Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Eigenfracture: An Eigendeformation Approach to Variational Fracture

We propose an approximation scheme for a variational theory of brittle fracture. In this scheme, the energy functional is approximated by a family of functionals depending on a small parameter and on two fields: the displacement field and an eigendeformation field that describes the fractures that occur in the body. Specifically, the eigendeformations allow the displacement field to develop jumps that cost no local elastic energy. However, this local relaxation requires the expenditure of a certain amount of fracture energy. We provide a construction, based on the con- sideration of e-neighborhoods of the support of the eigendeformation field, for calculating the right amount of fracture energy associated with the eigendeformation field. We prove the Γ-convergence of the eigendeformation functional sequence, and of finite element approximations of the eigende- formation functionals, to the Griffith-type energy functional introduced in Francfort and Marigo (J. Mech. Phys. Solids, 46 (1998), pp. 1319-1342). This type of convergence ensures the convergence of eigendeformation solutions, and of finite element approximations thereof, to brittle-fracture solu- tions. Numerical examples concerned with quasi-static mixed-mode crack propagation illustrate the versatility and robustness of the approach and its ability to predict crack-growth patterns in brittle solids.
Dental Care Knowledge and Practice of a Group of Health Workers in Benin City, Nigeria

Background: The correlation between knowledge of dental care knowledge and its practice varies among the different health professionals. Aim: The aim of the following study is to assess the knowledge and practice of health workers in a private medical health facility on dental care. Subjects and Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out on the health workers in Faith Medical Center, Benin City, Nigeria. A self-administered questionnaire, containing 31 open and closed questions was used for data collection to assess their knowledge and practice of dental care. The data was analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 17.0 (Chicago, IL, USA) and WIN PEPI software version 11.15. Results: None of the respondents had a poor knowledge of dental care, but majority had poor practice. The pattern of distribution of knowledge and practice of dental care observed in this study was not significantly affected by age, gender, occupation and working experience. The entire respondents knew that bleeding from the gum is not normal and 96.2% (75/78) gave correct causes of bleeding gums. Majority 88.5% (69/78) also knew that tooth decay is not normal, but fewer 66.6% (52/78) knew the correct causes of tooth decay. Only 37.2% (29/75) of the respondents took correct action after experiencing a toothache (i.e., consulting a dentist for proper management) and majority 80.8% (63/78) and 76.1% (60/78) still make use of toothpicks, which is considered as potentially harmful and frequently consume cariogenic diet respectively. Conclusion: There is a good knowledge of dental care, but poor oral health practices among the studied health workers. Oral health education to correct their improper practices is therefore highly advocated.
Retrospective study of possible alpha-2 mu-globulin nephropathy and associated cell proliferation in male Fischer 344 rats dosed with t-butyl alcohol.

Tert-butyl alcohol, an important commodity chemical, additive to unleaded gasoline, and contaminant of drinking water, was evaluated for toxicity and was found to enhance nephropathy in male Fischer 344 rats. Because male rats treated with t-butyl alcohol for 2 years had a low incidence of renal cortical tumors, additional renal sections for the 90-day toxicity study were examined for the presence of hyaline droplet accumulation, nephropathy, and evidence of replicative DNA synthesis (S-phase nuclei) to indirectly and retrospectively investigate a possible role of alpha-2 mu-globulin in the pathogenesis of the nephropathy. Dose levels for t-butyl alcohol were 0, 0.25, 0.5, 1, 2, and 4% (w/v) administered in drinking water. Significant body weight gain depressions were observed in all treated males, and there was an absolute weight loss in the 4% male group, none of which survived to the end of the study. Except for the 4% dose group, there was a treatment-related increase in hyaline droplet accumulation in the renal proximal tubules with crystalline, rectangular, and rhomboid forms of the protein evident. The severity of nephropathy was enhanced in treated rats, except for the 4% dose group. Replicative DNA synthesis, as measured by immunohistochemical staining for proliferating cell nuclear antigen, was increased in proximal tubules of rats dosed with 2% t-butyl alcohol. It is concluded that t-butyl alcohol exacerbated nephropathy in male Fischer 344 rats and increased renal accumulation of hyaline protein material consistent with alpha-2 mu-globulin deposition. ImagesFIGURE 2.FIGURE 3.FIGURE 4.FIGURE 5.FIGURE 7.
Entrepreneurship , Financial Intermediation and Aggregate Activity

