Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Mechanical properties of brain tubulin and microtubules

We measured the elasticity and viscosity of brain tubulin solutions under various conditions with a cone and plate rheometer using both oscillatory and steady shearing modes. Microtubules composed of purified tubulin, purified tubulin with taxol and 3x cycled microtubule protein from pig, cow, and chicken behaved as mechanically indistinguishable viscoelastic materials. Microtubules composed of pure tubulin and heat stable microtubule-associated proteins were also similar but did not recover their mechanical properties after shearing like other samples, even after 60 min. All of the other microtubule samples were more rigid after flow orientation, suggesting that the mechanical properties of anisotropic arrays of microtubules may be substantially greater than those of randomly arranged microtubules. These experiments confirm that MAPs do not cross link microtubules. Surprisingly, under conditions where microtubule assembly is strongly inhibited (either 5 degrees or at 37 degrees C with colchicine or Ca++) tubulin was mechanically indistinguishable from microtubules at 10-20 microM concentration. By electron microscopy and ultracentrifugation these samples were devoid of microtubules or other obvious structures. However, these mechanical data are strong evidence that tubulin will spontaneously assemble into alternate structures (aggregates) in nonpolymerizing conditions. Because unpolymerized tubulin is found in significant quantities in the cytoplasm, it may contribute significantly to the viscoelastic properties of cytoplasm, especially at low deformation rates.
Monte Carlo Tree Search with Sampled Information Relaxation Dual Bounds

Monte Carlo Tree Search (MCTS), most famously used in game-play artificial intelligence (e.g., the game of Go), is a well-known strategy for constructing approximate solutions to sequential decision problems. Its primary innovation is the use of a heuristic, known as a default policy, to obtain Monte Carlo estimates of downstream values for states in a decision tree. This information is used to iteratively expand the tree towards regions of states and actions that an optimal policy might visit. However, to guarantee convergence to the optimal action, MCTS requires the entire tree to be expanded asymptotically. In this paper, we propose a new technique called Primal-Dual MCTS that utilizes sampled information relaxation upper bounds on potential actions, creating the possibility of "ignoring" parts of the tree that stem from highly suboptimal choices. This allows us to prove that despite converging to a partial decision tree in the limit, the recommended action from Primal-Dual MCTS is optimal. The new approach shows significant promise when used to optimize the behavior of a single driver navigating a graph while operating on a ride-sharing platform. Numerical experiments on a real dataset of 7,000 trips in New Jersey suggest that Primal-Dual MCTS improves upon standard MCTS by producing deeper decision trees and exhibits a reduced sensitivity to the size of the action space.
Violence, Human Insecurity, and the Challenge of Rebuilding Haiti

This article uses a set of case histories to describe the physical and social terrain of violence in Cité Soleil, Haiti, before and after the January 2010 earthquake. Employing empirical data, it aims to interrogate our standard categorization and analysis of violence and of community responses to violence. The study is guided by the practical questions of how individuals and groups navigate and respond to the ever-changing configurations of violence in their neighborhoods. This violence is considered both as specific to Haiti in its details and as an exemplar of a general problem that afflicts nations that are marginal to, and marginalized by, current processes of globalization.
THE DISCOVERY OF REMOTE GLOBULAR CLUSTERS IN M33

We present the discovery of four remote star clusters in M33, one of which is of an extended nature. Three of the clusters were discovered using survey data from the Isaac Newton Telescope Wide-Field Camera while one was discovered serendipitously in a deep image taken with the Hubble Space Telescope's Advanced Camera for Surveys. With projected radii of 38–113 arcmin (9.6–28.5 kpc for an assumed M33 distance of 870 kpc), these clusters lie significantly beyond all but one of the currently confirmed clusters in M33. The clusters have magnitudes and colors consistent with their being old to intermediate-age globular clusters (GCs). Indeed, they bear a strong resemblance to the outer halo GC population of the Milky Way and M31 in terms (V − I)0 color. The three outermost clusters are projected on the far side of M33 with respect to M31, an asymmetry that could suggest tidal interactions have affected M33's GC distribution at large radii.
Visual properties of neurons in area V4 of the macaque: sensitivity to stimulus form.

