Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Photon loss from the helium Ly α line – the key to the acceleration of Wolf-Rayet winds

It is demonstrated that the ionization equilibrium of helium in non-LTE atmospheres for Wolf-Rayet stars is very sensitive to photon loss from the He ii Lyα line. A removal of 0.001% of the photons is sufficient to initiate an abruptly recombining ionization equilibrium. The assumption of photon loss allows to address the wind momentum problem of Wolf-Rayet stars. It is possible for the first time to construct a line blanketed non-LTE model of a Wolf-Rayet star that reproduces the observed spectrum and simultaneously, provides the radiation force to drive its outer velocity structure. A method is developed to determine the free model parameters L, Rphot, Ṁ , v∞, vphot, C (clumping factor), and f (photon loss factor), by an analysis of an observed Wolf-Rayet spectrum. The method is applied to the spectrum of the WN5 star HD 50896 resulting in good fits in shape and strength to the observed helium emission lines. In particular the profile of the He i λ10830 line, which is a tracer of the outer velocity structure, is reproduced remarkably well. The hydrodynamically calculated velocity law differs significantly from the commonly adopted β-law with β = 1. The outer part can be approximated by a β-law with β = 3 if the core radius of the atmosphere model is used, or by β = 8, if the velocity law is calculated referring to the hydrostatic radius of a stellar evolution model in the WolfRayet phase. Close to the photosphere the velocity structure is flat with an expansion velocity of vphot ≈ 1100 km s−1. The resulting luminosity L = 5.5 · 105 L and terminal wind velocity v∞ = 2060 km s−1 are found to be considerably larger than the values from previous determinations. On the other hand, the mass loss rate is lower Ṁ = 3.2 · 10−5 M yr−1 due to an inhomogeneous wind with a clumping factor C ≈ 4. There is evidence for a decrease of the clumping factor with distance from the star. The photon loss factor is determined empirically to have a value of f ≈ 10−4. It is proposed that a Bowen resonancefluorescence mechanism removes a small fraction of photons from the radiation field of the helium Lyα resonance line. Photon loss calculated theoretically from the interaction of metal lines close in wavelength to the He ii Lyα line yields a depth dependent factor in the range 10−4 . 10−3. In the recombination zone, where the photon loss influences the ionization structure, its value is f∗ ≈ 10−4 in excellent agreement with the empirically determined value. The lines Ca v λ303. 74, Fe vi λλ303. 70, 303.80, 303.83, and O iii λ303.80 are roughly of equal importance. The wind momentum calculated by the present model exceeds the single scattering limit by a factor of 6 in contrast to previous estimates that yielded factors 50 – 100. With a momentum ratio of 6 the Wolf-Rayet winds are no longer distinct from other radiation driven winds but they fit as more extreme versions to the winds of O stars.
From GeneWeaver to Agmial

We report on our experiences of developing two multi-agent systems for bioinformatics called GeneWeaver and Agmial. The concepts behind these systems are described and the results of experimenting with different agent communities are given. The GeneWeaver system provides one possible view of an architecture which may be used to deal with organizing and managing bioinformatics data and methods in a distributed, dynamic environment. Experiments with the GeneWeaver system reveal benefits both in terms of keeping data up-todate, and also in terms of analysis method accuracy. However, one clear limitation of the GeneWeaver system is that it has never actually been deployed as an open system between laboratories. A number of reasons exist for this lack of true open deployment. These include the lack of mechanisms to deal appropriately with security and trust between agents, and the lack of a standard, widely adopted agent communication language for inter-agent communication. Some of these aspects are considered in the second system, called Agmial, which is currently under development. It uses some of the standards and technologies which have arisen since the development of GeneWeaver to provide a system which, at least theoretically, could provide the basis for an open community of bioinformatics agents. Its approach is one based on the Web services framework, each agent being deployed as a Java servlet, using XML Protocol for inter-agent communication and HTTP for human-agent communication.
Tamoxifen-Induced Epigenetic Silencing of Oestrogen-Regulated Genes in Anti-Hormone Resistant Breast Cancer

