Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
One-way valve for medical infusion lines and the like

Check valve (6) for medical infusion lines and the like, comprising a diaphragm made of elastic material set between a first tubular connector (2) and a second tubular connector (3) and constituted by the end wall (8) of a cup-shaped element (7), the outer peripheral edge (8a) of which is normally pressed in seal contact against an annular valve seat with conical surface (12) of the first tubularconnector (2) under the axial thrust exerted by the side wall (9) of the cup-shaped element (7). The free edge (9a) of the side wall (9) of the cup-shaped element (7) is set resting against a transverse surface (14) of the second tubular connector (3) only in regions corresponding to angular portions (17) of the latter separated by non-resting angular portions (18).
Framing and the Public Agenda: Media Effects on the Importance of the Federal Budget Deficit

Abstract What explains the shift in public opinion over time on the issue of the 1996 U.S. federal budget? Public opinion polls demonstrate dramatic shifts in the percentage of people considering the budget issue to be the most important problem facing the country from November 1994 through April 1996. In this article, we model Roper Center opinion polls against a prediction of opinion from media content to investigate how media coverage affects the importance assigned to the budget issue. We identify four dominant frames present in media coverage of the budget issue and argue that a model combining the theories of agenda setting and framing provides a better explanation for the shifts in aggregate opinion than either theory on its own. By combining framing with the traditional agenda-setting approach, we take into account the nuances of cover age within the issue, in addition to the sheer amount of cover age, for a more complete explanation of media effects on public opinion on the issue of the federal b.
A diary examination of romantic and sexual partners withholding affectionate messages

Expressing and receiving affectionate messages have emotional and physiological benefits (Floyd, 2006a). Previously, research has called for an examination of why people withhold affectionate messages that may provide these positive effects (Horan & Booth-Butterfield, 2013). Accordingly, this study examined instances of withholding affection in a variety of romantic relationships. Participants initially completed general scales of deception and affection followed by a 7-day diary detailing what they felt when they withheld affection, what they communicated in place of affection, and their deceptive motives. After inductively developing a coding scheme, 12 themes were identified for what participants felt, the most common of which were liking, a desire for affection, and irritation. Eleven themes emerged for what was communicated in lieu of affection, some of which were moderated affection, rejection, and jealousy-evoking. Eleven themes emerged for reasons why participants withheld affection, including concern for perception, inappropriate circumstances, punishment, and using withholding affection to test a romantic partner. There were no variations in frequency of deception, expressed or received affection based on participant sex or relationship type. Withholding affection is a common and complex process in relationships.
Deep census of variable stars in a VLT/VIMOS field in Carina

Aims. We searched for variable stars in deep V -band images of a field towards the Galactic plane in Carina. Methods. The images were taken with the VIMOS instrument at ESO VLT during 4 contiguous nights in April 2005. We detected 348 variables among 50 897 stars in the magnitude range between $V = 15.4$ and $V = 24.5$ mag. After detection, we classified the variables by a direct eye inspection of their light curves. Results. All variable objects besides 9 OGLE transits in the field are new discoveries. We provide a complete catalog of all variables, which includes eclipsing/ellipsoidal binaries, miscellaneous pulsators (mostly δ Scuti-type variables), stars with flares, and other (irregular and likely long-period) variables. Only two of the stars in our sample are known to host planets. Conclusions. Our result has implications for future large variability surveys.
Tissue-Specific B-Cell Dysfunction and Generalized Memory B-Cell Loss during Acute SIV Infection

