Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Large-Area $\hbox{MgB}_{2}$ Films Fabricated by Scaled-Up Hybrid Physical–Chemical Vapor Deposition

A scaled-up hybrid physical-chemical vapor deposition (HPCVD) method has been developed to fabricate large-area high-quality magnesium diboride (MgB<sub>2</sub>) thin films. The 2-in-diameter MgB<sub>2</sub> thin films on sapphire (0001) show uniform superconducting properties, including <i>Tc</i> ~ 39 K, residual-resistivity ratio ~ 14, and <i>Jc</i> (4.2 K) ~ 10<sup>7</sup> A/cm<sup>2</sup>. X-ray diffraction showed that the films are epitaxial with <i>c</i>-axis normal to the film surface. The film properties are uniform across the 2-in substrate.
Ultra-high-ohmic microstripline resistors for Coulomb blockade devices

In this paper, we report on the fabrication and low-temperature characterization of ultra-high-ohmic microstripline resistors made of a thin film of weakly oxidized titanium. Nearly linear voltage–current characteristics were measured at temperatures down to T ∼ 20 mK for films with sheet resistivities as high as ∼7 kΩ, i.e. about an order of magnitude higher than our previous findings for weakly oxidized Cr. Our analysis indicates that such an improvement can help to create an advantageous high-impedance environment for different Coulomb blockade devices. Further properties of the Ti film addressed in this work show the promise of low-noise behavior of the resistors when applied in different realizations of the quantum standard of current.
Vaptans: A new option in the management of hyponatremia

Arginine vasopressin (AVP) plays an important role in water and sodium homeostasis. It acts via three receptor subtypes—V1a, V1b, and V2—distributed widely throughout the body. Vaptans are nonpeptide vasopressin receptor antagonists (VRA). By property of aquaresis, VRAs offer a novel therapy of water retention. Conivaptan is a V1a/V2 nonselective VRA approved for euvolemic and hypervolemic hyponatremia. Tolvaptan is the first oral VRA. Other potential uses of this new class of drugs include congestive heart failure (CHF), cirrhosis of liver, syndrome of inappropriate secretion of antidiuretic hormone, polycystic kidney disease, and so on. These novel drugs score over diuretics as they are not associated with electrolyte abnormalities. Though much remains to be elucidated before the VRAs are applied clinically, the future holds much promise.
Comparison of Three Methods of Eliminating Musical Tones in Speech Denoising Subtractive Techniques

Speech enhancement techniques, using spectral subtraction, have the drawback of generating an annoying residual noise with musical character. In this paper, we use and compare different post-processing methods of musical tones reduction. All these approaches need both a musical noise detector and a musical noise reducer. For each part, we propose `non perceptual' and perceptual based approaches. The musical noise detector is based either on shape characteristics or masking consideration. To reduce musical noise, three techniques are used. The first eliminates musical tones in time domain by adding a synthesized signal to the denoised signal. The second operates in the spectral domain and consists in shifting down the detected musical tones under a proposed masking threshold. The third consists in shape modification of detected musical tones. Experiments results show that perceptual based approaches are the best ones.
A study of the RVoG coherent scattering model validity in PolInSAR for forests studies

This work addresses the analysis of the validity of the Random-Volume-over-Ground scattering model for forests studies based on PolInSAR data. The analysis is based on the definition of a Generalized Likelihood Ratio Test that allows to test the model validity for all the pixels of the images and without any external information. Finally, the validity of the RVoG models assumption is tested for data from Tropical and Boreal forests imaged at P- and L-band at different interferometric configurations.
The end of software training?

The contributions to this Special Issue are discussed within an Instructional Design framework. A distinction is made between contributions concerned with task and content analysis, design and selection of instructional methods, and instructional message design. Three major trends indicate a shift in focus: • from narrow learning tasks for operating the software per se to rich learning tasks for using the software in the context of meaningful task performance; • from methods that stress procedural descriptions and related exercises to methods that stress guided exploration and scaffolding and so aim at deep system understanding, and • from low-load presentation formats to formats that also evoke active processing and elaboration of presented information. These trends indicate the end of software training. It has grown up and is no longer fundamentally different from regular professional skills training.
Inhibition of human IgE synthesis by anti‐IgE antibodies requires divalent recognition

