Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Predicting the tension in actin cytoskeleton from the nucleus shape

Tension in actin cytoskeleton regulates many cellular processes and nuclear morphology. Here, we demonstrate a simple computational method for estimating actin cytoskeletal tension from nucleus shape. We first note that mechanics-based modeling defines a relationship among the volume, surface area, and projected area of the nucleus and hence a specific surface in the three-parameter space of the aforementioned geometric quantities. Data of nuclei from multiple cell types lie on such a surface. Furthermore, nuclei from a given cell population lie on a straight line on the surface. The location and orientation of the line varies with cell type. By using a mechanical model, we present two non-dimensional parameters, namely, the flatness and stretch indicators, which serve as curvilinear coordinates on the surface. Flatness indicator defines the extent of nuclear flattening due to actin cytoskeletal tension and the stretch indicator captures the effect of the elastic modulus of the nuclear envelope. We validate our assertions by modulating the actin cytoskeletal tension using three independent mechanisms: (i) direct downregulation by Cytochalasin D, (ii) indirect upregulation using Nocodazole, and (iii) mechanical stimulation by varying substrate stiffness. We also infer that the flatness indicator is equivalent to the ratio of the height to diameter of the nucleus and is related to the Vogel number. By using this geometric insight, we validate the predictions of our model with data from many previous studies. Finally, we present an analytical formula and a correlation for estimating actin cytoskeletal tension from nuclear projected area and volume.
Synthesis of recombinant human relaxin H2 in bacteria and its effects on differentiation of carcinoembryonic stem cells

SYMTHESIS OF RECOMBINANT HUMAN RELAXIN H2 IN BACTERIA AND ITS EFFECTS ON DIFFERENTIATION OF CARCINOEMBRYONIC STEM CELLS Roman Stanislaw Poterski Co-Advisors: University of Guelph, 2017 Doctor Alastair J.S. Summerlee Doctor Tarek Saleh Experiments described in this thesis were designed to develop a reliable method for the synthesis of the recombinant human hormone relaxin H2. Several methods were tested to produce highly pure, biologically active protein quickly, inexpensively and consistently from batch to batch. Relaxin H2 synthesized in bacteria was assessed by SDS-PAGE gel electrophoresis, Western Dot Blotting, Liquid Chromatography/Ultra High Definition Mass Spectrometry, and in vivo blood pressure response experiments using rats. The recombinant relaxin H2 described in this study was compared with commercially available relaxin H2 and was determined to be of equal quality, purity, and biological activity. In addition, to determine whether or not relaxin H2 induced differentiation of murine carcinoembryonic stem cells P19CL6 into cardiomyocytes was compared with a standard methodology using DMSO-induced differentiation. Relaxin H2 induced differentiation but the onset was delayed by four days compared with DMSO treatment. The endpoint of differentiation was determined as the start of spontaneous contractions within clusters of cells in culture. The results revealed that both commercially obtained and bacterially produced relaxin H2 equally caused a four-day delay in the initiation of contractions by cardiac myocytes compared with DMSO-treated controls. Moreover, cDNA microarray analysis of P19CL6 cells in three separate cultures, induced with DMSO (1%, as a control), and experimental treatments with serelaxin (16.7 nM), and bacterially-derived RLN H2 (16.7nM), respectively. There were no differences observed between cell treatments with the serelaxinand bacterially-derived RLN H2 in the activation/deactivation patterns of 125 affected genes during the progression of the differentiation process.
Orcein and Fluorescent Banding Analysis of Two Floral Types of Catharanthus Roseus L.

