Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Influence of electrical steel grade on the temperature distribution in direct-drive PM synchronous generators for 5 MW wind turbines

The effect of the magnetic and thermal properties of 4 electrical steel grades were compared for a Permanent Magnet Synchronous Generator (PMSG). The low loss grades are expected to have less iron loss in the stator lamination, but their thermal conductivity may be lower. Therefore, the evacuation of the heat may be less effective. This has an influence on the temperature distribution, which is crucial in case of PMSG. The investigated generator is a 5 MW, radial flux machine designed for direct drive wind turbines. A thermal Finite Element Model was used to simulate the temperature distribution in the generator. The influence of the steel grade on the thermal distribution was compared for three geometries of PMSG with air gap diameter equal to 4, 6 and 8 meters respectively. In conclusion, for all three geometries, the thermal distribution is not dependent on the electrical properties, but mainly on the thermal conductivity of the steel.
Electronic polymerase chain reaction (EPCR) search algorithm

We developed an integer-encoding scheme and a search algorithm for in silico PCR (polymerase chain reaction) amplification that identifies sequence homology with the specified primers and enzymes. Unlike the traditional character-based approach, the EPCR algorithm developed represents DNA sequences as four integer variables. The bit streams in each integer variable reflect the occurrences of nucleotides (A, T C, G) in the sequence. This approach exploits the fact that there are only four possible nucleotides in either DNA or RNA. A sequence of 32 nucleotides therefore can be reduced to four integers. In addition, since nucleotides are individually represented by four integer variables, ambiguities in the sequence (e.g., "N") can be fully resolved and encoded within the four integers.
Does Sustainable Development Foster Value Creation? Empirical Evidence from the Global Energy Industry

The relationship between a firm's sustainability efforts and its financial performance has gained increasing interest among academia and in the press in recent years. In this study we focus on the energy industry in which sustainability issues are of special interest, but in which context the association between firm performance and sustainable development has not yet been studied. The data for this study consists of two groups of firms: firms that are included in the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes (DJSI), and the biggest firms from the global energy sector. The financial performance of the companies is analyzed from different perspectives, and the data is gathered from years 2000, 2005, and 2009. The empirical analysis finds evidence of a positive association between sustainable development and firms' financial performance, especially when performance is measured as the market capitalization value. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment
OXA-207, a Novel OXA-24 Variant with Reduced Catalytic Efficiency against Carbapenems in Acinetobacter pittii from Spain

ABSTRACT A carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter pittii strain carrying an OXA-24-like enzyme was isolated in northern Spain in 2008. Sequence analysis confirmed the presence of the novel blaOXA-207 gene flanked by the site-specific XerC/XerD-like recombination binding sites and showing a unique Gly222Val substitution compared to OXA-24. Cloning and kinetic analysis showed that OXA-207 presents a reduction in the catalytic efficiency against carbapenems and a noticeable increase for oxacillin.
Growth-promoting effects of single-dose intragastrically administered probiotics in chickens

1. Live body weight gain (WG) and food conversion efficiency (FCE) were measured over a 4-week period in chicks (female, Kabir strain), inoculated intragastrically at one week of age with either a single dose (1 ml) of 107 live bacterial cells of Lactobacillus fermentum (LBF) or a strain of Lactobacillus spp. (LB), named Autruche 4 (A4), suspended in 1 ml of phosphate-buffered saline (PBS, pH 7·0); controls (n = 10) were inoculated only with PBS. The same commercial chicken feed was used throughout the 4-week experiment. 2. Compared with the control group, WG to 8 and 21 d, and also liver weight, were significantly greater in LBF and A4 treatments and FCE improved in both of the experimental groups. Compared with the A4 treatment group, WG was significantly higher and FCE improved in the LBF-treated group. The effects of A4 treatment on chicks were similar to those in an earlier pilot experiment using the same methodology but with 1-week-old female chicks (Kabir) inoculated with either the A4 strain or strain of LB named Autruche 5. 3. It is concluded that a single dose of Lactobacillus fermentum or Lactobacillus spp. (Autruche 4) administered intragastrically improves WG and FCE of broiler chicks.
MicroRNA expression profiling of Leishmania donovani-infected host cells uncovers the regulatory role of MIR30A-3p in host autophagy

