Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Variation in dissolved oxygen concentration and its effect on the activated sludge properties studied at a full scale wastewater treatment plant

Aeration of activated sludge is very costly and therefore it is desirable to operate the treatment plant at as low DO concentration as possible without risking poor effluent quality. This paper presents a study of the impact of DO concentration on sludge properties at a full scale wastewater treatment plant which utilizes pre-denitrification followed by aeration in activated sludge and with post-nitrification in nitrifying trickling filters. The DO concentration has in the past generally been kept high at the plant (> 5 mg/l) as it has been believed to give better effluent quality. During later years attempts have been made to reduce the DO concentration to 2-3 mg/l. In this study the DO set-point was changed every 3 weeks between 2 and 4 mg/l for a few months. Also short term effects of change in DO concentration was assessed by changing the DO concentration in the three parallel activated sludge tanks to 1, 3 and 5 mg/l for a few hours. The results show that the impact of DO concentration is hard to assess as the process is subjected to constant changes in the environmental conditions. The settling properties were not influenced significantly whereas slight negative effects of reduced DO concentration on effluent quality could be seen. The microscopic investigation showed a tendency towards poorer sludge properties at a DO concentration of 2 mg/l compared to at 4 mg/l.
Effects of Vitamin D3, Calcipotriol and FTY720 on the Expression of Surface Molecules and Cytolytic Activities of Human Natural Killer Cells and Dendritic Cells

We describe here the effects of three drugs that are either approved or have the potential for treating multiple sclerosis (MS) patients through the in vitro activities of human natural killer (NK) cells and dendritic cells (DCs). Our results indicate that 1,25(OH)2D3, the biologically active metabolite vitamin D3, calcipotriol and FTY720 augment IL-2-activated NK cell lysis of K562 and RAJI tumor cell lines as well as immature (i) and mature (m) DCs, with variable efficacies. These results are corroborated with the ability of the drugs to up-regulate the expression of NK cytotoxicity receptors NKp30 and NKp44, as well as NKG2D on the surfaces of NK cells. Also, they down-regulate the expression of the killer inhibitory receptor CD158. The three drugs down-regulate the expression of CCR6 on the surface of iDCs, whereas vitamin D3 and calcipotriol tend to up-regulate the expression of CCR7 on mDCs, suggesting that they may influence the migration of DCs into the lymph nodes. Finally, vitamin D3, calcipotriol and FTY720 enhance NK17/NK1 cell lysis of K562 cells, suggesting that a possible mechanism of action for these drugs is via activating these newly described cells. In conclusion, our results show novel mechanisms of action for vitamin D3, calcipotriol and FTY720 on cells of the innate immune system.
Bacterial metabolism of naphthalene: construction and use of recombinant bacteria to study ring cleavage of 1,2-dihydroxynaphthalene and subsequent reactions

The reactions involved in the bacterial metabolism of naphthalene to salicylate have been reinvestigated by using recombinant bacteria carrying genes cloned from plasmid NAH7. When intact cells of Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 carrying DNA fragments encoding the first three enzymes of the pathway were incubated with naphthalene, they formed products of the dioxygenase-catalyzed ring cleavage of 1,2-dihydroxynaphthalene. These products were separated by chromatography on Sephadex G-25 and were identified by 1H and 13C nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry as 2-hydroxychromene-2-carboxylate (HCCA) and trans-o-hydroxybenzylidenepyruvate (tHBPA). HCCA was detected as the first reaction product in these incubation mixtures by its characteristic UV spectrum, which slowly changed to a spectrum indicative of an equilibrium mixture of HCCA and tHBPA. Isomerization of either purified product occurred slowly and spontaneously to give an equilibrium mixture of essentially the same composition. tHBPA is also formed from HCCA by the action of an isomerase enzyme encoded by plasmid NAH7. The gene encoding this enzyme, nahD, was cloned on a 1.95-kb KpnI-BglII fragment. Extracts of Escherichia coli JM109 carrying this fragment catalyzed the rapid equilibration of HCCA and tHBPA. Metabolism of tHBPA to salicylaldehyde by hydration and aldol cleavage is catalyzed by a single enzyme encoded by a 1-kb MluI-StuI restriction fragment. A mechanism for the hydratase-aldolase-catalyzed reaction is proposed. The salicylaldehyde dehydrogenase gene, nahF, was cloned on a 2.75-kb BamHI fragment which also carries the naphthalene dihydrodiol dehydrogenase gene, nahB. On the basis of the identification of the enzymes encoded by various clones, the gene order for the nah operon was shown to be p, A, B, F, C, E, D.
Chronic inhibition of fatty acid amide hydrolase by URB597 produces differential effects on cardiac performance in normotensive and hypertensive rats

Fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) inhibitors are postulated to possess anti‐hypertensive potential, because their acute injection decreases BP in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR), partly through normalization of cardiac contractile function. Here, we examined whether the potential hypotensive effect of chronic FAAH inhibition by URB597 in hypertensive rats correlated with changes in cardiac performance.
Object-oriented software for industrial robots

Industrial robots are very flexible machines that can perform operations with high speed and sub-millimeter accuracy. However, those robots are bound to proprietary programming languages, which often leads to limited reusability of applications and causes high effort for coordinating teams of robots or integrating the robots with other systems. On the other hand, the area of software engineering has experienced significant progress in the last decades. Besides structured development processes and modeling paradigms, large ecosystems of programming languages, frameworks and all kinds of libraries have been created by communities of developers. The main contribution of this thesis is the design of an object-oriented framework for industrial robotics applications. This design is language independent, allowing it to be realized based on any modern software platform and programming language. The main challenge in the context of industrial robotics is the need for deterministic execution of operations that control hardware devices, and to guarantee that tight timing bounds are held during execution. The presented design meets these requirements without compromising flexibility and expressiveness. The software design is applied to several concrete hardware devices and evaluated based on three application examples. The thesis demonstrates that the design is able to fulfill a large set of requirements of current and future industrial robotics applications and thus presents a significant contribution to software engineering for industrial robotics.
Censored Quantile Instrumental Variable Estimates of the Price Elasticity of Expenditure on Medical Care

Efforts to control medical care costs depend critically on how individuals respond to prices. I estimate the price elasticity of expenditure on medical care using a censored quantile instrumental variable (CQIV) estimator. CQIV allows estimates to vary across the conditional expenditure distribution, relaxes traditional censored model assumptions, and addresses endogeneity with an instrumental variable. My instrumental variable strategy uses a family member’s injury to induce variation in an individual’s own price. Across the conditional deciles of the expenditure distribution, I find elasticities that vary from −0.76 to −1.49, which are an order of magnitude larger than previous estimates. Supplementary materials for this article are available online.
Macrophage podosomes assemble at the leading lamella by growth and fragmentation

Podosomes are actin- and fimbrin-containing adhesions at the leading edge of macrophages. In cells transfected with β-actin–ECFP and L-fimbrin–EYFP, quantitative four-dimensional microscopy of podosome assembly shows that new adhesions arise at the cell periphery by one of two mechanisms; de novo podosome assembly, or fission of a precursor podosome into daughter podosomes. The large podosome cluster precursor also appears to be an adhesion structure; it contains actin, fimbrin, integrin, and is in close apposition to the substratum. Microtubule inhibitors paclitaxel and demecolcine inhibit the turnover and polarized formation of podosomes, but not the turnover rate of actin in these structures. Because daughter podosomes and podosome cluster precursors are preferentially located at the leading edge, they may play a critical role in continually generating new sites of cell adhesion.
Determinants of [Cl−] in recycling and late endosomes and Golgi complex measured using fluorescent ligands