In the present study, we have taken the novel approach of using an in vitro model representative of tamoxifen-withdrawal subsequent to clinical relapse to achieve a greater understanding of the mechanisms that serve to maintain the resistant-cell phenotype, independent of any agonistic impact of tamoxifen, to identify potential novel therapeutic approaches for this disease state. Following tamoxifen withdrawal, tamoxifen-resistant MCF-7 cells conserved both drug resistance and an increased basal rate of proliferation in an oestrogen deprived environment, despite reduced epidermal growth-factor receptor expression and reduced sensitivity to gefitinib challenge. Although tamoxifen-withdrawn cells retained ER expression, a sub-set of ER-responsive genes, including pS2 and progesterone receptor (PgR), were down-regulated by promoter DNA methylation, as confirmed by clonal bisulphite sequencing experiments. Following promoter demethylation with 5-Azacytidine (5-Aza), the co-addition of oestradiol (E2) restored gene expression in these cells. In addition, 5-Aza/E2 co-treatment induced a significant anti-proliferative effect in the tamoxifen-withdrawn cells, in-contrast to either agent used alone. Microarray analysis was undertaken to identify genes specifically up regulated by this co-treatment. Several anti-proliferative gene candidates were identified and their promoters were confirmed as more heavily methylated in the tamoxifen resistant vs sensitive cells. One such gene candidate, growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF15), was carried forward for functional analysis. The addition of 5-Aza/E2 was sufficient to de-methylate and activate GDF15 expression in the tamoxifen resistant cell-lines, whilst in parallel, treatment with recombinant GDF15 protein decreased cell survival. These data provide evidence to support a novel concept that long-term tamoxifen exposure induces epigenetic silencing of a cohort of oestrogen-responsive genes whose function is associated with negative proliferation control. Furthermore, reactivation of such genes using epigenetic drugs could provide a potential therapeutic avenue for the management of tamoxifen-resistant breast cancer.
Modeling the Physical Structure of the Low-Density Pre-Protostellar Core Lynds 1498

Pre-protostellar cores likely represent the incipient stages of low-mass (≈1 M☉) star formation. Lynds 1498 is a pre-protostellar core (PPC) and was one of the initial objects toward which molecular depletion and differentiation was detected. Despite the considerable scrutiny of L1498, there has not been an extensive study of the density and temperature structure as derived from radiative transfer modeling of dust continuum observations. We present deep SCUBA observations of L1498 at 850 and 450 μm, high-resolution BEARS maps of the N2H+ 1 → 0 transition, Caltech Submillimeter Observatory observations of the N2H+ 3 → 2 transition, and Green Bank Telescope observations of the C3S 4 → 3 transition. We also present a comparison of derived properties between L1498 and nearby PPCs that have been observed at far-infrared and submillimeter wavelengths. The L1498 continuum emission is modeled using a one-dimensional radiative transfer code that self-consistently calculates the temperature distribution and calculates the spectral energy distribution and intensity profiles at 850 and 450 μm. We present a more realistic treatment of PPC heating that varies the strength of the interstellar radiation field (sisrf) and includes attenuation of the ISRF due to dust grains at the outer radius of the core, AV. The best-fit model consists of a Bonner-Ebert sphere with a central density of (1-3) × 104 cm-3, R0 ≈ 0.29 pc, 0.5 ≤ sisrf ≤ 1, AV ≈ 1 mag, and a nearly isothermal temperature profile of ≈10.5 K for OH8 opacities. C3S emission shows a central depletion hole, while N2H+ emission is centrally peaked. We derive a mean N2H+ abundance of 4.0 × 10-10 relative to H2 that is consistent with chemical models for a dynamically young yet chemically evolved source. The observed depletions of C3S and H2CO, the modest N2H+ abundance, and a central density that is an order of magnitude lower than other modeled PPCs suggests that L1498 may be a forming PPC. Our derived temperature and density profile will improve modeling of molecular line observations that will explicate the core's kinematical and chemical state.
A cognitive approach to L2 Russian and Polish: a case study