Two floral types of Catharanthus roseus L. viz. pink and white were studied through differential staining with orcein, CMA and DAPI for cytogenetical characterization and to assist towards updating their taxonomical status and evaluating chromosomal diversity between them. "Simple Chromocenter Type" of interphase nuclei was observed with some darkly stained small heterochromatic regions throughout the nuclei. Most of the prophase chromosomes of Catharanthus roseus (pink and white) were "Continuous Type" and a few were "Gradient Type". Although these two floral types possessed 16 metacentric chromosomes in somatic cells, they showed variation in fluorescent banding pattern considering the modification of GC- and AT-rich repetitive segments. Taking into account all the parameters of both the floral types of C. roseus showed strict symmetric karyotype as well as primitive nature. Therefore, the combined data of differential staining provide information to make comments on their chromosomal status with cytogenetical characterization and also create a baseline for future research. Dhaka Univ. J. Biol. Sci. 29(2): 219-227, 2020 (July)
Multiscale matters for part segmentation of instruments in robotic surgery

: A challenging aspect of instrument segmentation in robotic surgery is to distinguish different parts of the same instrument. Parts with similar textures are common in a practical instrument and are difficult to distinguish. In this work, the authors introduce an end-to-end recurrent model that comprises a multiscale semantic segmentation network and a refinement model. Specifically, the semantic segmentation network uniformly transforms the input images in multiple scales into a semantic mask, and the refinement model is a single-scale net recurrently optimising the above semantic mask. Through extensive experiments, the authors validate that the models with multiscale inputs perform better than those to fuse encoded feature maps and ones with spatial attention. Furthermore, the authors verify the effectiveness of the proposed model with state-of-the-art performances on several robotic instrument datasets derived from MICCAI Endoscopic Vision Challenges.
Asian Americans, Admissions, and College Choice: An Empirical Test of Claims of Harm Used in Federal Investigations

The Coalition of Asian American Associations (CAAA) and Asian American Coalition for Education (AACE), two small but vocal groups of Asian Americans, have argued against affirmative action practices. One of their more prominent claims is that Asian American applicants who are not accepted and do not attend their first-choice colleges face a multitude of negative consequences, a claim that has become the impetus for the current U.S. Department of Justice’s investigation into the college admissions process at a number of universities. This study empirically tests the claims made by CAAA and AACE with particular attention to the differences in Asian American student outcomes, relative to their college admissions and choice decisions. Our findings indicate a limited, if any, statistical difference between Asian American groups that attend differing choice institutions.
Low‐cost and wideband circularly polarized slot antenna array

A slot antenna with wideband circular polarization (CP) array, which operates on millimeter waves band, is proposed. A four‐direction sequential rotation technique is used in the feed network to feed the 2 × 2 slot element based on waveguide. The shot element resonates at both the fundamental mode and the high‐order mode. The slot element is studied in high order mode, and the radiation lobe can be redirected by changing the size of the slot element, thus improving the multi‐lobe problem. A strong single lobe is formed in the +z‐direction by using the ground edge diffraction characteristics of the slot element in the waveguide. The designed broadband characteristics are obtained through the appropriate combination of the feed network and CP antenna. The prototype of the antenna with an overall size of 137 mm × 137 mm × 0.6 mm3 is processed and verified by experiments. The prototype of the slot array is processed and examined. The test results display that the device has good performance of |S11| < −10 dB bandwidth of 3.72 to 6.56 GHz (2.84 GHZ, 55.25%), a 3 dB axial ratio bandwidth of approximately 4.39 to 5.43 GHz (21.18%).
Experimental investigation of premixed combustion and thermal efficiency in a porous heating burner

