Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of photobiomodulation on vinblastine-poisoned murine HERS cells.

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of near-infrared (NIR) photobiomodulation on the proliferation and glutathione levels in murine Hertwig's epithelial root sheath (HERS) cells after poisoning with vinblastine. BACKGROUND Photobiomodulation has been shown to improve wound healing in a number of animal models. There have been no studies on the effect of photobiomodulation on cancer-related chemotherapy injury to the cells that initiate tooth root growth. MATERIALS AND METHODS Control groups consisted of murine HERS cells without vinblastine (VB-) and cells with vinblastine at 10, 20, and 30 ng/mL (VB10, VB20, and VB30). Experimental groups consisted of these same groups with light therapy (VB-L, VB10L, VB20L, and VB30L). The cells were exposed to vinblastine for 1 h. Photobiomodulation consisted of a 75-cm(2) gallium-aluminum-arsenide light-emitting diode (LED) array at an energy density of 12.8 J/cm(2), delivered with 50 mW/cm(2) power over 256 s. RESULTS Vinblastine alone significantly decreased HERS cell proliferation and glutathione levels at all concentrations (VB10 [-55%, p < 1.0 × 10(-8)]; VB20 [-72%, p < 1.0 × 10(-9)]; VB30 [-80%, p < 1.0 × 10(-10)]; and VB10 [-36%, p < 0.0001]; VB20 [-49%, p < 1.0 × 10(-6)]; VB30 [-53%, p < 1.0 × 10(-7)] respectively). Photobiomodulation significantly increased cell proliferation at all levels of vinblastine exposure (VB10L [+50%, p < 0.0001]; VB20L [+45%, p < 0.05]; VB30 [+39%, p < 0.05]) but not of the control (+22%, p = 0.063). The photobiomodulation significantly increased glutathione production in all concentrations of vinblastine except 20 ng/mL (VB10L [+39%, p = 0.007]; VB20L [+19%, p = 0.087]; VB30 [+14%, p = 0.025]) and the control (+12%, p = 0.13). CONCLUSIONS Photobiomodulation demonstrated an improvement in proliferation and glutathione levels in vinblastine-poisoned murine HERS cells.
NASTEA: Investigating Narrative Schemas through Annotated Entities

In this paper, we investigate the distribution of narrative schemas (Chambers and Juraf-sky, 2009) throughout different document categories and how the structure of narrative schemas is conditioned by document category, the converse of the relationship explored in Simonson and Davis (2015). We evaluate cross-category narrative differences by assessing the predictability of verbs in each category and the salience of arguments to events that narrative schemas highlight. For the former, we use the narrative cloze task employed in previous work on schemas. For the latter, we introduce a task that employs narrative schemas called narrative argument salience through entities annotated , or NASTEA . We compare the schemas induced from the entire corpus to those from the subcorpora for each topic using these two types of evaluation. Re-sults of each evaluation vary by each topical subcorpus, in some cases showing improvement, but the NASTEA task additionally reveals that some the documents within some topics are signiﬁcantly more rigid in their narrative structure, instantiating a limited number of schemas in a highly predictable fashion.
Attention, Response Inhibition, and Face-Information Processing in Children: The Role of Task Characteristics, Age, and Gender

The aim of the study was to assess: (a) developmental changes in attention, response inhibition, and face-information processing using the new Balloons task and (b) to evaluate the association between measures derived from the task with reported behavior problems. One hundred and thirty-four typically developing children (53 boys and 81 girls) were tested with the Balloons. Their parents and teachers completed the Child Behavior Checklist. Our results validate the Balloons as a reliable task with significant effects of manipulations in difficulty level (speed, processing load, and processing type). The results suggest that face-information processing undergoes significant changes during the age period between 7 and 13 years with significant gender differences. Modest but significant correlations were found between the Balloons' measures and behavior problems.
The epsomitic phototrophic microbial mat of Hot Lake, Washington: community structural responses to seasonal cycling

