Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Thermal insulation properties of kenaf and cotton nonwoven composites for automotive application

There is good potential for use of vegetable fibers such as kenaf, ramie, jute, flax, and cotton in moldable nonwoven composite materials for automotive applications. Variety of automotive parts, such as headliner, wall panels, trunk liners, parcel shelves, and hood sound insulators with excellent shape stability can be manufactured by conventional techniques. The composites of these fibers have high tensile and flexural properties, coupled with economic and environmental benefits. Four sets of nonwoven materials were produced from refined kenaf fibers, other vegetable fibers and their blends with recycled polyester and polypropylene. The thermal insulation properties of the nonwoven composites were determined by the steady-state heat flow method, in accordance with ASTM C518, using the new thermal conductivity meter. The experimental data show that thermal insulation properties of the nonwoven composites vary significantly, depending on the type of cellulosic fiber, the pretreatment of fibers, ratio of cellulosic to synthetic fibers, and overall densities of the composite.
Evidence for a Gene Controlling the Induction of Transplantation Tolerance

Class I mismatched kidney transplantation in Massachusetts General Hospital MHC‐defined miniature swine has been studied extensively as a model for induction of systemic allograft tolerance. In a large series of juvenile swine, long‐term graft acceptance has been observed consistently following a 12‐day course of cyclosporine. It was therefore surprising when three of five recipients in one of our studies rejected their grafts. Examination of the origins of the rejecting animals revealed that they were derived from a subline of the SLAdd miniature swine herd that was intentionally being inbred toward full homozygosity and had been inbred for eight generations prior to these experiments. A blinded study of additional class I mismatched renal transplants into animals from this subline confirmed the genetic basis of this rejection. We present here preliminary evidence suggesting that a likely explanation for this phenomenon is that the rejectors in this subline are homozygous for a recessive mutant allele of a gene normally involved in the induction of tolerance. Subsequent studies will be directed toward identification and characterization of the gene(s) involved, since existence of a similar genetic locus in humans might have implications for assessing an individual's likelihood of graft rejection versus tolerance induction prior to organ transplantation.
ANALYSIS OF DENICKELIFICATION PHENOMENON ON HEAT EXCHANGER TUBE

DeNickelification is common phenomenon which occurs for alloy metal containing sufficient amounts of Nickel when it is exposed at high temperature in long time periode. One of component which is made of alloy metal containing Nickel is heat exchangers tube. Â Heat exchanger is a part of processing unit that use for transfering heat from hot fluid to colder fluid through the combined mechanisms of conduction and convection. Â When the heat exchanger leaks, all of the processing system could be affected. Â In this research a leakage heat exchanger tube is investigated by failure analysis methods to find the root cause of failure. Â Several tests and examinations such as fractography, metallography examinations, SEM and EDS, hardnes as well as chemical compositions test are carried out to this tube to obtain detailed information for further analysis.Result of this reseach shows that some Cu residue, Ni, aggressive/corrosive ion such as Cl- and S2- at the leak area of heat exchanger tube is found. Â These evidences indicated that denickelification was occurred on inner surface of heat exchanger tube caused by potential difference between Ni2+ion and Cu2+ ion to form a galvanic cell. Â Furthermore, since the tube is flown by fluid material which contains aggressive / corrosive ions such as Cl- ion and S2- then pitting corrosion on inner surface of tube is formed. This mechanism had been taken place continuously during operation of heat exchanger and pitting corrosion keep growing until the tube leaks.
Landscape influences on climate‐related lake shrinkage at high latitudes

Climate‐related declines in lake area have been identified across circumpolar regions and have been characterized by substantial spatial heterogeneity. An improved understanding of the mechanisms underlying lake area trends is necessary to predict where change is most likely to occur and to identify implications for high latitude reservoirs of carbon. Here, using a population of ca. 2300 lakes with statistically significant increasing and decreasing lake area trends spanning longitudinal and latitudinal gradients of ca. 1000 km in Alaska, we present evidence for a mechanism of lake area decline that involves the loss of surface water to groundwater systems. We show that lakes with significant declines in lake area were more likely to be located: (1) in burned areas; (2) on coarser, well‐drained soils; and (3) farther from rivers compared to lakes that were increasing. These results indicate that postfire processes such as permafrost degradation, which also results from a warming climate, may promote lake drainage, particularly in coarse‐textured soils and farther from rivers where overland flooding is less likely and downslope flow paths and negative hydraulic gradients between surface water and groundwater systems are more common. Movement of surface water to groundwater systems may lead to a deepening of subsurface flow paths and longer hydraulic residence time which has been linked to increased soil respiration and CO2 release to the atmosphere. By quantifying relationships between statewide coarse resolution maps of landscape characteristics and spatially heterogeneous responses of lakes to environmental change, we provide a means to identify at‐risk lakes and landscapes and plan for a changing climate.
Mechanical properties and neural control of human hand motor units