In the present research, thermal efficiency and the amount of pollutant emissions of a metallic porous burner with a heat exchanger were investigated experimentally. A very important issue about these burners is the stability of flame on the surface of the porous medium. In the present research, through creating a surface flame in the porous medium, the performance of the burner was observed. In this article, by changing the factors like thermal power and equivalence ratio, thermal efficiency and the amount of pollutants were studied. Results showed that the best performance of the burner occurred when the equivalence ratio was 0.8. The maximum thermal efficiency of 39.43% occurred at an equivalence ratio of 0.8 and thermal power of 100 kW. As thermal power increased, the amount of emitted nitric oxide (NOx) increased. Approximately at all measured conditions, the amount of emitted NOx was less than 15 ppm. Also, the amount of emission carbon monoxide (CO) at an equivalence ratio of 0.8 and thermal power of 100 kW was the lowest. In this research, results of the porous burner were compared to the free flame burner and the results revealed that in the best condition, thermal efficiency was improved up to 5.8%. Accordingly, the amount of emitted NOx was reduced strongly but the amount of CO of the porous burner was much more than the open flame burner.
Morphological Analysis of the Neologisms during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The emergence of neologisms has always been an interesting phenomenon as it demonstrates the dynamism of language. This study intends to determine the neologisms during COVID-19 Pandemic through a morphological analysis. This study argues that the neologisms that emerge during the COVID-19 pandemic reveal the morphological processes that formed the new words. It further claims that the morphemic structures of the neologisms follow the general structures of English vocabulary. This study utilizes the descriptive-qualitative design in analyzing the morphological structures of the neologisms during the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, this study involves textual analysis to determine the morphological processes that encompass the formation of new words. The data used in analyzing the morphological structures of COVID-19-related neologisms are five (5) Internet articles that introduce the new terms created because of the corona virus outbreak. These articles were published in the months of March, April and May 2020.Findings reveal that most of the neologisms are nouns. The common morphological process involved in the formation of new words are compounding, blending and affixation. Moreover, majority of the neologisms follow the compound structure of the free and bound morphemes. Based on the results of the study, it can be concluded that the neologisms formed during the COVID-19 pandemic reveal the morphological processes and the morphemic structures of the neologisms follow the general structures of English vocabulary specifically on the combination of free and bound morphemes.
Diversity of bacterial and fungal endophytes in maize and their larvicidal effect against the spotted stem borer Chilo partellus

ABSTRACT The present study aimed to (i) determine the distribution of endophytes in selected genotypes, growth stages and parts of maize; (ii) evaluate the larvicidal effect of the endophytes against the spotted stem borer Chilo partellus and (iii) determine the level of colonisation of maize by endophytes. Compared with hybrid and landrace maize, open pollinated variety (OPV) maize exhibited a relatively diversified composition of endophytic bacteria. Among the 39 maize endophyte isolates screened for insecticidal antibiotic production, 11 (8 bacteria and 3 fungi) showed larvicidal activity against C. partellus. Isolate aueb-11 from the genus Bacillus showed the highest mortality (75.93%) against C. partellus. The bacterial isolates varied in terms of their activity to colonise the plant parts, and this was assessed using leaf and seed inoculation methods: in the foliar spray method, the maximum bacterial density recovered from the leaf and stem samples were 9.6 × 102 and 9.2 × 102 colony forming units per gram of sample, respectively. These effective isolates could be promising larvicide against C. partellus.
Simulating Erosion‐Induced Soil and Carbon Delivery From Uplands to Rivers in a Global Land Surface Model

Global water erosion strongly affects the terrestrial carbon balance. However, this process is currently ignored by most global land surface models (LSMs) that are used to project the responses of terrestrial carbon storage to climate and land use changes. One of the main obstacles to implement erosion processes in LSMs is the high spatial resolution needed to accurately represent the effect of topography on soil erosion and sediment delivery to rivers. In this study, we present an upscaling scheme for including erosion‐induced lateral soil organic carbon (SOC) movements into the ORCHIDEE LSM. This upscaling scheme integrates information from high‐resolution (3″) topographic and soil erodibility data into a LSM forcing file at 0.5° spatial resolution. Evaluation of our model for the Rhine catchment indicates that it reproduces well the observed spatial and temporal (both seasonal and interannual) variations in river runoff and the sediment delivery from uplands to the river network. Although the average annual lateral SOC flux from uplands to the Rhine River network only amounts to 0.5% of the annual net primary production and 0.01% of the total SOC stock in the whole catchment, SOC loss caused by soil erosion over a long period (e.g., thousands of years) has the potential to cause a 12% reduction in the simulated equilibrium SOC stocks. Overall, this study presents a promising approach for including the erosion‐induced lateral carbon flux from the land to aquatic systems into LSMs and highlights the important role of erosion processes in the terrestrial carbon balance.
Effect of structure and dynamics of forests on the occurrence of Erythronium dens-canis