Phototrophic microbial mats are compact ecosystems composed of highly interactive organisms in which energy and element cycling take place over millimeter-to-centimeter-scale distances. Although microbial mats are common in hypersaline environments, they have not been extensively characterized in systems dominated by divalent ions. Hot Lake is a meromictic, epsomitic lake that occupies a small, endorheic basin in north-central Washington. The lake harbors a benthic, phototrophic mat that assembles each spring, disassembles each fall, and is subject to greater than tenfold variation in salinity (primarily Mg2+ and SO2−4) and irradiation over the annual cycle. We examined spatiotemporal variation in the mat community at five time points throughout the annual cycle with respect to prevailing physicochemical parameters by amplicon sequencing of the V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene coupled to near-full-length 16S RNA clone sequences. The composition of these microbial communities was relatively stable over the seasonal cycle and included dominant populations of Cyanobacteria, primarily a group IV cyanobacterium (Leptolyngbya), and Alphaproteobacteria (specifically, members of Rhodobacteraceae and Geminicoccus). Members of Gammaproteobacteria (e.g., Thioalkalivibrio and Halochromatium) and Deltaproteobacteria (e.g., Desulfofustis) that are likely to be involved in sulfur cycling peaked in summer and declined significantly by mid-fall, mirroring larger trends in mat community richness and evenness. Phylogenetic turnover analysis of abundant phylotypes employing environmental metadata suggests that seasonal shifts in light variability exert a dominant influence on the composition of Hot Lake microbial mat communities. The seasonal development and organization of these structured microbial mats provide opportunities for analysis of the temporal and physical dynamics that feed back to community function.
Pooling and Sharing Income within Households: A Satisfaction Approach

Standard household economics assumes that couples pool their incomes and share the sum equally, which is a necessary prerequisite for computing equivalent incomes and hence all statements about the distribution of personal incomes and income poverty. However, since cohabitation without marriage is on the rise and since income pooling is less frequent among cohabiting couples, income is also pooled and shared less frequently. In conclusion, statements based on these two assumption are becoming increasingly invalid. Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study, I analyze the incidence and determinants of income pooling and then proceed to determine whether couples who pool their incomes share the sum equally. In contrast to most existing studies, I use a holistic approach to identify sharing within households by analyzing data on financial satisfaction. Concerning the relation between income sharing and income pooling, I account not only for the dominance of pooling over sharing, but also for the possibility of correlated error terms of the pooling and the sharing equation. A further advancement of this paper is the use of panel data, which enables me to account for unobserved heterogeneity at the household level. The results indicate that the hypothesis of equal sharing even has to be rejected for couples who pool their incomes, which implies that a wide range of analyses of income poverty, for instance, may be misleading.
A Comparison of End-to-End Congestion Control Algorithms : The Case of AIMD and AIPD

The focus of this paper is to compare two popular congestion control algorithms: AIMD (additive increase/multiplicative decrease) and AIPD (additive increase/loss proportional decrease). The key contributions of the paper are two-fold: (a) we first clarify the definitions of AIMD and AIPD congestion control algorithms, and compare them in various aspects: convergence characteristics, steady state throughput, fa irness model, and the corresponding utility functions; and (b) we study the impact of introducing a simple history mechanism to AIMD and AIPD algorithms in order to achieve a smooth rate/window variation in steady state while decreas ing rate/window aggressively in response to the onset of con gestion. We present a simple model-based analysis of AIMD and AIPD, and a set of simulation-based comparison of the two algorithms using the ns-2 simulator. Keywords— Congestion control, Fairness, Utility Function, Additive Increase/Multiplicative Decrease (AIMD), Additive Increase/Loss Proportional Decrease (AIPD), Con gestion History, TCP-friendliness.
Multiple Recurrences and the Associated Matrix Structures Stemming From Normal Matrices

