Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
INFLUENCE OF AMPLITUDE-PHASE COUPLING ON THE DYNAMICS OF SEMICONDUCTOR LASERS SUBJECT TO OPTICAL FEEDBACK

We present extensive experimental investigations of the dynamics of semiconductor lasers subject to optical feedback in dependence on the linewidth enhancement factor a which accounts for the amplitude phase coupling of the optical field. A reduction of a leads to conspicuous changes of the dynamics of the system which are characterized and classified in the phase space of feedback strength versus injection current, thus demonstrating the importance of a as the system’s main nonlinearity. In particular, we demonstrate a drastic extension of the regime of coexistence between coherence collapsed dynamics and stable emission, and an increased stability of this stable emission state. We show that a theoretical analysis of the Lang-Kobayashi rate equation model provides a qualitative understanding of the physical mechanisms underlying the observed dynamical behavior and its dependence on a. Finally, being able to control the nonlinearity of the system, we open up new perspectives for the stabilization of semiconductor lasers subject to moderate to strong optical feedback. @S1050-2947~99! 06307-6#
Membrane and Secretory Protein Extraction of Mycobacterium Tuberculosis and Mycobacterium Bovis Using One Dimensional Electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE)

Background & Aim: Despite the drug resistance M.bovis and Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) are still regarded as two of the global health problems in the world. In the present study, a comparison was made between protein profi les of M.bovis and MTB in order to achieve effective biomarkers for diagnosis of TB.
Saprolegniasis in Freshwater Catfishes Sold in Fish Markets in Asaba, Southern Nigeria

﻿The prevalence of saprolegniasis in freshwater catfishes sold in fish markets in Asaba was investigated. Two hundred and sixty-five freshly caught table-sized freshwater catfishes namely: Clarias anguillaris (Pellegrin), Heterobranchus bidorsalis (Geoffrey St. Hilaire), Synodontis clarias (Linnaeus), Schilbe mystus (Linnaeus) and Bagrus bayad (Ruppell) were used for the study which lasted for three months. Fish samples bought on a weekly basis from two major markets (Ogbeogonogo and Cable point) were transported to the laboratory and examined by smear scrapping of mucus on skin of fish for saprolegniasis and possible secondary bacterial and protozoal infections using routine procedures. Isolates from cultures revealed the presence of saprolegniasis, scyphidian flora and bacterial infections of Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coil. Out of 265 catfishes examined, 46 (17.4%) had saprolegniasis. This prevalence of infection was not significant (P >0.05). The number of fungal zoospores from saprolegniasis ulcerative lesion was however significantly (P < 0.05) higher than those of the control which were free from Saprolegnia infection. A significant (P<0. 05) number, 25 (54%) of Saprolegnia infected catfishes had scyphidian flora. S. aureus was isolated from all catfishes examined while E. coli was found in 193 (72.8%) of the fishes. Fish culturist and fresh fish handlers should maintain good water quality for cultured fishes and a high standard of personal hygiene to avoid the health implications of fish diseases.
Scaling of morphology, bite force, and feeding kinematics in an iguanian and a sclerosglossan lizard

Although scaling studies have become increasingly common in the literature, relatively few studies have examined the feeding behavior in terrestrial vertebrates. This is an important point as most of the previous studies examining the scaling of feeding events were performed on aquatic organisms and, in general, have failed to support the geometric similarity model of A.V. Hill. In contrast, the results of terrestrial feeding in toads, do seem to support the Hill model. Therefore, we decided to examine the effects of size on the morphology and functioning of the feeding system in two species of lizards. To investigate ontogenetic changes in the feeding system we measured changes in skull shape, in-vivo bite forces and feeding kinematics. Scaling relationships of the head morphology generally support the Hill model, yet some variables show a tendency to being relatively smaller in adult animals. Interestingly, the in-vivo bite forces of both species scaled significantly higher than predicted, with larger animals generating much higher bite forces than juveniles. Most of the timing, displacement and velocity variables measured were significantly different than would be predicted by the Hill model and tended to support an alternative model proposed by Richard and Wainwright. Although these scaling models provide testable hypotheses, it seems that in general the predictive power across taxa (and behaviors) may be limited.
The Effect of Muscle-Regulatory Factor Genes and Satellite Cell Response to Recombinant Hsp70 Protein on Megalobrama amblycephala Skeletal Muscle

