Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Metabolic and energy correlates of intracellular pH in progressive fatigue of squid (L. brevis) mantle muscle.

Squid (Lolliguncula brevis) were exercised at increasing swimming speeds to allow us to analyze the correlated changes in intracellular metabolic, acid-base, and energy status of the mantle musculature. Beyond a critical swimming velocity of 1.5 mantle lengths/s, an intracellular acidosis developed that was caused by an initial base loss from the cells, the onset of respiratory acidification, and, predominantly, octopine formation. The acidosis was correlated with decreasing levels of phospho-L-arginine and, thus, supported ATP buffering at the expense of the phosphagen. Monohydrogenphosphate, the actual substrate of glycogen phosphorylase accumulated, enabling glycogen degradation, despite progressive acidosis. In addition to octopine, succinate, and glycerophosphate accumulation, the onset of acidosis characterizes the critical velocity and indicates the transition to a non-steady-state time-limited situation. Accordingly, swimming above the critical velocity caused cellular energy levels (in vivo Gibbs free energy change of ATP hydrolysis) to fall. A minimal value was reached at about -45 kJ/mol. Model calculations demonstrate that changes in free Mg2+ levels only minimally affect ATP free energy, but minimum levels are relevant in maintaining functional concentrations of Mg(2+)-complexed adenylates. Model calculations also reveal that phosphagen breakdown enabled L. brevis to reach swimming speeds about three times higher than the critical velocity. Comparison of two offshore squid species (Loligo pealei and Illex illecebrosus) with the estuarine squid L.brevis indicates that the latter uses a strategy to delay the exploitation of high-energy phosphates and protect energy levels at higher than the minimum levels (-42 kJ/mol) characterizing fatigue in the other species. A more economical use of anaerobic resources and an early reduction in performance may enable L. brevis to tolerate more extreme environmental conditions in shallow estuarine waters and even hypoxic environments and to prevent a fatal depletion of energy stores.
Chronic Pelvic Pain in Women in New Zealand: Comparative Well-Being, Comorbidity, and Impact on Work and Other Activities

This article reports the findings of a population-based study in New Zealand that investigated comparative well-being, comorbidity, and the impact of chronic pelvic pain (CPP) on activities. Chronic pelvic pain was defined as lower abdominal pain that is associated with neither the menstrual cycle nor sexual activity. A postal questionnaire was administered to a random sample resulting in a study group of 1,160. The negative impact of CPP on women's general well-being is significant. They were more likely than women without CPP to have other long-standing illnesses, other unspecified conditions involving pain or fatigue, and sleep patterns were more seriously disturbed. Pain restricted their activities. Comparisons with the limited data available from other studies are made.
Measurement of multiple drugs in urine, water, and on surfaces using fluorescence covalent microbead immunosorbent assay

There are a range of applications that require the measurement of multiple drugs such as urine analysis, drug determination in water, and screening for drug contamination on surfaces. Some of the procedures used such as enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) are simple but can only determine one drug at a time, and others such as GC-MS or LC-MS are complex, time-consuming, and expensive. In this study, fluorescence covalent microbead immunosorbent assay (FCMIA) was investigated as a simple method for the measurement of multiple drugs simultaneously in three matrices: diluted urine, water, and on surfaces. Five different drugs of abuse or their metabolites (methamphetamine, caffeine, benzoylecgonine (a metabolite of cocaine), tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the active ingredient in marijuana, and oxycodone) were studied over the range 0–15 ng/ml. There was no measureable cross-reactivity among the drugs at the concentrations studied. Urine dilutions from 1/50 to 1/2.5 were studied and dilutions less than 1/20 had a significant effect on the methamphetamine assay but limited effects on the benzoylecgonine and oxycodone assays and almost no effect on the THC assay. For assays performed in 1/20 urine dilution, water, and diluted surface sampling buffer, least detectable doses (LDD) were 1 ng/ml or less for the drugs. Surfaces spiked with drugs were sampled with swabs wetted with surface sampling buffer and recoveries were linear over the range 0–100 ng/100 cm2 surface loading for all drugs. FCMIA has potential to be used for the measurement of multiple drugs in the matrices studied.
An examination of objectively-measured sedentary behavior and mental well-being in adults across week days and weekends

