Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A study of structure and properties of molecularly thin methanol film using the modified surface forces apparatus

A novel approach for studying the adsorption and evaporation processes of molecularly thin methanol film by the modified surface forces apparatus (M‐SFA) is reported. This method can be used precisely to measure the thickness, morphology, and mechanical properties of the film confined between two mica surfaces in a real‐time manner at gas atmosphere. By observing the adsorption and evaporation processes of the methanol molecule, it is found that the first adsorbed layer of the methanol film on the mica surface behaves as a solid‐like structure. The thickness of this layer is measured to be about 3.2 Å, approximately equal to the diameter of a methanol molecule. Besides, this first adsorbed layer can carry normalized loads of more than 5.6 atm due to the carrying capacity conserved by the bond of mica‐OH. The outer layers of the methanol film are further adsorbed with the increase of the exposure time, which are liquid‐like and can be easily eliminated out from the substrate. The present study suggests that the interacting mode between hydroxy and mica is of great potential in material science and biomedical systems. Microsc. Res. Tech. 77:851–856, 2014. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
EEG reveals divergent paths for speech envelopes during selective attention

This paper reports the results of an experiment that was designed to determine the effects of attention on the representation of speech signal envelopes in EEG. We recorded EEG while subjects attended to one of two concurrently presented and spatially separated speech streams. Crosscorrelating the speech envelope with signals from individual EEG channels reveals clear differences between the neural representations of the envelopes of attended and unattended speech. The two concurrently presented speech signals were amplitude modulated at 40 and 41 Hz, respectively, in order to investigate the effects of attention on speech signal gain. The modulations elicited strong steady-stage responses that showed no effects of attention. We conclude that the differences between the representations in EEG of the envelopes of attended and unattended speech reflect some form of top-down attentional control.
Analyzing the spectral luminescence emission of silicon solar cells and wafers

We present an analytical expression for modelling electroluminescence (EL) as well as photoluminescence (PL) data of samples with any combination of planar and arbitrary rough surfaces. The model also accounts for free carrier absorption in highly doped regions of the sample. It is experimentally confirmed by comparison to measured EL and PL spectra of solar cells and wafers featuring different surface geometries. Significant differences in the absorption coefficient data available from literature, which enters the model as tabulated data, are revealed. Using our model, the absorption data by Daub yields the best agreement to the measured luminescence spectra. Moreover, we present a method to determine the rear surface reflectance of samples from the peak wavelength of luminescence spectra.
Efficient Massive Contents Distribution Strategy for P2P Using Sensor Smart Network

An important problem in many P2P applications is how to efficiently disseminate massive contents from multiple sources to multiple receivers on the Internet. A successful model used for analyzing this problem is a graph that consisted of nodes and edges, with a capacity assigned to each edge. However, a scheme that can flexibly deal with the extreme network dynamic is required in order to realize the massive contents streaming service, because P2P networks are mostly formed in random fashion without good control of their topology. In this paper, we design and implement a scheme for the problem of efficient massive contents dissemination in a sensor smart network system.
An Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) for Serological Diagnosis of Neospora Sp. Infection in Cattle

A kinetic enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was developed and optimized for detection of antibodies to Neospora sp. in cattle. Sonicated tachyzoites of Neospora sp. isolated from an aborted bovine fetus were used as antigen. Variability in immunoblot patterns among positive sera, and the fact that all life stages of the parasites are unknown, justified use of a multiple-antigen ELISA to allow for maximum sensitivity. Immunoblot analysis revealed negligible cross-reactions between Toxoplasma gondii antigen and Neospora sp. antisera and between Neospora sp. antigen and antisera from various apicomplexan parasites. The maximum positive-to-negative Vmax (average maximum slope of the optical density over time) ratio was obtained using 200 ng/well of sonicated tachyzoite antigen and a 1:200 serum dilution. Using logistic regression to determine the optimal cutoff point between known infected and noninfected cattle, a sample-to-positive control Vmax ratio of 0.45 was found to maximize the percent correct classification, with an estimated sensitivity of 88.6% and specificity of 96.5%. Use of Neospora caninum antigen following the same protocol demonstrated no difference in ELISA interpretation. Comparison with an existing indirect immunofluorescent antibody (IFA) test showed the ELISA to be the more sensitive and specific test for serodiagnosis of Neospora infection in cattle.
In vitro studies of growth cone behavior support a role for fasciculation mediated by cell adhesion molecules in sensory axon guidance during development.

