Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An investigation of the properties and functions of connexins in the mammalian inner ear

Connexin 26 (Cx26) and Cx30 are the two predominant gap junction constituents expressed in the mammalian cochlea. Mutations in either gene cause hereditary deafness, indicating an essential role for connexins in auditory function. Gap junctions consisting of Cx26 and Cx30 have been implicated in several cochlear processes; however, the precise functions and life-cycle of connexins in the cochlea are poorly defined. Three aspects of inner ear connexin biology were investigated. Most connexins traffic to the plasma membrane (PM) via the conventional secretory pathway. Conflicting data exists for Cx26 trafficking, whereas that of Cx30 had not been previously studied. Trafficking of Cx26 and Cx30 were investigated using stably-transfected HeLa cell lines. Treatment with brefeldin-A (a Golgi-disrupting drug) did not prevent targeting of Cx30 to the PM, whereas Cx26 was strongly inhibited. These data suggest that Cx30 may traffic to the PM via a Golgi-independent pathway, which is in contrast to a Golgi-dependent pathway for Cx26. Gap junctional intercellular communication (GJIC) pathways are hypothesised to support K+ recycling in the cochlea. This study investigated the development of GJIC in the lateral wall (LW) of live rat cochlear slices. Cx26 and Cx30 immunofluorescence revealed a progressive increase of gap junction expression from postnatal day 0 (P0) to P7-P8. Dye-coupling was compartmentalised between P2-P5, but was extensive by P7. These data suggest that GJIC matures several days in advance of hearing onset and provides anatomical evidence of a putative K+-recycling pathway. Finally, Cx30–/– mice are deaf and fail to develop an endocochlear potential (EP). This study investigated the expression of proteins involved in EP generation and found that the potassium channel Kir4.1 was noticeably reduced in the stria vascularis (SV) of Cx30–/– mice. In contrast to a separate study, the SV endothelial barrier was intact. In addition, anatomical analysis was consistent with loss of Cx30 retarding maturation of SV.
Pangea Migration

We confirm the proposition of Le Pichon et al (2019, https://doi.org/10.1029/2018TC005445) that Pangea was ringed by a hemispheric subduction girdle from its formation 400 Ma to its dispersal 100 Ma. We quantify the northward migration, that we attribute to True Polar Wander (TPW), of its axis of symmetry, between 400 and 150 Ma, from southern latitudes to the equatorial zone. The spatial stabilizing within the equatorial zone of the axis of symmetry in a fixed position with respect to the lower mantle was marked by alternating clockwise and counterclockwise oscillations between 250 and 100 Ma that we relate to tectonic events. A subduction girdle is predicted to set up lateral temperature gradients from the relatively warm sub‐Pangean mantle to a cooler sub‐oceanic mantle. Over time, this effect acts to destabilize the Pangea landmass and its associated subduction girdle. Quantitatively, a scaling theory for the stability of the subduction girdle against the mantle overturn constrains the maximum magnitude of sub‐Pangean warming before breakup to be order 100 °C, consistent with constraints on the Pacific‐Atlantic oceanic crustal thickness differences. Our predictions are in line with the recent analyses of the Jurassic‐Cretaceous climate change and with the existing models for potential driving forces for a TPW oscillation of Pangea across the equator. The timing and intensity of the predicted sub‐Pangean warming potentially contributed to the enigmatically large Siberian Traps and CAMP flood basalts at 250 Ma and 201 Ma, respectively.
Test bench solutions for advanced GNSS receivers : implementation, automation, and application

Considerable study has been devoted to the implementation of GNSS receivers for diverse applications, and to finding solutions to some of the non-idealities associated with such receivers. However, not much research is devoted to innovations in their performance evaluation, even though this is an integral step in the overall implementation process. This research work attempts to address this issue through three different perspectives: by focusing on innovation in the testing procedures and test-bench implementation, its automation and its application to advanced multi-frequency, multi-constellation GPS and Galileo receivers. Majority of this research was conducted within the GREAT, GRAMMAR, and FUGAT projects funded by EU FP6/FP7 and TEKES respectively, during which the author was responsible for designing test-scenarios and performing validations of the implemented receiver solution. The first part of the research is devoted to the study and design of sources of test signals for an advanced GNSS receiver test-bench. An in-depth background literature study was conducted on software-based GNSS signal simulators to trace their evolution over the past two decades. Keeping their special features and limitations in view, recommendations have been made on the optimum architecture and essential features within such simulators for testing of advanced receivers. This resulted in the implementation of an experimental software-based simulator capable of producing GPS L1 and Galileo E1 signals at intermediate frequency. Another solution investigated was a GNSS Sampled Data Generator (SDG) based on wideband sampling. This included designing the entire radio front-end operating on the bandpass-sampling principle. The low noise amplifier designed as part of this SDG has been implemented on a printed circuit board. Phase noise (PN) from the radio front-end’s local frequency generator (LFG) is a source of error that has hitherto not been included in any GNSS signal simulator. Furthermore, the characterization of the baseband tracking loops in presence of this phase noise has not yet been included in the typical receiver test scenarios. The second part of this research attempts to create mathematical models representing the LFG’s phase noise contribution,
Evaluation of One Shot and Two Shot Prostaglandin Injection on Estrus Response in Bali Cattle

