Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
T Cell Activation-Induced Mitochondrial Hyperpolarization Is Mediated by Ca2+- and Redox-Dependent Production of Nitric Oxide 1

Activation, proliferation, or programmed cell death of T lymphocytes is regulated by the mitochondrial transmembrane potential (Δψm) through controlling ATP synthesis, production of reactive oxygen intermediates (ROI), and release of cell death-inducing factors. Elevation of Δψm or mitochondrial hyperpolarization is an early and reversible event associated with both T cell activation and apoptosis. In the present study, T cell activation signals leading to mitochondrial hyperpolarization were investigated. CD3/CD28 costimulation of human PBL elevated cytoplasmic and mitochondrial Ca2+ levels, ROI production, and NO production, and elicited mitochondrial hyperpolarization. Although T cell activation-induced Ca2+ release, ROI levels, and NO production were diminished by inositol 1,4,5-triphosphate receptor antagonist 2-aminoethoxydiphenyl borane, superoxide dismutase mimic manganese (III) tetrakis (4-benzoic acid) porphyrin chloride, spin trap 5-diisopropoxyphosphoryl-5-methyl-1-pyrroline-N-oxide, and NO chelator carboxy-2-phenyl-4,4,5,5-tetramethyl-imidazoline-1-oxyl-3-oxide, mitochondrial hyperpolarization was selectively inhibited by carboxy-2-phenyl-4,4,5,5-tetramethyl-imidazoline-1-oxyl-3-oxide (−85.0 ± 10.0%; p = 0.008) and, to a lesser extent, by 2-aminoethoxydiphenyl borane. Moreover, NO precursor (Z)-1-[2-(2-aminoethyl)-N-(2-ammonioethyl)amino]diazen-1-ium-1,2-diolate diethylenetriamine elicited NO and ROI production, Ca2+ release, transient ATP depletion, and robust mitochondrial hyperpolarization (3.5 ± 0.8-fold; p = 0.002). Western blot analysis revealed expression of Ca-dependent endothelial NO synthase and neuronal NO synthase isoforms and absence of Ca-independent inducible NO synthase in PBL. CD3/CD28 costimulation or H2O2 elicited severalfold elevations of endothelial NO synthase and neuronal NO synthase expression, as compared with β-actin. H2O2 also led to moderate mitochondrial hyperpolarization; however, Ca2+ influx by ionomycin or Ca2+ release from intracellular stores by thapsigargin alone failed to induce NO synthase expression, NO production, or Δψm elevation. The results suggest that T cell activation-induced mitochondrial hyperpolarization is mediated by ROI- and Ca2+-dependent NO production.
On-line Thermal Aware Energy Optimization via Dynamic Voltage Selection for Multiprocessor System-On-Chip

In recent decades, the use of electronic systems, especially embedded systems such as mobile phones has been expanding rapidly. Such products use minimal amount of materials, generate less waste and noise, save space, and are considered cost-effective and attractive. In such devices, consideration needs to be given to both high power density and high chip working temperature. According to the advanced scaling technology, leakage power becomes a major issue in terms of power consumption and this in turn influences temperature. Consequently, energy optimization is an important issue in the design of such electronic products. Techniques for energy optimization have been proposed for circuit-level up to the system-level. This study is focused on a system-level model for a multiprocessor system, considering the inter-dependency between leakage power and temperature. The study applies an on-line temperature-aware dynamic voltage selection (DVS) approach to save energy. The method is evaluated and compared to the static approach, which assumes that tasks always execute their worst case number of clock cycles (WNC) allowing for the exploitation of only the static slack. On-line thermal aware DVS allows the exploitation of both the static and dynamic slacks, since the actual number of clock cycles is usually less than the WNC.
The expressive power, satisfiability and path checking problems of MTL and TPTL over non-monotonic data words

