Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Characterization of cerastobin, a thrombin-like enzyme from the venom of Cerastes vipera (Sahara sand viper).

Cerastobin, a thrombin-like enzyme, was isolated from the venom of Cerastes vipera (Sahara sand viper) in homogeneous form. Cerastobin had a molecular weight of 38,000 with 348 amino acid residues. It had an isoelectric point of 7.7 (a pH optimum of 7.9 and a temperature optimum of 45 degrees C). Cerastobin hydrolyzed arginine-containing synthetic substrates such as TAME, BAME, and BAEE, but BAPNA was not hydrolyzed. Cerastobin had thrombin-like activity, producing fibrin from fibrinogen and also hydrolyzing chromogenic substrates for thrombin such as 2AcOH.H-D-CHG-But-Arg-pNA (CBS 34.47) and H-D-Phe-Pip-Arg-pNA (S-2238). It showed kallikrein-like activity and hydrolyzed kallikrein substrates 2AcOH.H-D-Phe-Gly-Arg-pNA (CBS 33.27) and H-D-Pro-Phe-Arg-pNA (S-2302). It produced bradykinin from bradykininogen, as uterus contraction was observed. A serine inhibitor, DFP, exerted a pronounced inhibitory effect, suggesting that cerastobin is a serine-type protease. The sequence of 37 residues from the amino-terminal end was investigated. The amino-terminal amino acid was valine as it is in most other thrombin-like enzymes. The amino acid sequence of cerastobin was similar to that of thrombin in some residues and had some homology with that of kallikrein. However, cerastobin showed a high degree of homology to thrombin-like enzymes isolated from various snake venoms. Factor X was partially degraded by cerastobin. It was also found that antithrombin III was degraded by the enzyme. The alpha and beta chains of fibrin monomer were preferentially hydrolyzed by cerastobin, but the gamma chain was quite resistant.
Emergence delirium in adults in the post-anaesthesia care unit.

BACKGROUND Emergence delirium in the post-anaesthesia care unit (PACU) is poorly understood. The goal of this prospective study was to determine frequency and risk factors of emergence delirium in adults after general anaesthesia. METHODS In this prospective study, 1,359 consecutive patients were included. Contextual risk factors and occurrence of delirium according to the Riker sedation scale were documented. Groups were defined for the analysis according to the occurrence or not of agitation, then after exclusion of patients with preoperative anxiety and neuroleptics, or both, and antidepressants or benzodiazepines treatments. RESULTS Sixty-four (4.7%) patients developed delirium in the PACU, which can go from thrashing to violent behaviour and removal of tubes and catheters. Preoperative anxiety was not found to be a risk factor. Preoperative medication by benzodiazepines (OR=1.910, 95% CI=1.101-3.315, P=0.021), breast surgery (OR=5.190, 95% CI=1.422-18.947, P=0.013), abdominal surgery (OR=3.206, 95% CI=1.262-8.143, P=0.014), and long duration of surgery increased the risk of delirium (OR=1.005, 95% CI=1.002-1.008, P=0.001), while a previous history of illness and long-term treatment by antidepressants decreased the risk (respectively, OR=0.544, 95% CI=0.315-0.939, P=0.029 and OR=0.245, 95% CI=0.084-0.710, P=0.010). CONCLUSIONS Preoperative benzodiazepines, breast and abdominal surgery and surgery of long duration are risk factors for emergence delirium.
Modeling caveolar sodium current contributions to cardiac electrophysiology and arrhythmogenesis

Proper heart function results from the periodic execution of a series of coordinated interdependent mechanical, chemical, and electrical processes within the cardiac tissue. Central to these processes is the action potential the electrochemical event that initiates contraction of the individual cardiac myocytes. Many models of the cardiac action potential exist with varying levels of complexity, but none account for the electrophysiological role played by caveolae small invaginations of the cardiac cell plasma membrane. Recent electrophysiological studies regarding these microdomains reveal that cardiac caveolae function as reservoirs of ‘recruitable’ sodium ion channels. As such, caveolar channels constitute a substantial and previously unrecognized source of sodium current that can significantly influence action potential morphology. In this thesis, I formulate and analyze new models of cardiac action potential which account for these caveolar sodium currents and provide computational venues in which to develop and test new hypotheses. My results provide insight into the role played by caveolar sodium currents in regulating the electrodynamics of cardiac myocytes and suggest that in certain pathological cases, caveolae may play an arrhythmogenic role.
A Multi-agent Simulation of Escape Panic

The modeling and simulation on evacuation has recently become a topic of great interest. We present an agent-based model to construct crowd evacuations for emergency response from an area under an explosion. Various types of agents are designed as well as the interactions of them are concerned in contrast to traditional models in which the total populations are considered to be consisted of identical individuals and the interactions between them are omitted. Different cases are taken into account to test the effect of our model by iterative simulations. At last, plenty simulation results suggest several effective ways to minimize the harmful consequences of such life-threaten events.
Fault estimation using relative information for a formation of dynamical systems