ABSTRACT Leishmania is an obligate intracellular parasite that replicates inside phagolysosomes or parasitophorous vacuoles (PV) of the monocyte/macrophage lineage. It reprograms macrophages and produces a metabolic state conducive to successful infection and multiplication. MicroRNAs (miRNAs), a class of small 22 to 24 nucleotide noncoding regulatory RNAs alter the gene expression and consequently proteome output by targeting mRNAs, may play a regulatory role in modulating host cell functions. In the present study, we demonstrate the novel regulatory role of host microRNA, MIR30A-3p in modulation of host cell macroautophagy/autophagy after infection with L. donovani. Our in vitro studies showed that MIR30A-3p expression was significantly enhanced after L. donovani infection in a time-dependent manner. Transient transfection with a MIR30A-3p inhibitor followed by L. donovani infection promoted the autophagic response and decreased the intracellular parasite burden in both THP-1 cells and human monocyte-derived macrophages (HsMDM). BECN1/Beclin 1, the mammalian ortholog of yeast Vps30/Atg6, is a key autophagy-promoting protein that plays a key role in the regulation of cell death and survival. We report BECN1-dependent modulation of host cell autophagy in response to L. donovani infection. Pretreatment of L. donovani-infected macrophages with the MIR30A-3p mimic decreased and with antagomir increased the expression of BECN1 protein. We demonstrate that BECN1 is a potential target of MIR30A-3p and this miRNA negatively regulates BECN1 expression. Our present study reveals for the first time a novel role of MIR30A-3p in regulating autophagy-mediated L. donovani elimination by targeting BECN1. The present study has significant impact for the treatment of visceral leishmaniasis.
Vitamin E Inhibition of the Effects of Hyperoxia on the Pulmonary Surfactant System of the Newborn Rabbit

Summary: The effects of vitamin E on the neonatal surfactant system were studied in rabbits exposed to air or hyperoxia (> 95%) from birth through 48 h of life. Hyperoxia exposure resulted in lung lavage phospholipid content which reached only 74% of airexposed controls, and static pressurer: volume observations of decreased maximum distensibility and altered compliance. Treatment with vitamin E (100 mg/kg of dl-α-tocopherol S.Q.) at 1 and 24 h of life was shown to completely abolish these effects of hyperoxia. Morphometrically determined alterations in epithelial cell composition and erythrocyte-contaminated air spaces resulting from hyperoxia exposure were also absent in pups treated with vitamin E. These findings suggest that early vitamin E treatment in vitamin E-deprived newborns prevents hyperoxia associated compromise to the pulmonary surfactant system and selected other aspects of oxygen-induced lung injury in the neonate.
Cardiac and cerebral manifestations of the antiphospholipid syndrome

Summary Aim: To describe cardiac and cerebral manifestations in eight patients with the antiphospholipid syndrome and a review of the literature. Patients and Methods: We studied eight patients with the antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) with either cardiac or cerebral or both manifestations. All patients fulfilled the proposed classification criteria for the APS according to the SSC of the ISTH. One patient died and had an autopsy. Results: Five of the eight patients had coronary artery disease with either thrombotic coronary occlusions or high grade stenosis, of which three patients had an occlusion of the left main artery or LAD. As valvular lesions have been described in association with the APS it is to note that three patients had thickening either of the mitral valve or aortic valve and one patient had an aortic valve replacement. The other two patients presented with a history of cerebral infarction. One of these patients also had a prior history of myocardial infarction, whereas the other patient had a history of aortic valve endocarditis. Conclusion: The APS can be associated with cardiac and cerebral manifestations. Acute thrombotic vessel occlusion presents as one of the most frequent vascular manifestations. Also valvular lesions can be associated with the APS.
Various traits in rabbits were reported to inherit according to a linkage relation among loci . A review study focused on Albinism and Dominant White Spotting loci

The beginnings of linked inheritance are found in experiments conducted by Thomas Hunt Morgan with vinegar-fly. The tendency of various loci located on the same chromosome to show linkage was studied in different species of mammals, especially in those with a short period of gestation and a large number of descendants in each litter. A graphically relationship of the r locus (red-eyed yellow) between the loci c (albinism) and p (pink-eyed yellow) was firstly concluded in rats. In rabbits, the first linked relationship was reported on assumed chromosome I among loci for albinism, yellow fat, and brown coat. The second reported linked inheritance referred to the loci for Dutch white spotting (Du), English white spotting (En), and long (angora) hair (l). In past decades, various genes were associated with important loci described in Classical Genetic’ studies. For example, the fgf5 gene was found as a molecular candidate for the angora locus and the KIT gene for the spotting pattern in various species of animals. Although in mouse and other species the KIT gene was associated with deafness, in rabbits such of association was not reported. Instead, mutations of KIT gene are associated in rabbits with Congenital Megacolon. The aim of this paper is to review various reports about the linkage phenomenon in rabbits, focused on albinism and white spotting genes.
The Effects of Ethnicity and Product on Purchase Decision Making

ABSTRACT In this paper the authors investigate how ethnic consumers differ in their purchase decision making. They report on a study that examined the key decision influences (media authority, reference groups, and store image) for the three main ethnic consumer groups in the United States (blacks, Hispanics and whites), for the purchase of social clothes (an expressive buy) and small electronics (a functional buy). They conclude that the different groups display distinctly different decision patterns, and that advertisers should craft advertising strategies for particular ethnic groups for specific types of product.
Do I Know You? Processing Orientation and Face Recognition