Recently, verification and analysis of data words have gained a lot of interest. Metric temporal logic (MTL) and timed propositional temporal logic (TPTL) are two extensions of Linear time temporal logic (LTL). In MTL, the temporal operator are indexed by a constraint interval. TPTL is a more powerful logic that is equipped with a freeze formalism. It uses register variables, which can be set to the current data value and later these register variables can be compared with the current data value. For monotonic data words, Alur and Henzinger proved that MTL and TPTL are equally expressive and the satisfiability problem is decidable. We study the expressive power, satisfiability problems and path checking problems for MLT and TPTL over all data words. We introduce Ehrenfeucht-Fraisse games for MTL and TPTL. Using the EF-game for MTL, we show that TPTL is strictly more expressive than MTL. Furthermore, we show that the MTL definability problem that whether a TPTL-formula is definable in MTL is not decidable. When restricting the number of register variables, we are able to show that TPTL with two register variables is strictly more expressive than TPTL with one register variable. For the satisfiability problem, we show that for MTL, the unary fragment of MTL and the pure fragment of MTL, SAT is not decidable. We prove the undecidability by reductions from the recurrent state problem and halting problem of two-counter machines. For the positive fragments of MTL and TPTL, we show that a positive formula is satisfiable if and only it is satisfied by a finite data word. Finitary SAT and infinitary SAT coincide for positive MTL and positive TPTL. Both of them are r.e. -complete. For existential TPTL and existential MTL, we show that SAT is NP-complete. We also investigate the complexity of path checking problems for TPTL and MTL over data words. These data words can be either finite or infinite periodic. For periodic words without data values, the complexity of LTL model checking belongs to the class AC^1(LogDCFL). For finite monotonic data words, the same complexity bound has been shown for MTL by Bundala and Ouaknine. We show that path checking for TPTL is PSPACE-complete, and for MTL is P-complete. If the number of register variables allowed is restricted, we obtain path checking for TPTL with only one register variable is P-complete over both infinite and finite data words; for TPTL with two register variables is PSPACE-complete over infinite data words. If the encoding of constraint numbers of the input TPTL-formula is in unary notation, we show that path checking for TPTL with a constant number of variables is P-complete over infinite unary encoded data words. Since the infinite data word produced by a deterministic one-counter machine is periodic, we can transfer all complexity results for the infinite periodic case to model checking over deterministic one-counter machines.
Diversity of bacterial communities isolated from the solid and liquid phase of the rumen of sheep fed diets of variable composition

The aim of this study was to analyze bacterial diversity in bacterial pellets isolated from the solid (SAB) and liquid (LAB) phase of the rumen in sheep fed different diets. Four rumen-fistulated sheep were fed 4 diets with forage:concentrate ratios (F:C) of 70:30 (HF) or 30:70 (HC) and either alfalfa hay or grass hay as forage (FOR). SAB and LAB were isolated from each sheep immediately before feeding, and the automated ribosomal intergenic spacer analysis (ARISA) of the 16S ribosomal DNA was used to analyze bacterial diversity. A total of 168 peaks were detected in the ARISA electropherograms across the total 32 bacterial pellets, with 6 peaks only found in SAB and 8 found only in LAB. The SAB isolated from sheep fed HF diets had greater number of peaks and Shannon index than those from sheep fed HC diets (P=0.03 and 0.05, respectively), and SAB from sheep fed grass hay diets had greater values of both parameters than those isolated from sheep receiving alfalfa hay diets (P=0.002 and 0.004). In contrast, LAB profile was not affected (P=0.23 to 0.65) by either F:C ratio or FOR. The results indicate that SAB are more markedly affected by dietary characteristics than LAB.
Performance Analysis of Swarm Intelligence Algorithms for the 3D-AB off-lattice Protein Folding Problem

This paper compares the performance of four swarm intelligence algorithms for the optimization of a hard bioinformatic problem: the protein structure prediction problem (PSP). The PSP envolved the protein folding that is the process by which polypeptide chains are transformed into compact structures that perform biological functions. In this work, we tested the standard versions of the following algorithms: Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), Artificial Bee Colony (ABC), Gravitational Search Algorithm (GSA), and the Bat Algorithm (BA). The algorithms were evaluated using two criteria: quality of solutions and the processing time. The results show that the PSO algorithm presented the overall best balance between these two criteria. Also, both PSO and GSA displayed potential to evolve even better solutions, if more iterations were given.
Nitric oxide synthase inhibition reduces O2 cost of force development and spares high‐energy phosphates following contractions in pump‐perfused rat hindlimb muscles

