Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Experimental investigation of added mass effects on a Francis turbine runner in still water

The mechanical design of hydraulic turbines is conditioned by the dynamic response of the runner that is usually estimated by a computational model. Nevertheless, the runner has complex boundary conditions that are difficult to include in the computational model. One of these boundary conditions is the water in which the runner is submerged. The effect of the added mass and damping of water can modify considerably the natural frequencies of the runner. An experimental investigation in a reduced scale model of a turbine runner, using modal analysis, was carried out. Several impact tests with the runner freely suspended in air and in water were done. The response was measured with accelerometers located in different positions of the runner. From the modal analysis, the natural frequencies, damping ratios, and mode-shapes were determined. The same mode-shapes obtained in air were obtained in water but with lower natural frequencies and higher damping ratios in water. The difference in the natural frequencies is shown to be dependant basically on the added mass effect of the water and not on its added damping. This difference also depends on the geometry of the mode, presenting different values for different mode-shapes. Using nondimensional values, the reduction in the natural frequencies can be extrapolated to other Francis runners presenting similar geometrical characteristics. r 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
The role of granules within viscous capture threads of orb-weaving spiders

SUMMARY Sticky viscous prey capture threads form the spiral elements of spider orb-webs and are responsible for retaining insects that strike a web. These threads are formed of regularly spaced aqueous droplets that surround a pair of supporting axial fibers. When a thread is flattened on a microscope slide a small, opaque granule can usually be seen within each droplet. These granules have been thought to be the glycoprotein glue that imparts thread adhesion. Both independent contrast and standard regressions showed that granule size is directly related to droplet volume and indicated that granule volume is about 15% of droplet volume. We attempted to find support for the hypothesized adhesive role of granules by establishing an association between the contact surface area and volume of these granules and the stickiness of the viscous threads of 16 species in the context of a six-variable model that describes thread stickiness. However, we found that granule size made either an insignificant or a small negative contribution to thread stickiness. Consequently, we hypothesize that granules serve to anchor larger, surrounding layers of transparent glycoprotein glue to the axial fibers of the thread, thereby equipping droplets to resist slippage on the axial fibers as these droplets generate adhesion, elongate under a load, and transfer force to the axial fibers.
Effect of postoperative analgesia on surgical outcome.

Despite improvements in perioperative care, major surgical operations are still followed by sequelae such as pain, organ dysfunction and prolonged convalescence. It has been assumed that sufficient pain relief will improve the surgical outcome with reduced morbidity, need for hospitalization and convalescence, and there is a common consensus that optimal (dynamic) pain relief is a prerequisite for early postoperative recovery. However, in recent years it has been realized that several other factors in perioperative management are important in the control of postoperative recovery and rehabilitation, and that these factors must be considered and revised in order to achieve the advantageous effects of pain relief on outcome. 39 Among the most commonly used pain-relieving techniques [patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) with opioids, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and epidural analgesic techniques], there is evidence that the epidural local anaesthetic or local anaesthetic‐opioid techniques are the most effective on providing dynamic pain relief after major surgical procedures. 43 79 This paper reviews data from randomized controlled trials on the effects of these analgesic techniques on postoperative morbidity and hospital stay (with emphasises on epidural analgesia) in order to derive useful conclusions on the relationship between optimal pain relief and postoperative outcome. 39 The effect of peripheral nerve blocks on postoperative morbidity will not be dealt with in this review.
Architectural requirements for an open source component and artefact repository system within GENESIS

When software is being created by distributed teams of software engineers, it is necessary to manage the work-flow, processes, and artefacts which are involved in the engineering process. The GENESIS project aims to address some of the technical issues involved by providing a software system to support distributed development. One of the parts of the system will be known as OSCAR, a repository for managing distributed artefacts. Artefacts can be process models, software components, design documents, or any other kind of entity associated with the software engineering process. OSCAR will be designed as a light-weight distributed system, managing the storage and access to a distributed repository of artefacts. This paper presents and discusses the requirements for OSCAR, and suggests a possible architecture for a software system which will meet those requirements. OSCAR will be a reliable and light-weight distributed system, managing both artefacts and meta-data corresponding to the artefacts. Users of OSCAR will be able to access the distributed repository through a local interface, using the searching and indexing capabilities of the system to locate and retrieve components. OSCAR must be able to store and retrieve both artefacts and meta-data efficiently. It must be possible for OSCAR to inter-operate with existing artefact management systems (such as CVS) and to collect metrics about the contents of and accesses to the repository. The next stage in the GENESIS project is to complete the requirements for the whole of the system (in addition to the OSCAR sub-system) and then to design the software. The software will initially be developed in a traditional closed-source fashion until the first release is finished. After the first release, the GENESIS software will become open source, and will be developed accordingly.
A ternary complex comprising transportin1, Rab8 and the ciliary targeting signal directs proteins to ciliary membranes