Area V4, a visuotopically organized area in prestriate cortex of the macaque, is the major source of visual input to the inferior temporal cortex, known to be crucial for object recognition. To examine the selectivity of cells in V4 for stimulus form, we quantitatively measured the responses of 322 cells to bars varying in length, width, orientation, and polarity of contrast, and sinusoidal gratings varying in spatial frequency, phase, orientation, and overall size. All of the cells recorded in V4 were located on the lower portion of the prelunate gyrus. Receptive fields were located almost exclusively within the representation of the central 5 degrees of the lower visual field, and receptive field size, in linear dimension, was 4-7 times greater than that in the corresponding representation of striate cortex (V1). Nearly all receptive fields consisted of overlapping dark and light zones, like "classic" complex fields in V1, but the relative strengths of the dark and light zones often differed. A few cells responded exclusively to light or dark stimuli. Many cells in V4 were selective for stimulus orientation, and a few were selective for direction of motion as well. Although the median orientation bandwidth of the orientation-selective cells (52 degrees) was wider than that reported for oriented cells in V1, approximately 8% of the oriented cells had bandwidths of less than 30 degrees, which is nearly as narrow as the most narrowly tuned cells in V1. The proportion of cells selective for direction of motion (13%) was not markedly different from that reported in V1. The large majority of V4 cells were tuned to the length and width of bars, and the "shape" of the optimal bar varied from cell to cell, as has been reported for cells in the dorsolateral visual area (DL) of the owl monkey, a possible homologue of V4 in the macaque. Preferred lengths and widths varied independently from approximately 0.05 to 6 degrees, with the smallest preferred bars about the size of the smallest receptive fields in V1 and the largest preferred bars larger than any fields in V1. The relationship between the size of the optimal bar and the size of the receptive field varied from cell to cell. Some cells, for example, responded best to bars much narrower or shorter than the field, whereas other cells responded best to bars that filled (but did not extend beyond) the excitatory field in the length, width, or both dimensions. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Life pathways or lonely dead-ends? The transition from secondary school to post-school life for adolescents with vision impairment

This literature review confirms that, for all young people, including those with vision impairment, transition from secondary school to adult life is a period filled with challenges and complications (Konarska, 2007). For this reason, transition-to-post school has been well-researched. Yet, few studies have examined how adolescents with vision impairment are prepared for post-school life, how they transition, and how they partake in post-school life. Despite the provision of a disability-specific curriculum, ongoing support from specialist staff, and the design and implementation of individual transition plans, research has indicated that young people with vision impairment find the transition to post-school difficult, face social isolation, and experience high levels of unemployment and underemployment. Although many of these young people have the cognitive capacity to contribute to and participate in society, most encounter difficulties in the social world and the world of work that minimise their contributions and diminish their life satisfaction. This chapter reviews literature on the transition pathways of adolescents with vision impairment and identified difficulties within the world of work and the social world, including employer attitudes and concerns about hiring a person with vision impairment and initiating and maintaining friendships.
Parenting behaviours and children's development

DfES study looking at parenting behaviours and children's development from infancy to early childhood, focusing on the parenting behaviour categories of mother-child interaction, a stimulating home environment and outside activities and their effects on child development outcomes of social, fine motor and gross motor skills. The researchers use the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, to look at the effects of parenting on early child development, from 6 months to 3 half years, and its implications for policy on parenting support, non-cognitive skill development and social mobility
Women's attitudes to and perceptions of oral health and dental care during pregnancy

Abstract Aims: To assess pregnant women's opinions on and perceptions of oral health and their relationship to oral hygiene and dental care practices. Methods: Questionnaire survey on perceived oral health, oral hygiene and utilization of dental services among 649 nulliparae attending for antenatal care at all public antenatal clinics in Adelaide, South Australia. Results: Women rated their general health significantly better than their oral health (P<0.001) and attributed more importance to healthy teeth for their baby than for themselves (P<0.001). Only 35% had dental care during pregnancy; 35% had no dental visit for at least two years and 27% reported cost as a major deterrent. Eighteen percent had experienced gingival bleeding before pregnancy and 41% during pregnancy. Gingival bleeding outside pregnancy was clearly related to perceived oral health (P<0.001), but this was less so for bleeding during pregnancy. The latter was not related to age, level of education, employment, marital status, or smoking habits. Only 38% of women with gingival bleeding in pregnancy had a dental care visit in pregnancy and 28% considered their oral health as very good. Conclusions: Many pregnant women do not perceive gingival bleeding as indicating inflammatory disease and seek no professional help for it. Maternity care providers need to devote more attention to oral health in antenatal clinics and antenatal education.
A New Stochastic Model of Electric Arc Furnace Based on Hidden Markov Model: A Study of Its Effects on the Power System

Electric arc furnaces (EAFs) are nonlinear and time-variant loads that cause severe fluctuations of current, voltage, and current harmonics, voltage flicker, frequency changes, etc. The requirement is to present an accurate model to analyze the function of these types of loads. In this paper, a new model based on hidden Markov model theory is presented for an electric arc. For this purpose, the characteristic of the arc voltage-current is divided into four regions. Then, on the basis of actual measured samples of an electric arc in several functioning cycles of EAF, different operating points are generated in the form of statistical probability, corresponding to hidden Markov theory in the aforementioned four regions. The arc model is designed in the form of a current-dependent voltage source. Therefore, the proposed model is without linear approximation and corresponds to the actual state. Also, in order to be accurate in flicker modeling, a voltage is randomly considered for the arc model. After designing the aforementioned model, the effects resulting from this electric load in the power system are studied and analyzed. The simulation results are compared with the measured arc to show the accuracy and soundness of the model.
Acute responses of soccer match play on hip strength and flexibility measures: potential measure of injury risk

