Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Synthesis and characterization of poly(vinyl alcohol) proton exchange membranes modified with 4,4-diaminodiphenylether-2,2-disulfonic acid

A proton-exchange membrane for a direct methanol fuel cell was prepared by modifying the chemical structure of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) by means of sulfonation. We report the synthesis of a new proton-conducting polymer mem- brane with poly (vinyl alcohol) and diamine-containing organic molecules immobilized to PVA. The sulfonation was car- ried out by using 4,4-diaminodiphenyl ether-2,2-disulfonic acid (ODADS). A sulfonated diamine monomer, ODADS, was successfully synthesized by direct sulfonation of a commercially available diamine, 4,4-diaminodiphenyl ether (ODA), using fuming sulfuric acid as the sulfonating reagent. The chemical structure and thermal stability of the sulfonated PVA were studied by using FTIR and thermogravimetric analysis techniques, respectively. The proton conductivities of mem- branes were investigated as a function of ODADS content. The thermal decomposition of PVA-ODADS membranes started at 220°C. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) results indicated the homogeneity of the blends. Proton conductivity val- ues of the sulfonated PVA membranes ranged between 8.25 and 16.53 mS/cm and the conductivities of PVA-ODADS mem- branes increased with the increasing ODADS content.
Personality and Alcohol Expectancies Discriminate Alcohol Consumption Patterns in Female College Students.

AIMS To characterize patterns of alcohol use in a sample of Argentinean female college students according to personality traits and alcohol expectancies. METHODS Data from 298 female college students (M age = 18.27 years; SD = 1.37 years) from the city of Cordoba, Argentina were analysed using multinomial regression. RESULTS Three drinking categories were identified, abstainers, moderate drinkers and regular drinkers with heavy episodic drinking, and these were differentiated by three personality traits [extraversion, disinhibition (DIS) and experience seeking (ES)] and three alcohol expectancies dimensions (sociability, risk/aggression and negative mood). Regular drinkers with heavy episodic drinking and moderate drinkers had, compared to abstainers, higher scores in extroversion and alcohol expectancies for social facilitation, and lower scores in alcohol expectancies for risk and aggression. Regular drinkers with heavy episodic drinking exhibited, compared to moderate drinkers, higher scores in ES, DIS, extroversion, alcohol expectancies for social facilitation and negative mood alcohol expectancies; as well as lower scores in risk and aggression alcohol expectancies. CONCLUSION College women in Argentina with problematic alcohol drinking can be distinguished from those drinking moderately.
A rapid method for positioning small flexible molecules, nucleic acids, and large protein fragments in experimental electron density maps

A Monte Carlo procedure, encoded in the program Blob, has been developed and tested for the purpose of positioning large molecular fragments or small flexible molecules in electron density maps. The search performed by the algorithm appears to be sufficiently thorough to accurately position a small flexible ligand in well‐defined density while remaining sufficiently random to offer interesting alternate suggestions for density representing disordered binding modes of a ligand. Furthermore, the algorithm is shown to be efficient enough to accurately position large rigid molecular fragments. In the first of the test cases with large molecular fragments, Blob was surprisingly effective in positioning a poly‐alanine model of a 53‐residue domain in poor electron density resulting from molecular replacement with a partial model. At 3.0 Å resolution the domain was positioned consistently within 0.2 Å of its experimentally determined position. Even at 6.0 Å resolution Blob could consistently position the domain to within 0.75 Å of its actual position. A second set of tests with large molecular fragments revealed that Blob could correctly position large molecular fragments with quite significant deviations from the actual structure. In this test case, fragments ranging from a 170‐residue protein domain with a 3.8 Å rms deviation from the actual structure to a 22‐base pair ideal B‐form DNA duplex were positioned accurately in a 3.2 Å electron density map derived from multiple isomorphous replacement methods. Even when decreasing the quality of the maps, from a figure of merit of 0.57 to as low as 0.35, Blob could still effectively position the large protein domain and the DNA duplex. Since it is efficient, can handle large molecular fragments, and works in poor and low resolution maps, Blob could be a useful tool for interpreting electron density maps in de novo structure determinations and in molecular replacement studies. Proteins 1999;36:512–525. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Efficient iris texture analysis method based on Gabor ordinal measures