Hsp70 (70-kDa heat shock protein) plays a key regulatory role in muscle development. In order to evaluate whether recombinant Hsp70 protein (rMaHsp70) of M. amblycephala could affect muscle growth by inducing the expression of Myogenin (MyoG), Myogenic Differentiation Antigen (MyoD), Myogenic factor 5 (Myf5), myogenic regulatory factor 4 (MRF4) and myostatin (MSTN) in muscle, Hsp70 was injected intraperitoneally (IP) at two concentrations: 1.0 mg/mL and 3.4 mg/mL. The mRNA and protein levels of the transcription factor Pax-7 and the protein Hsp70 initially increased, then as concentration levels of injected recombinant M. amblycephala Hsp70 protein rMaHsp70 further increased, the protein Hsp70 decreased. In order to investigate the relationship between muscle hyperplasia, hypertrophy and satellite cell growth following rMaHsp70 administration, the number of satellite cells were analyzed and revealed that the numbers of satellite cells in low concentration group (1 mg/mL) was predominantly higher than in the other concentration groups in both red and white muscle. These results suggest that low concentrations of rMaHsp70 could decrease muscle-related gene expression and increase the number of satellite cells. Our research will be helpful in adapting Hsp70 as a feed additive to enhance M. amblycephala growth. The IJA appears exclusively as a peer-reviewed on-line open-access journal at http://www.siamb. org.il/. To read papers free of charge, please register online at registration form. Sale of IJA papers is strictly forbidden.
METHOD DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF EPROSARTAN MESYLATE AND ITS IMPURITIES USING REVERSE PHASE HIGH-PERFORMANCE LIQUID CHROMATOGRAPHY

Objective: Our main objective is to develop an accurate and precise RP-HPLC method for the determination of Eprosartan Mesylate and its impurities. Methods: A Develosil ODS UG-5; (150 × 4.6) mm; 5 µm column was used for the Separation of drugs by a mobile phase consisting of Buffer and Acetonitrile mixture in the gradient proportion. The flow rate maintained was 0.8 ml/min and the wavelength used for detection was 235 nm. Results: The linearity was observed in the range of 0.025-50µg/ml of spiked impurities in Eprosartan Mesylate, impurity 1 and impurity 2 with a correlation coefficient of 0.99927, 0.99910 and 0.99934 respectively. The mean percentage recoveries for LOQ, 50%, 80%, 100%, 150% and 200% accuracy were found to be 101.5±1.51, 107.0±1.7, 104.6±0.4, 102.8±0.36, 101.7±0.26 and 101.3±0.15 respectively for impurities in Eprosartan Mesylate, impurity 1 and impurity 2. Linearity, accuracy, precision and robustness parameters for the suggested method were estimated for validation. Conclusion: The developed method is uncomplicated, accurate, sensitive and precise for the determination of related substances in the Eprosartan Mesylate. The satisfying % recoveries and low % RSD Values confirmed the suitability of the developed method for the usual analysis of Eprosartan mesylate in pharmaceuticals.
A random point process model for the score in sport matches

A sequence of goals scored during sport match is modelled as a realization of two dependent random point processes. It is assumed that the scoring intensity of each team has several components depending on time or on factors describing the teams and other conditions of the match. This dependence is modelled with the aid of a semi-parametric multiplicative regression model of intensity. A method of model evaluation is presented and demonstrated on a real data set. Prediction obtained from the model via the Monte Carlo simulation is compared with real results.
Online Knowledge Communities as Student-Centered Open Learning Environments: How Likely Will They Be to Integrate Learners as New Members?