Chloride concentration ([Cl−]) was measured in defined organellar compartments using fluorescently labeled transferrin, α2-macroglobulin, and cholera toxin B-subunit conjugated with Cl−-sensitive and -insensitive dyes. In pulse-chase experiments, [Cl−] in Tf-labeled early/recycling endosomes in J774 cells was 20 mM just after internalization, increasing to 41 mM over ∼10 min in parallel to a drop in pH from 6.91 to 6.05. The low [Cl−] just after internalization (compared with 137 mM solution [Cl−]) was prevented by reducing the interior-negative Donnan potential. [Cl−] in α2-macroglobulin–labeled endosomes, which enter a late compartment, increased from 28 to 58 mM at 1–45 min after internalization, whereas pH decreased from 6.85 to 5.20. Cl− accumulation was prevented by bafilomycin but restored by valinomycin. A Cl− channel inhibitor slowed endosomal acidification and Cl− accumulation by ∼2.5-fold. [Cl−] was 49 mM and pH was 6.42 in cholera toxin B subunit–labeled Golgi complex in Vero cells; Golgi compartment Cl− accumulation and acidification were reversed by bafilomycin. Our experiments provide evidence that Cl− is the principal counter ion accompanying endosomal and Golgi compartment acidification, and that an interior-negative Donnan potential is responsible for low endosomal [Cl−] early after internalization. We propose that reduced [Cl−] and volume in early endosomes permits endosomal acidification and [Cl−] accumulation without lysis.
Deaths due to Intentional Explosions in Selected Governorates of Iraq from 2010 to 2013: Prospective Surveillance

Abstract Introduction The aim of this study was to describe the most recent trends and epidemiologic patterns of fatal injuries resulting from explosions in Iraq, one of the countries most affected by violence from explosive devices. Methods Iraqi Ministry of Health (MoH) routine prospective injury surveillance collects information on all fatal injuries recorded by coroners from physical examinations, police reports, and family members in eight governorates of Iraq: Baghdad, Al-Anbar, Basrah, Erbil, Kerbala, Maysan, Ninevah, and Al-Sulaimaniya. This study analyzed explosive-related fatal injuries that occurred from January 1, 2010 through December 31, 2013. Results Analysis included 2,803 fatal injuries. The number of fatal injuries declined from 2010 through 2012, followed by an increase in 2013. One-thousand one-hundred and one explosion-related fatalities were documented in 2013, more than twice as many as in 2012 or in 2011. Most fatalities were among men aged 20-39 years. Of all causalities, 194 (6.9%) were among females and 302 (10.8%) were among children aged less than 18 years. The majority of fatalities were caused by improvised explosive devices (IEDs): car bombs (15.3%), suicide bombs (4.0%), and other IEDs (29.6%). The highest number of fatalities occurred in streets and roads. Of all deaths, 95.6% occurred in three governorates: Baghdad, Ninevah, and Al-Anbar. Conclusions Explosives continue to result in a high number of fatal injuries in Iraq. Following a period of declining violence from explosives, in 2013, fatalities increased. Most explosion-related injuries resulted from IEDs; males aged 20-39 years were at greatest risk. BilukhaOO, LeidmanEZ, SultanASS, HussainSJ. Deaths due to intentional explosions in selected governorates of Iraq from 2010 to 2013: prospective surveillance. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2015;30(6):586–592.
Effect of Growth Regulators on CO(2) Assimilation in Leaves, and its Correlation with the Bud Break Response in Photosynthesis.

Experiments have been done to confirm the previously reported effect of indoleacetic acid (IAA) on the rate of CO(2) assimilation in bean leaves. It was shown that spraying the leaves of a variety of plants caused an increase in the rate of CO(2) assimilation from 30% to 100% during the half-hour to 1 hour period following spraying. The only plant tested which did not show such an effect was corn.The breaking of dormancy of axial buds in the bean plant was correlated with an increase in the rate of CO(2) assimilation in adjacent leaves for a brief period of time. It has been shown that IAA solution sprayed on 1 leaflet of a leaf can cause an increase in the rate of CO(2) assimilation in the other leaflets, and that IAA applied to the cut stem of a leaflet or a developing bud can be transported to adjacent leaves and cause an increase in the CO(2) assimilation rate. The reaction caused by IAA is very similar to that caused by the breaking of dormancy of a bud. This indicates that the bud break response in CO(2) assimilation in leaves is caused by auxin synthesized in a bud as it begins to grow, and exported into adjacent leaves.
Ultrasonic Characterization of Horizontal Density Variations in Oriented Strandboard