ABSTRACT The sensory functions of cilia are dependent on the enrichment of cilium-resident proteins. Although it is known that ciliary targeting signals (CTSs) specifically target ciliary proteins to cilia, it is still unclear how CTSs facilitate the entry and retention of cilium-resident proteins at the molecular level. We found that non-ciliary membrane reporters can passively diffuse into cilia through the lateral transport pathway, and the translocation of membrane reporters through the ciliary diffusion barrier is facilitated by importin binding motifs and domains. Screening known CTSs of ciliary membrane residents uncovered that fibrocystin, photoreceptor retinol dehydrogenase, rhodopsin and retinitis pigmentosa 2 interact with transportin1 (TNPO1) through previously identified CTSs. We further discovered that a new ternary complex, comprising TNPO1, Rab8 and a CTS, can assemble or disassemble under the guanine nucleotide exchange activity of Rab8. Our study suggests a new mechanism in which the TNPO1–Rab8–CTS complex mediates selective entry into and retention of cargos within cilia. Summary: Transportin1 and Rab8 can simultaneously bind to the ciliary targeting signal in a guanine-nucleotide-dependent manner. The resulting ternary complex can target a membrane protein to cilia.
The hierarchical organization of the lateral prefrontal cortex

Higher-level cognition depends on the lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC), but its functional organization has remained elusive. An influential proposal is that the LPFC is organized hierarchically whereby progressively rostral areas of the LPFC process/represent increasingly abstract information facilitating efficient and flexible cognition. However, support for this theory has been limited. Here, human fMRI data revealed rostral/caudal gradients of abstraction in the LPFC. Dynamic causal modeling revealed asymmetrical LPFC interactions indicative of hierarchical processing. Contrary to dominant assumptions, the relative strength of efferent versus afferent connections positioned mid LPFC as the apex of the hierarchy. Furthermore, cognitive demands induced connectivity modulations towards mid LPFC consistent with a role in integrating information for control operations. Moreover, the strengths of these dynamics were related to trait-measured higher-level cognitive ability. Collectively, these results suggest that the LPFC is hierarchically organized with the mid LPFC positioned to synthesize abstract and concrete information to control behavior. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.7554/eLife.12112. 001
Spatial Summation in the Receptive Fields of MT Neurons

Receptive fields (RFs) of cells in the middle temporal area (MT or V5) of monkeys will often encompass multiple objects under normal image viewing. We therefore have studied how multiple moving stimuli interact when presented within and near the RF of single MT cells. We used moving Gabor function stimuli, <1° in spatial extent and ∼100 msec in duration, presented on a grid of possible locations over the RF of the cell. Responses to these stimuli were typically robust, and their small spatial and temporal extent allowed detailed mapping of RFs and of interactions between stimuli. The responses to pairs of such stimuli were compared against the responses to the same stimuli presented singly. The responses were substantially less than the sum of the responses to the component stimuli and were well described by a power-law summation model with divisive inhibition. Such divisive inhibition is a key component of recently proposed “normalization” models of cortical physiology and is presumed to arise from lateral interconnections within a region. One open question is whether the normalization occurs only once in primary visual cortex or multiple times in different cortical areas. We addressed this question by exploring the spatial extent over which one stimulus would divide the response to another and found effective normalization from stimuli quite far removed from the RF center. This supports models under which normalization occurs both in MT and in earlier stages.
Incomplete Algorithms

Research on incomplete algorithms for satisfiability testing lead to some of the first scalable SAT solvers in the early 1990’s. Unlike systematic solvers often based on an exhaustive branching and backtracking search, incomplete methods are generally based on stochastic local search. On problems from a variety of domains, such incomplete methods for SAT can significantly outperform DPLL-based methods. While the early greedy algorithms already showed promise, especially on random instances, the introduction of randomization and so-called uphill moves during the search significantly extended the reach of incomplete algorithms for SAT. This chapter discusses such algorithms, along with a few key techniques that helped boost their performance such as focusing on variables appearing in currently unsatisfied clauses, devising methods to efficiently pull the search out of local minima through clause re-weighting, and adaptive noise mechanisms. The chapter also briefly discusses a formal foundation for some of the techniques based on the discrete Lagrangian method.
In vitro maturation of human germinal vesicle-stage oocytes: role of epidermal growth factor-like growth factors in the culture medium.