There are many classical results in which orthogonal vectors stemming from Krylov subspaces are linked to short recurrence relations, e.g., three term recurrences for Hermitian and short rational recurrences for unitary matrices. These recurrence coefficients can be captured in a Hessenberg matrix, whose structure reflects the relation between the spectrum of the original matrix and the recurrences. The easier the recurrences, the faster the orthogonal vectors can be computed possibly resulting in computational savings in the design of, e.g., iterative solvers. In this article we focus on multiple recurrence relations, i.e., the $(j+1)$st orthogonal vector satisfies $\mathbf{q}_{j+1} = \sum_{i=j-m}^j \rho_{j,i}A\mathbf{q}_i - \sum_{i=j-\ell}^j \gamma_{j,i}\mathbf{q}_i$ with $\rho_{j,i}$, $\gamma_{j,i}$ scalars and $A$ the matrix defining the Krylov space. Though many compelling results are around, the structure of the corresponding Hessenberg matrix is mostly deduced by analyzing the inner product relatio.
Phenotypes and Genotypes of Patients with Pantothenate Kinase-Associated Neurodegeneration in Asian and Caucasian Populations: 2 Cases and Literature Review

Objectives. Pantothenate kinase-associated neurodegeneration (PKAN) is a rare disease caused by pantothenate kinase 2 (PANK2, OMIM 606157) mutations. This study is aimed to investigate clinical presentations, pathologies, and genetics in patients with PKAN. Methods. Two patients with PKAN were reported. We reviewed the literature to include additional 19 patients with PKAN in Eastern Asia. These patients were divided into classic and atypical groups by the age of onset. We compared the data on PKAN patients of Asian and Caucasian populations. Results. We found iron deposits in the globus pallidus in our Patient 1 and a heterozygous truncating mutation (c.1408insT) in Patient 2. Literature review shows that generalized dystonia and bulbar signs are more common in classic PKAN patients, whereas segmental dystonia and tremors are more specific to atypical ones. Asian patients have less complex presentations—lower prevalence of pyramidal signs, mental impairment, and parkinsonism—than Caucasians. D378G in exon 3 is the most frequent mutation (28%) in Asians. Conclusions. Our study demonstrates that the distribution of dystonia is the major distinction between subgroups of PKAN. Caucasian patients have more complex presentations than Asians. Exon 3 and 4 are hot spots for screening PANK2 mutations in Asian patients.
Design of Multi-Specificity in Protein Interfaces

Interactions in protein networks may place constraints on protein interface sequences to maintain correct and avoid unwanted interactions. Here we describe a “multi-constraint” protein design protocol to predict sequences optimized for multiple criteria, such as maintaining sets of interactions, and apply it to characterize the mechanism and extent to which 20 multi-specific proteins are constrained by binding to multiple partners. We find that multi-specific binding is accommodated by at least two distinct patterns. In the simplest case, all partners share key interactions, and sequences optimized for binding to either single or multiple partners recover only a subset of native amino acid residues as optimal. More interestingly, for signaling interfaces functioning as network “hubs,” we identify a different, “multi-faceted” mode, where each binding partner prefers its own subset of wild-type residues within the promiscuous binding site. Here, integration of preferences across all partners results in sequences much more “native-like” than seen in optimization for any single binding partner alone, suggesting these interfaces are substantially optimized for multi-specificity. The two strategies make distinct predictions for interface evolution and design. Shared interfaces may be better small molecule targets, whereas multi-faceted interactions may be more “designable” for altered specificity patterns. The computational methodology presented here is generalizable for examining how naturally occurring protein sequences have been selected to satisfy a variety of positive and negative constraints, as well as for rationally designing proteins to have desired patterns of altered specificity.
Los Alamos sequence analysis package for nucleic acids and proteins

An interactive system for computer analysis of nucleic acid and protein sequences has been developed for the Los Alamos DNA Sequence Database. It provides a convenient way to search or verify various sequence features, e.g., restriction enzyme sites, protein coding frames, and properties of coded proteins. Further, the comprehensive analysis package on a large-scale database can be used for comparative studies on sequence and structural homologies in order to find unnoted information stored in nucleic acid sequences.
Horizontal inequalities and conflict : understanding group violence in multiethnic societies

