Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Ontological Induction and the Logical Typology of Scientific Variables

It is widely agreed among philosophers of science today that no formal pattern can possibly be found in the origins of scientific theory. There is no such thing as a "logic of discovery," insists this view--a scientific hypothesis is susceptible to methodological critique only in its relation to empirical consequences derived after the hypothesis itself has emerged through a spontaneous creative inspiration. Yet confronted with the tautly directed thrust of theory-building as actually practiced at the cutting edge of scientific research, this romantic denial of method in the genesis of ideas takes on the appearance of myth. It is the contention of this article that as empirical data ramify in logical complexity, they deposit a hard sediment of theory according to a standard inductive pattern so primitively compelling that it must be recognized as one of the primary forms of inferential thought. This process, here called "ontological induction," is a distillation out of unwieldly observed regularities of more conceptually tractable states hypothesized to underlie them, and is the wellspring of our beliefs in theoretical entities. Previous failure to recognize this pattern of induction has undoubtedly been in substantial measure a result of inadequate attention to the structural details of scientific propositions; for in order to exhibit the nature of ontological induction clearly, it is first necessary to make extended forays through sparsely explored methodological terrain--notably, the nature of scientific "variables," the logical form of "laws," and the type-hierarchy of scientific concepts.
Evaluation of an algorithm based on peripheral blood hematopoietic progenitor cell and CD34+ cell concentrations to optimize peripheral blood progenitor cell collection by apheresis

BACKGROUND: Quantification of peripheral blood (PB) CD34+ cells is commonly used to plan peripheral blood progenitor cell (PBPC) collection but is time‐consuming. Sysmex has developed a hematology analyzer that can quickly identify a population of immature hematopoietic cells (HPCs) according to cell size, cell density, and differential lysis resistance, which may indicate the presence of PBPCs in PB. This prospective study has evaluated the potential of such method to predict the PBPC mobilization.
Astrochemical Properties of Planck Cold Clumps

We observed 13 Planck cold clumps with the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope/SCUBA-2 and with the Nobeyama 45 m radio telescope. The N2H+ distribution obtained with the Nobeyama telescope is quite similar to SCUBA-2 dust distribution. The 82 GHz HC3N, 82 GHz CCS, and 94 GHz CCS emission are often distributed differently with respect to the N2H+ emission. The CCS emission, which is known to be abundant in starless molecular cloud cores, is often very clumpy in the observed targets. We made deep single-pointing observations in DNC, HN13C, N2D+, and cyclic-C3H2 toward nine clumps. The detection rate of N2D+ is 50%. Furthermore, we observed the NH3 emission toward 15 Planck cold clumps to estimate the kinetic temperature, and confirmed that most targets are cold (≲20 K). In two of the starless clumps we observed, the CCS emission is distributed as it surrounds the N2H+ core (chemically evolved gas), which resembles the case of L1544, a prestellar core showing collapse. In addition, we detected both DNC and N2D+. These two clumps are most likely on the verge of star formation. We introduce the chemical evolution factor (CEF) for starless cores to describe the chemical evolutionary stage, and analyze the observed Planck cold clumps.
DIAGNOSING LEARNER ERRORS ON ARABIC CLOSED -CLASS ITEMS

Language learners are faced with a myriad of tasks: they have to learn how to make the sounds of the language they are learning, they have to learn its grammatical patterns, and they have to learn its vocabulary. There are numerous computational tools to help with the first two of these tasks. Providing help with the third raises a number of new challenges. The current paper describes a tool which will help learner to understand how to use ‘closed-class’ lexical items: this is a particularly taxing problem. To learn that the Arabic for ‘office’ is ���� (mktb) is fairly straightforward: keep saying to yourself ‘office’= ���� (mktb) over and over again until it sticks. But learning the Arabic equivalent of ‘on’ is more difficult. The paper outlines a mechanism for providing diagnostic information about particular examples, with the aim of helping the learner to understand why a particular translation of a given closed-class item is appropriate in one situation but not in another.
The Structure of the Skeptical Argument