BACKGROUND In vitro maturation (IVM) of oocytes is a promising technique to reduce the costs and avert the side effects of gonadotrophin stimulation for IVF. The pregnancy rates from oocytes matured in vitro are still lower than those of in vivo stimulation cycles, indicating that optimization of IVM remains a challenge. Recently, it was demonstrated that LH exerts its action on ovulation, at least in part, through stimulation of the production of the epidermal growth factor family members amphiregulin (Areg) and epiregulin (Ereg) in pre-ovulatory follicles, and they, in turn, serve as paracrine mediators of LH. We aimed to investigate the effect of supplementation of the medium with Areg and Ereg on the maturation rate of immature oocytes. METHODS A total of 105 sibling human germinal vesicle (GV) oocytes obtained after gonadotrophin stimulation were cultured in a complex defined medium either with or without supplemented recombinant human Areg (75 ng/ml) and Ereg (75 ng/ml) for 24 h. RESULTS Significantly more oocytes reached the metaphase II stage at 24 h in media supplemented with Areg and Ereg (75.5 versus 36.5%, P < 0.001). In vitro matured oocytes retrieved from the two subgroups had no statistically significant difference in fertilization and cleavage rates or morphology scores. Overall, a significantly higher number of Day 2 (52.8 versus 26.9% P < 0.01) and Day 3 (45.2 versus 23%, P < 0.05) embryos originated from GV oocytes cultured in the Areg- and Ereg-enriched medium. CONCLUSIONS Supplementation of the maturation medium with Areg and Ereg improves the maturation of human GV oocytes in vitro.
Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia Working Paper No. 03-1 Data Revisions and the Identification of Monetary Policy Shocks Data Revisions and the Identification of Monetary Policy Shocks Data Revisions and the Identification of Monetary Policy Shocks

Monetary policy research using time series methods has been criticized for using more information than the Federal Reserve had available in setting policy. To quantify the role of this criticism, we propose a method to estimate a VAR with real-time data while accounting for the latent nature of many economic variables, such as output. Our estimated monetary policy shocks are closely correlated with a typically estimated measure. The impulse response functions are broadly similar across the methods. Our evidence suggests that the use of revised data in VAR analyses of monetary policy shocks may not be a serious limitation. Abstract Monetary policy research using time series methods has been criticized for using more information than the Federal Reserve had available in setting policy. To quantify the role of this criticism, we propose a method to estimate a VAR with real-time data while accounting for the latent nature of many economic variables, such as output. Our estimated monetary policy shocks are closely correlated with a typically estimated measure. The impulse response functions are broadly similar across the methods. Our evidence suggests that the use of revised data in VAR analyses of monetary policy shocks may not be a serious limitation.
Stable Transfection of the BovineNRAMP1 Gene into Murine RAW264.7 Cells: Effect onBrucella abortus Survival

ABSTRACT Genetically based natural resistance to brucellosis in cattle provides for novel strategies to control zoonotic diseases. BovineNRAMP1, the homologue of a murine gene (Bcg), has been identified as a major candidate for controlling the in vivo resistant phenotype. We developed an in vitro model for expression of resistance- and susceptibility-associated alleles of bovine NRAMP1 as stable transgenes under the regulatory control of the bovineNRAMP1 promoter in the murine RAW264.7 macrophage cell line (Bcgs) to analyze the regulation of the NRAMP1 gene and its role in macrophage function. We demonstrated that the 5′-flanking region of bovineNRAMP1, despite the lack of TATA and CAAT boxes, has a functional promoter capable of driving the expression of a transgene in murine macrophages. A polymorphism within a microsatellite in the 3′ untranslated region critically affects the expression of bovineNRAMP1 and the control of in vitro replication ofBrucella abortus but not Salmonella enterica serovar Dublin. We did not observe any differences in the production of NO by resting or gamma interferon (IFN-γ)- and IFN-γ–lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-treated transfected cell lines, yet the resistant transfected cell lines produced significantly less NO than other cell lines, following stimulation with LPS at 24 and 48 h.
The estimation of material and patch parameters in a PDE-based circular plate model

Abstract The estimation of material and patch parameters for a system involving a circular plate, to which piezoceramic are bonded, is considered. A partial differential equation (PDE) model for the thin circular plate is used with the passive and active contributions from the patches included in the internal and external bending moments. This model contains piecewise constant parameters describing the density, flexural rigidity, Poisson ratio and Kelvin-Voigt damping for the system, as well as patch constants and a coefficient for viscous air damping. Examples demonstrating the estimation of these parameters with experimental acceleration data and a variety of inputs to the experimental plate are presented. By using a physically derived PDE model to describe the system, parameter sets consistent across experiments are obtained, even when phenomena such as damping due to electric circuits affect the system dynamics.
Competitiveness and Stress

