Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Adhesion and Differentiation of Neuronal Cell on Photoresist Derived Carbon Substrates

Pyrolyzed photoresist films (PPF) hold promise as a MEMS material for neuronal cell growth. At this early stage in realizing this material’s potential it is necessary to first establish the material’s capabilities and develop tools to properly analyze cellular response to surface conditions. Investigating cellular adhesion offers the hope of the ability to create self assembling neuronal networks based merely on varying adhesive properties that exploit PPF’s ability to be patterned. Early results analyzing mRNA expression of Tau genes suggest that the technique can be adapted to gauge cell response to surface characteristics.
Validation of medicinal values of traditionally used Sonchus asper (prickly sow thistle) leaves for the treatment of skin ailments

The plant Sonchus asper has been used for the cure of skin ailments and many other disease conditions. Thus, the study was planned to compare the anti-bacterial and anti-fungal activities of aqueous and methanolic extract of S. asper against bacterial pathogens viz. Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Bacillus cerus and Klebsiella pneumoniae and fungal pathogens Candida albicans and Aspergillus flavus. The findings of study indicated that the plant possesses antibacterial activity; however, it showed more inhibitory results against the Gram positive bacteria in comparison to Gram negative bacteria. Methanolic extract of S. asper showed activity against E. coli whereas S. aureus and B. cerus were inhibited by both methanolic and aqueous extracts. Bacterial isolate of K. pneumoniae and both the fungal species were resistant to both methanolic and aqueous extracts of S. asper as no zone of inhibition was observed during the experiments. The extracts of S. asper showed best activity against S. aureus, the most common pathogen of skin ailments particularly boil and wounds, thus findings of the study justified the traditional use of this plant; however, clinical validation of efficacy is and animal toxicity studies are also required to ascertain the adverse effects, if any.
Downward wage rigidity and wage restraint

www.ademu-project.eu/publications/working-papers Abstract The combination of downward nominal wage rigidity and pegged exchange rate creates an externality which leads to excessive wage inflation (Schmitt-Groh_e and Uribe, 2016). This paper re-examines this result assuming that wage setters are forward looking, hence endogenously restrain wage increases facing downward wage rigidity, as in Elsby (2009). In this case, wage inflation is either excessively high or excessively low compared to the social optimum: while wages increase too strongly following demand shocks, they rise by too little following BalassaSamuelson-type technology shocks. Applying the model to euro area countries, I document excessively high wage inflation rates in the euro periphery, but excessively low rates in the euro core, in the pre-crisis period.
The Optimal Use of Return Predictability: An Empirical Study

In this paper we study the economic value and statistical significance of asset return predictability, based on a wide range of commonly used predictive variables. We assess the performance of dynamic, unconditionally efficient strategies, first studied by Hansen and Richard ( 1987 ) and Ferson and Siegel ( 2001 ), using a test that has both an intuitive economic interpretation and known statistical properties. We find that using the lagged term spread, credit spread, and inflation significantly improves the risk-return trade-off. Our strategies consistently outperform efficient buy-and-hold strategies, both in and out of sample, and they also incur lower transactions costs than traditional conditionally efficient strategies.
OPTIMIZATION OF THIOUREA LEVEL AT CELLULAR AND WHOLE PLANT LEVEL FOR MAIZE HYBRIDS (ZEA MAYS L.)

Thiourea is a potential plant growth regulator that improves stress tolerance potential in a variety of plants. Exogenous application of thiourea enhanced the growth and yield of plants, but different concentrations are required by different crops therefore optimization of thiourea is needed for each crop plant. These experiments were arranged to screen out optimum level of thiourea for maize hybrids at both whole plant and cellular levels. Two experiments were done, first at whole plant level; two hybrids DK6789 and 33M15 were used. Thirteen levels of thiourea (0, 200, and 400, to 2400 μM) were applied through sand application to plants after 15 days of germination, and in second experiment same hybrids were used to investigate optimum level of thiourea for callusing attributes. Immature embryo were cultured on N6 (Chu et al) medium supplemented with 3.99g/L salt, 3% sucrose, 2.5 g/L proline, 0.2g/L casein hydrolysate, 2,4-D 2g/L, AgNO3 0.015 g/L, and agar 8g/L. Above applied levels of thiourea were supplemented to callus induction medium. Among all applied thiourea levels, 400 μM thiourea level was found to be most effective. Thiourea significantly improved in vivo attributes like shoot and root length, fresh and dry weights of shoot and root, leaf area and shoot/root mass ratio. Thiourea was also found very effective in improving in vitro attributes especially improved callus quantity and quality. This could be a great achievement towards better maize genetic transformations for development of resistant crops.
Air Permeability & Porosity in Spun-laced Fabrics

