Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Modified Schwarz-Christoffel Transformation for Elongated Regions

The numerical computation of a conformal map from a disk or a half plane onto an elongated region is frequently difficult, or impossible, because of the so-called crowding phenomenon. This paper shows that this problem can often be avoided by using another elongated region, an infinite strip, as the standard domain. A transformation similar to the Schwarz–Christoffel formula maps this strip onto an arbitrary polygonal channel, and a slightly modified transformation maps an elongated rectangle onto an arbitrary closed polygon. By using robust and efficient software for numerical integration and solution of the parameter problem, high-accuracy maps of distorted regions with aspect ratios as high as thousands to one are constructed. The modified mapping method has natural applications in fluid mechanics and electrical engineering.
The VLA-COSMOS Survey. III. Further Catalog Analysis and the Radio Source Counts

The VLA-COSMOS Large Project has imaged the 2 deg2 COSMOS field with a resolution of 1.5″ and a sensitivity of about 11 μJy (1 σ), yielding a catalog of ~3600 radio sources. In this paper we present a further analysis of the VLA-COSMOS Large Project catalog of radio sources aimed to (1) quantify and correct for the effect of bandwidth smearing in the catalog, (2) determine the incompleteness produced by the noise bias and the resolution bias in the new catalog, and (3) derive the radio source counts at 1.4 GHz. The effect of bandwidth smearing on the radio sources in the catalog was quantified comparing the peak and total flux densities in the final mosaic and in each of the individual pointings where the source was closest to the center of the field. We find that the peak flux densities in the original VLA-COSMOS Large Project catalog have to be divided by a factor of about 0.8 or 0.9, depending on the distance from the mosaic center. The completeness of the radio catalog has been tested using samples of simulated radio sources with different angular size distributions. These simulated sources have been added to the radio image and recovered using the same techniques used to produce the radio catalog. The fraction of missed sources as a function of the total flux density is a direct measure of the incompleteness. Finally, we derived the radio source counts down to 60 μJy with unprecedented good statistics. Comparison to the findings of other surveys shows good agreement in the flux density range 0.06-1 mJy confirming the upturn at ~0.5 mJy and a possible decline of the source counts below ~0.1 mJy.
Photoreceptor cells display a daily rhythm in the orphan receptor Esrrβ

Purpose Nuclear orphan receptors are critical for the development and long-term survival of photoreceptor cells. In the present study, the expression of the nuclear orphan receptor Esrrβ—a transcriptional regulator of energy metabolism that protects rod photoreceptors from dystrophy—was tested under daily regulation in the retina and photoreceptor cells. Methods The daily transcript and protein amount profiles were recorded in preparations of the whole retina and microdissected photoreceptor cells using quantitative PCR (qPCR) and western blot analysis. Results Esrrβ displayed a daily rhythm with elevated values at night in the whole retina and enriched photoreceptor cells. Daily regulation of Esrrβ mRNA depended on light input but not on melatonin, and evoked a corresponding rhythm in the Esrrβ protein. Conclusions The data presented in this study indicate that daily regulation of Esrrβ in photoreceptor cells may contribute to their adaptation to 24-h changes in metabolic demands.
Plant extinctions take time

Many plant species may already be functionally extinct The recent State of the World's Plants report from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (1) estimates that 50,000 of the ∼390,000 known vascular plant species are at risk of extinction. Given the rarity of so many plants, coupled with widespread environmental destruction over the past quarter-century, we might expect that a lot of plants should have gone extinct. Indeed, estimates made in the early 1990s suggest that up to 30,000 species should have gone extinct by 2015 (2, 3). Yet, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species database for 2016 has fewer than 150 extinct species. How can we explain this discrepancy?
A Study on the Use of Connectives in ESL Students ’ Writing