Abstract In this paper we propose a new methodology for teaching third person possessive pronouns in Russian and Polish (его/её/их Russian jego, jej, ich Polish) as opposed to the reflexive pronouns свой (Russian) swój (Polish), which always pose significant problems for students learning these languages. In this paper we maintain that the reason for the problem at hand is cognitive in nature: if such a distinction is not present in the mother tongue of the students, they fail to correctly conceptualize the existing difference in the target languages and consequently use the pronouns in question incorrectly. This is based on lack of correct perception rather than lack of theoretical knowledge. The methodology we suggest is based on the practical application of the leading cognitive theories, in particular the Conceptual Integration theory of Fauconnier and Turner.
Transgenic zebrafish model of the C43G human insulin gene mutation

The human insulin gene/preproinsulin protein mutation C43G disrupts disulfide bond formation and causes diabetes in humans. Previous in vitro studies showed that these mutant proteins are retained in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), are not secreted and are associated with decreased secretion of wild‐type insulin. The current study extends this work to an in vivo zebrafish model. We hypothesized that C43G‐green fluorescent protein (GFP) would be retained in the ER, disrupt β‐cell function and lead to impaired glucose homeostasis.
Potential Additive Effects of Ticagrelor, Ivabradine, and Carvedilol on Sinus Node

A 51-year-old male patient presented to the emergency room with an anterior ST-elevation myocardial infarction. After a loading dose of both ticagrelor and aspirin, the patient underwent primary-PCI on the left anterior descending coronary artery with stent implantation. After successful revascularization, medical therapy included beta-blockers, statins, and angiotensin II receptor antagonists. Two days later, ivabradine was also administered in order to reduce heart rate at target, but the patient developed a severe symptomatic bradycardia and sinus arrest, even requiring administration of both atropine and adrenaline. Ivabradine and ticagrelor have been then suspended and this latter changed with prasugrel. Any other similar event was not reported during the following days. This clinical case raised concerns about the safety of the combination of beta-blockers and ivabradine in patients treated with ticagrelor, particularly during the acute phase of an acute coronary syndrome. These two latter drugs, in particular, might interact with the same receptor. In fact, ivabradine directly modulates the If-channel which is also modulated by the cyclic adenosine monophosphate levels. These latter have been shown to increase after ticagrelor assumption via inhibition of adenosine uptake by erythrocytes. Further studies are warrant to better clarify the safety of this association.
Fundamental filter properties of spiking neurons don ’ t constrain detectability of communication signals in weakly electric fish

Many experimental studies demonstrate a match between the transfer function of sensory neurons and the statistics of natural stimuli. However, neurons might not be able to adapt to any given stimulus statistics due to very basic constraints. The high-pass nature of spike-frequency adaptation (Benda and Herz, 2003) emphasizes fast stimulus components over slow stimuli (Benda et al., 2005). The cut-off frequency separating fast from slow stimuli is set by the adaptation time constant. In addition, a low-pass filter due to the interspike intervals limits information transmission at high frequencies (Knight, 1972). This low-pass filter might constrain the high-pass filter in optimally adapting its cutoff-frequency. First, we introduce the basic filter properties of adapting neurons. We then present data and simulations from electroreceptors of the weakly electric fish Apteronotus leptorhynchus demonstrating that the actual cut-off frequency of the high-pass filter is not constrained by the low-pass filter.
COUPLING REDUCTION OF ANTENNA ARRAY ELEMENTS USING SMALL INTERDIGITAL CAPACITOR LOADED SLOTS

Small size capacitor loaded ground plane slots are used to reduce the mutual coupling between elements in a microstrip antenna array design. The proposed compact slots are inserted between the adjacent E-plane coupled elements in the array to limit the propagation of surface waves between the elements of the array. In order to validate the feasibility of the proposed structure, a two-element array with 0.5‚o distance between centers of two patches is designed, fabricated, and measured. The measured results show a reduction in mutual coupling of 17dB obtained between elements at the operation frequency.
Empirical studies of competitve spinning for a shared-memory multiprocessor

