Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Electrical characteristics of carbon nanotube network fabricated by a simple transfer method

We demonstrated a simple transfer method enables to fabricate the single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) film on the plastic substrate. SWCNT network was separated from the initial substrate and transferred onto another substrate using the nitric acid. We also found that electrical conductivity of transferred film was improved. The sheet resistance of SWCNT films was changed from a 150∼300 Ω/sq to a 80∼150 Ω/sq after transferring the SWCNT film in the range of 70∼80% transmittance. This is contributed to the densification of the SWCNT network. During the transfer process, the nitric acid fills the voids between the tubes and form homogeneous interfaces among the tubes, liquid and air. Pressure differences at the interface exert bending moments to the tubes and induce deformation. By the way, deformation leads to reduce the distance between the tubes and it is stuck together due to the van der Waals forces. We suggest that this transfer method provides electrically improved SWCNT films as well as easy, contrallable and inexpensive way to fabricate. This work can open up new possibility for the flexible electronics.
Caspase-3-like activity is necessary for IL-2 release in activated Jurkat T-cells.

The caspase family of proteases has previously been implicated in the biochemical cascade leading to apoptotic cell death. Recently caspase-3 was reported to be cleaved into its catalytically active subunits (17 and 13 kDa) following phytohemagglutinin (PHA) activation of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (C. Miossec et al., J. Biol. Chem. 272, 13459-13462). More recently, J. M. Zapata and colleagues (J. Biol. Chem. 273, 6916-6920, 1998), however, proposed that caspase-3 activity detected during T-cell activation was due to a methodological artifact related to the composition of the cell lysis buffer. Here we show that in PHA-activated Jurkat T-cells using the recommended lysis buffer detailed by Zapata et al., a caspase-3-like protease is activated and is accompanied by cleavage of PARP and alpha-spectrin into cleavage products suggestive of caspase-3 proteolytic activation. LDH release did not increase following PHA stimulation in this paradigm. Two caspase inhibitors, carbobenzoxy-Asp-CH2OC(O)-2,6-dichlorobenzene (Z-D-DCB) and acetyl-Asp-Glu-Val-Asp-CHO, blocked IL-2 release in a dose-dependent manner. Caspase-3-like protease-generated PARP and alpha-spectrin breakdown product formation was also reduced by Z-D-DCB. In addition, Jurkat T-cells costimulated with anti-CD3 plus anti-CD28 produced significant levels of IL-2 that were also blocked by these caspase inhibitors. Importantly, IL-2 was determined in cell culture supernatants, thus avoiding a cell lysis step that might have enabled activation of caspase-3 by granzyme B. Collectively, these data support the role of caspase-3-like protease activity in Jurkat T-cell activation and demonstrate that caspase-3 like activity is necessary for IL-2 release in PHA-activated and anti-CD3/anti-CD28 costimulated Jurkat T-cells.
Sequence of plasmid pGT5 from the archaeon Pyrococcus abyssi: evidence for rolling-circle replication in a hyperthermophile

The plasmid pGT5 (3,444 bp) from the hyperthermophilic archaeon Pyrococcus abyssi GE5 has been completely sequenced. Two major open reading frames with a good coding probability are located on the same strand and cover 85% of the total sequence. The larger open reading frame encodes a putative polypeptide which exhibits sequence similarity with Rep proteins of plasmids using the rolling-circle mechanism for replication. Upstream of this open reading frame, we have detected an 11-bp motif identical to the double-stranded origin of several bacterial plasmids that replicate via the rolling-circle mechanism. A putative single-stranded origin exhibits similarities both to bacterial primosome-dependent single-stranded initiation sites and to bacterial primase (dnaG) start sites. A single-stranded form of pGT5 corresponding to the plus strand was detected in cells of P. abyssi. These data indicate that pGT5 replicates via the rolling-circle mechanism and suggest that members of the domain Archaea contain homologs of several bacterial proteins involved in chromosomal DNA replication. Phylogenetic analysis of Rep proteins from rolling-circle replicons suggest that diverse families diverged before the separation of the domains Archaea, Bacteria, and Eucarya.
Robert K. Merton: sociology of science and sociology as science