This paper studies the effects of credit market imperfections on output, the average size and distribution of firms and the level of financial intermediation of the economy. We build a dynamic general equilibrium model with heterogeneous agents. Households choose whether to become workers or entrepreneurs depending on their own productivity shock and asset level. If they decide to operate a firm, they will not be able to borrow as much as needed because of the imperfect enforceability of borrowing contracts. As a consequence, the output level of the firm will depend on the assets level of the owner. Our main finding is that income per capita would increase a 30% if we could move to an economy with perfect capital markets for firms. Also the number of firms would go up around 33% and their average size as measured by their capital by a factor of four.
Transcriptional control of floral anthocyanin pigmentation in monkeyflowers (Mimulus).

A molecular description of the control of floral pigmentation in a multi-species group displaying various flower color patterns is of great interest for understanding the molecular bases of phenotypic diversification and pollinator-mediated speciation. Through transcriptome profiling, mutant analyses and transgenic experiments, we aim to establish a 'baseline' floral anthocyanin regulation model in Mimulus lewisii and to examine the different ways of tinkering with this model in generating the diversity of floral anthocyanin patterns in other Mimulus species. We find one WD40 and one bHLH gene controlling anthocyanin pigmentation in the entire corolla of M. lewisii and two R2R3-MYB genes, PELAN and NEGAN, controlling anthocyanin production in the petal lobe and nectar guide, respectively. The autoregulation of NEGAN might be a critical property to generate anthocyanin spots. Independent losses of PELAN expression (via different mechanisms) explain two natural yellow-flowered populations of M. cardinalis (typically red-flowered). The NEGAN ortholog is the only anthocyanin-activating MYB expressed in the M. guttatus flowers. The mutant lines and transgenic tools available for M. lewisii will enable gene-by-gene replacement experiments to dissect the genetic and developmental bases of more complex floral color patterns, and to test hypotheses on phenotypic evolution in general.
Face-Space: A Unifying Concept in Face Recognition Research

The concept of a multidimensional psychological space, in which faces can be represented according to their perceived properties, is fundamental to the modern theorist in face processing. Yet the idea was not clearly expressed until 1991. The background that led to the development of face-space is explained, and its continuing influence on theories of face processing is discussed. Research that has explored the properties of the face-space and sought to understand caricature, including facial adaptation paradigms, is reviewed. Face-space as a theoretical framework for understanding the effect of ethnicity and the development of face recognition is evaluated. Finally, two applications of face-space in the forensic setting are discussed. From initially being presented as a model to explain distinctiveness, inversion, and the effect of ethnicity, face-space has become a central pillar in many aspects of face processing. It is currently being developed to help us understand adaptation effects with faces. While being in principle a simple concept, face-space has shaped, and continues to shape, our understanding of face perception.
The cultural context of caregiving: a comparison of Alzheimer's caregivers in Shanghai, China and San Diego, California