Recognition performance is impaired when people are required to provide a verbal description of a complex stimulus (i.e., verbal-overshadowing effect), such as the face of the perpetrator in a simulated robbery. A shift in the processing operations that support successful face recognition is believed to underlie this effect. Specifically, when participants shift from a global to a local processing orientation, face recognition is impaired. Extending research on this general topic, the present experiment revealed that verbalization is not a necessary precondition for the emergence of impaired recognition performance. Rather, face recognition can be disrupted by a task (i.e., letter identification) that triggers the activation of a local processing orientation. Conversely, the activation of a global processing orientation can enhance the accuracy of face recognition. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings for recent treatments of verbal overshadowing and memory function are considered.
Post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms, underlying affective vulnerabilities, and smoking for affect regulation.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is overrepresented among cigarette smokers. It has been hypothesized that those with PTSD smoke to alleviate negative affect and counteract deficient positive affect commonly associated with the disorder; however, limited research has examined associations between PTSD symptoms, smoking motives, and affective vulnerability factors. In the current study, we examined (1) whether PTSD symptoms were associated with positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement smoking motives; and (2) whether two affective vulnerability factors implicated in PTSD-anxiety sensitivity and anhedonia-mediated relationships between PTSD symptoms and smoking motives. METHODS Data were drawn from a community sample of non-treatment-seeking smokers recruited without regard for trauma history (N = 342; 10+ cig/day). We used the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist-Civilian Version (PCL-C) to assess overall PTSD symptom severity as well as individual PTSD subfactors. RESULTS Overall, PTSD symptom severity was significantly associated with negative reinforcement, but not positive reinforcement, smoking motives. Variation in anxiety sensitivity significantly mediated the relation between PTSD symptom severity and negative reinforcement smoking motives, whereas anhedonia did not. Regarding PTSD subfactors, emotional numbing was the only PTSD subfactor associated with smoking rate, while re-experiencing symptoms were uniquely associated with both positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement smoking motives. CONCLUSIONS AND SCIENTIFIC SIGNIFICANCE Findings suggest that anxiety sensitivity may be an important feature associated with PTSD that enhances motivation to smoke for negative reinforcement purposes. Smoking cessation interventions that alleviate anxiety sensitivity and enhance coping with negative affect may be useful for smokers with elevated PTSD symptoms.
Silver Impregnation of Reticulum in Paraffin Sections.

Since Maresch first used the Bielschowsky silver stain for the demonstration of connective tissue fibrils, and especially since its results in paraffin sections proved to be at least as reliable if not better than those obtainable with frozen material, the Bielschowsky-Maresch silver impregnation has become one of the most widely used special staining methods. Although many connective tissue stains of different types have been devised since, silver impregnation still ranks first because of its sharp delineation of the finest fibrils. Like all important methods it too has many modifications, each claiming some superiority to the original technique. As I was unable to find data in the literature concerning the relative merits and reliability of the various modifications, and, secondly, as the r6le and importance of the individual steps of the impregnation process are almost unknown, I decided to investigate this problem systematically. For the time being I used formalinfixed material only, embedded in paraffin, or in celloidin-paraffin according to the rapid method of Er6s. It is my plan also, however, to extend further my investigations concerning the action of the fixatives. My results to date are as follows: First, I was impressed by the occasional high degree of similarity, almost identity, of the results obtained by methods seemingly most dissimilar. On the other hand, there is no known method, the results of which would be as reliable and constant as those of, for instance, the hematoxylin nuclear stain, all silver methods being liable to yield more or less variable pictures. Even unexplainable complete failures are by no means rare. There is, however, a great difference in the reliability index of the various methods, some of them being notoriously prone to complete failure, and even in the event of success yielding pictures of variable quality; whereas with other methods failure is most exceptional and the results are remarkably uniform. A second essential difference between the various methods lies in the different amount of reticular meshwork demon-
High-Resolution Two-Dimensional Optical Spectroscopy of Electron Spins

