Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Microdroplets for the Study of Mass Transfer

As the development in the microfabrication technology in the last two decades has allowed the easy fabrication of microchannels with low cost, many studies have been conducted on the transport of fluid and the realization of various functions using fluids (Whitesides, 2006; Dittrich et al., 2006). The realization of the microchannel-based fluidic system and the relevant study are called microfluidics. In the scale in which microfluidics is concerned, the surface force is dominant over the body force, since the surface-to-volume ratio is large. The dominant influence of the surface force allows the production as well as the movement and control of micro-sized droplets in a microchannel. This study area is called droplet-based microfluidics (Beebe et al., 2002; Kim, 2004; Stone et al., 2004). Droplet-based microfluidics is expected to enable chemical and biological applications such as particle synthesis (Frenz et al., 2008), microextraction (Mary et al., 2008), and protein crystallization (Zheng et al., 2003). In a general microfluidics system, the Reynolds number (Re) is very small as 0.1-10, and thus the fluid forms a laminar flow. Such a laminar flow makes it difficult for two different fluids to be mixed with each other. However, if droplets are used, different fluids can be mixed with each other, because an internal circulation flow takes place in the droplets (Tice et al., 2003). This chapter describes the microextraction based on the droplet-based microfluidics. Firstly, we will explain the electrohydrodynamic droplet generation and control technology in the aqueous two-phase system (ATPS) that we employed for the study, and the application of the generated droplets to microextraction. In particular, we were able to control the rate of extraction, which was impossible in the previous extraction methods, and analyzed the microextraction behaviour by simulating the phenomena based on a simple dissolving model.
Nanofiber-reinforced soft fluidic micro-actuators

Soft pneumatic actuators are promising candidates for micro-manipulation and delicate gripping due to their wide range of motion and ease of fabrication. While existing elastomer-based devices have attracted attention due to their compliant structures, there is a need for materials that combine flexibility, controllable actuation, and robustness. This paper bridges this capability gap by introducing a novel fabrication strategy for nanofiber-reinforced soft micro-actuators. The design and manufacturing of composite PDMS/nanofiber actuators using soft lithography and rotary jet spinning is described. We examine the impact of lamina design and fiber orientation on actuator curvature, mechanical properties, and pressurization range. Composite actuators displayed a 25.8% higher maximum pressure than pure PDMS devices. Further, the best nanofiber-reinforced laminates tested were 2.3 times tougher than the control PDMS material while maintaining comparable elongation. Finally, bending and bending-twisting are demonstrated using pristine and laser-patterned nanofiber sheets, respectively.
Comunicação cooperativa : uma alternativa para a resiliência em redes ad hoc sem fio

Wireless ad hoc networks are low cost and easy to deploy alternative to support temporary or emergency tasks in places where conventional communications infrastructure are unavailable. Despite its ability to adapt to topology changes, maintain or even enhance network connectivity is fundamental to the success of many applications, in particular those of search and rescue. Several papers address this issue in order to provide mechanisms to mitigate eventual network faults that might preclude network connectivity. This thesis shows that Cooperative Communication (CC) can be effectively used to increase the connectivity of ad hoc wireless networks and restore network connectivity when needed. In CC, nodes with a single antenna benefit from spatial diversity similarly to MultipleInput Multiple-Output (MIMO) systems. This technique allows the nodes to extend their communication range due to its capability of reducing signal fading, thus making CC a suitable alternative for enhancing network connectivity. However, existing solutions are usually centralized and have a high computational cost, making them unviable in the context of connectivity recovery. When full network topology is known beforehand, the best cooperative link between isolated network components can be computed in O(|V |2 · Λ) time, where |V | corresponds to the number of nodes network and Λ is the cost to select auxiliary nodes to form the cooperative link. This thesis proposes two distributed solutions that apply localized topology knowledge to increase and restore connectivity through the use of cooperative links. Articulations, also known as critical nodes or cut vertices, are used to identify potential network segmentation points. The first solution requires O(∆(G)2 ·Λ) time units to determine, based on the articulation vicinity, the best cooperative link between clusters of nodes using two hop localized information, where ∆(G) represents the network degree. In the second solution, the articulation neighboring computes the backup cooperative link with a total cost of O(∆(G) · Λ) time. In case of network segmentation, the proposed solutions activate the computed cooperative links to restore connectivity. Also, the cooperative links can be exploited to obtain a biconnected network. This thesis also presents a distributed alternative to locate articulations. Compared to existing solutions, the proposed alternative uses a significantly lower volume of messages. Furthermore, by using an incremental approach, it is possible to determine
EFFECT OF pH ON PHOTOVOLTAGE BEHAVIOR OF TIO2 PHOTOANODES

