Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Metamaterial bilayers for enhancement of wave transmission through a small hole in a flat perfectly conducting screen

In this talk, we theoretically demonstrate the role of two properly selected pairs of metamaterial layers, one located in the front and the other in the back surface of a small sub-wavelength hole in a flat perfectly electric conducting (PEC) screen. In recent years, there have been experiments in the optical regime conducted by others showing how an appropriately designed periodic corrugation on a metallic opaque screen leads to significant increase of the power transmission through a subwavelength hole. Oliner et al. (2003) explained and justified this power enhancement as the result of the excitation of the leaky waves supported by the corrugated screen. In the present work, we suggest a different configuration using metamaterial bilayers covering the entrance and the exit face of the hole in a flat PEC screen. In this setup, one pair of metamaterial layers effectively "collects" the power of the incident wave and concentrates it at the entrance of the hole, the other pair of layers at the exit face re-shapes the radiation patterns in the receiver side. Conditions for the optimal transmission and certain physical insights are presented, and some numerical results confirming the theory are also shown.
Predicting Unknown Vulnerabilities using Software Metrics and Maturity Models

—We face an increasing reliance on software-based services, applications, platforms, and infrastructures to accomplish daily activities. It is possible to introduce vulnerabilities during any software life cycle and these vulnerabilities could lead to security attacks. It is known that as the software complexity increases, discovering a new security vulnerability introduced by subsequent updates and code changes becomes difﬁcult. This can be seen from the rate of new vulnerabilities discovered after a software release. IT Products’ vulnerabilities sometimes remain undiscovered for many years. In this paper, we report our study of IT products’ source codes using software maturity models and the history of vulnerabilities discovered. We use this data to develop a model to predict the number of security vulnerabilities contained in a product, including undiscovered vulnerabilities. Our proposed approach can be used to explore proactive strategies for mitigating the risks due to zero-day vulnerabilities.
Identification of substrates of the extracellular protease ADAMTS1 by DIGE proteomic analysis

Proteolytic modification of components of the extracellular milieu by metalloproteinases plays important roles in the regulation of multiple cellular and physiological processes and pathological conditions. ADAMTS1 is a secreted enzyme of the ADAMTS (a disintegrin and metalloproteinase with thrombospondin motifs) family of proteases, which is related to angiogenesis and inflammation processes. Here, we describe a proteomic screening for putative ADAMTS1 substrates by analyzing the protein profiles obtained from cultures of transfected cells overexpressing the protease as compared to parental cells. Conditioned medium proteins of cultures of the two cell lines have been quantitatively compared by DIGE. Proteins showing differential levels have been identified by MS techniques leading to the finding of five potential new substrates of ADAMTS1: the basement membrane proteins nidogen‐1 and ‐2, the desmosomal protein desmocollin‐3, and the extracellular glycoproteins dystroglycan 1 and Mac‐2‐binding protein. Nidogen‐1 and ‐2 have been further validated as substrates by immunochemical analysis. Our results demonstrate the utility of the DIGE proteomic technique for the discovery of specific substrates of matrix proteases.
Comparison of candoxatril and atrial natriuretic factor in healthy men. Effects on hemodynamics, sympathetic activity, heart rate variability, and endothelin.