The purpose of the present experiments was to test the hypotheses that: (i) nitric oxide synthase (NOS) inhibition reduces the O2 cost of force development across a range of contractile demands; and (ii) this reduced O2 cost of force development would be reflected in a sparing of intramuscular higher energy phosphates. Rat distal hindlimb muscles were pump perfused in situ and electrically stimulated (200 ms trains with pulses at 100 Hz, each pulse 0.05 ms duration) for 1 min each at 15, 30 and 60 tetani min−1 and for 2 min at 90 tetani min−1 in three groups: 0.01 mm adenosine; 1 mm d‐NAME and 0.01 mm adenosine (d‐NAME); and 1 mm l‐NAME and 0.01 mm adenosine (l‐NAME). The gastrocnemius–plantaris–soleus muscle group was freeze clamped post‐contractions for metabolite analyses. Force was 19% higher and oxygen uptake was 20% lower with l‐NAME versus adenosine, and there was a 35% reduction in /time‐integrated tension versus adenosine and 24% versusd‐NAME that was independent of contraction frequency. l‐NAME treatment produced a 33% sparing of muscle phosphocreatine (PCr), and intramuscular lactate was no different between groups. In contrast, d‐NAME reduced force by 30%, by 29% and the O2 cost of force development by 15% compared with adenosine, but had no effect on the degree of intramuscular ATP and PCr depletion. These results show that NOS inhibition improved the metabolic efficiency of force development, either by improving the ATP yield for a given O2 consumption or by reducing the ATP cost of force development. In addition, these effects were independent of contraction frequency.
Gruppe 2 November 2015 1 Rehabilitation – How can the load building be controlled after an Achilles tendon rupture ? 1 . Background information – Achilles tendon rupture

1. Background information – Achilles tendon rupture The Achilles tendon (AT) is the strongest tendon of our body. It connects the gastrocnemius, soleus and the plantaris muscle to the heel bone [1] and functions as a transducer of force and an energy buffer. Rupture of the AT results from augmented forces or degeneration [10]. Since it is the most common tendon rupture of our body [1], it is important to understand which rehabilitation options are available. The purpose of this summary is to create a brief review of different papers that focus on the different treatment possibilities for AT repair. In addition we would like to outline the factors we think may be associated with the healing of the tendon and what kind of approaches exist today.
Perceptual phase quantization of speech

It is essential to incorporate perceptual characteristics of human hearing in modern speech/audio coding systems. However, the focus has been confined only to the magnitude information of speech, and little attention has been paid to phase information. A quantitative study on the characteristics of human phase perception is presented and a novel method is proposed for the quantization of phase information in speech/audio signals. First, the just-noticeable difference (JND) of phase for each harmonic in flat-spectrum periodic tones is measured for several different fundamental frequencies. Then, a mathematical model of JND is established, based on measured data, to form a weighting function for phase quantization. Since the proposed weighting function is derived from psychoacoustic measurements, it provides a novel quantization method by which more bits are assigned to perceptually important phase components at the sacrifice of less important ones, resulting in a quantized signal perceptually closer to the original one. Experimental results on five vowel speech signals demonstrate that the proposed weighting function is very effective for the quantization of phase information.
Zastosowanie metody zmiennych instrumentalnych do identyfikacji systemów Hammersteina-Wienera

Streszczenie. W pracy rozpatruje się zastosowanie metody najmniejszych kwadratów i metody zmiennych instrumentalnych do estymacji parametrów blokowo zorientowanych, nieliniowych systemów dynamicznych. Dla systemu o strukturze Hammersteina-Wienera zaproponowano algorytm identyfikacji metodą zmiennych instrumentalnych i porównano go z algorytmem najmniejszych kwadratów. Udowodniono zgodność zaproponowanego estymatora, nawet dla przypadku występowania skorelowanych zakłóceń. Rozwiązano problem optymalnej generacji zmiennych instrumentalnych.
OPNET-Based Ad-Hoc on Demand Distance Vector Routing Protocol Research and Simulation