Introduction “The misuse of logical connectives is an almost universal feature of ESL students’ writing, though it may also occasionally happen with experienced writers” (Crewe I990:3 17). In Hong Kong, many ESL teachers and researchers would agree with this observation. Research has been carried out to identify the problems of misuse and overuse of logical connectives in ESL students’ writing (Crewe, Wright & Leung 1985, Falvey 1989, Crewe 1990. Hayward & Wilcoxon 1991, Field & Yip 1992). We are particularly interested in students’ writing at the tertiary levels. In our research, we noticed that the tertiary students, who have learned English for some 13 years, relied quite heavily on some logical connectives in writing, but very often these connectives are used too frequently and wrongly. Some teaching and learning strategies, therefore, need to be adopted to help students understand the correct way of using connectives in writing. Connectives are also called logical connectors (Leki 1989) logical devices (Byrne 1982) or conjunction (Halliday & Hasan 1976). For the sake of consistency, they are all referred as ‘connecmes’ in this paper. ConnectIves are one of the three rhetorical resources to produce a coherent written text (Byrne 1982). According to Byrne, connectives are ” words or phrases which Indicate meaning relationship between or within sentences” (p.18). If connectives are used appropriately, they will funcnon as text-organizers which allow sentence sequences to be understood as connected discourse rather than as autonomous sentences. As Halliday & Hasan noted, “With conjunction, we move into.a specificauon of the way in which what is to follow is systematically connected to what has gone before” (1976:227). Connectives, however, do not create relationships. They only express the cohesive relationships that already exist in the writer’s thinking. They are indicators or visible signals of the relationships. When these devices are used judiciously by good writers, they can point readers to the direction of the argument as intended by the writer, and thus improve the communicability of the text. Some research findings suggest that in some cases, especially in poor writing, the presence of connectives may not necessarily improve the readability or coherence of a text. “If the links are misused, the
ATM Promotes the Obligate XY Crossover and both Crossover Control and Chromosome Axis Integrity on Autosomes

During meiosis in most sexually reproducing organisms, recombination forms crossovers between homologous maternal and paternal chromosomes and thereby promotes proper chromosome segregation at the first meiotic division. The number and distribution of crossovers are tightly controlled, but the factors that contribute to this control are poorly understood in most organisms, including mammals. Here we provide evidence that the ATM kinase or protein is essential for proper crossover formation in mouse spermatocytes. ATM deficiency causes multiple phenotypes in humans and mice, including gonadal atrophy. Mouse Atm−/− spermatocytes undergo apoptosis at mid-prophase of meiosis I, but Atm−/− meiotic phenotypes are partially rescued by Spo11 heterozygosity, such that ATM-deficient spermatocytes progress to meiotic metaphase I. Strikingly, Spo11+/−Atm−/− spermatocytes are defective in forming the obligate crossover on the sex chromosomes, even though the XY pair is usually incorporated in a sex body and is transcriptionally inactivated as in normal spermatocytes. The XY crossover defect correlates with the appearance of lagging chromosomes at metaphase I, which may trigger the extensive metaphase apoptosis that is observed in these cells. In addition, control of the number and distribution of crossovers on autosomes appears to be defective in the absence of ATM because there is an increase in the total number of MLH1 foci, which mark the sites of eventual crossover formation, and because interference between MLH1 foci is perturbed. The axes of autosomes exhibit structural defects that correlate with the positions of ongoing recombination. Together, these findings indicate that ATM plays a role in both crossover control and chromosome axis integrity and further suggests that ATM is important for coordinating these features of meiotic chromosome dynamics.
Identification of Lactobacilli from Fecal Flora of Some Iranian Infants