: Using online knowledge communities (OKCs) from the Internet as student-centered, open learning environments (SCOLEs) poses the question how likely these communities will be to integrate learners as new members. This premise of learning in SCOLEs is analyzed in the current study. Based on the approaches of voices interanimation and polyphony, a natural language processing tool was employed for dialog analysis in integrative vs. non-integrative blog-based OKCs. Three dialog dimensions were identified: participants’ individual content-oriented contribution, social contribution, and their position within the social network. Hierarchical clusters built upon these dimensions reflect socio-cognitive structures including central, regular and peripheral OKC members. OKCs with a stronger layer of regular members appear more likely to integrate new members, whereas OKCs with a stronger layer of peripheral members appear less likely to do so. Consequently, the study suggests an automated prediction method of OKC integrativity that may sustain the educational use of OKCs.
Human Visual Servoing on Mobiles for Assisting Visually Impaired

In this paper, our aim is to test and deploy two approaches for solving the classical human visual servoing problem. A system has been designed for guiding/assisting a human hand to reach a certain object. The device is capable of sensing, computing and guiding a human. This involves solving two fundamental problems i) Recognizing and localizing a known object. ii) Generating visual servoing commands using the visual features from the object to move the human towards the object. Both of these problems are solved on a mid range mobile device. We focus on the latter problem in this paper. We develop two techniques for visual servoing. The first technique is moment based technique that uses image moments to generate the visual servoing commands. This technique controls the motion of a mobile device with 4 dofs. The second technique uses the full pose of the object to generate the visual servoing commands. In this paper, we deploy both the techniques for human visual servoing and present the results obtained.
Functional Inorganic Nanohybrids for Biomedical Diagnosis

Functional hybrid inorganic nanomaterials have received substantial attention for their promising performance in nanotechnological applications. [1] A combination of more than one nanocomponent into a hybrid structure gives rise to new collective properties different from the constituents. [1] The hybrid nanostructures not only have multifunctional properties, but also may induce synergistic properties, arising from interfacial particleparticle interactions. [2] Coupling of two or more components produces a hybrid nanostructure that allows electronic transfer across the junction to change local electronic structure. The engineering chemical reactivity on the particle surface is thus dependent on the internal and external interfacing capacilities and the particle size distribution of the deposited particles onto the nanosupports. [1, 3] These behaviours make them to generally have potential applications in solar energy conversion, catalysis, and potential biomedical methods for drug delivery, bioimaging, and cancer theragnosis. [4-6]
Dictionary-Based, Clustered Sparse Representation for Hyperspectral Image Classification

This paper presents a new, dictionary-based method for hyperspectral image classification, which incorporates both spectral and contextual characteristics of a sample clustered to obtain a dictionary of each pixel. The resulting pixels display a common sparsity pattern in identical clustered groups. We calculated the image’s sparse coefficients using the dictionary approach, which generated the sparse representation features of the remote sensing images. The sparse coefficients are then used to classify the hyperspectral images via a linear SVM. Experiments show that our proposed method of dictionary-based, clustered sparse coefficients can create better representations of hyperspectral images, with a greater overall accuracy and a Kappa coefficient.
Leveraging ARM TrustZone and Verifiable Computing to Provide Auditable Mobile Functions

The increase of personal data on mobile devices has been followed by legislation that forces service providers to process and maintain users' data under strict data protection policies. In this paper, we propose a new primitive for mobile applications called auditable mobile function (AMF) to help service providers enforcing such policies by enabling them to process sensitive data within users' devices and collecting proofs of function execution integrity. We present SafeChecker, a computation verification system that provides mobile application support for AMFs, and evaluate the practicality of different usage scenario AMFs on TrustZone-enabled hardware.
How Mood States Affect Information Processing During Facial Emotion Recognition: An Eye Tracking Study