With the remarkably increasing interest directed to the security dimension, the iris recognition process is considered to stand as one of the most versatile technique critically useful for the biometric identification and authentication process. This is mainly due to every individual’s unique iris texture. A modestly conceived efficient approach relevant to the feature extraction process is proposed. In the first place, iris zigzag “collarette” is extracted from the rest of the image by means of the circular Hough transform, as it includes the most significant regions lying in the iris texture. In the second place, the linear Hough transform is used for the eyelids’ detection purpose while the median filter is applied for the eyelashes’ removal. Then, a special technique combining the richness of Gabor features and the compactness of ordinal measures is implemented for the feature extraction process, so that a discriminative feature representation for every individual can be achieved. Subsequently, the modified Hamming distance is used for the matching process. Indeed, the advanced procedure turns out to be reliable, as compared to some of the state-of-the-art approaches, with a recognition rate of 99.98%, 98.12%, and 95.02% on CASIAV1.0, CASIAV3.0, and IIT Delhi V1 iris databases, respectively.
Method for retrieving a similar sentence and its application to machine translation

In this paper, we propose incorporating similar sentence retrieval in machine translation to improve the translation of hard-to-translate input sentences. If a given input sentence is hard to translate, a sentence similar to the input sentence is retrieved from a monolingual corpus of translatable sentences and then provided to the MT system instead of the original sentence. This method is advantageous in that it relies only on a monolingual corpus. The similarity between an input sentence and each sentence in the corpus is determined from the ratio of the common N-gram. We use two conditions to improve the retrieval precision and add a filtering method to avoid inappropriate sentences. An experiment using a Japanese-to-English MT system in a travel conversation domain proves that our method improves the translation quality of hard-to-translate input sentences by 9.8 %.
Human Natural Tumor Necrosis Factor α Induces Multiple Endocrine and Hematologic Disorders in Rats

Slc:Wistar male rats treated with human natural tumor necrosis factor α (hn TNF-α, 3 X 105 Japan reference units/kg intravenously) for 3 months showed histologic vacuolation of basophils in the anterior pituitary, hyperplasia of the thyroidal follicular epithelium, and hyperplasia of the testicular interstitial cells. The vacuolated basophils were immunohistochemically shown to be thyrotrophs. In addition, there were decreases in plasma levels of triiodothyronine (T3), thyroxin (T4), and testosterone, and an increase in thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH). The number of lymphocytes in the marginal zones of lymphoid follicles in spleen and lymph nodes and B-lymphocytes in the peripheral blood decreased. Hyperplasia of hematopoietic cells in the bone marrow and decreases in both leukocytes and erythrocytes in the peripheral blood were prominent. Hyperplasia of bile ductular epithelial cells with periportal mononuclear cell infiltration in the liver and increased cellularity in alveolar walls in the lung were also characteristic. In in vitro studies, hn TNF-α inhibited both proliferation and peroxidase activity of thyroid follicular epithelial cells. These findings demonstrate that hn TNF-α may induce histologic vacuolation of thyrotrophs by causing a decrease in plasma levels of T3 and T4; hyperplasia of the thyroid follicular epithelium, which may be attributed to the increased plasma level of TSH; hyperplasia of testicular interstitial cells, by lowering the plasma level of testosterone; hyperplasia of bile ductular epithelial cells; hyperplasia of hematopoietic cells in bone marrow; and the increase in cellularity in pulmonary alveolar walls. In addition, hn TNF-α may suppress the differentiation of B-lymphocytes.
Factors associated with a decrease in the prevalence of drug resistance in newly HIV-1 infected individuals in Montreal

