Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Influences of phosphorus and sulphur on ductility dip cracking susceptibility in multipass weld metal of alloy 690

The influence of P and S on ductility dip cracking susceptibility in the reheated weld metal of alloy 690 was evaluated by the spot Varestraint test using different alloy 690 filler metals, while varying the contents of P and S. The ductility dip cracking susceptibility was reduced with a decrease in the content of P and S in the filler metal; the amount of (P+1·2S) in the weld metal should be limited to 30 ppm in order to prevent microcracking in the multipass weld metal. A numerical simulation of cosegregation behaviour of P and S revealed that both elements were segregated at the grain boundary in the ductility dip temperature range during multipass welding. A molecular orbital analysis has suggested that ductility dip cracking can be attributed to grain boundary embrittlement due to grain boundary segregation of P and S.
SEMANTIC QUERIES IN DISTRIBUTED RELATIONAL DATABASE USING GLOBAL ONTOLOGY CONSTRUCTION

Semantic web refers to the extension of the World Wide Web and it will provide a common framework which makes data available for reusing and sharing. Ontology is the backbone of Semantic web which is used to access relational database in Semantic web. This paper proposes a new approach which enables Semantic web application to access distributed relational databases. The method involves two main phases. In the first phase, have focus to construct one or more local ontologies. In the second phase, have focus to construct a global ontology to access distributed relational databases. Global ontology was constructed by merging one or more local ontologies. Global ontology supports a high level view of the database. This approach uses protege 4.3 tools for constructing ontologies.
PPT Image Segmentation Based on Color Entropy

Image segmentation is a preliminary requirement to hybrid image encoding. In this paper, we propose SIG, an algorithm based on information gain for slide image segmentation. SIG algorithm depends on two features observed from the slide image samples: color entropy distribution and information gain. SIG algorithm consists of two stages. First, it finds the seed of monochrome, textual and grayscale images following the greedy strategy, and then it expands the seed image to generate image blocks seeking maximum information gain. Empirical experiments indicate that SIG-based hybrid image encoding is superior to JPEG2000 as well as 8×8 and 16×16 block-based hybrid image encoding in terms of efficiency.
A shortcut to identifying small molecule signals that regulate behavior and development in Caenorhabditis elegans

Small molecule metabolites play important roles in Caenorhabditis elegans biology, but effective approaches for identifying their chemical structures are lacking. Recent studies revealed that a family of glycosides, the ascarosides, differentially regulate C. elegans development and behavior. Low concentrations of ascarosides attract males and thus appear to be part of the C. elegans sex pheromone, whereas higher concentrations induce developmental arrest at the dauer stage, an alternative, nonaging larval stage. The ascarosides act synergistically, which presented challenges for their identification via traditional activity-guided fractionation. As a result the chemical characterization of the dauer and male attracting pheromones remained incomplete. Here, we describe the identification of several additional pheromone components by using a recently developed NMR-spectroscopic approach, differential analysis by 2D NMR spectroscopy (DANS), which simplifies linking small molecule metabolites with their biological function. DANS-based comparison of wild-type C. elegans and a signaling-deficient mutant, daf-22, enabled identification of 3 known and 4 previously undescribed ascarosides, including a compound that features a p-aminobenzoic acid subunit. Biological testing of synthetic samples of these compounds revealed additional evidence for synergy and provided insights into structure–activity relationships. Using a combination of the three most active ascarosides allowed full reconstitution of the male-attracting activity of wild-type pheromone extract. Our results highlight the efficacy of DANS as a method for identifying small-molecule metabolites and placing them within a specific genetic context. This study further supports the hypothesis that ascarosides represent a structurally diverse set of nematode signaling molecules regulating major life history traits.
RENAL FUNCTION AND STRUCTURE IN DIABETIC, HYPERTENSIVE, OBESE ZDFxSHHF-HYBRID RATS