The report has presented an OPNET simulation model for the Ad-hoc on demand Distance Vector routing protocol. During the process of validation, this implementation of the AODV protocol is supplied with a hierarchical structure of models consisting of a simulation model, a network model, a node model, and finally a set of process models. All the conclusions are helpful to further development and optimize routing protocol for Ad-hoc network.
Tampering with Distributed Hash Tables Master ’ s Thesis

BitTorrent is the most popular P2P protocol for file sharing on the Internet. Each BitTorrent client also participates in the DHT and acts as a distributed tracker. It therefore maintains a routing table to store contact information about other nodes in the DHT. In this thesis we propose a method to store data in the routing table of random nodes in the DHT. Thus we are able to store and share data on other computers without the users knowledge.
CONTINUOUS FLOW INFRARED POLYMERASE CHAIN REACTION ( cfIR-PCR ) USING AN INFRARED-MEDIATED HEATING SYSTEM AT CONSTANT POWER

We report the development of a microfluidic platform for continuous flow PCR using an infrared-mediated heating system having the potential to provide rapid, accurate, and high-throughput genomic analysis. A single halogen lamp at constant power was used to rapidly establish a thermal gradient, creating distinct PCR zones on a plastic microchip. As the sample flowed through the microdevice, it passed through these zones, undergoing thermal cycling. Results show an increase in PCR product yield with each subsequent fraction as the surface becomes passivated. This simple IR-heating system allowed for the amplification of target DNA in approximately 40 minutes.
Outcome of the Cementless Zweymüller BICON-PLUS Cup and SL-PLUS Stem in the Very Elderly Individuals

Introduction: There is current debate about which type of total hip prosthesis implants are best for the elderly patient. Implanting uncemented total hip arthroplasty (THA) in elderly people remains contested. The aim of present study was to evaluate the outcome of the uncemented Zweymüller BICON-PLUS THA in those with a minimum of 80 years of age. Materials and Methods: A retrospective data collection was performed in a regional teaching hospital in the Netherlands. The primary outcome of interest was the operation-free period. Secondary outcomes included the revision rates of the femoral and acetabular components and postoperative complications of the procedure. After a follow-up of at least 7 years, the surviving patients were reviewed on functionality using validated scores (Hip Disability and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score, Timed Up and Go, and Harris Hip Score) and radiographic analysis. Results: Between January 1999 and September 2004, 124 patients (128 THAs), aged 80 years and older, received an uncemented THA with a BICON-PLUS cup and SL-PLUS stem. The overall operation-free period was 6.5 years. One case of loosening of the cup was found among participants, with a survival rate of 99.2% of the BICON-PLUS cup in the analyzed group. In all, 28.8% of this group could be followed for a postoperative period of at least 7 years. The remainder of the patients died prior to the end of the 7-year period. Of these, 16.0% were eligible for clinical review. This group showed good function without evident signs of prosthetic loosening. Conclusion: The uncemented Zweymüller THA system, with threaded BICON-PLUS cup and SL-PLUS stem, showed good results, compared to outcome of other THA systems in elderly individuals. Therefore, it is a reliable option in older patients requiring THA.
Intergenerational transmission of chronic illness self-care: results from the caring for hypertension in African American families study.

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY African Americans often experience early onset of hypertension that can result in generations of adults managing high blood pressure concurrently. Using a model based on the Theory of Interdependence, this study examined whether intergenerational transmission of hypertension knowledge and self-efficacy would affect hypertension self-care of older parents and their adult children. DESIGN AND METHODS We recruited 95 African American older parent-adult child dyads with hypertension. We constructed separate logistic regression models for older parents and adult children with medication adherence as the outcome. Each model included individual demographic and health characteristics, the partner's knowledge, and self-efficacy to manage hypertension and dyad-related characteristics. RESULTS Parents were more adherent with medication than adult children (67.4% vs. 49.5%, p < .012). There were no significant factors associated with parent medication adherence. In adjusted models for adult children, medication adherence was associated with child's gender (odds ratio [OR] = 3.29, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.26-8.59), parent beliefs that the child had better hypertension self-care (OR = 4.36, 95% CI = 1.34-14.17), and child reports that the dyad conversed about hypertension (OR = 3.48, 95% CI = 1.18-10.29). Parental knowledge of hypertension and parent's self-efficacy were weakly associated with adult children's medication adherence (OR = 1.35, 95% CI = 0.99-1.84 and OR = 2.59, 95% CI = 0.94-7.12, respectively). IMPLICATIONS Interventions should consider targeting African American older adults to increase self-care knowledge and empower them as a primary influencer of hypertension self-care within the family.
Endothelial progenitor cell therapy for the treatment of coronary disease, acute MI, and pulmonary arterial hypertension: Current perspectives

