Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Evaluation of commercially available reagents as a reference material for intramolecular carbon isotopic measurements of acetic acid.

RATIONALE Recent advances in analytical techniques for the intramolecular carbon isotopic ratio measurement of some organic compounds have provided important information on carbon cycles in biochemistry, organic geochemistry and food chemistry. These advances have made it necessary to prepare intramolecular isotopic reference materials (RMs) to use for inter-laboratory calibration and/or inter-calibration among different analytical methods. METHODS We evaluated the feasibility of preparing RMs using commercially available reagents for intramolecular carbon isotopic ratio measurement of acetic acid. The intramolecular carbon isotopic distribution of nine acetic acid and four sodium acetate reagents was determined with high precision using off-line pyrolysis combined with gas chromatography-combustion-isotope ratio mass spectrometry (GC-C-IRMS). We also evaluated the potential alteration in the isotopic signature of acetic acid reagents by evaporation. RESULTS The intramolecular carbon isotopic distributions for the acetic acid and sodium acetate reagents were determined with a precision of better than 0.45‰. We found that the isotopic values of these reagents spanned the carbon isotopic range of acetic acid in biological and environmental samples. We also found that the isotope fractionation associated with the evaporation of acetic acid occurs solely on the methyl position, the carboxyl position being unaffected. CONCLUSIONS These commercially available reagents will be used as RMs in the future for inter-laboratory calibration and/or inter-calibration with another intramolecular isotopic measurement technique, namely quantitative (13) C NMR. In cases where acetic acid is being used as a RM, its storage must be carefully controlled to prevent evaporation.
OPTIMAL SENSOR PLACEMENT FOR THE ESTIMATION OF TURBULENCE MODEL PARAMETERS IN CFD

The optimal placement of sensors for the estimation of turbulence model parameters in computational fluid dynamics is presented. The information entropy (IE), applied on the posterior uncertainty of the model parameters inferred from Bayesian analysis, is used as a scalar measure of uncertainty. Using an asymptotic approximation, the IE depends on nominal values of the CFD model and prediction error model parameters. It is derived from the sensitivities of the flow quantities predicted by the flow model with respect to the model parameters. A stochastic optimization algorithm is used to perform the minimization of the IE in the continuous design space. Robustness to uncertainties in the nominal model parameters and flow conditions is addressed. Information redundancy due to sensor clustering is addressed by introducing spatially correlated prediction error models. The algorithm is applied to the turbulent flow through a backward-facing step where the optimal locations of velocity and Reynolds shear stress profiles of sensors are sought for the estimation of the parameters of the Spalart-Allmaras turbulence model.
A Simple Solution to a “Blinding” Problem

R ed–green color blindness is a common condition that affects approximately 2% of the population. Most afflicted people suffer from no problems in their everyday activities. However, in a laboratory setting situations can arise in which the color blind may become disadvantaged. One field in which this may be a distinct problem is in the analysis of histological sections, in particular the assessment of immunohistochemically stained slides. In our laboratory, FITC-conjugated antibodies and propidium iodide counterstaining are used for the detection of myofibroblasts by immunohistochemistry. Interpretation of these images relies on the ability to differentiate between the red and green stains. Both the director and a recently appointed member of staff are red–green color blind and have demonstrated that distinguishing between these colors can be difficult. An obvious approach to solving this problem may be to change the stains and filters used. However, a more cost-effective solution can be found. Digital capture of microscopic images is becoming more common and, in our institute, images are captured for analysis using a microscope-mounted digital camera (Leica DC200). This yields high-quality images that can then be viewed within any common photo editing or graphics package (e.g., Adobe Photoshop, Jasc Paint Shop Pro) for further analysis. Other graphics packages can be used in a similar way. We have found that by manipulating the “hue” of the image, differences between our commonly used stains can be enhanced. The images can be restored to their original form with no data loss by readjusting the hue to its original state. For convenience, a macro has been developed that automatically adjusts the hue of the image before analysis, improving both the speed and accuracy of analysis for the color-blind scientist. This solution requires no additional equipment from that already found in most research institutes and obviates the need to adjust filters or to purchase antibodies with different conjugates/signaling systems. It allows the accurate assessment of a number of images by all laboratory staff.
FDTD Investigation on Electromagnetic Scattering from Two- Dimensional Layered Rough Surfaces

─ This paper presents an investigation into the electromagnetic scattering characteristic of two-dimensional (2-D) layered rough surfaces by using a finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) algorithm, which constitutes a three-dimensional scattering problem. The uniaxial perfectly matched layer medium is adopted for truncation of FDTD lattices, in which the finite-difference equations can be used for the total computation domain by properly choosing the uniaxial parameters. The upper and down rough surfaces are characterized with Gaussian statistics for the height and the autocorrelation function. The angular distribution of bistatic scattering coefficent from a 2-D singlelayered rough surface is calculated, and it shows good agreement with the numerical result through the Kirchhoff Approximation except for with large scattering angles. Finally, the bistatic scattering coefficents versus scattered and azimuthal angle for different conditions are analyzed in detail. Index Terms─ Finite difference time domain (FDTD), electromagnetic scattering, rough surface.
Alternate pathways of metabolism of short-chain fatty acids.