Objective: A decrease in the prevalence of drug resistance (DR) has been observed among recently infected (RI) individuals in Montreal. A study of chronically infected (CI) patients, who represent potential HIV-1 transmitters, was carried out in order to ascertain biological factors associated with this trend change. Design and methods: Retrospective analysis of CI patients was performed for the period 1996–2003. Changes in mean viral load and DR prevalence were assessed in CI patients (n = 2328) and compared to those in RI patients (n = 180) living in the same geographic area. Results: A decrease was observed in the prevalence of DR among RI patients, from 13.0% in 1997–2000 to 4.0% in 2001–2003 (P = 0.04). From 1996 to 2000, the mean viral load in the CI patients decreased by 1.34 log10, to remain steady thereafter. The proportion of CI patients who interrupt treatment increased steadily over 1997–2003 from 3.1% to 16.5% (P < 0.0001). Since 1999, when genotyping analysis became available, we have observed a 0.9 log10 decrease in mean viral load among 602 genotyped CI patients harbouring any major mutations. Conclusion: The decrease in transmission of DR documented in Montreal since 2000 coincides with the drop in mean viral load observed in CI patients. Factors that contribute to the decrease in viral load include routine access to genotyping and availability of more potent antiretroviral drugs. Plasma viral load seems to represent the main predictor for the transmission of DR.
A digital background calibration technique for pipelined ADC using redundant stages

A new digital background calibration technique for pipelined analog-to-digital converter (ADC) is proposed in this paper. In this architecture, two redundant pipelined stages are added to the ADC that creates time slots for the pipelined stages such that calibration cycles can be scheduled to the pipeline stages during normal operations. Compared to other background calibration techniques, the proposed technique calibrates the gain errors, the offset errors and the nonlinearity errors of the ADC. It does not need to design dedicated separate ADCs or DACs for calibration. It also provides no degradations in performance for high frequency input signals and the complexity of the digital hardware is relatively simple.
Design , analysis and development of pipeline inspection robot

Pipe line inspection is an important task where robotics could be applied extensively. Robotic pipeline inspection devices reported in literature are primarily of internal type, requiring special preparation of pipelines for their deployment and retrieval. In this context, robotic systems which can traverse along the external surface of the pipeline structure have the advantage of being able to do inspection without blocking the pipeline. In this paper we have done the design, analysis and development of an external pipeline inspection robot. The proposed system consists of a base with two arms on both sides. It has four wheels, two large hollow ones enclosing the complete base structure and two smaller ones at the end of each arm. For inspection, the system hugs the pipe along its outer periphery such that, only the wheels are in contact with the surface and then drives along the length of the pipeline. Approximate mathematical modelling of the system has been performed and its working has been analysed through an ADAMS-Matlab Cosimulation. Based on the results, a prototype has been manufactured, consisting of multiple digital servos for arm joints and dc motors for the wheels, along with on-board controllers and wireless camera. The system can be controlled through WiFi from a remote station. Field trials have shown that the robot is capable of inspecting pipelines with an outer diameter of about of 200 mm. The application potential of the system includes surface and exposed large diameter pipeline inspection in outdoor and industry.
CONTROL OF CELLULAR CONTRACTION BY CALCIUM IN