Axonal interactions, which are mediated by cell adhesion molecules (CAMs) as well as other types of membrane proteins, are important for sensory axon pathfinding in the developing chick hindlimb. We have previously shown that injection of antibodies that block the function of either G4/L1 or N-cadherin into the limb, starting when the first sensory axons reach the plexus, alters the segmental pattern of projections along cutaneous nerves. Specific removal of polysialic acid from NCAM using the enzyme endoneuraminidase N (Endo N) also resulted in significant changes in cutaneous projection patterns, while injection of antibodies against NCAM itself had no obvious effect (M. G. Honig and U. S. Rutishauser, 1996, Dev. Biol. 175, 325-337). To help understand the cellular basis for these findings, we developed a tissue culture system in which the axons from dorsal root ganglion explants grow within defined laminin lanes and examined whether the same treatments increased or decreased a growth cone's tendency to be closely associated with neighboring axons. After 2 days in culture, images of the cultures were recorded, antibodies or Endo N was added, and images of the same fields were recaptured an hour later. To quantify the results, growth cones located in defined regions of the laminin lanes were classified, before and after the perturbation, as "free" (i.e., growing primarily on the laminin substratum), "fasciculated" (i.e., growing tightly along other neurites), or "intermediate" (i.e., growing both on the laminin substratum and in contact with other neurites). We found that anti-G4/L1 and anti-N-cadherin, but not anti-NCAM, caused an increase in defasciculated growth cones, whereas Endo N resulted in an increase in fasciculated growth cones. These changes in fasciculation are consistent with the changes in cutaneous projections seen in our previous in ovo perturbations. The results from these tissue culture experiments thus provide strong support for the idea that one mechanism by which CAMs affect sensory axon pathfinding in vivo is by regulating the affinity of sensory growth cones for neighboring axons, which in turn can modulate the growth cone's ability to navigate through the surrounding environment.
On the use of network coding and multicast for enhancing performance in wired networks. (Sur l'utilisation du codage réseau et du multicast pour améliorer la performance dans les réseaux filaires)

The popularity of the great variety of Internet usage brings about a significant growth of the data traffic in telecommunication network. Data transmission efficiency will be challenged under the premise of current network capacity and data flow control mechanisms. In addition to increasing financial investment to expand the network capacity, improving the existing techniques are more rational and economical. Various cutting-edge researches to cope with future network requirement have emerged, and one of them is called network coding. As a natural extension in coding theory, it allows mixing different network flows on the intermediate nodes, which changes the way of avoiding collisions of data flows. It has been applied to achieve better throughput and reliability, security, and robustness in various network environments and applications. This dissertation focuses on the use of network coding for multicast in fixed mesh networks and distributed storage systems. We first model various multicast routing strategies within an optimization framework, including tree-based multicast and network coding; we solve the models with efficient algorithms, and compare the coding advantage, in terms of throughput gain in medium size randomly generated graphs. Based on the numerical analysis obtained from previous experiments, we propose a revised multicast routing framework, called strategic network coding, which combines standard multicast forwarding and network coding features in order to obtain the most benefit from network coding at lowest cost where such costs depend both on the number of nodes performing coding and the volume of traffic that is coded. Finally, we investigate a revised transportation problem which is capable of calculating a static routing scheme between servers and clients in distributed storage systems where we apply coding to support the storage of contents. We extend the application to a general optimization problem, named transportation problem with degree constraints, which can be widely used in different industrial fields, including telecommunication, but has not been studied very often. For this problem, we derive some preliminary theoretical results and propose a reasonable Lagrangian decomposition approach
Role of Chymase-Dependent Angiotensin II Formation in Regulating Blood Pressure in Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats

Vascular smooth muscle cells in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) express angiotensin II-forming chymase (rat vascular chymase [RVCH]), which may contribute to blood pressure regulation. In this study, we studied whether chymase-dependent angiotensin II formation contributes to the regulation of blood pressure in SHR. The systolic blood pressure in 16-week-old Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats was 113±9 mmHg, compared to 172±3 mmHg in SHR. Using synthetic substrates for measuring angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) and chymase activities, it was found that both ACE and chymase activities in extracts from SHR aortas were significantly higher than in those from WKY rat aortas. Using angiotensin I as a substrate, angiotensin II formation in SHR was found to be significantly higher than that in WKY rats, and its formation was completely suppressed by an ACE inhibitor, but not by a chymase inhibitor. RVCH mRNA expression could not be detected in aorta extracts from either WKY rats or SHR. In carotid arteries isolated from WKY rats and SHR, angiotensin I-induced vasoconstriction was completely suppressed by an ACE inhibitor, but not by a chymase inhibitor. Angiotensin I-induced pressor responses in both WKY rats and SHR were also completely inhibited by an ACE inhibitor, but they were not affected by a chymase inhibitor. In SHR, an ACE inhibitor and an angiotensin II receptor blocker showed equipotent hypotensive effects, but a chymase inhibitor did not have a hypotensive effect. These results indicated that chymase-dependent angiotensin II did not regulate blood pressure in SHR in the present study.
Microgrid Service Restoration: The Role of Plugged-in Electric Vehicles