Multidimensional coherent optical spectroscopy is one of the most powerful tools for investigating complex quantum mechanical systems. While it was conceived decades ago in magnetic resonance spectroscopy using micro- and radio-waves, it has recently been extended into the visible and UV spectral range. However, resolving MHz energy splittings with ultrashort laser pulses has still remained a challenge. Here, we analyze two-dimensional Fourier spectra for resonant optical excitation of resident electrons to localized trions or donor-bound excitons in semiconductor nanostructures subject to a transverse magnetic field. Particular attention is devoted to Raman coherence spectra which allow one to accurately evaluate tiny splittings of the electron ground state and to determine the relaxation times in the electron spin ensemble. A stimulated step-like Raman process induced by a sequence of two laser pulses creates a coherent superposition of the ground state doublet which can be retrieved only optically due to selective excitation of the same sub-ensemble with a third pulse. This provides the unique opportunity to distinguish between different complexes that are closely spaced in energy in an ensemble. The related experimental demonstration is based on photon echo measurements in an n-type CdTe/(Cd,Mg)Te quantum well structure detected by a heterodyne technique. The difference in the sub-$\mu$eV range between the Zeeman splittings of donor-bound electrons and electrons localized at potential fluctuations can be resolved even though the homogeneous linewidth of the optical transitions is larger by two orders of magnitude.
Recapturing place identification through community heritage marketing

We are guided by the following research questions: How do community residents contribute to place marketing strategies that promote the heritage of their local area? How can community participation be encouraged and supported? We draw on an ethnographic study of adopted railway stations in Scotland. We use in-depth interviews, participant observation alongside visual and archival data. We present and discuss three themes: community involvement in heritage activities, facilitating community participation through Adopt a Station and benefits and place identification. Initiatives which empower residents should be prioritised to capitalise on their latent knowledge, skills and expertise. We suggest that bringing heritage outside the museum space into key places used by local residents will support the increased accessibility of heritage. While there are often strong arguments in favour of local community involvement in place marketing, it is much less common to find successful reports of this working in practice. Research either questions the capabilities of local residents to make meaningful contributions or hints at a tokenistic form of involvement. We contribute by offering insight into successful heritage-based community activity. Unlike previous research which focuses on the economic impact of place marketing, we focus on place identification for local residents. We also observe how offering a sense of ownership and freedom allows community management of the heritage message to flourish.
Prognostic Implication of Microvascular Invasion in Biochemical Failure in Patients Treated with Radical Prostatectomy

Introduction: Micrometastasis before radical prostatectomy (RP) is considered to be related to the biochemical failure after surgery in patients with prostate cancer. To predict the biochemical failure, we evaluated microvascular (lymphatic/vascular) invasion and other pathological findings as prognostic factors for biochemical failure after RP. Materials and Methods: Eighty-two men who underwent RPs and received neither preoperative nor postoperative adjuvant therapy were analyzed. Pathological findings of each patient were carefully reviewed to determine pathological factors predicting biochemical failure. The influence of pathological findings on the biochemical failure was evaluated. Results: The overall biochemically assessed disease-free survival rate was 55.7% at 3 years. By univariate analysis, Gleason sum, capsular penetration, and microvascular invasion were significantly associated with the rate of biochemical failure. Microvascular invasion was strongly correlated with Gleason sum, capsular penetration, surgical margin, perineural invasion, and pathological stage. By multivariate analysis, Gleason sum, capsular penetration, and microvascular invasion were independent predictors of biochemical failure. Conclusion: This study suggests that in addition to Gleason grade and capsular penetration, microvascular invasion is one of independent prognostic factors in patients with prostate cancer treated with RPs.
Dynamic analysis of the input-controlled buck converter fed by a photovoltaic array

The control of the input voltage of DC-DC converters is frequently required in photovoltaic applications. In this spe cial situation, unlike conventional converters, the output vol tage is constant and the input voltage is controlled. This paper deals with the analysis and the control of the buck converter with constant output voltage and variable input.
Improved color constancy in honey bees enabled by parallel visual projections from dorsal ocelli

Significance Color sensing requires a capacity to discount the changing color of natural light. We present a biologically validated mathematical solution to this classic problem based on honey bee color vision. The observed spectral tuning of two simple ocellar photoreceptors in the honey bee allows for an optimal color constancy solution to different light environments, including standard CIE (Commission Internationale de l’Eclairage) illuminations, natural forest light, sunlight, or shade. The model is fully supported by a neural pathway potentially allowing for the transfer of spectral information originating from the ocellar photoreceptors to the centralized information processing regions in the brain and explains previously observed behavioral results. This solution to color constancy can be implemented into color imaging systems to enable accurate color interpretation. How can a pollinator, like the honey bee, perceive the same colors on visited flowers, despite continuous and rapid changes in ambient illumination and background color? A hundred years ago, von Kries proposed an elegant solution to this problem, color constancy, which is currently incorporated in many imaging and technological applications. However, empirical evidence on how this method can operate on animal brains remains tenuous. Our mathematical modeling proposes that the observed spectral tuning of simple ocellar photoreceptors in the honey bee allows for the necessary input for an optimal color constancy solution to most natural light environments. The model is fully supported by our detailed description of a neural pathway allowing for the integration of signals originating from the ocellar photoreceptors to the information processing regions in the bee brain. These findings reveal a neural implementation to the classic color constancy problem that can be easily translated into artificial color imaging systems.