Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Strain-tunable electronic and optical properties of novel anisotropic green phosphorene: a first-principles study

The effect of in-layer strain on the optical and electrical properties of monolayer green phosphorene, a new anisotropic two-dimensional (2D) material, has been systematically studied. The studied strain includes in-layer uniaxial strain and biaxial strain. Green phosphorene can be viewed as a combination of black and blue phosphorene segments in regular order. We adopt the HSE06 method to correct the calculated results. The results reveal that, firstly, strain-free monolayer green phosphorene is a stable direct band gap 2D semiconductor with the anisotropic optical property. The transmittance of infrared and visible light along the zigzag direction is better than that along the armchair direction. However, the transmittance of the UV-light along the armchair direction is better than that along the zigzag direction. Secondly, the optical properties, such as the absorption coefficient and reflectivity, along armchair and zigzag direction respond very differently to the various applied strains. As for the electronic properties, the band gap exhibits different changing trends by applying either in-layer biaxial strain or uniaxial strain in different directions. Besides, the near-band-edge electronic orbitals exhibit different bond nature in different directions. These results suggest that green phosphorene shows strong anisotropy in electronic and optical properties. By calculating and comparing the energies of near-band-edge states after applying different strains on green phosphorene, the reason for the anisotropy of the new 2D material is analyzed. This study implies that the electronic and optical properties of green phosphorene, a stable direct band gap anisotropic semiconductor, could be efficiently tuned by in-layer biaxial or uniaxial strain. Therefore, green phosphorene can be used in linear polarizers and other anisotropic photoelectric devices.
Enhancement of Bone Healing by Local Administration of Carbon Nanotubes Functionalized with Sodium Hyaluronate in Rat Tibiae

It has been reported that carbon nanotubes (CNTs) serve as nucleation sites for the deposition of bone matrix and cell proliferation. Here, we evaluated the effects of multi-walled CNTs (MWCNTs) on bone repair of rat tibiae. Furthermore, because sodium hyaluronate (HY) accelerates bone restoration, we associated CNTs with HY (HY-MWCNTs) in an attempt to boost bone repair. The bone defect was created by a 1.6-mm-diameter drill. After 7 and 14 days, tibiae were processed for histological and morphometric analyses. Immunohistochemistry was used to evaluate the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in bone defects. Expression of osteocalcin (OCN), bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2), and collagen I (Col I) was assessed by real-time PCR. Histomorphometric analysis showed a similar increase in the percentage of bone trabeculae in tibia bone defects treated with HY and HY-MWCNTs, and both groups presented more organized and thicker bone trabeculae than nontreated defects. Tibiae treated with MWCNTs or HY- MWCNTs showed a higher expression of VEGF. Treatment with MWCNTs or HY-MWCNTs increased the expression of molecules involved in the bone repair process, such as OCN and BMP-2. Also, HY- and MWCNT-treated tibiae had an increased expression of Col I. Thus, it is tempting to conclude that CNTs associated or not with other materials such as HY emerged as a promising biomaterial for bone tissue engineering.
STRATIFIED TESTS, STRATIFIED SLOPES, AND RANDOM EFFECTS MODELS FOR CLINICAL TRIALS WITH MISSING DATA

Because missing observations may affect the size and power of statistical tests of equality, various analytical techniques explicitly or implicitly condition the analysis on the amount of information available per person. We illustrate the difference between stratifying a slope estimate and stratifying a test statistic based on slopes. We compare a nonparametric version of the latter approach with the parametric tests available from SAS Proc Mixed. Power and size of these two approaches are considered under different parametric settings, distributions, and missing data mechanisms.
Spatiotopic perceptual maps in humans: evidence from motion adaptation

