Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Structure formation in inhomogeneous dark energy models

We investigate how inhomogeneous quintessence models may have a specific signature even in the linear regime of large-scale structure formation. The dynamics of the collapse of a dark matter halo is governed by the value or the dynamical evolution of the dark energy equation of state, the energy density's initial conditions and its homogeneity nature in the highly non-linear regime. These have a direct impact on the redshift of collapse, altering in consequence the linearly extrapolated density threshold above which structures will end up collapsing. We compute this quantity for minimally coupled and coupled quintessence models, examining two extreme scenarios: first, when the quintessence field does not exhibit fluctuations on cluster scales and below - homogeneous dark energy; and secondly, when the field inside the overdensity collapses along with the dark matter - inhomogeneous dark energy. One shows that inhomogeneous dark energy models present distinct features which may be used to confront them with observational data, for instance, galaxy number counting. Fitting formulae for the linearly extrapolated density threshold above which structures will end up collapsing are provided for models of dark energy with constant equation of state.
Process Modelling of Induction Welding for Thermoplastic Composite Materials By Neural Networks

Induction welding for thermoplastic composite materials uses an alternating current flowing through a coil to induce an electromagnetic field and generate eddy current inside laminate with various fiber orientations – the generated heat causes the laminate to heat up and melt the polymer. As a pressure is applied to the induction heating zones, cohesive bonding may occur during the melting of the polymer. The welding quality of the composite materials is highly influenced by the temperature varying inside the heating zones. Thus, it is beneficial for induction welding if temperature varying during heating can be acquired given a set of welding parameters, such as current, pressure, fiber orientations, etc. Conducting practical induction heating experiments for this purpose is laborious and time consuming given the large varying space of welding parameters. In this paper, we propose to address this problem by using machine learning techniques to model the relation between the welding parameters and the temperature varying inside the heating zones. We conduct two sets of induction heating experiments for laminate welding and the collected sample temperature varying data are used to train the neural networks with input of welding parameters and output of the predicted temperature varying. Testing of the models demonstrates that process modeling of induction welding with machine learning techniques is viable.
The Impact of the Arts for Students with Moderate to Severe Disabilities

Students with moderate to severe disabilities are often left out of arts programs, especially in rural areas where resources are limited and drama, music and art classes are often not available. Research shows that engagement increases for students in special education when the arts are implemented (Anderson, 2015). The action research study supported this by focusing on students with moderate to severe disabilities in a self-contained classroom. The classroom teacher worked with a teaching artist to start an art program for students with moderate to severe disabilities over a six-week period. It is possible to create a high quality arts integration program while implementing effective planning and collaboration with other teachers and artists. This study showed an increase in student interest in art and an increase in understanding of art skills when collaboration within the framework of arts integration was implemented.
A decentralized approach to formation maneuvers

This paper presents a behavior-based approach to formation maneuvers for groups of mobile robots. Complex formation maneuvers are decomposed into a sequence of maneuvers between formation patterns. The paper presents three formation control strategies. The first strategy uses relative position information configured in a bidirectional ring topology to maintain the formation. The second strategy injects interrobot damping via passivity techniques. The third strategy accounts for actuator saturation. Hardware results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control strategies.
Age-related bone loss. A hypothesis and initial assessment in mice.

The osteopenia associated with advanced age appears to be a universal phenomenon in humans and animals, but the mechanisms by which it occurs are understood incompletely. However, the explanation must lie in an absolute or relative diminution in the level of osteoblastic bone-forming activity when compared with osteoclastic bone-resorbing activity. The authors postulated that with old age there would be a reduction in the number or function or both of osteoblastic stem cells that could account for part of the diminution in bone formation. They further postulated that there would be either no change or an increase in osteoclastic potential and bone resorption. To test these concepts, bone marrow cells were isolated from 4- to 6-month-old or 24-month-old mice and cultured in vitro under a variety of circumstances that permitted an assessment of the stromal osteogenic cells and marrow hemopoietic progenitor cells belonging to the monocyte and osteoclast series. These data show a marked reduction in the number and in vitro activity of stromal osteogenic cells from old animals. There is an increase in old mice in the number of marrow cells capable of forming osteoclasts in coculture and responsive to the growth factors believed operational in the monocyte and osteoclast series. The authors now are exploring the hypothesis that an age-related diminution in transforming growth factor-beta levels is responsible for these changes in progenitor cell levels in marrow and their functional status as expressed in vitro. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
The Role of Context in Academic Text Production and Writing Pedagogy