Background Primary HIV-infected patients display severe and irreversible damage to different blood B-cell subsets which is not restored by highly efficient anti-retroviral therapy (HAART). Because longitudinal investigations of primary HIV-infection is limited by the availability of lymphoid organs, we studied the tissue-specific B-cell dysfunctions in acutely simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) mac251-infected Cynomolgus macaques. Methods and Findings Experiments were performed on three groups of macaques infected for 14, 21 or 28 days and on three groups of animals treated with HAART for two-weeks either initiated at 4 h, 7 or 14 days post-infection (p.i.). We have simultaneously compared changes in B-cell phenotypes and functions and tissue organization of B-cell areas in various lymphoid organs. We showed that SIV induced a steady decline in SIgG-expressing memory (SIgD−CD27+) B-cells in spleen and lymph nodes during the first 4 weeks of infection, concomitant to selective homing/sequestration of B-cells to the small intestine and spleen. SIV non-specific Ig production was transiently increased before D14p.i. , whereas SIV-specific Ig production was only detectable after D14p.i. , coinciding with the presence of CD8+ T-cells and IgG-expressing plasma cells within germinal centres. Transient B-cell apoptosis on D14p.i. and commitment to terminal differentiation contributed to memory B-cell loss. HAART abrogated B-cell apoptosis, homing to the small intestine and SIV-specific Ig production but had minimal effect on early Ig production, increased B-cell proportions in spleen and loss of memory B-cells. Therefore, virus–B-cell interactions and SIV-induced inflammatory cytokines may differently contribute to early B-cell dysfunction and impaired SIV/HIV-specific antibody response. Conclusions These data establish tissue-specific impairments in B-cell trafficking and functions and a generalized and steady memory B-cell loss in secondary lymphoid organs. Characterization of underlying mechanisms would be helpful in designing new therapeutic strategies to dampen B-cell activation and increases HIV/SIV specific antibody response.
Page Size Selection for OLTP Databases on SSD Storage

Flash SSDs are a technology that has the potential of changing the database architecture and principles. We reevaluate present trend of growing database page sizes considering its validity for SSD-based database storage. Our major findings are: (a) on Flash storage this trend is reverted and best OLTP performance can be attained with smaller page sizes; (b) DBMS with smaller page sizes require less buffer space while providing the same performance; (c) due to the lower response times we report better CPU utilization for small page sizes.
Validation of a Computational Model for a Coupled Liquid and Gas Flow in Micro-Nozzles

The work presents verification of a numerical model for micro-jet focusing, where a coupled liquid and gas flow occurs in a gas dynamic virtual nozzle (GDVN). Nozzles of this type are used in serial femtosecond crystallography experiments to deliver samples into X-ray beam. The following performance criteria are desirable: the jet to be longer than 100 µm to avoid nozzle shadowing, the diameter as small as possible to minimize the background signal, and the jet velocity as high as possible to avoid sample’s double X-ray exposure. Previous comprehensive numerical investigation has been extended to include numerical analysis of the tip its velocity was estimated based on a distance a droplet traveled between two consecutive illumination pulses with a known time delay. The experimental and computational study was performed for a constant liquid flow rate of 14  l/min and the gas mass flow rate in the range from 5 mg/min to 25 mg/min. The coupled numerical model reasonably predicts the jet speed and shape as a function of the gas flow.
Novel Design of Flux-Intensifying Interior Permanent Magnet Synchronous Machine Suitable for Self-Sensing Control at Very Low Speed and Power Conversion

This paper proposes a new rotor design for flux-intensifying interior permanent magnet synchronous machine (FI-IPM SM) that is more suitable for self-sensing control at zero/very low speed based on saliency-tracking methods and retains acceptable power conversion capability as compared to a traditional flux-weakening IPM SM (FW-IPM SM). Design steps for the rotor structure of the new machine are laid out and discussed to emphasize key design challenges. The proposed FI-IPM SM and a conventional FW-IPM SM with similar torque-speed capability are made to evaluate performances in power conversion as well as self-sensing capability at very low speed. Finite-element analysis (FEA) is used to evaluate each machine's performance. The proposed FI-IPM SM shows less variation in the saliency when the machine is loaded, leading to a possibility of better self-sensing performance at very low speed as compared to the traditional FW-IPM SM. Experimental results on the efficiency and self-sensing performance of these two machines are presented to verify the design methodology.
University Students’ Beliefs, Awareness and Attitudes regarding the Target Culture Learning in an EFL Context

