Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Convergence of Low-Frequency EFIE-Based Systems With Weighted Right-Hand-Side Effect

This paper addresses the convergence of the electric-field integral equation (EFIE)-based matrix systems with the right-hand-side effect. The role of the right-hand-side excitation in determining the convergence rate of the iterative solvers is found to be important or even crucial at low frequencies. The weighted contributions from different singular vectors are decided by not only the corresponding singular values but also the right-hand side. Based on this understanding, we investigate the low-frequency stabilized form of both EFIE and Calderón multiplicative preconditioner EFIE (CMP-EFIE) on capacitive problems. For the parallel-plate capacitor excited by the delta-gap source, the singular vectors with small singular values cannot be excited, and the charge currents on the capacitive surface dominate. Thus, the stability of the EFIE-based system can be achieved at low frequencies. Detailed spectral analysis and convergent results are carried out in order to capture the physical nature of the problems.
Prevalence of gentamicin- and amikacin-resistant bacteria in sink drains

Sink drains from the Veterans Administration Medical Center, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, and the Oklahoma City community were selectively cultured for gentamicin- and amikacin-resistant bacteria. Aminoglycoside-resistant organisms were found in 86% (Veterans Administration Medical Center, 88%; University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, 88%; and Oklahoma City community, 77%) of all 233 sink drains sampled. Of 207 sink drains harboring aminoglycoside-resistent organisms, 99% of the organisms were gentamicin resistant and 82% were amikacin resistant. These data suggest that aminoglycoside-resistent organisms are commonly present in the environment.
Iron Reductase for Magnetite Synthesis in the Magnetotactic Bacterium Magnetospirillum magnetotacticum

ABSTRACT Ferric iron reductase was purified from magnetotactic bacteriumMagnetospirillum (formerly Aquaspirillum)magnetotacticum (ATCC 31632) to an electrophoretically homogeneous state. The enzyme was loosely bound on the cytoplasmic face of the cytoplasmic membrane and was found more frequently in magnetic cells than in nonmagnetic cells. The molecular mass of the purified enzyme was calculated upon sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis to be about 36 kDa, almost the same as that calibrated by gel filtration analysis. The enzyme required NADH and flavin mononucleotide (FMN) as optimal electron donor and cofactor, respectively, and the activity was strongly inhibited by Zn2+ acting as a partial mixed-type inhibitor. TheKm values for NADH and FMN were 4.3 and 0.035 μM, respectively, and the Ki values for Zn2+ were 19.2 and 23.9 μM for NADH and FMN, respectively. When the bacterium was grown in the presence of ZnSO4, the magnetosome number in the cells and the ferric iron reductase activity declined in parallel with an increase in the ZnSO4 concentration of the medium, suggesting that the ferric iron reductase purified in the present study may participate in magnetite synthesis.
Antagonism of Paf‐induced oedema formation in rabbit skin: a comparison of different antagonists

1 Eight platelet activating factor (Paf) antagonists were evaluated as inhibitors of oedema formation in rabbit skin induced by intradermal injection of Paf plus prostaglandin E2 (PGE2). Antagonists were tested by both intradermal (i.d.) and intravenous (i.v.) routes. 2 Intradermal injection of two antagonists structurally‐related to Paf (SRI 63–675 and CV‐3988) resulted in a partial inhibition of Paf‐induced oedema formation but at high doses of antagonist, marked agonist activities were detected. CV‐3988 administered i.v. inhibited Paf‐induced plasma leakage by 73–80%; however, oedema responses to a range of other inflammatory mediators were also reduced, albeit to a lesser extent (40–60%). SRI 63–675 administered i.v. did not significantly inhibit Paf‐induced oedema. 3 The antagonist 48740 RP administered either i.d. or i.v. showed partial, but selective, inhibition of Paf‐induced oedema formation, although the doses required were high when compared with other antagonists. 4 BN 52021 was a weak Paf antagonist when injected i.d. , but following i.v. administration the responses to Paf were inhibited by 63–71%. Responses to all other mediators tested were unaffected. 5 Kadsurenone and its synthetic derivatives, L‐652,731 and L‐659,989 all blocked responses to Paf in the skin. L‐659,989 was the most potent, achieving almost total inhibition when injected i.d. and i.v. ; moreover, it was selective for Paf. L‐652,731 was more potent than kadsurenone. 6 WEB 2086 given i.d. and i.v. showed similar activity to L‐659,989 and it was also selective for Paf‐induced oedema formation. 7 These results illustrate that in rabbit skin not all Paf antagonists are selective for Paf, some showing agonist‐like activity which can mask antagonist properties. It is suggested that before ascribing a role for endogenous Paf in an inflammatory reaction based on results with antagonists, the activity of the antagonists in the model under investigation should be rigorously established.
Adipose‐derived stromal cells grown on a hydroxyapatite scaffold can support hematopoiesis in regenerated bone marrow in vivo

