Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Microwave response of rough surfaces with auto-correlation functions, RMS heights and correlation lengths using active remote sensing

The radar backscattering coefficient of three types of soil surfaces at observation angles (10°- 60°) have been calculated using integral equation model (IEM) for different values of root mean square (RMS) roughness heights and correlation lengths. The surfaces are represented by isotropic autocorrelation functions (exponential, 1.5 power and Gaussian). The dielectric constant (�) of the soil, an input parameter for the calculation of backscattering coefficient by IEM model, has been determined using wave guide cell method at a single microwave frequency of 9.78 GHz and room temperature 34°C. A positive correlation has been observed between co-polarized (horizontal - horizontal) radar backscattering coefficient and RMS roughness height of the soil surface. Further, the radar backscattering coefficient of soil surface decreases as the angle of observation increases. The variation of backscattering coefficient with correlation length of surface depends on the auto-correlation function and observation angle.
Haloferax volcanii Flagella Are Required for Motility but Are Not Involved in PibD-Dependent Surface Adhesion

ABSTRACT Although the genome of Haloferax volcanii contains genes (flgA1-flgA2) that encode flagellins and others that encode proteins involved in flagellar assembly, previous reports have concluded that H. volcanii is nonmotile. Contrary to these reports, we have now identified conditions under which H. volcanii is motile. Moreover, we have determined that an H. volcanii deletion mutant lacking flagellin genes is not motile. However, unlike flagella characterized in other prokaryotes, including other archaea, the H. volcanii flagella do not appear to play a significant role in surface adhesion. While flagella often play similar functional roles in bacteria and archaea, the processes involved in the biosynthesis of archaeal flagella do not resemble those involved in assembling bacterial flagella but, instead, are similar to those involved in producing bacterial type IV pili. Consistent with this observation, we have determined that, in addition to disrupting preflagellin processing, deleting pibD, which encodes the preflagellin peptidase, prevents the maturation of other H. volcanii type IV pilin-like proteins. Moreover, in addition to abolishing swimming motility, and unlike the flgA1-flgA2 deletion, deleting pibD eliminates the ability of H. volcanii to adhere to a glass surface, indicating that a nonflagellar type IV pilus-like structure plays a critical role in H. volcanii surface adhesion.
Fine structure, Histochemistry, and Morphogenesis During Excystment of the Podocysts of the Giant Jellyfish Nemopilema nomurai (Scyphozoa, Rhizostomeae)

Production of podocysts is the exclusive form of asexual reproduction by polyps of the giant jellyfish Nemopilema nomurai, which has been recurrently blooming in the East Asian seas in the last decade. Podocycts consist of a dome-shaped chitinous capsule with laminated structure that encapsulates a mass of cyst cells filled with granules containing nutrient reserves such as proteins, carbohydrates, and lipids. Mitochondria, rough endoplasmic reticulum, and Golgi complexes are scarce in the cytoplasm of these cells, and the staining reaction for RNA is weak, indicating very low metabolic activity. Podocysts are capable of dormancy for at least 5 years without significant change of internal structure or nutrient reserves. Integrated information about spontaneous and artificially induced metamorphosis suggests that the following processes occur during excystment: (1) nematocyst formation in the internal cell mass, (2) stratification of the cell mass into endoderm and ectoderm, (3) extrusion of the cell mass through a gradual opening of the capsule, (4) formation of primordial polyp mouth and tentacles, and (5) metamorphosis to a polyp. We morphologically confirmed that N. nomurai podocysts have the capacity for long-term dormancy, an ability that should contribute to the periodic nature of the massive blooms of medusae of this species.
The Schwarzian derivative and schlicht functions

