Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
In situ observations of unusual dislocation mechanisms in the intermetallic alloy Ti3Al

In situ straining experiments in a transmission electron microscope have been carried out on a Ti3Al intermetallic alloy, with the aim of determining the microscopic mechanisms controlling glide in prism, basal and pyramidal planes. Five different antiphase boundary energies have been measured and compared with the corresponding densities of incorrect first nearest neighbour atoms. The determination of a tension–compression asymmetry in pyramidal slip, and the detailed analysis of the complex microscopic mechanisms involved illustrate the efficiency of in situ experiments to solve complex problems in plasticity. A comparison between the properties of the different slip systems shows that they are controlled by different microscopic mechanisms, none of them being of covalent origin.
On Synchronous Parallel Computations with Independent Probabilistic Choice

This paper introduces probabilistic choice to synchronous parallel machine models; in particular parallel RAMs. The power of probabilistic choice in parallel computations is illustrated by parallelizing some known probabilistic sequential algorithms. We characterize the computational complexity of time, space, and processor bounded probabilistic parallel RAMs in terms of the computational complexity of probabilistic sequential RAMs. We show that parallelism uniformly speeds up time bounded probabilistic sequential RAM computations by nearly a quadratic factor. We also show that probabilistic choice can be eliminated from parallel computations by introducing nonuniformity.
Contrast enhancement of fog and haze stereo images based on mobile computing

The outdoor stereo vision systems which can be used to observe objects from multiple directions are affected by fog and haze thus causing a serious decline in visibility. Therefore, using image enhancement approaches in fog and haze stereoscopic systems can alleviate blurred images, help grasp the situation of road traffic from a three-dimensional point of view and improve visibility. In order to solve the limitations of stereoscopic simulation and traffic safety caused by the weather, we propose a novel contrast enhancement method of fog and haze stereoscopic images based on mobile computing to improve image quality in this paper. The proposed approach decomposes the original image of left and right views into wavelet domain, highlights the low-frequency coefficients by edge sharpening, and enhances it by modifications of high-frequency coefficients. Experimental results show that the proposed approach outperforms conventional approaches, provides more pleasant viewing and alleviates fog and haze phenomena.
Public Relations and the Path to Innovation: Are Complex Environments Good for Business?

A disk drive circuit that includes a configuration resistor, a reference resistor, a capacitor and a processor. The processor is mounted on a first circuit assembly in the disk drive, such as the controller circuit board, and the configuration resistor is mounted on a second circuit assembly, such as the head-disk assembly (I-IDA). The resistance of the configuration resistor corresponds to the configuration of the second circuit assembly. The configuration may represent the number of heads or the type of preamplifier in the IDA. The processor calculates the resistance of the configuration resistor to determine the configuration of the second circuit assembly in the following manner. The processor charges the capacitor. The processor then allows the capacitor to discharge through a first circuit that includes both the configuration resistor and the reference resistor and measures the discharge time or time constant. The processor again charges the capacitor. The processor then allows the capacitor to discharge through a second circuit that includes the configuration resistor but not the reference and measures the time constant. The processor calculates the resistance of the configuration resistor in response to the ratio of the time constants of the first and second circuits.
Tuberculosis vaccine development at a divide

Purpose of review Tuberculosis (TB) remains a major health threat that will only be defeated by a combination of better drugs, diagnostics and vaccines. The only licensed TB vaccine, bacille Calmette–Guérin (BCG), protects against extrapulmonary TB in infants. Recent findings Novel vaccine candidates that could protect against pulmonary TB either in TB naïve or in latent TB-infected healthy individuals have been developed and are currently being assessed in clinical trials. Subunit booster vaccines are either based on viral vectors expressing TB-specific antigens or on TB–protein antigens in adjuvants. Subunit vaccines are administered on top of BCG. Replacement vaccines for BCG are recombinant viable BCG or Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Several candidates are undergoing, or will soon start, phase IIb assessment for efficacy. The first vaccine candidate, MVA85A, to complete a phase IIb trial, unfortunately failed to show protection against TB in infants. Therapeutic vaccines composed of killed mycobacterial preparations target patients with complicated TB in adjunct to drug treatment. Summary With increasing numbers of TB vaccine candidates in clinical trials, financial, regulatory and infrastructural issues arise, which would be best tackled by a global strategy. In addition, selection of the most promising vaccine candidates for further clinical development gains increasing importance.
Structural basis of influenza virus neutralization