Since their identification in 1997, bone marrow derived endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) have been studied for their role in the endogenous maintenance and repair of endothelium and their potential regenerative capacity beyond the endothelium. In particular, EPCs have been tested in cell therapy approaches with the aim of developing novel therapies for conditions currently lacking effective treatment options. In this review, we discuss the scientific background and clinical experience using EPC delivery or mobilization for the treatment of post‐angioplasty restenosis, acute myocardial infarction and pulmonary arterial hypertension. Although these approaches are safe, efficacy has yet to be proven in large randomized clinical trials. Unfortunately, the biology of EPCs is still poorly understood. The success of future clinical trials depends on a better understanding of EPC biology and intelligent design. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Adaptive backstepping control of a class of uncertain nonlinear systems with Prandtl-Ishlinskii hysteresis

This paper proposes the design of the adaptive controller for a class of single-input-single-output (SISO) nonlinear uncertain systems with unknown hysteresis where the hysteresis is modeled by Prandtl-Ishlinskii model. By using backstepping technique, adaptive backstepping control algorithm is developed. The effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated through simulation example.
Mitigation of acoustic noise and vibration in permanent magnet synchronous machines drive using field reconstruction method

Due to high torque-to-loss ratio, permanent magnet synchronous machines (PMSM) have received increasing attention in automotive applications. In addition to high efficiency, quiet operation of the propulsion drives are desirable in automotive, naval and military applications. To effectively mitigate the effects of acoustics noise and vibration in PMSM, a numerically efficient method for optimization is necessary. Field reconstruction method (FRM) is presented and used to mitigate the acoustic noise and vibration in PMSM drives. To accomplish this goal, the three-phase current and rotor position of PMSM were used in the FRM computation. The experimental results show that FRM can effectively mitigate the acoustic noise and vibration caused by the PMSM. Our investigations indicate that FRM can precisely calculate the torque pulsation.
A Favorable Conditioning of the Harmonic Distortion Generated by a PDM AC/AC Converter with Three-Phase Diode Rectifier

This paper presents a PDM control for conditioning the harmonic distortion generated by an ac/ac converter consisting of a three-phase diode rectifier and a series resonant inverter. This conditioning consists in converting the harmonic distortion due to PDM operation of the inverter into high frequency pairs of harmonics. As a result of this condition, the control is simple to implement, the power transfer is linearized, it leads to optimized values of power-factor and makes it possible to better use the ac-source parasitic inductance in the power factor correction. Simulation results and experimental results from an 2 kW - 110 kHz are presented.
Rapidly Prototyping Multimedia Groupware

Multimedia groupware systems provide rich support for distributed team work. Yet effective design of these systems is difficult because they must cater to complex human and social factors. Rapid prototyping partially mitigates this, for it allows designers to build, deploy, test and quickly evolve design ideas. The problem is that multimedia groupware is hard to prototype because distributed multimedia systems are complex to implement. To solve this problem, we offer the Collabrary, a toolkit designed to ease prototyping of multimedia groupware. The Collabrary blends real-time streaming multimedia, asynchronous shared application state, and novel multimedia analysis and manipulation algorithms to provide rich functionality for distributed teamwork. Implementing core functionality—multimedia capture, analysis, manipulation, transmission and rendering—is trivial. The Collabrary also affords lessons that inform the design of universally accepted toolkits for building distributed multimedia systems: we illustrate why toolkits should be accessible for learnability, lightweight so simple ideas are simple to build, and flexible so that novel unanticipated ideas are possible to implement.