Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Charge transport in thermally and electrically stressed oil-impregnated paper insulation

The relation between ageing and space charge is a hot area, but there is little direct evidence. In this paper, oil-paper samples were exposed to 20-kV/mm DC electrical field, 130°C temperature or both 20-kV/mm DC electrical field and 130°C temperature separately. Charge transport through them was analyzed at intervals by the pulsed electroacoustic (PEA) method. We find that the quantity of trapped charge increases with stressing durations, no matter what kind of stress oil-paper is exposed to. That indicates that energy release through space charge movement, such as charge trapping/detrapping and recombination, is another reason for traps generation besides deterioration caused by thermal ageing. However, because the difference in cellulose degradation mechanism among them, charge transport dynamics are thereby different under different stressing conditions. Space charge accumulates faster inner electrothermally stressed oil-paper than that inner another two kinds of oil-paper, and the sign of trapped charge is positive if oil-paper is electrically or electro-thermally stressed. The latter behavior is discussed in terms of electromagnetic dynamics due to cavity within oil-paper once there is external electric field.
On structural transitions, thermodynamic equilibrium, and the phase diagram of DNA and RNA duplexes under torque and tension

A precise understanding of the flexibility of double stranded nucleic acids and the nature of their deformed conformations induced by external forces is important for a wide range of biological processes including transcriptional regulation, supercoil and catenane removal, and site-specific recombination. We present, at atomic resolution, a simulation of the dynamics involved in the transitions from B-DNA and A-RNA to Pauling (P) forms and to denatured states driven by application of external torque and tension. We then calculate the free energy profile along a B- to P-transition coordinate and from it, compute a reversible pathway, i.e., an isotherm of tension and torque pairs required to maintain P-DNA in equilibrium. The reversible isotherm maps correctly onto a phase diagram derived from single molecule experiments, and yields values of elongation, twist, and twist-stretch coupling in agreement with measured values. We also show that configurational entropy compensates significantly for the large electrostatic energy increase due to closer-packed P backbones. A similar set of simulations applied to RNA are used to predict a novel structure, P-RNA, with its associated free energy, equilibrium tension, torque and structural parameters, and to assign the location, on the phase-diagram, of a putative force–torque-dependent RNA “triple point. ”
Occult and frequent transmission of atherosclerotic coronary disease with cardiac transplantation. Insights from intravascular ultrasound.

BACKGROUND Transplant coronary artery disease is a major cause of morbidity and mortality after cardiac transplantation. However, limited data exist regarding the potential contribution of coronary atherosclerosis in the donor heart to cardiac-allograft vasculopathy. METHODS AND RESULTS We performed quantitative coronary angiography and intravascular ultrasound imaging in 50 of 62 consecutive heart-transplant recipients (40 men, 10 women, mean age, 53 +/- 9 years) 4.6 +/- 2.6 weeks after transplantation. The donor population consisted of 30 men and 20 women (mean age, 32 +/- 12 years). Ultrasound imaging visualized all three coronary arteries in 22 patients, two coronary arteries in 23, and one coronary artery in 5. Ultrasound imaging detected coronary atherosclerosis (intimal thickness > or = 0.5 mm) in 28 patients (56%). However, the angiography was abnormal in only 13 patients (26%). The sensitivity and specificity of coronary angiography were 43% and 95%, respectively. With ultrasound, the average atherosclerotic plaque thickness was 1.3 +/- 0.6 mm and the cross-sectional area narrowing was 34 +/- 16%. Atherosclerotic involvement frequently was focal (85%), eccentric (mean eccentricity index, 87 +/- 8), and near arterial bifurcations. Donors of the transplant recipients with coronary atherosclerosis were older than those without atherosclerosis (37 +/- 12 versus 25 +/- 10 years, P = .001). Maximal intimal thickness correlated with donor age (r = .54, P = .0001). Multivariate analysis demonstrated that donor age (P = .0001), male sex of donor (P = .0006), and recipient age (P = .03) were independent predictors of atherosclerosis. CONCLUSIONS Coronary atherosclerosis is frequently but inadvertently transmitted by means of cardiac transplantation from the donor to the recipient. Long-term outcomes of donor-transmitted coronary artery disease will require further evaluation.
Cash Holdings and Finance Constraints in Indian Manufacturing Firms

