Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Recent changes in precipitation, ITCZ convection and northern tropical circulation over North Africa (1979–2007)

This article focuses on some recent changes observed in the Tropics with special emphasis on the African monsoon region using high‐resolution gridded precipitation from the Climatic Research Unit (period 1979–2002), outgoing longwave radiation at the top of the atmosphere from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and atmospheric reanalyses from the Climate Prediction Center (NCEP‐DOE2, period 1979–2007). The results show a rainfall increase in North Africa since the mid‐90s with significant northward migrations of rainfall amounts, i.e. + 1.5° for the 400 mm July to September isohyets, whereas deep convection has significantly increased and shifted northward. The subsidence branch of the northern meridional overturning has also been reinforced and shifted by 1° latitude northward in winter. At larger scale, an unambiguous reorganisation of the circulation with increasing subsidence in high troposphere over the Mediterranean and increasing ascendance in the African Intertropical Convergence Zone in northern summer has been noticed in the meridional cell overturning. After 1993–1994, the migration of the Saharan heat low towards northwest has been more marked (+1° to + 2° in latitude; − 1° to − 2° in longitude), whereas its centre intensified at the peak of the tropical rainy season (+10 gpm thickness in the 700–925 hPa layer). These changes are associated with significant reinforcements of the southwesterly low‐level winds and Tropical Easterly jet and with a northward shift of the African Easterly jet. Analyses of Global Circulation Model outputs issued from Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (A1B scenario and from forced experiments on the ARPEGE‐climat (Action de Recherche Petite Echelle Grande Echelle) and Atmospheric Global Circulation Model show that at least part of these changes could be due to the recent warming observed in the Mediterranean/Saharan region. Copyright © 2010 Royal Meteorological Society
Prevalence of Anaplasma species and habitat suitability for ticks in Sicily.

The genus Anaplasma (Rickettsiales: Anaplasmataceae) includes the tick-transmitted pathogensAnaplasma marginale, Anaplasma phagocytophilum and Anaplasma ovis that have an impact on veterinary and human health [1]. Anaplasma spp. are endemic in Sicily, where they constitute a veterinary and human health problem [2,3]. Sicily represents a typicalMediterranean ecosystem and offers a good scenario to study the prevalence of Anaplasma spp. in relation to the habitat suitability for ticks. The aimof this studywas to characterise the prevalence ofAnaplasma spp. in most abundant host species in Sicily and to correlate these data with the habitat suitability (HS) for ticks at the province level.
Simple calibration system for CNG engine based on LabVIEW

Set USB to CAN single point of communication protocol, developed LabVIEW-based engine calibration system easy to complete the calibration system software development and design, in the experiment, the system can be a good start, run, stop, and accurate implementation of the operation and Display information in real time to control the engine, the engine status changed, but also pre-set by the experimenter read the data accurately and precisely the engine real-time data were stored to the computer.
αMβ2‐integrin‐intercellular adhesion molecule‐1 interactions drive the flow‐dependent trafficking of Guillain–Barré syndrome patient derived mononuclear leukocytes at the blood–nerve barrier in vitro

