Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of the shear and volume fraction on the aggregation and breakup of particles

The aggregation and breakup of particles in a Couette flow system were studied for different values of the shear rate (G) and the volume fraction of particles o o . After a certain time, an initial distribution of 2- μm-dia. latex particles achieves the steady state, reflecting the balance between coagulation and fragmentation forces. Higher G values shift the steady state to smaller aggregate sizes. For a fixed value of G, when o o increases, the steady-state size increases if the flow is laminar and decreases if the flow is turbulent. The population balance model proposed describes simultaneous coagulation and fragmentation during shear flocculation. A power dependence between the breakage rate coefficient and the shear rate was found. The model is adjusted by using two parameters: the probability of success for collisions α and the effective breakup coefficient for shear fragmentation B' eff depends on both G and o o , while α is nearly constant
‘I say high, you say low’: the Beatles and cultural hierarchies in 1960s and 1970s Britain

Abstract The debate over the cultural value of the Beatles was as vehement as it was significant in 1960s and early 1970s Britain. Lennon and McCartney's early compositions received some early critical plaudits, Sgt. Pepper sought to blur distinctions between high and low culture and the band members’ side projects forged links with the avant garde. To accept the Beatles as artists, however, required critics to rethink how art was created, disseminated and evaluated and how it interacted with contemporary social, economic and technological change. This article makes extensive use of contemporary journalism, scholarship and fan literature, much of it unstudied, to demonstrate that the rethinking process was contested and protracted. No consensus emerged. Claims made for their artistry, which contributed to a wider discourse elevating ‘rock’ over ‘pop’, were countered by cultural conservatives who defended their own status as artists and intellectuals by exposing the Beatles as kitsch.
Performance Persistence and Gamma Convergence in Absolute Return Funds in Poland Over the Period 2011-2018

Abstract This article attempts to analyse the investment performance of absolute return funds in 2011-2018 in Poland from the point of view of their performance persistence and the occurrence of gamma convergence. Two research hypotheses were verified. The first one is that absolute return funds do not maintain their investment results, while the second deals with the occurrence of the gamma convergence phenomenon on the absolute return funds market. The research methods adopted, i.e. the contingency tables as a non-parametric method of measuring the maintenance of investment results, and gamma convergence as one of the convergence measures, allowed to reach appropriate conclusions. Performance persistence does not occur in most of the analysed cases. In the case of gamma convergence the obtained resultse indicated the occurrence of this phenomenon on the absolute return funds market.
An equation describing the time course and variability in uptake and toxicity of narcotic chemicals to fish

An equation is proposed to express the time course of uptake of organic chemicals by fish. The chemicals' octanol/water partition coefficients are used to describe equilibrium partitioning, whereas the clearance rate constant, estimated as a function of water- and organic-phase series resistances to transport, is used to describe the time course of uptake. The probability of the concentration of chemical in the fish causing a defined toxic end point is expressed by using a modified Weibull distribution function that contains an adjustable parameter describing variability in organism response. The effect of metabolism can be included if desired. The combined uptake and probability equations are tested by using mortality data for fathead minnows exposed to 18 narcotic chemicals. A single set of parameters is obtained to fit the entire data set. The equation highlights the importance of considering the kinetics of toxicant accumulation when interpreting toxicity results, especially for hydrophobic chemicals, and reinforces the fact that a common organism residue level (in either molar volume or molarity) is associated with 50% mortality in acute bioassays with narcotic organic chemicals. Assorted features of the equations and their applicability to toxicants with specific modes of action are discussed.
ESTIMATION OF VOLATILE SULPHUR COMPOUNDS IN BEER