This paper attempts to explore the effect of finance constraints by examining the propensity of firms to save cash out of cash flows. Drawing on cash-cash flow sensitivity (CCFS), we overcome the errors in attributing information in cash flows to real and financial components. We employ endogenous regime switching model for our empirical exercise. This model allows for multiple sorting variables, does not require finance constraints to increase monotonically with the sorting variables and enables firms to endogenously change regime over the sample period. Our findings suggest that firms portray significantly higher CCFS in the event of finance constraints.
Micro-calcification detection in digital tomosynthesis mammography

A novel technique for the detection and enhancement of microcalcifications in digital tomosynthesis mammography (DTM) is presented. In this method, the DTM projection images are used directly, instead of using a 3D reconstruction. Calcification residual images are computed for each of the projection images. Calcification detection is then performed over 3D space, based on the values of the calcification residual images at projection points for each 3D point under test. The quantum, electronic, and tissue noise variance at each pixel in each of the calcification residuals is incorporated into the detection algorithm. The 3D calcification detection algorithm finds a minimum variance estimate of calcification attenuation present in 3D space based on the signal and variance of the calcification residual images at the corresponding points in the projection images. The method effectively detects calcifications in 3D in a way that both ameliorates the difficulties of joint tissue/microcalcification tomosynthetic reconstruction (streak artifacts, etc.) and exploits the well understood image properties of microcalcifications as they appear in 2D mammograms. In this method, 3D reconstruction and calcification detection and enhancement are effectively combined to create a calcification detection specific reconstruction. Motivation and details of the technique and statistical results for DTM data are provided.
Does climate directly influence NPP globally?

The need for rigorous analyses of climate impacts has never been more crucial. Current textbooks state that climate directly influences ecosystem annual net primary productivity (NPP), emphasizing the urgent need to monitor the impacts of climate change. A recent paper challenged this consensus, arguing, based on an analysis of NPP for 1247 woody plant communities across global climate gradients, that temperature and precipitation have negligible direct effects on NPP and only perhaps have indirect effects by constraining total stand biomass (Mtot) and stand age (a). The authors of that study concluded that the length of the growing season (lgs) might have a minor influence on NPP, an effect they considered not to be directly related to climate. In this article, we describe flaws that affected that study's conclusions and present novel analyses to disentangle the effects of stand variables and climate in determining NPP. We re‐analyzed the same database to partition the direct and indirect effects of climate on NPP, using three approaches: maximum‐likelihood model selection, independent‐effects analysis, and structural equation modeling. These new analyses showed that about half of the global variation in NPP could be explained by Mtot combined with climate variables and supported strong and direct influences of climate independently of Mtot, both for NPP and for net biomass change averaged across the known lifetime of the stands (ABC = average biomass change). We show that lgs is an important climate variable, intrinsically correlated with, and contributing to mean annual temperature and precipitation (Tann and Pann), all important climatic drivers of NPP. Our analyses provide guidance for statistical and mechanistic analyses of climate drivers of ecosystem processes for predictive modeling and provide novel evidence supporting the strong, direct role of climate in determining vegetation productivity at the global scale.
Socioeconomic Outcomes in Adults Malnourished in the First Year of Life: A 40-Year Study