It is customary to formulate the inequalities of the "Verzerrungssatz" type for analytic functions w—f(z), schlicht in the unit circle, with reference to a specific normalization. The two normalizations mainly used are: (a) f(z) is finite in \z\ < 1 , /(O) = 0 , /'(O) = 1; (b) ƒ(z) has a pole at 2 = 0 with the residue 1. If we want to obtain inequalities which are independent of any particular normalization, we have to use quantities which are invariant with regard to an arbitrary linear transformation of the z-plane. The simplest quantity of this type is the Schwarzian differential parameter
Double brooding and offspring desertion in the barn owl (Tyto alba)

Many bird species produce two annual broods during a single breeding season. However, not all individuals reproduce twice in the same year suggesting that double brooding is condition-dependent. In contrast to most raptors and owls, the barn owl Tyto alba produces two annual clutches in most worldwide distributed populations. Nevertheless, the determinants of double brooding are still poorly studied. We performed such a study in a Swiss barn owl population monitored between 1990 and 2014. The annual frequency of double brooding varied from 0 to 14% for males and 0 to 59% for females. The likelihood of double brooding was higher when individuals initiated their first clutch early rather than late in the season and when males had few rather than many offspring at the first nest. Despite the reproductive benefits of double brooding (single- and double-brooded individuals produced 3.97 +/- 0.11 and 7.07 +/- 0.24 fledglings, respectively), double brooding appears to be traded off against offspring quality because at the first nest double-brooded males produced poorer quality offspring than single-brooded males. This might explain why females desert their first mate to produce a second brood with another male without jeopardizing reproductive success at the first nest. Furthermore, the reproductive cycle being very long in the barn owl (120 d from start of laying to offspring independence), selection may have favoured behaviours that accelerate the initiation of a second annual brood. Accordingly, half of the double-brooded females abandoned their young offspring to look for a new partner in order to initiate the second breeding attempt, 9.48 d earlier than when producing the second brood with the same partner. We conclude that male and female barn owls adopt different reproductive strategies. Females have more opportunities to reproduce twice in a single season than males because mothers are not strictly required during the entire rearing period in contrast to fathers. A high proportion of male floaters may also encourage females to desert their first brood to re-nest with a new male who is free of parental care duties.
Prevalence of Hepatitis E Virus Antibodies in Patients with Chronic Hepatitis B and Chronic Hepatitis C

Objectives: To investigate the prevalence of hepatitis E virus (HEV) among patients with chronic hepatitis B and chronic hepatitis C, serum samples were collected between January and December 2004 from patients with chronic hepatitis B and chronic hepatitis C. Methods: There were 190 adult patients with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) and 174 with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in the study group. As the control group, a cohort of 178 age- and sex-matched individuals without known liver disease was selected. Results: Anti-HEV IgG antibodies were positive in 26/190 (13.7%) of chronic HBV and 94/174 (54%) of chronic HCV patients. In the control group anti-HEV positivity was 15.7% (28/178). There was no difference in the percentage of chronic HBV patients and control group who were positive for anti-HEV antibody, but the presence of HEV infection was significantly higher in chronic HCV patients. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that HEV and HCV might share a common route of transmission in our region. We recommend that preventive measures against HEV should be undertaken in chronic HCV patients as superinfection with HEV can cause a more severe pattern of disease in chronic hepatitis patients.
Family Behavior Therapy for Substance Abuse and Other Associated Problems

A comprehensive evidence-based treatment for substance abuse and other associated problems (Family Behavior Therapy) is described, including its application to both adolescents and adults across a wide range of clinical contexts (i.e., criminal justice, child welfare). Relevant to practitioners and applied clinical researchers, topic areas include its theoretical and empirical background, intervention protocols, methods of enhancing motivation for treatment, and future directions.
BIOTIN DEFICIENCY AND THE FATTY ACIDS OF CERTAIN BIOTIN-REQUIRING BACTERIA