PART ONE: CONCEPTS AND ISSUES Horizontal Inequalities and Conflict: An Introduction and Some Hypotheses F.Stewart Who Should be Included? Noncitizens, Conflict and the Constitution of the Citizenry M.Gibney Cultural Status Inequalities: An Important Dimension of Group Mobilization A.Langer& G.K. Brown Horizontal Inequalities: Explaining Persistence and Change F.Stewart& A.Langer PART TWO: MEASUREMENT AND STATISTICAL ANALYSIS Approaches to the Measurement of Horizontal Inequalities L.Mancini, F.Stewart& G.K. Brown Horizontal Inequality and Communal Violence: Evidence from Indonesian Districts L.Mancini Inequalities, the Political Environment and Civil Conflict: Evidence from 55 Developing Countries G.Ostby PART THREE: HIS AND CONFLICT IN THREE REGIONS When Do Horizontal Inequalities Lead to Conflict? Lessons from a Comparative Study of Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire A.Langer Horizontal Inequalities and Ethnic Violence: Evidence from Calabar and Warri, Nigeria U.Ukiwo Ethnicity, Religion and the State in Ghana and Nigeria: Perceptions from the Street A. Langer& U.Ukiwo Inequality, Ethnicity and Political Violence in Latin America: The Cases of Bolivia, Guatemala and Peru C.Caumartin, G.Gray Molina& R.Thorp Horizontal Inequalities and Separatism in Southeast Asia: A Comparative Perspective G.K. Brown PART FOUR: CONCLUSIONS AND POLICIES Major Findings and Conclusions on the Relationship Between Horizontal Inequalities and Conflict F.Stewart, G.K. Brown & A.Langer Policies towards Horizontal Inequalities F.Stewart, G.K. Brown& A.Langer Conclusions
Energetic Tuning in Spirocyclic Conjugated Polymers

Precise control of the energy levels in a conjugated polymer is the key to allowing their exploitation in optoelectronic devices. The introduction of spirocycles into conjugated polymers has traditionally been used to enhance their solid state microstructure. Here we present a highly novel method of energetic tuning through the use of electronically active spirocyclic systems. By modifying the size and oxidation state of a heteroatom in an orthogonal spirocycle we demonstrate energetic fine tuning in both the absorption and emission of a conjugated polymer. Furthermore, the synthesis of highly novel triplet-decker spirocyclic conjugated polymers is presented. This new method of energetic manipulation in a conjugated polymer paves the way for future application targeted synthesis of polymers with electronically active spirocycles.
Active Sensing Based Structural Health Monitoring for Flaw Detection in Composite Structures

In this paper, a continuous structural health monitoring system is developed to detect flaws in composite structures real-time. First, a layer of piezoelectric patches are used as both sensors and actuators to generate input signals with s ic wavelet waveforms and to measure response signals. Then, a wavelet-based signal processing technique is develop combined with the active sensing system to extract damage-sensitive features from the original signals. Finally, a statist y rigorous damage classifier is developed to minimize false alarms of damage. The applicability of the proposed monito system to flaw detection has been demonstrated by experimental studies of a composite plate under varying temperatu boundary conditions.
Thyroid hormone is required for pruning, functioning and long‐term maintenance of afferent inner hair cell synapses

