Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Reassessment of Non-Monosynaptic Excitation from the Motor Cortex to Motoneurons in Single Motor Units of the Human Biceps Brachii

Corticospinal excitation is mediated by polysynaptic pathways in several vertebrates, including dexterous monkeys. However, indirect non-monosynaptic excitation has not been clearly observed following transcranial electrical stimulation (TES) or cervicomedullary stimulation (CMS) in humans. The present study evaluated indirect motor pathways in normal human subjects by recording the activities of single motor units (MUs) in the biceps brachii (BB) muscle. The pyramidal tract was stimulated with weak TES, CMS, and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) contralateral to the recording side. During tasks involving weak co-contraction of the BB and hand muscles, all stimulation methods activated MUs with short latencies. Peristimulus time histograms (PSTHs) showed that responses with similar durations were induced by TES (1.9 ± 1.4 ms) and CMS (2.0 ± 1.4 ms), and these responses often showed multiple peaks with the PSTH peak having a long duration (65.3% and 44.9%, respectively). Such long-duration excitatory responses with multiple peaks were rarely observed in the finger muscles following TES or in the BB following stimulation of the Ia fibers. The responses obtained with TES were compared in the same 14 BB MUs during the co-contraction and isolated BB contraction tasks. Eleven and three units, respectively, exhibited activation with multiple peaks during the two tasks. In order to determine the dispersion effects on the axon conduction velocities (CVs) and synaptic noise, a simulation study that was comparable to the TES experiments was performed with a biologically plausible neuromuscular model. When the model included the monosynaptic-pyramidal tract, multiple peaks were obtained in about 34.5% of the motoneurons (MNs). The experimental and simulation results indicated the existence of task-dependent disparate inputs from the pyramidal tract to the MNs of the upper limb. These results suggested that intercalated interneurons are present in the spinal cord and that these interneurons might be equivalent to those identified in animal experiments.
Analysis and Control of Heat Transfer in an Industrial Composite Mold in RTM Polyester Automotive Process

A composite mold was developed to manufacture pieces by the resin transfer molding process. This mold can be instrumented with different sensors which allows us to obtain great amounts of information during realistic conditions of production. The main features of the mold, as well as the used metrology, are detailed. The results of different experiments and the influence of temperature on the molding are presented. The experimental heat fluxes are compared to the predictions of a kinetic model. A thermal optimization of the curing cycle is proposed.
Regulation of junctional and non‐junctional sarcoplasmic reticulum calcium release in excitation‐contraction coupling in cat atrial myocytes

We have characterized the dependence on membrane potential (Vm) and calcium current (ICa) of calcium‐induced calcium release (CICR) from the junctional‐SR (j‐SR, in the subsarcolemmal (SS) space) and non‐junctional‐SR (nj‐SR, in the central (CT) region of the cell) of cat atrial myocytes using whole‐cell voltage‐clamp together with spatially resolved laser‐scanning confocal microscopy. Subsarcolemmal and central [Ca2+]i transient amplitudes and ICa had a bell‐shaped dependence on Vm, but [Ca2+]i reached a maximum at more negative Vm (‐10 to 0 mV) than ICa (+10 mV). Termination of ICa after a brief depolarization (2.5 to 22.5 ms) immediately interrupted only the SS [Ca2+]i transient, leaving the development of the CT [Ca2+]i transient unaffected. Block of SR function with 20 μm ryanodine and 2 μm thapsigargin, revealed that > 90 % of the control [Ca2+]i transient amplitude was attributable to active SR Ca2+ release through ryanodine receptors (RyRs). The gain of SR Ca2+ release was highest in the SS space at negative test potentials and was less pronounced in the CT region. Inhibition of Na+‐Ca2+ exchange resulted in prolonged and higher amplitude [Ca2+]i transients, elevated resting [Ca2+]i, accelerated propagation of CICR, decreased extrusion of Ca2+ and an increase in j‐SR Ca2+ load. Increasing the cytosolic Ca2+ buffer capacity by internal perfusion with 1 mm EGTA limited SR Ca2+ release to the SS region, indicating that Ca2+ release from nj‐SR is initiated by diffusion of Ca2+ from the cell periphery and propagating CICR. Junctional‐SR Ca2+ release occurred at discrete sites whose order of activation and amplitude of release varied from beat to beat. In conclusion, during normal excitation‐contraction coupling in cat atrial myocytes, only Ca2+ release from the j‐SR is directly activated by Ca2+ entering via ICa. Elevation of SS [Ca2+]i is required to provide the cytosolic Ca2+ gradient needed to initiate regenerative and propagating CICR from nj‐SR.
Effet getter de multicouches métalliques pour des applications MEMS. Etude de la relation Elaboration - Microstructure - Comportement