The aims of this study was to evaluate the effect of synchronization system with prostaglandins F2α (PGF2α) on bali cows. Sixteen bali cows with good body condition and normal estrus cycles were divided into two group, each group consist eight animal. Groups I which received estrus synchronization using 5 ml PGF2α (one shot prostaglandin) intramuscularly. Group II which received estrus synchronization consisted of two dose regimen injection on day 0 using 5 ml PGF2α (two shot prostaglandin)intramuscularly. On day 11 (11 days after first injection), recieved repeated injection using 5 ml PGF2α. All cows were monitoring the estrus occurrences twice times a day in the morning and afternon by observing estrus symptoms. Out of 8 cow recieved one shot prostaglandin, six (75%) cow exhibited estrus. The on set of estrus was 79.83 hours and the intensity of estrus was 66.67% (4/8) exhibited normal, In two shot prostaglandin found, five cow (62.5%) exhibeted estrus, The on set of estrus was 67.40 houers and the intensity of estrus was 80% exhibited normal.The results showed that there was no significant difference in estrus response, on set of estrus snd estrus intensity in bali cattle cows after injection of one shot prostaglanding and two shot prostaglandin. It is concluded that The study concluded that prostaglandin in one shot and two shot system was effective to synchronize post partum bali cows.
Investigations on possible realization of log periodic dielectric resonator antenna

Over the last few decades, a tremendous growth has been seen in the wideband high-frequency communication systems. In addition to other necessary requirements,a compact size, high-efficiency antenna design with low conductor loss is mandatory for enabling high data rate communication. In recent years, Dielectric Resonator Antenna (DRA) has proven to be of exceptional low profile, light weight antenna, which provide wide bandwidth with low dissipation loss compared with microstrip antennas. The gain, bandwidth, and radiation characteristic of DRA can be improved by using array instead of single element DRA. The radiation performance of DRA array can be further enhanced by using log periodic technique.With the growing demand of high speed data transfer and internet access, the communication systems operating in the X, Ku, K and Ka-bands are becoming more prevalent. In this thesis, some DRA array designs based on log periodic technique are investigated experimentally for high frequency wideband applications such as X, Ku, and NATO K-band (K and Ka band jointly known as NATO K-band). The Log Periodic Dielectric Resonator Antenna (LPDRA) array relies on recent developments of wideband DRA array and multi-frequency log periodic technique.The design of LPDRA array is proposed to achieve significant multi-resonant wide bandwidth, with low conductor loss for high frequency applications.The present work deals with the design and analysis of some log-periodic DRA with different feeding methods: Branch microstrip line fed LPDRA; Capacitive coupled LPDRA; Electromagnetically coupled LPDRA and Nine elements LPDRA with dielectric resonators of high relative permittivity as well as with low relative permittivity material.An assay on k-β diagram has also been presented to verify the propagation characteristics of the designed LPDRA array. The proposed LPDRAs offer continuous operation over a wide bandwidth. It provides high efficiency with low cross polarization level and sufficient gain for practical applications. Due to the inherited advantages of Log Periodic DRA array over single DRAs, the LPDRA designs can have applications at microwave and millimetre wave communication like satellite and radar systems.
Long-term experiences of living with stroke in a family context

