Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Upper cervical spinal bronchogenic cyst: A rare lesion at an exceptional location

Abstract An intraspinal bronchogenic cyst is a rare but important cause of compressive cord myelopathy, commonly seen in the cervicothoracic spine. We report a case of a 30-year-old female, presented with complaints of neck pain and progressive weakness of the extremities. The magnetic resonance imaging of the cervical spine revealed an intradural extramedullary, well-defined, multiloculated, cystic lesion in the upper cervical canal extending from the C2 to C5 vertebral levels. To our knowledge, only 11 cases of spinal bronchogenic cysts have been reported in the literature so far. We discuss the rare location of this unusual lesion, possible embryological reasons, and the overall surgical outcome.
The Limnology of Williston Reservoir: British Columbia's Largest Lacustrine Ecosystem

In surface area, Williston Reservoir is British Columbia’s largest lacustrine ecosystem. The reservoir shows remarkably little spatiotemporal variance among its three major reaches (Finlay, Parsnip and Peace), despite the immensity and biogeoclimatic diversity of its drainage basins. Williston is ultra-oligotrophic with average concentrations of total dissolved phosphorus (TDP) ranging from 3 to 5 µg/L and nitrate-nitrogen (NO3-N) from 60 to 65 µg/L. The pelagic plankton community of Williston Reservoir is dominated by bacteria, pico-cyanobacteria, nano-flagellates and small diatoms, and the zooplankton community is comprised largely of copepods in spring and small cladocerans in summer and fall. Primary production rates are very low and most carbon is produced by the pico- and nano-sized plankters that appear to be primarily light limited due to high turbidity and frequent wind-mixing episodes, i.e., shallow light compensation depth and deep epilimnetic depth. Microbial food webs are predominant in Williston through much of the growing season, with free-living bacteria and picocyanobacteria as the primary carbon template, and nano-flagellates, ciliates and micro-zooplankton as the principal grazers. Loading models indicate that after impoundment in 1968, Williston was initially a moderately productive ecosystem, but the system has progressively lost nutrients, namely P, through sedimentation and outflow, but also by the scarcity of littoral carbon production due to severe water level fluctuations (drawdown) and winter ice-scouring. Hence, within the past 2 to 3 decades the ecosystem has gradually lost biogenic productive capacity and now lies within the ultra-oligotrophic trophic status and supports a low level of fish production. Daily rates of carbon production are presently at levels more typical of British Columbia fast-flushing, ultra-oligotrophic coastal ecosystems than large, interior-type oligo- and mesotrophic British Columbia lakes. Based on average values of most limnological variables we demonstrate that the Finlay Reach is currently the most productive region of Williston, and estimates of pelagic fish from hydroacoustic/trawl and gillnet surveys support this contention.
Estrogens and Their Analytics by Hyphenated Separation Techniques

Estrogens as biologically active compounds belong to a group of steroids hormones. The definition of these substances is a very important factor in humans. These compounds play an essential role because regulate many physiological processes, including normal cell growth, development and tissue-specific gene regulation in the reproductive tract and in the central nervous and skeleton systems. The much higher concentration of these matters is key in growth of sexual organs and development of secondary sexual features in women. Synthetic compounds which initiate or enhance the effect of estrogens are called xenobiotics. Xenobiotics are found in the human body in much higher concentrations than are usual. They can modify the functions of the endocrine, reproductive, nervous and immune system. For this reason it is significant to determine these compounds. Their physico-chemical properties and complex structure cause many analytical problems. Chromatography, especially liquid chromatography (LC), is used in an extremely large range of analytical methods. Successful analysis of estrogens requires a rapid, reliable, precise method for sample preparation and cleanup to remove potential interfering components. An applicable procedure is the use of solid-phase extraction (SPE), especially with molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP), therefore SPE-MIP. MIPs are taylor-made synthetic materials capable of selectivity rebinding a target analyte based on a combination of recognition mechanisms including size, shape and functionality. Combination SPE-MIP and LC with various detection techniques present an excellent method in quality control of estrogens.
How precautionary is the policy governing the Ross Sea Antarctic toothfish (Dissostichus mawsoni) fishery?