L'objectif de cette these est d'etablir les liens entre elaboration, microstructure et comportement des getters non-evaporables (NEG) en couches minces, en vue de leur utilisation dans le cadre du packaging collectif des MEMS sous vide ou sous atmosphere controlee. Apres une etude bibliographique sur l'hermeticite des MEMS et l'effet getter, la modification du comportement de piegeage de gaz par les NEG couches minces, engendre par l'ajout de sous-couches metalliques, est mise en evidence. Afin d'expliquer cette influence, la microstructure des couches minces est etudiee, notamment sa dependance aux parametres d'elaboration et aux traitements thermiques. Ensuite, le comportement macroscopique de piegeage de l'azote est caracterise, de meme que les mecanismes microscopiques d'activation et de pompage. Ces derniers permettent finalement d'elaborer quelques recommandations pour l'integration des NEG couches minces dans les MEMS.
Amino termini of histones H3 and H4 are required for a1-alpha2 repression in yeast

The Saccharomyces cerevisiae alpha2 repressor controls two classes of cell-type-specific genes in yeast through association with different partners. alpha2-Mcm1 complexes repress a cell-specific gene expression in haploid alpha cells and diploid a/alpha cells, while a1-alpha2 complexes repress haploid-specific genes in diploid cells. In both cases, repression is mediated through Ssn6-Tu1 corepressor complexes that are recruited via direct interactions with alpha2. We have previously shown that nucleosomes are positioned adjacent to the alpha2-Mcm1 operator under conditions of repression and that Tupl interacts directly with histones H3 and H4. Here, we examine the role of chromatin in a1-alpha2 repression to determine if chromatin is a general feature of repression by Ssn6-Tup1. We find that mutations in the amino terminus of histone H4 cause a 4- to 11-fold derepression of a reporter gene under a1-alpha2 control, while truncation of the H3 amino terminus has a more modest (3-fold or less) effect. Strikingly, combination of the H3 truncation with an H4 mutation causes a 40-fold decrease in repression, clearly indicating a central role for these histones in a1-alpha2-mediated repression. However, in contrast to the ordered positioning of nucleosomes adjacent to the alpha2-Mcm1 operator, nucleosomes are not positioned adjacent to the a1-alpha2 operator in diploid cells. Our data indicate that chromatin is important to Ssn6-Tup1-mediated repression but that the degrees of chromatin organization directed by these proteins differ at different promoters.
New Approach for Punching Shear Capacity Prediction of Fiber Reinforced Polymer Reinforced Concrete Flat Slabs

A new approach predicting the punching shear capacity of FRP reinforced concrete flat slabs without shear reinforcement is introduced in the light of the results of an experimental program conducted at the Center for Cement and Concrete of the University of Sheffield. The new approach is found to accurately predict the punching shear capacity of the tested slabs. Verification of this new approach is undertaken through comparisons with other test results ensuring its validity. Comparisons of the new approach with the ACI 318-95 equation calculating the punching shear capacity of reinforced concrete slabs without shear reinforcement show that the current ACI equation is unconservative in case of FRP reinforcement with low reinforcement ratios. A modification is proposed to the current ACI 318-95 code equation for punching shear in order to accommodate low stiffness FRP reinforcement. Comparisons with test results show that the proposed modification of the ACI code equation leads to good predictions.
Ethics in Behavioural Targeting: Mapping Consumers Perceptions

In contemporary development "Internet" is a leading advertising source. Marketing avenues from traditional media are deteriorating and online marketing earnings are growing persistently. With online advertising, behavioural targeting is emerging as a prominent trend which is expected to account for major advertising revenues; as it permits websites to discriminate advertisements according to consumers surfing patterns. This can equally raise privacy issues and can have adverse consumer responses. This study explores the consumer perception regarding the ethics of behavioural targeting when done without user consent and awareness. The study focus on two major aspects the first is about knowledge and awareness about behavioural targeting and second issues related to ethics in behavioural targeting. The result shows that consumers are unaware about behavioural targeting.
Can recent ice discharges following the Larsen-B ice-shelf collapse be used to infer the driving mechanisms of millennial-scale variations of the Laurentide ice sheet ? ”

The effects of an ice-shelf collapse on inland glacier dynamics have recently been widely studied, especially since the breakup of the Antarctic Peninsula’s LarsenB ice shelf in 2002. Several studies have documented acceleration of the ice streams that were flowing into the former ice shelf. The mechanism responsible for such a speed-up lies with the removal of the ice-shelf backforce. Independently, it is also well documented that during the last glacial period, the Northern Hemisphere ice sheets experienced large discharges into the ocean, likely reflecting ice flow acceleration episodes on the millennial time scale. The classic interpretation of the latter is based on the existence of an internal thermo-mechanical feedback with the potential to generate oscillatory behavior in the ice sheets. Here we would like to widen the debate by considering that Larsen-B-likeglacial analog episodes could have contributed significantly to the registered millennial-scale variablity.
Visual field expansion after visual restoration therapy