Hvert ar rammes cirka 15 000 nordmenn av hjerneslag og mange far sammensatte og vedvarende funksjonshemninger. Sykdommen har vidtrekkende konsekvenser pa alle livets omrader og rammer hele familien. Ektefellens livskvalitet blir pavirket og barn kan fa atferdsproblemer relatert til foreldrenes reaksjoner. Hovedhensikten med Doktorgradsprosjektet var a belyse livserfaringene til mennesker som lever i en familie som rammes av langvarige folger etter hjerneslag. Avhandlingen inkluderer tre artikler som ser pa hvordan de kroppslige endringene pavirker selvoppfattelsen til den slagrammede; hvordan det er a leve sammen som en slagrammet familie i et langtidsperspektiv og hvilke eksistensielle utfordringer som oppleves i parforhold etter hjerneslag. Datamaterialet baserer seg pa trettini kvalitative intervju med slagrammede, ektefeller og voksne barn som ser tilbake pa sin oppvekst sammen med en slagrammet forelder. Familiene ble kastet inn i langvarige og uforutsigbare endringsprosesser som ble fortolket som transisjoner. Endringene gjorde seg saerlig gjeldende pa tre omrader i familielivet: kommunikasjon; relasjoner og identitet. Sykdommen viste seg a ha en negativ innvirkning pa kommunikasjonsprosessene i familiene med afasi som det storste hinder, etterfulgt av personlighets- og atferdsendringer. Distansen som oppstod mellom familiemedlemmer forte ofte til ensomhet. Likevel ble familien oppfattet som en livboye fordi omsorgsfulle familierelasjoner ga nytt livsmot. Stotteforeninger bidro sterkt til nyorientering. De kroppslige endringene og folgene av disse pavirket bade den slagrammedes identitet og selvoppfattelsen til andre familiemedlemmer. Par som hadde levd i langvarige og velfunderte forhold ble som regel knyttet tettere sammen og deres livsverdier endret seg, mens par i kortvarige forhold gikk fra hverandre. Familiene var lite forberedt pa utfordringene og de friske ektefellene og barna folte at de ikke mottok nevneverdig oppfolging fra helsepersonell. Datamaterialet baserer seg pa trettini kvalitative intervju med slagrammede, ektefeller og voksne barn som ser tilbake pa sin oppvekst sammen med en slagrammet forelder. Familiene ble kastet inn i langvarige og uforutsigbare endringsprosesser som ble fortolket som transisjoner. Endringene gjorde seg saerlig gjeldende pa tre omrader i familielivet: kommunikasjon, relasjoner og identitet. Sykdommen viste seg a ha en negativ innvirkning pa kommunikasjonsprosessene i familiene. Afasi var det storste hinder, etterfulgt av personlighets- og atferdsendringer. Distansen som oppstod mellom familiemedlemmer forte ofte til ensomhet. Likevel ble familien oppfattet som en livboye fordi omsorgsfulle familierelasjoner ga nytt livsmot. Stotteforeninger bidro sterkt til nyorientering. De kroppslige endringene og folgene av disse pavirket bade den slagrammedes identitet og selvoppfattelsen til andre familiemedlemmer. Par som hadde levd i langvarige og velfunderte forhold ble som regel knyttet tettere sammen og deres livsverdier endret seg, mens par i kortvarige forhold…
How Does Global–Local Identity Affect Consumer Preference for Access-Based Consumption? Investigating the Mediating Role of Consumption Openness

Given the increasing importance of the global sharing economy, consumers face the decision of whether to choose an access-based option versus an owned option. However, understanding of how consumers’ global–local identity may influence their preference for access-based consumption is rather limited. The authors fill this knowledge gap by proposing that consumers high in global identity (“globals”) have a greater preference for access-based consumption than those high in local identity (“locals”). Such effects are mediated by consumers’ consumption openness. Consistent with the “consumption openness” account, the authors find that when the desire for openness is enhanced by a contextual cue, locals’ preference for access-based consumption is elevated, whereas globals’ preference for access-based consumption is unaffected. However, when the desire for openness is suppressed by a contextual cue, globals’ preference for access-based consumption is reduced, whereas locals’ preference for access-based consumption is unaffected. Similarly, consumers’ traveler–settler orientation sets a boundary for the relationship between global–local identity and preference for access-based consumption, given its close association with consumption openness. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.
Analysis and Simulation of Impairments in Xampling Based Receivers

Recent advances in Compressed Sensing theory has lead researcher to apply these techniques to the design of sampling systems which can sample spectrally sparse signals with a wide bandwidth below the Nyquist rate. Xampling is a framework proposed to design such Sub-Nyquist sampling systems. This work presents results and analysis of simulations of impairments in of such systems. The impacts of hardware impairments, choice of reconstruction algorithm, signal energy dynamic range and channel mismatches on system performance are studied. Results show that if a system is designed with a sufficient number of channels then it may be able to maintain performance despite impairment.
TRIATHLON CYCLE-RUN TRANSITION: SEATED VERSUS ALTERNATING SEATED AND STANDING CYCLING

Nine experienced triathletes completed two trials of a cycle to run transition. During the last three minutes of a 30 minute cycling bout (at power output equal to lactate threshold) subjects either remained seated (SEAT), or alternated seated and standing cycling (30 s at a time) (ALT). Minimum and maximum knee angle and stride frequency were obtained at the end of a three minute control run (C) and at minutes 0, 2, & 4, of running after cycling transition. The only difference found by Two-Way Repeated Measures ANOVA (condition X minute) was that C was significantly different than minute 0 of the transition for stride frequency (p <0.05). The findings of the current study indicate that there is a change in stride length following cycling, however, the ALT strategy did not change the kinematic variables during running following cycling when compared to SEAT.
The Impact of Hand-Held and Hands-Free Cell Phone Use on Driving Performance and Safety-Critical Event Risk