The obese ZDFxSHHF-fa/facp model was developed by crossing lean female Zucker Diabetic Fatty (ZDF +/fa) and lean male Spontaneously Hypertensive Heart Failure (SHHF/Mcc-facp, +/fa) rats. The purpose of the present study was to determine renal function and morphology, hemodynamics, and metabolic status in ZDFxSHHF rats. Two sets of experiments were conducted. First, we evaluated heart and kidney function and metabolic status in aged (46 weeks old) male obese ZDFxSHHF and age matched obese SHHF rats, lean Spontaneously Hypertensive (SHR) and lean normotensive Wistar Kyoto (WKY) rats. In the second set of experiments, renal function and structure as well as metabolic and lipid status were determined in lean (LN) and obese (OB) adult (29-weeks of age) ZDFxSHHF rats. At 46 weeks of age ZDFxSHHF rats are hypertensive expressing marked cardiac hypertrophy associated with diastolic dysfunction and preserved contractile function. Fasted hyperglycemia and hyperinsulinemia are accompanied by moderate hypercholesterolemia and hypertriglyceridemia. Obese aged ZDFxSHHF have marked renal hypertrophy, a 3–8 fold decrease in creatinine clearance (compared with SHHF, SHR and WKY), a high percent of segmental + global glomerulosclerosis (59.8% ± 10.8), and severe tubulointerstitial and vascular changes. Obese ZDFxSHHF rats die at an early age (∼12 months) from end-stage renal failure. Studies conducted in 29-week animals showed that, although both LN and OB 29-week old animals are hypertensive, OB animals have more severely compromised renal function and structure as compared with lean littermates (kidney weight: 2.56 ± 0.16 vs. 1.61 ± 0.12 g; creatinine clearance: 0.42 ± 0.04 vs. 1.24 ± 0.13 L/g kid/day; renal vascular resistance 12.39 ± 1.4 vs. 6.14 ± 0.42 mmHg/mL/min/g kid; protein excretion: 556 ± 16 vs. 159 ± 9 mg/day/g kid, p < 0.05, OB vs. LN, respectively). Obesity is also associated with hyperglycemia (424 ± 37 vs. 115 ± 11 mg/dL), hyperinsulinemia (117.2 ± 8.8 vs. 42.3 ± 3.5 μU/mL), hypertriglyceridemia (5200 ± 702 vs. 194 ± 23 mg/dL), hypercholesterolemia (632 ± 39 vs. 109 ± 4 mg/dL), and presence of segmental + global glomerulosclerosis (20.1 ± 3.2% vs. 0.1 ± 0.1%) with prominent tubular and interstitial changes (p < 0.05, OB vs. LN, respectively). In summary, the present study indicates that the crossing of rat strains of nephropathy produces hybrids that carry a high risk for severe renal dysfunction. The ZDFxSHHF rats express insulin resistance, hypertension, dislipidemia and obesity and develop severe renal dysfunction. In addition, the hybrids do not develop some of the complications (hydronephrosis or congestive heart failure) common for the parental strains that may compromise studies of renal function and structure. Therefore, the ZDFxSHHF rat may be a useful model fore valuating risk factors and pharmacological interventions in chronic renal failure.
Reconciliation of Genome-Scale Metabolic Reconstructions for Comparative Systems Analysis