This study explores the relationship between competitiveness and stress. In Experiment 1, we examine the response of cortisol, the primary stress hormone, during both piece-rate and tournament tasks. We find that the more competitive tournament task induces a higher cortisol response than the less competitive piece-rate task. Moreover, more competitively inclined subjects exhibit higher stress responses induced by the tasks. In Experiment 2, we manipulate stress using the Trier Social Stress Test and find that induced stress does not significantly affect competitiveness. Taken together, our findings suggest a tendency for people who are competitively disposed to have high stress response.
From Synsets to Videos: Enriching ItalWordNet Multimodally

The paper describes the multimodal enrichment of ItalWordNet action verbs entries by means of an automatic mapping with an ontology of action types instantiated by video scenes (ImagAct). The two resources present important differences as well as interesting complementary features, such that a mapping of these two resources can lead to a an enrichment of IWN, through the connection between synsets and videos apt to illustrate the meaning described by glosses. Here, we describe an approach inspired by ontology matching methods for the automatic mapping of ImagAct video scened onto ItalWordNet sense. The experiments described in the paper are conducted on Italian, but the same methodology can be extended to other languages for which WordNets have been created, since ImagAct is done also for English, Chinese and Spanish. This source of multimodal information can be exploited to design second language learning tools, as well as for language grounding in video action recognition and potentially for robotics.
A Posteriori Error Analysis of the Reduced Basis Method for Nonaffine Parametrized Nonlinear PDEs

In this paper, we present the a posteriori error analysis for the reduced basis method (RBM) applied to nonlinear variational problems that depend on a parameter in a nonaffine manner. To this end, we generalize the analysis by Veroy and Patera [Int. J. Numer. Methods Fluids, 47 (2005), pp. 773-788] to nonaffine parametrized partial differential equations. We use the empirical interpolation method (EIM) in order to approximate the nonaffine parameter dependencies by a linear combination of affine functions. We also investigate a standard dual problem formulation, in particular for the computation of a general output functional, also in combination with the EIM. First, we study the well-posedness in terms of the Brezzi-Rappaz-Raviart theory. Then, we develop a posteriori error estimates and investigate offline/online decompositions. The a posteriori error analysis allows us to introduce an adaptive sampling procedure for the choice of the modes. Numerical experiments for a convection-diffusion problem around a rotating propeller show the effectivity of the scheme.
The Effect of a Mindfulness Practice and Dispositional Mindfulness on Affective Forecasting

ABSTRACT A field experiment was conducted to evaluate whether mindfulness produces higher affective forecasting accuracy. Participants were randomized into a mindfulness-task, control-task, or baseline condition and then forecasted their positive and negative affect upon completion of an exam and upon receiving the exam grade. They also predicted their exam score. Those in the mindfulness-task condition more accurately predicted positive and negative affect upon exam completion and more accurately predicted negative affect and exam performance upon receiving their actual exam grade. Dispositional mindfulness predicted more accuracy in forecasting negative affect upon exam completion. Results suggest that mindfulness produces higher affective forecasting accuracy, particularly for negative affect. However, evidence was more mixed when considering the dispositional mindfulness results and for positive affect.
Clinical Impact and Cost-Effectiveness of an Education Program for PD Patients: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Background Parkinson’s disease (PD) is characterized by its impact on quality of life, constituting a substantial economic burden on society. Education programs implicating patients more in the management of their illness and complementing medical treatment may be a beneficial adjunct in PD. This study assessed the impact of an education program on quality of life and its cost-effectiveness in PD patients. Methods This single-center, prospective, randomized study assessed an education program consisting of individual and group sessions over a 12-month period. A total of 120 PD patients were assigned to either the Treated by Behavioral Intervention group (TTBI) or the no TTBI group. The primary outcome criterion was quality of life assessed using PDQ39. The Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) and psychological status were collected. An economic evaluation was performed, including calculations of incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs). Results After 12 months of follow-up, changes recorded in the PDQ39 between the groups were not significantly different but better changes were observed in each dimension in the TTBI group compared to the no TTBI group. UPDRS I, II and total score were significantly improved in TTBI group compared to the no TTBI group. Mean annual costs did not differ significantly between the two groups. Conclusion This study suggested that the education program positively impacts the perceived health of PD patients without increasing medical costs.