A method has been developed for the quantitative estimation of volatile sulphur compounds in beer at levels below 0.1 μg litre−1. The method relies on the concentration of beer headspace volatiles onto a porous polymer followed by injection into a capillary gas chromatographic column using a thermal desorption cold trap injector. The volatile components are separated using temperature programming and detected by a flame photometric detector specific for sulphur compounds. The mean concentrations and the estimates of r95 (μg litre−1) for volatile sulphur compounds measured in a commercial lager were respectively: methanethiol (0.33, 0.30); dimethyl sulphide (19.3, 5.3); carbon disulphide (0.42, 0.32); ethylene sulphide (0.37, 0.05); 1-propanethiol (0.11, 0.02); methyl thioacetate (11.7; 2.7); methyl disulphide (0.34, 0.42). The method is a significant improvement over previous techniques for the quantification of sulphur-containing volatiles in beer.
Observation of multiple Bragg reflections accompanying forbidden Si(002) reflection in bent-perfect Si crystal

Strong multiple Bragg reflections (MBRs) which can be realized in a bent-perfect-crystal (BPC) slab provide a monochromatic beam of excellent resolution parameters. For identifying MBR effects in the BPC Si crystal, we used the method of azimuthal rotation of the crystal lattice around the scattering vector of the primary forbidden Si(200) reflection for a fixed chosen wavelength. In this paper, several azimuthal scans searching strong MBR effects with the intention of a possible practical exploitation for very high-resolution diffractometry are presented.
Theory of extended x‐ray absorption fine structure: Single and multiple scattering formalisms

A generalized formalism for the EXAFS effect is presented. The full T operator in the Lippmann–Schwinger equation is expanded and the first term and part of the second term are seen to effectively correspond to single scattering EXAFS processes. The latter term includes secondary scattering by the absorber, and within this formalism it is this term that introduces the central atom phase shift. The expression obtained for the single scattering problem is identical with that found by other investigators. A solution to the general EXAFS problem involving an absorbing atom and two neighboring atoms is also presented. The expression differs from that previously reported [B. K. Teo, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 103, 3990 (1981)]. Multiple scattering is seen to contribute increasingly to the EXAFS as the three atoms approach colinearity. Both the amplitude and frequency of the multiple scattering components are functions of the geometry of the system. The model systems studied indicate that, in many cases, multiple scatter.
Micellization kinetics of block copolymers in selective solvent

Micellization kinetics of poly(α-methylstyrene)-block-poly(vinylphenethyl alcohol) (PαMS-b-PVPA) in selective solvent, benzyl alcohol (BA), was investigated by time-resolved static and dynamic light scattering. Time evolution of apparent molecular weight M wapp and radius of gyration R gapp were measured for two (PαMS-b-PVPA)s (KT-326 and KT-327) of different block compositions in the course of micellization after quenching from the unimer region to the micelle region. The micellization was found to proceed stepwise by fast and slow processes. Observed features of time variation of M wapp and R gapp led to the following conclusions for the micellization processes. In the fast first process, quick association of unimers resulted in the birth of quasi-equilibrium micelles and an increase of the number of quasi-equilibrium micelles dominated over growth of the micelle size. The slow second process of approaching the final equilibrium state primarily proceeded by growth of the micelle size, with accompanying decomposition of the quasi-equilibrium micelles and with a gradual decrease of the micelle number. The time evolution of M wapp was approximately described by an exponential equation with two time constants of the first and second processes. The time constant τ 1 of the first process depended on the polymer concentration strongly, whereas the time constant τ 2 of the second process was almost independent of the concentration. In the case of KT-327 with longer core chains of PVPA block, the value of τ 1 ranged from 0.1 to 1 h, and the value of τ 2 was several tens of hours. KT-326 had much longer τ 1 by about 10 3 times than τ 1 of KT-327. Both τ 1 and τ 2 of KT-327 decreased with increasing temperature
Do Spanish causal connectives vary in subjectivity? What crowdsourcing data reveal about native speakers’ preferences