The relationship between air permeability and fabric characteristics such as fabric weight, thickness and density in a variety of nonwoven types has already been investigated. The effect of porosity on air permeability has also been thoroughly evaluated in numerous research works. However in this paper, we report the effects of the specific energy in hydroentan glement on the air permeability of the resultant fabric. It is shown that within the ranges of the measurements, energy is not the only factor that affects the permeability. Although the same web weight is used in all trials, fabric weights and thicknesses did not show any clear or linear decrease when the energy given to the fabric was increased. The alteration of web weights and thicknesses under enhanced energy shows that entanglement mechanism in these nonwovens is not not as simple as we had expected. It is thought that the flow corridors in nonwovens are certainly very complex. This increased intricacy may be due to the randomness of nonwoven structures or the method of bonding such as the random hydroentanglement of spun-laced fabrics.
Texture Retrieval Based on Nonlocal Singular Value Decomposition and Multiscale Transforms

Feature extraction based on the multiscale transforms is usually accomplished in the high frequency subbands. The features which are captured from the high frequency subbands mainly contain the edge changing information of images; meanwhile the structural information of images is mainly existed in the low frequency subband. In order to improve the effect of image processing, the structural features which are very important should be obtained from images. This paper adopts a nonlocal singular value decomposition (NL-SVD) algorithm to extract structural features from the low frequency subband. The structural features are combined with traditional statistical features such as means and standard deviations. These features are applied for texture retrieval. Experimental results show the retrieval ratio with these combined features is better and it proves that structural features are efficient texture features for images. Keyword-texture retrieval; NL-SVD; multiscale transforms; feature extraction
Phylogeny and Systematics of Aponogeton (Aponogetonaceae): The Australian Species

Abstract Aponogeton is an important genus whose species are cultivated widely as ornamental aquatic plants. Although a fairly recent monograph has been published, the genus remains poorly studied systematically. We conducted a phylogenetic survey of Aponogeton that focused on relationships among the nine native Australian species as well as their relationship to other members of the genus. Our analyses included a phylogenetic assessment of morphological characters and molecular data obtained both from chloroplast (trnK 5′ intron, matK) and nuclear DNA (nrITS) loci. Molecular data provided evidence of hybridization and polyploidy as well as an informative overview of interspecific relationships in the genus. Two potentially new Australian species also were identified by the molecular data. Combined molecular data produced a well-resolved cladogram that enabled us to evaluate previous phylogenetic hypotheses based on non-explicit methods as well as the soundness of the existing classification of the genus. We conclude that Aponogetonaceae originated in Australia and subsequently radiated into Africa, Madagascar, and Asia, from which a secondary Australian diversification occurred resulting in a biphyletic origin of the native Australian species. A pattern of morphological distinctiveness coupled with low molecular divergence indicates relatively recent and rapid speciation of Aponogeton in Australia. Our results also demonstrate that in this group, morphological data are extremely unreliable taxonomically due to their extensive homoplasy. The phylogenetic relationships elucidated by this study provide evidence to support the establishment of two additional sections, Flavida and Viridis, which are described.
The lowermost mantle beneath northern Asia—II. Evidence for lower-mantle anisotropy