Abstract This article reviews the adequacy of data and models currently being used to estimate the present and future population sizes of the Antarctic toothfish (Dissostichus mawsoni Norman) in the Ross Sea regional ecosystem. The current tagging programme is unlikely to provide an accurate picture of total population size, and estimates of both the pre-exploitation spawning stock biomass and the ratio of current to pre-exploitation biomass are unreliable. Many parameters necessary for estimating future population growth or decline have not been measured, and the current objective of a 50% reduction in biomass relative to unexploited biomass may easily fail to prevent a much larger reduction from taking place. The need to guess values of important parameters makes it impossible to set bounds on the potential errors of population forecasts. Current scientific knowledge is far from what is needed to predict the likely effects of food-web responses to harvesting of toothfish in the Ross Sea, or to predict the feedback effects of those food-web changes on toothfish populations.
Climate change feedbacks on future oceanic acidification

Oceanic anthropogenic CO2 uptake will decrease both the pH and the aragonite saturation state (Ωarag) of seawater leading to an oceanic acidification. However, the factors controlling future changes in pH and Ωarag are independent and will respond differently to oceanic climate change feedbacks such as ocean warming, circulation and biological changes.We examine the sensitivity of these two CO2-related parameters to climate change feedbacks within a coupled atmosphere-ocean model. The ocean warming feedback was found to dominate the climate change responses in the surface ocean. Although surface pH is projected to decrease relatively uniformly by about 0.3 by the year 2100, we find pH to be insensitive to climate change feedbacks, where as Ωarag is buffered by˜15%. Ocean carbonate chemistry creates a situation whereby the direct pH changes due to ocean warming are almost cancelled by the pH changes associated with dissolved inorganic carbon concentrations changes via a reduction in CO2 solubility from ocean warming. We show that the small climate change feedback on future surface ocean pH is independent to the amount of ocean warming. Our analysis therefore implies that future projections of surface ocean acidification only need to consider future atmospheric CO2 levels, not climate change induced modifications in the ocean.
The ideal strength of tungsten

Abstract Using pseudopotential density functional theory within the local-density approximation, we calculate the ideal shear strengths of W for slip on {110}, {112} and {123} planes allowing for complete structural relaxation orthogonal to the applied shear. The strengths in the weak directions on all planes are found to be very nearly equal (about 18GPa, or 11% of the shear modulus G). Moreover, the shear instability occurs at approximately the same applied shear strain (17–18%). This unusual isotropy is explained in terms of the atomic configurations of high-energy saddle points reached during shear. Analysis of these saddle points may also offer a simple explanation for the prevalence of the pencil glide of dislocations on planes containing a (111) direction in bcc metals. Finally, we calculate the ideal cleavage strengths of W on {100} and compare our calculated ideal shear and cleavage strengths with experimental nanoindentation and whisker measurements. All these results can be rather simply understood using a Frenkel–Orowan crystallographic model.
FORMATION OF FRACTAL MICRO- AND NANO-STRUCTURES IN CERAMIC TANTALUM PENTOXIDE UNDER CONCENTRATED FLUX OF LIGHT AND THEIR EFFECT ON THERMAL EXPANSION

ABSTRACT Oxides of weak thermal expansion are the basis for stable ceramics and artefacts resistant to sharp cyclic variations of temperature. For technical applications is a wide interest in high-temperature materials of low or negative thermal expansion and, particularly, in studies of the micromechanisms in Ta2O5. Thermal expansion of ceramic pentoxides of tantalum is affected by conditions under which they are formed. After treatment by concentrated light flows anomalous segments of zero and even negative thermal expansion appear in ceramics of Ta2O5. The effect of treatment by concentrated light flux on formation of fractal nano-structures and thermal expansion of ceramic tantalum pentoxide was studied.
Rayleigh–Plateau instability of anisotropic interfaces. Part 1. An analytical and numerical study of fluid interfaces