The paper presents the results of a study on the impact of forest stand structure and development in 1998 to 2018 on the occurrence of dog’s tooth violets (Erythronium dens-canis L.) in the Medník National Nature Monument, Czech Republic. The research was carried out in mixed European hornbeam and sessile oak stands, herb-rich European beech stands and the Sázava-river Norway spruce ecotype stands. The site and stand characteristics of the following three forest stand types were compared: 1) oak-hornbeam forests, 2) herb-rich beech forests and 3) secondary spruce forests. The results showed that the ratio of sterile and fertile plants was 2.9 to 1. The occurrence of E. dens-canis was higher in older stands with differentiated structure. On the contrary, stands characterized by a higher number of trees and basal area negatively affected the population size of E. dens-canis. Significantly, the density of E. dens-canis decreased with increasing stand density index (SDI) and increased with increasing diameter differentiation index in relation to tree neighbours (TMd). During the period of 20 years, the E. dens-canis population increased by 40.4% on permanent research plots, while the highest changes were observed on spruce plots (+92.1%) and the lowest increase was in oak-hornbeam forests (+18.0%). The highest numbers of E. dens-canis plants were found in herb-rich beech forests (1 774 plants·ha–1), lower numbers occurred in oak-hornbeam forests (784 plants·ha–1) and minimal in secondary spruce forests (51 plants·ha–1).
Exploring College Student’s Perspectives on Global Mobility during the COVID-19 Pandemic Recovery

At the time of writing, more than 22 million cases of COVID-19 have been reported worldwide, and at least 770 thousand deaths. Under the pressure of the pandemic, promoting global mobility has become an emerging issue in higher education settings. Although various methods of enhancing student mobility have been implemented, little research has as yet confirmed the pandemic challenges for students. This study investigates the global mobility of Chinese college students and the factors influencing their travel decisions. A self-designed questionnaire, consisting of 15 critical indicators of mobile capabilities, intentions, and implementation decisions, was administered to collect data from 2226 participants. The Minitab and Amos software were used to conduct exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and to detect latent relationships among the data with structural equation modeling (SEM). The SEM and logistic regression model provide a clear picture of the relations among the variables, and show that international intention is the key indicator of global mobility implementation under pressure.
Study on the crashworthiness of bio-inspired multi-cell tube under axial impact

Abstract In recent years, thin-walled energy-absorbing structures have attracted more and more attention due to their excellent structural mechanical properties. In this article, one new kind of multi-cell bionic intersecting thin-walled tube inspired by the structure of the pine cone was designed. In order to fully study the crashworthiness of this new multi-cell tube under axial impact, the effectiveness of the simulation analysis is verified by the verification test of the circular thin-walled tube. Then, the crashworthiness of the circular tube and a series of multi-cell tubes were compared by means of simulation analysis. The simulation results show that the new multi-cell tube can effectively improve the efficiency of energy absorption, specific energy absorption, and crushing force efficiency under the premise of sacrificing part of the peak load. Finally, the response surface method was used to find the optimal design parameters. Response surface model (RSM) was used to represent specific energy absorption (SEA), peak force (PF), crushing force efficiency (CFE), and mass (M). Optimisation results show that the overall impact performance of the three-cell bionic tube under the axial impact load is better than that of the ordinary circular tube and several other multi-cell tubes. Therefore, the three-cell bionic tube can be used as an excellent absorption structure of collision energy under axial impact.
Spatial and temporal dynamics of predator-prey species interactions off western Canada