Osteoblastic cells are a key component of the bone marrow (BM) stem cell niche and help regulate hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). We have previously demonstrated that adipose‐derived stromal cells (ADSCs) can differentiate into both osteogenic and chondrogenic cells in vitro. The current study examined whether the anatomical architecture of the BM could be regenerated in vivo by using ADSCs cultured on a hydroxyapatite (HA) scaffold. ADSCs from GFP transgenic mice were cultured in vitro on an HA scaffold. The scaffold with the attached cells was implanted subcutaneously onto the backs of C57/BL6 (Ly5.2) recipient mice. Lineage‐negative (Lin‐) Ly5.1 BM cells transduced with a lentiviral vector containing the luciferase (Luc) gene were intravenously administered to the recipient mice after lethal irradiation. Eight weeks after BM transplantation, the scaffolds were removed from the first recipient mice and subcutaneously implanted into lethally irradiated second recipient mice. The biodistribution and kinetics of Luc+ Ly5.1 cells were monitored by bioluminescence imaging and flow cytometry. Luc+ hematopoietic cells were present in the scaffolds of the secondary implanted mice for at least 8 months. Subcutaneous injection of G‐CSF resulted in wide distribution of bioluminescence signals from the original scaffolds to the whole body. Therefore, BM regenerated using ADSCs grown on an HA scaffold can support HSC populations in vivo, suggesting that a functional BM niche is reconstituted. These results may have a significant impact on the development of therapeutic strategies for various hematopoietic diseases.
Real-time prediction of fall and collision of tracked vehicle for remote-control support

This thesis describes a new method that in real time predicts fall and collision in order to support remote control of a tracked vehicle with sub-tracks. A tracked vehicle has high ability of getting over rough terrain. However, it is difficult for an operator at a remote place to control the vehicle's moving direction and speed. Hence, we propose a new path evaluation system based on the measurement of environmental shapes around the vehicle. In this system, the candidate paths are generated by operator inputs and terrain information. For evaluating the traversability of the path, we estimate the pose of the robot on the path and contact points with the ground. Then, the combination of translational and rotational velocity is chosen.
Diverse Mechanisms of Myocardial p38 Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase Activation: Evidence for MKK-Independent Activation by a TAB1-Associated Mechanism Contributing to Injury During Myocardial Ischemia

Abstract— The ischemic activation of p38&agr; mitogen-activated protein kinase (p38&agr;-MAPK) is thought to contribute to myocardial injury. Under other circumstances, activation is through dual phosphorylation by MAPK kinase 3 (MKK3). Therefore, the mkk3−/− murine heart should be protected during ischemia. In retrogradely perfused mkk3−/− and mkk3+/+ mouse hearts subjected to 30 minutes of global ischemia and 120 minutes of reperfusion, infarction/risk volume was similar (50±5 versus 51±4, P =0.93, respectively), as was intraischemic p38-MAPK phosphorylation (10 minutes ischemia as percent basal, 608±224 versus 384±104, P =0.43, respectively). This occurred despite undetectable activation of MKK3/6 in mkk3−/− hearts. However, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-induced p38-MAPK phosphorylation was markedly diminished in mkk3−/− vs mkk3+/+ hearts (percent basal, 127±23 versus 540±267, respectively, P =0.04), suggesting an MKK-independent activation mechanism by ischemia. Hence, we examined p38-MAPK activation by TAB1-associated autophosphorylation. In wild-type mice and mkk3−/− mice, the p38-MAPK catalytic site inhibitor SB203580 (1 &mgr;mol/L) diminished phosphorylation during ischemia versus control (10 minutes ischemia as percent basal, 143±2 versus 436±96, P =0.003, and 122±25 versus 623±176, P =0.05, respectively) and reduced infarction volume (infarction/risk volume, 57±5 versus 36±3, P <0.001, and 50±5 versus 29±3, P =0.003, respectively) but did not alter TNF-induced activation, although in homogenates of ischemic hearts but not TNF-exposed hearts, p38-MAPK was associated with TAB1. Furthermore, adenovirally expressed wild-type and drug-resistant p38&agr;-MAPK, lacking the SB203580 binding site, was phosphorylated when H9c2 myoblasts were subjected to simulated ischemia. However, SB203580 (1 &mgr;mol/L) did not prevent the phosphorylation of resistant p38&agr;-MAPK. These findings suggest the ischemic activation of p38-MAPK contributing to myocardial injury is by TAB1-associated autophosphorylation.
Emotion and opinion retrieval from social media in Arabic language: Survey