In the past decade, over 50 genome-scale metabolic reconstructions have been built for a variety of single- and multi- cellular organisms. These reconstructions have enabled a host of computational methods to be leveraged for systems-analysis of metabolism, leading to greater understanding of observed phenotypes. These methods have been sparsely applied to comparisons between multiple organisms, however, due mainly to the existence of differences between reconstructions that are inherited from the respective reconstruction processes of the organisms to be compared. To circumvent this obstacle, we developed a novel process, termed metabolic network reconciliation, whereby non-biological differences are removed from genome-scale reconstructions while keeping the reconstructions as true as possible to the underlying biological data on which they are based. This process was applied to two organisms of great importance to disease and biotechnological applications, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Pseudomonas putida, respectively. The result is a pair of revised genome-scale reconstructions for these organisms that can be analyzed at a systems level with confidence that differences are indicative of true biological differences (to the degree that is currently known), rather than artifacts of the reconstruction process. The reconstructions were re-validated with various experimental data after reconciliation. With the reconciled and validated reconstructions, we performed a genome-wide comparison of metabolic flexibility between P. aeruginosa and P. putida that generated significant new insight into the underlying biology of these important organisms. Through this work, we provide a novel methodology for reconciling models, present new genome-scale reconstructions of P. aeruginosa and P. putida that can be directly compared at a network level, and perform a network-wide comparison of the two species. These reconstructions provide fresh insights into the metabolic similarities and differences between these important Pseudomonads, and pave the way towards full comparative analysis of genome-scale metabolic reconstructions of multiple species.
Depression and Risk Perceptions in Older African Americans With Diabetes

Objective. The purpose of this study is to describe the impact of depression on perceptions of risks to health, diabetes self-management practices, and glycemic control in older African Americans with type 2 diabetes. Methods. The authors analyzed data on depression, risk perceptions, diabetes self-management, and A1C in African Americans with type 2 diabetes. T-tests, χ2, and multivariate regression were used to analyze the data. Results. The sample included 177 African Americans (68% women) whose average age was 72.8 years. Thirty-four participants (19.2%) met criteria for depression. Compared to nondepressed participants, depressed participants scored significantly higher on Personal Disease Risk (the perception of being at increased risk for various medical problems), Environmental Risk (i.e., increased risk for environmental hazards), and Composite Risk Perception (i.e., overall perceptions of increased risk); adhered less to diabetes self-management practices; and had marginally worse glycemic control. Depression and fewer years of education were independent predictors of overall perception of increased health risks. Conclusion. Almost 20% of older African Americans with type 2 diabetes in this study were depressed. Compared to nondepressed participants, they tended to have fewer years of education, perceived themselves to be at higher risk for multiple health problems, and adhered less to diabetes self-management practices. It is important for diabetes educators to recognize the impact of low education and the fatalistic perceptions that depression engenders in this population.
TREC 2004 Genomics Track Experiments at IUB

This paper describes the methods we developed for the three tasks of the TREC Genomics Track, i.e., ad hoc retrieval, triage, and annotation tasks. For the ad hoc retrieval task, we used the classic vector space model and studied the use of query expansion and pseudorelevance feedback. Our submitted runs obtained a MAP of 0.183. For the triage task, we adopted a na¨ Bayes classifier trained on MeSH terms and used gene names as filters to rule out false positives. The obtained normalized utility score was 0.435. For the annotation task, we focused on document representation and applied a variant of the kNN classifiers. One of our submitted runs produced an F1 score of 0.561, ranking first out of 36 runs submitted for the annotation task.
TIMP3 Overexpression in Macrophages Protects From Insulin Resistance, Adipose Inflammation, and Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease in Mice

The tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase (TIMP)3, a stromal protein that restrains the activity of proteases and receptors, is reduced in inflammatory metabolic disorders such as type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and atherosclerosis. We overexpressed Timp3 in mouse macrophages (MacT3) to analyze its potential antidiabetic and antiatherosclerotic effects. Transgenic mice with myeloid cells targeting overexpression of TIMP3 were generated and fed a high-fat diet for 20 weeks. Physical and metabolic phenotypes were determined. Inflammatory markers, lipid accumulation, and insulin sensitivity were measured in white adipose tissue (WAT), liver, and skeletal muscle. In a model of insulin resistance, MacT3 mice were more glucose tolerant and insulin sensitive than wild-type mice in both in vitro and in vivo tests. Molecular and biochemical analyses revealed that increased expression of TIMP3 restrained metabolic inflammation and stress-related pathways, including Jun NH2-terminal kinase and p38 kinase activation, in WAT and liver. TIMP3 overexpression in macrophages resulted in reduced activation of oxidative stress signals related to lipid peroxidation, protein carbonylation, and nitration in WAT and liver. Our data show that macrophage-specific overexpression of TIMP3 protects from metabolic inflammation and related metabolic disorders such as insulin resistance, glucose intolerance, and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis.
Optimum deposition conditions of AlN thin film on the Si substrate for SAW application