Background Limited research has explored the links between sedentary behaviour, mental health and quality of life. This study examines objectively measured sedentary behaviour and perceived mental health and quality of life across week days and weekends. Methods 42 adults (19M, 23F; mean age 38yrs (range 18–67) & BMI 24.8kg/m2 (range 18.7–33.8) wore an activPAL monitor 24h/day for one week and completed the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and SF12 Health Survey. Average weekday and weekend day sitting time was computed. Differences between sitting (Group 1 = <8hrs/day, Group 2 = 8–10 hrs/day, Group 3 = >10hrs/day) and components of the HADS and SF12 health survey were examined using an ANCOVA with a measure of physical activity (step count) included as a covariate. Results Average sitting time on a weekday was 9hrs 29mins (range 5hrs 52mins to 12hrs 55mins) and 8hrs 59mins (range 4hrs, 07mins to 14hrs, 40mins) on a weekend day. There was a main effect (p<0.05) for weekday sitting time on total anxiety and depression (HADS) and mental health and vitality (SF12). Planned contrasts identified individuals in group 1 had lower anxiety and depression and higher mental health and vitality scores than individuals in groups 2 or 3 (p<0.05). No difference was found between individuals in group 2 and group 3 (p>0.05). No main effects were found for weekend sitting (p>0.05). Conclusions Weekday sitting time below 8 hours/day is associated with better perceived mental health and quality of life.
Deciphering the Self-Cleavage Reaction Mechanism of Hairpin Ribozyme.

Hairpin ribozyme catalyzes the reversible self-cleavage of phosphodiester bonds which plays prominent roles in key biological processes involving RNAs. Despite impressive advances on ribozymatic self-cleavage, critical aspects of its molecular reaction mechanism remain controversially debated. Here, we generate and analyze the multi-dimensional free energy landscape that underlies the reaction using extensive QM/MM metadynamics simulations to investigate in detail the full self-cleavage mechanism. This allows us to answer several pertinent yet controversial questions concerning activation of the 2'-OH group, the mechanistic role of water molecules present in the active site and the full reaction pathway including the structures of transition states and intermediates. Importantly, we find that a sufficiently unrestricted reaction subspace must be mapped using accelerated sampling methods in order to compute the underlying free energy landscape. It is shown that lower-dimensional sampling where the bond formation and cleavage steps are coupled does not allow the system to sufficiently explore the landscape. Based on a three-dimensional free energy surface spanned by flexible generalized coordinates, we find that 2'-OH is indirectly activated by adjacent G8~nucleobase in conjunction with stabilizing H-bonding involving water. This allows the proton of the 2'-OH group to directly migrate toward the 5'-leaving group via a non-bridging oxygen of the phosphodiester link. At variance with similar enzymatic processes where water wires connected to protonable side chains of the protein matrix act as transient proton shuttles, no such de/reprotonation events of water molecules are found to be involved in this ribozymatic transesterification. Overall, our results support an acid-catalyzed reaction mechanism where A38 nucleobase directly acts as an acid whereas G8, in stark contrast, participates only indirectly via stabilizing the nascent nucleophile for subsequent attack. Moreover, we conclude that self-cleavage of hairpin ribozyme follows an AN + DN two-step associative pathway where the rate-determining step is the cleavage of the phosphodiester bond. These results provide a major advancement in our understanding of the unique catalytic mechanism of hairpin ribozyme which will fruitfully impact on the design of synthetic ribozymes.
Learning from demonstration algorithm for cloth folding manipulator