In recent years, the use of Internet has become one of the daily activates in our life. Social networks constitute a major component of the Web and made a revolution. It includes social networks, blogs, forum discussions and micro-blogs. Users of social media generate a huge amount of comments on a daily basis. Due to this revolution, most researches are now focusing on extracting meaningful information from social media to better understand the user's attitude. Sentiment analysis and opinion mining are fields of text mining that focus on extracting and analyzing the emotions and opinions of the users with respect to specific topic. Many approaches are proposed to extract opinions and classify them based on its polarities as positive, negative or neutral. Most works on sentiment analysis are done over English language, but a few of them focused on Arabic language. In this paper, we review many researches concerned with sentiment analysis over social media in Arabic language, and analyzed them by their methods, tools, and techniques. In addition, many approaches used for sentiment classification are discussed.
Approval Summary for Erlotinib for Treatment of Patients with Locally Advanced or Metastatic Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer after Failure of at Least One Prior Chemotherapy Regimen

Purpose: To describe the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) review and approval of erlotinib (Tarceva, OSI Pharmaceuticals, Melville, NY) for treatment of patients with locally advanced or metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) after failure of at least one prior chemotherapy regimen. Experimental Design: The FDA reviewed raw data in electronic format from a randomized controlled clinical trial comparing erlotinib with placebo in patients with locally advanced or metastatic NSCLC after failure of at least one prior chemotherapy regimen. Results: Patients were randomized in a 2:1 ratio (erlotinib, n = 488 and placebo, n = 243). Erlotinib was superior to placebo for survival, progression-free survival, and tumor response rate. Exploratory analyses indicate that epidermal growth factor receptor status may be an important predictor of the erlotinib survival effect. Rash (75% versus 17%) and diarrhea (54% versus 18%) in the erlotnib and placebo group respectively were the most common adverse events. Severe rash occurred in 9% and severe diarrhea in 6% of erlotinib-treated patients and each resulted in study discontinuation in 1% of patients. Dose reductions were required for 10% of patients with rash and 4% of patients with diarrhea. Conclusions: On November 18, 2004, the FDA granted erlotinib regular approval for treatment of patients with locally advanced or metastatic NSCLC after failure of at least one prior chemotherapy regimen. The applicant has committed to conduct post-marketing clinical trials to assess further the effect of epidermal growth factor receptor expression, measured with immunohistochemical staining, on erlotinib treatment effect.
BOSS: A Multitenancy Ad-Hoc Service Orchestrator for Federated Openstack Clouds

Nowadays, more and more Cloud providers are appearing on the market. In this context, a typical issue is represented by the management of distributed services deployed on different federated Cloud providers. Assuming that a distributed service consists of several microservices, in this paper, we specifically focus on the setup of virtual environments and on deployment tasks required in each Federated Cloud providers In particular, we present BOSS an Orchestration Broker that starting from an ad-hoc OpenStack-based Heat Orchestration Template (HOT) service manifest produces several HOT microservice manifests including deployment instructions for involved Federated Clouds. Therefore, users can formalize advanced deployment constrains in terms of data export control, networking, and disaster recovery. Experiments prove the goodness of the proposed system in terms of performance.
Algebraic Multigrid for Least Squares Problems on Graphs with Applications to HodgeRank