An important requirement in a photoelectrochemical cell to water splitting is to reach the photo-voltage required to drive the oxidation and reduction reactions to produce oxygen and hydrogen without any other external energy supply. In this work, it was studied the effect of pH on the photovoltage of photoelectrochemical cell. Open circuit photo-voltage as a function of aqueous electrolyte pH has been investigated using the TiO2 photoanode connected with a stainless steel photocathode. The open circuit photo-voltage measurements were made from 1 to 14 pH units, showing a decrease of photovoltage values with increasing pH. KeywordsPhoto-voltage, pH, interface, electrolyte, semiconductor.
6 BK Channels – Focus on Polyamines , Ethanol / Acetaldehyde and Hydrogen Sulfide ( H 2 S )

Calcium (Ca2+)-activated potassium (K+) channels are activated by the synergistic action of voltage as well as by Ca2+ which links these channels to cell metabolism. Because of their high level of functional diversity the channels are widely expressed in a remarkable amount of different cells from bacteria to men and found in a great variety of tissues such as sensory, muscle, vascular or the brain. The channels are among the most frequently studied K+ channels giving rise to an impressive amount of knowledge about their structure and function. The idea of a Ca2+-activated conductance was born in 1958 during studies on erythrocytes by Gardos (1958) who showed that metabolically deprived cells in the presence of internal Ca2+ augment the permeability of the cell plasma membrane to K+ ions. The finding was further elaborated by direct injection of Ca2+ ions into mollusc neurons (Meech & Standen 1975; Gorman & Hermann 1979) which supported the idea of a Ca2+and voltage dependent membrane K+ conductance and showed that it is also present in excitable cells. Up to present Ca2+-activated K+ conductances were and still are studied in great detail concerning their biophysical, physiological, pathophysiological, pharmacological, structural and functional properties (for early and recent reviews see Meech 1978; Hermann & Hartung 1983; Latorre et al. 1989; Kaczorowski et al. 1996; Gribkoff, et al. 2001; Jiang et al., 2001; Weiger et al. 2002; Calderone 2002; Jiang et al., 2002) Maher & Kuchel 2003; Salkoff et al. 2006; Pluznick & Sansom 2006; Cui et al. 2009; Wu et al. 2010; Lee & Cui 2010; Grimm & Sansom 2010; Hill et al. 2010; Berkefeld et al. 2010; Cui 2010). In the first sections of this chapter after we briefly describe techniques to record BK channels we review some properties of BK channels which appeared important in the context of our further presentations.
Écoulements tangentiels à des surfaces courbes: application à la morphogenèse de l'embryon