The mechanisms of hematogenous leukocyte trafficking at the human blood–nerve barrier (BNB) are largely unknown. Intercellular adhesion molecule‐1 (ICAM‐1) has been implicated in the pathogenesis of Guillain–Barré syndrome (GBS). We developed a cytokine‐activated human in vitro BNB model using primary endoneurial endothelial cells. Endothelial treatment with 10 U/ml tissue necrosis factor‐α and 20 U/ml interferon‐γ resulted in de novo expression of pro‐inflammatory chemokines CCL2, CXCL9, CXCL11, and CCL20, with increased expression of CXCL2–3, CXCL8, and CXCL10 relative to basal levels. Cytokine treatment induced/enhanced ICAM‐1, E‐ and P‐selectin, vascular cell adhesion molecule‐1 and the alternatively spliced pro‐adhesive fibronectin variant, fibronectin connecting segment‐1 expression in a time‐dependent manner, without alterations in junctional adhesion molecule‐A expression. Lymphocytes and monocytes from untreated GBS patients express ICAM‐1 counterligands, αM‐ and αL‐integrin, with differential regulation of αM‐integrin expression compared to healthy controls. Under flow conditions that mimic capillary hemodynamics in vivo, there was a >3‐fold increase in total GBS patient and healthy control mononuclear leukocyte adhesion/migration at the BNB following cytokine treatment relative to the untreated state. Function neutralizing monoclonal antibodies against human αM‐integrin (CD11b) and ICAM‐1 reduced untreated GBS patient mononuclear leukocyte trafficking at the BNB by 59% and 64.2%, respectively. Monoclonal antibodies against αL‐integrin (CD11a) and human intravenous immunoglobulin reduced total leukocyte adhesion/migration by 22.8% and 17.6%, respectively. This study demonstrates differential regulation of αM‐integrin on circulating mononuclear cells in GBS, as well as an important role for αM‐integrin–ICAM‐1 interactions in pathogenic GBS patient leukocyte trafficking at the human BNB in vitro. J. Cell. Physiol. 227: 3857–3875, 2012. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Reliability Based Analysis for Optimum Allocation of DG

DGs are gaining more importance and they are expected to drastically change the whole distribution system practices. Distribution network will be no longer a passive termination of transmission network and the concept of active network has been recently introduced to indicate a new kind of distribution with DGs actively involved in system management and operation. One of the most important benefits of DGs is reliability improvement. Therefore, in this paper a new methodology, based on system segmentation concept is proposed in order to select the optimum size and location of DGs required to maximize the system reliability. Moreover, a software was developed with the capability of scanning the distribution system in order to divide it into several operational segments based on the utilized protection devices. The reliability of each individual segment as well as the system reliability was evaluated based on selective reliability indices. Nevertheless, more indices can be taken into consideration for the evaluation process. This concept is applied to a practical distribution system, and the results showed that there is a great relation between size and location of DG and reliability improvement.
Sleep in critically ill patients requiring mechanical ventilation.

STUDY OBJECTIVES To objectively measure sleep in critically ill patients requiring mechanical ventilation and to define selection criteria for future studies of sleep continuity in this population. DESIGN Prospective cohort analysis. SETTING University teaching hospital medical-surgical ICU. PATIENTS Twenty critically ill (APACHE II [acute physiology and chronic health evaluation II] acute physiology score [APS], 10 +/- 5), mechanically ventilated adults (male 12, female 8, age 62 +/- 15 years) with mild to moderate acute lung injury (lung injury score, 1.8 +/- 0.9) 10 +/- 7 days after admission to the ICU. MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS Patients were divided into three groups based on 24-h polysomnography (PSG) findings. No patient demonstrated normal sleep. In the "disrupted sleep" group (n = 8), electrophysiologic sleep was identified and was distributed throughout the day (6:00 AM to 10:00 PM; 4.0 +/- 2.9 h) and night (10:00 PM to 6:00 AM; 3.0 +/- 1.9 h) with equivalent proportions of non-rapid eye movement (NREM) and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. Nocturnal sleep efficiency was severely reduced (38 +/- 24%) with an increased proportion of stage 1 NREM sleep (40 +/- 28% total sleep time [TST]) and a reduced proportion of REM sleep (10 +/- 14% TST). Severe sleep fragmentation was reflected by a high frequency of arousals (20 +/- 17/h) and awakenings (22 +/- 25/h). Electrophysiologic sleep was not identifiable in the PSG recordings of the remaining patients. These were classified either as "atypical sleep" (n = 5), characterized by transitions from stage 1 NREM to slow wave sleep with a virtual absence of stage 2 NREM and reduced stage REM sleep, or "coma" (n = 7), characterized by > 50% delta or theta EEG activity with (n = 5) and without (n = 2) evidence of EEG activation either spontaneously or in response to deep painful stimuli. The combined atypical sleep and coma groups had a higher APS (13 +/- 4 vs 6 +/- 4) and higher doses of sedative medications than the disrupted sleep group. CONCLUSION Sleep, as it is conventionally measured, was identified only in a subgroup of critically ill patients requiring mechanical ventilation and was severely disrupted. We have proposed specific criteria to select patients for future studies to evaluate potential causes of sleep disruption in this population.
Factors Associated With Functional Capacity in Hemodialysis Patients