Ecosystem models are valuable tools for informing ﬁsheries management due to their ability to simulate the spatial dynamics of modelled species, their trophic interactions, and their responses to ﬁshing in an ecosystem context. In this study, we developed an OSMOSE (Object-oriented Simulator of Marine Ecosystems Exploitation) model for the Paciﬁc North Coast Integrated Management Area (PNCIMA) ecosystem off western Canada, which simulated the entire life cycle of six key species and for the ﬁrst time integrated spatial population structure and “background” taxa. Background taxa are of secondary importance for the study at hand but have the potential to be important prey or predators of the key species. The primary aim of the study was to explore how the population dynamics of the key species differed over time and different management areas, with results focusing on Paciﬁc Herring ( Clupea pallasii ) and Paciﬁc Cod ( Gadus macrocephalus ) that have been assessed on a single-species basis in the last 5 years. Results found that the population dynamics of a speciﬁc species varied in different management areas due to differences in species interactions particularly in the form of predation mortality, which supports the current area-speciﬁc assessment and management framework. The study also indicated that increasing predation mortality may have caused the decline of the Paciﬁc Cod populations. By contrast, increasing starvation mortality was found to be a limiting factor for the Paciﬁc Herring populations. The discoveries from these OSMOSE simulations provide important information for ﬁsheries management within the PNCIMA ecosystem.
Fuzzy modeling and particle swarm optimization for determining the optimal operating parameters to enhance the bio‐methanol production from sugar cane bagasse

This work aims to maximize the production of bio‐methanol from sugar cane bagasse through pyrolysis. The maximum value of the bio‐methanol yield can be obtained as soon as the optimal operating parameters in a pyrolysis batch reactor are well defined. Using the experimental data, the fuzzy logic technique is used to build a robust model that describes the yield of bio‐methanol production. Then, Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm is utilized to estimate the optimal values of the operating parameters that maximize the bio‐methanol yield. Three different operating parameters influence the yield of bio‐methanol from sugar cane bagasse through pyrolysis. The controlling parameters are considered as the reaction temperature (°C), reaction time (min), and nitrogen flow (L/min). Accordingly, during the optimization process, these parameters are used as the decision variables set for the PSO optimizer in order to maximize the yield of bio‐methanol, which is considered as a cost function. The results demonstrated a well‐fitting between the fuzzy model and the experimental data compared with previous predictions obtained by an artificial neural network (ANN) model. The mean square errors of the model predictions are 0.11858 and 0.0259, respectively, for the ANN and fuzzy‐based models, indicating that fuzzy modeling increased the prediction accuracy to 78.16% compared with ANN. Based on the built model, the PSO optimizer accomplished a substantial improvement in the yield of bio‐methanol by 20% compared to that obtained experimentally, without changing system design or the materials used.
Dental Implant Failure Rate and Marginal Bone Loss in Transplanted Patients: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

This systematic review investigates the failure rate and marginal bone loss (MBL) of dental implants placed in patients undergoing solid-organ transplant (SOT) compared to healthy controls. Three databases (PubMed, Web of Sciences, and the Cochrane Library) were searched up to June 2020 (PROSPERO CRD42019124896). Case-control and cohort studies reporting data failure rate and marginal bone loss (MBL) of dental implants placed in SOT patients were included. The risk of bias of observational studies was assessed through the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS). Four case-control studies fulfilled the inclusion criteria; all had low risk of bias. Meta-analyses revealed consistently lower implant failure rate than control populations at patient and implant levels. SOT patients had a significant difference of −18% (p-value < 0.001) MBL compared to healthy patients. SOT status poses no serious threat to implant survival. Overall, this group of patients presented lower levels of dental implant failure rate and marginal bone loss compared to otherwise healthy patients. Further intervention trials with larger sample size and longer follow-ups are necessary to confirm these summarized results.