Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Microimmiscibility and three-dimensional dynamic structures of phosphatidylcholine-cholesterol membranes: translational diffusion of a copper complex in the membrane.

Saturated and unsaturated phosphatidylcholine (PC)-cholesterol membranes have been studied, with a special attention paid to fluid-phase immiscibility in cis-unsaturated phosphatidylcholine (PC)-cholesterol membranes as previously proposed and to the three-dimensional structure of the membrane. The investigation was carried out with dual probes: a membrane-soluble, square-planar copper complex, (3-ethoxy-2-oxobutyraldehyde bis(N4,N4-dimethylthiosemicarbazonato]copper(II) (CuKTSM2), and one of several nitroxide radical lipid-type spin-labels. Bimolecular collision rates between metal ion and spin-label were determined by measuring the nitroxide spin-lattice relaxation times (T1's) in the presence and absence of CuKTSM2 by use of saturation-recovery ESR techniques, and from these measured rates, translational diffusion coefficients of CuKTSM2 were estimated. Profiles of the collision rate across the membrane bilayer were obtained with Tempocholine phosphatidic acid ester, 5-doxylstearic acid, 16-doxylstearic acid, and cholesterol-type spin-labels as a function of cholesterol mole fraction, length and unsaturation of acyl chains, and temperature. In the liquid-crystalline phase of saturated PC membranes, incorporation of cholesterol decreases the collision rate at all depths in the membrane, and the effect of cholesterol is smallest in the middle of the bilayer. In trans-unsaturated PC membranes, a cholesterol-induced decrease of the collision rate was also observed, except in the head-group regions. In cis-unsaturated PC membranes, virtually no effect of cholesterol was observed on the collision rate, either with phospholipid-type spin-labels or with cholesterol-type spin-labels. This result is in clear contrast with our previous observation, in which the effect of cholesterol in cis-unsaturated PC membranes is small on the alkyl-chain motion of phospholipid-type spin-labels but large on the wobbling rotational diffusion of cholesterol-type spin-labels [Pasenkiewicz-Gierula, M. , Subczynski, W. K. , & Kusumi, A. (1990) Biochemistry 29, 4059-4069]. A model is proposed to explain these results in which the fluid-phase immiscibility is prevalent in cis-unsaturated PC-cholesterol membranes, but where cholesterol-rich (cholesterol oligomeric) domains are small (several lipids) and/or of short lifetime (10(-9) s to less than 10(-7) s). It is suggested that this microimmiscibility arises from the structural nonconformability between the rigid cholesterol ring structure and the rigid bend at the cis double bonds in PC alkyl chains. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Response of pontomedullary reticulospinal neurons to vestibular stimuli in vertical planes. Role in vertical vestibulospinal reflexes of the decerebrate cat.

1. To investigate the neural substrate of vestibulospinal reflexes in decerebrate cats, we studied the responses of pontomedullary reticulospinal neurons to natural stimulation of the labyrinth in vertical planes. Our principal aim was to determine whether reticulospinal neurons that terminate in, or are likely to give off collaterals to, the upper cervical segments had properties similar to those of the vestibulocollic reflex (VCR). 2. Antidromic stimulation was used to determine whether the neurons projected to the neck, lower cervical, thoracic, or lumbar levels. Dynamics of the responses of spontaneously firing neurons were studied with sinusoidal stimuli delivered at 0.05-1 Hz and aligned to the plane of body rotation, that produced maximal modulation of the neuron (response vector orientation). Each neuron was assigned a vestibular input classification of otolith, vertical canal, otolith + canal, or spatial-temporal convergence (STC). 3. We found, in agreement with previous studies, that the largest fraction of pontomedullary reticulospinal neurons projected to the lumbar cord, and that only a small number ended in the neck segments. Neurons projecting to all levels of the spinal cord had similar responses to labyrinth stimulation. 4. Reticulospinal neurons that received only vertical canal inputs were rare (1 of 67 units). Most reticulospinal neurons (48%) received predominant otolith inputs, 18% received otolith + canal input, and only 9% had STC behavior. These data are in sharp contrast to the results of our previous studies of vestibulospinal neurons. A considerable portion of vestibulospinal neurons receives vertical canal input (38%), fewer receive predominantly otolith input (22%), whereas the proportion that have otolith + canal input or STC behavior is similar to our present reticulospinal data. 5. The response vector orientations of our reticulospinal neurons, particularly those with canal inputs (canal, otolith + canal, STC) were predominantly in the roll quadrants. There was no evidence of convergence of inputs from like canals across the midline (e.g., right anterior + left anterior). 6. Two characteristics of the VCR, STC behavior and bilateral input from symmetric vertical canals (in some muscles), cannot be accounted for by the reticulospinal neurons that we studied. Because these characteristics are also not seen in vestibulocollic neurons, they are likely to be the result of the appropriate convergence of vestibular signals in the spinal cord. 7. Pontomedullary reticulospinal neurons seem particularly well suited to play a role in gravity-dependent postural reflexes of neck and limbs.
Land-cover changes predict steep declines for the Sumatran orangutan (Pongo abelii)