INTRODUCTION . 1 ROLE OF GLYOXYLATE DURING GROWTH ON ACETATE . 1 Physiological Significance and Regulation of the Glyoxylate Bypass.1 CONDENSATIONS OF GLYOXYLATE WITH OTHER SHORT-CHAIN FATrY ACIDS. 3 Elucidation of the Condensation Reactions.3 FURTHER METABOLISM OF THE CONDENSATION PRODUCTS.5 ce-Hydroxyglutarate. 5 (3-Ethylmalate.5 FACTORS REGULATING FORMATION OF THE GLYOXYLATE-CONDENSING ENZYMES. 7 Effect of Carbon Source on Formation of the Condensing Enzymes.7 Selection of Constitutive Mutants During Growth on Valerate.7 Studies on the Mechanism ofMutagenesis During Growth on Valerate.9 Further Properties of Valerate Mutants. 10 FACTORS REGULATING GROWTH ON PROPIONATE. 11 C4 Acid Requirement for Growth Initiation During Adaptation to Propionate . 1. I Propionate Oxidation . 12 Significance ofIsocitrate Lyase During Growth on Propionate. 13 Significance ofCO2 Fixation to Growth on Propionate. 14 Significance of the ac-Hydroxyglutarate Pathway During Growth on Propionate. 16 OTHER GLYOXYLATE CONDENSATION REACTIONS . 17 Condensation with Glyoxylate. 17 Condensation with Glycine. 18 Condensation with Pyruvate. 18 Condensation with Oxalacetate. 19 Condensation with Acetoacetate . 19 Condensation with a-Ketoglutarate. 19 LnIERAT iu CITED.20. 20
Capillary blood flow to ovarian follicles, stroma and corpora lutea of anaesthetized sheep.

The radioactive microsphere technique was used to determine the rate of blood flow through vessels of up to 15 mum diameter in the ovaries of 23 anaesthetized sheep in the 72 hr preceding ovulation. The validity of the microsphere technique was established in two preliminary studies. On Days 14, 15 and 16 of the cycle the rate of blood flow (ml.min-1 .100 g-1 tissue) was 1122, 708 and 116 to the CL; 157, 258 and 140 to the stroma; and 627, 742 and 1096 to the follicles, respectively. Blood flow to grossly atretic follicles did not differ significantly from that to non-atretic follicles of an equivalent size. Change in blood flow do not appear to initiate or control the activation, steriodogenic function or atresia of follicles.
HOMOGENEOUS REGION SEGMENTED USING THE MEAN-SHIFT ALGORITHM FOR VIDEO INPAINTING

Although tremendous advancement happen in image processing domain, still "filling the missing areas" is area of concern in it. Though lot of progress has been made in the past years, still lot of work should have to be done. To overcome this limitation this paper presents a method of video inpainting frame registration method. MRF based proposed method provide better inpainting quality registration and segmentation method which provide very accurate and reasonable inpainting results.To limit the computational time a frame is inpainted by considering a small number of neighboring pictures which are grouped into a group of pictures GoP This drastically reduces the algorithm complexity and makes the approach well suited for near real-time video editing applications as well as for loss concealment applications Experiments with several challenging video sequences show that the proposed method provides visually pleasing results for object removal error concealment and background reconstruction context This energy function is efficient enough to provide high quality results even when the number of pictures in the GoP is rather small Then from the stack of aligned frames an energy function based on both spatial and temporal coherency terms is globally minimized This is achieved by a region-based homography computation method which allows us to strengthen the spatial consistency of aligned frames More specifically to inpaint a frame the method starts by aligning all the frames of the GoP propose a new video inpainting method which applies to both static or free-moving camera videos The method can be used for object removal error concealment and background reconstruction applications.
Electrical impedance myography in the evaluation of the tongue musculature in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Introduction: Electrical impedance myography (EIM) quantifies muscle health and is used as a biomarker of muscle abnormalities in neurogenic and myopathic diseases. EIM has yet to be evaluated in the tongue musculature in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), who often show clinical bulbar signs. Methods: The lingual musculature of 19 subjects with motor neuron disease and 21 normal participants was assessed using EIM, strength and endurance testing, and clinical assessment. Results: Tongue musculature in the ALS group was characterized by significantly smaller phase (Ph) and greater resistance (R) when compared with the healthy cohort. Ph and tongue endurance were correlated in the ALS group. Conclusions: EIM of tongue musculature could distinguish those with ALS from healthy controls. The demonstrated relationship between tongue function and Ph supports further testing of EIM of the tongue as a potential biomarker in ALS. Muscle Nerve 52: 584–591, 2015
Induction of endothelial cell decay-accelerating factor by vascular endothelial growth factor: a mechanism for cytoprotection against complement-mediated injury during inflammatory angiogenesis.

