and staggered arrangements are studied and their relative performance is compared on the basis of equal overall volume of heat sinks. It is shown that all relevant design parameters for pin-fin heat sinks, including geometric parameters, material properties and flow conditions can be simultaneously optimized.
Transactional Composition and Concurrency Control in Disconnected Computing

Composition of software components via Web technologies, scalability demands, and Mobile Computing has led to a questioning of the classical transaction concept. Some researchers have moved away from a synchronous model with strict atomicity, consistency, isolation and durability (ACID) to an asynchronous, disconnected one with possibly weaker ACID properties. Ensuring consistency in disconnected environments requires dedicated transaction support in order to control transactional dependencies between software components and provide a scalable concurrency control mechanism. This paper contributes a simple expression language using Boolean operators to define transactional dependencies and further provides rules to derive an execution semantics that could be exploited by a transaction manager to control the interaction. This work also discusses the use of data classes that demarcate data based on concurrency control related aspects and apply a certain concurrency control mechanism to each class. Such a classification allows better trade-off between consistency needs and the overhead caused by the concurrency control mechanism. Index Terms—Transaction Management; Disconnected Trans- action Management; Advanced Transaction Models; Concur- rency Control; Optimistic Concurrency Control; Semantic Con- currency Control
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Program on Chronic Low-Back Pain: A Study Investigating the Impact on Endocrine, Physical, and Psychologic Functioning.

OBJECTIVE To explore the impact of the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program on pain severity and endocrine, physical, and psychologic functioning in patients with chronic low-back pain (CLBP). METHODS A total of 28 participants were enrolled in the study between January and June 2014; 17 participants were sequentially sampled for an 8-week MBSR program, and 11 were placed on a waitlist control group. Pain severity, quality of life (QOL), global psychologic functioning, and depression were assessed at baseline, at the end of treatment, and 4-5 months post-treatment for both groups. Morning and evening salivary cortisol was assessed at multiple time points in participants in the MBSR group. RESULTS In comparison with baseline, evening cortisol release showed a significant increase post-treatment. Significant differences between groups were found in pain severity. Medium-to-large effect sizes were found for between-group differences in both pain severity and QOL. CONCLUSIONS The cortisol increase in the MBSR group is a promising finding, in the context of CLBP hypocortisolism. Data show that the effects of the MBSR treatment may take time to surface. However, due to small sample size, decisive interpretation of findings is limited. Nevertheless, the MBSR program may show promise for CLBP and should be an avenue for further investigation through larger clinical trials within healthcare systems.
Calpain-6, a microtubule-stabilizing protein, regulates Rac1 activity and cell motility through interaction with GEF-H1

Crosstalk between microtubules and actin filaments is crucial for various cellular functions, including cell migration, spreading and cytokinesis. The Rac1 GTPase plays a key role in such crosstalk at the leading edge of migrating cells in order to promote lamellipodial formation. However, the mechanism underlying the link between microtubules and Rac1 activation remains unclear. Here, we show that calpain-6 (CAPN6), a non-proteolytic calpain with microtubule-binding and -stabilizing activity, might participate in this crosstalk. Small interfering RNA (siRNA)-induced knockdown of Capn6 in NIH 3T3 cells resulted in Rac1 activation, which promoted cell migration, spreading and lamellipodial protrusion. This increase in Rac1 activity was abolished by knockdown of the Rho guanine nucleotide exchange factor GEF-H1 (officially known as Arhgef2). CAPN6 and GEF-H1 colocalized with microtubules and also interacted with each other through specific domains. Upon knockdown of Capn6, GEF-H1 was shown to translocate from microtubules to the lamellipodial region and to interact with Rac1. By contrast, RhoA activity was decreased upon knockdown of Capn6, although low levels of active RhoA or the presence of RhoA molecules appeared to be required for the Capn6-knockdown-induced Rac1 activation. We suggest that CAPN6 acts as a potential regulator of Rac1 activity, through a mechanism involving interaction with GEF-H1, to control lamellipodial formation and cell motility.
Effect of Strain Localization on Pitting Corrosion of an AlMgSi0.5 Alloy