Robert K. Merton (1910-2003) was one of the most influential sociologists of the twentieth century, producing clear theories and innovative research that continue to shape multiple disciplines. Merton's reach can be felt in the study of social structure, social psychology, deviance, professions, organizations, culture, and science. Yet for all his fame, Merton is only partially understood. He is treated by scholars as a functional analyst, when in truth his contributions transcend paradigm. Gathering together twelve major sociologists, Craig Calhoun launches a thorough reconsideration of Merton's achievements and inspires a renewed engagement with sociological theory. Merton's work addressed the challenges of integrating research and theory. It connected different fields of empirical research and spoke to the importance of overcoming divisions between allegedly pure and applied sociology. Merton also sought to integrate sociology with the institutional analysis of science, each informing the other. By bringing together different aspects of his work in one volume, Calhoun illuminates the interdisciplinary—and unifying—dimensions of Merton's approach, while also advancing the intellectual agenda of an increasingly vital area of study.
Correction to ‘Wolf reintroduction to Scotland: public attitudes and consequences for red deer management’

Reintroductions are important tools for the conservation of individual species, but recently more attention has been paid to the restoration of ecosystem function, and to the importance of carrying out a full risk assessment prior to any reintroduction programme. In much of the Highlands of Scotland, wolves (Canis lupus) were eradicated by 1769, but there are currently proposals for them to be reintroduced. Their main wild prey if reintroduced would be red deer (Cervus elaphus). Red deer are themselves a contentious component of the Scottish landscape. They support a trophy hunting industry but are thought to be close to carrying capacity, and are believed to have a considerable economic and ecological impact. High deer densities hamper attempts to reforest, reduce bird densities and compete with livestock for grazing. Here, we examine the probable consequences for the red deer population of reintroducing wolves into the Scottish Highlands using a structured Markov predator-prey model. Our simulations suggest that reintroducing wolves is likely to generate conservation benefits by lowering deer densities. It would also free deer estates from the financial burden of costly hind culls, which are required in order to achieve the Deer Commission for Scotland's target deer densities. However, a reintroduced wolf population would also carry costs, particularly through increased livestock mortality. We investigated perceptions of the costs and benefits of wolf reintroductions among rural and urban communities in Scotland and found that the public are generally positive to the idea. Farmers hold more negative attitudes, but far less negative than the organizations that represent them.
The effect of the Myomo robotic orthosis on reach performance after stroke

Stroke affects 795,000 people yearly. Close to 85 percent of stroke survivors experience some degree of stroke-related upper extremity impairment due to spastic paresis (Nakayama, Jorgenson, Pedersen, Raaschou, & Olsen, 1994). Residual upper extremity impairments are associated with increased burden of care (Skidmore, Rogers, Chandler, & Holm, 2006) and decreased ability to garner gainful employment (Desrosiers et al., 2006). Current best evidence supports the use of a task-oriented practice regimen for the treatment of upper extremity impairment; however, many people have insufficient motor control to participate. It was the goal of this study to investigate the effect of the Myomo robotic upper extremity orthosis, a device that facilitates participation in a task-oriented practice regimen, on reach kinematic performance. Specifically, we examined two research questions: Question 1. What is the immediate effect of the Myomo orthosis on kinematic performance of reach? We predicted that before training, temporal (movement efficiency) and spatial characteristics (angular displacement, movement error, and acceleration cycles) of kinematic performance would be better with the Myomo orthosis than without the device. Question 2. What is the training effect of the Myomo orthosis plus training kinematic performance? We predicted that temporal (movement efficiency) and spatial characteristics (angular displacement, movement error, and acceleration cycles) of kinematic performance without the Myomo orthosis would be better after 16 training sessions. Findings suggest that the immediate effect of the Myomo orthosis on reaching performance (question 1) appears to be more attenuated than the training effect of the Myomo orthosis (question 2). All 6 participants demonstrated improvements in movement efficiency for one or more of three reaching targets. Five of the 6 participants demonstrated improvements in one or more of the spatial characteristics of kinematic performance. Effect size calculations suggest that the magnitude of the training effect was greatest for movement efficiency and angular displacement (medium effect size) and the least for movement error and acceleration cycles (small effect size).
Reputation in Cloud Computing