1. Vorticella extracted with Triton X-100 contracted (i.e. the cell body shrank and the stalk coiled) when the external Ca2+ concentration was raised. The degree of contraction increased with increasing Ca2+ concentration. 2. The threshold Ca2+ concentration for shrinkage of the cell body was identical with that for coiling of the stalk in Vorticella extracted with Triton X-100. 3. Living Vorticella showed a graded shrinkage of the cell body when Ca2+ buffer was injected into the cell body, while the stalk showed coiling of an all-or-nothing type. The degree of shrinkage of the cell body increased with increasing free Ca2+ concentration of the buffer. 4. Living Vorticella showed a sustained contraction in response to external application or intracellular injection of caffeine. The effect of caffeine was inhibited by intracellular injection of procaine or Ruthenium Red. 5. Vorticella injected with Ruthenium Red showed graded shrinkage of the cell body as well as graded coiling of the stalk when Ca2+ buffer was injected into the cell body. 6. Caffeine, procaine and Ruthenium Red had no measurable effect on Ca2+-activated contraction in Vorticella extracted with Triton X-100. 7. It is assumed that regenerative liberation of Ca2+ from the endoplasmic reticulum and/or membranous tubules in the contractile system (Ca2+-induced Ca2+ release) is responsible for evoking contraction of an all-or-nothing type following stimulation in living Vorticella.
The intracellular distribution of the ES cell totipotent markers OCT4 and Sox2 in adult stem cells differs dramatically according to commercial antibody used

To characterize ES cells, researchers have at their disposal a list of pluripotent markers, such as OCT4. In their quest to determine if adult stem cell populations, such as MSCs and ASCs, are pluripotent, several groups have begun to report the expression of these markers in these cells. Consistent with this, human ASCs (hASCs) are shown in this study to express a plethora of ES pluripotent markers at the gene and protein level, including OCT4, Sox2, and Nanog. When intracellular distribution is examined in hASCs, both OCT4 and Sox2 are expressed within the nuclei of hASCs, consistent with their expression patterns in ES cells. However, a significant amount of expression can be noted within the hASC cytoplasm and a complete absence of nuclear expression is observed for Nanog. Recent descriptions of OCT4 transcript variants may explain the cytoplasmic expression of OCT4 in hASCs and consistent with this, hASCs do express both the OCT4A and 4B transcript variants at the gene level. However, discrepancies arise when these three pluripotent markers are studied at the protein level. Specifically, distinct differences in intracellular expression patterns were noted for OCT4, Sox2, and Nanog from commercial antibody to commercial antibody. These antibody discrepancies persisted when hMSCs and rat ASCs and MSCs were examined. Therefore, confirming the expression of OCT4, Sox2, and Nanog in adult stem cells with today's commercial antibodies must be carefully considered before the designation of pluripotent can be granted. J. Cell. Biochem. 106: 867–877, 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Enhancement-Mode AlN/GaN HFETs Using Cat-CVD SiN

High-performance enhancement-mode (E-mode) AIN (2.5 nm)/GaN heterostructure field-effect transistors (HFETs) were fabricated with a novel method using SiN passivation by catalytic chemical vapor deposition (Cat-CVD). We found that the formation of a 2-D electron gas (2DEG) in the AIN/GaN heterostructure can be controlled by the presence of the Cat-CVD SiN on the barrier layer. Before SiN deposition, the 2DEG at the AIN/GaN heterointerface was completely depleted because of the extremely thin barrier layer. On the other hand, after SiN deposition, the decrease in AIN surface barrier height induced a high-density 2DEG. The E-mode HFETs with gate lengths of 100-180 nm and threshold voltages from +0.14 to +0.55 V showed a maximum drain-current density of 0.70-0.92 A/mm and a maximum extrinsic transconductance of 362-400 mS/mm. A current-gain cutoff frequency of 87 GHz and maximum oscillation frequency of 149 GHz were obtained for the 100-nm-gate devices.
The Integration of Moses into Localization Industry

A majority of the localization industry is still unable to benefit from SMT, since it does not know how to integrate SMT system into its production workflow. This paper describes a workflow on how to integrate the open source SMT system Moses into computer-aided translation (CAT) tools. It introduces a software package which is able to export XLIFF data into a special InlineText format that is further processed and is sent as plain text to Moses as input. Then, the translated text is inserted back to the original file. This transformation is needed, otherwise the use of MT in the localization industry would hardly be advantageous, since formatting information would have to be manually added by localization professionals. A few attempts to bridge the localization industry and Moses were already done in the past, however, the method described here represents a new approach. 1 Credits This work was done with the support of Moravia Worldwide and in cooperation with Digital Silk Road and the Let’sMT! consortium.
Biological characterization of acute infection with ground squirrel hepatitis virus