Random flake deposition in mat forming of oriented strandboard (OSB) results in inherent horizontal density variation that affects the panel strength quality. In this paper, a silicon gel coupled ultrasonic transmission (UT) was used to locate, map, and validate the horizontal density distribution in laboratory-made OSB. Two test boards were manufactured at each of three nominal density (ND) and three resin content (RC) levels. The UT variables velocity, attenuation, and root mean square voltage formed excellent complementary predictors of density for all RC and panel types. Based on the allowable ±10% variation in the average measured densities, both the general and polynomial models provided improved density prediction for boards at higher RC and ND levels. Using the contour and out-of-limits plots, the predicted horizontal densities gave a reasonable spatial approximation to the measured densities. All 6% RC panels with densities of 0.60 g/cm 3 or greater conformed well to the limits, with declining conformity towards the lower RC panels.
Directed compact percolation near a wall: III. Exact results for the mean length and number of contacts

Existing exact results for the percolation probability and mean cluster size for compact percolation near a dry wall are extended to the mean cluster length and the mean number of contacts with the wall. The results are derived from our previous work on vesicles near an attractive wall and involve elliptic integrals as opposed to the simple rational forms found for the percolation probability and cluster size below . The results for the cluster length satisfy previously conjectured differential equations. A closed expression is conjectured for the mean size above in terms of a hypergeometric function.
Effects of Resveratrol Supplementation on Oxidative Damage and Lipid Peroxidation Induced by Strenuous Exercise in Rats

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effects of resveratrol supplementation on oxidative damage and lipid peroxidation induced by strenuous exercise in rats. The rats were randomly divided into five groups: a sedentary control group, an exercise control group, and three treatment exercise groups administered increasing doses of resveratrol (25, 50, and 100 mg/kg body weight). Resveratrol was administered by oral gavage once daily for four weeks. At the end of the four-week period, the rats performed a strenuous exercise on the treadmill, and the levels of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), creatine kinase (CK), malondialdehyde (MDA), 4-hydroxy-2-nonenal (4-HNE), and 8-hydroxy-2′-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) were measured. The results showed that resveratrol supplementation had protective effects against strenuous exercise-induced oxidative damage and lipid peroxidation by lowering the levels of LDH, CK, MDA, 4-HNE, and 8-OHdG in the serum or muscle of rats. These beneficial effects are probably owing to the inherent antioxidant activities of resveratrol.
A New Thermal Model in SAE-AISI 1524 Friction Stir Welding

Several important key problems and issues remain to be addressed about the numerical analysis of friction stir welding. The main feature of the thermal numerical approach is to accurately compute the thermal distribution produced by the friction between the plate and the tool. It is well known that the downward force applied from the tool creates a distributed pressure between the shoulder and the workpiece. Based on this, a new expression to represent the heat generation in FSW is proposed. Results of thermal cycles, thermal histories, and shapes of the weld and HAZ obtained with the proposed expression in SAE-AISI 1524 carbon steel are presented. Results demonstrate that the energy input is strongly dependent on the tool advance speed, rotational speed, and the axial pressure necessary to produce yielding. For instance, at a constant increase in axial pressure, lower peak temperature increments are produced when higher tool advance speeds are chosen. The mathematical modeling has been investigated with a view to generate numerical data to provide values for further assessment and experimental comparison.
Nanoindentation of high-purity vapor deposited lithium films: A mechanistic rationalization of diffusion-mediated flow

Nanoindentation experiments performed in 5 and 18 μm thick vapor deposited polycrystalline lithium films at 31 °C reveal the mean pressure lithium can support is strongly dependent on length scale and strain rate. At the smallest length scales (indentation depths of 40 nm), the mean pressure lithium can support increases from ∼23 to 175 MPa as the indentation strain rate increases from 0.195 to 1.364 s^−1. Furthermore, these pressures are ∼46–350 times higher than the nominal yield strength of bulk polycrystalline lithium. The length scale and strain rate dependent hardness is rationalized using slightly modified forms of the Nabarro–Herring and Harper–Dorn creep mechanisms. Load-displacement curves suggest a stress and length-scale dependent transition from diffusion to dislocation-mediated flow. Collectively, these experimental observations shed significant new light on the mechanical behavior of lithium at the length scale of defects existing at the lithium/solid electrolyte interface.
The bone marrow microenvironment enhances multiple myeloma progression by exosome-mediated activation of myeloid-derived suppressor cells