We used a selection of well‐characterized murine monoclonal anti‐IgE antibodies to investigate their effect on human in vitro IgE synthesis. We found anti‐IgE antibodies that either inhibited or enhanced interleukin‐4 plus anti‐CD40‐induced in vitro IgE synthesis in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC). This differential activity was isotype specific as neither IgM nor IgG synthesis were affected. Interestingly, only coding IgE mRNA was down‐regulated, whereas germ‐line ε RNA expression was not influenced by anti‐IgE monoclonal antibody (mAb). On purified B cells all anti‐IgE mAb inhibited interleukin‐4 plus anti‐CD40‐induced IgE synthesis, implying a role of non‐B cells for the enhancing activity observed in PBMC. Using Fab and F(ab')2 of an inhibitory anti‐IgE mAb we could show that divalent recognition was required for inhibition of IgE synthesis.
On the Design of the Peer-Assisted UGC VoD System

User Generated Content (UGC) VoD services such as YouTube are becoming more and more popular, and their maintenance costs are growing as well. Many P2P solutions have been proposed to reduce server load in such systems, but almost all of them focus on the single-video approach, which only has limited effect on the systems serving short videos such as UGC. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the potential of an alternative approach, the multi-video approach, and we use a very simple method called collaborative caching to show that methods using the multi-video approach are generally more suitable for current UGC VoD systems. We also study the influence of the major design factors through simulations and provide guidelines for efficiently building systems with this method.
Transposable elements as artisans of the heterochromatic genome in Drosophila melanogaster

Over 50 years ago Barbara McClintock discovered that maize contains mobile genetic elements, but her findings were at first considered nothing more than anomalies. Today it is widely recognized that transposable elements have colonized all eukaryotic genomes and represent a major force driving evolution of organisms. Our contribution to this special issue deals with the theme of transposable element-host genome interactions. We bring together published and unpublished work to provide a picture of the contribution of transposable elements to the evolution of the heterochromatic genome in Drosophila melanogaster. In particular, we discuss data on 1) colonization of constitutive heterochromatin by transposable elements, 2) instability of constitutive heterochromatin induced by the I factor, and 3) evolution of constitutive heterochromatin and heterochromatic genes driven by transposable elements. Drawing attention to these topics may have direct implications on important aspects of genome organization and gene expression.
Constraining clay hydration state and its role in active fault systems

To understand the role of hydrated clay minerals in active fault systems, a humidity chamber connected to an X‐ray diffractometer was used to determine the adsorption of water onto and/or into the crystal structure of smectite. This new type of analysis was carried out under specific temperature and humidity conditions, using powdered clay size fractions (< 2 µm) of rock samples from the San Andreas Fault (USA) and the Nankai Trough (Japan). Pressure cannot be controlled, but does not significantly affect clay swelling at shallow conditions. Air‐dried samples show a discrete smectite phase that swells after traditional ethylene glycolation to an interlayer distance of 1.5 and 1.7 nm. Using the humidity chamber, however, the samples show a shorter interlayer distance, between 1.09 and 1.54 nm. Based on our analysis, we show that (i) ethylene glycol overestimates the size of the interlayer space, and therefore water content, so is a crude maximum only; (ii) interlayer swelling occurs in smectite clay minerals at all temperatures between 25 and 95°C; and (iii) particle orientation increases with increasing humidity, indicating a higher mobility of smectite from interlayer hydration. Detailed characterization of the hydration state of smectite under original conditions is critical for understanding of clay‐fluid interaction, the mechanical behavior during fault displacements, and fluid budgets at depth. We propose that humidity chamber experiments should be the new standard procedure to constrain swelling characteristics of natural and synthetic clay minerals.
On the location of a tree-shaped facility

This paper considers the problem of locating a central facility on a tree network. The central facility takes the form of a subtree of the network, and provides service to several demand points located at nodes of the network. Two types of costs are involved in evaluating a given facility. The setup cost represents the cost of establishing the facility and is taken to be directly proportional to the total length of the facility. The transportation cost is the cost associated with the travel of customers to the facility. The objective function is to select a tree-shaped facility that will minimize the sum of the setup cost and the total transportation cost. We introduce a general model and a simple {open_quotes}bottom-up{close_quotes} dynamic programming algorithm for its solution. We then focus on the important class of covering problems, where the transportation cost of a customer to the serving facility is zero if the distance between the two is below a certain threshhold, and is equal to some penalty term otherwise. We improve upon the performance of existing methods, and present algorithms with subquadratic complexity.
Dipole-Based Filtering for Improved Removal of Background Field Effects from 3 D Phase Data