SUMMARY We have analysed prediffracted S-waves with turning points beneath northern Siberia in a study of anisotropy in the lowermost mantle. Deep-focus earthquakes beneath the Marianas, Izu Bonin and the Sea of Japan recorded at stations in western Europe are used. A correction for upper-mantle anisotropy is applied to the data. Comparisons of the data with synthetic data for models with and without a high velocity D �� layer suggest that there is a velocity discontinuity at the top of the D �� region and that the style of anisotropy is transversely isotropic in this region. Time separations between S-waves on the radial and transverse component show a weak trend where the separation increases with epicentral distance. A normalization of this separation with the travel distance within D �� (300 km thick in this region) suggests that the anisotropy is uniformly distributed within this layer and has an average value of 0.5 per cent. A combination of different studies which investigate the structure of the lowermost mantle beneath Europe and northern Siberia reveals a complicated picture. Tomographic models from this area and evidence of D �� anisotropy, lower mantle scatterers, reflections from a D �� discontinuity and ultralow-velocity zones suggest two distinct regions. One exhibits high velocities, D �� anisotropy, a D �� discontinuity and no evidence of scatterers or ultra-low-velocity zones. These features are likely associated with the palaeosubduction of the Izanagi plate well into the lowermost mantle. The other region has a lower overall velocity and shows evidence of scatterers and ultra-lowvelocity zones, perhaps suggesting the presence of partial melt. These results suggest dramatic lateral variations in the nature of the lowermost mantle beneath northern Asia over a length scale of roughly 30 degrees.
Clear‐sky shortwave radiative closure for the Cabauw Baseline Surface Radiation Network site, Netherlands

[1] In this paper a clear-sky shortwave closure analysis is presented for the Baseline Surface Radiation Network (BSRN) site of Cabauw, Netherlands (51.97N, 4.93E). The analysis is based on an exceptional period of fine weather during the first half of May 2008, resulting in a selection of 72 comparisons, on 6 days, between BSRN measurements and Doubling Adding KNMI (DAK) model simulations of direct, diffuse, and global irradiances. The data span a wide range of aerosol properties, water vapor columns, and solar zenith angles. The model input consisted of operational Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) aerosol products and radiosonde data. The wavelength dependence of the aerosol optical thickness, single scattering albedo, and asymmetry parameter was taken into account. On the basis of these data, excellent closure was obtained: the mean differences between model and measurements are 2 W/m 2 (+0.2%) for the direct irradiance, 1 W/m 2 (+0.8%) for the diffuse irradiance, and 2 W/m 2 (+0.3%) for the global irradiance. The good results were obtained because of proper specification of the DAK model input and the high quality of the AERONET and BSRN measurements. The sensitivity of the achieved closure to uncertainties in the aerosol optical thickness, single scattering albedo, and asymmetry parameter was examined. Furthermore, several sensitivity experiments related to the wavelength dependence of the aerosol optical properties and the treatment of water vapor were performed. It appeared that a correct description of the wavelength dependence of the aerosol optical properties is important for achieving broadband closure. However, broadband closure can also be obtained by means of using spectrally averaged values of the single scattering albedo and the asymmetry parameter. Cancellation of errors in different parts of the solar spectrum also contributes to the achieved closure.
Detection of gas hydrate with downhole logs and assessment of gas hydrate concentrations (saturations) and gas volumes on the Blake Ridge with electrical resistivity log data

Leg 164 of the Ocean Drilling Program was designed to investigate the occurrence of gas hydrate in the sedimentary section beneath the Blake Ridge on the southeastern continental margin of North America. Sites 994, 995, and 997 were drilled on the Blake Ridge to refine our understanding of the in situ characteristics of natural gas hydrate. Because gas hydrate is unstable at surface pressure and temperature conditions, a major emphasis was placed on the downhole logging program to determine the in situ physical properties of the gas hydrate–bearing sediments. Downhole logging tool strings deployed on Leg 164 included the Schlumberger quad-combination tool (NGT, LSS/SDT, DIT, CNT-G, HLDT), the Formation MicroScanner (FMS), and the Geochemical Combination Tool (GST). Electrical resistivity (DIT) and acoustic transit-time (LSS/SDT) downhole logs from Sites 994, 995, and 997 indicate the presence of gas hydrate in the depth interval between 185 and 450 mbsf on the Blake Ridge. Electrical resistivity log calculations suggest that the gas hydrate–bearing sedimentary section on the Blake Ridge may contain between 2 and 11 percent bulk volume (vol%) gas hydrate. We have determined that the log-inferred gas hydrates and underlying free-gas accumulations on the Blake Ridge may contain as much as 57 trillion m3 of gas.
Incorporating isosorbide as the chain extender improves mechanical properties of linear biodegradable polyurethanes as potential bone regeneration materials

