Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Engineering the phase behaviour of high performance inkjet colorants

Dyes for inkjet printing are typically of the chromonic type. Chromonic mesophases have gained considerable attention as a well-defined group of lyotropic mesogens with different properties from conventional amphiphiles. While extensive research has been dedicated to the field of surfactant liquid crystals, structural and aggregation studies of chromonics have only emerged as a topic of interest within the last few years.The liquid crystalline structures in aqueous solutions of commercial Cu - phthalocyanine and black dyes have been examined using a combination of optical microscopy, UV-vis spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance, wide- and small-angle X-ray diffraction and electronic paramagnetic resonance with a view to examining the phase behaviour of the chromonic mesophases formed over a broad range of concentrations and temperatures. These studies were performed in order to resolve outstanding problems concerning structural properties of these systems.Optical microscopy allowed us to identify the liquid crystalline phases and to construct the phase diagram. The observations show that both of these dyes form nematic mesophase above 15% wt / wt% dye. The small-angle diffraction data confirmed that the nematic phase for the black dye is maintained throughout the 16-25% composition range. A further increase in concentration leads to the formation of the hexagonal phase. The Cu – phthalocyanine dye also formed a nematic phase at low concentrations, with the aggregates undergoing a phase transition to an orientationally ordered chromonic liquid crystal phase at high dye concentration. These studies showed that this ordered phase possessed hexagonal symmetry. The wide-angle X-ray results demonstrated that aggregation involved π-π stacking of the molecules into columns. An additional reflection at ca. 6.8A was observed for the black dye, which is believed to arise from “head – to – tail” packing of the molecules within the aggregates (a similar phenomenon observed in other azo dyes, e.g. Edicol Sunset Yellow). The densities of both dyes were measured over the studied range of concentrations. This enabled us to calculate the parameters of the aggregates within the hexagonal mesophase. A comparison between the area of the molecule and the cross-section of the aggregates showed that the aggregates of both dyes were the unimolecular stacks.
Progress in Toughening Poly(Lactic Acid) with Renewable Polymers

ABSTRACT Poly(lactic acid) (PLA) is regarded as one of the most promising biobased and biodegradable polymers due its various advantages including high mechanical strength, easy processability, high melting temperature, renewability, biodegradability, and biocompatibility. However, the inherent brittleness significantly restricts its wide application. Therefore, toughening PLA has attracted more and more attention and various materials have been used to blend with PLA for toughening. Considering the fact that the use of petroleum-based species to toughen PLA would partially sacrifice the sustainability, various renewable polymers have recently been employed to toughen PLA. A series of important achievements have been obtained but not reviewed. This article aims to review progress in toughening PLA with renewable polymers. The toughening theories and compatibilization strategies are also briefly introduced.
The recruitment of different compartments within a muscle depends on the mechanics of the movement

Muscles are commonly assumed to have uniform activations across their bellies. Yet animal studies have shown that different regions across a muscle can vary in their architecture, fibre type, levels of activation and the transfer of forces to the bones and tendons. The purpose of this study was to test whether regional variations in activity occurred across the soleus, medial gastrocnemius and lateral gastrocnemius in man, and whether these regional variations changed with altered mechanical demands on the limb. Arrays of surface electrodes were placed over these muscles and the electromyograms (EMG) measured for a range of cycling tasks where the resistance and pedal velocity was independently altered. Significant variations in the magnitude and timing of the EMG occurred across these muscles, which were most pronounced in the gastrocnemii and occurred in both the proximodistal and mediolateral directions. The patterns of variation across the muscles changed in response to the altered mechanical demands during the cycling. It is likely that the muscle fascicles in the gastrocnemii contribute varied mechanical functions to the contractions that depend on both their location within the muscle belly and on the mechanical requirements of the movement.
Assessing the Biopsychosociospiritual Model in Primary Care: Development of the Biopsychosociospiritual Inventory (BioPSSI)

Objective: There is growing evidence in support of the Biopsychosociospiritual Model. However, a cohesive instrument to measure each dimension in terms of its dimension-specific symptoms and functional status does not exist, serving as an obstacle to future research in this area. The purpose of this study was to develop and validate an instrument to measure each dimension in terms of its dimension-specific symptoms, appraisals, and functional status in an unselected group of primary care patients. Method: An instrument that assessed biopsychosociospiritual symptoms and function and health outcomes was administered to 289 patients attending two primary care clinics. Responses were analyzed using principal component factor analysis with Equimax rotation. This led to the development of five Biopsychosociospiritual Inventory scales (impaired functional status, physical symptoms, psychological symptoms, social symptoms, and spiritual symptoms). Demographic differences in mean scale scores were sought. In addition to internal consistency, construct validity was assessed based upon dimension-specific health care utilization, life satisfaction, and perceived health status. Results: All five scales had excellent internal consistency (alpha > 0.8) and construct validity. Differences were strongly related to income, marital status, and employment in a manner consistent with previous research. Conclusions: This study developed and validated the Biopsychosociospiritual Inventory which could potentially provide a holistic estimate of the impact of disease and its treatment, support research in this area, and lead to the expansion of classification systems that include spirituality. Further validation of this instrument in other primary care sites using diverse patient populations as well as its function over time is needed.
Ultrasound evaluation of diaphragm function in mechanically ventilated patients: comparison to phrenic stimulation and prognostic implications