OBJECTIVE: Lifelong functional, adaptive, and economic outcomes of moderate to severe infantile malnutrition are not well known. We assessed social status and income at midlife in a cohort of Barbadian adults, hospitalized for protein-energy malnutrition (PEM) during the first year of life, with good nutrition and health thereafter, in the context of a 40-year longitudinal case-control study. We also examined to what extent childhood IQ mediated any group differences. METHODS: Educational achievement, occupational status, and standard of living were assessed by the Hollingshead scales and a site-specific Ecology Questionnaire in Barbadian adults (aged 37–43 years) with a history of malnutrition (n = 80) and a matched healthy control group (n = 63), classmates of the index cases. Malnutrition effects, adjusted for childhood standard of living, were estimated by longitudinal multiple regression analyses, with and without childhood IQ, in the models. RESULTS: PEM predicted poorer socioeconomic outcomes with medium to large effect sizes (0.50–0.94), but childhood IQ substantially attenuated the magnitude of these effects (adjusted effect sizes: 0.17–0.34). The gap in weekly household income between the PEM and control groups increased substantially over the life span (P < .001). CONCLUSIONS: Moderate to severe PEM during the first year of life with adequate nutrition and health care thereafter is associated with significant depression of socioeconomic outcomes in adulthood, mediated in part by cognitive compromise in affected individuals. This finding underscores the potential long-term economic burden of infant malnutrition, which is of major concern given the continued high prevalence of malnutrition worldwide.
Electrostatically Stabilized Magnetic Nanoparticles – An Optimized Protocol to Label Murine T Cells for in vivo MRI

We present a novel highly efficient protocol to magnetically label T cells applying electrostatically stabilized very small superparamagnetic iron oxide particles (VSOP). Our long-term aim is to use magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to investigate T cell dynamics in vivo during the course of neuroinflammatory disorders such as experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), an animal model of multiple sclerosis. Encephalitogenic T cells were co-incubated with VSOP, or with protamine-complexed VSOP (VProt), respectively, at different conditions, optimizing concentrations and incubation times. Labeling efficacy was determined by atomic absorption spectrometry as well as histologically, and evaluated on a 7 T MR system. Furthermore, we investigated possible alterations of T cell physiology caused by the labeling procedure. T cell co-incubation with VSOP resulted in an efficient cellular iron uptake. T2 times of labeled cells dropped significantly, resulting in prominent hypointensity on T2*-weighted scans. Optimal labeling efficacy was achieved by VProt (1 mM Fe/ml, 8 h incubation; T2 time shortening of ∼80% compared to untreated cells). Although VSOP promoted T cell proliferation and altered the ratio of T cell subpopulations toward a CD4+ phenotype, no effects on CD4 T cell proliferation or phenotypic stability were observed by labeling in vitro differentiated Th17 cells with VProt. Yet, high concentrations of intracellular iron oxide might induce alterations in T cell function, which should be considered in cell tagging studies. Moreover, we demonstrated that labeling of encephalitogenic T cells did not affect pathogenicity; labeled T cells were still capable of inducing EAE in susceptible recipient mice.
Hyperlocomotive and Discriminative Stimulus Effects of Cocaine Are Under the Control of Serotonin2C (5-HT2C) Receptors in Rat Prefrontal Cortex

The serotonin2C (5-hydroxytryptamine2C; 5-HT2C) receptor (5-HT2CR) is found in abundance in dopamine (DA) mesocorticolimbic pathways and is one of the important target proteins that modulates the behavioral effects of cocaine. In the present study, the hypothesis was tested that the 5-HT2CR in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) may control either spontaneous or cocaine-evoked locomotor activity as well as the discriminative stimulus properties of cocaine. In male Sprague-Dawley rats implanted with bilateral cannulae aimed at the PFC, local microinjections of the preferential 5-HT2CR agonist 6-chloro-2-(1-piperazinyl)pyrazine hydrochloride (MK 212) (0.05–0.5 μg/side) did not alter spontaneous activity, but dose-dependently decreased horizontal hyperactivity evoked by cocaine (10 mg/kg i.p.). Given alone, the selective 5-HT2CR antagonist 8-[5-(2,4-dimethoxy-5-(4-trifluorophenylsulfonamido)phenyl-5-oxopentyl]-1,3,8-triazo-spiro[4.5]decane-2,4-dione hydrochloride (RS 102221) (5 μg/side) increased basal locomotor activity of rats expressed in the vertical plane. Microinjections of RS 102221 (5 μg/side, but not 0.15–1.5 μg/side) significantly enhanced the horizontal activity induced by cocaine (10 mg/kg). In rats trained to discriminate cocaine (10 mg/kg i.p.) from saline (i.p.) in a two-lever, water-reinforced fixed ratio 20 task, intra-PFC microinjections of MK 212 (0.05 and 0.5 μg/side) did not substitute for cocaine, but attenuated the stimulus effects of cocaine. However, intra-PFC microinjections of RS 102221 (1.5 and 5 μg/side) evoked 13 and 40% cocaine-lever responding when tested alone and enhanced the recognition of cocaine. These data indicate that the PFC is a brain site at which the 5-HT2CR exerts an inhibitory control over the hyperactive and discriminative stimulus effects of cocaine known to be dependent upon activation of the DA mesoaccumbens circuit.
CENTRAL CORNEAL THICKNESS IN LOW‐TENSION GLAUCOMA