The corrosion susceptibility of an age-hardened aluminum alloy in different processing conditions, especially after a single pass of equal-channel angular pressing (ECAP), is examined. The main question addressed is how corrosive attack is changed by strain localization. For that purpose, an AlMgSi0.5 alloy with a strain localized microstructure containing alternating shear bands was subjected to potentiodynamic polarization on a macro-scale and micro-scale using the micro-capillary technique. Pitting potentials and the corrosion appearance (pit depth, corroded area fractions and volumes) are discussed with respect to microstructural evolution due to casting, extrusion and ECAP. Size, shape and orientation of grains, constituent particle fragmentation, cell size and microstrain were analyzed. Stable pitting of shear bands results in less positive potentials compared to adjacent microstructure. More pits emerge in the shear bands, but the pit depth is reduced significantly. This is attributed to higher microstrains influencing the stability of the passivation layer and the reduced size of grains and constituent particles. The size of the crystallographic pits is associated with the deformation-induced cell size of the aluminum alloy.
Postsynaptic Spiking Homeostatically Induces Cell-Autonomous Regulation of Inhibitory Inputs via Retrograde Signaling

Developing neural circuits face the dual challenge of growing in an activity-induced fashion and maintaining stability through homeostatic mechanisms. Compared to our understanding of homeostatic regulation of excitatory synapses, relatively little is known about the mechanism mediating homeostatic plasticity of inhibitory synapses, especially that following activity elevation. Here, we found that elevating neuronal activity in cultured hippocampal neurons for 4 h significantly increased the frequency and amplitude of mIPSCs, before detectable change at excitatory synapses. Consistently, we observed increases in presynaptic and postsynaptic proteins of GABAergic synapses, including GAD65, vGAT, and GABAARα1. By suppressing activity-induced increase of neuronal firing with expression of the inward rectifier potassium channel Kir2.1 in individual neurons, we showed that elevation in postsynaptic spiking activity is required for activity-dependent increase in the frequency and amplitude of mIPSCs. Importantly, directly elevating spiking in individual postsynaptic neurons, by capsaicin activation of overexpressed TRPV1 channels, was sufficient to induce increased mIPSC amplitude and frequency, mimicking the effect of elevated neuronal activity. Downregulating BDNF expression in the postsynaptic neuron or its extracellular scavenging prevented activity-induced increase in mIPSC frequency, consistent with a role of BDNF-dependent retrograde signaling in this process. Finally, elevating activity in vivo by kainate injection increased both mIPSC amplitude and frequency in CA1 pyramidal neurons. Thus, spiking-induced, cell-autonomous upregulation of GABAergic synaptic inputs, through retrograde BDNF signaling, represents an early adaptive response of neural circuits to elevated network activity.
Do long periods off work in peak expiratory flow monitoring improve the sensitivity of occupational asthma diagnosis?

Introduction Serial peak expiratory flow (PEF) monitoring is a useful confirmatory test for occupational asthma diagnosis. As weekends off work may not be long enough for PEF records to recover, this study investigated whether including longer periods off work in PEF monitoring improves the sensitivity of occupational asthma diagnosis. Methods Serial PEF measurements from workers with occupational asthma and from workers not at work during their PEF record, containing minimum data amounts and at least one rest period with ≥7 consecutive days off work, were analysed. Diagnostic sensitivity and specificity of the area between the curves (ABC) score from waking time and Oasys score for occupational asthma were calculated for each record by including only consecutive rest days 1–3 in any rest period, including only consecutive rest days from day 4 onwards in any rest period or including all available data. Results Analysing all available off work data (including periods away from work of ≥7 days) increased the mean ABC score by 17% from 35.1 to 41.0 l/min/h (meaning a larger difference between rest and work day PEF values) (p=0.331) and the Oasys score from 3.2 to 3.3 (p=0.588). It improved the sensitivity of the ABC score for an occupational asthma diagnosis from 73% to 80% while maintaining specificity at 96%. The effect on the Oasys score using discriminant analysis was small (sensitivity changed from 85% to 88%). Conclusions Sensitivity of PEF monitoring using the ABC score for the diagnosis of occupational asthma can be improved by having a longer period off work.
Renal Function and Long-Term Decline in Cognitive Function: The Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging

Background: Renal disease has been associated with greater risk of dementia and greater cognitive impairment. However, the relationship of lower renal function with long-term decline in specific domains of cognitive function remains unclear among community-dwelling, non-demented individuals. Methods: Stroke- and dementia-free participants (n = 2,116) were enrolled in the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging, a community-based, prospective, longitudinal study. Renal function was estimated by the inverse of serum creatinine adjusted for age, sex and race and (in sensitivity analyses) estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) using the MDRD formula. Outcome measures were changes in scores on 6 cognitive tests encompassing a range of cognitive functions, measured at 2-year intervals. Mixed-effects regression models examined the longitudinal relations of renal function with cognitive functions after adjusting for demographics, comorbidity and other potential confounders. Results: Mean age at initial testing was 53.9 years (SD 17.1), and 94 participants (4.4%) had an eGFR <60 ml/min/1.73 m2 and 18.5% had at least one comorbidity. With increasing age, longitudinal increases in creatinine concentrations were associated with more rapid decline in performance on several cognitive measures, including the learning slope of the California Verbal Learning Test, a test of verbal learning (p < 0.01), and the Benton Visual Retention Test, a test of visual memory (p < 0.01). Associations were similar for changes in eGFRMDRD, which was also associated with the rate of decline in verbal memory. Conclusion: In a community-based adult population, declines in renal function independently associated with greater long-term declines in visual memory and verbal memory and learning.
The effects of developmental mentoring and high school mentors' attendance on their younger mentees' self‐esteem, social skills, and connectedness