Objective: To determine whether visual field expansion occurs with visual restoration therapy (VRT), using fundus-controlled microperimetry to assess visual fields. Design: This longitudinal cohort analysis assesses patients’ visual fields before and after visual restoration therapy using microperimetry and standard high-resolution perimetry. Subjects: Seven patients with stroke-induced homonymous field cuts were studied. Intervention: Visual restoration therapy is a computerized, home-based treatment aimed at reducing the size of the visual field defect of stroke patients with hemianopia through repetitive stimulation of the visual borderzone adjacent to the blind field. During twice-daily therapy for three months patients maintain central fixation while responding to eccentrically placed stimuli in the visual borderzone. The programme is adjusted monthly to changes in the patient’s visual field. Controversy exists as to whether expansion of visual fields measured at home with high-resolution perimetry is due to inadvertent eye movements and therefore would overrepresent the treatment’s effect. Main measures: Microperimentry uses an infrared camera to track retinal vessels so that any shift or movement between the reference image and the real-time fundus image corrects the stimulus position, thus delivering stimuli to known retinal locations, and allowing accurate assessment of visual fields independent of eye movements. Results: There was an average improvement in stimulus detection rate by microperimetry of 12.5% (range —1.4% to 38.9%, P =0.033). Six of 7 patients had ≥ 3% improvement in stimulus detection by home-based perimetry. Conclusion: Our results demonstrate modest but real expansion in visual fields following visual restoration therapy which is not due to eye movements.
Nucleotide Exchange Factor ECT2 Interacts with the Polarity Protein Complex Par6/Par3/Protein Kinase Cζ (PKCζ) and Regulates PKCζ Activity

ABSTRACT Regulation of cell polarity is an important biological event that governs diverse cell functions such as localization of embryonic determinants and establishment of tissue and organ architecture. The Rho family GTPases and the polarity complex Par6/Par3/atypical protein kinase C (PKC) play a key role in the signaling pathway, but the molecules that regulate upstream signaling are still not known. Here we identified the guanine nucleotide exchange factor ECT2 as an activator of the polarity complex. ECT2 interacted with Par6 as well as Par3 and PKCζ. Coexpression of Par6 and ECT2 efficiently activated Cdc42 in vivo. Overexpression of ECT2 also stimulated the PKCζ activity, whereas dominant-negative ECT2 inhibited the increase in PKCζ activity stimulated by Par6. ECT2 localization was detected at sites of cell-cell contact as well as in the nucleus of MDCK cells. The expression and localization of ECT2 were regulated by calcium, which is a critical regulator of cell-cell adhesion. Together, these results suggest that ECT2 regulates the polarity complex Par6/Par3/PKCζ and possibly plays a role in epithelial cell polarity.
A 21 GHz wide frequency tuning range LC VCO with low KVCO

This work presents a novel control method for achieving a low KVCO variation in wide frequency range LC VCOs. The proposed method was validated by designing and simulating a VCO with a frequency range of 12.2 GHz-21.3 GHz. The VCO achieves a maximum KVCO value of 172 MHz/V and a maximum KVCO variation of 1.6. In addition, the design exhibits a phase noise of -112 dBc/Hz @ 1 MHz offset frequency. The VCO was designed, extracted and simulated using 28nm CMOS technology. This design consumes a maximum power of 5.68 mW from a 1V supply voltage.
Finding Minimum Spanning Trees

This paper studies methods for finding minimum spanning trees in graphs. Results include 1. several algorithms with $O(m\log \log n)$ worst-case running times, where n is the number vertices and m is the number of edges in the problem graph; 2. an $O(m)$ worst-case algorithm for dense graphs (those for which m is $\Omega (n^{1 + \varepsilon } )$ for some positive constant $\varepsilon $); 3. an $O(n)$ worst-case algorithm for planar graphs; 4. relationships with other problems which might lead general lower bound for the complexity of the minimum spanning tree problem.
Design and implementation of fourth arm for elimination of bearing current in NPC-MLI fed Induction motor drive

The exploration result on increase in variable drive which creates an impact to prevail on the electric machine failure due to existence of bearing current. The bearing current associated with drive system is concerned about the operating frequencies of the solid state semiconductor switches which may cause the electrostatic charge between stator and rotor which eventually causes damage to windings and bearings. The various techniques comprised in literature to suppress the bearing currents like filter design, switching redundancy, common mode circuitry, isolated grounding scheme and grounding the motor shaft. This paper presents an innovative solution to suppress the bearing current by addition of a fourth arm circuitry to the neutral point of machine to obtain a zero at neutral potential. All the proposed circuitry and algorithm are simulated using MATLAB/Simulink and validation is done through a 2.2kW NPC-MLI laboratory prototype using a Xilinx family SPARTAN-III-3A XC3SD1800A-FG676 DSP-FPGA processor board
Term Generalization and Synonym Resolution for Biological Abstracts: Using the Gene Ontology for Subcellular Localization Prediction