A common operation in multiprocessor programs is acquiring a lock to protect access to shared data. Typically, the requesting thread is blocked if the lock it needs is held by another thread. The cost of blocking one thread and activating another can be a substantial part of program execution time. Alternatively, the thread could spin until the lock is free, or spin for a while and then block. This may avoid context-switch overhead, but processor cycles may be wasted in unproductive spinning. This paper studies seven strategies for determining whether and how long to spin before blocking. Of particular interest are competitive strategies, for which the performance can be shown to be no worse than some constant factor times an optimal off-line strategy. The performance of five competitive strategies is compared with that of always blocking, always spinning, or using the optimal off-line algorithm. Measurements of lock-waiting time distributions for five parallel programs were used to compare the cost of synchronization under all the strategies. Additional measurements of elapsed time for some of the programs and strategies allowed assessment of the impact of synchronization strategy on overall program performance. Both types of measurements indicate that the standard blocking strategy performs poorly compared to mixed strategies. Among the mixed strategies studied, adaptive algorithms perform better than non-adaptive ones.
Traffic signs localisation and recognition using a client-server architecture

The detection and recognition of Traffic Signs (TSs) by smart vehicles is of great interest. In this paper, we present a novel TSs localisation and recognition system using client-server architecture. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first architecture that uses non vision-based techniques to detect and recognise TSs. To discover TSs in lanes using our architecture, each travelling vehicle (known as client in our architecture) begins by sending a request, which contains its geographical position, to the data server. This server then sends all nearby TSs, found within a given radius in the lane, to the requester. Finally, we apply a filtering algorithm to select appropriate TSs from the previously found set of TSs. Our system can be used in a conjunction with a traditional vision-based system to further increase the accuracy of the whole system.
Correlation of the Stockholm Syndrome and Early Maladaptive Schemas Among Lebanese Women Victims of Beating Into Domestic/Marital Violence

The objective of this study is to assess the role of the Stockholm syndrome at the level of activation of early maladapative schemas in women that are victims of marital violence. This case-control study, performed between April and August 2016 in three specialized centers for women abuse included 30 women (14 cases and 16 controls). The Stockholm Syndrome Scale (SSS) items converged over a solution of two factors, explaining a total of 85.33% of the variance. The internal consistency of the scale was high, with a high Cronbach’s &agr; found for the full scale (0.936). Having a severe level of fusion, a moderate level of dependence on the partner, and being beaten in a frequency of multiple times per month were associated with higher SSS scores (&bgr; = 48.37, &bgr; = 58.03, and &bgr; = 12.587, respectively). Having a moderate level of fusion and a moderate and severe level of sacrifice were associated with lower SSS scores (&bgr; = −56.30, &bgr; = −56.53, and &bgr; = −55.83, respectively). This study highlighted the correlation between dysfunctional cognitive schemas, developed during childhood and adolescence, and the development of the Stockholm syndrome in female victims of beating into domestic violence.
Analysis of Cytokine Levers in Pleural Effusions of Tuberculous Pleurisy and Tuberculous Empyema

The aim is to examine whether the interleukin-1β (IL-1β), IL-2, IL-6, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), plasminogen activator inhibitor type-1 (PAI-1), and tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA) levels were different in pleural effusions of tuberculous pleurisy and tuberculous empyema. IL-1β, IL-2, IL-6, TNF-α, PAI-1, and t-PA levels in pleural fluids of 40 patients with tuberculous pleurisy and 38 patients with tuberculous empyema were measured. The levels of IL-1β, PAI-1, and t-PA in the pleural effusions were different between tuberculous pleurisy and tuberculous empyema; it could be helpful to differentiate the two diseases. The levels of PAI-1, IL-1β were higher and t-PA, IL-6 were lower in pleural effusions of the patients with tuberculous empyema and who must undergo operation than the patients who could be treated with closed drainage and anti-TB chemotheraphy. These indications may be helpful to evaluate whether the patient needs the operation.
Periodic sound-based 6-minute walk test forpatients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy:a preliminary study