How our perceptual experience of the world remains stable and continuous despite the frequent repositioning eye movements remains very much a mystery. One possibility is that our brain actively constructs a spatiotopic representation of the world, which is anchored in external—or at least head-centred—coordinates. In this study, we show that the positional motion aftereffect (the change in apparent position after adaptation to motion) is spatially selective in external rather than retinal coordinates, whereas the classic motion aftereffect (the illusion of motion after prolonged inspection of a moving source) is selective in retinotopic coordinates. The results provide clear evidence for a spatiotopic map in humans: one which can be influenced by image motion.
Dilemmas of weak states: Africa and transnational terrorism in the twenty-first century

Given the dramatic changes that have taken place in global politics in recent years (especially following September 11, 2001), it is time to examine a series of critical issues confronting the global political economy. One of the most important of these issues is terrorism and its relationship with weak states. This book examines the weak state-terrorism nexus with particular emphasis on Africa. Specifically, it provides an in-depth analysis of state weakness, poverty, and the opportunities offered by the latter for the breeding of terrorism and terrorists. It also looks at the part played by radical Islam in transnational terrorism in Africa. Emerging from this study is recognition of a need for the international system to analyze a wide range of issues that contribute to the weakening of African states. Download ebook, read file pdf Africa and Transnational Terrorism in the Twenty-First Century
Vitamin B12 Synthesis and Salvage Pathways Were Acquired by Horizontal Gene Transfer to the Thermotogales

The availability of genome sequences of Thermotogales species from across the order allows an examination of the evolutionary origins of phenotypic characteristics in this lineage. Several studies have shown that the Thermotogales have acquired large numbers of genes from distantly related lineages, particularly Firmicutes and Archaea. Here, we report the finding that some Thermotogales acquired the ability to synthesize vitamin B12 by acquiring the requisite genes from these distant lineages. Thermosipho species, uniquely among the Thermotogales, contain genes that encode the means to synthesize vitamin B12 de novo from glutamate. These genes are split into two gene clusters: the corrinoid synthesis gene cluster, that is unique to the Thermosipho and the cobinamide salvage gene cluster. The corrinoid synthesis cluster was acquired from the Firmicutes lineage, whereas the salvage pathway is an amalgam of bacteria- and archaea-derived proteins. The cobinamide salvage gene cluster has a patchy distribution among Thermotogales species, and ancestral state reconstruction suggests that this pathway was present in the common Thermotogales ancestor. We show that Thermosipho africanus can grow in the absence of vitamin B12, so its de novo pathway is functional. We detected vitamin B12 in the extracts of T. africanus cells to verify the synthetic pathway. Genes in T. africanus with apparent B12 riboswitches were found to be down-regulated in the presence of vitamin B12 consistent with their roles in B12 synthesis and cobinamide salvage.
Cloning and sequence analysis of an EnvCD homologue in Pseudomonas aeruginosa: regulation by iron and possible involvement in the secretion of the siderophore pyoverdine

Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain K437 is defective in the production of a 90 kDa ferripyoverdine receptor and is unable to grow in an iron‐deficient medium in the presence of the non‐metabolizable iron chelator 2,2′‐dípyrídyl (0.25mM). An attempt to clone the ferripyoverdine receptor gene was made by complementing this growth defect. A number of clones restoring growth of K437 on dipyridyl‐containing medium were obtained and several of these restored moderate expression of the 90 kDa receptor. A 5.5 kb Xhol‐HindIII fragment derived from one of these clones was similarly capable of complementing the dipyridyl growth defect although it failed to restore expression of the 90 kDa ferripyoverdine receptor. Nucleotide sequencing of the 5.5 kb fragment revealed two large open reading frames (ORFs), designated ORFA and ORFB, which appeared to form an operon and were capable of encoding products of 41 kDa and 112 kDa, respectively. Using a phage T7‐based expression system, products of 42 kDa and c. 108 kDa were produced from the cloned DNA, confirming that the ORFs were, indeed, expressed. The cloned ORFAB operon was inducible under conditions of iron limitation in both P. aeruginosa and Escherichia coli. In addition, mutants expressing ORFAB constitutively were constitutive for pyoverdine and ferripyoverdine receptor production suggesting that components of the pyoverdine‐mediated iron‐transport system are co‐regulated with ORFAB. The predicted products of ORFA and ORFB showed significant homology to the Escherichia coli EnvC and EnvD polypeptides which are reportedly involved in septum formation. In addition, the ORFB product showed moderate homology to the CzcA polypeptide identified as a component of a membrane‐associated plasmid‐encoded cation efflux system in Alcaligenes eutrophus. Using in vitro mutagenesis and gene replacement, ORFA‐ and ORFB‐deficient mutants of K372, the parent strain of K437, were constructed. These mutants were unable to grow on iron‐deficient minimal medium containing 0.25 mM dipyridyl although they expressed the ferripyoverdine receptor and were proficient in pyoverdine‐mediated iron uptake. Despite the homology of the ORFA and ORFB products to EnvC and EnvD, respectively, the ORFA‐ORFB‐deficient mutants were not defective in septum formation. Introduction of an ORFB mutation into the pyoverdine‐producing strain ML5087 resulted in poor growth of the mutant in an iron‐limited medium. The same mutation in a pyoverdine‐deficient derivative of ML5087 did not adversely affect growth. These data are discussed in the context of a possible role in pyoverdine secretion for the ORFAB products.
The genome of the vervet (Chlorocebus aethiops sabaeus)