Significantly reduced central corneal thickness is reported in seven patients with low tension glaucoma. This finding, together with previously reported findings of increased thickness in ocular hypertension (suspicio glaucomatis) illustrates the clinical importance of the corneal thickness in the evaluation of border line glaucoma.
Molecular dynamics simulations of the conformational changes of the glutamate receptor ligand‐binding core in the presence of glutamate and kainate

Excitatory synaptic transmission is mediated by ionotropic glutamate receptors (iGluRs) through the induced transient opening of transmembrane ion channels. The three‐dimensional structure of the extracellular ligand‐binding core of iGluRs shares the overall features of bacterial periplasmic binding proteins (PBPs). In both families of proteins, the ligand‐binding site is arranged in two domains separated by a cleft and connected by two peptide stretches. PBPs undergo a typical hinge motion of the two domains associated with ligand binding that leads to a conformational change from an open to a closed form. The common architecture suggests a similar closing mechanism in the ligand‐binding core of iGluRs induced by the binding of specific agonists. Starting from the experimentally determined kainate‐bound closed form of the S1S2 GluR2 construct, we have studied by means of molecular dynamics simulations the opening motion of the ligand‐binding core in the presence and in the absence of both glutamate and kainate. Our results suggest that the opening/closing interdomain hinge motions are coupled to conformational changes in the insertion region of the transmembrane segments. These changes are triggered by the interaction of the agonists with the essential Glu 209 residue. A plausible mechanism for the coupling of agonist binding to channel gating is discussed. Proteins 2001;44:460–469. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
It Is Not Only Mentoring: The Combined Influences of Individual-Level and Team-Level Support on Job Performance.

Purpose – The paper aims to follow social exchange theory and group social capital theory, to predict positive relationships between (informal) mentoring and various support resources for two types of performance (i.e. perceptions of individual and team performance). Design/methodology/approach – The associations of individual‐level mentoring and team‐level support with job performance were examined in a cross‐level field study using data from 480 teachers working in 64 interdisciplinary teams.Findings – Multilevel analyses showed that after controlling for having a mentor, those teachers with more team‐level support resources scored higher on self‐reported job performance and perception of team performance. In line with expectations, the association between mentoring and individual job performance was stronger for teachers scoring high on team‐level support (i.e. support from informal networks and support from team orientation). One basic assumption of the present study was a positive relationship between.
No evidence of continuously advanced green-up dates in the Tibetan Plateau over the last decade

Zhang et al. (1) report that the green-up dates in the Tibetan Plateau (TP) have continuously advanced from 1982 to 2011. They retrieved green-up dates from the multiannual time-series of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) using the method proposed by Piao et al. (2). This method assumes that the nongrowing season NDVI values remain constant among the different years and thus requires sophisticated preprocess of the nongrowing season NDVI. Otherwise, the retrieved green-up dates by the step of polynomial fitting will be negatively biased (i.e., advanced) by the increase in the nongrowing season NDVI (Fig. 1A).
Bi-static radar cross section (RCS) reduction of impedance cylinder