In this paper, a novel fault estimation method is proposed for a ‘system of systems’ formed by a collection of agents performing a shared task using relative sensing information communicated over an information network. The proposed scheme is based on sliding mode observers and the faults are reconstructed by appropriate processing of the equivalent output error injection signal that is required to maintain sliding. Since the system with respect to relative sensing measurements is not observable, an observable subspace is obtained by appropriate transformations and suitable scaling of the inputs and outputs of the actual system. In the new coordinates, with appropriate scaling, the design of decoupled sliding mode observers depends entirely on the individual node level dynamics of the network and exploits an already available design philosophy. The fault estimation framework proposed in this paper is applied to a large network of double integrator systems to demonstrate its efficacy.
"Dude, Where's My Job?"The Impact of Immigration on the Youth Labor Market

Most studies about the labor market impact of immigration limit their analysis to the adult native population. This paper shows that teen employment is signi…cantly more responsive than adult employment to immigration, and that growth in low-skilled immigration appears to be an important cause of recent declines in teen employment rates. Using variation in immigrant shares across metropolitan areas between 1980 and 2000, I show that the impact of immigration on youth employment is at least
Two-Way Filter-and-Forward Beamforming for Frequency-Selective Channels

In this paper, we consider filter-and-forward beamforming (FF-BF) for two-way relay networks employing single-carrier transmission over frequency-selective channels. In FF-BF, the relay nodes filter the received signal using finite impulse response (FIR) or infinite impulse response (IIR) filters. For the processing at the transceivers, we investigate two different cases: (1) simple slicing without equalization and (2) linear equalization (LE) or decision-feedback equalization (DFE). For the first case, we optimize FIR FF-BF filters, respectively, for maximization of the minimum transceiver signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) subject to a relay transmit power constraint and for minimization of the total relay transmit power subject to two quality of service (QoS) constraints. We show that both problems can be transformed into a convex second-order cone programming (SOCP) problem, which can be efficiently solved using standard tools. For the second case, we optimize IIR and FIR FF-BF filters for max-min optimization of the SINR, and for transceivers with zero-forcing LE, also for minimization of the sum mean-squared error (MSE) at the equalizer outputs of both transceivers. Leveraging results from FF-BF for one-way relaying, we establish an upper and an achievable lower bound for the max-min problem and an exact solution for the sum MSE problem. Since the gap between the upper and the lower bound for the max-min problem is small, a close-to-optimal solution is obtained. Our simulation results reveal that the performance of FF-BF without equalization at the transceivers crucially depends on the slicer decision delay and transceivers with slicers can closely approach the performance of transceivers with equalizers provided that the FF-BF filters are sufficiently long and a sufficient number of relays is deployed.
Plant-Mediated Effects on Mosquito Capacity to Transmit Human Malaria

The ecological context in which mosquitoes and malaria parasites interact has received little attention, compared to the genetic and molecular aspects of malaria transmission. Plant nectar and fruits are important for the nutritional ecology of malaria vectors, but how the natural diversity of plant-derived sugar sources affects mosquito competence for malaria parasites is unclear. To test this, we infected Anopheles coluzzi, an important African malaria vector, with sympatric field isolates of Plasmodium falciparum, using direct membrane feeding assays. Through a series of experiments, we then examined the effects of sugar meals from Thevetia neriifolia and Barleria lupilina cuttings that included flowers, and fruit from Lannea microcarpa and Mangifera indica on parasite and mosquito traits that are key for determining the intensity of malaria transmission. We found that the source of plant sugar meal differentially affected infection prevalence and intensity, the development duration of the parasites, as well as the survival and fecundity of the vector. These effects are likely the result of complex interactions between toxic secondary metabolites and the nutritional quality of the plant sugar source, as well as of host resource availability and parasite growth. Using an epidemiological model, we show that plant sugar source can be a significant driver of malaria transmission dynamics, with some plant species exhibiting either transmission-reducing or -enhancing activities.
Compliance With Intended Use of Bar Code Medication Administration in Acute and Long-Term Care: An Observational Study