Croom, Jo A. (North Carolina State of the University of North Carolina, Raleigh), J. J. McNeill, and S. B. Tove. Biotin deficiency and the fatty acids of certain biotin-requiring bacteria. J. Bacteriol. 88:389–394. 1964. —The major fatty acids of Lactobacillus plantarum were identified as myristic, palmitic, palmitoleic, stearic, cis-vaccenic, and lactobacillic. Small amounts of a C14-monoenoic acid were also found. The major acids of a biotin-requiring mutant of Escherichia coli were lauric, myristic, palmitic, palmitoleic, methylene-hexadecanoic, octadecenoic, and methylene-octadecanoic. The C16-monoenoic acid fraction of E. coli also contained small amounts of 7,8-hexadecenoate. The C18-monoenoic acid fraction contained 9,10-octadecenoic acid (oleic), with small amounts of 7,8-octadecenoic. Two other components, which had properties similar to tridecanoic and pentadecanoic acids, were also found. Biotin deficiency in L. plantarum decreased the relative amounts of cis-vaccenic and lactobacillic acids, and increased palmitic acid. In E. coli there was no change in the proportion of palmitic acid, whereas there were increases in monoenoic acids and a decreased level of methylene-hexadecanoic acid. In L. plantarum, palmitic and lactobacillic acids increased with age, and cis-vaccenic decreased sharply. In biotin deficiency, there was a decrease of about 20% in total lipid of L. plantarum.
The mathematical treatment of horopter data obtained with the eyes in asymmetric convergence.

The conic section approximation designed to fit the experimental points of the longitudinal horopter in symmetrical convergence is extended to satisfy conditions during longitudinal horopter settings with the eyes in asymmetric convergence. The special case of the straight line horopter is re-examined and the theoretical general formula obtained. The implications of these theoretical results are discussed and the relevant findings of an extensive investigation of the horopter in asymmetric convergence are presented. The variation of the empirical H (the Hering-Hillebrand deviation) with the angle of asymmetric convergence is compared to the variation of H with observation distance. Whilst evidence is insufficient to refute the “stability of corresponding points” hypothesis, these results suggest a tendency of the visual apparatus to maintain a constant individual shape of the horopter.
Primary failure rate for 1680 extra-alveolar mandibular buccal shelf mini-screws placed in movable mucosa or attached gingiva.

OBJECTIVE To compare the initial failure rate (≤4 months) for extra-alveolar mandibular buccal shelf (MBS) miniscrews placed in movable mucosa (MM) or attached gingiva (AG). MATERIALS AND METHODS A total of 1680 consecutive stainless steel (SS) 2 × 12-mm MBS miniscrews were placed in 840 patients (405 males and 435 females; mean age, 16 ± 5 years). All screws were placed lateral to the alveolar process and buccal to the lower first and second molar roots. The screw heads were at least 5 mm superior to the soft tissue. Loads from 8 oz-14 oz (227 g-397 g, 231-405 cN) were used to retract the mandibular buccal segments for at least 4 months. RESULTS Overall, 121 miniscrews out of 1680 (7.2%) failed: 7.31% were in MM and 6.85% were in AG (statistically insignificant difference). Failures were unilateral in 89 patients and bilateral in 16. Left side (9.29%) failures was significantly greater (P < .001) compared with those on the right (5.12%). Average age for failure patients was 14 ± 3 years. CONCLUSION MBS miniscrews were highly successful (approximately 93%), but there was no significant difference between placement in MM or AG. Failures were more common on the patient's left side and in younger adolescent patients. Having 16 patients with bilateral failures suggests that a small fraction of patients (1.9%) are predisposed to failure with this method.
Self-Benefiting in the Allocation of Scarce Resources: Leader-Follower Effects and the Moderating Effect of Social Value Orientations