The problem of text production in academic genres has been a challenge for undergraduate and graduate students as well as for writing teachers from different departments. Previous research has provided important results on the structural aspects of academic genres (Swales, 1990) and the discursive construction of identity in academic writing (Ivanic, 1998). However, few studies have concentrated on the contributions of exploration and reflection on context to actual teaching practices. From the perspective of Systemic-Functional Linguistics (SFL), in this paper I would like to focus on the reciprocal relationship between text and context, i.e., the way context can be recreated by analysis of text and vice versa. The aim is to point out some practical implications derived from the use of SFL principles in academic writing teaching and research through context exploration. The focus will be on writing activities that aim at fostering students' awareness about the connections between contextual features (activity, identity, relations as well as the role performed by text in the situation) and their respective linguistic realizations (expression of content, instantiation of relationships between interlocutors, and organization of text). One of the main challenges in language education and research is to teach creative ways to negotiate the norms of the language system (grammar) within the academic culture: the set of meanings, rules, values, power relations and relevant genres that constitute the social practices of a community. Educating students about the uses of language in specific contexts depends on clear descriptions of the connections between text and context. Public discourse on academic publication in Brazil is mainly issued by the Ministry of Education through its two main Research Funding Agencies, CAPES and CNPq, which hold quantitative and qualitative expectations about scholars' intellectual production but offer no substantial line of financial support for pedagogic research and course development. Thus full-fledged writing programs are seldom found in Brazilian universities. Very often what we find is some individual or collective teaching initiatives that have survived defying all the odds (e.g., lack of personnel and financial resources) situated in specific institutions. In my context of pedagogic practice in academic writing at the Federal Uni
Experimental investigation of gas/slag/matte/tridymite equilibria in the Cu–Fe–O–S–Si system in controlled gas atmosphere at T = 1 200 °C and P(SO2) = 0.1 atm

Abstract The effects of partial pressure of sulphur dioxide on the gas/slag/matte/tridymite equilibria in the Cu–Fe–O–S–Si system at 1 200 °C have been experimentally investigated and compared with the previous studies at various P(SO2). The experimental procedure includes equilibration of the sample and silica substrate at high temperature for the designated time, rapid quenching to preserve the equilibrium phases, followed by measuring the composition of the condensed phases with electron probe X-ray microanalysis. A set of graphs were constructed to present the compositions of slag and matte as a function of copper concentration in matte. The present study confirmed that the chemically dissolved copper and sulphur for the given Cu in matte are independent of the partial pressure of SO2. However, the experimentally measured liquidus (Fe/SiO2) are different for various P(SO2). The new data provide an important, accurate and reliable quantitative foundation for improvement of the thermodynamic databases for the chemical systems containing copper matte and slag. The present study is a part of a broader overall research program on the characterisation of the multi component (Cu–Fe–O–S–Si–Al–Ca–Mg), multi-phase (gas/slag/matte/metal/solids) systems with minor elements.
Robust region-based background subtraction and shadow removing using color and gradient information

In this paper, a novel algorithm for foreground detection and shadow removal is presented. The proposed method employs a region-based approach by processing two foregrounds resulted from gradient-and color-based background subtraction methods. The performance of the system is compared against conventional approaches for five indoor and outdoor video sequences. Experimental results confirm that the detection rate exceeds 90%, and the robustness is greatly improved.
Effect of biologically active Oxoglutaric Acid on micellar properties ofimportant anionic surfactant at different temperatures

In this study, interaction of 2-ketoglutaric acid (GL) with anion surfactant, sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) in aqueous solution have been investigated using electric conductivity at different temperatures from 298.15-308.15 K. From the specific conductivity data, the critical micellar concentration, degree of counter ion association, degree of counterion dissociation, free energy of transfer of hydrophobic chain from the medium to interior of the micelle, and surface contribution, standard free energy of micellization, standard enthalpy of micellization, and standard entropy of micellization of sodium lauryl sulfate have been computed. The experimental data show that cmc values of SLS increase with increasing temperature. The thermodynamic parameters of micellization and the effect of additives on these parameters have been used to study the interactions between the 2-ketoglutaric acid and SLS in the micellar systems. Also, the dissociation constants (pKa's) of 2-ketoglutatic acid were studied in aqueous and aqueous micellar solution of sodium lauryl sulfate–water mixtures (0.01 to 0.30 mol·dm-3) at 298 ± 0.1 K, using a pH-metric technique. The protonation constants are calculated using computer program HYPERQUAD and the best fit chemical model is based on the statistical parameters. Based on the results obtained from the study, a charge of anionic surfactant leads to an electrostatic interaction between surfactant and the (GL) molecule. The electrostatic interactions can be attractive forces and influence of separation of protons and consequently decrease the acidity strength.
Genetic independence of mouse measures of some aspects of novelty seeking