Abstract Numerous experiments and theoretical calculations have shown that cylindrical vesicles can undergo a pearling instability similar to the Rayleigh–Plateau instability of a liquid jet when they are subjected to external tension. In a living cell, a Rayleigh–Plateau-like instability could be triggered by internal tension generated in the cell cortex. This mechanism has been suggested to play an essential role in biological processes such as cell morphogenesis. In contrast to the simple, passive and isotropic membrane of vesicles, the cortical tensions generated by biological cells are often strongly anisotropic. Here, we theoretically investigate how this anisotropy affects the Rayleigh–Plateau instability mechanism. We do so in the limit of both low and high Reynolds numbers and accordingly cover cell behaviour under anisotropic cortical tension as well as fast liquid jets with anisotropic surface tension. Combining analytical linear stability analysis with numerical simulations we report a strong influence of the anisotropy on the dominant wavelength of the instability: increasing azimuthal with respect to axial tension leads to destabilisation and to a shorter break-up wavelength. In addition, compared to the classical isotropic Rayleigh–Plateau situation, the range of unstable modes grows or shrinks when the azimuthal tension is higher or lower than the axial tension, respectively. We explore nonlinear effects like an altered break-up time and formation of satellite droplets under anisotropic tension. In Part 2 (Bächer et al. J. Fluid Mech., vol. xxx, 2021, Ax) of this series we continue our analysis by analytically investigating the influence of bending and shear elasticity, usually present in vesicles and cells, on this anisotropic Rayleigh–Plateau instability.
Sustained-Release Pellets Prepared by Combination of Wax Matrices and Double-Layer Coatings for Extremely Water-Soluble Drugs

This study was performed in order to develop a sustained-release pellet formulation containing venlafaxine hydrochloride (VEN), an extremely water-soluble drug, prepared by combination of wax matrices and double-layer coatings. The influence of both double-layer polymeric coats and wax matrices on the release of VEN from sustained-release pellets was investigated. The pellets were prepared by wet mass extrusion spheronization methods and then coated with a fluidized bed coater. For the pellets coated with Eudragit® NE30D alone, a coating level of nearly 40% was required to pass the dissolution test compared with commercial product, and it was accompanied by an unacceptable lag time. The application of an alcohol-soluble polymeric subcoat, Opadry® I, was added before the Eudragit® NE30D coating process, which resulted in a marked delay in drug release. However, a faster release was observed for the formulation coated with a high subcoat level (10%) at the end of the dissolution test. A further delay in drug release was observed when a wax matrix, octadecanol, was added to the core pellet formulation. The kinetics of drug release changed from the Higuchi model to a zero order model and the predominant mechanism controlling drug release changed from diffusion to dissolution upon increasing the amount of octadecanol within the matrix pellets. In addition, the drug release was markedly influenced by the drug to matrix ratio. In conclusion, the 40% drug-loaded core pellets with double-layer coatings (8% Opadry® I and 12% Eudragit® NE30D) and 20% octadecanol matrix produced the desired profile for once-daily sustained release compared with the commercial product, and these pellets remained stable during storage.
Real-time Bayesian non-parametric prediction of solvency risk

Abstract Insurance regulation often dictates that insurers monitor their solvency risk in real time and take appropriate actions whenever the risk exceeds their tolerance level. Bayesian methods are appealing for prediction problems thanks to their ability to naturally incorporate both sample variability and parameter uncertainty into a predictive distribution. However, handling data arriving in real time requires a flexible non-parametric model, and the Monte Carlo methods necessary to evaluate the predictive distribution in such cases are not recursive and can be too expensive to rerun each time new data arrives. In this paper, we apply a recently developed alternative perspective on Bayesian prediction based on copulas. This approach facilitates recursive Bayesian prediction without computing a posterior, allowing insurers to perform real-time updating of risk measures to assess solvency risk, and providing them with a tool for carrying out dynamic risk management strategies in today’s “big data” era.
Metal ion induced fluorescence resonance energy transfer between crown ether functionalized quantum dots and rhodamine B: selectivity of K+ ion