Objective: During the past 20 years identification of lactobacilli (L) isolated from normal flora has received great interest due to their health promoting effects. This study has aimed at characterizing the lactobacillus strains isolated from the fecal flora of Iranian infants based on phenotypic oriented methods. Moreover, the diversity of identified species among tested infants has been looked into. Methods: Thirty two strains of lactobacilli were included in this study. The given strains were previously isolated from the fecal samples of 6 infants between 1-19 months of age. They are examined through 14 carbohydrate fermentation tests, growth ability at different temperatures and different concentrations of sodium chlorides. Cell and colony morphology were assessed as well. Findings: The examined strains were identified as L. acidophilus (12 strains), L. plantarum (9 strains), L. rhamnosus (7 strains), L. paracasei (3 strains) and L. fermentum (1 strain); 2 strains remained unidentified. Accordingly L. acidophilus was the most predominant species among tested samples. Conclusion: Some biochemical differences were obtained among the strains of L. acidophilus group and some morphological peculiarities were observed among the strains of L. paracasei and L. rhamnosus in comparison to the typical strains of L. casei group. These differences revealed the necessity of application of complementary molecular methods for clear identification of examined Lactobacillus strains.
Testing association with Fisher's Exact test

WHAT IS FISHER’S EXACT TEST? Undoubtedly the most widely known test of association between two binary variables is the 2×2 Chi-square (χ) test. However, many readers will also have learned about Fisher’s Exact test at some point – most likely in a basic statistics course – that Fisher’s Exact test is the advised, or in fact the obligatory, alternative to the 2×2 χ test in the situation that ‘the sample size is small’. It might seem surprising then that Fisher Exact tests have been used for all analyses of association in the article by Akintomide et al., even though the n available for analysis is >100 in all analyses reported, and despite the fact that the crosstabulations are not 2×2, but 3×3 or, in one case, 3×4. The fact is, Fisher’s Exact test of association between two categorical (classification) variables is much more widely applicable than basic statistics courses have led learners to believe. There is an historical reason why it has been so ‘overlooked’, and that is because of the torturous arithmetic calculations that are required to achieve the Fisher Exact test for a cross-tabulation with large overall n, even more so to complete tests analogous to 2×2 Fisher Exact test, for tables of larger dimension (R×C rather than 2×2). The calculations necessary would be pretty much impossible using a calculator, and have not even been much available in statistical software for personal computers. It is only with recent improvements in desktop computing power that the necessary procedures have come to be added into statistical software packages. Fisher’s Exact test (or an analogous test for tables larger than 2×2) enables, for any cross-classified R×C table, calculation of the exact probability of obtaining a set of cell frequencies at least as extreme as the observed data. Reflection on the size of this calculated probability then allows evaluation of the null hypothesis of no association (or equivalently, of independence) between the two classification variables.
Intercellular Calcium Signaling Occurs between Human Osteoblasts and Osteoclasts and Requires Activation of Osteoclast P2X7 Receptors*

Signaling between osteoblasts and osteoclasts is important in bone homeostasis. We previously showed that human osteoblasts propagate intercellular calcium signals via two mechanisms: autocrine activation of P2Y receptors, and gap junctional communication. In the current work we identified mechanically induced intercellular calcium signaling between osteoblasts and osteoclasts and among osteoclasts. Intercellular calcium responses in osteoclasts required P2 receptor activation but not gap junctional communication. Pharmacological studies and reverse transcriptase-PCR amplification demonstrated that human osteoclasts expressed functional P2Y1 receptors, but, unexpectedly, desensitization of P2Y1 did not block calcium signaling to osteoclasts. We also found that osteoclasts expressed functional P2X7 receptors and showed that pharmacological inhibition of these receptors blocked calcium signaling to osteoclasts. Thus these studies show that calcium signaling between osteoblasts and osteoclasts occurs via activation of P2 receptors, but that different families of P2 receptors are required for calcium signaling in these two cell types. Intercellular calcium signaling among bone cells is therefore amenable to pharmacological manipulation that will specifically affect only bone-forming or bone-resorbing cells. P2 receptors may be important drug targets for the modulation of bone turnover.
MHJ_0461 is a multifunctional leucine aminopeptidase on the surface of Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae

Aminopeptidases are part of the arsenal of virulence factors produced by bacterial pathogens that inactivate host immune peptides. Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae is a genome-reduced pathogen of swine that lacks the genetic repertoire to synthesize amino acids and relies on the host for availability of amino acids for growth. M. hyopneumoniae recruits plasmin(ogen) onto its cell surface via the P97 and P102 adhesins and the glutamyl aminopeptidase MHJ_0125. Plasmin plays an important role in regulating the inflammatory response in the lungs of pigs infected with M. hyopneumoniae. We show that recombinant MHJ_0461 (rMHJ_0461) functions as a leucine aminopeptidase (LAP) with broad substrate specificity for leucine, alanine, phenylalanine, methionine and arginine and that MHJ_0461 resides on the surface of M. hyopneumoniae. rMHJ_0461 also binds heparin, plasminogen and foreign DNA. Plasminogen bound to rMHJ_0461 was readily converted to plasmin in the presence of tPA. Computational modelling identified putative DNA and heparin-binding motifs on solvent-exposed sites around a large pore on the LAP hexamer. We conclude that MHJ_0461 is a LAP that moonlights as a multifunctional adhesin on the cell surface of M. hyopneumoniae.
Anxiety and Alcoholism: A Serotonin Link

The augmentation of serotonin (5-HT) neurotransmission attenuates alcohol consumption, whereas depletion enhances use. A number of serotonin-specific pharmacological probes appear to be effective in reducing the voluntary consumption of alcohol. The 5-HT1A receptor agonist buspirone is an anxiolytic which has been shown to diminish the desire to consume alcohol in anxious alcoholic patients. Thus, serotonin may represent a common denominator for a spectrum of behavioural disorders including anxiety and alcoholism. Novel serotonin drugs, such as the azapirones, may usefully supplement conventional treatment strategies for substance abuse.
Fuzzy Fine-Grained Code-History Analysis

Existing software-history techniques represent source-code evolution as an absolute and unambiguous mapping of lines of code in prior revisions to lines of code in subsequent revisions. However, the true evolutionary lineage of a line of code is often complex, subjective, and ambiguous. As such, existing techniques are predisposed to, both, overestimate and underestimate true evolution lineage. In this paper, we seek to address these issues by providing a more expressive model of code evolution, the fuzzy history graph, by representing code lineage as a continuous (i.e., fuzzy) metric rather than a discrete (i.e., absolute) one. Using this more descriptive model, we additionally provide a novel multi-revision code-history analysis — fuzzy history slicing. In our experiments over three real-world software systems, we found that the fuzzy history graph provides a tunable balance of precision and recall, and an overall improved accuracy over existing code-evolution models. Furthermore, we found that the use of such a fuzzy model of history provided improved accuracy for code-history analysis tasks.
Systematic simulation-based team training in a Swedish intensive care unit: a diverse response among critical care professions

Background Teamwork—that is, collaboration and communication—is an important factor for safe healthcare, but professions perceive the quality of teamwork differently. Objective To examine the relationship between simulation-based team training (SBTT) and different professions’ self-efficacy, experienced quality of collaboration and communication, perceptions of teamwork and safety, together with staff turnover. Methods All staff (n=151; physicians, nurses and nurse assistants) in an intensive care unit (ICU) at a university hospital were systematically trained over 2 years. Data on individual self-efficacy were measured using the self-efficacy questionnaire; the experienced quality of collaboration and communication, teamwork climate, safety climate and perception of working conditions were sampled using the ICU version of the safety attitudes questionnaire (SAQ). Staff turnover and sick leave was measured using the hospital's staff administration system for the intervention ICU and a control ICU in the same hospital. Results The perception of safety differed between professions before training. Nurses’ and physicians’ mean self-efficacy scores improved, and nurse assistants’ perceived quality of collaboration and communication with physician specialists improved after training. Nurse assistants’ perception of the SAQ factors teamwork climate, safety climate and working conditions were more positive after the project as well as nurses’ perception of safety climate. The number of nurses quitting their job and nurse assistants’ time on sick leave was reduced in comparison to the control ICU during the study period. Limitations Results for SAQ factors must be interpreted with caution given that Cronbach's α and inter-correlations for the SAQ factors showed lower values than benchmarking data. Conclusions All team members benefited from the SBTT in an authentic composed team, but this was expressed differently for the respective professions.
Comparison of Sealing Ability in the Apical Third of Tooth Root Canals after Post Preparation and Obturation with MTA Sealer and Epoxy Sealer