Although seasonal influenza vaccines play a valuable role in reducing the spread of virus at the population level, ongoing viral evolution to evade immune responses remains problematic. No current vaccines elicit enduring protection in the face of emerging and re‐emerging influenza viruses that are rapidly undergoing antigenic drift. Eliciting broadly cross‐neutralizing antibody (nAb) responses against influenza virus is a crucial goal for seasonal and pandemic influenza vaccine preparation. Recent three‐dimensional structure information obtained from crystallization of influenza antigens in complex with nAbs has provided a framework for interpreting antibody‐based viral neutralization that should aid in the design of vaccine immunogens. Here, we will review current knowledge of the structure‐based mechanisms contributing to the neutralization and neutralization escape of influenza viruses. We will also explore the potential for this structure‐based approach to overcome the obstacles in developing the highly desired “universal” influenza vaccine.
Ventilatory variability induced by spontaneous variations of PaCO2 in humans.

We tested the hypothesis that breath-to-breath variations in arterial CO2 partial pressure (PaCO2) during spontaneous breathing of awake humans cause a significant portion of spontaneous ventilatory variability (including periodic oscillations). This hypothesis was tested in two ways. First, using a recently developed adaptive PaCO2 buffering technique we reduced the spontaneous variability in PaCO2 of six awake normal young human subjects during hyperoxia and observed a corresponding decrease in their breath-to-breath ventilatory variations. Second, we predicted the ventilatory responses to CO2 disturbances by using a model of chemical control of ventilation, both examining the hyperoxic condition (similar to experimental studies) and predicting the responses to CO2 variations of a normal subject breathing room air. In all experimental and theoretical studies, we found that small random disturbances to PaCO2 have significant effects on ventilation, including the potential for such PaCO2 disturbances to elicit oscillatory fluctuations in ventilation even though the ventilatory chemical control system was stable (i.e., a brief disturbance to PaCO2 did not elicit sustained ventilatory oscillations). On the basis of these results we propose that the stability of chemoreflex ventilatory control loops depends on both "loop gain" factors and the characteristics of random disturbances to PaCO2.
Pupil dilation to tropicamide is not specific for Alzheimer disease.

BACKGROUND The extent of pupil dilation after instillation of a dilute tropicamide solution was proposed as a noninvasive neurobiological diagnostic test for Alzheimer disease (AD). Pupils in patients with AD dilated 23% vs only 5% in control subjects. OBJECTIVE To determine whether pupil dilation in response to tropicamide distinguishes patients with AD from control subjects without dementia. METHODS There were 50 patients with AD and 51 control subjects; no participant had primarily ocular pathological conditions or took drugs that affected cholinergic tone. All participants received 1 drop of 0.01% tropicamide in 1 eye and 1 drop of 0.9% saline solution in the other eye in random order. Pupil measurements were obtained using a pupil and corneal reflection tracking system (RK-426 PC system, ISCAN Inc, Burlington, Mass) that illuminated the eye with a low-level infrared source and measured pupil diameters, fixation, and light level every 16.7 milliseconds during each 30-second-measurement. Pupil measurements were obtained from each eye at baseline and 5, 10, 15, and 30 minutes after drop instillation. RESULTS The increase in pupil size after tropicamide instillation was equal between patients with AD and control subjects. The mean (+/- SD) pupil diameter increased from 4.5 +/- 1.1 to 5.5 +/- 1.1 mm after 30 minutes in patients with AD and from 4.7 +/- 0.9 to 5.8 +/- 0.9 mm in control subjects. Anisocoria and the mean rate of dilation did not differ between patients with AD and control subjects. Eye color and corneal moisture did not affect these results. The extent of pupil dilation in patients with AD was not related to clinical estimates of dementia severity. CONCLUSION Pupil dilation in response to instillation of 0.01% tropicamide is not useful as an antemortem diagnostic test for AD.
Usefulness of a New Mycobacteriophage-Based Technique for Rapid Diagnosis of Pulmonary Tuberculosis