Introduction: Phase images of the brain generated using gradient echo sequences at high field strength show excellent contrast attributed to small field perturbations produced by susceptibility differences between tissues. In order to reveal the small phase variations related to the local anatomy it is however necessary to eliminate the large field offsets caused by remote tissue/air interfaces, such as those that are present in the sinuses. These unwanted field shifts are generally removed by filtering the phase images using a variety of methods, including: (i) Fourier-based filtering where the data is converted into complex form, low-pass filtered, and divided into the original data [1]; (ii) subtraction of a low-order polynomial fit to the data [2]; (iii) subtracting off an estimate of the field perturbation produced by the sinuses based on information from T1-weighted images [3]. Unfortunately, methods (i) and (ii) tend to remove the desired anatomical structure as well as the unwanted external fields, while method (iii) requires additional image data from which the location of the sinuses can be inferred. Here we present a method for selectively eliminating the externally generated field shifts without the need for additional scans, using one or more dipole point sources situated outside the region of interest (ROI) being considered. The method was tested on simulated and experimentally acquired phase data spanning the red nucleus (RN) and substantia nigra (SN), which show the effect of strong unwanted fields due to the close proximity of the sinuses.
Health of the Aged

In the long history of man this is a most important period as it is the time during which the question whether or not man will be able to continue to exist peacefully over the next hundred years will be determined. In Japan also, now is the time which will determine whether or not we can continue to maintain the prosperity we enjoy today as country.In this unstable state of the world the question of what is essential for the people of this small country lacking in natural resources to manage is probably being discussed from various points of view, political, economic, scientific, etc. From the medical point of view, I believe one of the most important topics is the problem of the aged. At the present the life span of the Japanese is nearly the greatest in the world, second only to that of Iceland. This is of course semething for which we are grateful however the average age of our nations is increasing more rapidly than anywhere in the world. In the next 50 years 1 in every 5 persons will be 65 years of age or older. This is a very serious problem.In the future Japanese society it shall be necessary that man regardless of his age should maintain his health and a reason to go on living such that he remains a contributing member of society.Based on these premises I'd like to discuss the following topics, introducing also areas of my own research.1. Change of age-pattern of our nation2. Until what age can man live? 3. What is longevity? 4. Measures for the maintenance of the health of aged-psycological aspects, daily life, diet, etc.
System xc- pharmacology and its role in beta-L-ODAP pathology and glutathione synthesis

ii List of Tables. ûv Listof Rgures. v Acknowledgments. vii Chapter 1: Background and Introduction.1 Chapter 2: Methods and Materials.17 Chapter 3: Differentiation of Substrate and Non-Substrate Inhibitors of Transport System : an Obligate Exchanger of L-Glutamate and L-Cysdne. 23 Chapter 4: The LztAyrwj Excitotoxin P-NTOxalyl-L-a,P-Diaminopropionic Acid (P-LODAP) is an Effective Substrate of the L-Glutamate/L-Cystine Exchanger iSystemXc . 38 Chapter 5: Evaluating the Relationship Between System Xc Activity and Maintenance of GSH Levels in Human Glioma Cells.53 Chapter6: Conclusions. 74 Bibliography.78
Testing effective connectivity changes with structural equation modeling: What does a bad model tell us?

Structural equation modeling (SEM) is a statistical method that can assess changes in effective connectivity across tasks or between groups. In its initial application to neuroimaging data, anatomical connectivity provided the constraints to decompose interregional covariances to estimate effective connections. There have been concerns expressed, however, with the validity of interpreting effective connections for a model that does not adequately fit the data. We sought to address this concern by creating two population networks with different patterns of effective connectivity, extracting three samples sizes (N = 100, 60, 20), and then assessing whether the ability to detect effective connectivity differences depended on absolute model fit. Four scenarios were assessed: (1) elimination of a region showing no task differences; (2) elimination of connections with no task differences; (3) elimination of connections that carried task differences, but could be expressed through alternative indirect routes; (4) elimination of connections that carried task differences, and could not be expressed through indirect routes. We were able to detect task differences in all four cases, despite poor absolute model fit. In scenario 3, total effects captured the overall task differences even though the direct effect was no longer present. In scenario 4, task differences that were included in the model remained, but the missing effect was not expressed. In conclusion, it seems that when independent information (e.g., anatomical connectivity) is used to define the causal structure in SEM, inferences about task‐ or group‐dependent changes are valid regardless of absolute model fit. Hum Brain Mapp, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
A Framework for Reengineering Web applications into Linked Data based on MDA

Currently, the Web became a very enormous resource of data, often hidden in documents. Most of the Web applications represent the data under a structured format, in particularly tables and lists. These data are automatically generated from databases, so they have a restricted access. RDF (Resource Description Framework) offers an effective mechanism, which allows structuring the data on the Web in a simple format, so it makes them directly accessible. In this paper we propose a framework that allows to transform the hidden data on the Web into Linked Data. The framework contains four layers according to MDA (Model Driven Architecture): (1) the layer M0 allows to build a source model from a Web application, (2) layer M1 contains the source model and mapping rules, (3) layer M2 enables to define meta-models of the models included in the layer M1, at the last, (4) layer M3 describes the meta-models using a language of meta-meta-model, such as MOF or ECORE of the framework EMF. At the end of this transformation process, we obtain a target RDF model, which represents data of the Web application.
Purification, Characterization, and Subunit Structure of Rat Core 1 β1,3-Galactosyltransferase*