Abstract Motor units serve both as the mechanical apparatus and the final stage of neural processing through which motor behaviours are enacted. Therefore, knowledge about the contractile properties and organization of the neural inputs to motor units supplying finger muscles is essential for understanding the control strategies underlying the diverse motor functions of the human hand. In this brief review, basic contractile properties of motor units residing in human hand muscles are described. Hand motor units are not readily categorized into the classical physiological types as established in the cat gastrocnemius muscle. In addition, the distribution of descending synaptic inputs to motor nuclei supplying different hand muscles is outlined. Motor neurons innervating intrinsic muscles appear to have relatively independent lines of input from supraspinal centres whereas substantial divergence of descending input is seen across motor nuclei supplying extrinsic hand muscles. The functional significance of such differential organizations of descending inputs for the control of hand movements is discussed.
Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation for Acute Myeloid Leukemia Effective : April 1 , 2017

PLEASE NOTE: Contracts exclude from coverage, among other things, services or procedures that are considered investigational or cosmetic. Providers may bill members for services or procedures that are considered investigational or cosmetic. Providers are encouraged to inform members before rendering such services that the members are likely to be financially responsible for the cost of these services.
Homography-based visual servo regulation of mobile robots

A monocular camera-based vision system attached to a mobile robot (i.e., the camera-in-hand configuration) is considered in this paper. By comparing corresponding target points of an object from two different camera images, geometric relationships are exploited to derive a transformation that relates the actual position and orientation of the mobile robot to a reference position and orientation. This transformation is used to synthesize a rotation and translation error system from the current position and orientation to the fixed reference position and orientation. Lyapunov-based techniques are used to construct an adaptive estimate to compensate for a constant, unmeasurable depth parameter, and to prove asymptotic regulation of the mobile robot. The contribution of this paper is that Lyapunov techniques are exploited to craft an adaptive controller that enables mobile robot position and orientation regulation despite the lack of an object model and the lack of depth information. Experimental results are provided to illustrate the performance of the controller.
Mezlocillin: In Vitro Studies of a New Broad-Spectrum Penicillin

Mezlocillin is a new semisynthetic penicillin that inhibited 71% of the isolates of Serratia marcescens, 67% of Escherichia coli, 50% of Enterobacter spp. , and 49% of Klebsiella spp. at a concentration of 12.5 μg/ml. It is also active against both indole-positive and -negative Proteus spp. and gram-positive cocci, except penicillin G-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. At a concentration of 100 μg/ml, it inhibited 94% of the isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. It is more active than ampicillin, carbenicillin, and cephalothin against some gram-negative bacilli.
Angiotensin Converting Enzyme Inhibitor Dialyzability and Outcomes in Older Patients Receiving Hemodialysis

Background/Aims: Some angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors are efficiently removed from circulation by hemodialysis (‘high dialyzability'), whereas others are not (‘low dialyzability'). In patients receiving hemodialysis, this may influence the effectiveness of ACE inhibitors. Methods: Using linked healthcare databases we identified older patients receiving chronic hemodialysis who filled new ACE inhibitor prescriptions. The low dialyzability group (n = 3,369) included fosinopril and ramipril. The high dialyzability group (n = 5,974) included enalapril, lisinopril, and perindopril. The primary outcome was all-cause mortality within 180 days of first ACE inhibitor prescription. Results: There were 361 deaths among 5,974 patients (6.0%) prescribed with low dialyzability ACE inhibitors and 179 deaths among 3,369 patients (5.3%) prescribed with high dialyzability ACE inhibitors (relative risk 1.1, 95% CI 0.9-1.3, p = 0.6). Conclusion: In this study of older patients receiving hemodialysis, the dialyzability of ACE inhibitors was not associated with mortality or cardiovascular outcomes.
UNC-73/Trio RhoGEF-2 Activity Modulates Caenorhabditis elegans Motility Through Changes in Neurotransmitter Signaling Upstream of the GSA-1/Gαs Pathway