Hemodialysis patients have a marked decrease in functional capacity when compared to healthy individuals. We evaluated the factors associated with functional capacity in hemodialysis patients. A total of 102 hemodialysis patients were evaluated. The patients were submitted to a 6-min walk test, peripheral muscle strength tests, and an evaluation of quality of life, anxiety, and depression. The laboratory data were measured. The 6-min walk test distance correlated significantly with age, educational level, hemoglobin, creatinine, number of comorbidities, peripheral muscle strength, and some domains of SF-36 quality of life questionnaire and depression (P < 0.05). Multiple linear regression showed that educational level, hemoglobin, peripheral muscle strength, and depression significantly affected the 6-min walk test distance (P < 0.05). The multiple correlation coefficient was 0.74, and the squared multiple correlation coefficient adjusted was 0.52. In conclusion, functional capacity was significantly associated with educational level, hemoglobin, peripheral muscle strength, and depression in hemodialysis patients.
Intrinsic karyotype stability and gene copy number variations may have laid the foundation for tetraploid wheat formation

Significance This paper discusses speciation by allopolyploidy of tetraploid wheat, which in turn is a milestone event in establishing hexaploid bread wheat. The results suggested that karyotype stabilization together with variation in copy number of coding genes and localized changes in genomic repeats may have contributed to the establishment of tetraploid wheat as successful species. These observations are of relevance to the plant-breeding community for developing unique wheat cultivars by wide-hybridization and chromosomal engineering. Polyploidy or whole-genome duplication is recurrent in plant evolution, yet only a small fraction of whole-genome duplications has led to successful speciation. A major challenge in the establishment of nascent polyploids is sustained karyotype instability, which compromises fitness. The three putative diploid progenitors of bread wheat, with AA, SS (S ∼ B), and DD genomes occurred sympatrically, and their cross-fertilization in different combinations may have resulted in fertile allotetraploids with various genomic constitutions. However, only SSAA or closely related genome combinations have led to the speciation of tetraploid wheats like Triticum turgidum and Triticum timopheevii. We analyzed early generations of four newly synthesized allotetraploid wheats with genome compositions SshSshAmAm, SlSlAA, SbSbDD, and AADD by combined fluorescence and genomic in situ hybridization-based karyotyping. Results of karyotype analyses showed that although SshSshAmAm and SlSlAA are characterized by immediate and persistent karyotype stability, massive aneuploidy and extensive chromosome restructuring are associated with SbSbDD and AADD in which parental subgenomes showed markedly different propensities for chromosome gain/loss and rearrangements. Although compensating aneuploidy and reciprocal translocation between homeologs prevailed, reproductive fitness was substantially compromised due to chromosome instability. Strikingly, localized genomic changes in repetitive DNA and copy-number variations in gene homologs occurred in both chromosome stable lines, SshSshAmAm and SlSlAA. Our data demonstrated that immediate and persistent karyotype stability is intrinsic to newly formed allotetraploid wheat with genome combinations analogous to natural tetraploid wheats. This property, coupled with rapid gene copy-number variations, may have laid the foundation of tetraploid wheat establishment.
Accuracy of Satellite Sea Surface Temperatures at 7 and 11 GHz