Rationale In intensive care unit (ICU) patients, diaphragm dysfunction is associated with adverse clinical outcomes. Ultrasound measurements of diaphragm thickness, excursion (EXdi) and thickening fraction (TFdi) are putative estimators of diaphragm function, but have never been compared with phrenic nerve stimulation. Our aim was to describe the relationship between these variables and diaphragm function evaluated using the change in endotracheal pressure after phrenic nerve stimulation (Ptr,stim), and to compare their prognostic value. Methods Between November 2014 and June 2015, Ptr,stim and ultrasound variables were measured in mechanically ventilated patients <24 hours after intubation (‘initiation of mechanical ventilation (MV)’, under assist-control ventilation, ACV) and at the time of switch to pressure support ventilation (‘switch to PSV’), and compared using Spearman's correlation and receiver operating characteristic curve analysis. Diaphragm dysfunction was defined as Ptr,stim <11 cm H2O. Results 112 patients were included. At initiation of MV, Ptr,stim was not correlated to diaphragm thickness (p=0.28), EXdi (p=0.66) or TFdi (p=0.80). At switch to PSV, TFdi and EXdi were respectively very strongly and moderately correlated to Ptr,stim, (r=0.87, p<0.001 and 0.45, p=0.001), but diaphragm thickness was not (p=0.45). A TFdi <29% could reliably identify diaphragm dysfunction (sensitivity and specificity of 85% and 88%), but diaphragm thickness and EXdi could not. This value was associated with increased duration of ICU stay and MV, and mortality. Conclusions Under ACV, diaphragm thickness, EXdi and TFdi were uncorrelated to Ptr,stim. Under PSV, TFdi was strongly correlated to diaphragm strength and both were predictors of remaining length of MV and ICU and hospital death.
Multiple-symbol double-differential detection based on least-squares and generalized-likelihood ratio criteria

Two algorithms for double-differential detection of multiple phase-shift keying modulation are proposed, based on a least-squares criterion and a generalized-likelihood ratio test, respectively. While both algorithms take advantage of the performance gain obtained by observing the received signal over an observation interval longer than that required for symbol-by-symbol detection, the former has the important advantage of reduced implementation complexity, whereas the latter offers better performance.
Production and Properties of α‐Amylase from Penicillium chrysogenum and its Application in Starch Hydrolysis

Abstract Fungi were screened for their ability to produce α‐amylase by a plate culture method. Penicillium chrysogenum showed high enzymatic activity. α‐Amylase production by P. chrysogenum cultivated in liquid media containing maltose (2%) reached its maximum at 6–8 days, at 30°C, with a level of 155 U ml−1. Some general properties of the enzyme were investigated. The optimum reaction pH and temperature were 5.0 and 30–40°C, respectively. The enzyme was stable at a pH range from 5.0–6.0 and at 30°C for 20 min and the enzyme's 92.1% activity's was retained at 40°C for 20 min without substrate. Hydrolysis products of the enzyme were maltose, unidefined oligosaccharides, and a trace amount of glucose. α‐Amylase of P. chrysogenum hydrolysed starches from different sources. The best hydrolysis was determined (98.69%) in soluble starch for 15 minute at 30°C.
THE GENETIC ARCHITECTURE OF ADAPTATION UNDER MIGRATION–SELECTION BALANCE

Many ecologically important traits have a complex genetic basis, with the potential for mutations at many different genes to shape the phenotype. Even so, studies of local adaptation in heterogeneous environments sometimes find that just a few quantitative trait loci (QTL) of large effect can explain a large percentage of observed differences between phenotypically divergent populations. As high levels of gene flow can swamp divergence at weakly selected alleles, migration–selection–drift balance may play an important role in shaping the genetic architecture of local adaptation. Here, we use analytical approximations and individual‐based simulations to explore how genetic architecture evolves when two populations connected by migration experience stabilizing selection toward different optima. In contrast to the exponential distribution of allele effect sizes expected under adaptation without migration (Orr 1998), we find that adaptation with migration tends to result in concentrated genetic architectures with fewer, larger, and more tightly linked divergent alleles. Even if many small alleles contribute to adaptation at the outset, they tend to be replaced by a few large alleles under prolonged bouts of stabilizing selection with migration. All else being equal, we also find that stronger selection can maintain linked clusters of locally adapted alleles over much greater map distances than weaker selection. The common empirical finding of QTL of large effect is shown to be expected with migration in a heterogeneous landscape, and these QTL may often be composed of several tightly linked alleles of smaller effect.
A Study on the Effect of Exit Widths and Crowd Sizes in the Formation of Arch in Clogged Crowds