The O-linked oligosaccharides (O-glycans) in mammalian glycoproteins are classified according to their core structures. Among the most common is the core 1 disaccharide structure consisting of Galβ1→3GalNAcα1→Ser/Thr, which is also the precursor for many extended O-glycan structures. The key enzyme for biosynthesis of core 1 O-glycan from the precursor GalNAc-α-Ser/Thr is UDP-Gal:GalNAc-α-Ser/Thr β3-galactosyltransferase (core1 β3-Gal-T). Core 1 β3-Gal-T activity, which requires Mn2+, was solubilized from rat liver membranes and purified 71,034-fold to apparent homogeneity (>90% purity) in 5.7% yield by ion exchange chromatography on SP-Sepharose, affinity chromatography on immobilized asialo-bovine submaxillary mucin, and gel filtration chromatography on Superose 12. The purified enzyme is free of contaminating glycosyltransferases. Two peaks of core 1 β3-Gal-T activity were identified in the final step on Superose 12. One peak of activity contained protein bands on non-reducing SDS-PAGE of ∼84- and ∼86-kDa disulfide-linked dimers, whereas the second peak of activity contained monomers of ∼43 kDa. Reducing SDS-PAGE of these proteins gave ∼42- and ∼43-kDa monomers. Both the 84/86-kDa dimers and the 42/43-kDa monomers have the same novel N-terminal sequence. The purified enzyme, which is remarkably stable, has an apparent K m for UDP-Gal of 630 μm and an apparent V max of 206 μmol/mg/h protein using GalNAcα1-O-phenyl as the acceptor. The reaction product was generated using asialo-bovine submaxillary mucin as an acceptor; treatment withO-glycosidase generated the expected disaccharide Galβ1→3GalNAc. These studies demonstrate that activity of the core 1 β1,3-Gal-T from rat liver is contained within a single, novel, disulfide-bonded, dimeric enzyme.
Denoising pathological multilead electrocardiogram signals using multiscale singular value decomposition

In this paper, denoising of multilead electrocardiograms (ECG) using multiscale singular value decomposition is proposed. If signal of each ECG leads are wavelet transformed with same mother wavelet and decomposition levels, it helps formation of multivariate multiscale matrices at wavelet scales. Singular value decomposition is applies in these scales. A new method to select singular values at these scales is proposed which is based on weighted ratio of matrix norms. This optimizes the approximate ranks for multiscale multivariate matrices to capture the diagnostic components present at different scales. Testing with records from PTB diagnostic ECG database for various pathological cases gives better SNR improvement retaining the pathological signatures. After adding white Gaussian noise at different SNR levels, quantitative analysis is carried out by evaluating error measures like percentage root mean square difference (PRD), root mean square error (NRMSE) and wavelet energy based diagnostic distortion measure (WEDD).
High-Energy Astrophysics

During a dramatic development of the field over the last decade, German groups and institutions have played central, often decisive, roles in high-energy astrophysics. Both spatially resolved and temporal studies of gamma-ray sources are conducted with unprecedented sensitivity, deciphering the physical processes in Galactic and extragalactic sources of high-energy emission, and providing new insights into fundamental physics. Radio observations of compact objects, especially black holes and neutron stars, permit exploring physics under extreme conditions and testing for fundamental properties such as the existence of event horizons around black holes. Observations of ultra-high energy cosmic rays provide information on particle acceleration at the highest energy. The first detection in 2013 of cosmic high-energy neutrinos was named the Physics World breakthrough of the year.
Structural characterization and corepressor binding of the Escherichia coli purine repressor

The Escherichia coli purine repressor, PurR, binds to a 16-bp operator sequence and coregulates the genes for de novo synthesis of purine and pyrimidine nucleotides, formation of a one-carbon unit for biosynthesis, and deamination of cytosine. We have characterized the purified repressor. Chemical cross-linking indicates that PurR is dimeric. Each subunit has an N-terminal domain of 52 amino acids for DNA binding and a C-terminal 289-residue domain for corepressor binding. Each domain was isolated after cleavage by trypsin. Sites for dimer formation are present within the corepressor binding domain. The corepressors hypoxanthine and guanine bind cooperatively to distinct sites in each subunit. Competition experiments indicate that binding of one purine abolishes cooperativity and decreases the affinity and the binding of the second corepressor. Binding of each corepressor results in a conformation change in the corepressor binding domain that was detected by intrinsic fluorescence of three tryptophan residues. These experiments characterize PurR as a complex allosteric regulatory protein.