Satellite microwave radiometers capable of accurately retrieving sea surface temperature (SST) have provided great advances in oceanographic research. A number of future satellite missions are planned to carry microwave radiometers of various designs and orbits. While it is well known that the 11 GHz SST retrievals are less accurate than the 7 GHz retrievals, particularly in colder waters, it has not been demonstrated using existing microwave data. The Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer-Earth Observing System (AMSR-E) provides the means to examine the accuracies of SST retrievals using these channels in a systematic manner. In this paper, the accuracies of SSTs at 7 and 11 GHz are determined using two approaches: modeled and empirical. The modeled accuracies are calculated using an emissivity model and climatology SSTs, while empirical accuracies are estimated through validation of AMSR-E 7 and 11 GHz SST retrievals using over six years of data. It was found that the 7 GHz SST retrievals have less errors due to radiometer noise and geophysical errors than the 11 GHz retrievals at all latitudes. Additionally, while averaging the 11 GHz retrievals will diminish error due to uncorrelated radiometer noise, the geophysical error is still higher than for the 7 GHz retrievals, particularly at the higher latitudes.
Target-controlled infusion of remifentanil with propofol or desflurane under bispectral index guidance: quality of anesthesia and recovery profile

BACKGROUND: Our objective was to examine the clinical properties of two anesthetic regimens, propofol target-controlled infusion (TCI), or desflurane using remifentanil TCI under bispectral index (BIS) guidance during ear, nose, and throat (ENT) procedures. METHODS: Forty consenting patients who scheduled for ENT procedures were prospectively studied and were included in one of the two groups: TCI group or desflurane (DES) group. General anesthesia was induced with 3 ng mL-1 and 4 μg mL-1 effect site concentrations (Ce) of remifentanil and propofol, respectively, with TCI system. After intubation, while propofol infusion was continued in the TCI group, it was ceased in the DES group and desflurane with an initial delivered fraction of 6% was administered. The Ce of propofol infusion and inspired fraction of desflurane was adjusted in order to keep BIS as 50 ± 10. RESULTS: General mean values of mean arterial pressure (MAP) and heart rate (HR) for the TCI group was significantly higher than DES group (89.3 mmHg and 72.4 bpm vs. 77.1 mmHg and 69.5 bpm). Early emergence from anesthesia did not significantly differ between the groups. The rate of patients’ Aldrete score (ARS) to reach 10 was found to be 100% at the 15th min in both groups. CONCLUSIONS: Bispectral index guided combinations of remifentanil TCI either with propofol TCI or desflurane anesthetic regimens are both suitable for patients undergoing ENT surgery. The lower blood pressure in the remifentanil TCI with desflurane anesthetic regimens may be a significant advantage.
Maneuvering Target Tracking with Image Enhanced Measurements

The problem of maneuvering target tracking is considered in this paper, with an additional (and non-conventional) target attitude measurement, i.e., fusion of data from a point detection sensor with an imaging sensor. This is motivated by the fact that certain attitude variables such as target orientation can provide faster and more reliable information about target maneuvers or acceleration changes than conventional position variables. An image based measurement channel of target orientation is characterized in discrete time and through it, the acceleration can be estimated. A modified extended Kalman filter that takes into account this image based acceleration estimation as well as its imperfection is developed. This filter has the property to alter the updating gain when maneuvers are observed. Simulation examples are presented to show the improved performance of position and velocity estimation.
MLV glycosylated-Gag is an infectivity factor that rescues Nef-deficient HIV-1

Optimal infectivity of HIV-1 virions requires synthesis of the HIV-1 regulatory protein Nef in some producer cells but not others. A survey of 18 lymphoid cell lines found that Nef was dispensable in three, each of which harbored gammaretroviruses. Nef-dependent cell lines were rendered Nef-independent by a cell-free supernatant from the independent lines or by transfection of cloned murine leukemia virus (MLV). Analysis of MLV deletion mutations identified glycosylated gag (glycogag) as the factor that rescues Nef-defective HIV-1 virions. Glycogag was also demonstrated to be required for the infectivity of MLV virions produced in lymphoid cells. Direct comparison of Nef and glycogag revealed identical dependence for activity on Env-pseudotype and producer cell type. The two proteins colocalize within cells, and both increase the yield of viral cDNA in target cells. The functional similarity of Nef and glycogag is a compelling example of convergent evolution in which two structurally unrelated proteins provide a function necessary for virion infectivity in lymphoid cells.
Ontological quality control in large-scale, applied ontology matching