The purpose of these experiments was to compare the effects of endopeptidase inhibition with oral candoxatril on systemic and forearm hemodynamics and muscle sympathetic nerve activity with responses to a low-dose atrial natriuretic factor infusion. Eleven healthy men received at random on three separate days either intravenous saline, natriuretic factor (1.6 pmol/kg per minute) plus saline, or oral candoxatril (200 mg) plus saline. Measurements were made at baseline and 30, 60, and 90 minutes after interventions. Atrial natriuretic factor lowered diastolic pressure (P < .01), central venous pressure (P < .001), forearm blood flow (P < .05), and forearm vascular compliance (P < .05) but had no effect on systolic pressure, heart rate or its variability, stroke volume, sympathetic nerve activity, plasma norepinephrine, or endothelin-1. Plasma epinephrine increased (P < .01). Candoxatril lowered central venous pressure (P < .001) and increased systolic pressure (from 116 +/- 6 to 120 +/- 7 mm Hg; P < .05), endothelin (from 4.6 +/- 1.1 to 6.8 +/- 3.2 pmol/L; P < .02), and epinephrine (P < .05), without affecting any other variables. Candoxatril and atrial natriuretic factor lowered central venous pressure in healthy men without causing a reflex increase in sympathetic nerve activity or norepinephrine, yet epinephrine rose. This suggests that both interventions may specifically inhibit sympathetic nerve traffic to muscle at physiological plasma atrial natriuretic factor concentrations. However, whereas the peptide lowered blood pressure, candoxatril increased systolic pressure. These contrasting hemodynamic responses may be related to differences in plasma atrial natriuretic peptide concentration and to altered endothelin metabolism by candoxatril.
Etude de l'hybridation d'énergie humaine, synthèse de commandes minimisant l'énergie consommée par un vélo à assistance électrique.

Le velo est un mode de transport qui offre les avantages conjoints de limiter l’effet de serre et d’ameliorer la sante des cyclistes. Le velo a assistance electrique (VAE) pourrait engager une rupture technologique qui encouragerait un report modal massif de la voiture individuelle vers ce mode de transport vertueux. L’objectif de ces travaux est d’ameliorer la commande des VAE avec l’objectif contradictoire de maximiser leur autonomie tout en garantissant le confort du cycliste. Ce probleme est formule comme un probleme de Commande Optimale minimisant l’energie consommee sous contrainte de vitesse moyenne imposee. La methodologie s’appuie sur une modelisation multiphysiques du VAE et de son/sa cycliste. Un VAE instrumente permet de calibrer un modele electromecanique. Le modele de comportement energetique humain est construit a partir d’une etude bibliographique et de mesures effectuees sur un panel de 14 cyclistes volontaires. L’action motrice humaine est modelisee comme une source de puissance regulee. La synthese de commande s’appuie dans un premier temps sur le Principe du Maximum de Pontryagin afin de synthetiser une solution de reference avec des hypotheses academiques. Une methodologie discretisee est ensuite presentee avec des hypotheses moins fortes. Elle s’appuie sur le Principe de Bellman. Le probleme est reformule comme la recherche du chemin a cout minimal dans un graphe. Le chemin Optimal est trouve grâce a l’Algorithme A* et une heuristique energetique bien adaptee. Une methode d’elagage precoce des commandes trop lentes permet de reduire le temps de calcul de 18%. Les resultats montrent que la commande optimale economise 12% d’energie et n’affecte pas le comportement du cycliste.
Quasi pseudo-inverse reconstruction for rotating PET scanners

A new reconstruction strategy is proposed for 3D images acquired with rotating PET scanners. This method is based on the decomposition of the system response matrix (SRM) into a projection and a rotation components that are inverted independently. We present the rationale of the new reconstruction procedure as well as some examples to compare with analytical 3D reconstruction (3DRP) and 3D statistical reconstruction (3D-OSEM)
Jet Collimation by Small-Scale Magnetic Fields

A popular model for jet collimation is associated with the presence of a large-scale and predominantly toroidal magnetic field originating from the central engine (a star, a black hole, or an accretion disk). Besides the problem of how such a large-scale magnetic field is generated, in this model the jet suffers from the fatal long-wave mode kink magnetohydrodynamic instability. In this paper we explore an alternative model: jet collimation by small-scale magnetic fields. These magnetic fields are assumed to be local, chaotic, and tangled, but are dominated by toroidal components. Just as in the case of a large-scale toroidal magnetic field, we show that the "hoop stress" of the tangled toroidal magnetic fields exerts an inward force which confines and collimates the jet. The magnetic "hoop stress" is balanced either by the gas pressure of the jet or by centrifugal force if the jet is spinning. Since the length scale of the magnetic field is small (< the cross-sectional radius of the jet ≪ the length of the jet), in this model the jet does not suffer from the long-wave mode kink instability. Many other problems associated with the large-scale magnetic field are also eliminated or alleviated for small-scale magnetic fields. Though it remains an open question how to generate and maintain the required small-scale magnetic fields in a jet, the scenario of jet collimation by small-scale magnetic fields is favored by the current study on disk dynamo which indicates that small-scale magnetic fields are much easier to generate than large-scale magnetic fields.
Odontogenic keratocyst expresses vascular endothelial growth factor: an immunohistochemical study.