We describe a genome reference of the African green monkey or vervet (Chlorocebus aethiops). This member of the Old World monkey (OWM) superfamily is uniquely valuable for genetic investigations of simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV), for which it is the most abundant natural host species, and of a wide range of health-related phenotypes assessed in Caribbean vervets (C. a. sabaeus), whose numbers have expanded dramatically since Europeans introduced small numbers of their ancestors from West Africa during the colonial era. We use the reference to characterize the genomic relationship between vervets and other primates, the intra-generic phylogeny of vervet subspecies, and genome-wide structural variations of a pedigreed C. a. sabaeus population. Through comparative analyses with human and rhesus macaque, we characterize at high resolution the unique chromosomal fission events that differentiate the vervets and their close relatives from most other catarrhine primates, in whom karyotype is highly conserved. We also provide a summary of transposable elements and contrast these with the rhesus macaque and human. Analysis of sequenced genomes representing each of the main vervet subspecies supports previously hypothesized relationships between these populations, which range across most of sub-Saharan Africa, while uncovering high levels of genetic diversity within each. Sequence-based analyses of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) polymorphisms reveal extremely low diversity in Caribbean C. a. sabaeus vervets, compared to vervets from putatively ancestral West African regions. In the C. a. sabaeus research population, we discover the first structural variations that are, in some cases, predicted to have a deleterious effect; future studies will determine the phenotypic impact of these variations.
Gabapentin in the management of pentazocine dependence: a potent analgesic--anticraving agent.

OBJECTIVES To evaluate the role of Gabapentin in the management of Pentazocine dependence for suppressing muscle aching and craving during its withdrawal. MATERIAL AND METHODS Patients of Pentazocine dependence were divided in two groups GpA and GpB (n = 10 in each) and were administered Clonidine (P.O.) in first seven days (acute detoxification phase) and later Naltrexone (P.O.) from seventh day onwards (stabilisation-maintenance phase). Gabapentin (1200 mg/day) was additionally added in group B. Muscle pain and craving were rated on 100 mm visual-analogue scale. Psychological dependence was assessed on four step categorical scale. RESULTS Group B (Gabapentin group) scored significantly lower (p < 0.001) than group A on both the parameters. Psychological dependence was significantly low (p < 0.01) in Gabapentin group. CONCLUSION Gabapentin is an important adjuvant to the management of opiate dependence both in acute detoxification as well as stabilisation phase.
New one-dimensional conductors: Graphitic microtubules.

