Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
RESIDUAL ALVEOLAR RIDGE RESORPTION IN COMPLETELY EDENTULOUS PATIENTS INFLUENCED BY PATHOPHYSIOLOGIC FACTORS

Residual ridge resorption and remodeling directly affect the function of removable prostheses which relies greatly on the quantity and architecture of jaw bones. The purpose of this study was to assess the remaining bone height level in relation to some pathophysiologic factors that may affect on the resorption process. The factors involved in this study were Diabetes mellitus, periodontitis, menopause, and edentulousness time (more than 10 years). Maxillary and mandibular bone height on 115 dental panoramic radiographs belonged to full edentulous patients were measured and compared to 35 controls using MB Ruler software. The soft images were collected using the radiographic machines in the faculty of dentistry. The measurements included maxillary middle anterior and lateral bone heights, middle mandibular dimension, right and left mental bone heights. The results showed that women with completely edentulous arches showed relatively higher rate of bone resorption than men, and control group. Indian patients also demonstrated higher bone resorption rate, particularly on the mandible, followed by Chinese and Malay. In regard to different health conditions, edentulousness time for more than 10 years showed the minimal bone height reduction that affected mainly the mandible sides compared to other conditions and the control group. On the sides of maxilla, periodontitis exhibited higher effect on the residual ridge resorption rather than other studied conditions. However, on the middle of maxilla, menopause was associated with maximum bone resorption compared to the others. As conclusions, residual ridge resorption in completely edentulous patients may be influenced by gender, race and patient’s health conditions. Key words : residual ridge resorption, Diabetes mellitus, menopause, Indian, Malay, Chinese
Thermal and concentration dependent energy transfer of Eu 2+ in SrAl 2 O 4

SrAl2O4 doped with europium and dysprosium is a powerful and widely used afterglow material. Within this material strontium is found in two crystallographic different sites. Due to the similar ion radii and same charge, Eu2+-ions can occupy both sites, resulting in two different Eu2+-ions, one emitting in the blue and one in the green spectral range. The blue emission is thermally quenched at room temperature. In this paper we investigate the energy transfer between different Eu ions depending on the concentration and temperature using two different approaches: lifetime measurements and integrated intensity. We find an activation energy for the thermal quenching of the blue emission of 0.195 ± 0.023 eV and a critical radius for the energy transfer of 3.0 ± 0.5 nm. This results can help in designing better afterglow materials due to the fact that with energy transfer parts of the lost emission in the blue region at room temperature can be converted to the green site.
Bayesian inference based on partial monitoring of components with applications to preventive system maintenance

Consider a binary, monotone system of n components. The assessment of the parameter vector, θ, of the joint distribution of the lifetimes of the components and hence of the reliability of the system is often difficult due to scarcity of data. It is therefore important to make use of all information in an efficient way. For instance, prior knowledge is often of importance and can indeed conveniently be incorporated by the Bayesian approach. It may also be important to continuously extract information from a system currently in operation. This may be useful both for decisions concerning the system in operation as well as for decisions improving the components or changing the design of similar new systems. As in Meilijson [12], life‐monitoring of some components and conditional life‐monitoring of some others is considered. In addition to data arising from this monitoring scheme, so‐called autopsy data are observed, if not censored. The probabilistic structure underlying this kind of data is described, and basic likelihood formulae are arrived at. A thorough discussion of an important aspect of this probabilistic structure, the inspection strategy, is given. Based on a version of this strategy a procedure for preventive system maintenance is developed and a detailed application to a network system presented. All the way a Bayesian approach to estimation of θ is applied. For the special case where components are conditionally independent given θ with exponentially distributed lifetimes it is shown that the weighted sum of products of generalized gamma distributions, as introduced in Gåsemyr and Natvig [7], is the conjugate prior for θ. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 48: 551–577, 2001.
Object Individuation in 10-Month-Old Infants Using a Simplified Manual Search Method