BACKGROUND Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression may act as a sensitive measure of the angiogenic potential of a lesion. Furthermore, VEGF has been implicated in the pathogenesis of cystic tumors and inflammatory odontogenic cysts. Thus, we studied the expression of VEGF in the epithelium of odontogenic keratocyst (OK) in association with cell proliferation and apoptosis. METHODS Forty-two cases of OK, 26 cases of dentigerous cyst (DC), and 15 cases of residual cyst (RC) were retrospectively examined by immunohistochemistry for VEGF, Ki67/Mib-1 and anti-caspase-3. For VEGF and caspase-3, the intensity of immunostaining was qualitatively assessed, while for the evaluation of Ki67 the average number of positively stained nuclei in 10 high-power microscopic fields (x 400) was calculated. RESULTS The VEGF expression was stronger in OK when compared with DC (P < 0.007). The rate of nuclear Ki67 expression in OK was significantly higher than that in DC (P < 0.001) and RC (P < 0.001). Cytoplasmic caspase-3 expression was statistically more intense in RC than in OK (P = 0.001) or DC (P < 0.001). A statistically significant correlation was seen in OK for Ki67 (P < 0.001) and VEGF (P = 0.023), but not for caspase-3. Multiple regression analysis revealed a linear relationship between VEGF and Ki67. CONCLUSIONS The VEGF was expressed in the epithelium of OK, DC, and RC with a variable intensity, and in OK VEGF expression was related to Ki67. It is suggested that VEGF expression by the odontogenic epithelium is not induced solely by inflammation.
A Biological Named Entity Recognizer

In this paper we describe a new named entity extraction system. Our system is based on a manually developed set of rules that rely heavily upon some crucial lexical information, linguistic constraints of English, and contextual information. This system achieves state of art results in the protein name detection task, which is what many of the current name extraction systems do. We discuss the need for detection of chemical names and show that we not only obtain a high degree of success in recognizing chemicals but that this task can help improve the precision of protein name detection as well. We use context and surrounding words for categorization of named entities and find the results obtained are encouraging.
TOTAL PHENOL CONTENT ESTIMATION OF CAMELLIA SINENSIS , CURCUMA LONGA , MORINGA OLEIFERA , MURRAYA KOENIGII AND PIPER BETEL AQUEOUS EXTRACTS

Plant phenols and polyphenols present in fruits and vegetables works as an antioxidant compounds when consumed and are thought to play important roles in long term health by reducing the risk of chronic and degenerative diseases. Accordingly various epidemiological and in vitro studies on medicinal plants, fruits and vegetables has proven that antioxidant plant metabolites provides protection against the oxidative stress caused by reactive free radicals, chelating metals and active oxygen hydroxyl radicals; and provides health benefits to the body. Noteworthy antioxidant, anti-tumor, antiviral and antimicrobial activities are also reported for plant phenols and they are considered as active principles of numerous folk herbal medicines. Thus the presence of these compounds in the regular diet might be beneficial to human health by lowering the incidence of cancer and cardiovascular diseases. Phenols and polyphenols possess diverse physiological roles in the body and are a key for good health. Thus considering the benefits exhibited by these natural products to human health has recommended regular intake of some typical plant-derived food and beverages in everyday diets. The present work was to identify the alternative natural and safe sources of food-based antioxidants especially of plant origin. As majority of the rich diversity of Indian medicinal plants are yet to be scientifically evaluated for such properties, there is an attempt made here to find the potential antioxidant plant sources. Five plants having ethnobotanical medicinal importance and are edible in nature, are selected for the present study. Aqueous extracts of selected plants were screened for Total Phenol content (TCP) using Folin-Ciocalteau Method.
The Effects of Bereavement on Mental Health – An Analysis of Anticipation Patterns Surrounding the Death of the Spouse