Much has been written about epistemological skepticism in the last ten or so years, but there remain some unanswered questions concerning the structure of what has become the canonical Cartesian skeptical argument. In this paper, I would like to take a closer look at this structure in order to determine just which epistemic principles are required by the argument. A standard way of presenting the argument is as follows. Let P be some arbitrary proposition about the external world, such as the proposition that I am now sitting. Let SK be some logically possible proposition which is incompatible with P-a skeptical counterpossibility to P-such as the proposition that I am a brain in a vat with sense experience qualitatively indistinguishable from my actual experience. Let us call the following argument A:
RGA analysis and decentralized control for a wastewater treatment plant

A vital process in wastewater treatment is the biological treatment with activated sludge. In Romania, there are still plenty of cases where the biological treatment stage is operated manually, leading to inefficient operation and implicitly to higher operational costs, increased difficulty in maintaining the quality of the effluent and less disturbance rejection capabilities. In our paper, we show that using a medium-fidelity first principle model and by carrying out an RGA analysis, a decentralized control strategy using PI controllers can be easily developed and tested before implementation, the control strategy giving good results in disturbance rejection and trajectory tracking.
Cloning, nucleotide sequence, and mutagenesis of the Bacillus subtilis ponA operon, which codes for penicillin-binding protein (PBP) 1 and a PBP-related factor

An oligonucleotide probe designed to hybridize to genes encoding class A high-molecular-weight penicillin-binding proteins (PBPs) was used to identify the ponA gene encoding PBP1a and -1b (PBP1) of Bacillus subtilis. The identity of the ponA product was established by (i) the presence of a sequence coding for a peptide generated from PBP1 and (ii) the disappearance of PBP1 in a ponA mutant. DNA sequence analysis revealed that the amino acid sequence of PBP1 was similar to those of other class A high-molecular-weight PBPs and that ponA appeared to be cotranscribed with an upstream gene (termed prfA) of unknown function. Null mutations in ponA resulted in a slight decrease in growth rate and a change in colony morphology but had no significant effect on cell morphology, cell division, sporulation, spore heat resistance, or spore germination. Mutations in prfA which did not effect ponA expression produced a more significant decrease in growth rate but had no other significant phenotypic effects. Deletion of both prfA and ponA resulted in extremely slow growth and a reduction in sporulation efficiency. Studies of expression of transcriptional fusions of ponA and prfA to lacZ demonstrated that these two genes constitute an operon. Expression of these genes was relatively constant during growth, decreased during sporulation, and was induced approximately 15 min into spore germination. The ponA locus was mapped to the 200 degrees region of the chromosomal physical map.
Molecular Characterization of Barrier Properties in Follicle-Associated Epithelium of Porcine Peyer's Patches Reveals Major Sealing Function of Claudin-4

The pig represents a preferred model for the analysis of intestinal immunology. However, the barrier of the follicle-associated epithelium (FAE) covering porcine Peyer's patches (PP) has not yet been characterized in detail. This study aimed to perform this characterization in order to pave the way toward an understanding of the functional contribution of epithelial barrier properties in gut immunology. Porcine tissue specimens were taken from the distal small intestine in order to obtain electrophysiological data of PP FAE and neighboring villous epithelium (VE), employing the Ussing chamber technique. Transepithelial resistance (TER) and paracellular fluorescein flux were measured, and tissues were morphometrically compared. In selfsame tissues, expression and localization of major tight junction (TJ) proteins (claudin-1, -2, -3, -4, -5, and -8) were analyzed. PP FAE specimens showed a higher TER and a lower apparent permeability for sodium fluorescein than VE. Immunoblotting revealed an expression of all claudins within both epithelia, with markedly stronger expression of the sealing TJ protein claudin-4 in PP FAE compared with the neighboring VE. Immunohistochemistry confirmed the expression and localization of all claudins in both PP FAE and VE, with stronger claudin-4 abundance in PP FAE. The results are in accordance with the physiological function of the FAE, which strongly regulates and limits antigen uptake determining a mandatory transcellular route for antigen presentation, highlighting the importance of this structure for the first steps of the intestinal immune response. Thus, this study provides detailed insights into the specific barrier properties of the porcine FAE covering intestinal PP, at the interface of intestinal immunology and barriology.
Gastric Transposition for Esophageal Replacement in Children: Experience With 41 Consecutive Cases With Special Emphasis on Esophageal Atresia