We report a ratiometric fluorescent metal ion sensor based on the mechanism of fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) between synthesized 15-crown-5-ether capped CdSe/ZnS quantum dots (QDCE) and 15-crown-5-ether attached rhodamine B (RBCE) in pH 8.3 buffer solution. Fluorescence titration with different metal ions in pH 8.3 buffer solution of the QDCE–RBCE conjugate showed a decrease and an increase in the fluorescence intensity for QDCE and RBCE moieties respectively due to FRET from QDCE to RBCE. This sensor system shows excellent selectivity towards K+ ions resulting in increasing efficiency of FRET. Energy transfer efficiency depends on the affinity between metal ions and crown ether functionalized with QDCE/RBCE. The detailed analysis of FRET was explored. This water soluble ratiometric sensor system can act as a good FRET probe for sensing applications especially in biological systems.
Redetermination of catena‐poly­[di­aqua­(oxy­diacetato‐O,O′,O′′)­cobalt(II) monohydrate]

The structure of the title compound, catena-poly­[[[di­aqua­cobalt(II)]-μ-oxy­diacetato-κ4O,O′,O′′:O′′′)­cobalt(II)] monohydrate], {[Co(C4H4O5)(H2O)2]·H2O}n, (I), was first de­ter­min­ed and reported by Hatfield et al. [Proc. Indian Acad. Sci. Chem. Sci. (1987), 98, 23–31]. We present here a redetermination, with appreciably improved accuracy and successful location of H atoms. In the crystal structure, oxydi­acetate plays the role of both chelating and bridging ligand, resulting in he formation of polymeric chains of complex mol­ecules along the crystallographic b axis. Water mol­ecules occupy the apical positions, thus completing the coordination octahedron of the CoII atom. The polymeric chains are interlinked via intermolecular hydrogen bonding between carboxyl­ate and water mol­ecules, forming the three-dimensional supramolecular structure.
Corneal Distortion and Corneal Morphological Parameters in Naïve Eyes Analyzed with a Scheimpflug Camera

Background: The study of the corneal biomechanical properties (CBP) is gaining always more interest, thanks to the applications to refractive surgery and to the overall management of several corneal diseases. Purpose: To analyze the eventual relationships between corneal distortion and morphologic features in healthy subjects. Methods: one eye of one hundred and fifty-two healthy participants, 87 women and 65 men, aging from 23 to 65 years old, were evaluated in this study. Every eye underwent a complete clinical examination, that included also a tomographic scan using Pentacam HR (Oculus, Wetzlar, Germany) and a biomechanical evaluation using Corvis ST (Oculus, Wetzlar, Germany). Linear regressions among refractive defect, corneal volume (CV), anterior corneal curvature and central corneal thickness (CCT) vs corneal biomechanical features provided by Corvis ST have been ran using SPSS software version 18.0. Results: Corneal distortion factors showed a low correlation both with corneal morphological parameters and with refractive defect. No significant correlations (p> 0.01) were found among morphologic and biomechanical features evaluated. Discussion: results observed in this study could help in recognize the healthy range of values of CBP parameters provided by CST. This information could be very useful in many ophthalmology topics such as the accurate IOP measurement, the early diagnosis of corneal degenerations, such as keratoconous, and the screening of subject undergoing refractive surgery. Conclusions: even if data of this study need to be confirmed in further ones with larger populations, results here observed suggest that Corvis ST is a device providing an evaluation of corneal distortion not influenced by morphological corneal factors. This information could help in better screening and managing the diseased corneas.
Studies on the Intermolecular Hydroarylation of N-Ts- or N-Ac-Protected Indoles and 2,3-Allenoates

An operationally simple, TFA-promoted regioselective hydroarylation reaction of 2,3-allenoates with N-Ts- or N-Ac-indoles to afford 4-indolyl-4-arylbut-2-enoates is described. A series of substrates was tested, and the E/Z selectivity was found to depend on the reaction temperature and time. A mechanism involving the formation of E and Z allylic carbocations generated in situ from the reaction of 2,3-allenoate with TFA and subsequent Friedel-Crafts attack at the 3-position of the indoles was proposed to explain the results.
Tunable Liquid Crystalline Metamaterial Structure in GHz Range