Existing research shows that a sad mood hinders emotion recognition. More generally, it has been shown that mood affects information processing. A happy mood facilitates global processing and a sad mood boosts local processing. Global processing has been described as the Gestalt-like integration of details; local processing is understood as the detailed processing of the parts. The present study investigated how mood affects the use of information processing styles in an emotion recognition task. Thirty-three participants were primed with happy or sad moods in a within-subjects design. They performed an emotion recognition task during which eye movements were registered. Eye movements served to provide information about participants' global or local information processing style. Our results suggest that when participants were in a happy mood, they processed information more globally compared to when they were in a sad mood. However, global processing was only positively and local processing only negatively related to emotion recognition when participants were in a sad mood. When they were in a happy mood, processing style was not related to emotion recognition performance. Our findings clarify the mechanism that underlies accurate emotion recognition, which is important when one is aiming to improve this ability (i.e., via training).
An investigation of pre-service teachers’ conceptual understanding of basic DC circuits

The case study reports about the preliminary results of pre-service and in-service teachers’ understanding of DC circuits at the University of Johannesburg. A survey questionnaire on electric circuits was constructed guided by literature. The results of the questionnaire indicated that pre-service teachers had ideas about electric circuits which are similar to inservice teachers currently teaching natural sciences at some selected high schools in Gauteng. Pre and In-Service teachers’ ideas identified were mostly similar to those reported in literature as standard misconceptions about electric circuits.
CALCINED BONE AS A RELIABLE MEDIUM FOR RADIOCARBON DATING: A TEST USING PAIRED NORTH AMERICAN SAMPLES

Radiocarbon dating using charcoal and bone collagen, two standards of archaeological chronology, can be difficult to impossible in environments where natural burning is common and bone does not preserve well. In such settings, charcoal ages cannot always be trusted and collagen is unavailable. Calcined bone can be a viable alternative medium in these situations but it has rarely been exploited in the Americas. One area that could benefit from its use is the forested Pacific Northwest. We compare calcined bone ages with charcoal and/or collagen dates from individual features or discrete cultural strata in 10 Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and British Columbia sites dating between 9000 and 100 B.P. Resulting radiocarbon age estimates based on calcined bone closely match those based on charcoal and/or collagen in nearly all cases. We obtained calcined bone dates from three additional Holocene-aged sites that had not previously produced accurate results, obtaining findings consistent with estimates based on cross dating. Preserving well where all other organic media of cultural origin are lost or unreliable, calcined bone holds promise for dating sites in conifer forests and other acidic soil settings, and can allow researchers to refine archaeological sequences that have long defied accurate chronometric analysis. La datación por radiocarbono usando carbón y colágeno óseo, dos estándares para la cronología arqueológica, puede ser difícil o imposible en ambientes donde los incendios naturales son comunes y el material óseo no se conserva bien. En tales condiciones los resultados del fechamiento por carbón no siempre son confiables y el colágeno no puede ser recuperado. La datación de hueso calcinado puede ser una técnica alternativa viable en estas situaciones, pero rara vez se ha explotado en América. Un área que podría beneficiarse de su uso es el boscoso Noroeste del Pacífico de Norteamérica. Se compararon las edades de fragmentos de hueso calcinado con aquellas de muestras de carbón o colágeno desde fogatas, estructuras individuales o estratos culturales discretos en 10 sitios de Washington, Oregón, Idaho y Columbia Británica que datan entre 9000 y 100 a.P. Las estimaciones resultantes de la edad de radiocarbono sobre hueso calcinado coinciden con aquellas procedentes de carbón o colágeno en casi todos los casos. Se obtuvieron fechas sobre hueso calcinado para tres sitios adicionales que previamente no habían producido resultados precisos, obteniendo fechas coherentes con las estimaciones basadas solamente en estilo cultural. Dado que se conserva bien en contextos donde se pierden o no son confiables todos los demás medios orgánicos de origen cultural, el hueso calcinado representa una promesa para la datación de sitios en bosques de coníferas y otros ambientes con suelos ácidos, permitiendo refinar las secuencias arqueológicas que previamente habían desafiado un análisis cronométrico preciso.
An Integrated Model Predicting Smoking Stage of Change Among a Sample of Government-Insured and Indigent Medical Patients.