Nous développons une nouvelle approche éléments finis pour des équations aux dérivées partielles elliptiques de type Stokes sur une surface fermée de R. La surface considérée est décrite par le zéro d’une fonction de niveau assez régulière. Le problème se ramène à la minimisation d’une fonctionnelle énergie pour le champ de vitesse sous contraintes. Les contraintes sont de deux types : (i) la vitesse est tangentielle à la surface, (ii) la surface est inextensible. Cette deuxième contrainte équivaut à l’incompressibilité surfacique du champ de vitesse. Nous abordons ce problème de deux façons : la pénalisation et l’introduction de deux multiplicateurs de Lagrange. Cette dernière méthode a l’avantage de traiter le cas de la limite incompressible d’un écoulement compressible en surface dont nous présentons pour la première fois l’analyse théorique et numérique. Nous montrons des estimations d’erreurs sur la solution discrète et les tests numériques pour la validation. L’implémentation utilise la librairie libre d’éléments finis [1]. Nous présentons aussi des résultats de simulations numériques pour une application en biologie : la morphogenèse de l’embryon de la drosophile, durant laquelle des déformations tangentielles d’une monocouche de cellules, avec une faible variation de l’aire des cellules. La rhéologie des cellules est décrite dans [2]. Ce phénomène est connu sous le nom de l’extension de la bande germinale.
Spectral Algorithms

Spectral methods refer to the use of eigenvalues, eigenvectors, singular values, and singular vectors. They are widely used in Engineering, Applied Mathematics, and Statistics. More recently, spectral methods have found numerous applications in Computer Science to “discrete” as well as “continuous” problems. This monograph describes modern applications of spectral methods, and novel algorithms for estimating spectral parameters. In the first part of the monograph, we present applications of spectral methods to problems from a variety of topics including combinatorial optimization, learning, and clustering. The second part of the monograph is motivated by efficiency considerations. A feature of many modern applications is the massive amount of input data. While sophisticated algorithms for matrix computations have been developed over a century, a more recent development is algorithms based on “sampling on the fly” from massive matrices. Good estimates of singular values and low-rank approximations of the whole matrix can be provably derived from a sample. Our main emphasis in the second part of the monograph is to present these sampling methods with rigorous error bounds. We also present recent extensions of spectral methods from matrices to tensors and their applications to some combinatorial optimization problems.
Prosocial Emotions

Adherence to social norms is underwritten not only by the cognitively mediated pursuit of self-interest, but also by emotions. Shame, guilt, pride, empathy, regret and other visceral reactions play a central role in sustaining cooperative relations, including successful transactions in the absence of complete contracting. We consider a public goods game where agents maximize a utility function that captures five distinct motives: material payoffs to oneself, one’s valuation of the payoffs to others, which depend both on one’s altruism and one’s degree of reciprocity, and one’s sense of guilt or shame in response to one’s own and others’ actions. We present evidence suggesting that such emotions play a role in the public goods game, and we develop an analytical model showing that reciprocity, shame, and guilt increase the level of cooperation in the group. Finally, we provide an explanation of the long term evolutionary success of prosocial emotions in terms of both the individual and group-level benefits they confer. ∗We would like to thank KennethArrow, John Geanakoplos, Charles Manski, Giorgio Topa, Peyton Young for helpful comments, and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation for financial support. Prosocial Emotions 1
Intensive insulin therapy reduces infections in patients on parenteral nutrition- A randomized clinical trial

Introduction: Hyperglycemia is a common problem encountered in hospitalized patients, especially in critically ill patients due to stress and using parenteral nutrition. Uncontrolled hyperglycemia may be associated with increased infection risk. The principal benefit of intensive insulin therapy is a decrease in infection-related complications and mortality. The aim of this study was the assessment of IIT effect on pathogen growth in ICU patients. Materials and Methods: We conducted a randomized controlled trial study where patients with brain trauma in grade 2 and 3 that received at least 50% of nutritional needs from parenteral nutrition. They randomly assigned to receive IIT or conventional glucose control. Pathogen growth, mortality, survival, APACHE II score, duration of hospital stay was assessed.Results: Of 29 patients randomized, 26 patients completed the study. Survival duration, ventilator dependency and pathogen growth was improved in tight control group but not significant between two groups due to low sample size.Conclusion: In our study, IIT reduced pathogen growth without hypoglycemic episodes in head trauma patients. [GMJ. 2012;1(1):2-7]
-Scientific Report- RAGE binds phosphatidylserine and assists in the clearance of apoptotic cells.