Functional maturation of afferent synaptic connections to inner hair cells (IHCs) involves pruning of excess synapses formed during development, as well as the strengthening and survival of the retained synapses. These events take place during the thyroid hormone (TH)‐critical period of cochlear development, which is in the perinatal period for mice and in the third trimester for humans. Here, we used the hypothyroid Snell dwarf mouse (Pit1dw) as a model to study the role of TH in afferent type I synaptic refinement and functional maturation. We observed defects in afferent synaptic pruning and delays in calcium channel clustering in the IHCs of Pit1dw mice. Nevertheless, calcium currents and capacitance reached near normal levels in Pit1dw IHCs by the age of onset of hearing, despite the excess number of retained synapses. We restored normal synaptic pruning in Pit1dw IHCs by supplementing with TH from postnatal day (P)3 to P8, establishing this window as being critical for TH action on this process. Afferent terminals of older Pit1dw IHCs showed evidence of excitotoxic damage accompanied by a concomitant reduction in the levels of the glial glutamate transporter, GLAST. Our results indicate that a lack of TH during a critical period of inner ear development causes defects in pruning and long‐term homeostatic maintenance of afferent synapses.
On the Stochastic and Topological Structure of Markov Chains

The classification theory for shifts of finite type (topological Markov chains) in the strictest sense, that is to say, up to topological conjugacy, was initiated by Williams ([17]). Additions to this theory are represented by Williams's work can be viewed either as topological or as a combined topological and measure-theoretic theory, where invariant measures are restricted to those of 'maximal' type. In a subsequent paper ([14]), Williams and the first-named author above developed a partial generalisation; a classification of all finite state stationary Markov chains up to block-isomorphism (i.e. topological and measure-theoretic equivalence). The complete invariant constructed was two parallel series of strong-shift equivalences; one expressing the topological character and the other the stochastic character of the problem. Associated with this extremely complicated invariant are the topological and stochastic zeta functions. A defect in this theory is the unfortunate dislocation of invariants into topological and stochastic aspects. This defect is not merely aesthetic; it prevented the authors of [14] from formulating an appropriate notion of shift equivalence and an allied zeta function. Although it is not known whether shift equivalence implies strong shift equivalence (the converse is true), shift equivalence is a relationship which is much more manageable and in the topological case its decidability, for certain cases, has been proved ([5]). In this paper we introduce the notion of shift equivalence for stochastic matrices and a corresponding zeta function which subsumes both the topological and stochastic zeta functions. (Our construction could be deduced from Ruelle's work [15]. We should also like to point out that a more complicated version of the same zeta function was discovered by Roger Butler. A somewhat different zeta function was introduced by Martin in [8] for general ergodic theory. Readers may wish to compare Martin's zeta function with ours and to note the comments at the end of [8].) The basic new concepts used in this paper are adaptations of the so-called /^-function of [16], the one-parameterisation of Markov measures and the idea of restricting matrices to those whose entries are non-negative integral combinations of exponential functions (cf. [13]). With these notions and restrictions we are able to extend the results of [17], [14] and [11] and to establish the chain of implications shown on the next page. Since the techniques we require have already been elucidated elsewhere, we hope that our brief indications will suffice to convince the reader of the validity of …
Modeling and simulation of variable speed wind generator system using boost converter of permanent magnet synchronous generator

This paper proposes the variable-speed wind generator system using the boost converter. The proposed system has three speed control modes for the wind velocity. The control mode of low wind velocity regulates the armature current of the generator with the boost converter to control the windmill speed. The control mode of middle wind velocity regulates the DC link voltage with vector controlled inverter to control the windmill speed. The control mode of high wind velocity regulates the pitch angle of the wind turbine with the pitch angle control system to control the windmill speed. The hybrid of three speed control scheme extends the variable-speed range. The proposed system simplifies the maintenance, improves the reliability, and reduces the cost in compare with variable- speed wind generation system using PWM converter.
Adoption and Termination of Employee Involvement Programs

Using an interview survey of manufacturing establishments that provide 10 years of retrospective data on labor practices, we investigate factors associated with the adoption and termination of employee involvement programs and the relation between these and other human resource policies. In the period studied, more firms introduced than terminated such programs but a sufficiently large number chose to eliminate such programs to indicate that employee involvement does not fit in all business settings. Our results show that business strategy and the use of other complementary human resource policies affect the dynamics of employee involvement use in US manufacturing establishments.