On the basis of realistic tight-binding band-structure calculations, we predict that carbon microtubules exhibit striking variations in electronic transport, from metallic to semiconducting with narrow and moderate band gaps, depending on the diameter of the tubule and on the degree of helical arrangement of the carbon hexagons. The origin of this drastic variation in the band structure is explained in terms of the two-dimensional band structure of graphite.
PREDICTION OF PROTEIN FUNCTION FROM CONNECTIVITY OF PROTEIN INTERACTION NETWORKS

Determining protein function on a proteomic scale is a major challenge in the post-genomic era. Right now only less than half of the actual functional annotations are available for a typical proteome. The recent high-throughput bio-techniques have provided us large-scale protein–protein interaction (PPI) data, and many studies have shown that function prediction from PPI data is a promising way as proteins are likely to collaborate for a common purpose. However, the protein interaction data is very noisy, which makes the task very challenging. In this paper, a distance matrix is proposed based on the smallworld property and connectivity of the PPI network. It measures the reliability of edges and filters the noise in the network. In addition, we design an ANN (artificial neural network) method to predict protein functions with integration of several protein interaction data sets. Our approach is tested with MIPS functional categories and the experiential results show that our approach has better performance than other existing methods in terms of precision and recall.
ICARUS study: prevalence and clinical features of impulse control disorders in Parkinson’s disease

Background Impulse control disorders/other compulsive behaviours (‘ICD behaviours’) occur in Parkinson’s disease (PD), but prospective studies are scarce, and prevalence and clinical characteristics of patients are insufficiently defined. Objectives To assess the presence of ICD behaviours over a 2-year period, and evaluate patients’ clinical characteristics. Methods A prospective, non-interventional, multicentre study (ICARUS (Impulse Control disorders And the association of neuRopsychiatric symptoms, cognition and qUality of life in ParkinSon disease); SP0990) in treated Italian PD outpatients. Study visits: baseline, year 1, year 2. Surrogate primary variable: presence of ICD behaviours and five ICD subtypes assessed by modified Minnesota Impulsive Disorder Interview (mMIDI). Results 1069/1095 (97.6%) patients comprised the Full Analysis Set. Point prevalence of ICD behaviours (mMIDI; primary analysis) was stable across visits: 28.6% (306/1069) at baseline, 29.3% (292/995) at year 1, 26.5% (245/925) at year 2. The most prevalent subtype was compulsive eating, followed by punding, compulsive sexual behaviour, gambling and buying disorder. Patients who were ICD positive at baseline were more likely to be male, younger, younger at PD onset, have longer disease duration, more severe non-motor symptoms (including mood and sexual function), depressive symptoms, sleep impairment and poorer PD-related quality of life. However, they did not differ from the ICD-negative patients in their severity of PD functional disability, motor performance and cognitive function. Conclusions Prevalence of ICD behaviours was relatively stable across the 2-year observational period. ICD-positive patients had more severe depression, poorer sleep quality and reduced quality of life.
Discordance in perceived needs between patients and physicians in oncology practice: a nationwide survey in Korea.

PURPOSE Identification of supportive care needs in patients with cancer is essential for planning appropriate interventions. We aimed to determine patient-physician concordance in perceived supportive care needs in cancer care and to explore the predictors and potential consequences of patient-physician concordance. PATIENTS AND METHODS A national, multicenter, cross-sectional survey of patient-physician dyads was performed, and 97 oncologists (participation rate, 86.5%) and 495 patients (participation rate, 87.4%) were included. A short form of the Comprehensive Needs Assessment Tool for Cancer Patients was independently administered to patients and their oncologists. Concordance and agreement rates between physicians and patients were calculated. Mixed logistic regression was used to identify predictors of concordance and to explore the association of concordance with patient satisfaction and trust in physicians. RESULTS Physicians systematically underestimated patient needs and patient-physician concordance was generally poor, with weighted κ statistics ranging from 0.04 to 0.15 for individual items and Spearman's ρ coefficients ranging from 0.11 to 0.21 for questionnaire domains. Length of experience as oncologist was the only significant predictor of concordance (adjusted odds ratio for overall concordance [aOR] = 2.09; 95% CI, 1.02 to 4.31). Concordance was not significantly associated with overall patient satisfaction (aOR = 1.24; 95% CI, 0.74 to 2.07) or trust in physician (aOR = 1.17; 95% CI, 0.76 to 1.81). CONCLUSION Our findings revealed significant underestimation of patient needs and poor concordance between patients and physicians in assessing perceived needs of supportive care. The clinical implications of this discordance warrant further investigation.
Open-label compassionate use one year-treatment with pirfenidone to patients with chronic pulmonary fibrosis.