In this study, we explore the effects of conjugal bereavement on mental health of the surviving spouse taking account of the anticipation of the partner’s death. We estimate static and dynamic correlated random effects probit models using panel data on health and socioeconomic characteristics, linked to administrative death record data of the National Death Index (NDI) file. In particular, we exploit information about whether the partner’s death was expected or not, which allows us to test the assumption of an exogenous time of death. We find strong anticipation effects of future bereavement on mental health if the partner died expectedly, starting about 18 months before the partner’s death. Instantaneous bereavement effects are large when the spouse’s death was expected, but significantly stronger for an unexpected time of death. The process of adapting to an initial level of mental health after the death event is similar for both groups, with an elevated probability of depression up to one year after the partner’s death. A more detailed analysis of the anticipation effects suggests that these changes in mental health can in part be attributed to a caregiver burden effect. The findings of our study indicate that bereavement effects are underestimated when anticipation is not controlled for. Our results also emphasize the importance of mourning support and interventions that alleviate the negative consequences of bereavement. JEL classification: I12, J13, J14, C23, C25, C83
Design Optimization of Metal Nanocrystal Memory—Part I: Nanocrystal Array Engineering

The three-dimensional (3D) electrostatics together with the modified Wentzel-Kramers-Brillouin tunneling model has been implemented to simulate the programming and retention characteristics of the metal nanocrystal (NC) memories. Good agreements with experimental data are first demonstrated to calibrate the transport parameters. In contrast to previous works, the 3D electrostatic effects investigated in this paper are proven very significant in the memory operations. Therefore, new design criteria of metal NC memories are investigated. Part I presents the physical model and the NC array design optimization. A sparse and large-size NC array, which is suitable for the one-dimensional narrow-channel memories, provides higher program/erase tunneling current density due to the field-enhancement effect and lower charging energy due to the large NC capacitance. On the other hand, to achieve a sufficient memory window, fast programming speed, and long retention time in the typical two-dimensional channel memories, a dense and large-size NC array is favorable while taking the tradeoff with the NC number density into account. Based on the same theoretical model, the authors continue in Part II to consider the design optimization when high-K dielectrics can be employed
Universal and nonuniversal statistical properties of levels and intensities for chaotic Rydberg molecules.

We study Rydberg molecules taking into account the interaction between the rotational motion of the nuclei and the radial motion of the electron. This situation can be treated to a good approximation in quantum mechanics by the multichannel quantum-defect method which in turn has a well-defined classical limit. We are able to calculate very long sequences of levels and the corresponding amplitudes of wave packets. This allows us to study the statistical properties of both in detail. Our interest focuses on aspects of quantum chaos'' that can be particularly well understood in this case. Our main result is that, in a completely chaotic classical situation, where statistics of quantum-level spacings follow the expected universal Gaussian-orthogonal-ensemble behavior, and statistics of line intensities display the expected universal Porter-Thomas behavior, nonuniversal properties are explicitly contained in correlations between intensities and spacings, determined by the time needed for the classical system to mix on a length scale given by the quantum wavelength.
Analysis of the Arabidopsis Mitochondrial Proteome 1