ABSTRACT A new mycobacteriophage-based technique (PhageTek MB) was compared with standard culture and staining techniques for diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis. A total of 2,048 respiratory specimens from 1,466 patients collected from February 2000 to March 2001 were studied by both (i) conventional methods (direct microscopic examination [auramine-rhodamine fluorochrome], and culture in BacT/ALERT 3D and solid media) and (ii) the PhageTek MB assay. This phenotypic test utilizes specific mycobacteriophages to detect the presence of live Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex organisms within a decontaminated clinical sample. Overall, 205 (10%) specimens were positive for mycobacteria (134 patients): 144 (70.2%) M. tuberculosis isolates and 61 (29.8%) nontuberculous mycobacterium isolates (30 Mycobacterium kansasii, 12 Mycobacterium xenopi, 9 Mycobacterium gordonae, 7 Mycobacterium avium complex, 2 Mycobacterium chelonae, and 1 Mycobacterium fortuitum isolate). PhageTek MB was more likely to give a positive result with specimens in which high numbers of acid-fast bacilli were observed on the smear. The sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values of this mycobacteriophage-based technique versus culture for M. tuberculosis were 58.3, 99.1, 83.2, and 96.9%, respectively. PhageTek MB is a rapid (48-h), specific, safe, and easy-to-perform test. According to the prevalence of the disease in the population studied, the test would require improved sensitivity in order to be used as a screening test for routine diagnosis of respiratory tuberculosis in our setting.
MICROSCOPIC STUDIES ON MODIFIED WALL STRUCTURE AND LIGNIN TOPOCHEMISTRY IN XYLEM FIBRES OF POPLAR AFTER WOUNDING

Information about fine structure following wounding in differentiating xylem tissue is still scarce. This study provides information on cell wall modifications with special emphasis on lignin distribution in xylem fibres of poplar differentiating at the time of wounding. Samples were collected from wounded Populus spp. trees after response periods of up to twenty-three months and processed for microscopic analyses. General studies on the wall structure of wound-adjacent xylem fibres were carried out with light and transmission electron microscopy, whereas lignin distribution patterns of these cells were examined by UV-microspectrophotometry.Xylem fibres close to the wound and within a transition zone between differentiated xylem laid down prior to and tissue laid down after wounding developed a distinctively thicker secondary wall than normal fibres. These modified walls also showed a slightly higher lignin content, than normal and a heterogeneous lignin distribution in the middle lamella and the secondary wall.Wounding in poplar induces a modified wall structure and lignin topochemistry in xylem fibres differentiating at the time of wounding. It is assumed that this wound response is part of the compartmentalization process and therefore contributes to an increased resistance.
Better Firm Performance with Employees on the Board? Not in the Long Run

The employee stakeholders have a lawful right to board representation in Norway. In this paper, I explore the direct and indirect effects of employee directors upon firm performance in a panel of all non-financial Norwegian listed firms from 1989 to 2002 using the fixed effect estimation methodology. I set up a simultaneous equation estimation model with a board index constructed from board characteristics and the leverage as governance mechanisms, using lagged firm performance, employee directors, firm size, and firm risk as exogenous variables. The model tests include the overall sample and sub-samples of co-determined and shareholder determined firms, and in robustness tests the stock return and the accounting return on assets replace Tobin's Q, and the dividend payout rate in place of the leverage. The negative employee director association with firm performance comes out very clearly. Reverse causation running from the lagged firm performance to the board index is confirmed, while shareholders' compensatory actions to neutralise the employee director influence, is clearly visible. Overall, the paper rejects beneficial effects of one group of stakeholders, the employees, on company boards.
Hsp110 and Grp170, members of the Hsp70 superfamily, bind to scavenger receptor‐A and scavenger receptor expressed by endothelial cells‐I