One key limitation to the application of linear biodegradable polyurethanes (LBPUs) in scaffold materials for bone regeneration is their insufficient mechanical properties. In this study, isosorbide (ISO), a rigid two-ring small diol is selected as a chain extender to produce a series of new poly (D,L-lactide)-based polyurethanes (ISO-PUs). It is confirmed that incorporating ISO as the chain extender can significantly reduce the crosslinking degree of ISO-PUs and thus increase their molecular weight and mechanical properties. ISO-PUs with Mn values of 72.09 kDa and 84.79 kDa demonstrate higher tensile strength & modulus (39.87 MPa & 2.19 GPa and 42.68 MPa & 2.57 GPa) than PDLLA with a Mn of 100 kDa (36.15 MPa & 2.07 GPa). All these results, together with the sound cytocompatibility of ISO-PUs with MC3T3-E1 cells based on the morphology observation and cell proliferation, suggest that ISO-PU should be a promising scaffold material for bone regeneration.
CHANGES IN STUDENT TEACHERS' INTENTION TO TEACH DURING STUDENT TEACHING

Over the course of the student teaching experience, a student teacher’s intention to teach can increase, decrease, or remain the same. The purpose of this study was to explore differences in student teachers that were representative of each category. Teaching intention of 103 student teachers at four universities in 2005-2006 exhibited little change from the beginning of student teaching to the middle of the experience. There was a 7% increase in those who indicated they did not intend to teach from the beginning of student teaching to the end of the experience. The researchers recommend that decision to teach be monitored early in the preservice teaching career to determine when this decision is typically made as well as including other efficacy variables for determinants of career choice.
Molecular evidence for the polyphyly of Bostryx (Gastropoda: Bulimulidae) and genetic diversity of Bostryx aguilari

Bostryx is largely distributed in Andean Valleys and Lomas formations along the coast of Peru and Chile. One species, Bostryx aguilari, is restricted to Lomas formations located in the Department of Lima (Peru). The use of genetic information has become essential in phylogenetic and population studies with conservation purposes. Considering the rapid degradation of desert ecosystems, which threatens the survival of vulnerable species, the aim of this study was, first, to resolve evolutionary relationships within Bostryx and to determine the position of Bostryx within the Bulimulidae, and second, to survey the genetic diversity of Bostryx aguilari, a species considered rare. Sequences of the mitochondrial 16S rRNA and nuclear rRNA regions were obtained for 12 and 11 species of Bulimulidae, respectively, including seven species of Bostryx. Sequences of the 16S rRNA gene were obtained for 14 individuals (from four different populations) of Bostryx aguilari. Phylogenetic reconstructions were carried out using Neighbor-Joining, Maximum Parsimony, Maximum Likelihood and Bayesian Inference methods. The monophyly of Bostryx was not supported. In our results, B. solutus (type species of Bostryx) grouped only with B. aguilari, B. conspersus, B. modestus, B. scalariformis and B. sordidus, forming a monophyletic group that is strongly supported in all analyses. In case the taxonomy of Bostryx is reviewed in the future, this group should keep the generic name. Bostryx aguilari was found to have both low genetic diversity and small population size. We recommend that conservation efforts should be increased in Lomas ecosystems to ensure the survival of B. aguilari, and a large number of other rare species restricted to Lomas.
Statistical characterization of air ion mobility spectra at Tahkuse Observatory: Classification of air ions

