Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Electrical structure of the crust below the Deccan Flood Basalts (India), inferred from magnetotelluric soundings

SUMMARY The Indian shield has experienced major stable continental region (SCR) earthquakes in the recent past, which occurred in the Deccan Volcanic Province. Until now the deeper crust below the Deccan traps, where thick basaltic layers cover large areas of the Indian shield, remains poorly understood. A magnetotelluric (MT) study covering a broad period range was conducted along a N‐S running profile of 330 km length to achieve more insights into the nature of the crustal electrical structure below the flood basalts. After dimensionality analysis and decomposition, 2-D inversions for TE and TM modes were carried out. The basalt cover, characterized by at first glance surprisingly low electrical resistivities, is found to have an average thickness of 400 m with the exception of central parts of the profile where it reaches up to 700 m. The crust is in general highly resistive, but several subvertical zones of enhanced conductivity were delineated in the middle-to-lower crust, which are tentatively explained as images of hidden, partly reactivated faults/fractures of the Precambrian basement. Sensitivity analysis indicates a high resolution of these features. An alternative approach incorporating macro-anisotropy is additionally considered and corresponding 2-D anisotropic forward modelling confirms the existence of successions of conductive dykes in the deep crust.
Genome-Wide Identification and Analysis of Genes, Conserved between japonica and indica Rice Cultivars, that Respond to Low-Temperature Stress at the Vegetative Growth Stage

Cold stress is very detrimental to crop production. However, only a few genes in rice have been identified with known functions related to cold tolerance. To meet this agronomic challenge more effectively, researchers must take global approaches to select useful candidate genes and find the major regulatory factors. We used five Gene expression omnibus series data series of Affymetrix array data, produced with cold stress-treated samples from the NCBI Gene Expression Omnibus (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/geo/), and identified 502 cold-inducible genes common to both japonica and indica rice cultivars. From them, we confirmed that the expression of two randomly chosen genes was increased by cold stress in planta. In addition, overexpression of OsWRKY71 enhanced cold tolerance in ‘Dongjin,’ the tested japonica cultivar. Comparisons between japonica and indica rice, based on calculations of plant survival rates and chlorophyll fluorescence, confirmed that the japonica rice was more cold-tolerant. Gene Ontology enrichment analysis indicate that the ‘L-phenylalanine catabolic process,’ within the Biological Process category, was the most highly overrepresented under cold-stress conditions, implying its significance in that response in rice. MapMan analysis classified ‘Major Metabolic’ processes and ‘Regulatory Gene Modules’ as two other major determinants of the cold-stress response and suggested several key cis-regulatory elements. Based on these results, we proposed a model that includes a pathway for cold stress-responsive signaling. Results from our functional analysis of the main signal transduction and transcription regulation factors identified in that pathway will provide insight into novel regulatory metabolism(s), as well as a foundation by which we can develop crop plants with enhanced cold tolerance.
Monitoring agricultural ecosystems by using wild bees as environmental indicators

Wild bees are abundant in agricultural ecosystems and contribute significantly to the pollination of many crops. The specialisation of many wild bees on particular nesting sites and food resources makes them sensitive to changing habitat conditions. Therefore wild bees are important indicators for environmental impact assessments. Long-term monitoring schemes to measure changes of wild bee communities in agricultural ecosystems are currently lacking. Here we suggest a highly standardized monitoring approach which combines transect walks and pan traps (bowls). The combination of these two methods provides high sample coverage and reveals data on plant-pollinator interactions. We point out that comprehensive methodical, biological and taxonomical expertise is mandatory. The suggested approach is applicable to diverse monitoring goals in an agricultural context e.g. the impact of land use changes as well as monitoring potential effects of GM crops on wild bees.
Perspectives on volunteering for initiatives for women in computing: A case study

Initiatives for women in computing exist since the 70's. However, little research has been done to study the effect they have on the women involved. Hence, this case study presents observations of the perceived value of the initiatives from the perspective of these women. This is a case study of one of the organizations contributing to this kind of initiative, the ACM (and its branch ACM-W), and how its volunteers see this work. The study is based on semi-structured interviews that were thematically coded and analysed. Results show that, depending on their generation, volunteers have different motivations and target their efforts at different audiences. Interviewees also reflected on how to further support women in computing. Finally, implications for future studies and lines of action are presented in the paper.
Influence of metabolic and genetic factors on tumour necrosis factor-alpha and lymphotoxin-alpha production in insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus.