Previous research on the allocation of scarce resources suggests that people who are assigned to higher positions (e.g., leaders) are more likely to make self-benefiting allocations than people who are assigned to lower positions (e.g., followers). In this article, the authors investigated the proposition that these findings would be moderated by people's social value orientations. In two experimental studies, the authors assigned participants either to the role of leader or follower and assessed the participants' social value orientations. In agreement with predictions, the findings show that position effects are moderated by social value orientation. Social value orientations only affected the allocation behavior of the leaders: Proself leaders allocated more resources to themselves than did prosocial leaders. Additional analyses indicate that these effects are mediated by feelings of entitlement.
In Class and Online: Using Discussion Boards in Teaching

Discussion boards provide instructors a unique opportunity to extend their classrooms into cyberspace. This article offers some observations about student behavior in these online forums and practical suggestions for the instructor, including the creation of rules and structure for the online environment, factors influencing student participation, and strategies for facilitating discussion. Critical concepts for understanding the effective functioning of these online groups, such as confidentiality, the disinhibition effect, and the integration of the online and in-person settings, also are explored.
Impact of Intra-group Conflict on Group Performance-moderating Role of Cultural Diversity

In the present study, a model was developed to describe relationships between impacts of intra-group conflict on group performance-moderating role of cultural diversity. Data from 170 employees working in teams of GSM cellular companies located in Pakistan support our hypothesis. Data was analyzed through SPSS. Findings indicated that intragroup conflict had direct negative effects on group performance effectiveness. Furthermore, our findings suggest that reducing intragroup conflict and providing team members with the abilities to manage conflict effectively is a way to increase group performance and implement strategies to decrease a stressful work environment and increase team-building activities. At the end, conclusion, limitations, and future research directions are also discussed.
Abnormal expression of p190RhoGAP in colorectal cancer patients with poor survival.

PURPOSE This study aims to investigate the expression and clinical significance of p190RhoGAP, a member of the RhoGAP family, in colorectal cancer (CRC). METHODS The expression p190RhoGAP was detected by RT-PCR, western blot (WB) and immunohistochemistry (IHC) in 14 paired CRCs and matched non-cancerous mucosal tissues. The protein content of p190RhoGAP was identified in 114 CRCs by IHC. In addition, the association of the expression of p190RhoGAP with carcinogenesis, distant metastasis and prognosis was further evaluated. RESULTS In 14 paired fresh tissues, the mRNA (P<0.0001) and protein (P = 0.003) expression levels of p190RhoGAP were significantly higher in primary CRCs than in paired non-cancerous mucosal tissues; and was consistent with WB results. The expression of p190RhoGAP increased from normal mucosa to adenoma, and became even greater in primary carcinoma (P = 0.001). The expression level of p190RhoGAP was highest in liver metastasis compared to primary carcinoma (P = 0.028). The incidence of p190RhoGAP expression-positive cases was 58.77% in 114 CRC tissues. Furthermore, the enhanced expression of p190RhoGAP was significantly associated with shorter disease-specific survival (P<0.001) and shorter disease-free survival (P<0.001). Cox regression analysis indicated that p190RhoGAP was an independent prognostic parameter for CRC. CONCLUSION p190RhoGAP may be an independent predictive factor for the prognosis of CRC, and the abnormal expression of p190RhoGAP may play a crucial role in colorectal carcinogenesis and distant metastasis.
Breastfed or Bottle-Fed: Who Goes Home Sooner?

A literature search was conducted to answer the clinical question, “Do premature infants who breastfeed have different oral feeding outcomes compared with those who receive bottles? ” The CINAHL, PubMed, and PsycInfo databases were queried for articles published in the past 10 years that reported original research available in English. Two studies specifically addressed a comparison between infants who received exclusive direct breastfeeding, mixed direct breast and bottle, and/or exclusive bottle-feeding. Additional studies were included that addressed oral feeding outcomes specific to either direct breastfeeding (n = 2) or those that grouped bottle and breastfeeding together (n = 3). The findings from these studies indicate that the statement that bottle-feeding leads to sooner discharge is not based in evidence. Although more data are needed to fully understand the differences between direct breastfeeding and bottle-feeding, neonatal intensive care unit staff should be aware of the message they send to breastfeeding families when they encourage the use of bottles over direct breastfeeding.
The differential effect of the teacher-student interpersonal relationship on student outcomes for students with different ethnic backgrounds.