Objective: To identify the types and extent of workaround strategies with the use of Bar Code Medication Administration (BCMA) in acute care and long-term care settings. Background: Medication errors are the most commonly documented cause of adverse events in hospital settings. Scanning of bar codes to verify patient and medication information may reduce medication errors. Method: A prospective ethnographic study was conducted using targeted observation. Fifteen acute care and 13 long-term care nurses were directly observed during medication administration at small, medium, and large Veterans Administration hospitals to detect workaround strategies. Results: Noncompliance with recommended practices was observed in all settings and facilities. A larger proportion of acute care nurses than long-term care nurses scanned bar-coded wristbands to identify patients (53% vs. 8%, p = .016). A larger proportion of acute care nurses than long-term care nurses administered barcoded medications immediately after scanning (93% vs. 23%, p < .001). Conclusion: Workaround strategies were employed with BCMA that increased efficiency but created new potential paths to adverse events. There was a significant difference in the rate of use of workaround strategies between acute and long-term care. Application: The extent of workaround strategies varied by care setting and facility. BCMA should be tailored to the long-term care setting, including increasing the efficiency of use. Hospitals implementing bar coding should facilitate the intended use through equipment procurement, implementation, and quality improvement strategies.
The Criminology of Place: Street Segments and Our Understanding of the Crime Problem

Dedication Acknowledgements Chapter 1: Introduction Chapter 2: Putting Crime in its Place Chapter 3: Crime Concentrations and Crime Patterns at Places Chapter 4: The Importance of Street Segments in the Production of the Crime Problem Chapter 5: Concentrations of Crime Opportunities Chapter 6: Are Processes of Social Disorganization Relevant to the Criminology of Place? Chapter 7: Understanding Developmental Patterns of Crime at Street Segments Chapter 8: Conclusions Appendix 1: Trajectory Analysis Model Selection and Diagnostic Statistics Appendix 2: Ripley's K Function Appendix 3: Cross-K Function Appendix 4: Data Collection Appendix 5: Additional Statistical Models References Index
Aspects of Walpiri Morphology and Syntax

I present a fragment of Warlpiri grammar, within the framework of Lexical-Functional Grammar (LFG), focusing on the morphological and syntactrc representation of the relations between arguments and argument-taking predicates. In Chapter 2, 1 discuss the assignment of grammatical functions to arguments within fin~te clauses headed by verbs or nominals. I argue for a rule which assigns grammatical functions freely to the daughters of S. This rule is the source of free word-order in Warlpiri. I also argue for R rule allowing an argument-taking predicate to introduce a null pronominal for any grammatical fu~rction which is linked to an argument of that predicate. This rule is the source of zero anaphora in Warlpiri. Chapter 3 shows that case-suffixes have two main uses: to indicate that a norn~nal bears a particular grammatical function, such as SUBJECT, or that it is an attribute of another argument, and to act as an argument-taking predicate analogous to an English preposition. To preserve the Lexical Integrity Hypothesis, this last use requires the assignment of grammatical functions within the morphology, as part of the word-building process. I show that this assignment allows an account of the unusual phenomenon of double case-marking. Chapters 4 and 5 treat the use of nominals as secondary predicates. The existence of discontinuous nominal expressions marked with the same case-suffix is shown to follow from independently needed rules. I claim that nominal secondary predicates are normally independent adjuncts, rather than subcategorizing arguments, as in English. A stri~ing illustration of this is provided by the great freedom resultative attributes in Warlpiri have, compared with their English counterparts. In Chapter 6, 1 examine the use of nominalized verbs, action nominals, and complementizer suffixes as secondary predicates. Such clauses have null pronominal SUBJECTS which bear case, suggesting that they must be anaphorically controlled. I show that the properties of cornplementizer suffixes can be represented in the same way as the properties of case-suffixes, with the exception that complementizer suffixes specify the grammatical function of their controllers. I present a classification of Warlpiri complementizer suffixes, in terms of therr controllers and their tense properties, including a discussior~ of clauses with controlled OBJECTS. Thesis Supervisor: Kenneth Locke Hale Title: Ferrari P. Ward Professor of Linguistics
Pollinators of the Rocky Mountain columbine: temporal variation, functional groups and associations with floral traits.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Pollinators together with other biotic and some abiotic factors can select for floral traits. However, variation in pollinator abundance over time and space can weaken such selection. In the present study, the variation in pollinator abundance over time and space was examined in populations of the Rocky Mountain columbine. The variation in three floral traits is described and correlations between pollinator type, functional pollinator groups or altitude and floral traits are examined. METHODS Pollinator observations took place in six Aquilegia coerulea populations over 1-4 years and spur length, flower colour and sepal length were measured in 12 populations. Pollinator abundance, measured as visits per flower per hour, was compared among populations and years. Pollinators were grouped into two functional groups: pollen or nectar collectors. The following associations were examined: annual presence of hawkmoths and whiter flowers with longer spurs; the presence of Sphinx vashti and longer spurs; and higher altitudes and whiter flowers. The study looked at whether an increase in the proportion of hawkmoths in a population was associated with whiter and larger flowers with longer spurs. KEY RESULTS The abundance of different pollinator groups varied over time and space. Floral traits varied among populations. Higher altitude was correlated with bluer flowers. Whiter flowers were associated with the annual presence of hawkmoths. Populations visited by Sphinx vashti had longer spurs than populations visited only by Hyles lineata. Populations with greater percentage of nectar-collecting pollinators did not have whiter, larger flowers with longer spurs. CONCLUSIONS Despite the large variation in pollinator abundance over time and space, one species of bumble-bee or hawkmoth tended to predominate in each population each year. Future studies of Aquilegia coerulea should examine the specific influences of pollinators and the environment on flower colour and of hawkmoth species on spur length.
A cautionary note on the use of species presence and absence data in deriving sediment criteria