This study investigated the effects of distraction from the use of three types of cell phones: (1) hand-held (HH), (2) portable handsfree (PHF), and (3) integrated hands-free (IHF). Through a naturalistic driving study (NDS), 204 drivers were continuously recorded for an average of 31 days. Only drivers who reported talking on a cell phone while driving at least once per day were recruited. A key feature was that drivers provided their cell phone records for analysis, making this the first NDS to date to combine call and text records with continuous naturalistic driving data. Results show that drivers talked on a cell phone 10.6 percent of the time the vehicle was in operation (28% of all calls and 10% of all text messages occurred while the vehicle was being operated). Talking on a cell phone, of any type, while driving was not associated with an increased safety-critical event (SCE) risk. SCEs comprised crashes, near-crashes, and crash-relevant conflicts. Visual-manual (VM) subtasks performed on an HH cell phone, however, were associated with an increased SCE risk. HH cell phone use in general was thus found to be associated with an increased SCE risk. In contrast, PHF and IHF cell phone use, absent of any VM HH cell phone subtasks, were not found to be associated with an increased SCE risk. However, VM HH cell phone subtasks were frequently observed during hands-free cell phone use. Driver performance when using a cell phone was also investigated through a within-subject comparison. VM HH cell phone subtasks were found to significantly increase the percentage of time drivers took their eyes off the forward roadway, while talking on an HH cell phone significantly decreased the percentage of time drivers took their eyes off the forward roadway. The effects of cell phone use on vehicle control were less pronounced.
SIMULATING CAVITATING FLOWS WITH LES IN OPENFOAM

In this paper, we will review and discuss recent years progress in simulating unsteady cavitating flows in OpenFOAM at the Dept. of Shipping and Marine Technology at Chalmers, and what we believe is needed to further advance predictions and reliabil- ity. Using Large Eddy Simulation together with a mixture assumption and a finite rate mass transfer modeling, we have demonstrated in our numerical simulation the presence of several cavitation mechanisms important to capture when studying cavitation nuisance for hydrodynamic machinery, such as marine propellers and power turbines. These phe- nomena include the presence and action of re-entrant jets, e.g. cutting of sheet cavities thus causing shedding, but also some intrinsic details of secondary cavitation influenced by shear layers and vortex roll-up. The cases that will be referred to in the discussion include a hemispherical head, a NACA0015 hydrofoil, the Delft Twist11 hydrofoil, and the INSEAN E779A propeller.
Travel time prediction for the planning of mass transit companies: a machine learning approach

In this thesis we undertook a study in order to know how travel time prediction can be used in mass transit companies for planning purposes. Two different problems were identified: the definition of travel times (1) for timetables and (2) for bus and driver duties. All these studies assume the existence of data on the actual trips, typically obtained from Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) systems. The first problem is a well-known problem with several related studies in the literature. Our approach is not analytical. Instead, we have designed and developed a decision support system that uses past data from the same line and representative of the period the timetable will cover. This problem was the least studied. With respect to the second problem, travel time prediction three days ahead, we focused on how much we can increase in accuracy if we predict travel times for the definition of bus and driver duties as near the date as possible, instead of using the scheduled travel times (STT). The reason for doing this is that, if the increment is important, it is expected to reduce operational costs and/or increase passengers’ satisfaction. In this second problem we used machine learning approaches. However, we started by defining a baseline method (in order to evaluate comparatively the results obtained with more sophisticated methods) and an expert based method using the knowledge we had at the time together with the traffic experts from the STCP company. Then, we tried three different algorithms with reported good results in different problems. They were: support vector machines, random forests and projection pursuit regression. For each of these algorithms, exhaustive tests were done in order to tune parameters. Other tests were done using the three focusing tasks: example selection, domain values selection and feature selection. Accuracy was improved using these approaches. The next step was to experiment heterogeneous ensemble approaches in order to ameliorate further the results by comparison with the use of just one model. An extensive survey on ensemble methods for regression was undertaken. Several experiments using the dynamic selection approach were executed. Approaches using ensembles have improved results consistently when compared to the use of just one model. Experiments on the second problem finished by comparing the baseline, the expert based, the best single algorithm (with the respective tuned parameters and focusing tasks), and the ensemble approach, against the use of STT, on various routes. Results gave a small advantage in terms of accuracy to the ensemble approach when compared to the expert based method. However, the expert based approach needs less data and is much faster to tune. The actual