OBJECTIVE Decay-accelerating factor (DAF) is a widely expressed, multifunctional cell surface protein involved in complement regulation and cell signaling. Previous studies have demonstrated that endothelial cell (EC) DAF is up-regulated by tumor necrosis factor alpha and inhibits complement binding. Because vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is cytoprotective to endothelium and is expressed at sites of chronic inflammation, we hypothesized that VEGF may induce DAF expression during inflammatory angiogenesis. METHODS Human umbilical vein and dermal microvascular EC were isolated using routine procedures, and the regulation and function of DAF, as well as other complement-regulatory proteins (membrane cofactor protein and CD59), were analyzed following stimulation with VEGF. RESULTS Incubation of large- or small-vessel EC with VEGF led to increased expression of DAF, with maximal expression after 48-72 hours of stimulation. This effect depended on the activation of protein kinase C (PKC) and required increased steady-state messenger RNA levels and de novo protein synthesis. Although VEGF-induced EC proliferation was inhibited by both p38 and p42/44 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) antagonists, DAF up-regulation in response to VEGF was only sensitive to inhibition of p38 MAPK. VEGF-stimulated EC showed a 60% reduction in C3 deposition following complement activation, and this resulted in a marked reduction in complement-mediated EC lysis. These protective effects were abolished by anti-DAF monoclonal antibody 1H4. CONCLUSION This study confirms the importance of PKC for the regulation of DAF expression by EC and reveals VEGF to be a physiologic agonist for this pathway. The up-regulation of DAF expression by VEGF may represent an important mechanism for the protection of EC from complement-mediated injury during angiogenesis in inflammatory rheumatic diseases.
A comparative study on MPPT for photovoltaic generation systems

Perturb and observe (P&O) maximum power point tracking (MPPT) algorithms are commonly used in photovoltaic (PV) generation system (PGS) because it is easy to implement. However, conventional fixed step-size P&O exhibits a trade-off between tracking speed and tracking accuracy. By contrast, variable step-size MPPT can achieve satisfactory tracking accuracy and speed while maintains advantage of simple calculation. This paper aimed to study the performance of two different variable step-size P&O MPPT techniques. Initially, a MATLAB based PGS model is implemented and validated. Then, variable step-size MPPT methods are compared in terms of several performance indices under various operating conditions. Finally, the advantages and disadvantages of each method are then summarized.
Conception design and empirical research of multinational subsidiary's entrepreneurial orientation

In the research field of corporate entrepreneurship (CE) and internationalization, the research of multinational subsidiary's entrepreneurial orientation (EO) is a new emerging topic. Although scholars have known importance of subsidiary's EO, but correlative theoretical and empirical research was scarce. There aren't still special conception design and dimension partition about multinational subsidiary's EO. The thesis divides EO of multinational subsidiary into three dimensions according to special behavior of firm: new business venturing, product/technology innovation and strategic renewal. And the thesis uses exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis to validate the conception design. The model embodies meaning of CE and background of multinational, proves multi-dimension of subsidiary's EO, and enriches the research of multinational subsidiary and CE.
Pemphigus vulgaris autoimmune globulin induces Src-dependent tyrosine-phosphorylation of plakophilin 3 and its detachment from desmoglein 3

Abstract The cell adhesion molecule plakophilin 3 (Pkp3) plays an essential role in the maintenance of skin integrity and is targeted in certain autoimmune conditions. In one example, we have shown that Pkp3 is instrumental in mediating the discohesive effects of sera from patients with pemphigus vulgaris (PV), a life-threatening autoimmune disease that targets intercellular adhesion in the epidermis. In the present study, we determine the effect of PV autoimmune globulin (PV IgG) on Pkp3 in an in-vitro model of PV. We demonstrate that Pkp3 becomes tyrosine phosphorylated as early as 30 min upon binding of PV IgG to keratinocyte surface and eventually detaches from its binding partner desmoglein 3 (Dsg3). In parallel, Pkp3 is depleted from the membrane (Triton X-soluble) fraction and accumulates in the cytoplasm within 240 min of incubation with PV IgG. Inhibition of Pkp3 phosphorylation by a Src inhibitor attenuates the discohesive effects of PV IgG. Taken together, the data demonstrate that activation of Src-kinase signalling is crucial for PV acantholysis and acts, at least in part, via phosphorylation of the adaptor protein Pkp3.
Genetic Analysis of Cooked Rice Elongation in Indica Rice ( Oryza sativa L.)