Far more has been written about the possible outcomes of cross-age mentoring than about actual outcomes and the processes that lead to change. This study examined the effect of mentors’ attendance on their mentees’ outcomes after six months of developmental mentoring. Developmental mentoring is a structured, cross-age peer mentoring program designed to promote children’s development by facilitating connectedness. In this randomized study of 73 Caucasian, rural youth, multiple analyses of covariance revealed that connectedness to school and parents at posttest were significantly greater for mentees than for the comparison group. Regression analyses revealed that changes in self-esteem, social skills, and behavioral competence were highly related to mentors’ attendance, suggesting relational processes accounted for more change than did exposure to program curricula. However, the relationship between mentors’ inconsistent attendance and mentees’ decline in self-esteem and behavioral competence suggests that absent mentors may do more harm than good. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. As many as a 2.5 million youth receive some form of mentoring each year in the United States (Rhodes, 2002). Despite many anecdotal reports of its effectiveness, our knowledge about the positive and negative effects of mentoring is limited (Rhodes, 2002). Less is known about peer mentoring. The present study examined the effects of peer mentoring. Mentoring Best Practices
A Statistical Approach to the Semantics of Verb-Particles

This paper describes a distributional approach to the semantics of verb-particle constructions (e.g. put up, make off). We report first on a framework for implementing and evaluating such models. We then go on to report on the implementation of some techniques for using statistical models acquired from corpus data to infer the meaning of verb-particle constructions.
Salmonella Pathogenicity Island 4-Mediated Adhesion Is Coregulated with Invasion Genes in Salmonella enterica

ABSTRACT Salmonella pathogenicity island 4 (SPI4) encodes a type I secretion system and the cognate substrate protein, SiiE. We have recently demonstrated that SiiE is a giant nonfimbrial adhesin involved in the adhesion of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium to polarized epithelial cells. We also observed that under in vitro culture conditions, the synthesis and secretion of SiiE coincided with the activation of Salmonella invasion genes. These observations prompted us to investigate the regulation of SPI4 genes in detail. A novel approach for the generation of reporter gene fusions was employed to generate single-copy chromosomal fusions to various genes within SPI4, and the expression of these fusions was investigated. We analyzed the regulation of SPI4 genes and the roles of various regulatory systems for SPI4 expression. Our data show that the expression of SPI4 genes is coregulated with SPI1 invasion genes by the global regulator SirA. Expression of a SPI4 gene was also reduced in the absence of HilA, the central local regulator of SPI1 gene expression. Both SirA and HilA functions were required for the secretion of SiiE and the SPI4-mediated adhesion. Our data demonstrate that SPI4-mediated adhesion, as well as SPI1-mediated invasion, are tightly coregulated by the same regulatory circuits and induced under similar environmental conditions.
Identification of Second Messenger Mediating Signal Transduction in the Olfactory Receptor Cell

One of the biggest controversial issues in the research of olfaction has been the mechanism underlying response generation to odorants that have been shown to fail to produce cAMP when tested by biochemical assays with olfactory ciliary preparations. Such observations are actually the original source proposing a possibility for the presence of multiple and parallel transduction pathways. In this study the activity of transduction channels in the olfactory cilia was recorded in cells that retained their abilities of responding to odorants that have been reported to produce InsP3 (instead of producing cAMP, and therefore tentatively termed “InsP3 odorants”). At the same time, the cytoplasmic cNMP concentration ([cNMP]i) was manipulated through the photolysis of caged compounds to examine their real-time interactions with odorant responses. Properties of responses induced by both InsP3 odorants and cytoplasmic cNMP resembled each other in their unique characteristics. Reversal potentials of currents were 2 mV for InsP3 odorant responses and 3 mV for responses induced by cNMP. Current and voltage (I-V) relations showed slight outward rectification. Both responses showed voltage-dependent adaptation when examined with double pulse protocols. When brief pulses of the InsP3 odorant and cytoplasmic cNMP were applied alternatively, responses expressed cross-adaptation with each other. Furthermore, both responses were additive in a manner as predicted quantitatively by the theory that signal transduction is mediated by the increase in cytoplasmic cAMP. With InsP3 odorants, actually, remarkable responses could be detected in a small fraction of cells (∼2%), explaining the observation for a small production of cAMP in ciliary preparations obtained from the entire epithelium. The data will provide evidence showing that olfactory response generation and adaptation are regulated by a uniform mechanism for a wide variety of odorants.
STUDIES ON THE ETIOLOGY OF RABBIT POX