The field of molecular biology is growing at an astounding rate and research findings are being deposited into public databases, such as Swiss-Prot. Many of the over 200,000 protein entries in Swiss-Prot 49.1 lack annotations such as subcellular localization or function, but the vast majority have references to journal abstracts describing related research. These abstracts represent a huge amount of information that could be used to generate annotations for proteins automatically. Training classifiers to perform text categorization on abstracts is one way to accomplish this task. We present a method for improving text classification for biological journal abstracts by generating additional text features using the knowledge represented in a biological concept hierarchy (the Gene Ontology). The structure of the ontology, as well as the synonyms recorded in it, are leveraged by our simple technique to significantly improve the F-measure of subcellular localization text classifiers by as much as 0.078 and we achieve F-measures as high as 0.935.
G Protein-Coupled Receptor Allosterism and Complexing

G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) represent the largest family of cell-surface receptors. These receptors are natural allosteric proteins because agonist-mediated signaling by GPCRs requires a conformational change in the receptor protein transmitted between two topographically distinct binding sites, one for the agonist and another for the G protein. It is now becoming increasingly recognized, however, that the agonist-bound GPCR can also form ternary complexes with other ligands or “accessory” proteins and display altered binding and/or signaling properties in relation to the binary agonist-receptor complex. Allosteric sites on GPCRs represent novel drug targets because allosteric modulators possess a number of theoretical advantages over classic orthosteric ligands, such as a ceiling level to the allosteric effect and a potential for greater GPCR subtype-selectivity. Because of the noncompetitive nature of allosteric phenomena, the detection and quantification of such effects often relies on a combination of equilibrium binding, nonequilibrium kinetic, and functional signaling assays. This review discusses the development and properties of allosteric receptor models for GPCRs and the detection and quantification of allosteric effects. Moreover, we provide an overview of the current knowledge regarding the location of possible allosteric sites on GPCRs and candidate endogenous allosteric modulators. Finally, we discuss the potential for allosteric effects arising from the formation of GPCR oligomers or GPCRs complexed with accessory cellular proteins. It is proposed that the study of allosteric phenomena will become of progressively greater import to the drug discovery process due to the advent of newer and more sensitive GPCR screening technologies.
Robust Virtual Implementation

In a general interdependent preference environment, we characterize when two payoff types can be distinguished by their rationalizable strategic choices without any prior knowledge of their beliefs and higher order beliefs. We show that two payoff types are strategically distinguishable if and only if they satisfy a separability condition. The separability condition for each agent essentially requires that there is not too much interdependence in preferences across agents. A social choice function, mapping payoff type profiles to outcomes, can be robustly virtually implemented if there exists a mechanism such that every equilibrium on every type space achieves an outcome that is arbitrarily close to the outcome generated by the social choice function. This definition is equivalent to requiring virtual implementation in iterated deletion of strategies that are strictly dominated for all beliefs. The social choice function is robustly measurable if strategically indistinguishable payoff types receive the same allocation. We show that ex post incentive compatibility and robust measurability are necessary and sufficient for robust virtual implementation.
Cardiac magnetic resonance myocardial perfusion reserve index is reduced in women with coronary microvascular dysfunction. A National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute-sponsored study from the Women's Ischemia Syndrome Evaluation.

BACKGROUND Women with signs and symptoms of ischemia and no obstructive coronary artery disease often have coronary microvascular dysfunction (CMD), diagnosed by invasive coronary reactivity testing (CRT). Although traditional noninvasive stress imaging is often normal in CMD, cardiac MRI may be able to detect CMD in this population. METHODS AND RESULTS Vasodilator stress cardiac MRI was performed in 118 women with suspected CMD who had undergone CRT and 21 asymptomatic reference subjects. Semi-quantitative evaluation of the first-pass perfusion images was completed to determine myocardial perfusion reserve index (MPRI). The relationship between CRT findings and MPRI was examined by Pearson correlations, logistic regression, and sensitivity/specificity. Symptomatic women had lower mean pharmacological stress MPRI compared with reference subjects (1.71±0.43 versus 2.23±0.37; P<0.0001). Lower MPRI was predictive of ≥1 abnormal CRT variables (odds ratio =0.78 [0.70, 0.88], P<0.0001, c-statistic 0.78 [0.68, 0.88]). An MPRI threshold of 1.84 predicted CRT abnormality with sensitivity 73% and specificity 74%. CONCLUSIONS Noninvasive cardiac MRI MPRI can detect CMD defined by invasive CRT. Further work is aimed to optimize the noninvasive identification and management of CMD patients. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION URL: http://www.clinicaltrials. gov. Unique identifier: NCT00832702.