Heat shock protein 110 (hsp110) and glucose‐regulated protein (grp170) act as anti‐cancer vaccines when complexed to tumor antigens by heat shock. It has been proposed that receptors on antigen‐presenting cells contribute to HSP‐mediated immune responses. Here, we show that hsp110 binds in a receptor‐mediated manner to RAW264.7 macrophages, as does grp170. This hsp110/grp170 binding is inhibited by scavenger receptor ligands, suggesting a role for scavenger receptors as binding structures. We examined scavenger receptor class A (SR‐A) and scavenger receptor expressed by endothelial cells‐I (SREC‐I). We show that hsp110/grp170 binds to both SR‐A‐ and SREC‐I‐expressing CHO cells in a saturable manner and scavenger receptor ligands inhibit binding. Hsp110 also saturably binds mouse bone marrow‐derived dendritic cells (bmDC) and is inhibited by scavenger receptor ligands. When an hsp110‐rat neu (intracellular domain) heat shock complex vaccine is used to pulse mouse bmDC in vitro, an induction of IFN‐γ secretion is observed by CD8+ T lymphocytes isolated from vaccine‐immunized mice. This immune response is inhibited by the application of scavenger receptor ligands to bmDC. Thus, SR‐A and SREC‐I appear to contribute to the binding of hsp110 and grp170 on APC. Scavenger receptors, in general, contribute to the cross‐presentation of hsp110‐chaperoned protein antigen.
Efficiency of Topping Trees in Cable Yarding Operations

The extraction of biomass and nutrients out of the forest is implicit to every harvest operation. In cable yarding, whole-tree harvesting (WTH) has become more prevalent in the last few decades and processing takes place at the roadside. There is a concern that WTH impairs site productivity due to nutrient removal. One option to increase the amount of biomass remaining in the stand is to top the trees before extraction. In order to estimate the influence of topping on system productivity, time studies on a medium-sized tower yarder were carried out in three spruce dominated stands. Heart rate monitoring of the chainsaw operator was performed to examine the physiological workload. The analysis showed that topping only impacts system productivity if it takes place during the inhaul of the load as it leads to interruptions of the extraction progress. These interruptions took on average 13 seconds per turn. In addition, if topping was performed on already lifted trees, a reduction of line-speed during the lateral yarding of the loads was observed. This led to a reduction in productivity between 5 and 11%, assuming that all trees would have been topped during the lateral yarding process. Analyses of the physical workload of the chainsaw operator showed that the workload of topping trees is significantly lower than that of the felling process. Relative heart rate of the subject was lower at the cable corridors where topping was ordered. This confounding result may be a consequence of many additional factors like slope gradient or cycle time. Under both scenari- os, the worker never surpassed the limit of a sustainable cardio-vascular workload for an 8 hour working day. Hence, recovery time for the chainsaw operator can be considered as ade- quate when topping is performed in a three-man crew.
Government Subsidies to Enterprises in Central and Eastern Europe: Budgetary Subsidies and Tax Arrears

This paper analyses the distribution and allocation of budgetary subsidies and tax arrears in Central and Eastern Europe. Budgetary subsidies are relatively small in aggregate, highly sector specific, and the manufacturing sector receives few of them. Tax arrears, by contrast, are a significant problem, and the paper argues they can be considered a form of government subsidy. Data for the various Visegrad countries suggest that the total stock of tax arrears is on the order of 5- 10% of GDP, the annual flow of tax arrears is around 2% of GDP, and the annual flow of tax arrears to the manufacturing sector is around 1% of GDP. Survey data from Hungary and Poland show that tax arrears are concentrated in a small number of low profitability firms; the main correlate of tax arrears is low profitability; and the flow of new tax arrears is the main financing that enables these very unprofitable firms to continue to operate.
Critical wave functions and a Cantor-set spectrum of a one-dimensional quasicrystal model.