We analyze the microwave response of Ω-type metamaterial infiltrated with a nematic liquid crystals materials – K15 and BL006. A full-wave analysis technique based on the finite-difference time-domain method (FDTD) was performed using QuickWave 3D electromagnetic solver. Simulation of metamaterial structure with low losses liquid crystals (LC) have been made. LC materials can provide tuning of the metamaterials structure due to reorientation of the liquid crystal director. The main aim of presented work is to determine the influence of LC material on effective refractive index.
Independence

In sum, Gaspar de Alba’s synergetic approach, the un-framing of “bad women,” is engaging and important, considering the continuing prevalence of the “colonial imaginary” and hetero-normative constructions of knowledge (267). Her work should inspire others to study “transgressive bodies who queer/alter the male-centric history, politics and consciousness of Chicana/o culture” (17). Although she concludes the book with a paean to Gloria Anzaldúa, Gaspar de Alba’s own work speaks for itself.
SUPERSONIC FLOW DIAGNOSTICS USING OPTICAL NOZZLES

An investigation of axisymmetric glass blown supersonic nozzles for flow and surface property optical measurements is presented. The flow field is measured by Background oriented Schlieren (BOS) along with 1 test vehicle (wedge) and side wall pressure is measured via binary Pressure Sensitive Paints (PSP). The nozzle is made of borosilicate glass and the shape was designed both with Method of Characteristics (MOC) and the Rao approximation. The inlet stagnation pressure varied from 3.04 atm to 9.19 atm. Shock structures were observed at the leading edge of the wedge shape and downstream of the vehicle body at high inlet pressures. The walls show low Cp values and a sudden jump at the end of the expansion zone. BOS ability to see large density gradients such as shock waves happen in the nozzle. Preliminary PIV and Shadowgraphs have been included to give a sense of free steam Mach number for the PSP testing.
Comparison of Lip Prints, Rugae Pattern and Tongue Prints among Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu Population – A Short Study

 Aim 1. To compare the lip print, rugae pattern, & tongue print among three different population groups. 2. To study the predominant type of lip, rugae and tongue patterns in individual group of population. 3. To evaluate the efficacy of three parameters in Sex determination & population sub typing.  Materials and Method The study included 90 subjects 30 Karnataka, 30 Kerala and 30 Tamil nadu subjects. Each group consisted of 15 males & 15 females in the age group of 18 to 30 years. Each individuals lip prints, palatal rugae,& tongue prints were studied using classifications given by Tsuchihashi, Lysell and Stefanescu et al. respectively and the results obtained were stastically analysed using chi square test and the P value less than 0.05 were considered significant.  Results Type 3 lip print was found to be the most predominant among males and Type 1 in females in all the three populations. The major rugae shape among males was wavy and in females it was straight in all the three population. The Ushaped tongue was predominant among males and Vshaped among females and the longitudinal grooves showed no significant difference among males and females and between the states.  Conclusion In the present study, we have made an attempt to study the lip prints, rugae pattern and tongue prints among three different population groups of India. Further studies with larger sample size are needed to overcome the shortcomings of the study.
Activity Recognition in Temporally Untrimmed Videos

We investigate strategies to apply Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) to recognize activities in temporally untrimmed videos. We consider techniques to segment a video into scenes in order to ﬁlter frames relevant to the activity from the background and irrelevant frames. We evaluate CNNs trained on frames sampled from the videos and present an approach towards implementing the two-stream CNN architecture outlined in [8]. The system is trained and evaluated on the THUMOS Challenge 2014 data set, which is comprised of the UCF-101 and additional temporally untrimmed videos.
Crystal structure of bisbenzimidazo [2,1-b:2′1′-i]benzo[lmn] [3,8]phenan-throline- 8,17 -dione, C26H12N4O2

C 26 H 12 N 4 O 2 , monoclinic, P12 1 /c1 (No. 14), a = 12.423(3) A, b = 4.722(1) A, c = 16.110(4) A, β = 102.98(2)°, V = 920.9 A 3 , Z = 2, R gt (F) = 0.073, wR ref (F 2 ) = 0.165, T = 93K.