The potential role of tumour necrosis factors (TNFs) in autoimmunity and insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) led us to determine in vitro TNF-alpha and lymphotoxin-alpha (LT-alpha, TNF-beta) production in IDDM patients according to TNF polymorphism. LT-alpha production of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) was lower in diabetic subjects (m = 0.30 +/- 0.2 ng.10(-6) cells) than controls (m = 0.68 +/- 0.3 ng.10(-6) cells, p < 0.05), and early age-at-onset was correlated with low LT-alpha production (rs = 0.8, p = 0.0006). TNF-alpha production was the same in patients and controls, but patients with HbA1c > or = 8% had a higher TNF-alpha production (m = 3.05 +/- 1.2 ng.10(-6) cells) than those with HbA1c < 8% (m = 1.31 +/- 0.33 ng.10(-6) cells, p < 0.05). A study of the microsatellite TNFa region close to the LTA gene showed that the presence of the TNFa1 allele in HLA-(DR3) subjects was associated with increased risk of IDDM. TNFa1-positive subjects (both patients and controls) also had lower LT-alpha production than other subjects. These results indicate that low LT-alpha production is an additional risk factor for IDDM and that poor glycaemic control in patients is associated with enhanced PBMC TNF-alpha production which causes an imbalance between TNF-alpha and LT-alpha production in IDDM patient.
Escherichia coli derivatives lacking both alcohol dehydrogenase and phosphotransacetylase grow anaerobically by lactate fermentation

Escherichia coli mutants lacking alcohol dehydrogenase (adh mutants) cannot synthesize the fermentation product ethanol and are unable to grow anaerobically on glucose and other hexoses. Similarly, phosphotransacetylase-negative mutants (pta mutants) neither excrete acetate nor grow anaerobically. However, when a strain carrying an adh deletion was selected for anaerobic growth on glucose, spontaneous pta mutants were isolated. Strains carrying both adh and pta mutations were observed by in vivo nuclear magnetic resonance and shown to produce lactic acid as the major fermentation product. Various combinations of adh pta double mutants regained the ability to grow anaerobically on hexoses, by what amounts to a homolactic fermentation. Unlike wild-type strains, such adh pta double mutants were unable to grow anaerobically on sorbitol or on glucuronic acid. The growth properties of strains carrying various mutations affecting the enzymes of fermentation are discussed in terms of redox balance.
Regionalized drought flow hydrographs from a mature glaciated plateau

The drought or base flow characteristics of six basins in the Finger Lakes region are obtained by considering for each available record the lower envelope of |dQ/dt| as a function of Q, where Q is the flow rate. This procedure avoids the uncertainty regarding a proper time reference after each rainfall event, and it eliminates the effects of evapotranspiration. The results suggest that among several expressions, Boussinesq's nonlinear solution of free surface groundwater flow is best suited to parameterize the observed hydrographs. The obtained parameters can be related to the basin characteristics, viz., drainage area and the total stream length, in accordance with relationships derived on the basis of the Dupuit-Boussinesq aquifer model. This result allows the determination of drought flow parameters for ungaged sites within the region.
Half-wave dielectric rod resonator filter

A new half-wave dielectric rod resonator and its filter realization are proposed for satellite input multiplexer applications. Single resonator and a 10-pole filter with 8 real and complex transmission zeros are modeled and designed to desired specification by using efficient optimization technique and a finite element method solver. Excellent filter responses are obtained.
Towards a simple acoustic method to evaluate the nonlinear parameter B/A of fluids