Abstract Language users have preferences for the connectives they choose to express causal relations. These choices may depend on the subjectivity involved in the relation. Dutch connectives illustrate this situation clearly: want (‘since/for’) is preferred typically for expressing subjective relations and omdat (‘because’) for objective ones. While various corpus-based studies have revealed a similar pattern in other languages, little attention has been paid to Spanish from this perspective. Recent corpus-based studies analyzed the connectives porque (‘because’), ya que (‘since’) and puesto que (‘given that’) using two different methods of analysis. Surprisingly, the findings did not coincide with the previous literature on Spanish connectives, and the semantic profile of such connectives in terms of subjectivity remained unclear. The current study again aims to investigate whether these connectives show systematic variation in terms of subjectivity, using crowdsourcing experimentation. Results show that Spanish native speakers prefer puesto que over porque to express subjective relations. However, no statistically significant difference was observed between porque and ya que. This study offers a better understanding of Spanish connectives in terms of subjectivity. Furthermore, it contributes to the assessment of the use of crowdsourcing as a useful and reliable method to elucidate the meaning and use of connectives.
Salmonella Effector SpvB Inhibits NF-κB Activity via KEAP1-Mediated Downregulation of IKKβ

Bacterial pathogens have a broad arsenal of genes that are tightly regulated and coordinated to facilitate adaptation to alter host inflammatory response and prolong intracellular bacterial survival. Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium utilizes a type III secretion system (T3SS) to deliver effector molecules into host cells and regulate signal transduction pathways such as NF-κB, thereby resulting in salmonellosis. SpvB, a pSLT-encoded cytotoxic protein secreted by Salmonella pathogenicity island-2 T3SS, is associated with enhanced Salmonella survival and intracellular replication. In this report, we characterized the effects of SpvB on NF-κB signaling pathway. We showed that SpvB has a potent and specific ability to prevent NF-κB activation by targeting IκB kinase β (IKKβ). Previous studies from our laboratory showed that SpvB decreases Nrf2 through its C-terminal domain. Here we further demonstrated that KEAP1, a cytoplasmic protein that interacts with Nrf2 and mediates its proteasomal degradation, is involved in SpvB-induced downregulation of IKKβ expression and phosphorylation. Reduction of KEAP1 by small-interfering RNA prevented the suppression of IKKβ and its phosphorylation mediated by SpvB. These findings revealed a novel mechanism by which Salmonella modulates NF-κB activity to ultimately facilitate intracellular bacterial survival and proliferation and delay host immune response to establish infection.
Connection of BANK1, Tolerance, Regulatory B cells, and Apoptosis: Perspectives of a Reductionist Investigation

BANK1 transcript is upregulated in whole blood after kidney transplantation in tolerant patients. In comparison to patients with rejection, tolerant patients display higher level of regulatory B cells (Bregs) expressing granzyme B (GZMB+) that have the capability to prevent effector T cells proliferation. However, BANK1 was found to be decreased in these GZMB+ Bregs. In this article, we investigated seven different transcriptomic studies and mined the literature in order to make link between BANK1, tolerance and Bregs. As for GZMB+ Bregs, we found that BANK1 was decreased in other subtypes of Bregs, including IL10+ and CD24hiCD38hi transitional regulatory B cells, along with BANK1 was down-regulated in activated/differentiated B cells, as in CD40-activated B cells, in leukemia and plasma cells. Following a reductionist approach, biological concepts were extracted from BANK1 literature and allowed us to infer association between BANK1 and immune signaling pathways, as STAT1, FcγRIIB, TNFAIP3, TRAF6, and TLR7. Based on B cell signaling literature and expression data, we proposed a role of BANK1 in B cells of tolerant patients that involved BCR, IP3R, and PLCG2, and a link with the apoptosis pathways. We confronted these data with our experiments on apoptosis in total B cells and Bregs, and this suggests different involvement for BANK1 in these two cells. Finally, we put in perspective our own data with other published data to hypothesize two different roles for BANK1 in B cells and in Bregs.
Paper Notebooks vs. Mobile Devices: Brain Activation Differences During Memory Retrieval