Department of Advanced Preventive Medicine for Infectious Disease, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai, 980-8575 Japan; Institute of Tropical Medicine, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, 852-8523 Japan; Department of Thoracic Surgery, Department of Anesthesiology, Tohoku University School of Medicine, Sendai, 980-8575 Japan; Department of Infection Control and Laboratory Diagnostics, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai, 980-8575 Japan; Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Vascular Biology, Kanazawa University Graduate School of Medical Science, Kanazawa, 920-8640 Japan.
Estimating canopy fuels in conifer forests

C not historically prone to crown fire, such as ponderosa pine (Mutch and others 1993). The head fire spread rate of a crown fire is usually several times faster than that of a surface fire burning under the same conditions, which leads to a significant increase in the number of acres burned during a given period. In addition, crown fires cause more severe and lasting damage than do surface fires. Consequently, predicting the behavior and effects of crown fire, determining the susceptibility of stands to crown fire, and designing treatments to mitigate the potential damage from crown fires are priorities for fire managers.
FMR-related phenomena in spintronic devices

Spintronic devices, such as non-volatile magnetic random access memories and logic devices, have attracted considerable attention as potential candidates for future high efficient data storage and computing technology. In a heavy metal or other emerging material with strong spin–orbit coupling (SOC), the charge currents induce spin currents or spin accumulations via SOC. The generated spin currents can exert spin–orbit torques (SOTs) on an adjacent ferromagnet, which opens up new avenues for realization of magnetization dynamics and switching of the ferromagnetic layer for spintronic devices. In the SOT scheme, the charge-to-spin interconversion efficiency (SOT efficiency) is an important figure of merit for applications. For effective characterization of this efficiency, ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) based methods, such as spin transfer torque ferromagnetic resonance (ST-FMR) and spin pumping, are commonly utilized in addition to low frequency harmonic or DC measurements. In this review, we focus on ST-FMR measurements for the evaluation of the SOT efficiency. We provide a brief summary of the different ST-FMR setups and data analysis methods. We then discuss ST-FMR and SOT studies in various materials, including heavy metals and alloys, topological insulators, two-dimensional (2D) materials, interfaces with a strong Rashba effect, antiferromagnetic materials, 2D electron gas in oxide materials and oxidized nonmagnetic materials.
Effects of Sevoflurane and Isoflurane on Coagulation System : A Comparative Study

Background/Aim: Several studies of the effects of inhalational anesthetic agents on platelet function have been reported since Ueda demonstrated in 1971 that clinical concentrations of halothane inhibited ADP-induced platelet aggregation. Sevoflurane in particular has recently been the subject of several investigations; however, the results remain contradictory. Platelets play an important role in hemostasis during and after surgery. Among multiple factors, interactions of drugs used in anesthesia with platelet function have been implicated to aggravate the risk of perioperative bleeding. In this study, the aim was to assess the effects of sevoflurane and isoflurane on the coagulation system. Patients & Methods: Patients were randomly divided into two groups (30 patients each): isoflurane group (group I) and sevoflurane group (group S) according to the inhalational anesthetic used for maintenance of anesthesia. Blood samples were withdrawn before induction,1 hour after induction and 1 hour postoperatively to measure red blood cells count, hemoglobin level, platelets count, bleeding time, prothrombin time and activity, activated partial thromboplastin time, pH ,body temperature and platelet aggregation tests. Results: The results of this study showed that red blood cells count, hemoglobin level, blood pH values and vital signs measurements were insignificantly changed during the predetermined times of measurements. Sevoflurane had a significant inhibitory effect on intraoperative platelet aggregation. Also, it had a residual suppressive effect 1 hour postoperatively, whereas it had no significant effect on other coagulation parameters including platelet count, bleeding time, prothrombin time and activity and activated partial thromboplastin time. As regards isoflurane, it had no significant effect neither on platelet aggregation nor other coagulation parameters during the intraoperative and postoperative periods. Conclusion: The conclusion of this study is that sevoflurane has a significant inhibitory effect on intraoperative platelet aggregation, whereas isoflurane has no effect. There is also a residual suppressive effect 1 hour postoperatively with sevoflurane. Therefore, in patients at increased risk of intraoperative and postoperative bleeding, isoflurane may be preferred as an inhalational agent for maintenance of general anesthesia. Keyword: sevoflurane and isoflurane coagulation system.
An integrative review of the role of remittances in international nurse migration