The present study aimed at finding out the university students’ general approach to the target culture learning in an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) context by investigating the three sub-categories of beliefs, awareness and attitudes. The purpose of this study is to discover what students think about the target culture learning, how much they are aware of the target culture, and what their attitudes are towards the target culture learning. For this purpose, a number of related factors have been investigated. Also, this study is based on the theory that accepts that there is a close relationship between culture and language. This study was designed as both qualitative and quantitative study which involves a 5 point Likert-scale questionnaire and a six-item semi-structured interview. A total of 731 students of Eastern Mediterranean University (EMU) from 20 different departments participated in this research study. Only Turkish, Turkish Cypriot and Iranian students were included in the study because they constitute the biggest student population at EMU. The participants were selected randomly from the Preparatory class, 1 st year, 2 nd year, 3 rd year, 4 th year, Master’s and PhD degrees. The results of the study revealed that university students who have the strongest beliefs, the highest level of awareness and the most positive attitudes regarding the target culture learning are female students. As far as the nationality is concerned, Turkish Cypriot students showed greater awareness of the target culture learning than Turkish students but not Iranian students. In terms of age, the greatest awareness is associated with the students at the ages between 23 and 28. In addition, considering the findings, it is understood that the ones who have stayed in an English-speaking country more than a year and the ones who have a high level of International English Language Testing System (IELTS) score are more positive towards the target culture learning. In terms of educational field, it can be said that the students who study in the Department of English Language Teaching (ELT) of the Education Faculty have the strongest beliefs, are more aware and have the most positive attitudes regarding the target culture learning. In terms of year of attendance, graduate degree students (MA and PhD) seem to display greater awareness and more positive attitudes compared to the English Preparatory School students. There is a similar relationship between exit level 4 th year students and the English Preparatory School students. In addition, the results showed that most of the students are open to learning the target culture while learning the English language. Finally, the results of this study revealed a number of implications for the ELT environment in terms of learning and teaching the target culture with the English
Genome mining reveals high incidence of putative lipopeptide biosynthesis NRPS/PKS clusters containing fatty acyl‐AMP ligase genes in biofilm‐forming cyanobacteria

Cyanobacterial lipopeptides have antimicrobial and antifungal bioactivities with potential for use in pharmaceutical research. However, due to their hemolytic activity and cytotoxic effects on human cells, they may pose a health issue if produced in substantial amounts in the environment. In bacteria, lipopeptides can be synthesized via several well‐evidenced mechanisms. In one of them, fatty acyl‐AMP ligase (FAAL) initiates biosynthesis by activation of a fatty acyl residue. We have performed a bioinformatic survey of the cyanobacterial genomic information available in the public databases for the presence of FAAL‐containing non‐ribosomal peptide synthetase/polyketide synthetase (NRPS/PKS) biosynthetic clusters, as a genetic basis for lipopeptide biosynthesis. We have identified 79 FAAL genes associated with various NRPS/PKS clusters in 16% of 376 cyanobacterial genomic assemblies available, suggesting that FAAL is frequently incorporated in NRPS/PKS biosynthetases. FAAL was present either as a stand‐alone protein or fused either to NRPS or PKS. Such clusters were more frequent in derived phylogenetic lineages with larger genome sizes, which is consistent with the general pattern of NRPS/PKS pathways distribution. The putative lipopeptide clusters were more frequently found in genomes of cyanobacteria that live attached to surfaces and are capable of forming microbial biofilms. While lipopeptides are known in other bacterial groups to play a role in biofilm formation, motility, and colony expansion, their functions in cyanobacterial biofilms need to be tested experimentally. According to our data, benthic and terrestrial cyanobacteria should be the focus of a search for novel candidates for lipopeptide drug synthesis and the monitoring of toxic lipopeptide production.
Tag-sets for the Generation of Nominals in Collaborative Dialogue