Several investigators find that infants fail to use property information to individuate objects until 12 months of age (e.g., Xu & Carey, 1996), while others find that infants successfully employ property information in the service of object individuation at 9.5 months (e.g., Wilcox & Baillargeon, 1998a). This study investigated methodological differences between 2 sets of studies that may help to resolve this apparent conflict. It was hypothesized that infants younger than 12 months rely heavily on spatiotemporal information and it overrides any conflicting property information. In 2 experiments, we used a simplified manual search procedure much like Wilcox and Baillargeon's (1998a) simplified looking time procedure by reducing the number of alternations of the objects. Results suggest that when the spatiotemporal evidence specifying a single object that changes properties is weaker, 10-month-old infants succeed in using property information for object individuation.
TIME EVOLUTION OF KELVIN–HELMHOLTZ VORTICES ASSOCIATED WITH COLLISIONLESS SHOCKS IN LASER-PRODUCED PLASMAS

We report experimental results on Kelvin–Helmholtz (KH) instability and resultant vortices in laser-produced plasmas. By irradiating a double plane target with a laser beam, asymmetric counterstreaming plasmas are created. The interaction of the plasmas with different velocities and densities results in the formation of asymmetric shocks, where the shear flow exists along the contact surface and the KH instability is excited. We observe the spatial and temporal evolution of plasmas and shocks with time-resolved diagnostics over several shots. Our results clearly show the evolution of transverse fluctuations, wavelike structures, and circular features, which are interpreted as the KH instability and resultant vortices. The relevant numerical simulations demonstrate the time evolution of KH vortices and show qualitative agreement with experimental results. Shocks, and thus the contact surfaces, are ubiquitous in the universe; our experimental results show general consequences where two plasmas interact.
A cross-sectional evaluation on physical fitness of Malaysian firefighters

Fire fighting is one of the most strenuous activities in the hazardous fire service industry. Firefighters have to be physically fit in order to provide an effective and safe fire prevention to the afflicted community and as well as to themselves. The aimed of this cross-sectional study was to evaluate the physical fitness among Malaysian firefighters. The hand grip test to evaluate hand and muscular strength was measured using hand dynamometer and one-minute sit ups and one-minute push ups were conducted to measure abdominal muscle endurance. The sit and reach test was carried out to measure lower back and hamstring flexibility. VO2max was assessed by a 20 meter shuttle run test to measure cardiorespiratory fitness. A total of 385 subjects were participated and the results showed that 77.1% (n=297) and 84.8% (n=325) of them had very poor scores for hand grip strength and VO2 max, respectively. For one-minute sit ups, 40.8% (n=157) of subjects scored excellent. Meanwhile, 32.7% (n=126) subjects scored average for one-minute push ups. For flexibility test, 53.2% (n=205) subjects had poor flexibilty. The results showed there were significantly difference between one-minute sit ups (p<0.001), one-minute push ups (p<0.05), flexibility (p<0.05) and VO2 max (p<0.001) according to age. As a conclusion, this study provides representative data on physical fitness among Malaysian firefighters. These findings suggested the needs to explore the issues behind low physical fitness among Malaysian firefighters and to find ways to improve them.
Plant Ureases: Physiological Significance, role in Agriculture and industrial applications - A review

Urease is an important enzyme present in many organisms, including plants. This enzyme plays diverse roles and in plants it is mainly involved in the nitrogen metabolism. Here urea is primarily used as a source of nitrogen necessary for growth. It catalyzes the hydrolysis of urea to ammonium and carbamate ions, which decompose to carbon dioxide and ammonia. Urease activity is widely distributed in the soil and aquatic environment and plays essential role in nitrogen metabolism. One of the most pressing environmental issues confronting agriculture is the loss of soil nitrogen, derived from either fertilizer nitrogen or symbiotic nitrogen fixation by legumes, to the atmosphere as gases (NH3, N2 and N2O, the latter being a potent greenhouse gas) or to groundwater via leaching as NO3 . These losses of nitrogen not only decrease nitrogen-use efficiency, and therefore have economic implications, but just as importantly, impact on groundwater quality and contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. The nitrification and urease inhibitors can be successfully used as tools to manage these losses. Urease research has major implications in agricultrure, medicine and industry. The soil urease hydrolyses urea from fertilizers to ammonia and carbon dioxide; ammonia being volatile in nature escapes into environment and causes huge economical losses as well as environmental pollution. Adulterated milk and water contamination with urea are other problem where this enzyme can play significant role.
Bioactive Glass Nanocomposite Foam by Gel Casting Method as Cell Scaffold for Bone Tissue