The objective of this work is to develop an easy-to-build and robust setup for measuring the nonlinearity parameter B/A in fluids using ultrasound. The method is based on the pulse echo technique, using a single element broadband acoustic transducer, and requires electrical signal measurements. Results obtained in water and denatured alcohol validate the proposed procedure. The choice of a suitable primary wave frequency is discussed with regard to the transducer sensitivity. Further, the influence of the perturbations introduced by the experimental device nonlinearities, and the role of the reflector on the measured second harmonic field amplitude are investigated.
Object Categorization Using Hierarchical Wavelet Packet Texture Descriptors

Object categorization plays an important role in computer vision, semantic based image content understanding, and image retrieval. Wavelet packet transform provides a very good observation for the images by sub-band filtering. Different objects have distinctive characteristics in the sub-bands of wavelet packets, which should be discriminative for objects classification. In this paper, an object categorization method using hierarchical wavelet packet texture descriptors is proposed. Comparisons between Gabor texture descriptor, pyramid of histograms of orientation gradients (PHOG) and the proposed hierarchical wavelet packet texture descriptors on the widely used OT, Scene-13 and Sport event datasets are also given. Experimental results show that object categorization performances of the proposed texture descriptors are better than that of Gabor texture descriptor and as good as that of PHOG shape descriptor. Object categorization performances of the texture descriptors under various decomposition levels and wavelet bases are discussed. Performances of texture descriptors of global and local images with different partition patterns are also analyzed.
Robust Interest Point Detection by Local Zernike Moments

In this paper, a novel interest point detector based on Local Zernike Moments is presented. Proposed detector, which is named as Robust Local Zernike Moment based Features (R-LZMF), is invariant to scale, rotation and translation changes in images and this makes it robust when detecting interesting points across the images that are taken from same scene under varying view conditions such as zoom in/out or rotation. As our experiments on the Inria Dataset indicate, R-LZMF outperforms widely used detectors such as SIFT and SURF in terms of repeatability that is main criterion for evaluating detector performance.
Damping of Sinusoidal Surface Flux Fluctuations with Soil Depth

Sinusoidal fluctuations of the flux at the soil surface dampen with depth in the vadose zone such that beyond a certain depth, flow may be approximated as steady. To investigate the damping with depth, we developed a new analytic solution for vertical periodic flow in the vadose zone, with a sinusoidal flux specified at the soil surface. The solution is based on the use of the Gardner–Kozeny model for hydraulic conductivity and soil moisture and on a linearization of the diffusive and advective terms in the governing differential equation. A characteristic length is presented for the damping of the flux with depth. At a depth of three times the characteristic length, the amplitude of the flux had reduced to 5% of the value at the surface. We compared the analytic solution to finite‐element solutions of the original, nonlinear differential equation for 16 soils based on four reference soils, using a daily sinusoidal cycling of evaporation and infiltration at the soil surface. For the soils and circumstances investigated, the analytic solution produced reasonable values of the damping factor at any depth in the soil profile compared with the finite‐element solutions. The solution is more accurate when the fluctuations (both amplitude and period) are smaller. The presented solution may be used for general cases of one‐dimensional infiltration when the surface flux is written as a Fourier series.
A 2.45GHz ultra-low power quadrature front-end in 65nm CMOS

This paper presents a 2.45 GHz ultra-low power direct conversion receiver front-end, intended for applications such as medical implants and body area networks. It consists of low noise amplifier, passive quadrature mixers, voltage controlled oscillator and frequency divider. Manufactured in 65 nm CMOS it achieves 27 dB gain, 9 dB noise figure and S11 better than -14 dB, while consuming below 400 μW from a 0.8V supply. It has an in band and out of channel IIP3 of -24.5 and -21 dBm, repectively. Requiring only two inductors it occupies an area of less than 0.1 mm2 excluding pads.
Oestrogen-mediated cardioprotection following ischaemia and reperfusion is mimicked by an oestrogen receptor (ER)α agonist and unaffected by an ERβ antagonist