BACKGROUND The differential effectiveness of schools and teachers receives a growing interest, but few studies focused on the relevance of student ethnicity for this effectiveness and only a small number of these studies investigated teaching in terms of the teacher-student interpersonal relationship. Furthermore, the methodology employed often restricted researchers to investigating direct effects between variables across large samples of students. AIMS This study uses causal modelling to investigate associations between student background characteristics, students' perceptions of the teacher-student interpersonal relationship, and student outcomes, across and within several population subgroups in Dutch secondary multi-ethnic classes. METHODS AND SAMPLE Multi-group structural equation modelling was used to investigate causal paths between variables in four ethnic groups: Dutch (N=387), Turkish first- and second-generation immigrant students (N=267), Moroccan first and second generation (N=364), and Surinamese second-generation students (N=101). RESULTS Different structural paths were necessary to explain associations between variables in the different (sub) groups. Different amounts of variance in student attitudes could be explained by these variables. CONCLUSIONS The teacher-student interpersonal relationship is more important for students with a non-Dutch background than for students with a Dutch background. Results suggest that the teacher-student relationship is more important for second generation than for first-generation immigrant students. Multi-group causal model analyses can provide a better, more differentiated picture of the associations between student background variables, teacher behaviour, and student outcomes than do more traditional types of analyses.
highlighted topics Cellular Responses to Mechanical Stress Invited Review: Engineering approaches to cytoskeletal mechanics

Invited Review: Engineer- ing approaches to cytoskeletal mechanics . J Appl Physiol 89: 2085–2090, 2000. —An outstanding problem in cell biology is how cells sense me- chanical forces and how those forces affect cellular functions. Various biophysical and biochemical mechanisms have been invoked to answer this question. A growing body of evidence indicates that the deformable cytoskeleton (CSK), an intracellular network of interconnected ﬁlamen- tous biopolymers, provides a physical basis for transducing mechanical signals into biochemical signals. Therefore, to understand how mechan- ical forces regulate cellular functions, it is important to know how cells respond to changes in the CSK force balance and to identify the under- lying mechanisms that control transmission of mechanical forces throughout the CSK and bring it to equilibrium. Recent developments of new experimental techniques for measuring cell mechanical properties and novel theoretical models of cellular mechanics make it now possible to identify and quantitate the contributions of various CSK structures to the overall balance of mechanical forces in the cell. This review focuses on engineering approaches that have been used in the past two decades in studies of the mechanics of the CSK.
p53 is linked directly to homologous recombination processes via RAD51/RecA protein interaction.

The tumour suppressor p53 prevents tumour formation after DNA damage by halting cell cycle progression to allow DNA repair or by inducing apoptotic cell death. Loss of wild‐type p53 function renders cells resistant to DNA damage‐induced cell cycle arrest and ultimately leads to genomic instabilities including gene amplifications, translocations and aneuploidy. Some of these chromosomal lesions are based on mechanisms that involve recombinatorial events. Here we report that p53 physically interacts with key factors of homologous recombination: the human RAD51 protein and its prokaryotic homologue RecA. In vitro, wild‐type p53 inhibits defined biochemical activities of RecA protein, such as three‐way DNA strand exchange and single strand DNA‐dependent ATPase activity. In vivo, temperature‐sensitive p53 forms complexes with RAD51 only in wild‐type but not in mutant conformation. These observations suggest that functional wild‐type p53 may select directly the appropriate pathway for DNA repair and control the extent and timing of the production of genetic variation via homologous recombination. Gene amplification an other types of chromosome rearrangements involved in tumour progression might occur not only as result of inappropriate cell proliferation but as a direct consequence of a defect in p53‐mediated control of homologous recombination processes due to mutations in the p53 gene.