The aging population and high labor cost have accelerated the need for service robots for household activities. The household activity being diverse robot training over dynamic environments is required. Our work aims in developing an algorithm for teaching a manipulator to perform a task. Teaching pendant simplifies the process of teaching for the end user and also trains manipulator to a user specific problem. In this work, we present an approach to teaching a manipulator using Learning from Demonstration technique. Folding a cloth is taken as activity to teach the robot. Amrita Dual Anthropomorphic Manipulator (ADAM) is used to test the proposed algorithm.
Sappho, Herodotus, and the "Hetaira"

That dot leads to the second, for what is visible on the papyrus before the rho is merely a dot of ink, and it is not compatible with an omega.1 The printed text depends entirely on a story about Sappho and her brother Charaxus. According to ancient reports, Charaxus went to Egypt as a wine merchant, became enamored there of a slave-prostitute named Rhodopis, and lavished sums on her; at the least he bought her her liberty. Upon his return to Mytilene, Sappho, calling the woman not Rhodopis but Doricha, composed a poem or poems attacking him, or perhaps both him and her, on account of this expenditure. With A]opiXa, fragment 15b could be interpreted as part of Sappho's invective. The discrepancy between the printed text and the papyrus led me to reexamine our understanding of the evidence for the story. It first occurs in a digression in Book 2 of Herodotus (without the name Doricha) and it recurs with additions (including the name) and variations in Strabo, Athenaeus, Ovid[? ], and other late sources; an epigram of Posidippus also refers to it. I have concluded that all the evidence that bears on the story will not help restore this or any other fragment of Sappho and does not point to the existence of any such narrative or rebuke in poems known or lost to us. For from Herodotus' tale of the hetaira Rhodopis, interpreted in the context of his narrative, and from the hints in the later sources, what we can reconstruct is not a poem of Sappho's but a stage in the fifth-century reception of Sappho and her poetry, one most likely represented in the work of Cratinus or of another of Herodotus' comic contemporaries.
Design of a mediated enzymatic fuel cell to generate power from renewable fuel sources

The present work reported a compartment-less enzymatic fuel cell (EFC) based on newly synthesized Poly(pyrrole-2-carboxylic acid-co-3-thiophene acetic acid) film containing glucose oxidase and laccase effectively wired by p-benzoquinone incorporated into the copolymer structure. The resulting system generated a power density of 18.8 µW/cm2 with 30 mM of glucose addition at +0.94 V at room temperature. Improvements to maximize the power output were ensured with step-by-step optimization of electrode fabrication design and operational parameters for operating the system with renewable fuel sources. We demonstrated that the improved fuel cell could easily harvest glucose produced during photosynthesis to produce electrical energy in a simple, renewable and sustainable way by generating a power density of 10 nW/cm2 in the plant leaf within 2 min. An EFC for the first time was successfully operated in municipal wastewater which contained glycolytic substances to generate electrical energy with a power output of 3.3 µW/cm2.
Systematic Derivation of Dead-Zone Elimination Strategies for the Noninverting Synchronous Buck–Boost Converter

The noninverting synchronous buck-boost converter is preferable to operate in buck and boost operating modes to obtain a high operating efficiency. However, the dead zone, which degrades the performance of the converter, will occur when the converter shifts from buck operating mode to boost operating mode or vice versa. Therefore, the origin of the dead zone is derived in this paper by analyzing the relationship between the voltage conversion ratio and the duty cycles of the switches. Based on this, a series of three-mode and four-mode modulation schemes are systematically derived to completely eliminate the dead zone. The ripple and average value of the inductor current under different modulation schemes are investigated to evaluate the performance of these modulation schemes. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed modulation schemes, two implementations of a four-mode modulation scheme are presented and experimentally tested as the examples for all modulation schemes. Experimental results correspond well with the theoretical analysis in both implementations over the entire input voltage range.
Increasing Scan Compression by Using X-chains