High novelty seeking is a complex personality attribute correlated with risk for substance abuse. There are many putative mouse models of some aspects of novelty seeking, but little is known of genetic similarities among these models. To assess the genetic coherence of “novelty seeking,” we compared the performance of 14 inbred strains of mice in five tests: activity in a novel environment, novel environment preference, head dipping on a hole-board, object preference, and a two-trial version of the spontaneous alternation task. Differences among strains were observed for all tasks, but performance in any given task was generally not predictive of performance in any other. To evaluate similarities among these tasks further, we selectively bred lines of mice for high or low head dipping on the hole-board. Similar to results from the inbred strain experiments, head dipping was not correlated with performance in the other measures but was genetically correlated with differences in locomotor activity. Using two approaches to estimating common genetic influences across tasks, we have found little evidence that these partial models of novelty seeking reflect the influence of common genes or measure a single, unified construct called novelty seeking. Based on the substantial influence of genetic factors, ease of implementation, and relative independence from general locomotion, head dipping on a hole-board is a good task to use in the domain of novelty seeking, but multiple tasks, including others not tested here, would be needed to capture the full genetic range of the behavioral domain.
Phylogenomics provides strong evidence for relationships of butterflies and moths

Butterflies and moths constitute some of the most popular and charismatic insects. Lepidoptera include approximately 160 000 described species, many of which are important model organisms. Previous studies on the evolution of Lepidoptera did not confidently place butterflies, and many relationships among superfamilies in the megadiverse clade Ditrysia remain largely uncertain. We generated a molecular dataset with 46 taxa, combining 33 new transcriptomes with 13 available genomes, transcriptomes and expressed sequence tags (ESTs). Using HaMStR with a Lepidoptera-specific core-orthologue set of single copy loci, we identified 2696 genes for inclusion into the phylogenomic analysis. Nucleotides and amino acids of the all-gene, all-taxon dataset yielded nearly identical, well-supported trees. Monophyly of butterflies (Papilionoidea) was strongly supported, and the group included skippers (Hesperiidae) and the enigmatic butterfly–moths (Hedylidae). Butterflies were placed sister to the remaining obtectomeran Lepidoptera, and the latter was grouped with greater than or equal to 87% bootstrap support. Establishing confident relationships among the four most diverse macroheteroceran superfamilies was previously challenging, but we recovered 100% bootstrap support for the following relationships: ((Geometroidea, Noctuoidea), (Bombycoidea, Lasiocampoidea)). We present the first robust, transcriptome-based tree of Lepidoptera that strongly contradicts historical placement of butterflies, and provide an evolutionary framework for genomic, developmental and ecological studies on this diverse insect order.
The induction of positive affect in a community setting using electronic communications.

THE INDUCTION OF POSITIVE AFFECT IN A COMMUNITY SETTING USING ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS Philip A. Smeltzer November 28,2011 Objective: To evaluate the influence of positive affect inductions on daily and weekly Positive and Negative Affect Scales (PANAS) in a community setting. Methods: Humor messages were distributed to participants four times per day during a treatment week with general health messages distributed in the crossover week. Subjects completed a series of self-report psychosocial and behavioral survey instruments on a weekly basis and daily PANAS responses. Messages were delivered through either email or SMS/text messages. Results: The daily and weekly PANAS scores were higher during treatment periods compared to the neutral periods. The observed trends were suggestive of successful positive affect induction although the statistical analysis did not indicate statistically significant group differences. Conclusions: The induction of positive affect manipulations in a community setting appears to have potential. Future research with larger cohorts and refined methods to limit missing data may lead to further insights on positive
Prospective Memory Following Traumatic Brain Injury: A Meta-Analysis

Individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI) report frequent and significant prospective memory deficits (Shum et al., 2011). This study presents a review and meta-analyses on prospective memory and TBI; focusing on clarifying the true effect of prospective memory deficits, the influence of task demands on performance, and the relationship between prospective memory and other cognitive functions. The results revealed that the difference in prospective memory performance between TBI and control groups was large (d = 0.987, SE = 0.087), indicating that TBI patients have significantly lower prospective memory performance than matched controls. Subgroup analyses revealed that prospective memory was poorer when tasks were more demanding. In addition, prospective memory was significantly correlated with attention, retrospective memory and executive functions. Prospective memory should be regularly assessed in individual with TBI, and task-related demands should be considered when deciding appropriate assessment measures and compensatory strategies.
Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of Novel Hybrid Molecules Containing Purine, Coumarin and Isoxazoline or Isoxazole Moieties