I describe the tag-sets I have used for testing algorithms and machine learning (ML) models that decide the content of nominals in collaborative computer-mediated dialogue. These tag-sets (Jordan, 2000b; Di Eugenio et al., 1998) that are based in part on the DRAMA (Passonneau, 1997) and DAMSL coding schemes (Allen and Core, 1997). Collectively the tag-sets provide information about the nominals expressed, the discourse relations between the nominals (e.g. coreference, set, class), the domain actions under discussion, and agreement states during collaborative negotiations as derived from influences on the speaker and hearer and the problem solving state as characterized by parameter settings. I end with an assessment of the usefulness of these tag-sets.
Passive trajectory control for port-Hamiltonian systems

This paper is devoted to trajectory tracking control for port-Hamiltonian systems. The control law presented here is extension of an existing passive velocity field contr oller for fully actuated mechanical systems. The proposed method employs vector fields on the phase (co-tangent) spaces inste ad of those on the velocity (tangent) spaces. Since port-Hamil tonian systems can describe a wider class of systems than conventio al mechanical ones, the proposed method is applicable to vario us systems. Furthermore, by making use of the port-Hamiltonian structure of the closed loop system, we can obtain a novel controller to assign the desired total energy. Moreover, a numerical simulation of a simple nonholonomic system exhib its the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Computer aided design for Origamic Architecture models with polygonal representation

An Origamic Architecture (OA) is a folded sheet of perforated paper from which a three-dimensional structure "pops up" when it is opened. It is similar to a "pop-up story book", but its unique feature is that it is made purely by cutting a single piece of paper. Because of this limitation, designing an OA requires considerable experience. We propose a computerised method which assists design of OAs. An OA is modelled using a set of planar polygons. This model must satisfy the conditions required of a valid, realisable OA. A unique point of our method is the application of Boolean set operations to the polygons on the unfolded pattern to guarantee that the model can be made from a single sheet of paper. We also present a procedure for checking the model's validity. Additionally, we propose methods for creating openings, for generating unfolded patterns, and for displaying folding animation. We have implemented a system based on these methods and demonstrated its usefulness for creating OA. Our system allows designers to intuitively design OA models and to easily generate the unfolded patterns
2 of 10 Inter-noise 2014 2 . EXPERIMENTAL SET-UP 2 . 1

We tested trailing edge serrations for the reduction of the emitted sound from an aerofoil in the aero-acoustic wind tunnel of Virginia Tech University. The aerofoil was developed for the use on the outer part of the blade of a wind turbine. Two different serration geometries were tested. The geometry of the serrations is confidential to LM Wind Power A/S. The far field sound was measured with a microphone array outside the test section. Additionally the aerofoil surface pressure was measured at 62 chordwise positions. The chord based Reynolds number was 1.6 million. The serrations had very small influence on the aerodynamic performance of the aerofoil. At low angles the emitted sound was decreased by up to 8 dB, but the noise reduction became less with increasing angle of attack. At very high angles of attack the emitted sound was increased. The measured far field sound was compared to a modified TNO model using Howe’s expression for sound emitted from a serrated edge. The comparison was good for the straight edge configuration, but the noise reduction by a serrated edge was significantly overestimated by the model. The expression for sinusoidal serrations gave better results than the one for saw-tooth serrations.
Achievable Rates of Space-Division Multiplexed Submarine Links Subject to Nonlinearities and Power Feed Constraints

We study the achievable rates of submarine fiber systems in the high-dimensional design space of variables including span length, launch power, number of spatial channels, and power feed current. We identify the regimes in which nonlinearities or power feed equipment constraints become dominant, and demonstrate that optimized system design evolves toward the linear regime as the system scales to a high number of spatial channels. We calculate the bit rate achievable by uniform and probabilistically shaped M-ary Quadrature Amplitude Modulation constellations to identify potential capacity-achieving implementations.
Characterization of cutaneous photosensitivity in healthy volunteers receiving talaporfin sodium