Least squares problems on graphs are a large subclass of numerical linear algebra problems that may arise from many different applications, e.g., ranking problems, distributed clock synchronization, ranking, and arbitrage detection. Solutions to these problems are very practical and as scalability becomes a prevalent issue, researchers are working to identify algorithms most appropriate to solve these least squares problem. A notable endeavor is the work of Hirani et al. [1] where they provide an analysis of a variety of solvers on problems generated by random graphs. One result the group found was that smoothed aggregation algebraic multigrid (SA-AMG) method was unfit for solving these problems. In this work we investigate the effectiveness of the unsmoothed aggregation AMG (UA-AMG) method and show it is more appropriate for graph-related problems due to its ability to maintain the structure of graphs in the multilevel hierarchy. We present an analysis of the two-level algorithms for solving graph Laplacians least squares problems showing that the convergence rate is not tied to the condition number of the matrix. We then apply UA-AMG as a preconditioner for conjugate gradient (CG) method to achieve better performance, providing experiments comparing against other iterative methods on a collection of larger random graphs and a collection of real world network topologies to demonstrate the effectiveness of UA-AMG methods for solving least squares problems on graphs.
CD4+ Regulatory T Cells Are Spared from Deletion by Antilymphocyte Serum, a Polyclonal Anti-T Cell Antibody1

Broad T cell depletion has been used as an integral part of treatment in transplantation and autoimmune diseases. Following depletion, residual T cells undergo homeostatic proliferation and convert to memory-like T cells. In this study, we investigated the effect of T cell depletion by antilymphocyte serum (ALS), a polyclonal anti-T cell Ab, on CD4+ regulatory T cells. After ALS treatment, CD4+CD25+ T cells underwent proliferation and expressed a memory T cell marker, CD44. One week after ALS treatment, both CD25+ and CD25− T cells exhibited increased suppression of alloresponses in vitro, which waned thereafter to the levels mediated by naive CD25+ and CD25− T cells. By real-time PCR analyses, ALS treatment of CD4-deficient mice adoptively transferred with Thy1.2+CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ and Thy1.1+CD4+CD25−Foxp3− T cells resulted in the appearance of Thy1.2+CD4+CD25−Foxp3+ and Thy1.1+CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ T cells, suggesting the conversion between CD25+ and CD25− T cells. Naive CD25+ T cells expressed a higher level of intracellular Bcl-xL than CD25− T cells. Up-regulation of the Bcl-xL molecule during ALS-induced homeostatic expansion further promoted survival of CD25+ and, to a lessor degree, CD25− cells. These results indicate that CD25+ T cells are spared from ALS-mediated deletion, with some CD25+ T cells converting to CD25− T cells, and continue to exhibit regulatory activity. The concomitant presence of T cell deletion and continuous regulatory T cell activity may underlie the therapeutic effect of ALS, particularly in treatment of autoimmune diseases.
Renal Pathology in Hemizygous Sickle Cell Mice

Transgenic mice have been developed that express exclusively human sickle cell βhemoglobin and have major pathological features found in humans with sickle cell disease. These mice provide a unique opportunity to investigate the fundamental mechanisms of this disease and to design new strategies to correct the associated genetic defect(s). We found that in breeding males expressing only adult human α-globin and sickle β-globin (homozygous SS mice) with females containing these transgenes plus one copy of the mouse β-globin gene (hemizygous SS mice) greater than expected numbers of hemizygous offspring were produced than homozygous mice (carrying no mouse β-globin gene). These hemizygous mice, expressing the human α and sickle β s transgenes in combination with mouse β +/-, were used for our preliminary studies of their renal pathology. No kidney lesions were found in the control (129/Sv) mice, whereas about 50% of the hemizygous SS mice showed mild-to-severe kidney lesions, including glomerulonephritis, cystic atypical hyperplastic tubules, and general nephropathy. Kidneys of some hemizygous mice were normal or showed minimal nephropathy, yet those of the susceptible phenotype developed a mild-to-more-severe form of renal lesions. The tubular epithelium of kidneys of hemizygous mice of the more affected phenotype exhibited increased expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase with an increased 3-nitrotyrosine in close proximity. There was also a stronger immunostaining for vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 in the interstitial capillary cells as well as the tubular epithelial cells of the renal cortex, compared with normal control mice. The occurrence of a high incidence of renal abnormalities in our hemizygous SS mice suggests that these mice may provide a suitable model to study the pathogenesis of nephropathy resulting from altered blood fl ow and/or insuffi cient oxygen delivery.
The analysis of asthma control under a Markov assumption with use of covariates