Scan testing and scan compression are key to realizing cost reduction and quality control of ever more complex designs. However, compression can be limited if the density of unknown (X) values is high. We present a method to identify a small, but important, subset of scan cells that are "likely" to capture an X, place them on separate "X-chains", create a combinational unload compressor tuned for these X-chains, and modify test generation to take advantage of this circuit. This method is fully integrated in the design-for-test (DFT) flow, requires no additional user input and has negligible impact on area and timing. Test generation results on industrial designs demonstrate significantly increased compression, with no loss of coverage, for designs with high X-densities.
Stability analysis of Frame Slotted Aloha protocol

Frame Slotted Aloha (FSA) protocol has been widely applied in Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) systems as the defacto standard in tag identification. However, very limited work has been done on the stability of FSA despite its fundamental importance both on the theoretical characterisation of FSA performance and its effective operation in practical systems. In order to bridge this gap, we devote this paper to investigating the stability properties of FSA by focusing on two physical layer models of practical importance, the models with single packet reception and multipacket reception capabilities. Technically, we model the FSA system backlog as a Markov chain with its states being backlog size at the beginning of each frame. The objective is to analyze the ergodicity of the Markov chain and demonstrate its properties in different regions, particularly the instability region. By employing drift analysis, we obtain the closed-form conditions for the stability of FSA and show that the stability region is maximised when the frame length equals the backlog size in the single packet reception model and when the ratio of the backlog size to frame length equals in an order of magnitude the maximum multipacket reception capacity in the multipacket reception model. Furthermore, to characterise system behavior in the instability region, we mathematically demonstrate the existence of transience of the backlog Markov chain.
Throughput and proportional fairness in cognitive radio networks

In this paper, we investigate the aggregate throughput and proportional fairness of two independent secondary user (SU) groups in a cognitive radio (CR) network. Using a continuous time Markov chain, the expression for the aggregate throughput as a function of traffic intensity, forced termination and blocking probabilities is derived. Furthermore, throughput loss of the individual SU groups is analyzed in terms of proportional fairness. The results show that as the difference between the service rates increases the fairness deviates from its ideal value and this unfairness cannot be countered by changing the arrival/access rate of SUs. For the fixed arrival rate of SU groups there exists an optimal service rate pair which maximize the aggregate throughput.
Chirp control of an optical signal using phase modulation in a semiconductor optical amplifier

We demonstrate that phase modulation in a semiconductor optical amplifier converts a positively chirped signal launched from an electroabsorption modulator into negative chirp. This negative chirp reduces the broadening of optical signal waveform due to the anomalous dispersion in standard single-mode fiber (SMF). A 2.5-Gb/s transmission experiment across 600-km SMF confirms that the chirp control technique is effective for extending the signal transport distance.
Circulation and diagnostics of Puumala virus in Norway: nephropatia epidemica incidence and rodent population dynamics

Hantaviruses pose a public health concern worldwide causing haemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) and hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS). Puumala virus (PUUV) is the most prevalent hantavirus in Central and Northern Europe, and causes a mild form of HFRS, also known as nephropathia epidemica (NE). In nature, the main host of PUUV is the bank vole (Myodes glareolus), and transmission to humans occurs through inhalation of aerosols from rodent excreta. Nephropathia epidemica is particularly prevalent in Nordic countries, however, few studies of PUUV have been performed in Norway. The aim of this study was to analyse the dynamics of PUUV in Norway and compare with bank vole population dynamics, and also to complement the current diagnostic methodology of NE in Norway. Our results showed a significant seasonal and geographical variation of NE, and a general parallel peak trend between bank vole population densities and human NE incidence. A real‐time and a nested PCR were successfully established as an invaluable diagnostic tool, with detection and sequencing of PUUV in a human serum sample for the first time in Norway. Phylogenetic analysis showed clustering of the obtained human sample with previous Norwegian bank vole isolates.
Theorising pathways to sustainability