ObjectiveTo evaluate the authors’ experience with gastric transposition as a method of esophageal replacement in children with congenital or acquired abnormalities of the esophagus. Summary Background DataEsophageal replacement in children is almost always done for benign disease and thus requires a conduit that will last more than 70 years. The organ most commonly used in the past has been colon; however, most series have been fraught with major complications and conduit loss. For these reasons, in 1985 the authors switched from using colon interpositions to gastric transpositions for esophageal replacement in infants and children. MethodsThe authors retrospectively reviewed the records of 41 patients with the diagnoses of esophageal atresia (n = 26), corrosive injury (n = 8), leiomyomatosis (n = 5), and refractory gastroesophageal reflux (n = 2) who underwent gastric transposition for esophageal replacement. ResultsMean ± SE age at the time of gastric transposition was 3.3 ± 0.6 years. All but two transpositions were performed through the posterior mediastinum without mortality or loss of the gastric conduit despite previous surgery on the gastric fundus in 8 (20%), previous esophageal operations in 15 (37%), and previous esophageal perforations in 6 (15%) patients. Complications included esophagogastric anastomotic leak (n = 15, 36%), which uniformly resolved without intervention; stricture formation (n = 20, 49%), all of which no longer require dilation; and feeding intolerance necessitating jejunal feeding (n = 8, 20%) due to delayed gastric emptying (n = 3), feeding aversion related to the underlying anomaly (n = 1), or severe neurological impairment (n = 4). No redo anastomoses were required. ConclusionsGastric transposition reestablishes effective gastrointestinal continuity with few complications. Oral feeding and appropriate weight gain are achieved in most children. Therefore, gastric transposition is an appropriate alternative for esophageal replacement in infants and children.
GSM 900/DCS 1800 fractional-N modulator with two-point-modulation

This paper presents a fractional-N modulator architecture that uses the technique of two-point-modulation. This technique allows direct modulation of the VCO within the closed loop of a high resolution PLL based fractional-N frequency synthesizer, without restriction due to loop bandwidth and PLL dynamics. A prototype transmitter was implemented using the GSM standard to verify the superior performance predicted by simulation. The core element of this new modulator architecture is a PLL-based fractional-N frequency synthesizer. This prototype synthesizer consists essentially of a full custom IC for the analog section, and the digital functionality was implemented in a filed programmable gate array (FPGA). The analog circuitry was fabricated in a 25 GHz BiCMOS process with 0.8 /spl mu/m as minimum feature size. Measurements of the spectrum for the GSM modulated signal and of the demodulated signal show that the strict demands of the GSM specification can be met.
Generation of pair coherent states and squeezing via the competition of four-wave mixing and amplified spontaneous emission.

Strong competition between four-wave mixing and amplified spontaneous emission in resonant two-photon excitations is shown to generate radiation fields with strong squeezing and antibunching. The generated fields are in a new type of coherent state which is an eigenstate of the operator corresponding to the simultaneous annihilation of photons in two modes.
RADIATION OF ACCELERATED CHARGE IN ABSORBING MEDIUM

The radiation produced by an arbitrary moving relativistic charge in an absorbing medium is considered in terms of the radiation energy loss. The energy-angle distributions of emitted photons for Cerenkov radiation, prompt and magnetic bremsstrahlung, uniform motion over finite distance (the Tamm problem), and for simple cases of periodic motion are derived. The Doppler effect in absorbing medium for undulator-like motion is considered. The high-energy, low-angle approximation of the spectra is discussed in terms of the complex formation zone of the radiation produced by an ultra-relativistic charge in an absorbing medium.
Estructura electrónica y propiedades ópticas de puntos cuánticos auto-organizados.