Rho-family GTPases play regulatory roles in many fundamental cellular processes. Caenorhabditis elegans UNC-73 RhoGEF isoforms function in axon guidance, cell migration, muscle arm extension, phagocytosis, and neurotransmission by activating either Rac or Rho GTPase subfamilies. Multiple differentially expressed UNC-73 isoforms contain a Rac-specific RhoGEF-1 domain, a Rho-specific RhoGEF-2 domain, or both domains. The UNC-73E RhoGEF-2 isoform is activated by the G-protein subunit Gαq and is required for normal rates of locomotion; however, mechanisms of UNC-73 and Rho pathway regulation of locomotion are not clear. To better define UNC-73 function in the regulation of motility we used cell-specific and inducible promoters to examine the temporal and spatial requirements of UNC-73 RhoGEF-2 isoform function in mutant rescue experiments. We found that UNC-73E acts within peptidergic neurons of mature animals to regulate locomotion rate. Although unc-73 RhoGEF-2 mutants have grossly normal synaptic morphology and weak resistance to the acetylcholinesterase inhibitor aldicarb, they are significantly hypersensitive to the acetylcholine receptor agonist levamisole, indicating alterations in acetylcholine neurotransmitter signaling. Consistent with peptidergic neuron function, unc-73 RhoGEF-2 mutants exhibit a decreased level of neuropeptide release from motor neuron dense core vesicles (DCVs). The unc-73 locomotory phenotype is similar to those of rab-2 and unc-31, genes with distinct roles in the DCV-mediated secretory pathway. We observed that constitutively active Gαs pathway mutations, which compensate for DCV-mediated signaling defects, rescue unc-73 RhoGEF-2 and rab-2 lethargic movement phenotypes. Together, these data suggest UNC-73 RhoGEF-2 isoforms are required for proper neurotransmitter signaling and may function in the DCV-mediated neuromodulatory regulation of locomotion rate.
Extracellular Vesicles as Protagonists of Diabetic Cardiovascular Pathology

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) represent an emerging mechanism of cell–cell communication in the cardiovascular system. Recent data suggest that EVs are produced and taken up by multiple cardiovascular cell types, influencing target cells through signaling or transfer of cargo (including proteins, lipids, messenger RNA, and non-coding RNA). The concentration and contents of circulating EVs are altered in several diseases and represent explicit signatures of cellular activation, making them of particular interest as circulating biomarkers. EVs also actively contribute to the progression of various cardiovascular diseases, including diabetes-related vascular disease. Understanding the relationships between circulating EVs, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease is of importance as diabetic patients are at elevated risk for developing several debilitating cardiovascular pathologies, including diabetic cardiomyopathy (DCM), a disease that remains an enigma at the molecular level. Enhancing and exploiting our understanding of EV biology could facilitate the development of effective non-invasive diagnostics, prognostics, and therapeutics. This review will focus on EV biology in diabetic cardiovascular diseases, including atherosclerosis and DCM. We will review EV biogenesis and functional properties, as well as provide insight into their emerging role in cell–cell communication. Finally, we will address the utility of EVs as clinical biomarkers and outline their impact as a biomedical tool in the development of therapeutics.
Characteristics of convective snow bands along the Swedish east coast

Abstract. Convective snow bands develop in response to a cold air outbreak from the continent or the frozen sea over the open water surface of lakes or seas. The comparatively warm water body triggers shallow convection due to increased heat and moisture fluxes. Strong winds can align with this convection into wind-parallel cloud bands, which appear stationary as the wind direction remains consistent for the time period of the snow band event, delivering enduring snow precipitation at the approaching coast. The statistical analysis of a dataset from an 11-year high-resolution atmospheric regional climate model (RCA4) indicated 4 to 7 days a year of moderate to highly favourable conditions for the development of convective snow bands in the Baltic Sea region. The heaviest and most frequent lake effect snow was affecting the regions of Gavle and Vastervik (along the Swedish east coast) as well as Gdansk (along the Polish coast). However, the hourly precipitation rate is often higher in Gavle than in the Vastervik region. Two case studies comparing five different RCA4 model setups have shown that the Rossby Centre atmospheric regional climate model RCA4 provides a superior representation of the sea surface with more accurate sea surface temperature (SST) values when coupled to the ice–ocean model NEMO as opposed to the forcing by the ERA-40 reanalysis data. The refinement of the resolution of the atmospheric model component leads, especially in the horizontal direction, to significant improvement in the representation of the mesoscale circulation process as well as the local precipitation rate and area by the model.
Commercial Block Detection in Broadcast News Videos

Automatic identification and extraction of commercial blocks in telecast news videos find a lot of applications in the domain of broadcast monitoring. Existing works in this domain have used channel specific assumptions, machine learning techniques and frequentist approaches for detecting commercial video segments. We note that in the Indian context, several channel specific assumptions do not hold and often news and commercials have comparable frequencies of occurrence. This motivates us to use the machine learning techniques for classifying commercials in news videos. Our main contribution lies in the proposal of two features which are shown to outperform the existing audio-visual features – first, the MFCC bag of words (BoW) as audio track feature and second, overlaid text distribution as video shot feature. The shot feature space is further extended by appending contextual features which are categorized by SVM based classifiers. Additionally, we have used a post-processing stage to suppress the false positives. We have experimented with 54 hours of video acquired from three different Indian English based news channels and have obtained a F-measure of around 97%.
Superconductivity in LaFeAs1-xPxO: Effect of chemical pressures and bond covalency