Nowadays the concept of cloud computing is getting popular around the Net. The capacity and scalability that cloud computing offers is making it an alternative to consider when a good infrastructure is needed. It does not matter what kind of application it is, if a cloud is used with it is due to the necessity to scale at any moment, besides the capability to have unlimited resources when they are needed. Cloud companies are offering different combinations of services and configurations, due to the nature of the cloud; software as a service (SaaS) vendors don’t usually mention hardware availability, space or process capacity at all, instead promoting their services along with the concept of “unlimited”. This paper studies how software as a service could hold problems of performance and availability when the users share the same resources and cloud. The author propose different theoretical mechanisms to avoid the problems of reputation in the cloud computing systems. Thus solutions in which the user’s behavior, user’s ranking, and the costumer democracy are taken in consideration to develop different ways to fix of the current threads.
Distributed shortest distance consensus problem in multi-agent systems

In this paper, a distributed shortest-distance consensus problem is studied under dynamically changing network topologies. Here each agent is assigned to a certain convex region and has information about only its own region. All these regions might not have an intersection. Through local interaction with their neighbors, multiple agents need to collectively converge to a common location that has the shortest total squared distances to these regions. First, a distributed algorithm with a signum function is introduced. A corresponding condition is given to guarantee that all agents finally reach consensus while minimizing the distance performance function. Second, a continuous approximation algorithm is then proposed to remove possible chattering. It is proved that all agents finally converge to a consensus zone where the distance between every two connected agents is no larger than the algorithm parameter. A bound of the difference between the given distance performance function and its minimum is derived, which is proportional to the algorithm parameter. Third, a distributed algorithm is proposed to take into account the case where the agents' regions are time varying. It is shown that the agents reach consensus while minimizing the distance performance function when the regions do not vary abruptly.
L'apport de la créativité dans les processus d'éco-innovation - Proposition de l'outil EcoASIT pour favoriser l'éco-idéation de systèmes durables

Aujourd'hui les challenges portes par le developpement durable necessitent de developper de nouvelles offres et de nouveaux usages dans le cadre d'un processus d'eco-innovation integrant les approches environnementales et societales. Cette these a pour objectif d'etudier l'interet d'utiliser des outils d'aide a la creativite afin d'instrumenter les phases de generation d'idees et de nouveaux concepts lors des processus d'eco-innovation. A partir d'un etat de l'art sur le concept d'eco-innovation et sur les outils d'aide a l'eco-innovation, nous montrons ainsi que, s'il existe de nombreux outils, peu d'entre eux sont precisement focalises sur la phase de generation d'idees, ou ideation. De meme, peu d'entre eux permettent de stimuler l'ensemble des axes du developpement durable. Pour repondre a cette lacune, nos recherches s'appuient sur une adaptation de l'outil de creativite ASIT en EcoASIT. Cette adaptation est argumentee sur le plan conceptuel en montrant les affiliations theoriques entre les deux outils et sur le plan experimental en presentant les resultats de nos differentes experimentations. Nous montrons ainsi que l'outil EcoASIT presente un fort potentiel dans le processus d'eco-innovation en proposant de stimuler efficacement les phases d'ideation sur l'ensemble des axes du developpement durable.
Indirect Associations of Anxiety Sensitivity with Tobacco, Alcohol, and Other Drug Use Problems Through Emotional Disorder Symptoms in Adolescents