Abstract Regular measurements of groin risk factors may offer a preventive measure against injury. Therefore, the aim of this study was to (1) determine minimal detectable change (MDC) and reliability of hip flexibility and strength measures and to (2) identify the effect soccer match play load has on these measures. Reliability was determined for bent knee fall out test, hip abduction and adduction (hand-held dynamometry (HHD)) in 20 trained youth male soccer players. Reliability was evaluated with the intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC[2,1]), 95% confidence intervals (CI). Hip strength and flexibility measures were taken before and after an international friendly match. Intra-rater reliability ICC ranges were bent knee fall out (0.75–0.90), abduction (0.83–0.90) and adduction (0.72–0.96). Inter-rater ICCs (95% CI) were bent knee fall out test [0.75 (0.39–0.90) right, 0.71 (0.27–0.89) left hip]; abduction [0.80 (0.50–0.92) right, 0.81 (0.53–0.92) left hip] and adduction [0.72 (0.31–0.89) right, 0.70 (0.26–0.88) left hip]. MDCs were as low as 20.7% of the mean for hip flexibility and 12.5% for strength. In conclusion, HHD and the bent knee fall out test are reliable tools to measure changes in hip strength and flexibility. Finally, a threshold may exist in which match play load negatively impacts hip flexibility.
Evaluation of breakdown characteristics of oil-immersed transformers under non-standard lightning impulse waveforms - definition of non-standard lightning impulse waveforms and insulation characteristics for waveforms including pulses

To lower the insulation specifications (specifically, the lightning impulse withstand voltage) of oil-immersed transformers and thus cut the equipment cost while maintaining the high reliability in its insulation performance, it is necessary to grasp in an organized way the insulation characteristics under non-standard lightning impulse voltage waveforms that represent actual surge waveforms encountered in the field and compare them with the characteristics under the standard lightning impulse waveform quantitatively. As described in this paper, the first step in a series of study for the purpose above was taken by analyzing lightning surge waveforms and restriking surge waveforms such as disconnector switching surge waveforms at UHV, 500 kV, and 275 kV substations and identifying four typical non-standard lightning impulse waveforms with basic frequencies of 0.24 to 1.0 MHz. Then, two of these non-standard lightning impulse waveforms, the single-pulse waveform which is the most basic type and the waveform with a pulse in the crest and a subsequent flat section, were used to measure the breakdown voltage and the partial discharge inception voltage while changing the parameters, on three models that represent the insulation elements of windings of oil-immersed transformers. Then, the resultant average breakdown voltages were evaluated in terms of the overvoltage durations, leading to a result of formulating them in a unified way. In the tested range, the dielectric breakdown values under non-standard lightning impulse waveforms were higher, marking 52% at the maximum, than those under standard lightning impulse waveforms in all the cases, suggesting a possibility of lowering the insulation specifications of an oil-immersed transformer
OBSERVATIONS ON THE HISTOPATHOLOGY OF SCHIZOPHRENIA

1. Ten selected cases of schizophrenia from a group of 6o have been studied clinically and pathologically with special emphasis on the cortex. 2. Although the gross appearance of the brain was not at all distinctive, the microscopic picture was such as to suggest the diagnosis. 3. The main microscopic findings were: focal and general loss of nerve cells, especially in the anterior half of the brain; the presence of numerous nerve cells showing degenerative changes, such as shrinkage, vacuolization of cytoplasm, "ghost-cells," loss of polarity, and fatty infiltration. A fairly uniform hyperplasia and hypertrophy of macroglia was noted. A diffuse mild subcortical demyelinization was present. 4. There was no involvement of the mesodermal components of the brain. 5. An increasing array of evidence in many related fields is accumulating to bolster the contention that schizophrenia should be included among the "organic" psychoses.
Integrating philosophy with anthropology in an approach to morality

Philosophy and anthropology need to integrate their accounts of what a morality is. I identify three desiderata that an account of morality should satisfy: (1) it should recognize significant diversity and variation in the major kinds of value, (2) it should specify a set of criteria for what counts as a morality, and (3) it should indicate the basis for distinguishing between more or less justifiable moralities, or true and false moralities. I will discuss why these three desiderata are hard to satisfy at the same time, and why they are controversial. Anthropologists and philosophers will differ on which ones they are inclined to reject. I argue that all three should be accepted and can be satisfied.
Metaheuristics for the waste collection vehicle routing problem with time windows