The aim of this study was to synthesize and characterization of hydroxyapatite/bioactive glass (HA/BG) nanocomposite foam and fluorapatite/bioactive glass (FA/BG) nanocomposite foam by gel casting method as cell scaffold for bone tissue engineering and evaluating their bioactivity using in vitro methods. Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Archimedes method and universal testing machine were used in order to evaluate specific surface area, phase composition, shape, size and interconnectivity of pores, size and shape of the constructed foam particles, porosity measurement and compressive strength of prepared nanocomposite foams, respectively. Mean particle size of HA/BG and FA/BG nanocomposite foams were 78 and 42 nm respectively with average pore size ranges was from 100 to 400 μm for two compositions. The maximum values of compressive strength and elastic modulus of nanocomposite foams were 0.22 and 17.8 Mpa for HA/BG and 0.13 and 22 MPa for FA/BG, respectively. The mean values of the apparent and true porosity were calculated 31 and 78% for HA/BG and 42 and 77% for FA/BG, respectively. The results of in vitro immersion of foams in simulated body fluid (SBF) demonstrate the formation of apatite on the surface of foams that indicating their bioactivity. The prepared nanocomposite foams in this research are appropriate substitutes for the bone defects in tissue engineering due to their characteristics. Moreover, using gel casting method to introduce these bioceramics provides the possibility to construct foams by molding or 3D printing in a desired shapes in accordance to patient’s needs with high dimensional accuracy.
Role of Multiple-Level Tropospheric Circulations in Forcing ENSO Winter Precipitation Anomalies

Abstract Regionally organized winter (DJF) precipitation anomalies over North America are presented in association with cold and warm phases of the El Nino–Southern Oscillation. Variations in low-level flow from moisture sources and in upper-level dynamic properties are diagnosed for each anomalous precipitation region using DJF composites of upper- and lower-tropospheric winds, sea level pressure, divergence, and vorticity advection. Variance analysis determines which precipitation and circulation patterns are robust and evaluates the predictability of the extreme phase composites with respect to the climatology. In cold phases, the Pacific Northwest and the lower Mississippi Valley regions have above-normal precipitation totals. The heavier precipitation over the Pacific Northwest is the result of a multilevel onshore flow forced by an amplified Pacific high off the California coast and a single zonal upper-tropospheric jet. In the Lower Mississippi and Tennessee Valleys, the equatorward entrance region.
Effect of Socio-Economic Factors on Adoption of Soil Conservation Measures in Kurundu Oya Sub Catchment

Human induced soil erosion continues to be a major issue in terms of crop production and river water quality of the Upper Mahaweli Catchment Area (UMCA). Although the direct causes of soil erosion are well known, the underlying root causes are embedded in socio-economic conditions in the society. Many researchers have pointed out that the problem of low adoption is associated with incompatibility of the technology with the prevailing socio-economic condition of the community. Therefore, an attempt was made to identify the constraints to adopt soil conservation measures in the study area. The study consisted of three steps including a questionnaire survey, in depth interviews and transects walks. According to the results of the study, the investment on soil conservation measures is likely to increase with the farm income, level of awareness and the ownership security of the land. It was identified that even the encroachers (people who encroached the state lands) can be mobilized towards soil conservation to a certain extent through awareness programs. The capacity of the extension service has to be strengthened in order to make the farming community aware of soil conservation. Land alienation programs could make effective changes in soil conservation by giving social values to the land owner through a more secure land tenure system. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.4038/tar.v21i1. 2587 Tropical Agricultural Research Vol. 21(1): 62-72 (2009)
Dissociating Knowing and the Feeling of Knowing : Further Evidence for the Accessibility Model