Abstract Theoretically, anxiety sensitivity—fear of anxiety symptoms—enhances perception of and emotional reactivity to autonomic arousal and mental distress, thereby increasing negative affect and motivation to use substances for negative reinforcement. Because no prior study of adolescents has tested if anxiety sensitivity is indirectly associated with substance use problems through symptoms of emotional disorders (i.e., disorders involving high levels of negative affect), the current cross-sectional study examined this theoretical pathway. Participants included ninth-grade students from 10 different high schools in the Los Angeles metropolitan area (N = 3005; 54.3% female). Self-report measures of anxiety sensitivity, emotional disorder symptoms, tobacco dependence, and alcohol and other drug problems were administered. Controlling for sex, race/ethnicity, parental education, school, and impulsiveness, we tested the associations of anxiety sensitivity with tobacco, alcohol, and other drug use problems as well as the indirect effects of anxiety sensitivity on each domain of substance use problems through emotional disorder symptoms. Anxiety sensitivity was associated with more severe tobacco dependence and greater alcohol problems and other drug problems, and anxiety sensitivity further was indirectly associated with all three domains of substance use problems through emotional disorder symptoms. Current findings suggest that adolescents high in anxiety sensitivity tend to experience emotional disorder symptoms, which may increase risk for substance use problems. Interventions that target anxiety sensitivity and enhance negative-affect coping skills may assist in preventing and reducing adolescent substance use problems.
Optimal Design of Wavelength Selective Thermal Emitter for Thermophotovoltaic Applications.

We theoretically and numerically demonstrate optimal design of wavelength selective thermal emitter using one-dimensional (1D) and two-dimensional (2D) metal-dielectric gratings for thermophotovoltaic (TPV) applications. Proposed design consists of tungsten (W) and silicon dioxide (SiO2) gratings which can withstand high temperatures. Radiative properties of 1D grating were calculated using a numerical method, while effective medium approximation was used for 2D gratings. Optimal designs were obtained such that output power is maximum for GaSb photovoltaic (PV) cell at emitter temperature of 1500 K and radiated energy for longer wavelengths is limited to a low value. A constrained optimization was performed using genetic algorithm (GA) to arrive at optimal design.
A simple assay of intrinsic factor-vitamin B12 complex employing the binding intrinsic factor antibody

The reaction between binding intrinsic factor antibody and intrinsic factor-vitamin B12 complex has been studied. Initially in the zone of antibody excess, the relationship between the amount of antigen present and the amount of antigen-antibody complex adsorbed onto zirconium phosphate gel was linear. With increasing amounts of antigen, the curve departed from linearity and reached a plateau. The linear portion of the reaction forms the basis of a simple and reproducible assay for quantitating intrinsic factor to which vitamin B12 has already been bound. The assay provides a method for studying the fate of intrinsic factor-vitamin B12 complex during digestion and absorption. In two normal subjects given radioactive vitamin B12 orally, aspiration of ileal contents showed that only 50 to 70% of the radioactivity was bound to intrinsic factor at that level.
Solution structure of TA0895, a MoaD homologue from Thermoplasma acidophilum

Jinwon Jung, In Young Yeo, Eunmi Hong, Adelinda Yee, Cheryl H. Arrowsmith, and Weontae Lee* Department of Biochemistry, College of Science and National Research Laboratory, Yonsei University, Seoul 120-749, Korea Institute of Life Science and Biotechnology, Yonsei University, Seoul 120-749, Korea Division of Molecular and Structural Biology, Ontario Cancer Institute and Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5G 2M9
Parallel efficient algorithms and their programming