[Purpose] The purpose of this study was to verify if a periodic sound-based 6-minute walk test with the best periodic sound could be used to evaluate physical endurance more precisely than the conventional 6-minute walk test. [Subjects] The subjects were healthy subjects and 6 ambulant patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy. [Methods] The subjects initially walked for 1 minute to a long-interval metronome sound, and the walking distance was measured. The sound interval was then gradually shortened, and the subjects walked for 1 minute for each of the intervals. The best periodic sound was considered to be the periodic sound used when the subject walked the longest distance in 1 minute, and the process of determining it was referred to as the period shortening walk test. This study administered the 6-minute walk test with the best periodic sound to twenty healthy subjects and 6 ambulant patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy and compared the walking distance. [Results] The periodic sound-based 6-minute walk test distances in both the healthy subjects and the patients were significantly longer than the conventional 6-minute walk test distances. [Conclusion] The periodic sound-based 6-minute walk test provided a better indication of ambulatory potential in an evaluation of physical endurance than the conventional 6-minute walk test.
Cardiac Gene Activation Analysis in Mammalian Non-Myoblasic Cells by Nkx2-5, Tbx5, Gata4 and Myocd

Cardiac transcription factors are master regulators during heart development. Some were shown to transdifferentiate tail tip and cardiac fibroblasts into cardiomyocytes. However, recent studies have showed that controversies exist. Potential difference in tail tip and cardiac fibroblast isolation may possibly confound the observations. Moreover, due to the use of a cardiac reporter (Myh6) selection strategy for induced cardiomyocyte enrichment, and the lack of tracking signals for each transcription factors, individual roles of each transcription factors in activating cardiac gene expression in mammalian non-myoblastic cells have never been elucidated. Answers to these questions are an important step toward cardiomyocyte regeneration. Because mouse 10T1/2 fibroblasts are non-myoblastic in nature and can be induced to express genes of all three types of muscle cells, they are an ideal model for the analysis of cardiac and non-cardiac gene activation after induction. We constructed bi-cistronic lentiviral vectors, capable of expressing cardiac transcription factors along with different fluorescent tracking signals. By infecting 10T1/2 fibroblasts with Nkx2-5, Tbx5, Gata4 or Myocd cardiac transcription factor lentivirus alone or different combinations, we found that only Tbx5+Myocd and Tbx5+Gata4+Myocd combinations induced Myh6 and Tnnt2 cardiac marker protein expression. Microarray-based gene ontology analysis revealed that Tbx5 alone activated genes involved in the Wnt receptor signaling pathway and inhibited genes involved in a number of cardiac-related processes. Myocd alone activated genes involved in a number of cardiac-related processes and inhibited genes involved in the Wnt receptor signaling pathway and non-cardiac processes. Gata4 alone inhibited genes involved in non-cardiac processes. Tbx5+Gata4+Myocd was the most effective activator of genes associated with cardiac-related processes. Unlike Tbx5, Gata4, Myocd alone or Tbx5+Myocd, Tbx5+Gata4+Myocd activated the fewest genes associated with non-cardiac processes. Conclusively, Tbx5, Gata4 and Myocd play different roles in cardiac gene activation in mammalian non-myoblastic cells. Tbx5+Gata4+Myocd activates the most cardiac and the least non-cardiac gene expression.
Information Usefulness in an Information System: Performance at the Strategic Level of the Organization

This research studies the relation between information quality management in an information system and performance at the strategic level of the organization. This relation includes the "usefulness" which is an aspect of information quality management and organizational strategy’s benefits. Through a quantitative analysis, this study demonstrates that attention to the improvement of information usefulness identified as a significant explanatory variable may improve organization benefits. Differentiation found among stakeholders in different roles was also examined in this study. Unexpected differences in the perception of the usefulness were, however, observed between stakeholders in the service sector, industry and other sectors. The data analysis allowed us to measure the relation between user perception of information usefulness in the marketing information system (MIS) and perception of the strategic benefits. Although this study is adapted to a marketing context and it applies essentially to marketing information used in production or servuction, the impact of the usefulness of this information is naturally situated at the strategic level of the company.