A database of 8615 hourly averaged air ion mobility spectra in the range of 0.00041–3.2 cm2 V−1 s−1 was measured at Tahkuse Observatory, Estonia, during 14 months in 1993–1994. The average mobility spectrum over the whole period shows distinct peaks of small and large ions. Intermediate ions with mobilities of 0.034–0.5 cm2 V−1 s−1 are of low concentration of about 50 cm−3 in the average spectrum. They experience occasional bursts of up to about 900 cm−3 during 6–10 hours at daytime. The number of burst events recorded during 14 months was 101, with maximum frequency in spring and minimum frequency in winter. Physically, large and intermediate ions can be called aerosol ions, and small ions can be called cluster ions. The principal component analysis was applied to detect the structure of an air ion mobility spectrum. As a result, the mobility spectrum in the range of 0.00041–3.2 cm2 V−1 s−1 (diameters of 0.36–79 nm) was divided into five classes: small cluster, big cluster, intermediate, light large, and heavy large ions. The boundaries between the classes are 1.3 cm2 V−1 s−1 (diameter of 0.85 nm), 0.5 cm2 V−1 s−1 (1.6 nm), 0.034 cm2 V−1 s−1 (7.4 nm), and 0.0042 cm2 V−1 s−1 (22 nm). The five principal components that are closely correlated with the respective ion classes explain 92% of total variance. The classification of aerosol ions is in accord with the three-modal structure of the size spectrum of submicron aerosol particles.
Input Quantity and Distribution of Hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH) in the Jiaozhou Bay Waters

Based on data from the investigation in Jiaozhou bay waters in May, July and November in 1987, the distribution, source and seasonal variation of HCH in Jiaozhou Bay are analyzed. The results showed that in Jiaozhou bay HCH content was very low and less than 0.100 μg/L in this year, and better than the national Category I of the sea water quality standard, and the water quality about HCH was very clean; and that The seasonal variation of the HCH content in Jiaozhou bay waters has already vanished, namely, the seasonal variation of the HCH content in this year was not influenced by the rainfall, the runoffs or rivers. The horizontal distributions of the HCH content in the whole bay waters showed that the HCH content in the bay was not only directly input from both runoffs but also from rivers, the HCH source was area-source and came from land. The vertical distributions of the HCH content in the whole bay waters showed that the change of the HCH content at surface was not consistent with the corresponding one at bottom, and that the trend of the HCH distribution at surface was not consistent with that at bottom, and that only the HCH contents at surface and bottom were very close. From the year of four years ago of the prohibition (1979), to the prohibition year of HCH use (1983), and finally to the year after the four years of the prohibition (1987), The change of the HCH input into the bay waters unveiled that the by four years before the prohibition, the pollution of the HCH on land was very grave, and by four years after the prohibition, the HCH content in waters was very low, whose process represented that the process of human being having broken up the earth and the process of the earth having naturally restored. Therefore, Human being would consider not only for own benefits but also for the sustainable development of environment.
Fixed-order Controller Design of Linear Systems

The problem of ﬁxed-order dynamic output feedback control of systems subject to polytopic uncertainties is achallenging issue in the community of robust control theory. Various LMI-based methods have been developed sincethe last decade. In this report, we show that most of slack-matrix based methods in the literature implicitly/explicitlyrely on the concept of Strictly Positive Realness (SPRness) of transfer functions presented by KYP Lemma. In fact,using the SPR property, a ﬁxed-order controller is designed via a solution of a set of Linear Matrix Inequalities(LMIs), thanks to KYP Lemma.II. P
Gravity on a little warped space

We investigate the consistent inclusion of 4D Einstein gravity on a truncated slice of ${\mathrm{AdS}}_{5}$ whose bulk-gravity and UV scales are much less than the 4D Planck scale, ${M}_{*}\ensuremath{\ll}{M}_{\mathrm{Pl}}$. Such ``Little Warped Spaces'' have found phenomenological utility and can be motivated by string realizations of the Randall-Sundrum framework. Using the interval approach to brane-world gravity, we show that the inclusion of a large UV-localized Einstein-Hilbert term allows one to consistently incorporate 4D Einstein gravity into the low-energy theory. We detail the spectrum of Kaluza-Klein metric fluctuations and, in particular, examine the coupling of the little radion to matter. Furthermore, we show that Goldberger-Wise stabilization can be successfully implemented on such spaces. Our results demonstrate that realistic low-energy effective theories can be constructed on these spaces, and have relevance for existing models in the literature.