Background. Systematic comparisons of the psychological and physical responses of caregivers of Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients in the US and China have not been previously reported. Methods. Informal caregivers of community dwelling AD patients in Shanghai, China and demographically-matched non-caregiving Chinese controls were compared with a sample of American caregivers residing in San Diego, California and demographically-matched American controls. Results. Despite some demographic discrepancies, caregivers from both China and the US were similar. Caregivers from both cultures reported more depressive symptoms and more physical symptoms when compared with non-caregivers. Both groups of caregivers reported that patients required similar amounts of care and help with activities of daily living (ADLs). However, Shanghai caregivers reported less access to emotional support when compared with the San Diego sample. A conceptual model, guided by the stress process model of Pearlin et al. (1990), was used to explore multivariate relationships between caregiver characteristics and the physical and psychological health of our sample of AD caregivers in Shanghai, China. Results from a path analytical procedure revealed that the relationships among these variables and health outcome did not differ significantly from those observed in the US sample. Conclusions. Although elderly family members are venerated in the stereotypical Chinese family unit, and informal caregiving of disabled family members is socially mandated, the negative health consequences of caregiving appear to be similar to those observed among caregivers in the US.
Single-molecule kinetics reveal microscopic mechanism by which High-Mobility Group B proteins alter DNA flexibility

Eukaryotic High-Mobility Group B (HMGB) proteins alter DNA elasticity while facilitating transcription, replication and DNA repair. We developed a new single-molecule method to probe non-specific DNA interactions for two HMGB homologs: the human HMGB2 box A domain and yeast Nhp6Ap, along with chimeric mutants replacing neutral N-terminal residues of the HMGB2 protein with cationic sequences from Nhp6Ap. Surprisingly, HMGB proteins constrain DNA winding, and this torsional constraint is released over short timescales. These measurements reveal the microscopic dissociation rates of HMGB from DNA. Separate microscopic and macroscopic (or local and non-local) unbinding rates have been previously proposed, but never independently observed. Microscopic dissociation rates for the chimeric mutants (∼10 s−1) are higher than those observed for wild-type proteins (∼0.1–1.0 s−1), reflecting their reduced ability to bend DNA through short-range interactions, despite their increased DNA-binding affinity. Therefore, transient local HMGB–DNA contacts dominate the DNA-bending mechanism used by these important architectural proteins to increase DNA flexibility.
The Objective Evaluation Index (OEI) for Evaluation of Night Vision Colorization Techniques

A night vision colorization technique can produce colorized imagery with a naturalistic and stable color appearance by processing multispectral night vision (NV) imagery. The multi‐ spectral images typically include visual-band (e.g., red, green, and blue (RGB), or intensified) imagery and infrared imagery (e.g., near infrared (NIR) and long wave infrared (LWIR)). Although appropriately false-colored imagery is often helpful for human observers in improving their performance on scene classification and reaction time tasks (Waxman et al., 1996; Essock et al., 1999), inappropriate color mappings can also be detrimental to human performance (Toet et al., 2001; Varga, 1999). A possible reason is lack of physical color constancy. Another drawback with false coloring is that observers need specific training with each of the false color schemes so that they can correctly and quickly recognize objects; whereas with colorized nighttime imagery rendered with natural colors, users should be able to readily recognize and identify objects without any training.
The Streptococcus mutans Aminotransferase Encoded by ilvE Is Regulated by CodY and CcpA

ABSTRACT The aminotransferase IlvE was implicated in the acid tolerance response of Streptococcus mutans when a mutation in its gene resulted in an acid-sensitive phenotype (B. Santiago, M. MacGilvray, R. C. Faustoferri, and R. G. Quivey, Jr., J. Bacteriol. 194:2010–2019, 2012). The phenotype suggested that amino acid metabolism is important for acid adaptation, as turnover of branched-chain amino acids (bcAAs) could provide important signals to modulate expression of genes involved in the adaptive process. Previous studies have demonstrated that ilvE is regulated in response to the external pH, though the mechanism is not yet established. CodY and CcpA have been shown to regulate expression of branched-chain amino acid biosynthetic genes, suggesting that the ability to sense carbon flow and the nutritional state of the cell also plays a role in the regulation of ilvE. Electrophoretic mobility shift assays using the ilvE promoter and a purified recombinant CodY protein provided evidence of the physical interaction between CodY and ilvE. In order to elucidate the signals that contribute to ilvE regulation, cat reporter fusions were utilized. Transcriptional assays demonstrated that bcAAs are signaling molecules involved in the repression of ilvE through regulation of CodY. In a codY deletion background, ilvE transcription was elevated, indicating that CodY acts a repressor of ilvE transcription. Conversely, in a ccpA deletion background, ilvE transcription was reduced, showing that CcpA activated ilvE transcription. The effects of both regulators were directly relevant for transcription of ilvE under conditions of acid stress, demonstrating that both regulators play a role in acid adaptation.
Combining video subsequences for human action recognition