The electronic properties of a tight-binding model which possesses two types of hopping matrix element (or on-site energy) arranged in a Fibonacci sequence are studied. The wave functions are either self-similar (fractal) or chaotic and show "critical" (or "exotic") behavior. Scaling analysis for the self-similar wave functions at the center of the band and also at the edge of the band is performed. The energy spectrum is a Cantor set with zero Lebesque measure. The density of states is singularly concentrated with an index ae which takes a value in the range [cte'", az'"]. The fractal dimensions f(ae) of these singularities in the Cantor set are calculated. This function f(ae) represents the global scaling properties of the Cantor-set spectrum.
An innovative method to analyse the range of border mandibular movements using 3D electromagnetic articulography (AG501) and MATLAB

Objective: Mandibular movements have been investigated for decades in dentistry to diagnose problems related to the masticatory system and temporomandibular joint. This study proposes a novel method for analysing the border movements of the mandible using 3D electromagnetic articulography and scripts developed in MATLAB software, which has the advantages of free and accurate assessment of movements in three dimensions from different angles. Methods: Mandibular border movements of six patients were recorded using a magnetic articulograph AG501 with 5 sensors (4 static and 1 dynamic) in the protocols: 1. maximum mouth opening associated with noncontact laterality movements; 2. border movement in the frontal plane; and 3. border movement in the sagittal plane. Results: The means of the parameters evaluated were 39.9 ± 4.7 mm for mouth opening (displacement on the vertical axis); 61.6 ± 6.5 mm for opening along the three-dimensional trajectory; 11.3 ± 2.1 mm and 11.6 ± 2.5 mm for displacement of non-contacting right and left laterality, respectively; (Posselt’s envelope of motion-frontal view) 481.5 ± 110 mm2 frontal border movement polygon area; and 65.3 ± 31.6 mm2 sagittal border movement polygon area (Posselt’s envelope of motion-sagittal view). Conclusion: The method for analysing border mandibular movement proposed in this study using EMA AG501 and MATLAB scripts generate graphical data similar to classic studies and provided high precision data in a systematic, easy and intuitive way, allowing for further analysis with patients in different clinical conditions as well as the possibility of association with different analysis modalities.
ASSESSING THE PERFORMANCE OF EMERGING MARKET MUTUAL FUNDS IN CANADA

Emerging markets have received wide attention from investors around the globe because of their return potential and risk diversification. This research examines the selection and timing performance of Canadian mutual funds which invest in fixed-income and equity securities in emerging markets. We use (un)conditional twoand five-factor benchmark models that accommodate the dynamics of returns in emerging markets. We also adopt the cross-sectional bootstrap methodology to distinguish between ‘skill’ and ‘luck’ for individual funds. All the tests are conducted using a comprehensive data set of bond and equity emerging funds over the period of 1989-2011. The risk-adjusted measures of performance are estimated using the least squares method with the Newey-West adjustment for standard errors that are robust to conditional heteroskedasticity and autocorrelation. The performance statistics of the emerging funds before (after) management-related costs are insignificantly positive (significantly negative). They are sensitive to the chosen benchmark model and conditional information improves selection performance. The timing statistics are largely insignificant throughout the sample period and are not sensitive to the benchmark model. Evidence of timing and selecting abilities is obtained in a small number of funds which is not sensitive to the fees structure. We also find evidence that a majority of individual funds provide zero (very few provide positive) abnormal return before fees and a significantly negative return after fees. At the negative end of the tail of performance distribution, our resampling tests fail to reject the role of bad luck in the poor performance of funds and we conclude that most of them are merely ‘unlucky’.