AlN thin film for SAW filter application was deposited on (100) silicon wafers by reactive magnetron sputtering method. The structural characteristics were dependent on the deposition conditions such as sputtering pressure, RF power, substrate temperature, and nitrogen partial pressure. Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Electron Probe MicroAnalyzer (EPMA) and Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) have been used to find out structural properties and preferred orientation of AlN thin films. Insertion loss of SAW devices was 28.51 dB and out of band rejection was about 24 dB.
Circulating schistosomal antigen in diagnosis and assessment of cure in individuals infected with Schistosoma mansoni.

The effectiveness of praziquantel in treating schistosomiasis is most commonly assessed by quantitating egg production or anti-schistosome antibodies in serum. We have used a monoclonal antibody (MAb)-based antigen-capture enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for the serologic diagnosis of schistosomiasis, and to monitor the efficacy of praziquantel therapy in 49 individuals with parasitologically proven schistosomiasis. The MAb used, 128C3/3/21, recognizes a repeating carbohydrate epitope expressed at all stages of parasite development, and antibodies recognizing this epitope are found in the serum of infected humans. The overall sensitivity of the ELISA was 78%, with a sensitivity of 100% for patients excreting greater than 100 eggs/g of feces and 72% for those excreting less than 100 eggs/g of feces. The positivity of the ELISA was directly related to the fecal egg counts obtained on days -3, -2, and -1 before treatment with praziquantel, but there was no correlation between antigen levels and the clinical stage of the disease. After praziquantel treatment, we observed a highly significant correlation (P less than 0.0001) between the time elapsed since treatment and the decrease in antigenemia. Furthermore, although no eggs were detected in any of the stool specimens at week 12 after treatment, the antigen was detected in 21% of the treated patients (seven of 33 ELISA-positive patients). Antigen levels decreased over the 12-week period in six of these patients, whereas the antigen level increased with time in one individual. The persistence of antigenemia suggests that these individuals are either still clearing antigen or remain infected. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Marker‐assisted selection of a neuro‐behavioural trait related to behavioural inhibition in the SHR strain, an animal model of ADHD

The search for the molecular bases of neuro‐behavioural traits in Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats (SHR), an animal model of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), led to the discovery of two quantitative trait loci related to the locomotor activity in the centre of the open field. In the present study, rats from an F2 intercross between the SHR and Lewis strains were selected with markers on the basis of their genotype at these two loci. We obtained a ‘high line’ in which rats have the alleles increasing the trait, and a ‘low line’ with the lowering alleles. In activity cages with a dim light, the low line was more active than the high line. The reverse was found in the open field, and the inhibition of locomotor activity in the low line (as compared to the high line) was directly related to the aversiveness of the situation (larger in the centre than in the periphery, and in high light than in low light), and was more intense in males than in females. This inhibition is not attributable to a classical ‘anxiety’ factor as measured in the elevated plus maze, in which the open arms behaviours were not different between the lines. The high line also showed a deficit in prepulse inhibition of the acoustic startle reflex. The present data show that the two loci previously described in a SHR × Lewis intercross as related to the activity in the centre of the open field are indeed involved in a behavioural inhibition trait. The marker‐based selected lines described here are unique tools for the study of the neurobiological bases of this trait and the molecular foundations of its variability of genetic origin.
An improved FCM algorithm for ripe fruit image segmentation

Fuzzy C-Means (FCM) clustering algorithm has been widely used in the field of image segmentation with its good clustering efficiency. However, it may cause a time-consuming result and even convergence to local minima because of its local search character while with an improper initial value. Therefore, an improved FCM algorithm is proposed in this paper to solve the ripe fruit image segmentation problem. In the proposed approach, the concept of the neighborhood density is introduced to initialize the cluster center to avoid the improper initial value, which is based on the neighborhood correlation of the data space. Then a resample image method based on entropy constraint is used to reduce the data set, so that the clustering time will be reduced. The effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed approach are demonstrated by experimental studies with some standard data sets and real tomato images.
Interaural time sensitivity in medial superior olive of cat.