Human action recognition is an active area with applications in several domains such as visual surveillance, video retrieval and human-computer interaction. Current approaches assign action labels to video streams considering the whole video as a single image sequence. Such approaches, albeit very refined, may fail on some samples due to large variability between frames, suggesting that features extracted from training videos may adopt description and classification models that may better represent video portions rather than the whole stream. To this aim, in this paper we propose a multiple subsequence combination method dividing the video into a number of consecutive subsequences and classifying each one applying a part-based method in conjunction with the bag of visual words approach. We classify a video combining subsequence labels according to rules inspired by the multiple expert system framework. We extensively tested our approach on the KTH, UCF sport and Youtube datasets showing, on the one side, that it outperforms a method classifying action using the whole stream and, on the other side, that its performance are robust and stable throughout all the datasets since our best results are comparable with the best published ones.
Performance Analysis of Wireless Networks Over Rayleigh Fading Channel

Employing a cross-layer approach, the explicit relationships between the fading channel characteristics and the significant teletraffic variables as well as the performance metrics in wireless network evaluation are formulated. In particular, the channel holding time, handoff probability, handoff call arrival rate, call blocking probability, call completion probability, and forced termination probability are developed, taking into account the carrier frequency (or equivalently wavelength), maximum Doppler frequency, and fade margin. In addition, the set of formulas are derived with the generalized assumptions for the call holding time and cell residence time. The analytical model has been validated by the simulation with the conventional exponential model and, additionally, the relaxed models for call holding time and cell residence time, e.g., Erlang and hyper-Erlang. The comparison demonstrates that the traditional result without considering the fading channel characteristics leads to substantially overestimated call blocking probability and call completion probability. The methodology presented in this paper provides a feasible manner for the wireless network cross-layer design and optimization
Supraphysiological doses of performance enhancing anabolic-androgenic steroids exert direct toxic effects on neuron-like cells

Anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS) are lipophilic hormones often taken in excessive quantities by athletes and bodybuilders to enhance performance and increase muscle mass. AAS exert well known toxic effects on specific cell and tissue types and organ systems. The attention that androgen abuse has received lately should be used as an opportunity to educate both athletes and the general population regarding their adverse effects. Among numerous commercially available steroid hormones, very few have been specifically tested for direct neurotoxicity. We evaluated the effects of supraphysiological doses of methandienone and 17-α-methyltestosterone on sympathetic-like neuron cells. Vitality and apoptotic effects were analyzed, and immunofluorescence staining and western blot performed. In this study, we demonstrate that exposure of supraphysiological doses of methandienone and 17-α-methyltestosterone are toxic to the neuron-like differentiated pheochromocytoma cell line PC12, as confirmed by toxicity on neurite networks responding to nerve growth factor and the modulation of the survival and apoptosis-related proteins ERK, caspase-3, poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase and heat-shock protein 90. We observe, in contrast to some previous reports but in accordance with others, expression of the androgen receptor (AR) in neuron-like cells, which when inhibited mitigated the toxic effects of AAS tested, suggesting that the AR could be binding these steroid hormones to induce genomic effects. We also note elevated transcription of neuritin in treated cells, a neurotropic factor likely expressed in an attempt to resist neurotoxicity. Taken together, these results demonstrate that supraphysiological exposure to the AAS methandienone and 17-α-methyltestosterone exert neurotoxic effects by an increase in the activity of the intrinsic apoptotic pathway and alterations in neurite networks.
Repeated restraint stress suppresses neurogenesis and induces biphasic PSA‐NCAM expression in the adult rat dentate gyrus