Exosomes, extracellular nanovesicles secreted by various cell types, modulate the bone marrow (BM) microenvironment by regulating angiogenesis, cytokine release, immune response, inflammation, and metastasis. Interactions between bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs) and multiple myeloma (MM) cells play crucial roles in MM development. We previously reported that BMSC-derived exosomes directly promote MM cell growth, whereas the other possible mechanisms for supporting MM progression by these exosomes are still not clear. Here, we investigated the effect of BMSC-derived exosomes on the MM BM cells with specific emphasis on myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs). BMSC-derived exosomes were able to be taken up by MM MDSCs and induced their expansion in vitro. Moreover, these exosomes directly induced the survival of MDSCs through activating STAT3 and STAT1 pathways and increasing the anti-apoptotic proteins Bcl-xL and Mcl-1. Inhibition of these pathways blocked the enhancement of MDSC survival. Furthermore, these exosomes increased the nitric oxide release from MM MDSCs and enhanced their suppressive activity on T cells. Taken together, our results demonstrate that BMSC-derived exosomes activate MDSCs in the BM through STAT3 and STAT1 pathways, leading to increased immunosuppression which favors MM progression.
Stochastic Greedy Algorithms For Multiple Measurement Vectors

Sparse representation of a single measurement vector (SMV) has been explored in a variety of compressive sensing applications. Recently, SMV models have been extended to solve multiple measurement vectors (MMV) problems, where the underlying signal is assumed to have joint sparse structures. To circumvent the NP-hardness of the $\ell_0$ minimization problem, many deterministic MMV algorithms solve the convex relaxed models with limited efficiency. In this paper, we develop stochastic greedy algorithms for solving the joint sparse MMV reconstruction problem. In particular, we propose the MMV Stochastic Iterative Hard Thresholding (MStoIHT) and MMV Stochastic Gradient Matching Pursuit (MStoGradMP) algorithms, and we also utilize the mini-batching technique to further improve their performance. Convergence analysis indicates that the proposed algorithms are able to converge faster than their SMV counterparts, i.e., concatenated StoIHT and StoGradMP, under certain conditions. Numerical experiments have illustrated the superior effectiveness of the proposed algorithms over their SMV counterparts.
Phylogenetic structure of angiosperm communities during tropical forest succession

The phylogenetic structure of ecological communities can shed light on assembly processes, but the focus of phylogenetic structure research thus far has been on mature ecosystems. Here, I present the first investigation of phylogenetic community structure during succession. In a replicated chronosequence of 30 sites in northeastern Costa Rica, I found strong phylogenetic overdispersion at multiple scales: species present at local sites were a non-random assemblage, more distantly related than chance would predict. Phylogenetic overdispersion was evident when comparing the species present at each site with the regional species pool, the species pool found in each age category to the regional pool or the species present at each site to the pool of species found in sites of that age category. Comparing stem size classes within each age category, I found that during early succession, phylogenetic overdispersion is strongest in small stems. Overdispersion strengthens and spreads into larger size classes as succession proceeds, corroborating an existing model of forest succession. This study is the first evidence that succession leaves a distinct signature in the phylogenetic structure of communities.
Review of Noise Sources in Magnetic Tunnel Junction Sensors

Noise problem limits the sensitivity of magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) sensors for ultra-low magnetic field applications. Noise analysis not only helps in finding ways to eliminate noise disturbances but also essential for understanding the electronic and magnetic properties of MTJs. These approaches provide insight for optimizing the design of MTJ sensors before fabrication. This paper reviews the noise sources in MTJ sensors reported in recent years. Both the origins and mathematical derivations of the noise sources are presented, illustrating how different factors affecting the performance of MTJ sensors. A brief outlook of challenges in the future is also given.