The complete set of nuclear genes that encode proteins targeted to mitochondria in plants is currently undefined and thus the full range of mitochondrial functions in plants is unknown. Analysis of two-dimensional gel separations of Arabidopsis cell culture mitochondrial protein revealed approximately 100 abundant proteins and 250 low-abundance proteins. Comparison of subfractions of mitochondrial protein on two-dimensional gels provided information on the soluble, membrane, or integral membrane locations of this protein set. A total of 170 protein spots were excised, trypsin-digested, and matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization/time of flight mass spectrometry spectra obtained. Using this dataset, 91 of the proteins were identified by searching translated Arabidopsis genomic databases. Of this set, 81 have defined functions based on sequence comparison. These functions include respiratory electron transport, tricarboxylic acid cycle metabolism, amino acid metabolism, protein import, processing, and assembly, transcription, membrane transport, and antioxidant defense. A total of 10 spectra were matched to Arabidopsis putative open reading frames for which no specific function has been determined. A total of 64 spectra did not match to an identified open reading frame. Analysis of full-length putative protein sequences using bioinformatic tools to predict subcellular targeting (TargetP, Psort, and MitoProt) revealed significant variation in predictions, and also a lack of mitochondrial targeting prediction for several characterized mitochondrial proteins.
Activation of Mitogen-activated Protein (MAP) Kinase Pathway by Pervanadate, a Potent Inhibitor of Tyrosine Phosphatases*

Rapid tyrosine phosphorylation of key cellular proteins is a crucial event in signal transduction. The regulatory role of protein-tyrosine phosphatases (PTPs) in this process was explored by studying the effects of a powerful PTP inhibitor, pervanadate, on the activation of the mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase cascade. Treatment of HeLa cells with pervanadate resulted in a marked inhibition of PTP activity, accompanied by a drastic increase in tyrosine phosphorylation of cellular proteins. The increased tyrosine phosphorylation coincided with the activation of the MAP kinase cascade as indicated by enzymatic activity assays of MEK (MAP kinase/ERK-kinase) and MAP kinase and gel mobility shift analyses of Raf-1 and MAP kinase. The activation was sustained but reversible. Upon removal of pervanadate, both tyrosine phosphorylation and MAP kinase activation declined to basal levels. Therefore, inhibition of PTP activity is sufficient per se to initiate a complete MAP kinase activation program.
Highly Nonlinear and Dispersion-Flattened Fiber Design for Ultrafast Phase-Sensitive Amplification

The properties of phase-sensitive amplification (PSA) in highly nonlinear fibers are studied. We present a soft glass fiber designed for high nonlinearity and broadband, low dispersion and simulate its performance as a PSA device for ultrafast bitrate signals at 640 Gb/s. The effect of the fiber design parameters on its PSA performance have been studied and the final design has been optimized using a genetic algorithm to have a high nonlinearity and low, flat dispersion. This design has subsequently been compared to other highly nonlinear fibers in order to highlight the effect of both using soft glass and the design and optimization technique. Modelled fiber performance shows squeezing of phase noise in a 5 m length of fiber with 32 dBm total power in the signal and pumps. The fiber length we have used in our model is two orders of magnitude shorter than the state of the art silica based PSA devices for comparable power levels. In addition, fabrication tolerance modelling is done to show that our fiber design is better able to manage fluctuations in the dispersion due to the high nonlinearity.
Resistance of stored-product insects to phosphine

The objectives of this work were to assess phosphine resistance in insect populations (Tribolium castaneum, Rhyzopertha dominica, Sitophilus zeamais and Oryzaephilus surinamensis) from different regions of Brazil and to verify if the prevailing mechanism of phosphine resistance in these populations involves reduced respiration rates. Sixteen populations of T. castaneum, 15 of R. dominica, 27 of S. zeamais and eight of O. surinamensis were collected from 36 locations over seven Brazilian states. Each population was tested for resistance to phosphine, based on the response of adults to discriminating concentrations, according to FAO standard method. For each insect species, the production of carbon dioxide of the most resistant and of the most susceptible populations was inversely related to their phosphine resistance. The screening tests identified possible phosphine resistant populations. R. dominica and O. surinamensis were less susceptible to phosphine than the other two species. The populations with lower respiration rate showed a lower mortality at discriminating concentration, possibly related to a phosphine resistance mechanism. Phosphine resistance occurs in stored-product insects, in different regions of Brazil, and the resistance mechanism involves reduced respiration rate. Index terms: Oryzaephilus surinamensis, Rhyzopertha dominica, Sitophilus zeamais, Tribolium castaneum, fumigant resistance, respiration rate.