Ground squirrel hepatitis virus (GSHV) is a small DNA virus, structurally and antigenically related to the human hepatitis B virus, which occurs naturally among certain wild populations of ground squirrels (P. L. Marion et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 77:2941-2945, 1980). Serum from naturally infected animals was used to transmit GSHV in the laboratory by parenteral inoculation of susceptible squirrels. Sixty percent of recipient animals developed viral surface antigenemia after a latent period of 2 to 3 months; three of these animals have remained viremic for over 9 months. Like hepatitis B virus, GSHV demonstrates marked hepatotropism, with viral DNA detected in significant quantities only in the liver, where an average of 6 X 10(2) to 6 X 10(3) viral DNA molecules per cell were found by molecular hybridization. However, histological signs of liver injury after acute infection are minimal. In contrast to infection of its natural host, parenteral administration of GSHV to rats, mice, guinea pigs, and hamsters did not result in demonstrable antigenemia, suggesting that the host range of GSHV, like that of hepatitis B virus, is narrow.
Associative classification based on Mutually Associated pattern

Recent studies have shown that associative classification is a promising classification method. However, when the minimum support is too low, associative classification often generates a large set of rules, which results in two main challenges: (1) how to select an appropriate subset of rules to build a classifier; and (2) how to select a best rule for classifying new instances. In this paper, we propose a new associative classification approach called ACMA (Associative Classification based on Mutually Associated pattern). It is distinguished from other associative classification algorithms in two aspects. First, in order to reduce the number of rules, ACMA selects mutually associated patterns to generate rules, and also exploits information entropy of items to reduce research space. Second, ACMA employs a new rule ranking method which considers mutual association between the itemset and the predictive class. Our experiments on six UCI data sets show that ACMA approach is an effective classification technique, and has better average classification accuracy in comparison with CBA.
DNA Binding Studies of Vinca Alkaloids: Experimental and Computational Evidence

Fluorescence studies on the indole alkaloids vinblastine sulfate, vincristine sulfate, vincamine and catharanthine have demonstrated the DNA binding ability of these molecules. The binding mode of these molecules in the minor groove of DNA is non-specific. A new parameter of the purine-pyrimidine base sequence specificty was observed in order to define the non-specific DNA binding of ligands. Catharanthine had shown ‘same’ pattern of ‘Pu-Py’ specificity while evaluating its DNA binding profile. The proton resonances of a DNA decamer duplex were assigned. The models of the drug:DNA complexes were analyzed for DNA binding features. The effect of temperature on the DNA binding was also evaluated.
The emergence of social phobia during clozapine treatment and its response to fluoxetine augmentation.

BACKGROUND The underlying neurochemical basis of social phobia has yet to be fully explained, but there are suggestions of serotonergic and dopaminergic dysfunction. The atypical neuroleptic clozapine has been reported to induce anxiety symptoms, probably owing to its effect on serotonergic pathways. We report 12 cases of schizophrenic patients who developed social phobia during clozapine treatment. METHOD Patients were assessed using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R, Patient Version, Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms, Scale for the Assessment of Positive Symptoms, the Liebowitz Social Phobia Scale, and the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale. They were reevaluated after 12 weeks of cotreatment with clozapine and fluoxetine. RESULTS In 8 of the 12 cases, symptoms responded (> or = 35% reduction in Liebowitz Social Phobia Scale score) with an adjunctive regimen of fluoxetine. CONCLUSION Data are discussed in light of neurochemical mechanisms and cognitive adaptations that could explain the onset of anxiety spectrum disorders (such as social phobia) in clozapine-treated schizophrenic subjects during remission of psychotic symptoms.