1. We studied the sensitivity of cells in the medial superior olive (MSO) of the anesthetized cat to variations in interaural phase differences (IPDs) of low-frequency tones and in interaural time differences (ITDs) of tones and broad-band noise signals. Our sample consisted of 39 cells histologically localized to the MSO. 2. All but one of the cells had characteristic frequencies less than 3 kHz, and 79% were sensitive to ITDs and IPDs. More than one-half (56%) of the cells responded to monaural stimulation of either ear, and both the binaural and monaural responses were highly phase locked. All of the cells that were sensitive to IPDs and monaurally driven by either ear responded in accord with that predicted by the coincidence model of Jeffress, as judged by comparisons of the phases at which the monaural and binaural responses occurred. The optimal IPDs were tightly clustered between 0.0 and 0.2 cycles. Most cells exhibited facilitation of the response at favorable ITDs and inhibition at unfavorable ITDs compared with the monaural responses. 3. Cells in the MSO exhibited characteristic delay, as judged by a linear relationship between the mean interaural phase and stimulating frequency. Characteristic phases were clustered near 0 indicating the most cells responded maximally when the two input tones were in phase. With the use of the binaural beat stimulus we found no differential selectivity for either the direction or speed of interaural phase changes. 4. The cells were also sensitive to ITDs of broad-band noise signals. The ITD curve in response to broad-band noise was similar to that predicted by the composite curve, which was calculated by linearly summating the tonal responses over the frequencies in the response area of the cell. Most (93%) of the peaks of the composite curves were between 0 and +400 microseconds, corresponding to locations in the contralateral sound field. Moreover, computer cross correlations of the monaural spike trains were similar to the ITD curve generated binaurally for both correlated and uncorrelated noise signals to the two ears. Thus our data suggest that the cells in the MSO behave much like cross-correlators. 5. By combining data from different animals and lcoating each cell on a standard MSO, we found evidence for a spatial map of ITDs across the anterior-posterior (A-P) axis of the MSO. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
A Fast Semiautomatic Algorithm for Centerline-Based Vocal Tract Segmentation

Vocal tract morphology is an important factor in voice production. Its analysis has potential implications for educational matters as well as medical issues like voice therapy. The knowledge of the complex adjustments in the spatial geometry of the vocal tract during phonation is still limited. For a major part, this is due to difficulties in acquiring geometry data of the vocal tract in the process of voice production. In this study, a centerline-based segmentation method using active contours was introduced to extract the geometry data of the vocal tract obtained with MRI during sustained vowel phonation. The applied semiautomatic algorithm was found to be time- and interaction-efficient and allowed performing various three-dimensional measurements on the resulting model. The method is suitable for an improved detailed analysis of the vocal tract morphology during speech or singing which might give some insights into the underlying mechanical processes.
Software Reliability Prediction using Fuzzy Inference System: Early Stage Perspective

paper presents a reliability prediction model that predicts the reliability of the developing software using fuzzy inference system. The focus of the study is on the reliability prediction prior to the coding phase so that the developers use this information for optimally performing resource planning and quality assessment of the software under development. Requirements and object-oriented design level product measures have participated for early reliability prediction. The paper has also utilized the strengths of fuzzy logic to deal with the uncertainties and vagueness involved in the early stage measures. The model has also been statistically validated through the data set obtained through twenty real software projects. The values of the Pearson's correlation coefficient along with the predictive accuracy measures are quite encouraging, and support that the developed model is a better and improved reliability prediction model.