A filterable agent was isolated from 7 cases of spontaneous rabbit pox by the intratesticular injection in rabbits of a variety of tissues. The virus was transmitted for 15 consecutive testicle to testicle passages in rabbits by Berkefeld V filtrates of testicular tissue emulsions. Unfiltered emulsions were more potent than filtrates. The virulence of the virus was maintained by ice box storage of infected tissues for as long as 127 days. The pathogenic properties of the virus persisted under conditions of animal passage for the 9 months from January to October, 1933, covered by these studies. The reaction produced in rabbits by the inoculation of tissue-virus emulsions was of two principal types, the first of which has been described and analyzed in the present paper. In the case of intratesticular injections, particularly of testicular tissue inocula, an acute fulminating and rapidly fatal condition regularly developed. The outstanding features were a massive hemorrhagic orchitis with marked scrotal edema, fever, and death within a week. The second type of reaction which is taken up in the next paper of this series (1) was observed under conditions in which the animal survived a week or longer. Occasional examples occurred in rabbits of the so called intratesticular series. The reaction was characterized by the development of a disease syndrome with a diversity of clinical manifestations which, it may be stated here for the sake of continuity, was indistinguishable from spontaneous rabbit pox.
The Distribution of Fitness Costs of Resistance-Conferring Mutations Is a Key Determinant for the Future Burden of Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis: A Model-Based Analysis.

BACKGROUND Drug resistance poses a serious challenge for the control of tuberculosis in many settings. It is well established that the expected future trend in resistance depends on the reproductive fitness of drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis. However, the variability in fitness between strains with different resistance-conferring mutations has been largely ignored when making these predictions. METHODS We developed a novel approach for incorporating the variable fitness costs of drug resistance-conferring mutations and for tracking this distribution of fitness costs over time within a transmission model. We used this approach to describe the effects of realistic fitness cost distributions on the future prevalence of drug-resistant tuberculosis. RESULTS The shape of the distribution of fitness costs was a strong predictor of the long-term prevalence of resistance. While, as expected, lower average fitness costs of drug resistance-conferring mutations were associated with more severe epidemics of drug-resistant tuberculosis, fitness distributions with greater variance also led to higher levels of drug resistance. For example, compared to simulations in which the fitness cost of resistance was fixed, introducing a realistic amount of variance resulted in a 40% increase in prevalence of drug-resistant tuberculosis after 20 years. CONCLUSIONS The differences in the fitness costs associated with drug resistance-conferring mutations are a key determinant of the future burden of drug-resistant tuberculosis. Future studies that can better establish the range of fitness costs associated with drug resistance-conferring mutations will improve projections and thus facilitate better public health planning efforts.
Preparation and Properties of Branched Polystyrene through Radical Suspension Polymerization

Radical solvent-free suspension polymerization of styrene with 3-mercapto hexyl-methacrylate (MHM) as the branching monomer has been carried out using 2,2′-azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN) as the initiator to prepare branched polymer beads of high purity. The molecular weight and branching structure of the polymers have been characterized by triple detection size exclusion chromatography (TD-SEC), proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-NMR), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The glass transition temperature and rheological properties have been measured by using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and rotational rheometry. At mole ratios of MHM to AIBN less than 1.0, gelation was successfully avoided and branched polystyrene beads were prepared in the absence of any solvent. Branched polystyrene has a relatively higher molecular weight and narrower polydispersity (Mw.MALLS = 1,036,000 g·mol−1, Mw/Mn = 7.76) than those obtained in solution polymerization. Compared with their linear analogues, lower glass transition temperature and decreased chain entanglement were observed in the presently obtained branched polystyrene because of the effects of branching.
An Ounce of Breast Cancer Prevention—Let's Try for a Pound

Editorial on Buist et al., [p. 720][1] There are far too many breast cancer survivors. Nobody would deny that the progressive drop in breast cancer mortality over the last 20 years in the developed world is a major triumph. However, over the same time period, there has been minimal change in