ABSTRACT Using a Pathways approach, controversies over environmental and natural resource management are viewed as expressions of alternative, or competing, pathways to sustainability. This supports deeper understanding of the underlying causes of natural resource management controversies. The framework is composed of two elements: the STEPS (Social, Technological, and Environmental Pathways to Sustainability) Pathways approach and frame analysis. Many sustainable development dilemmas are played out in specific places and consequently, the Pathways approach is integrated with a place-based frame analysis. The resulting framework guides empirical investigation in place-based contexts. This theorising about sustainability science can be used to cast light on contested natural resource management issues, in this case mining in northern Sweden. By exposing the range of alternative Pathways to critical norms of sustainable development, we ascertain whether action alternatives are compatible with sustainable futures. The framework provides a way in which sustainability science can better understand the origins of natural resource management conflicts, characterise the positions of the actors involved, identify the potential for cooperation between stakeholders leading to policy resolution and judge what Pathways help or hinder the pursuit of sustainable development. In addition, it can enhance sustainability science by guiding integrative sustainability research at the project scale.
Improved methodology for calculating interfacial thermal resistance and uncertainty for steady-state TIM testers with embedded probes

Efforts to miniaturize electronic components within the semiconductor industry continue to intensify stresses on the primary thermal pathways that are used for heat dissipation in electronics packaging equipment. This is particularly true for heat flow pathways that traverse interfaces. Consequently, an increasing priority for thermal engineers is to design materials that are capable of reducing the impedance to heat flow acrosss device junctions. However, the equipment most often used to measure the resistance to heat flow across interfaces (ASTM D5470) is becoming increasingly insufficient for the characterization of next-generation thermal interface materials (TIMs), as evidenced by the wide variability in the reported results for current state-of-the-art TIMs. Through the use of statistical analyses, we show that one possible reason for these discrepancies is the method by which the temperature difference across the interface is calculated. Additionally, we find that there exists a lack of consideration for many potential sources of positional uncertainty that exist within the measurement system, including: 1) the thermal conductivity mismatch between the thermal probes, the heat meter bars and any interstitial filler material used to increase contact conductance between them, 2) drill drift during manufacturing, 3) the temperature and positional uncertainties of each probe along the length of the heat meter bars, 4) the tolerance associated with the location of each thermal probe's junction and 5) the number of thermal probes that are used to determine the temperature difference across the interface. We find that these factors result in an unavoidably large uncertainty in the position of the thermal probes, which produces a significant measurement uncertainty when RT is on the order of 1·10-5 m2·K/W or lower, regardless of the temperature measurement accuracy that can be achieved with the probes. Using numerical simulations, we conduct a parametric study to determine the magnitude of these effects on positional uncertainty. Results suggest that the lowest positional uncertainty is achieved when the thermal probe is significantly less thermally conductive than its surrounding filler, and that drill drift and the uncertainty associated with the location of the actual thermal probe junction account for a significant increase in the overall uncertainty of the measurement. It is expected that these results will allow for the development of steady-state TIM characterization instruments with improved measurement resolutions and for greater consistency between the results of different groups that use thermal probe-based TIM testers.
A motivational model of blog usage

Purpose – There has been an explosive growth of blog usage recently. However, little research has explored the forces motivating people to engage in blog activities. The purpose of this paper is to suggest that the driving forces to engage in blog participation not only includes utilitarian motivation (i.e. perceived usefulness) and hedonic motivation (i.e. perceived playfulness) but also habitual behaviour and social identity (blog identification). The quality of the blog is included as an antecedent to perceived usefulness and perceived playfulness.Design/methodology/approach – In total, 225 valid questionnaires were collected from blog users. Structural equation modelling was used to test the research hypothesis.Findings – The results show that blog users' intentions to participate in blogs are determined by all four key drivers: habit, perceived playfulness, blog identification, and perceived usefulness. Blog quality has an effect on perceived usefulness and perceived playfulness.Research limitations/.