The success of endodontic treatment is largely dependent on the sealing achieved by root canal obturation. Some endodontically treated teeth require restoration using posts and cores. This involves partial removal of the root canal filling to create adequate space for the retention of the intracanal post. Root canal sealers, such as epoxy and Minerale Trioxide Aggregate (MTA) sealers that have excellent adhesive properties and sealing ability, are commonly used to maintain the obturation seal. The aim of this study was to compare the sealing ability of MTA and epoxy sealers in the apical third of the root canal after post preparation. Root canal preparation was carried out in 40 human teeth using a crown-down technique. Irrigation was performed using 2.5% NaOCl and 17% EDTA, and RC-Prep was used for lubrication. The canals were then filled with gutta percha and root canal sealers (MTA Fillapex or AH Plus) using a cold lateral condensation technique. The teeth were then decalcified using the Robertson technique and examined under a stereomicroscope. Post preparation was performed 7 days after obturation using a peeso reamer. The residual seal was measured by examining the extent of dye leakage, where a score of 1 indicated ink penetration up to 0–0.5 mm, a score of 2 indicated ink penetration up to 0.51–1 mm, and a score of 3 indicated ink penetration of >1 mm. The distribution of dye leakage scores in the SE group was 35%, 30%, and 35% for scores 1, 2, and 3, respectively. The corresponding distribution in the SM group was 25%, 30%, and 45% for scores 1, 2, and 3, respectively. Chi-square test showed no significant differences between the two groups. The extent of dye leakage observed suggested that the both types of root canal sealers (MTA Fillapex or AH Plus) exhibited similar sealability.
Monitoring of relative mitochondrial membrane potential in living cells by fluorescence microscopy

Permeant cationic fluorescent probes are shown to be selectively accumulated by the mitochondria of living cells. Mitochondria-specific interaction of such molecules is apparently dependent on the high trans- membrane potential (inside negative) maintained by functional mitochondria. Dissipation of the mitochondrial trans-membrane and potential by ionophores or inhibitors of electron transport eliminates the selective mitochondrial association of these compounds. The application of such potential-dependent probes in conjunction with fluorescence microscopy allows the monitoring of mitochondrial membrane potential in individual living cells. Marked elevations in mitochondria- associated probe fluorescence have been observed in cells engaged in active movement. This approach to the analysis of mitochondrial membrane potential should be of value in future investigations of the control of energy metabolism and energy requirements of specific biological functions at the cellular level.
Higher Graphical Fidelity Decreases Players' Access to Aggressive Concepts in Violent Video Games

Several features of violent video games (hence VVGs) may cause gamers to access aggressive concepts during play. Two of these features are graphical fidelity and use of narrative. In particular, the increased graphical fidelity of modern VVGs is widely theorised to cause increased access to aggressive concepts. However, despite this theoretical speculation, there is little empirical evidence of whether these formal features of VVGs actually do influence players to access aggressive concepts during play. Therefore, a 2x2 between-subjects factorial online experiment (N = 710) was employed. This examined the effects of graphical fidelity and narrative content on the extent to which players accessed aggression-related concepts when playing a VVG. Results indicated that the presence of realistic graphics in a video game representing aggression caused players to access aggressive concepts less (p = 0.014). The presence of narrative content was not found to have a statistically significant effect. Under an influential (though controversial) model of VVG effects known as the General Aggression Model, increased access to aggressive concepts causally contributes to anti-social behaviour by players of VVGs. These findings suggest that even if playing modern VVGs did lead to these negative effects, they would not be influenced by the increased graphical fidelity of modern VVGs.