2 Ce rapport contient les deux premiers chapitres du tutoriel " Parallel Computer Algebra " donné au colloque annuel de calcul formel ISSAC (Juillet 97, Hawaii) par Jean-Louis Roch et Gilles Vil-lard. Il décrit les bases pour la construction, l'analyse et la programmation d'algorithmesparalì eles sur des architectures distribuées. Utilisant les techniquesà la base de l'algorithmiqueparalì ele syn-chrone PRAM, il montre comment elles peuventêtre appliquéesà la construction d'algorithmes paralì eles qui conduisentà des programmes performants sur des architectures distribuées asyn-chrones. Deux points sont alors critiques: la prise en compte des surcoûts de communication et d'ordonnancement. Le premier chapitre présente les techniques permettant la construction d'algorithmes efficaces. Différents critères doiventêtre minimisés: le nombre d'opérations qui doit rester proche du nom-bre optimal d'opérations sur une machine séquentielle, le tempsparalì ele minimal (i.e. sur un nombre infini de processeurs) pour permettre que le temps d'exécution diminue lorsque le nom-bre de processeurs augmente (on parle d'extensibilité), le volume de communications pour limiter leur surcoût sur une architecture distribuée. Pris séparément, ces différents critéres conduisentà des algorithmes fondamentalement différents. Un algorithme efficace doit alors réaliser un bon compromis entre ces critères, pris deuxà deux ou dans leur ensemble; il est souvent basé sur un couplage entre ces différents algorithmes: on parle de poly-algorithmes ou d'algorithmes en cascade. Différents exemples illustrent les techniques de base pour construire des algorithmes efficaces réalisant des compromis intéressants. Les algorithmes sont représentés par des graphes de flots de données. Leur programmation est explicitéè a partir d'un langage abstrait, ATH (Asynchronous Tasks Handling). Ledeuxì eme chapitré etudie l'ordonnancement de tels algorithmes sur une architecture dis-tribuée asynchrone (modèle LogP). Le cas le plus général o` u le graphe est inconnu (les tâches qui le constituent sont construites en cours d'exécution et sont de durées inconnues) est spécifique-mentétudié. Un algorithme d'ordonnancement en-ligne qui assure des exécutions optimales pour un algorithmeparalì ele efficace tel ceuxétudiés dans le chapitre 1 est explicité. En conclusion, le langage ATHAPASCAN qui permet l'implémentation d'un tel ordonnancement est présenté. Ce langage (implémenté par une bibliothèque C++) est une réalisation concrète du langage ATH.
A variant of a radix-10 combinational multiplier

We consider the problem of adding the partial products in the combinational decimal multiplier presented by Lang and Nannarelli. In the original paper this addition is done with a tree of decimal carry-save adders. In this paper, we treat the problem using the multi-operand decimal addition previously published by Dadda, where the sum of each column of the partial product array is obtained first in binary form and then converted to decimal. The multiplication, using a 90 nm CMOS technology, in this modified scheme takes 2.51 ns, while in the original scheme it takes 2.65 ns. The area of the two schemes is roughly the same.
Effects of Cytochrome P450 2C9 Polymorphism on Bosentan Metabolism

Cytochrome P450 (P450) 2C9 is an important member of the P450 enzyme superfamily, with 58 CYP2C9 allelic variants previously reported. Genetic polymorphisms of CYP2C9 significantly influence the efficacy and safety of some drugs, which might cause adverse effects and therapeutic failure. The aim of this study was to assess the catalytic activities of 38 human CYP2C9 alleles, including 24 novel alleles (*36–*60) found in the Han Chinese population, toward bosentan (BOS) in vitro. Insect microsomes expressing the 38 CYP2C9 alleles were incubated with 10–625 μM bosentan for 30 minutes at 37°C and terminated by cooling to −80°C immediately. BOS and hydroxyl bosentan, the major metabolite of BOS, were analyzed by ultra-performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry system. Thirty-eight defective alleles can be classified into three categories according to the relative clearance value compared with wild type: nine alleles exhibited significantly increased intrinsic clearance values (Vmax/Km) compared with the wild type (1.5-fold–∼4.9-fold relative clearance); nine alleles exhibited significantly reduced intrinsic clearance values compared with the wild type (0.6–28.9% relative clearance). The remaining 20 alleles exhibited no significant difference (1-fold) in enzyme activity compared with the wild type. These findings suggest that more attention should be directed to subjects carrying these infrequent CYP2C9 alleles when administering BOS in the clinic. This is the first report of all these rare alleles for BOS metabolism, providing fundamental data for further clinical studies on CYP2C9 alleles.