In this problem there is a set of customers which waste is collected by vehicles.Vehicles can visit waste disposal facilities during their working day to empty collected waste and hence continue to collect from customers.The vehicles start and end their routes at a single depot empty.We take into consideration time windows associated with customers, disposal facilities and the depot.Here, we also have a driver rest period.The problem is solved using a number of metaheuristic algorithms namely tabu search (TS) and variable neighbourhood search (VNS). More over, we also present a combined metaheuristic algorithm based on variable neighbourhood tabu search (VNTS). Where the variable neighbourhood is searched via tabu search.Computational experiments on ten publicly available waste collection benchmark problems involving up to 2092 customers and 19 waste disposal facilities indicates that the proposed algorithms are able to find better quality solutions than previous work presented in literature within reasonable computation times.
African Trypanosomiasis Gambiense, Italy

African trypanosomiasis caused by Trypanosoma brucei gambiense has not been reported in Italy. We report 2 cases diagnosed in the summer of 2004. Theses cases suggest an increased risk for expatriates working in trypanosomiasis-endemic countries. Travel medicine clinics should be increasingly aware of this potentially fatal disease.
[Maintenance and improvement of quality of life among elderly patients using a pet-type robot].

There have been reports of cases in which quality of life and loneliness of elderly people have been affected by interaction with the pet-type robot AIBO. In the present comparison between first and 20th sessions of activity with the pet-type robot, statistically significant improvements were observed in speech, emotional words and satisfaction index. The AKO loneliness scale value was 3.33 at the first session, and was 1.00 at the 20th session (statistically significant decrease). In a comparison of health-related QOL before and after interaction with AIBO, using the SF-36 survey, role function (RP) was statistically higher at the 20th session than at the first session. Evaluation by CgA, a mental stress index, showed a statistically significant decrease as the number of AIBO sessions increased. Case 1: The patient was a 68-year-old woman with chronic rheumatoid arthritis. Her AKO loneliness scale value was 4 on the first session and 1 on the 20th session. She said, "I do not think about anything while playing with the pet-type robot. It heals my mind. " Case 2: The patient was a 74-year-old woman with cervical osteochondrosis. Her AKO loneliness scale value was 5 on the first session and 2 on the 20th session. She said, "The first time, I didn't like playing with the robot because I was depressed. After I had played with the robot several times, I felt good. " Case 3: The patient was an 84-year-old man with cerebral apoplexy sequelae. His AKO loneliness scale value was 6 on the first session and 1 on the 20th session. He sang with the robot occasionally. The amount of conversation between him and his children greatly increased. Unlike animals, a pet robot does not carry the risk of bacterial infection. The present results suggest the possibility of using robots as a substitute for animal-assisted therapy and other psychosocial therapy in aseptic rooms, ICUs, children's wards, and special care wards for patients with dementia.
Localization of Presynaptic Plasticity Mechanisms Enables Functional Independence of Synaptic and Ectopic Transmission in the Cerebellum

In the cerebellar molecular layer parallel fibre terminals release glutamate from both the active zone and from extrasynaptic “ectopic” sites. Ectopic release mediates transmission to the Bergmann glia that ensheathe the synapse, activating Ca2+-permeable AMPA receptors and glutamate transporters. Parallel fibre terminals exhibit several forms of presynaptic plasticity, including cAMP-dependent long-term potentiation and endocannabinoid-dependent long-term depression, but it is not known whether these presynaptic forms of long-term plasticity also influence ectopic transmission to Bergmann glia. Stimulation of parallel fibre inputs at 16 Hz evoked LTP of synaptic transmission, but LTD of ectopic transmission. Pharmacological activation of adenylyl cyclase by forskolin caused LTP at Purkinje neurons, but only transient potentiation at Bergmann glia, reinforcing the concept that ectopic sites lack the capacity to express sustained cAMP-dependent potentiation. Activation of mGluR1 caused depression of synaptic transmission via retrograde endocannabinoid signalling but had no significant effect at ectopic sites. In contrast, activation of NMDA receptors suppressed both synaptic and ectopic transmission. The results suggest that the signalling mechanisms for presynaptic LTP and retrograde depression by endocannabinoids are restricted to the active zone at parallel fibre synapses, allowing independent modulation of synaptic transmission to Purkinje neurons and ectopic transmission to Bergmann glia.
Older women talk about anger

Very little is known about older women’s anger and, to date, nothing is known about how older women talk about anger. By limiting response options on questionnaires and using pre-determined categories to organize interview data, researchers have traditionally determined what constitutes anger and its expression. The unique focus on anger-talk in the current investigation sheds light on how the interviewer and interviewees co-construct anger within the context of a research interview. I conducted a discourse analysis of seven interview transcripts in order to explore two central questions: (1) how is anger co-constructed in participants’ discourse? and (2) what is accomplished by those constructions? The older women in the present study used minimizing and distancing strategies to construct anger as within their control, in the past, and forgotten. Through these constructions, the interviewees established that they were not “angry women. ”