In recent years, a variety of approaches to deriving sediment quality guidelines have been developed. One approach relies on establishing an empirical relationship between the concentration of a contaminant in sediment and the condition of some biological indicator, for example, combining measured sediment concentrations of contaminants combined with data on colocated benthic species to measure in situ community effects of contamination. Biological threshold concentrations derived in this manner are being considered or have already been adopted by some regulatory agencies as a means for deriving sediment guidelines (e.g., Canada's Provincial Sediment Quality Guidelines). In order to test the validity of this method, we constructed several Monte Carlo simulations to illustrate that the methodology used to develop these guidelines is flawed by the effects of sampling and statistical artifacts that emerge from undersampling a lognormal density function. As a case study, this paper will present the screening level concentration method used by the Ontario Ministry of the Environment (Toronto, ON, Canada) and provide the results of several probabilistic exercises highlighting these issues. We present a word of caution on the applicability of methods that rely exclusively on statistical and mathematical relationships between invertebrate data and sediment concentrations to derive sediment quality guidelines.
Building 3-D models from unregistered range images

The authors describe an approach to building a three-dimensional model from a set of range images. The authors' goal is to build models of free-form surfaces obtained from arbitrary viewing directions, with no initial estimate of the relative viewing directions. The approach is based on building discrete meshes representing the surfaces observed in each of the range images, to map each of the meshes to a spherical image, and to compute the transformations between the views by matching the spherical images. The meshes are built using an iterative fitting algorithm previously developed; the spherical images are built by matching the nodes of the surface meshes to the nodes of a reference mesh on the unit sphere and by storing a measure of curvature at every node. The authors describe the algorithms used for building such models from range images and for matching them. The authors give results obtained using range images of complex objects. <<ETX>>
Mixed Integer Formulations for a Short Sea Fuel Oil Distribution Problem

We consider a short sea fuel oil distribution problem occurring in the archipelago at Cape Verde. Here, an oil company is responsible for the routing and scheduling of ships between the islands such that the demand for various fuel oil products is satisfied during the planning horizon. Inventory management considerations are taken into account at the demand side but not at the supply side. The ports have restricted opening hours each day, so multiple time windows are considered. In contrast to the ships in many other studies within ship routing and scheduling, ships here spend considerable time in the ports compared to at sea. Hence, the time in port is modeled in detail by incorporating both a variable unloading time and a setup time for loading different products in the same ports. A mathematical model of the problem is presented and it includes a combined continuous and discrete time horizon because of the multiple time windows and a daily varying consumption rate of the various products in the different ports. We discuss several strategies to improve the proposed model, such as tightening bounds, using extended formulations, and including valid inequalities. The computational study shows that the real problem can be solved to optimality within reasonable time by the use of improved formulations based on a combination of such strategies.
EFFECTS OF LOW DOSE ORAL IODIDE SUPPLEMENTATION ON THYROID FUNCTION IN NORMAL MEN

Previous studies have demonstrated that short‐term oral iodide administration, in doses ranging from 1500 μg to 250 mg/day, has an inhibitory effect on thyroid hormone secretion in normal men. As iodide intake in the USA may be as high as 800 μ/d, we investigated the effects of very low dose iodide supplementation on thyroid function. Thirty normal men aged 22‐40 years were randomly assigned to receive 500, 1500, and 4500 μg iodide/day for 2 weeks. Blood was obtained on days 1 and 15 for measurement of serum T4, T3, T3‐charcoal uptake, TSH, protein‐bound iodide (PBI) and total iodide, and 24 h urine samples were collected on these days for measurement of urinary iodide excretion. TRH tests were performed before and at the end of the period of iodide administration. Serum inorganic iodide was calculated by subtracting the PBI from the serum total iodide. We found significant dose‐related increases in serum total and inorganic iodide concentrations, as well as urinary iodide excretion. The mean serum T4 concentration and free T4 index values decreased significantly at the 1500 μg/day and 4500 μg/day doses. No changes in T3‐charcoal uptake or serum T3 concentration occurred at any dose. Administration of 500 μg iodide/day resulted in a significant increase (P<0.005) in the serum TSH response to TRH, and the two larger iodide doses resulted in increases in both basal and TRH‐stimulated serum TSH concentrations. Thus, iodide supplementation within the range of normal daily intake in the USA has a significant inhibitory effect on thyroid hormone secretion in normal men.