Predictions derived from the accessibility model of the feeling of knowing (FOK; A. Koriat, 1993) were tested regarding the basis of FOK and the reason for its accuracy. According to the model, FOK monitors the accessibility of partial information about unrecallable targets, and its validity depends on the accuracy of that information. General knowledge questions were classified in terms of their tendency to precipitate answers in recall (accessibility, or ACC), and the proportion of such answers that were correct (output-bound accuracy, or OBA). FOK increased with increasing ACC independent of actual recognition memory, and the FOK-recognition correlation varied dramatically with OBA: It was positive for high-OBA questions, but nil or negative for low-OBA questions. The results suggest that people have no privileged access to the contents of their memory over and above what they can retrieve from it.
Chapter 8 Air Flow Sensing in Bats

Bats are the only mammals capable of powered flight, and impress with complicated aerial maneuvers like tight turns, hovering, or perching upside-down. The bat wing membrane is covered with microscopically small hairs that are associated with a variety of tactile receptors at the follicle. The directionality profile of neuronal responses to air flow—as measured in the somatosensory cortex of the bats—indicates that the hairs respond strongest to reverse airflow, and might therefore act as stall detectors. We found that depilation of different functional regions of the wing membrane alters flight behavior in obstacle avoidance tasks by reducing aerial maneuverability, as indicated by wider turning angles and increased flight speed. We provide here for the first time electrophysiological and behavioral data showing that bat wing hairs are involved in sensorimotor flight control by providing aerodynamic feedback.
Forest disturbance and regeneration: a mosaic of discrete gap dynamics and open matrix regimes?

Question: Recent research in boreal forest suggests that an ‘open matrix’ model may be more appropriate than the traditional model of spatially discrete gap dynamics for describing forest disturbance and regeneration, but what is the evidence from temperate broad-leaved deciduous forests concerning the prevalence of these alternative models? Location: Semi-natural temperate broad-leaved deciduous forest in southern England. Methods: Multi-temporal LiDAR data were used to monitor the changes in tree canopy height and canopy gaps over a 10-yr period for a 130-ha area of forest. Gap dynamics were characterized by quantifying gap creation, expansion, contraction and closure. By identifying the types and rates of canopy height transitions, areas of gap contraction and closure were attributed to the processes of lateral crown growth or vertical regeneration. Results: Across the study site there was a zonation in canopy and gap properties and their dynamics. Many areas of the forest had the characteristics of open wood-pasture dominated by large, complex gaps being maintained under a regime of chronic disturbance. In these areas, several characteristics of the gap dynamics indicated that regeneration was restricted and this may be attributable to spatially-focused overgrazing by large herbivores. In contrast, other areas were characterized by high, closed canopy forest with small, discrete gaps where gap creation and infill were balanced. Conclusions: At the landscape-scale broad-leaved deciduous forests contain a spatial mosaic of zones, which conform to different models of disturbance and regeneration dynamics; discrete gap dynamics and open matrix regimes are juxtaposed. It is now important to elucidate the abiotic factors and biotic interactions that determine the spatio-temporal distribution of the different regimes and to examine whether such a ‘regime mosaic’ model is applicable in other forest types.
Grain Defect Formation During Directional Solidification of Nickel Base Single Crystals