Oestrogen protects the heart from ischaemic injury. The current study aims to characterise two novel oestrogen receptor (ER) ligands, an ERα agonist ERA-45 and an ERβ antagonist ERB-88, and then use them to investigate the roles of ERα and ERβ in mediating the cardioprotection by E from ischaemia–reperfusion injury in the rat. The ER ligands were characterised by gene transactivation assay using ER-transfected Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells and in bioavailability studies in vivo. Female rats (n=48) were ovariectomised and implanted with 17β-oestradiol (17βE2) releasing or placebo pellets. ERA-45, ERB-88 or vehicle was administered for 5 days prior to ischaemia–reperfusion studies. Necrosis, neutrophil infiltration (myeloperoxidase activity) and oxidant stress production (electron paramagnetic resonance) from the area-at-risk were measured to assess reperfusion injury. The ERα agonist ERA-45 showed more than 35-fold selectivity for ERα compared with ERβ gene transactivation. In vitro, the ERβ antagonist ERB-88 inhibited transactivation by 17βE2 via ERβ with 46-fold selectivity relative to inhibition via ERα. In vivo, 17βE2 significantly reduced neutrophil infiltration, oxidant stress and necrosis following ischaemia and reperfusion. Cardioprotection by 17βE2 was not inhibited by ERB-88 but was completely reproduced by ERA-45. In conclusion, protection of the rat heart after ischaemia–reperfusion by 17βE2 is achieved through the reduction of cardiomyocyte death, neutrophil infiltration and oxygen-free radical availability.The results of this study indicate that these effects are primarily mediated via activation of ERα.
Dendritic cell maturation and cross‐presentation: timing matters!

As a population, dendritic cells (DCs) appear to be the best cross‐presenters of internalized antigens on major histocompatibility complex class I molecules in the mouse. To do this, DCs have developed a number of unique and dedicated means to control their endocytic and phagocytic pathways: among them, the capacity to limit acidification of their phagosomes, to prevent proteolytic degradation, to delay fusion of phagosomes to lysosomes, to recruit ER proteins to phagosomes, and to export phagocytosed antigens to the cytosol. The regulation of phagocytic functions, and thereby of antigen processing and presentation by innate signaling, represents a critical level of integration of adaptive and innate immune responses. Understanding how innate signals control antigen cross‐presentation is critical to define effective vaccination strategies for CD8+ T‐cell responses.
Prenatal, perinatal, and early childhood risk factors and drug involvement in adolescence.

This study examined prenatal, perinatal, and early childhood risk factors in relation to the etiology of adolescent involvement in cigarettes, alcohol, marijuana, and other illicit drugs. Over a span of 10 years, data were collected on 638 mainly White mother-child pairs at three points in time: at T1, when the children were 1 to 10 years old; at T2, when they were 9 to 18, and again at T3, when they were 11 to 20. Results showed that the early risks of an unwanted pregnancy and major illness were linked to all of the drug categories except "other illicit drugs. " Aspects of mutual attachment in the mother-adolescent relationship were negatively correlated with adolescent drug use. Data on the interrelationship of the domains (i.e., sets of variables) of early risk factors and mother-adolescent relations supported an independent model with respect to cigarette and marijuana involvement, a finding in keeping with results showing that early risk did not significantly affect mother-adolescent relations. However, mother-adolescent protective factors were able to mitigate the impact of early risk factors on adolescent drug involvement.
Sympatric occurrence of four Cathartid vultures in the dry forests of north-western Peru

This photograph, taken with a cameratrap, shows four species of Cathartid vultures: Andean Condor Vultur gryphus, King Vulture Sarcoramphus papa, Turkey Vulture Cathartes aura and Black Vulture Coragyps atratus, feeding together on a horse carcass in the Chaparri Ecological Reserve in Lambayeque region, northwestern Peru. Chaparri Ecological Reserve is a community owned and managed Private Conservation Area of 34,412 hectares that was established in 2000. Both Andean Condors and King Vultures are becoming increasingly frequently seen within the reserve as wildlife populations recover from years of overgrazing and hunting. Chaparri Reserve is located in the western foothills of the Andes where they meet the arid coastal lowlands. The vegetation here is sparse dry forest overing rolling hills, with evergreen gallery woodland along permanent water courses and higher mountains with large
On the switching construction of Steiner quadruple systems