The development of the microgrid (MG) concept endows distribution networks with increased reliability and resilience and offers an adequate management and control solution for massive deployment of microgeneration and electric vehicles (EVs). Within an MG, local generation can be exploited to launch a local restoration procedure following a blackout. EVs are flexible resources that can also be actively included in the restoration procedure, thus contributing to the improvement of MG operating conditions. The feasibility of MG service restoration, including the active participation of EVs, is demonstrated in this article through extensive numerical simulation and experimentation in a laboratorial setup.
The selective impairment of the perception of first-order motion by unilateral cortical brain damage

First-order (Fourier) motion consists of stable spatiotemporal luminance variations. Second-order (non-Fourier) motion consists instead of spatiotemporal modulation of contrast, flicker, or spatial frequency. In spite of extensive psychophysical and computational analysis of the nature and relationship of these two types of motion, it remains unclear whether they are detected by the same mechanism or whether separate mechanisms are involved. Here we report the selective impairment of first-order motion, on a range of local and global motion tasks, in the contralateral visual hemifield of a patient with unilateral brain damage centered on putative visual areas V2 and V3 in the medial part of the occipital lobe. His perception of second-order motion was unimpaired. As his disorder is the obverse of that reported after damage in the vicinity of human visual area MT (V5), the results support models of motion processing in which first- and second-order motion are, at least in part, computed separately at the extrastriate cortical level.
Temporal regulation of the muscle gene cascade by Macho1 and Tbx6 transcription factors in Ciona intestinalis

For over a century, muscle formation in the ascidian embryo has been representative of ‘mosaic’ development. The molecular basis of muscle-fate predetermination has been partly elucidated with the discovery of Macho1, a maternal zinc-finger transcription factor necessary and sufficient for primary muscle development, and of its transcriptional intermediaries Tbx6b and Tbx6c. However, the molecular mechanisms by which the maternal information is decoded by cis-regulatory modules (CRMs) associated with muscle transcription factor and structural genes, and the ways by which a seamless transition from maternal to zygotic transcription is ensured, are still mostly unclear. By combining misexpression assays with CRM analyses, we have identified the mechanisms through which Ciona Macho1 (Ci-Macho1) initiates expression of Ci-Tbx6b and Ci-Tbx6c, and we have unveiled the cross-regulatory interactions between the latter transcription factors. Knowledge acquired from the analysis of the Ci-Tbx6b CRM facilitated both the identification of a related CRM in the Ci-Tbx6c locus and the characterization of two CRMs associated with the structural muscle gene fibrillar collagen 1 (CiFCol1). We use these representative examples to reconstruct how compact CRMs orchestrate the muscle developmental program from pre-localized ooplasmic determinants to differentiated larval muscle in ascidian embryos.
Workflow scheduling algorithms in cloud environment: A review, taxonomy, and challenges

Cloud computing offers Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) user's new aspects of ease of services through the Internet. Cloud is a gradual evolution of distributed, cluster, grid and utility computing. Cloud environment attracts the myriads of service providers for development and deployment of their application because it provides ubiquitous and on-demand access to shared resources. The majority of cloud applications like scientific applications are represented as workflow. Workflow is related to the automation of a process that represented by task and data/control information is passed between dependent tasks based on defined set of principles, execution of these tasks require different resources with different Quality of Service parameters. Workflow scheduling is most important concerned in a cloud computing environment because it depends on optimization objectives (like makespan, cost, reliability, security, energy consumption and energy cost, load balancing etc.) of scientific applications. In this review paper, we describe various scientific applications, taxonomy and comprehensive survey of existing workflow scheduling algorithms. We also, classify these algorithms based on nature of the algorithm, optimization model used, optimization objectives and tool used.
A Monte Carlo study on quantifying the amount of dose reduction by shielding the superficial organs of an Iranian 11-year-old boy