To date, large-scale applied ontology mapping has relied greatly on label matching and other relatively simple syntactic features. In search of more holistic and accurate alignment, we offer a suite of partially overlapping ontology mapping heuristics which allows us to hypothesise matches and test them against the knowledge in our source ontology (OpenCyc). We thereby automatically align our source ontology with 55K concepts from Wikipedia with 93% accuracy.
Trade credit in SMEs: a quantile regression approach

ABSTRACT This article analyses the determinants of the trade credit in Spanish manufacturing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from a new perspective. Specifically, we focus on the relationship between trade credit and other relevance financial resources: bank credit and self-financing. For the first time in the literature, a quantile regression approach is used, which takes into account the heterogeneity of firms in different quantiles of trade credit distribution. Our results show that the relationship between trade credit and other financial sources presents dissimilarities, including differences in sign, on SMEs with different degrees of trade credit. Our findings help to clarify the confusing results achieved in previous research on this topic.
A Secondary Index for Improving Reading Performance in the Inline Deduplication System

With the advent of cloud computing, huge amount of data are stored on the cloud. To remove the redundant data, the Deduplication technology is proposed and attracts many interests from both the academic and industry. In the Inline Deduplication System, improving the read performance is very vital. However, existing works is inefficient when massive data are involved. In this paper, we first propose a Secondary Index Assisted Read scheme (SIAR) in the Inline deduplication system. To reduce the frequency of disk access, and improve the read performance, we build a secondary index in the RAM and disks, which makes full use of the high random-read performance properties of RAM and the low cost of disk. Further, we analyze the trade-off between the performance improvement of SIAR and memory overhead, which makes the proposed scheme adaptive to different applications. Finally, we conduct extensive experiments, which confirms the efficiency and efficacy of SIAR.
Blue and Green Upconversion Emission Modification in Tb, Yb Co-Doped Y2Ti2O7 Inverse Opal

We obtained upconversion light-emitting photonic materials (Y<sub>2</sub>Ti<sub>2</sub>O<sub>7</sub>: Tb, Yb) with an inverse opal structure by a self-assembly technique in combination with a sol-gel method, and investigated their upconversion emission properties. The results showed that the photonic band gap has a significant influence on the upconversion emission of Yb, Tb co-doped Y<sub>2</sub>Ti<sub>2</sub>O<sub>7</sub> inverse opal photonic crystals. Significant suppression of the blue or green upconversion emission was detected if the photonic band gap overlapped with the Tb<sup>3+</sup> ions emission band.
Bond Markets and Unconventional Monetary Policy

This paper is a comprehensive study of the discussion and empirical evidence about the impact of unconventional monetary policy on bond markets. The 2007/2008 Financial Crisis marks the beginning of a new monetary policy regime in which central banks engaged in different types of large scale asset purchases. These decisions were unconventional with respect to the previous policy of targeting a short term interest rate. In this paper, we begin by comparing different measures adopted by the Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank, and the Bank of England. Next, we discuss (current) theoretical arguments through which unconventional policy (large scale asset purchases) might affect interest rates: (a) Portfolio Balance (duration) channel; (b) Credit and capital constraint channel; and (c) Preferred-habitat and Asset Scarcity channel. Finally, we review the empirical evidence in support of each channel using data from both Treasury and Mortgage-backed security markets. We distinguish two methodological approaches. The first is based on high-frequency data during the time surrounding specific LSAP event dates. The second approach uses low-frequency data and considers information beyond a narrowly defined event window. This allows us to distinguish short-term and long-term effect of different sets of unconventional measures.