The structure of Steiner quadruple system S(v, 4, 3) of full 2-rank v− 1 is considered. It is shown that there are two types (induced and singular) of such systems. It is shown that induced Steiner systems can be obtained from Steiner systems S(v, 4, 3) of 2-rank v − 2 by switching construction which is introduced here. Moreover, all non-isomorphic induced Steiner systems S(16, 4, 3) of full 2rank 15 are enumerated. It is found that there are 305616 such non-isomorphic systems S(v, 4, 3), which are obtained from all 708103 non-isomorphic such systems of rank 14 studied earlier.
The prognostic significance of proliferating cell nuclear antigen, epidermal growth factor receptor, and mdr gene expression in colorectal cancer

Background. Proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), a proliferation marker, epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), a glycoprotein that plays a role in tumorigenesis by binding the mitogenic epidermal growth factor, and P‐glycoprotein, the mdr gene product, are considered to be of prognostic relevance in different tumor types. Parameters that allow prediction of the course of disease in colorectal cancer would aid the development of improved treatment strategies.
Mechanism of phagocytosis in dictyostelium discoideum: phagocytosis is mediated by different recognition sites as disclosed by mutants with altered phagocytotic properties

The recognition step in the phagocytotic process of the unicellular amoeba dictyostelium discoideum was examined by analysis of mutants defective in phagocytosis, Reliable and simple assays were developed to measure endocytotic uptake. For pinocytosis, FITC-dextran was found to be a suitable fluid-phase marker; FITC-bacteria, latex beads, and erythrocytes were used as phagocytotic substrates. Ingested material was isolated in one step by centrifuging through highly viscous poly(ethyleneglycol) solutions and was analyzed optically. A selection procedure for isolating mutants defective in phagocytosis was devised using tungsten beads as particulate prey. Nonphagocytosing cells were isolated on the basis of their lower density. Three mutant strains were found exhibiting a clear-cut phenotype directly related to the phagocytotic event. In contrast to the situation in wild-type cells, uptake of E. coli B/r by mutant cells is specifically and competitively inhibited by glucose. Mutant amoeba phagocytose latex beads normally but not protein-coated latex, nonglucosylated bacteria, or erythrocytes. Cohesive properties of mutant cells are altered: they do not form EDTA-sensitive aggregates, and adhesiveness to glass or plastic surfaces is greatly reduced. Based upon these findings, a model for recognition in phagocytosis is proposed: (a) A lectin-type receptor specifically mediates binding of particles containing terminal glucose (E. coli B/r). (b) A second class of "nonspecific" receptors mediate binding of a variety of particles by hydrophobic interaction. Nonspecific binding is affected by mutation in such a way that only strongly hydrophobic (latex) but not more hydrophilic particles (e.g., protein-coated latex, bacteria, erythrocytes) can be phagocytosed by mutant amoebae.
Guanylate cyclase-C/cGMP: an emerging pathway in the regulation of visceral pain

Activation of guanylate cyclase-C (GC-C) expressed predominantly on intestinal epithelial cells by guanylin, uroguanylin or the closely related GC-C agonist peptide, linaclotide, stimulates generation, and release of cyclic guanosine-3′,5′-monophosphate (cGMP). Evidence that the visceral analgesic effects of linaclotide are mediated by a novel, GC-C-dependent peripheral sensory mechanism was first demonstrated in animal models of visceral pain. Subsequent studies with uroguanylin or linaclotide have confirmed the activation of a GC-C/cGMP pathway leading to increased submucosal cGMP mediated by cGMP efflux pumps, which modulates intestinal nociceptor function resulting in peripheral analgesia. These effects can be reproduced by the addition of exogenous cGMP and support a role for GC-C/cGMP signaling in the regulation of visceral sensation, a physiological function that has not previously been linked to the GC-C/cGMP pathway. Notably, targeting the GC-C/cGMP pathway for treatment of gastrointestinal pain and abdominal sensory symptoms has now been validated in the clinic. In 2012, linaclotide was approved in the United States and European Union for the treatment of adult patients with irritable bowel syndrome with constipation.