We report the realization of superconductivity by an isovalent doping with phosphorus in LaFeAsO. X-ray diffraction shows that, with the partial substitution of P for As, the Fe2As2 layers are squeezed while the La2O2 layers are stretched along the c-axis. Electrical resistance and magnetization measurements show emergence of bulk superconductivity at ∼10 K for the optimally doped LaFeAs1- xPxO (x=0.25–0.3). The upper critical field at zero temperature is estimated to be 27 T, much higher than that of the LaFePO superconductor. The occurrence of superconductivity is discussed in terms of chemical pressures and bond covalency.
Renal Bioengineering with Scaffolds Generated from Human Kidneys

Background: In 2012, about 16,487 people received kidney transplants in the USA whereas 95,022 candidates were on the waiting list at the end of the year. Moreover, more than 2,600 kidneys procured annually for transplantation are discarded for a variety of reasons. We hypothesize that this pool of discarded kidneys could in part meet the growing, urgent need for transplantable kidneys using current methods for organ bioengineering and regeneration and surgical transplantation. The recellularization of extracellular matrix (ECM) scaffolds has the potential to meet the uniquely ambitious engineering challenges posed by complex solid organs such as the kidney. Summary: Attempts to manufacture and implant simpler, hollow structures such as bladders, vessels, urethras, and segments of the upper airways have been successful in the short and mid terms. However, the bioengineering of complex solid organs such as the kidney is a more challenging task that requires a different approach. In previous studies, we showed that decellularized porcine kidneys yield renal ECM scaffolds that preserve their basic architecture and structural components, support cell growth in vivo and in vitro, and maintain a patent vasculature capable of sustaining physiological blood pressure. In a subsequent report, using the same methods, we found that detergent-based decellularization of discarded human renal kidneys preserved their innate ECM framework, biochemical properties, and angiogenic capacity and - importantly - a patent vascular network. Furthermore, the process resulted in the clearance of immunogenic antigens, which has monumental implications for clinical outcomes in the long term in terms of graft rejection. Consequently, these kidneys show promise in bioengineering and transplantation. We refer to this avenue of research and development as ‘cell-scaffold technology'. Key Messages: In 2011, more than 4,700 patients died while on the waiting list for a kidney transplant. In this context, we believe that cell-scaffold technology has the potential to form a bridge between regenerative medicine and transplantation surgery. These methods, in theory, could provide a potentially inexhaustible source of transplantable organs. Unfortunately, current investigations are still in their very early stages and clinical translation is not immediately available in the short term. Thus, identifying the most important obstacles confronting cell-scaffold technology and focusing research efforts in this direction will be important for advancing the state of the art and meeting the clinical needs. We believe that cell-scaffold technology research and development would benefit greatly from a deeper understanding of the physiological mechanisms underlying the natural organogenesis, regeneration, and repair that characterize embryonic humans and simpler organisms. Furthermore, the importance of vascularization - the fundamental caveat of modern surgery - cannot be overstated, especially when discussing the implantation of de novo organs.
Plasma nitrite is an indicator of acute changes in ambient air pollutant concentrations

Abstract Context: Endothelial dysfunction has been suggested as a potential mechanism by which ambient air pollution may cause acute cardiovascular events. Recently, plasma nitrite has been developed as a marker of endothelial dysfunction. Objectives: We examined the changes in plasma nitrite concentration associated with increases in ambient air pollutant concentrations in the previous 7 d. Materials and methods: We linked up to three measurements of plasma nitrite concentrations obtained from 49 students to 24-h average concentrations of five criteria air pollutants [particle mass < 2.5 µm in aerodynamic diameter (PM2.5), carbon monoxide (CO), sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and ozone (O3)] measured at two monitoring sites closest to Rutgers University campus (6–15 miles) in New Jersey during the years 2006–2009. We examined the change in plasma nitrite associated with each interquartile-range (IQR) increase in pollutant concentration in the previous 24 h and six preceding 24- h periods, using linear mixed models. Results: IQR increases in mean PM2.5 (7.0 µg/m3) and CO (161.7 parts per billion) concentrations in the first 24 h before the plasma nitrite measurement were associated with increased plasma nitrite concentrations (PM2.5: 15.5 nanomolar; 95% confidence interval (CI): 2.4, 28.5; CO: 15.6 nanomolar; 95% CI: 2.4, 28.9). Increased plasma nitrite associated with IQR increases in O3 and SO2 concentrations over longer lags were observed. Discussion and conclusion: Rapid increases in plasma nitrite following exposure to ambient air pollutants support the hypothesis that ambient air pollution is associated with inducible nitric oxide synthase-mediated systemic inflammation in humans.