It remains to be determined how different inputs for memory-encoding, such as the use of paper notebooks or mobile devices, affect retrieval processes. We compared three groups of participants who read dialogues on personal schedules and wrote down the scheduled appointments on a calendar using a paper notebook (Note), an electronic tablet (Tablet), or a smartphone (Phone). After the retention period for an hour including an interference task, we tested recognition memory of those appointments with visually presented questions in a retrieval task, while scanned with functional magnetic resonance imaging. We obtained three major results. First, the duration of writing down schedules was significantly shorter for the Note group than the Tablet and Phone groups, and accuracy was much higher for the Note group in easier (i.e., more straightforward) questions. Because the input methods were equated as much as possible between the Note and Tablet groups, these results indicate that the cognitive processes for the Note group were deeper and more solid. Second, brain activations for all participants during the retrieval phase were localized in the bilateral hippocampus, precuneus, visual cortices, and language-related frontal regions, confirming the involvement of verbalized memory retrieval processes for appointments. Third, activations in these regions were significantly higher for the Note group than those for the Tablet and Phone groups. These enhanced activations for the Note group could not be explained by general cognitive loads or task difficulty, because overall task performances were similar among the groups. The significant superiority in both accuracy and activations for the Note group suggested that the use of a paper notebook promoted the acquisition of rich encoding information and/or spatial information of real papers and that this information could be utilized as effective retrieval clues, leading to higher activations in these specific regions.
Enhanced Glycolysis Is Required for Antileishmanial Functions of Neutrophils Upon Infection With Leishmania donovani

Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is a fatal parasitic disease if untreated. Treatment options of VL diminish due to emerging drug resistance. Although the principal host cells for the multiplication of Leishmania are macrophages, neutrophils are the first cells infected with the parasites rapidly after parasite inoculation. Leishmania can survive in neutrophils despite the potent antimicrobial effector functions of neutrophils that can eliminate the parasites. Recently, the growing field of immunometabolism provided strong evidence for the therapeutic potential in targeting metabolic processes as a means of controlling immune effector functions. Therefore, the understanding of the immunometabolic profile of neutrophils during Leishmania infection could provide new promising targets for host-directed therapies against VL. To our knowledge, this is the first study addressing the bioenergetics profile of L. donovani-infected primary human neutrophils. Transcriptome analysis of L. donovani-infected neutrophils revealed an early significant upregulation of several glycolytic enzymes. Extracellular flux analysis showed that glycolysis and glycolytic capacity were upregulated in L. donovani-infected neutrophils at 6 h post infection. An increased glucose uptake and accumulation of glycolytic end products were further signs for an elevated glycolytic metabolism in L. donovani-infected neutrophils. At the same time point, oxidative phosphorylation provided NADPH for the oxidative burst but did not contribute to ATP production. Inhibition of glycolysis with 2-DG significantly reduced the survival of L. donovani promastigotes in neutrophils and in culture. However, this reduction was due to a direct antileishmanial effect of 2-DG and not a consequence of enhanced antileishmanial activity of neutrophils. To further address the impact of glucose metabolism during the first days of infection in vivo, we treated C57BL/6 mice with 2-DG prior to infection with L. donovani and assessed the parasite load one day and seven days post infection. Our results show, that seven days post-infection the parasite load of 2-DG treated animals was significantly higher than in mock treated animals. This data indicates that glycolysis serves as major energy source for antimicrobial effector functions against L. donovani. Inhibition of glycolysis abrogates important neutrophil effector functions that are necessary the initial control of Leishmania infection.
Imaging Biomarkers to Predict and Evaluate the Effectiveness of Immunotherapy in Advanced Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer

Objective We aimed to identify imaging biomarkers to assess predictive capacity of radiomics nomogram regarding treatment response status (responder/non-responder) in patients with advanced NSCLC undergoing anti-PD1 immunotherapy. Methods 197 eligible patients with histologically confirmed NSCLC were retrospectively enrolled from nine hospitals. We carried out a radiomics characterization from target lesions (TL) approach and largest target lesion (LL) approach on baseline and first follow-up (TP1) CT imaging data. Delta-radiomics feature was calculated as the relative net change in radiomics feature between baseline and TP1. Minimum Redundancy Maximum Relevance (mRMR) and Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (LASSO) logistic regression were applied for feature selection and radiomics signature construction. Results Radiomics signature at baseline did not show significant predictive value regarding response status for LL approach (P = 0.10), nor in terms of TL approach (P = 0.27). A combined Delta-radiomics nomogram incorporating Delta-radiomics signature with clinical factor of distant metastasis for target lesions had satisfactory performance in distinguishing responders from non-responders with AUCs of 0.83 (95% CI: 0.75–0.91) and 0.81 (95% CI: 0.68–0.95) in the training and test sets respectively, which was comparable with that from LL approach (P = 0.92, P = 0.97). Among a subset of those patients with available pretreatment PD-L1 expression status (n = 66), models that incorporating Delta-radiomics features showed superior predictive accuracy than that of PD-L1 expression status alone (P <0.001). Conclusion Early response assessment using combined Delta-radiomics nomograms have potential advantages to identify patients that were more likely to benefit from immunotherapy, and help oncologists modify treatments tailored individually to each patient under therapy.
Leucine-Enriched Essential Amino Acids Enhance the Antiseizure Effects of the Ketogenic Diet in Rats

The classic ketogenic diet (KD) can be used successfully to treat medically refractory epilepsy. However, the KD reduces seizures in 50–70% of patients with medically refractory epilepsy, and its antiseizure effect is limited. In the current study, we developed a new modified KD containing leucine (Leu)-enriched essential amino acids. Compared with a normal KD, the Leu-enriched essential amino acid-supplemented KD did not change the levels of ketosis and glucose but enhanced the inhibition of bicuculline-induced seizure-like bursting in extracellular recordings of acute hippocampal slices from rats. The enhancement of antiseizure effects induced by the addition of Leu-enriched essential amino acids to the KD was almost completely suppressed by a selective antagonist of adenosine A1 receptors or a selective dose of pannexin channel blocker. The addition of Leu-enriched essential amino acids to a normal diet did not induce any antiseizure effects. These findings indicate that the enhancement of the antiseizure effects of the KD is mediated by the pannexin channel-adenosine A1 receptor pathway. We also analyzed amino acid profiles in the plasma and hippocampus. A normal KD altered the levels of many amino acids in both the plasma and hippocampus. The addition of Leu-enriched essential amino acids to a KD further increased and decreased the levels of several amino acids, such as threonine, histidine, and serine, suggesting that altered metabolism and utilization of amino acids may play a role in its antiseizure effects. A KD supplemented with Leu-enriched essential amino acids may be a new therapeutic option for patients with epilepsy, including medically refractory epilepsy.
Non-fiber Carbohydrates in Forages and Their Influence on Beef Production Systems

Forages can provide a complete diet for ruminant animals, increasing the sustainability of beef production systems worldwide while reducing competition with humans for agricultural land or grain crops. Much of the emphasis on the nutritional characteristics of forages has been on the fiber, sugars, starch, and protein they supply to the rumen, despite the fact that other less-explored constituents, i.e., neutral detergent soluble fiber (NDSF) and other non-structural or non-fiber carbohydrates (NFC) also play a key role in the nutrition of ruminants. This paper explores the less investigated potential of temperate legumes to accumulate levels of NFC comparable to corn silage or beet pulp in cool, dry environments under irrigation, and its implications for forage-based beef production systems. We conclude that genetic or managerial interventions (i.e., breeding programs, defoliation frequency) or ecological conditions (i.e., climate, elevation) that increase concentrations of NFC in legumes can enhance beef production, meat quality, and the efficiency of nitrogen utilization by ruminants while reducing environmental impacts.