Chronic restraint stress has been shown to induce structural remodelling throughout the interconnected dentate gyrus‐CA3 fields. To find out how this stressor affects the rate of adult hippocampal neurogenesis, we subjected rats to acute or chronic restraint stress and assessed the proliferation, survival and differentiation of newly born cells in the dentate gyrus. We also examined polysialylated neural cell adhesion molecule expression, a molecule normally expressed in immature neurons and important for morphological plasticity. The results show that acute restraint stress did not change either the proliferation of dentate gyrus precursor cells or the expression of polysialylated neural cell adhesion molecule, whereas 3 weeks of chronic restraint stress suppressed proliferation by 24% and increased polysialylated neural cell adhesion molecule expression by 40%. The study was extended for an additional 3 weeks to trace the survival and development of the cells born after the initial 3 weeks of restraint. Rats subjected to 6 weeks of daily restraint stress exhibited suppressed cell proliferation and attenuated survival of the recently born cells after the extended time course, resulting in a 47% reduction of granule cell neurogenesis. Furthermore, 6 weeks of chronic stress significantly reduced the total number of granule cells by 13% and the granule cell layer volume by 5%. Expression of polysialylated neural cell adhesion molecule followed a biphasic time course, displaying a significant up‐regulation after 3 weeks of daily restraint stress that was lost after 6 weeks of stress. These studies may help us understand the basis for hippocampal shrinkage and raise questions about the ultimate reversibility of the effects of chronic stress.
ASIC Implementation of Low Power Area Efficient Folded Binary Comparator

ASIC implementation of a parallel binary comparator based on radix-2 tree structure, utilizing Carry Look Ahead (CLA) technique is proposed in this brief. This novel comparator architecture achieves both low power and high-speed operation, particularly at low-input data activity environments. The proposed comparator is designed using VHDL code and synthesized using ALTERA QUARTUS - II. Experimental evaluation of the proposed and state of-the-art designs revealed that the proposed comparator design exhibits a reduction in delay by 49.8% and gate count by 42.6% for a 16 bit design, compared to the best of the schemes used for comparison. Keyword - Binary comparator Digital Arithmetic, Tree Structure, Carry Look Ahead, Priority encoding.
Comparative Genome Analysis of the Daptomycin-Resistant Streptococcus anginosus Strain J4206 Associated with Breakthrough Bacteremia

Streptococcus anginosus is a member of the normal oral flora that can become a pathogen causing pyogenic infections in humans. The genome of daptomycin-resistant strain J4206, originally isolated from a patient suffering from breakthrough bacteremia and septic shock at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, was determined. The circular genome is 2,001,352 bp long with a GC content of 38.62% and contains multiple mobile genetic elements, including the phage-like chromosomal island SanCI that mediates a mutator phenotype, transposons, and integrative conjugative elements. Daptomycin resistance involves multiple alterations in the cell membrane and cell wall, and unique features were identified in J4206 that may contribute to resistance. A cluster of capsular polysaccharide (CPS) genes for choline metabolism and transport are present that may help neutralize cell surface charges, destabilizing daptomycin binding. Further, unique J4206 genes encoding sortases and LPXTG-target proteins that are involved in cell wall modification were present. The J4206 genome is phylogenetically closely related to the recently reported vancomycin-resistant SA1 strain; however, these genomes differ with SNPs in cardiolipin synthetase, histidine kinase yycG, teichoic acid modification genes, and other genes involved in cell surface modification. Transmission electron microscopy showed that the cell walls of both strains J4206 and SA1 were significantly thicker and more electron dense than daptomycin- and vancomycin-sensitive strain J4211. This comparative genomic study has identified unique genes as well as allelic variants in the J4206 genome that are involved in cell surface modification and thus might contribute to the acquisition of daptomycin resistance.