OBJECTIVE We attempted to evaluate the feasibility (therapeutic efficacy, tolerance, and clinical courses after treatment) of pirfenidone, an anti-fibrotic drug for patients with chronic pulmonary fibroses such as idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). METHODS Open-label one-year treatment for compassionate-use. PATIENTS OR MATERIALS Oral pirfenidone (40 mg/kg body weight) was administered to 8 patients with advanced IPF and 2 with interstitial pneumonia associated with diffuse systemic sclerosis. The plasma concentration of the drug was serially followed. Radiographic scores, pulmonary functions, and arterial blood oxygen pressure were compared at three time points: at one-year before treatment, at the time of entry, and at one-year after entry. RESULTS While pirfenidone did not show a definite therapeutic effect on overall survival (2 years after entry). During one-year treatment, there was no significant deterioration in terms of chest radiographic scores and arterial oxygen pressure, and the drug was well tolerated with minimal adverse effects within the ranges observed in this study, plasma pirfenidone concentrations did not seem to relate to the appearance of adverse effects or differences in therapeutic effects. CONCLUSION The feasibility of Pirfenidone as a therapeutic drug was confirmed for patients with advanced pulmonary fibrosis.
Detailed Derivation and Minimization of the Equivalent Parasitic Capacitances of a High-Voltage Multiplier Based on the Complete Model

The authors' previous paper presents the complete model of parasitic capacitances in a high-voltage (HV) multiplier in the HV generator in a medical X-ray machine. The equivalent parasitic capacitance of the multiplier Cem based on the model is exhibited to interpret the role of the parasitic capacitances in circuit operation of the generator. Without derivation of the analytical expression of Cem, its dependence on the component parameters is directly shown, which leads to guidelines for minimization of Cem. However, the complete capacitance model has a complicated structure and contains voltage-dependent capacitances and voltage sources, which gives complexity to derivation of Cem as well as difficulties to clear understanding of the voltage dependence of Cem. Thus, this paper presents the detailed derivation and analytical expression of Cem. Exactly speaking, the key part of Cem, namely, the total chain capacitance CDcht that determines the voltage dependence of Cem, is conducted. A simple way is presented for the derivation of CDcht. The derivation enables a clear understanding of the voltage dependence of CDcht. Moreover, a design procedure for minimization of Cem is created, accompanied by a case study. It gives designers step-by-step rules to make an optimal HV multiplier with a minimum Cem.
Face alignment using active appearance model optimized by simplex

The active appearance models (AAM) are robust in face alignment. We use this method to analyze gesture and motions of faces in Human Machine Interfaces (HMI) for embedded systems (mobile phone, game console, PDA: Personal Digital Assistant). However these models are not only high memory consumer but also efficient especially when the aligning objects in the learning data base, which generate model, are imperfectly represented. We propose a new optimization method based on Nelder Mead Simplex. The Simplex reduces 73\% of memory requirement and improves the efficiency of AAM at the same time. The test carried out on unknown faces (from BioID data base) shows that our proposition provides accurate alignment whereas the classical AAM is unable to align the object.
Semantic Technologies for Querying Linguistic Annotations: An Experiment Focusing on Graph-Structured Data

With growing interest in the creation and search of linguistic annotations that form general graphs (in contrast to formally simpler, rooted trees), there also is an increased need for infrastructures that support the exploration of such representations, for example logical-form meaning representations or semantic dependency graphs. In this work, we heavily lean on semantic technologies and in particular the data model of the Resource Description Framework (RDF) to represent, store, and efficiently query very large collections of text annotated with graph-structured representations of sentence meaning.