: This review seeks to understand the role of remittances in international nurse migration within the context of three theories of international migration: equilibrium approaches, social networks, and globalization. To analyze the phenomenon, an integrative review of the literature was conducted. Search terms sought articles discussing, either directly or indirectly, remittances and international nurse migration. The initial search returned 369 articles, and further screening decreased the total to 65. Full text screening reduced the final number for the analysis to 48. A directed content analysis structured the analytic approach by examining how authors discussed remittances in the content and context of the paper. The final analysis showed the majority of papers were policy analyses (five); opinion papers, reviews, or editorials that indirectly discussed remittances (27); or were qualitative and quantitative studies (16), either with primary data collection (14) or secondary data analyses (two). Overall, a nurse’s individual motivation for sending remittances home stemmed from familial factors but was never a primary driver of migration. Domestic labor market factors were more likely to drive nurses to migrate. The nurse’s country of origin also was a factor in the remittance dynamic. The identity of the author of the paper played a role in how they discussed remittances in the context of international nurse migration. The three theories of migration helped explain various aspects of the role of remittances in international nursing migration. While the phenomenon has changed since the 2008 global economic crisis and the passing of the World Health Organization’s Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel in 2010, future research around the role of remittances needs to consider the confluence of gender, social, political, labor market, and economic dynamics, and not just view the phenomenon from an individual lens.
Methods for Phylogenetic Reconstruction

Phylogenetic reconstruction is the eld of computational biology dedicated to infer evolutionary history from given extant biologic data. In this PhD thesis, we present three works on di erent issues related to the topic. The rst aims to reconstruct the common ancestor to three input genomes. Despite the apparently limited input, this problem can be applied to determine ancestors in trees whose topology is already known. Our work introduces a way to represent genomes using matrices. From this, we de ne the matrix median problem, which consists of, given three matrices A, B and C, nd a matrix M that minimizes the sum d(A,M) + d(B,M) + d(C,M), where d(X, Y ) is the rank of the matrix Y − X. To solve this problem, we present an approximate algorithm that ensures results at least as good as one of the input genomes, but that, in the experiments simulating the evolution of genomes, got much closer to optimal results. Furthermore, we also show a heuristic that translates any matrix, like the ones returned by our algorithm, back to a genome. In the second, the goal is to reconstruct ancestral genomes from the evolutionary histories of their respective gene families. For this, we extend the dynamic programming scheme of DeCo, that builds forests depicting the evolution of adjacencies. Our implementation, instead of choosing just the adjacencies of one most parsimonious solution, explores the entire solution space, choosing adjacencies in function of their larger frequency. Using this approach, we managed signi cantly reduce the number of inconsistencies while evaluating multiple instances on the same genes. Finally, we discuss a tool to assist in the reconstruction of ancient genomes, considering the genomes of descendant species, without the need for the histories of all the gene families. This tool is the data structure called PQR-tree, which not only detects whether the entry has the consecutive ones property, but also the obstacles that possibly prevent the instance from having said property. This is important because, while reconstructing ancient genomes, entry errors are very common and can very easily prevent the instance from having the consecutive ones property. Here, we consolidate the knowledge on the online and o ine algorithms for PQR trees in a single paper. With these, we moved knowledge in phylogenetic reconstruction and computational biology forward in three di erent directions.