Purpose: Historically, cutaneous photosensitivity has been the most common side effect of treatment with light‐activated drugs. Talaporfin sodium is a water soluble photosensitizer in commercial use and clinical development that is cleared from the body relatively rapidly. This trial was conducted to determine the period of skin photosensitivity in healthy subjects given talaporfin sodium and to determine the correlation between photosensitivity and plasma levels of talaporfin sodium.
Distributed community detection in social networks with genetic algorithms

Community detection in social networks is a hot research topic that has received great interest in the recent years due to its wide applicability. This paper proposes a scalable approach for community structure identification using a genetic algorithm. Two existing fitness functions are analyzed and genetic parameters are tuned on thoroughly studied networks with known community structures. Experiments on a large data set show how the amount of time necessary to determine meaningful communities in a network is significantly reduced by running the algorithm distributed. This enables the analysis of larger, real-world networks. We then propose a new fitness function that offers a good tradeoff between efficiency and speed.
Upregulation of PP2Ac predicts poor prognosis and contributes to aggressiveness in hepatocellular carcinoma

ABSTRACT Protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) is a heterotrimeric protein phosphatase consisting of a 36-kD catalytic C subunit (PP2Ac). This study aimed to explore the prognostic and biological significance of PP2Ac in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). High PP2Ac expression was significantly (P < 0.01) associated with serum hepatitis B surface antigen positivity, serum hepatitis B e antigen positivity, liver cirrhosis, moderate to poor differentiation grade, advanced disease stage, intrahepatic metastasis, and early recurrence in HCC. Multivariate analysis revealed PP2Ac as an independent prognostic factor for overall survival. Enforced expression of hepatitis B virus X protein (HBx) and its carboxyl-terminal truncated isoform induced PP2Ac expression in HCC cells. Co-immunoprecipitation assay revealed a direct interaction between PP2Ac and HBx. Small interfering RNA-mediated knockdown of PP2Ac significantly inhibited in vitro cell proliferation, colony formation, migration, and invasion and reduced tumor growth in an xenograft mouse model. In contrast, overexpression of PP2Ac promoted HCC cell proliferation, colony formation, and tumorigenesis. Additionally, silencing of PP2Ac impaired the growth-promoting effects on HepG2 HCC cells elicited by overexpression of carboxyl-terminal truncated HBx. Gene expression profiling analysis showed that PP2Ac downregulation modulated the expression of numerous genes involved in cell cycle and apoptosis regulation. Collectively, PP2Ac upregulation has a poor prognostic impact on the overall survival of HCC patients and contributes to the aggressiveness of HCC. PP2Ac may represent a potential therapeutic target for HCC.
In Vitro Bioaccessibility and Effect of Mangifera indica (Ataulfo) Leaf Extract on Induced Dyslipidemia.

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the leading causes of death in the world, and epidemiological evidence points to dietary habits, stress, and obesity as major risk factors promoting pathological conditions like atherosclerosis, hypertension, and thrombosis. Current therapeutic approaches for CVDs rely on lifestyle changes and/or the use of drug agents. However, since the efficacy of such interventions is often limited by poor compliance and/or significant side effects, continued research on new preventive and therapeutic approaches is much needed. Our study is aimed to determine the bioaccessibility, total content of phenolic compounds, and antioxidant capacity (DPPH·, ABTS·+) of a methanolic extract from Mangifera indica L. leaves (MEM), and its lipid-lowering effect on an induced dyslipidemia model in Wistar rats. Our results showed that mangiferin is the main component of MEM. The extract showed a total content of polyphenol compounds of 575.28 gallic acid equivalents per dry matter basis (GAE/g db), antioxidant activity 77.68 μmol Trolox equivalents per gram (TE/g) db as measured by DPPH· and 20,630 μmol TE/g db by ABTS·+, and 12% of phenolic compounds were bioaccessible, and 100 mg/kg of MEM reduced hyperlipidemia levels induced in Wistar rats. Further study on the potential use of MEM as a nutraceutical to prevent CVDs in high-fat diet consumers is required.