Grain defect formation during solidification of nickel base single crystals has been studied in a series of alloys over a wide range of imposed thermal gradients and growth rates. Solute-driven convective instabilities, associated with high levels of Re and W and/or low levels of Ta, promote the formation of “freckle” defects as well as dendrite fragmentation and nucleation of misoriented grains. As the imposed positive thermal gradients at the solid-liquid interface decrease, grain nucleation events become more frequent until a general columnar to equiaxed transition is encountered. Transitions in solidification behavior and are shown to be consistent with changes in dendrite morphology and operative regimes of grain defect formation are characterized in terms of primary dendrite arm spacings. Suuerallovs 1992 Edited by S.D. Antolokch, R:W. Stusrud, R.A. MacKay, D.L. Anton, T. Khan, R.D. Kissinger, D.L. Klarstrom The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society, 1992
Automated measurement of redshifts from mid-infrared low-resolution spectroscopy

Obtaining accurate redshifts from mid-infrared (MIR) low-resolution (R ∼ 100) spectroscopy is challenging because the wavelength resolution is too low to detect narrow lines in most cases. Yet, the number of degrees of freedom and diversity of spectral features are too high for regular spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting techniques to be convenient. Here we present a new SED-fitting-based routine for redshift determination that is optimized for MIR low-resolution spectroscopy. Its flexible template scaling increases the sensitivity to slope changes and small-scale features in the spectrum, while a new selection algorithm called maximum combined pseudo-likelihood (MCPL) provides increased accuracy and a lower number of outliers compared to the standard maximum-likelihood (ML) approach. Unlike ML approach, the MCPL approach searches for local (instead of absolute) maxima of a ‘pseudo-likelihood’ (PL) function, and combines results obtained for all the templates in the library to weed out spurious redshift solutions. The capabilities of the MCPL approach are demonstrated by comparing its redshift estimates to those of the regular ML approach and to the optical spectroscopic redshifts of a sample of 491 Spitzer/Infrared Spectrograph spectra from extragalactic sources at 0 0.02] is 14 per cent for the MCPL approach and 22 per cent for the ML approach. χ2 values for ML solutions are found to correlate with the signal-to-noise ratio of the spectra, but not with redshift accuracy. By contrast, the peak value of the normalized combined PL (γ) is found to provide a good indication on the reliability of the MCPL solution for individual sources. The accuracy and reliability of the redshifts depend strongly on the MIR SED. Sources with significant polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon emission obtain much better results compared to sources dominated by active galactic nucleus continua. Nevertheless, for a given γ the frequency of accurate solutions and outliers is largely independent of their SED type. This reliability indicator for MCPL solutions allows to select subsamples with highly reliable redshifts. In particular, a γ > 0.15 threshold retains 79 per cent of the sources with Δ(z)/(1 + z) < 0.005 while reducing the outlier rate to 3.8 per cent.
Observed relations between snowfall microphysics and triple‐frequency radar measurements

Recently published studies of triple‐frequency radar observations of snowfall have demonstrated that naturally occurring snowflakes exhibit scattering signatures that are in some cases consistent with spheroidal particle models and in others can only be explained by complex aggregates. Until recently, no in situ observations have been available to investigate links between microphysical snowfall properties and their scattering properties. In this study, we investigate for the first time relations between collocated ground‐based triple‐frequency observations with in situ measurements of snowfall at the ground. The three analyzed snowfall cases obtained during a recent field campaign in Finland cover light to moderate snowfall rates with transitions from heavily rimed snow to open‐structured, low‐density snowflakes. The observed triple‐frequency signatures agree well with the previously published findings from airborne radar observations. A rich spatiotemporal structure of triple‐frequency observations throughout the cloud is observed during the three cases, which often seems to be related to riming and aggregation zones within the cloud. The comparison of triple‐frequency signatures from the lowest altitudes with the ground‐based in situ measurements reveals that in the presence of large (>5 mm) snow aggregates, a bending away in the triple‐frequency space from the curve of classical spheroid scattering models is always observed. Rimed particles appear along an almost horizontal line in the triple‐frequency space, which was not observed before. Overall, the three case studies indicate a close connection of triple‐frequency signatures and snow particle structure, bulk snowfall density, and characteristic size of the particle size distribution.