Introduction: The 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reactions of nitrile oxides formed in situ (in the presence of NCS and Et3N) from the oximes of (purin-9-yl)acetaldehyde or (coumarinyloxy)acetaldehyde with allyloxycoumarins or 9-allylpurines, respectively resulted in 3,5-disubstituted isoxazolines. The similar reactions of propargyloxycoumarins or 9-propargylpurines led to 3,5-disubstituted isoxazoles by treatment with PIDA and catalytic amount of TFA. Methods: The new compounds were tested in vitro as antioxidant agents and inhibitors of soybean lipoxygenase LO, AChE and MAO-B. Results: The majority of the compounds showed significant hydroxyl radical scavenging activity. Compounds 4k and 4n presented LO inhibitory activity. Conclusion: Compound 13e presents an antioxidant significant profile combining anti-LO, anti-AChE and anti-MAO-B activities.
Model-Free Analysis and Permutation Tests for Allelic Associations

In this short report, we address some practical problems in performing likelihood-based allelic association analysis of case-control data. Model-free statistics are proposed and their properties assessed by simulation, and procedures based on permutation tests are described for marker-marker as well as marker-disease associations. A memory-efficient algorithm is developed which enables several highly polymorphic markers to be analysed.
Dazap2 modulates transcription driven by the Wnt effector TCF-4

A major outcome of the canonical Wnt/β-catenin-signalling pathway is the transcriptional activation of a specific set of target genes. A typical feature of the transcriptional response induced by Wnt signalling is the involvement of Tcf/Lef factors that function in the nucleus as the principal mediators of signalling. Vertebrate Tcf/Lef proteins perform two well-characterized functions: in association with β-catenin they activate gene expression, and in the absence of Wnt ligands they bind TLE/Groucho proteins to act as transcriptional repressors. Although the general characteristics of Tcf/Lef factors are well understood, the mechanisms that control their specific roles in various cellular backgrounds are much less defined. In this report we reveal that the evolutionary conserved Dazap2 protein functions as a TCF-4 interacting partner. We demonstrate that a short region proximal to the TCF-4 HMG box mediates the interaction and that all Tcf/Lef family members associate with Dazap2. Interestingly, knockdown of Dazap2 not only reduced the activity of Wnt signalling as measured by Tcf/β-catenin reporters but additionally altered the expression of Wnt-signalling target genes. Finally, chromatin immunoprecipitation studies indicate that Dazap2 modulates the affinity of TCF-4 for its DNA-recognition motif.
Fuzzy modeling via sector nonlinearity concept

This paper presents a new fuzzy modeling technique via the so-called sector nonlinearity concept. To fully take advantage of the sector nonlinearity concept, we propose a new type of Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy model and develop an algorithm to identify model parameters. The algorithm consists of two steps. The purpose of the first step is to determine sector coefficients from input-output data. The second part identifies membership functions from the determined sector coefficients and the input-output data. Identification examples illustrate the utility of this approach.
Induction of variation in impedance of zebrafish embryos by explicit force feedback control

This paper describes the development of an explicit force control system for exerting a suitable force on the zebrafish chorion while simultaneously measuring its impedance, and presents results demonstrating that the application of an external force leads to significant change in the impedance of a zebrafish embryo. These results offer support for a plausible explanation that activities of pore canals in the chorion are responsible for the observed change in impedance.
Significance of fractal correlation dimension and seismic b-value variation due to 15th July 2009, New Zealand earthquake of Mw 7.8

New Zealand earthquake that occurred on 15 th July 2009 (Mw 7.8) was analysed using fractal correlation dimension (Dc) and seismic b-VALUE. We have analysed the earthquakes catalog of thirty- ve years with a magnitude (mb ≥3.7), in order to observe a crucial in- formation in terms of Dc value uctuation for the event. The event is preceded by fall and anomalous change in Dc value in the year 2007 about two years prior to the mainshock. A sudden decrease in Dc value with highly clustered events is observed before the main- shock. The low value of Dc is an indicator of clustering and it shows how intermediate size events correlate with one another in the pre- paration process of this event. Here the low Dc value may be the indicator for high stress developer along the fault to produce large size earthquake. Moreover, we also observed abnormal uctuation in b-VALUE from 2003. The fractal clustering and scaling of earthquakes are indicated by b-VALUE change prior to strong earthquake as a harbinger of stress correlation in various scales. The event is also mar- ked for that occurred in the periphery of the positive Coulomb stress development, as obtained from three low Dc time windows' events. The drop in Dc value is not a single observation prior to this large event, but such pattern is also seen for other strong events in the study zone. One such well identi ed strong event is Mw 7.2 (2003) along with low Dc value prior to the event. Thus, stress correlation mea- sured along with these indirect statistical tools gives the clue of self-organization of long wavelength of stress, which was not measu- red earlier with classical approaches. This type of study may provide a very useful information for hazard mitigation.