The arching phenomenon is an emergent pattern formed by a $c$-sized crowd of intelligent, goal-oriented, autonomous, heterogeneous individuals moving towards a $w$-wide exit along a long $W$-wide corridor, where $W>w$. We collected empirical data from microsimulations to identify the combination effects of~$c$ and~$w$ to the time~$T$ of the onset of and the size~$S$ of the formation of the arch. The arch takes on the form of the perimeter of a half ellipse halved along the minor axis. We measured the~$S$ with respect to the lengths of the major~$M$ and minor~$m$ axes of the ellipse, respectively. The mathematical description of the formation of this phenomenon will be an important information in the design of walkways to control and easily direct the flow of large crowds, especially during panic egress conditions.
PATTERNS OF CYTOKINE RELEASE AND EVOLUTION OF REMOTE ORGAN DYSFUNCTION AFTER BILATERAL FEMUR FRACTURE

ABSTRACT The interaction between the complex pattern of cytokine release and remote organ dysfunction after trauma is incompletely understood. The aim of this study was to investigate the pattern of cytokine release and its association with the evolution of remote organ dysfunction after bilateral femur fracture. Male C57/BL6 mice were euthanized at six different time points (1-6 h) after bilateral femur fracture. Serum cytokine concentrations were measured with the Luminex multiplexing platform, and serum alanine aminotransferase levels were measured with the Vitros 950 Chemistry System. Hepatic and pulmonary myeloperoxidase activity was determined with an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kit. Permeability changes of the lung were assessed via bronchoalveolar lavage, and those of the liver via assessment of edema formation. Serum TNF-&agr; was unchanged in the fracture group throughout the experiment. Serum IL-6 and keratinocyte levels peaked at 5 h postinjury, whereas IL-10 levels peaked at 2 and 6 h. A brief IL-1&bgr; peak was observed at 3 h after fracture. Hepatic and pulmonary myeloperoxidase activity was significantly elevated within 1 h after trauma. Hepatic permeability was significantly increased within 2 h, and pulmonary permeability was significantly increased within 6 h after injury. Serum alanine aminotransferase levels peaked at 3 and 5 h postinjury. The pattern of serum IL-6, keratinocyte, IL-10, and IL-1&bgr; release was dynamic, whereas no significant elevations in TNF-&agr; were observed. The early hepatic and pulmonary infiltration of polymorphonuclear cells occurred in the absence of significantly elevated serum cytokine levels, suggesting that either early minor changes with an unbalance in inflammatory mediators or locally produced cytokines may initiate this process.
Polypropylene Blends with m-EPR Copolymers: Structure, Morphology and Thermal Properties

ABSTRACT The effects of different contents of two metallocene propylene-based m-EPR elastomers on structure, morphology, thermal, and dynamic mechanical properties of the isotactic polypropylene/m-EPR blends were investigated. The both m-EPR copolymers have been built in isotactic polypropylene matrix as amorphous phase. However, the nucleation effect at lowest addition (2.5 vol%) and the solidification effect along with increased m-EPR’s additions have caused changes of the crystallinity degree and the size of spherulites in the isotactic polypropylene matrix. Higher degree of miscibility/compatibility of the isotactic polypropylene/m-EPR2, with lower viscosity has been observed. Homogeneous dispersion of m-EPR particles as well as their radial distribution has been observed. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT
Discovery of a Siderophore Export System Essential for Virulence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Iron is an essential nutrient for most bacterial pathogens, but is restricted by the host immune system. Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) utilizes two classes of small molecules, mycobactins and carboxymycobactins, to capture iron from the human host. Here, we show that an Mtb mutant lacking the mmpS4 and mmpS5 genes did not grow under low iron conditions. A cytoplasmic iron reporter indicated that the double mutant experienced iron starvation even under high-iron conditions. Loss of mmpS4 and mmpS5 did not change uptake of carboxymycobactin by Mtb. Thin layer chromatography showed that the ΔmmpS4/S5 mutant was strongly impaired in biosynthesis and secretion of siderophores. Pull-down experiments with purified proteins demonstrated that MmpS4 binds to a periplasmic loop of the associated transporter protein MmpL4. This interaction was corroborated by genetic experiments. While MmpS5 interacted only with MmpL5, MmpS4 interacted with both MmpL4 and MmpL5. These results identified MmpS4/MmpL4 and MmpS5/MmpL5 as siderophore export systems in Mtb and revealed that the MmpL proteins transport small molecules other than lipids. MmpS4 and MmpS5 resemble periplasmic adapter proteins of tripartite efflux pumps of Gram-negative bacteria, however, they are not only required for export but also for efficient siderophore synthesis. Membrane association of MbtG suggests a link between siderophore synthesis and transport. The structure of the soluble domain of MmpS4 (residues 52–140) was solved by NMR and indicates that mycobacterial MmpS proteins constitute a novel class of transport accessory proteins. The bacterial burden of the mmpS4/S5 deletion mutant in mouse lungs was lower by 10,000-fold and none of the infected mice died within 180 days compared to wild-type Mtb. This is the strongest attenuation observed so far for Mtb mutants lacking genes involved in iron utilization. In conclusion, this study identified the first components of novel siderophore export systems which are essential for virulence of Mtb.
Real-time human action search using random forest based hough voting