Genetic models including genetic effects and genotype by environment interaction effects for traits of triploid endosperms in cereal crops were used to analyze the cooked rice elongation (CRE) traits of indica rice at two environments. It was found that the milled rice length (MRL), cooked rice length (CRL) and CRE were mainly controlled by the main genetic effects as well as the genotype by environment interaction effects. As to the main genetic effects, the three traits were mainly controlled by the seed direct additive effects, but the maternal additive and dominance effects could not be neglected. MRL and CRL had a higher narrow sense heritabilities (65.9% and 61.7%, respectively) than CRE (43.9%), which suggested that early selection for MRL and CRL was effective while not effective for CRE. Prediction of the genetic effects of the parents showed that the Miyang 46 was better than the others for making a cross with improved cooked rice elongation, because it could increase both CRL and CRE.
Genetic Evidence of an Essential Role for Cytomegalovirus Small Capsid Protein in Viral Growth

ABSTRACT Many steps in the replication cycle of cytomegalovirus (CMV), like cell entry, capsid assembly, and egress of newly synthesized virions, have not been completely analyzed yet. In order to facilitate these studies, we decided to construct a recombinant CMV that incorporates the green fluorescent protein (GFP) into the nucleocapsid. A comparable herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) mutant has recently been generated by fusion of the GFP open reading frame (ORF) with the HSV-1 ORF encoding small capsid protein (SCP) VP26 (P. Desai and S. Person, J. Virol. 72:7563–7568, 1998). Recombinant CMV genomes expressing a fusion protein consisting of GFP and the SCP were constructed by the recently established bacterial artificial chromosome mutagenesis procedure. In transfected cells, the SCP-GFP fusion protein localized to distinct foci in the nucleus that may represent sites for capsid assembly (assemblons). However, no viable progeny was reconstituted from these mutant CMV genomes. CMV genomes with deletion of the SCP ORF also did not give rise to infectious virus. Rescue of the mutation by insertion of the SCP gene at an ectopic position in an SCP knockout genome indicates that, in contrast to the HSV-1 SCP, the CMV SCP is essential for viral growth. Expression of the SCP-GFP fusion protein together with the authentic SCP blocked the CMV infection cycle, suggesting that the SCP-GFP fusion protein exerts a dominant-negative effect on the assembly of new virions. The results of this study are discussed with regard to recently published data about the structure of the CMV virion and its differences from the HSV-1 virion.
Robust Simultaneous and Proportional Myoelectric Control Scheme for Individuals with Transradial Amputations

Commercial myoelectric prostheses need to be accurate and clinically viable to be successful. This study proposed a simultaneous and proportional control scheme with frequency division technique (SPEC-FDT) to address limitations in current myoelectric prosthesis control, specifically to address non-stationaries such as contraction level variations and unintended activations. Twenty able-bodied participants (14 males and 6 females, age 23.4 ± 3.0) and four individuals with transradial amputations performed wrist movements (flexion/extension, rotations and combined movements) in two degrees-of freedom virtual tasks. The SPEC-FDT had a completion rate (CR)>90% for both control and clinical participants which was significantly higher than the conventional technique (CR=68%). Our results showed that SPEC-FDT is highly accurate for both able-bodied and clinical participants and provides a robust myoelectric control scheme allowing for increased prosthetic hand functions.
Transactional concurrency control for resource constrained applications

Transactions have long been used as a mechanism for ensuring the consistency of databases. Databases, and associated transactional approaches, have always been an active area of research as different application domains and computing architectures have placed ever more elaborate requirements on shared data access. As transactions typically provide consistency at the expense of timeliness (abort/retry) and resource (duplicate shared data and locking), there has been substantial efforts to limit these two aspects of transactions while still satisfying application requirements. In environments where clients are geographically distant from a database the consistency/performance trade-off becomes acute as any retrieval of data over a network is not only expensive, but relatively slow compared to co-located client/database systems. Furthermore, for battery powered clients the increased overhead of transactions can also be viewed as a significant power overhead. However, for all their drawbacks transactions do provide the data consistency that is a requirement for many application types. In this Thesis we explore the solution space related to timely transactional systems for remote clients and centralised databases with a focus on providing a solution, that, when compared to other's work in this domain: (a) maintains consistency; (b) lowers latency; (c) improves throughput. To achieve this we revisit a technique first developed to decrease disk access times via local caching of state (for aborted transactions) to tackle the problems prevalent in real-time databases. We demonstrate that such a technique (rerun) allows a significant change in the typical structure of a transaction (one never before considered, even in rerun systems). Such a change itself brings significant performance success not only in the traditional rerun local database solution space, but also in the distributed solution space. A byproduct of our improvements also, one can argue, brings about a "greener" solution as less time coupled with improved throughput affords improved battery life for mobile devices.