En el presente trabajo de Tesis se ha realizado un estudio teorico de las principales propiedades de los puntos cuanticos semiconductores auto-organizados (SAQDs). Estas estructuras surgen de la union de diferentes materiales semiconductores donde la contribucion de uno de ellos presenta una escala nanometrica. Debido a su reducido tamano, estas nanoestructuras son capaces de confinar espacialmente los electrones que se hallen en su interior. Es por ello que presentan unas propiedades mas parecidas a las de un atomo que a las de una estructura semiconductora. Todo ello conduce a que se espere una mejora en el rendimiento de los dispositivos basados en SAQDs. El estudio teorico ha sido divido en tres grandes bloques bien diferenciados. En la primera parte se han estudiado algunas propiedades generales de estas nanoestructuras. Debido al proceso de crecimiento por el que los SAQDs son fabricados es preciso abordar un estudio de la distribucion de la deformacion. Para ello hemos recurrido al metodo de las inclusiones de Eshelby. Dependiendo de las propiedades de los materiales constituyentes de la nanoestructura, tambien puede resultar necesario el estudio del potencial interno. Este punto ha sido abordado haciendo uso de la teoria del electromagnetismo. En el segundo bloque se ha procedido al estudio de la estructura electronica recurriendo al metodo k·p y a la teoria de la masa efectiva. En el tercer y ultimo bloque se ha tratado el problema de la interaccion entre los electrones confinados en un SAQD, para lo cual se ha hecho uso del metodo de la interaccion de configuraciones. Los resultados numericos correspondientes a cada una de las partes descritas han sido obtenidos en base a los sistemas InAs/GaAs y GaN/AlN. El primero de ellos tiene un gran interes en la industria de las telecomunicaciones y el segundo en el campo de los dispositivos optoelectronicos que operan en la region del espectro denominada de longitud de onda corta, i.e. en el azul y ultravioleta proximo.
Analyses of performance of novel sensors with different coatings for detection of Lipopolysaccharide

Interdigital sensors have been widely used for non-destructive applications. New types of planar interdigital sensors have been fabricated with different coating materials to assess the response to Lipopolysaccharide, LPS. All the coatings were selected and optimized to be stable in water, as the measurements take place in water media. Moreover, the coatings have been designed to have available carboxylic or amine functional groups. The use of these functional groups is a widely used technique to specifically binding of biomolecules. The coated sensors were then immobilized with Polymyxin B(PmB) which has the specific binding properties to LPS. This paper will highlight the fabrication process and initial investigations on the sensors' performance based on Impedance Spectroscopy.
Ouabain Interactions with the H5-H6 Hairpin of the Na,K-ATPase Reveal a Possible Inhibition Mechanism via the Cation Binding Domain*

Cardiac glycosides such as ouabain and digoxin specifically inhibit the Na,K-ATPase. Three new residues in the carboxyl half of the Na,K-ATPase, Phe-786, Leu-793 (PFLIF786IIANIPL793PLGT797), and Phe-863 (FTYF863VIM) have been identified as ouabain sensitivity determinants using random mutagenesis. Polymerase chain reaction was utilized to randomly mutate the DNA sequence encoding the amino acids between Lys-691 and Lys-945 in the α subunit of the Na,K-ATPase. This region contains four transmembrane segments (H5, H6, H7, and H8) and the connecting extracellular and cytoplasmic loops. Diverse substitutions of these three residues resulted in proteins displaying 2.8-48-fold increases in the I50 of different cardiac glycosides for inhibition of the Na,K-ATPase activity. By locating these residues, in conjunction with Thr-797 (Feng, J., and Lingrel, J. B (1994) Biochemistry 33, 4218-4224), a new region of the protein containing the H5-H6 hairpin and the H7 transmembrane segment emerges as a major determinant of ouabain inhibition. Thus, a link between the cardiac glycoside binding site and the cation transport sites of the Na,K-ATPase transpires giving a structural base to the cation antagonism of ouabain binding. Furthermore, this link suggests a possible mechanism for cardiac glycoside inhibition of the Na,K-ATPase, such that ouabain binding to the implicated region blocks the movement of the H5 and H6 transmembrane domains which may be required for energy transduction and cation transport.
A Reconfigurable Delta-Sigma ADC