Many existing techniques in content based video retrieval treat a video sequence as a whole to match it against a query video or to assign a text label. Such an approach has serious limitations when applied to human action retrieval because an action may occur only in a sub-region and last for a small portion of the video length. In situations like this, we essentially need to match the subvolumes of the video sequences against the query video. A naive exhaustive search is impractical due to large number of possible subvolumes for each video sequence. In this paper, we propose a novel framework for action retrieval which performs pattern matching at subvolume level and is very efficient in handling large corpus of videos. We construct an unsupervised random forest to index the video database, generate a score volume with Hough voting and then employ a max sub-path strategy to quickly search for the temporal and spatial positions of all the video sequences in the database. We present action search experiments on challenging datasets to validate the efficiency and effectiveness of our system.
Proanthocyanidin Characterization and Bioactivity of Extracts from Different Parts of Uncaria tomentosa L. (Cat’s Claw)

Apart from alkaloids, bioactive properties of Uncaria tomentosa L. have been attributed to its phenolic constituents. Although there are some reports concerning low-molecular-weight polyphenols in U. tomentosa, its polymeric phenolic composition has been scarcely studied. In this study, phenolic-rich extracts from leaves, stems, bark and wood (n = 14) of Uncaria tomentosa plants from several regions of Costa Rica were obtained and analysed in respect to their proanthocyanidin profile determined by a quadrupole-time-of-flight analyser (ESI-QTOF MS). Main structural characteristics found for U. tomentosa proanthocyanidins were: (a) monomer composition, including pure procyanidins (only composed of (epi)catechin units) and propelargonidins (only composed of (epi)afzelechin units) as well as mixed proanthocyanidins; and (b) degree of polymerization, from 3 up to 11 units. In addition, U. tomentosa phenolic extracts were found to exhibit reasonable antioxidant capacity (ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity) values between 1.5 and 18.8 mmol TE/g) and antimicrobial activity against potential respiratory pathogens (minimum IC50 of 133 µg/mL). There were also found to be particularly cytotoxic to gastric adenocarcinoma AGS and colon adenocarcinoma SW620 cell lines. The results state the particularities of U. tomentosa proanthocyanidins and suggest the potential value of these extracts with prospective use as functional ingredients.
Lyapunov-Based Control Scheme for Single-Phase Grid-Connected PV Central Inverters

A Lyapunov-based control scheme for single-phase single-stage grid-connected photovoltaic central inverters is presented. Besides rendering the closed-loop system globally stable, the designed controller is able to deal with the system uncertainty that depends on the solar irradiance. A laboratory prototype has been built as a proof of concept for the proposed control technique. A nonlinear passive adaptive controller has been programmed in a field-programmable gate array.
Reciprocal Roles for CCAAT/Enhancer Binding Protein (C/EBP) and PU.1 Transcription Factors in Langerhans Cell Commitment

Myeloid progenitor cells give rise to a variety of progenies including dendritic cells. However, the mechanism controlling the diversification of myeloid progenitors into each progeny is largely unknown. PU.1 and CCAAT/enhancing binding protein (C/EBP) family transcription factors have been characterized as key regulators for the development and function of the myeloid system. However, the roles of C/EBP transcription factors have not been fully identified because of functional redundancy among family members. Using high titer–retroviral infection, we demonstrate that a dominant-negative C/EBP completely blocked the granulocyte–macrophage commitment of human myeloid progenitors. Alternatively, Langerhans cell (LC) commitment was markedly facilitated in the absence of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)α, a strong inducer of LC development, whereas expression of wild-type C/EBP in myeloid progenitors promoted granulocytic differentiation, and completely inhibited TNFα-dependent LC development. On the other hand, expression of wild-type PU.1 in myeloid progenitors triggered LC development in the absence of TNFα, and its instructive effect was canceled by coexpressed C/EBP. Our findings establish reciprocal roles for C/EBP and PU.1 in LC development, and provide new insight into the molecular mechanism of LC development, which has not yet been well characterized.