This study found that an integrated model using variables from several psychosocial theories, including the theory of planned behavior, decisional balance theory, and self-efficacy theory, was successful in predicting smoking stage of change. Specifically, ever smokers with higher self-efficacy, higher ratings of the cons of smoking, and lower ratings of the pros were more ready to quit or had already quit. Additionally, those who rated smoking as less tempting and who reported having people in their support system who were supportive of their cessation were in later stages of change. Theses results point to the importance of assessing cognitions towards smoking and targeting these attitudes and beliefs with appropriate interventions in an effort to move smokers through the stages of readiness to actual cessation.
Transcriptional Approach for Decoding the Mechanism of rpoC Compensatory Mutations for the Fitness Cost in Rifampicin-Resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (TB), defined as TB resistant to the two first-line drugs, isoniazid and rifampin, is a serious challenge to global TB eradication efforts. Although mutations in rpoA or rpoC have been proposed to compensate for this fitness cost due to rpoB mutation in rifampicin-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis mutants, whether the compensatory effect exists and the underlying mechanisms of compensation remain unclear. Here, we used RNA sequencing to investigate the global transcriptional profiles of 6 rifampin-resistant clinical isolates with either single mutation in rpoB or dual mutations in rpoB/rpoC, as well as 3 rifampin-susceptible clinical isolates, trying to prove the potential compensatory effect of rpoC by transcriptomic alteration. In rifampin-free conditions, rpoC mutation was associated with M. tuberculosis upregulation of ribosomal protein-coding genes, dysregulation of growth-related essential genes and balancing the expression of arginine and glutamate synthesis-associated genes. Upon rifampin exposure of M. tuberculosis isolates, rpoC mutations were associated with the upregulation of the oxidative phosphorylation machinery, which was inhibited in the rpoB single mutants, as well as stabilization of the expression of rifampin-regulated essential genes and balancing the expression of genes involved in metabolism of sulfur-containing amino acids. Taken together, our data suggest that rpoC mutation may compensate for the fitness defect of rifampicin-resistant M. tuberculosis by altering gene expression in response to rifampin exposure.
Endophytic Fungi from the Medicinal Plant , Panax notoginseng , Isolated from Healthy and Root-rot Diseased Individuals

In order to better understanding the relationships between endophytic fungi and root-rot disease of Panax notoginseng (Araliaceae) which is a famous medicinal plant used in pharmaceutical industries. Sixty endophytic isolates were isolated from three artificial plantations, which included healthy and root-rot susceptible individuals of different ages. All isolates were separated based on morphological and ITS sequence analyses into six genera: Alternaria, Colletotrichum, Bionectria, Fusarium, Nigrospora, and Pestalotiopsis and 28 unidentifed species. Twelve species were only isolated from susceptible plants which have never been reported as root-rot pathogens. Nine speceis were only present in healthy individuals. The biodiversity of endophytic fungi is markedly reduced in diseased plants. The highest Shannon-Weiner diversity index for endophytes is from stems of healthy individuals, however different tissues did not significantly different by endophytic species in healthy and susceptible
Theoretical modeling of physical processes in low density lipoprotein nanostructures

The research work aims to analyze LDL structure and study the structural influence on physical properties of the particle by means of computer simulations. Our approach is based on theoretical statistical mechanics and modern computational molecular dynamics. We analyzed theoretically molecular interactions to identify the major statistical factors contributing to the ordering and stability of LDL particle. Combining available experimental data with developed statistical model allowed us to predict thermodynamic properties of LDL. Conversely, dynamical properties of LDL particles were investigated employing methods of molecular dynamics. Protein moiety was obtained using homology modelling, fold recognition, and ab-initio structure prediction. The obtained heat capacity does not have sharp peak typical for a bulk sample of material. Instead, we observed curve which spreads over a finite temperature interval as for a sample consisting of small subsystems with finite number of molecules. Our dynamical model of LDL particles readily supports experimental findings that below biological temperatures laminar structures observed in these particles could indeed form due to ordering of cholesterol esters.