In studies of disease states and their relation to evolution, data on the state are usually obtained at in frequent time points during follow‐up. Moreover in many applications, there are measured covariates on each individual under study and interest centres on the relationship between these covariates and the disease evolution. We developed a continuous‐time Markov model with use of time‐dependent covariates and a Markov model with piecewise constant intensities to model asthma evolution. Methods to estimate the effect of covariates on transition intensities, to test the assumption of time homogeneity and to assess goodness‐of‐fit are proposed. We apply these methods to asthma control. We consider a three‐state model and we discuss in detail the analysis of asthma control evolution. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Limited Role of Developmental Programmed Cell Death Pathways in Drosophila norpA Retinal Degeneration

We examined the role of programmed cell death (PCD) pathways in retinal degeneration caused by a mutation in the norpA gene. norpA degeneration shows morphological hallmarks of programmed cell death, specifically cytoplasmic condensation and engulfment of the dying photoreceptor cells by neighboring retinal pigment cells. However, genetic mosaic analysis of adult photoreceptors lacking rpr, hid, and grim show that these PCD inducers are not required for norpA degeneration. We showed previously that ectopic expression of either rpr or hid triggers rapid PCD in adult photoreceptors, and this is completely suppressed by the coexpression of the baculoviral P35 caspase inhibitor. In contrast, expression of P35 does not suppress norpA retinal degeneration, although a small delay in the rate of degeneration is observed in low light-low temperature conditions. P35 does not alter the morphological characteristics of norpA cell death. Overexpression of the Drosophila inhibitor of apoptosis Diap1 or a dominant-negative form of the Dronc caspase, even when coexpressed with P35, does not dramatically alter the time course of norpA degeneration. These results establish that the pathways responsible for PCD in development do not play a major role in adult retinal degeneration caused by norpA.
Evidence for congruent impairment in micro and macrovascular function in type 1 diabetes

Diabetes affects large and small vessels through mechanisms only partially known. In the present study, we evaluated the function of capillaries and large arteries in subjects with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) to study the effect of chronic hyperglycemia in the absence of other cardiovascular risk factors. Twenty-five subjects with T1DM and 12 healthy age-matched controls were enrolled. Nine patients had mild or moderate retinopathy. Contrast enhanced ultrasound was used to measure perfusion of the deep forearm flexor muscle of the non-dominant arm at rest (baseline) and after an ischemic stimulus (reactive hyperemia). Perfusion was expressed as Video Intensity (VI) in arbitrary unit (a.u.)/mm2. The time to reach peak VI after ischemia was also recorded. The function of large arteries was evaluated using flow-mediated vasodilation (FMD). VI was significantly lower in T1DM compared to control subjects both at baseline (0.22±0.16 vs 0.44±0.35 a.u./mm2, p<0.05), and after ischemia (0.33±0.24 vs 0.68±0.46 a.u./mm2, p<0.05). The time to reach peak VI after ischemia was markedly longer in T1DM (5.6±2.2 vs 4.0±1.7 seconds, p<0.02). These differences were more marked in T1DM subjects with retinopathy. FMD was lower in TIDM patients compared to controls (5.4±6.4 vs 10.7±4.5%, p<0.01). The present findings demonstrate that T1DM patients have defective peripheral skeletal muscle perfusion both at rest and after ischemia compared with control subjects. Low muscle perfusion associates with low FMD of the brachial artery. Furthermore, T1DM subjects with retinopathy have the least muscle perfusion and blunted response to hyperemia compared to T1DM without retinopathy.
40 nm CMOS Ultra-Low Power Integrated Gas Gauge System for Mobile Phone Applications

This paper presents a fully integrated gas gauge system for mobile phone applications. It aims to consume a very small amount of power (less than 5%) compared to the whole system consumption during standby, maintaining a good level of accuracy in measuring battery energy in and out. It does not use any external bulky and expensive components beside the sense resistor and it has been manufactured in a CMOS 40 nm process and successfully validated in the lab.