Reduction of RCS of military targets is important issue and can be regarded as part of passive ECM (electronic counter measure). Reduction of RCS is basically made by multilayer coating the surface of the target by lossy dielectrics. In this case, boundary condition which is satisfied on the surface of target can be modelled by IBC (impedance boundary condition). We propose the method that determines the surface impedance value of the cylinder satisfying reduced bi-static RCS. We also applied the proposed method to minimize the mono-static RCS of the impedance cylinder. Minimized mono-static RCS was compared to those of perfectly electrical conductor (PEC) cylinder and good reduction values were observed over a wide frequency range and angle.
FoldingNet: Point Cloud Auto-Encoder via Deep Grid Deformation

Recent deep networks that directly handle points in a point set, e.g., PointNet, have been state-of-the-art for supervised learning tasks on point clouds such as classification and segmentation. In this work, a novel end-to-end deep auto-encoder is proposed to address unsupervised learning challenges on point clouds. On the encoder side, a graph-based enhancement is enforced to promote local structures on top of PointNet. Then, a novel folding-based decoder deforms a canonical 2D grid onto the underlying 3D object surface of a point cloud, achieving low reconstruction errors even for objects with delicate structures. The proposed decoder only uses about 7% parameters of a decoder with fully-connected neural networks, yet leads to a more discriminative representation that achieves higher linear SVM classification accuracy than the benchmark. In addition, the proposed decoder structure is shown, in theory, to be a generic architecture that is able to reconstruct an arbitrary point cloud from a 2D grid. Our code is available at http://www.merl. com/research/license#FoldingNet
Introducing Performativity to Crisis Management Theory: An Illustration from the 2003 French Heat Wave Crisis Response

While current crisis management literature focuses on the necessity of consistent data and shared interpretation to coordinate effectively, contrastingly, this paper highlights the predominating influence of crisis responders' performances on information transmission. Based on an exploratory interpretive analysis of the 2003 French heat wave crisis response, our findings reveal that performances can support immediate reaction and involvement, but can also generate conflicts or misunderstandings that may burden coordination. This work's contribution to the crisis management literature is in threefold. First, we enrich the crisis management literature by proposing performativity as a potential analytical lens for collective action during crisis response. Second, we propose some practical recommendations to improve crisis management training through the application of the concept of performativity. Finally, we propose a critical perspective on tacitly held assumptions in crisis management.
Health problems in family practice. An Icelandic multicentre study.

OBJECTIVE To establish epidemiological data on the health problems within family practice in Iceland by multicentre analysis of well-defined geographic areas. DESIGN Prospective practice audit. SUBJECTS AND SETTINGS Thirteen Icelandic health centres (HC) with computerized contact data from 1 January - 31 December 1988. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Health problems during one year in a population, as perceived by health care providers. RESULTS A total of 176 384 health problems during one year in a population of 31 248, as perceived by the health care provider, were analysed. Musculoskeletal disorders accounted for 9.3% of all health problems (prevalence 210.6/1000 inhabitants), respiratory disorders 9.4% (189.9/1000), accidents 7.4% (203.2/1000), cardiovascular disorders 7.4% (112.0/1000) and mental disorders 6.1% (87.6/1000). The commonest single health problems were: hypertension, upper respiratory tract infections and non-articular rheumatism. The health problems accounting for the most frequent contacts were: mental disorders (4.0 contacts per individual per year), cardiovascular (3.7), and endocrine, nutrition and metabolic (3.2). CONCLUSION Problem-oriented medical records from HCs, computerized in a uniform standardized way, can give extensive information about the content and burden of health problems in family practice and presumably public health. Our results are valuable because the population (the denominator) and the geographic study area are well defined. This information is an important part of clinical epidemiology and can be of great value for educators and health care planners.
Elliptical local vessel density: A fast and robust quality metric for retinal images

A great effort of the research community is geared towards the creation of an automatic screening system able to promptly detect diabetic retinopathy with the use of fundus cameras. In addition, there are some documented approaches for automatically judging the image quality. We propose a new set of features independent of field of view or resolution to describe the morphology of the patient's vessels. Our initial results suggest that these features can be used to estimate the image quality in a time one order of magnitude shorter than previous techniques.