FPGAs are an increasing alternative for implementing signal processing in mechatronics. But unfortunately they lack an on-chip ADC. This paper presents the approach and results of a bit serial implementation of a reconfigurable delta-sigma ADC using Texas Instrument's four channel delta-sigma-modulator ADS1204. Filtering and decimation is accomplished in three stages by different filter types. The implementation has been done on a Xilinx Virtex4 using VHDL for specification. Bit serial arithmetic has been used to reduce implementation cost
Identification of a synergistic interaction between endothelial cells and retinal pigment epithelium

The retinal pigment epithelium located between the neurosensory retina and the choroidal vasculature is critical for the function and maintenance of both the photoreceptors and underlying capillary endothelium. While the trophic role of retinal pigment epithelium on choroidal endothelial cells is well recognized, the existence of a reciprocal regulatory function of endothelial cells on retinal pigment epithelium cells remained to be fully characterized. Using a physiological long‐term co‐culture system, we determined the effect of retinal pigment epithelium‐endothelial cell heterotypic interactions on cell survival, behaviour and matrix deposition. Human retinal pigment epithelium and endothelial cells were cultured on opposite sides of polyester transwells for up to 4 weeks in low serum conditions. Cell viability was quantified using a trypan blue assay. Cellular morphology was evaluated by H&E staining, S.E. M. and immunohistochemistry. Retinal pigment epithelium phagocytic function was examined using a fluorescent bead assay. Gene expression analysis was performed on both retinal pigment epithelium and endothelial cells by quantitative PCR. Quantification of extracellular matrix deposition was performed on decellularized transwells stained for collagen IV, fibronectin and fibrillin. Our results showed that presence of endothelial cells significantly improves retinal pigment epithelium maturation and function as indicated by the induction of visual cycle‐associated genes, accumulation of a Bruch's membrane‐like matrix and increase in retinal pigment epithelium phagocytic activity. Co‐culture conditions led to increased expression of anti‐angiogenic growth factors and receptors in both retinal pigment epithelium and endothelial cells compared to monoculture. Tube‐formation assays confirmed that co‐culture with retinal pigment epithelium significantly decreased the angiogenic phenotype of endothelial cells. These findings provide evidence of critical interdependent interactions between retinal pigment epithelium and endothelial cell involved in the maintenance of retinal homeostasis.
Segmentação de displasias corticais focais em imagens de ressonancia magnetica do cerebro humano

O diagnostico medico por imagem e uma tarefa complexa, que depende da avaliacao subjetiva de um grande volume de dados. Diversas possibilidades de patologia nao sao consideradas por limitacao de tempo e especializacao dos profissionais da area medica, mesmo quando os exames adequados estao disponiveis. O desenvolvimento de tecnicas automaticas de auxilio ao diagnostico e um avanco importante para simplificar a tarefa do medico, descartando um grande numero de patologias ou indicando as localizacoes mais provaveis de eventuais anormalidades patologicas. Displasias corticais focais (FCDs) estao associadas a epilepsia, e sao uma das causas mais comuns de casos de epilepsia refrataria, em que o tratamento medicamentoso nao e suficiente para controlar as crises. As FCDs sao lesoes que geram variacoes locais e sutis na aparencia do tecido em imagens de ressonância magnetica (RM). Seu diagnostico e em geral uma tarefa dificil e subjetiva. Deteccao e localizacao de eventuais lesoes de FCD sao passos fundamentais para o planejamento do tratamento do paciente. Neste trabalho propomos um metodo para segmentacao automatica de FCDs em imagens de ressonância magnetica (RM) tri-dimensional do cerebro humano. Desenvolvemos novas tecnicas de segmentacao e analise de imagens, automatizamos uma tecnica previamente interativa (reformatacao curvilinear) e, atraves de classificacao por aprendizado supervisionado, obtivemos deteccao de 100% das lesoes, com cobertura de 76,9% dos voxels lesionais. Este resultado e um pouco melhor que o estado da arte, embora ainda nao seja uma solucao ideal, solidamente validada, para o problema Abstract