A method for minimizing organ dose during computed tomography examinations is the use of shielding to protect superficial organs. There are some scientific reports that usage of shielding technique reduces the surface dose to patients with no appreciable loss in diagnostic quality. Therefore, in this Monte Carlo study based on the phantom of a 11-year-old Iranian boy, the effect of using an optimized shield on dose reduction to body organs was quantified. Based on the impact of shield on image quality, lead shields with thicknesses of 0.2 and 0.4 mm were considered for organs exposed directly and indirectly in the scan range, respectively. The results showed that there is 50%-62% reduction in amounts of dose for organs located fully or partly in the scan range at different tube voltages and modeling the true location of all organs in human anatomy, especially the ones located at the border of the scan, range affects the results up to 49%.
Human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell transplantation attenuates axonal injury in stroke rats

Previous studies have shown that transplantation of human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells promotes neural functional recovery after stroke, but the neurorestorative mechanisms remain largely unknown. We hypothesized that functional recovery of myelinated axons may be one of underlying mechanisms. In this study, an ischemia/reperfusion rat model was established using the middle cerebral artery occlusion method. Rats were used to test the hypothesis that intravenous transplantation of human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells through the femoral vein could exert neuroprotective effects against cerebral ischemia via a mechanism associated with the ability to attenuate axonal injury. The results of behavioral tests, infarction volume analysis and immunohistochemistry showed that cerebral ischemia caused severe damage to the myelin sheath and axons. After rats were intravenously transplanted with human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells, the levels of axon and myelin sheath-related proteins, including microtubule-associated protein 2, myelin basic protein, and growth-associated protein 43, were elevated, infarct volume was decreased and neural function was improved in cerebral ischemic rats. These findings suggest that intravenously transplanted human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells promote neural function. Possible mechanisms underlying these beneficial effects include resistance to demyelination after cerebral ischemia, prevention of axonal degeneration, and promotion of axonal regeneration.
Ambulatory fetal heart monitoring with QRS detection employing independent component analysis

This paper covers the development of a fetal heart monitor (fHM) on an ARM Cortex-M3 based platform, and its application in extracting fetal heart rate (fHR) non-invasively from the maternal abdomen. The fHM is a low-power, inexpensive ambulatory device connected to smart-phones via Bluetooth. This monitor uses active-electrodes for primary signal-conditioning, and has a digital back end for running compute-intensive signal processing algorithms. The output, can be displayed on a smart-phone, can generate audible alarms during critical conditions or can be stored on-board for further processing. The fHM implements multiple algorithms to monitor the fetal heart rate. First, a tumbling-window based implementation of Independent Component Analysis (ICA) is employed on abdominal signals in order to simultaneously extract fetal and maternal cardiac components. Thereafter, the Pan-Tompkins algorithm (PTA) is used to detect QRS complexes. Preliminary tests show that this combination of algorithms can be employed to successfully estimate fetal and maternal heart rates, and has a low rate of spurious detections.
Conformal radiotherapy plus local hyperthermia in patients affected by locally advanced high risk prostate cancer: Preliminary results of a prospective phase II study

Purpose: Hyperthermia has been used in several trials to treat pelvic cancers without excessive toxicity and with positive results. The aim of this study was to evaluate feasibility and results in terms of biochemical recurrence-free, disease-free survival, overall survival, and treatment toxicity profile of hyperthermia combined with radiotherapy in locally advanced high risk prostate cancer. Patients and methods: From November 1998 to December 2004, 144 patients with locally advanced prostate cancer (LAPC) were enrolled in a phase II study. They were treated using conformal radiotherapy (CRT) plus local hyperthermia (LHT) and androgen suppression therapy (AST). Treatment modalities consisted of: 1) CRT with a mean dose of 74 Gy (2 Gy/fraction/5 fractions per week); 2) LHT: one session per week during the first, second, third, and fourth week of the radiotherapy course; 3) AST was administered as neo-adjuvant and adjuvant therapy in more than 60% of patients. Results: The median follow-up time was 51.7 months. Four patients were lost at follow-up. Of 140 evaluated patients, four died because of intercurrent diseases and 12 because of progression of disease. Patients were evaluated in terms of five-year overall survival (87%), and five-year biochemical progression-free survival (49%). No significant side effects, except symptoms related to AST have been reported. No late grade 3 toxicity occurred. Conclusions: In advanced high risk prostatic cancer, hyperthermia is feasible and well tolerated. It may be useful to enhance the radiotherapy efficacy at intermediate dose in order to avoid higher doses of irradiation which increases acute and late sequelae. The advantage of LHT combined with CRT should be confirmed by a randomized phase III trial, comparing irradiation plus AST with or without hyperthermia.