New surveys provide higher estimate of Sumatran orangutans than previously, but future scenarios indicate decline continues. Positive news about Sumatran orangutans is rare. The species is critically endangered because of forest loss and poaching, and therefore, determining the impact of future land-use change on this species is important. To date, the total Sumatran orangutan population has been estimated at 6600 individuals. On the basis of new transect surveys, we estimate a population of 14,613 in 2015. This higher estimate is due to three factors. First, orangutans were found at higher elevations, elevations previously considered outside of their range and, consequently, not surveyed previously. Second, orangutans were found more widely distributed in logged forests. Third, orangutans were found in areas west of the Toba Lake that were not previously surveyed. This increase in numbers is therefore due to a more wide-ranging survey effort and is not indicative of an increase in the orangutan population in Sumatra. There are evidently more Sumatran orangutans remaining in the wild than we thought, but the species remains under serious threat. Current scenarios for future forest loss predict that as many as 4500 individuals could vanish by 2030. Despite the positive finding that the population is double the size previously estimated, our results indicate that future deforestation will continue to be the cause of rapid declines in orangutan numbers. Hence, we urge that all developmental planning involving forest loss be accompanied by appropriate environmental impact assessments conforming with the current national and provincial legislations, and, through these, implement specific measures to reduce or, better, avoid negative impacts on forests where orangutans occur.
Direction of force generated by the inner row of dynein arms on flagellar microtubules

Our goal was to determine the direction of force generation of the inner dynein arms in flagellar axonemes. We developed an efficient means of extracting the outer row of dynein arms in demembranated sperm tail axonemes, leaving the inner row of dynein arms structurally and functionally intact. Sperm tail axonemes depleted of outer arms beat at half the beat frequency of sperm tails with intact arms over a wide range of ATP concentrations. The isolated, outer arm-depleted axonemes were induced to undergo microtubule sliding in the presence of ATP and trypsin. Electron microscopic analysis of the relative direction of microtubule sliding (see Sale, W. S. and P. Satir, 1977, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 74:2045-2049) revealed that the doublet microtubule with the row of inner dynein arms, doublet N, always moved by sliding toward the proximal end of the axoneme relative to doublet N + 1. Therefore, the inner arms generate force such that doublet N pushes doublet N + 1 tipward. This is the same direction of microtubule sliding induced by ATP and trypsin in axonemes having both inner and outer dynein arms. The implications of this result for the mechanism of ciliary bending and utility in functional definition of cytoplasmic dyneins are discussed.
Minimizing Delay in Loss-Tolerant MAC Layer Multicast

The goal of this correspondence is to minimize delay in real-time multiple-access channel (MAC) layer multicast by exploiting the broadcast nature of wireless medium and limited loss tolerance of the applications. Multiple transmissions of a packet at the MAC layer significantly reduces the delay than that when only one transmission is allowed. But each additional transmission consumes additional power and increases network load. Therefore, the goal is to design a policy that judiciously uses the limited transmission opportunities so as to deliver each packet in the minimum possible time to the required number of group members. The problem is an instance of the stochastic shortest path problem, and using this formulation computationally simple, closed-form transmission strategies have been obtained in important special cases
Physician performance assessment using a composite quality index

Assessing physician performance is important for the purposes of measuring and improving quality of service and reducing healthcare delivery costs. In recent years, physician performance scorecards have been used to provide feedback on individual measures; however, one key challenge is how to develop a composite quality index that combines multiple measures for overall physician performance evaluation. A controversy arises over establishing appropriate weights to combine indicators in multiple dimensions, and cannot be easily resolved. In this study, we proposed a generic unsupervised learning approach to develop a single composite index for physician performance assessment by using non‐negative principal component analysis. We developed a new algorithm named iterative quadratic programming to solve the numerical issue in the non‐negative principal component analysis approach. We conducted real case studies to demonstrate the performance of the proposed method. We provided interpretations from both statistical and clinical perspectives to evaluate the developed composite ranking score in practice. In addition, we implemented the root cause assessment techniques to explain physician performance for improvement purposes. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Evaluation of deterioration in reinforced concrete structures by AE technique

Acoustic emission (AE) technique is gaining increasing interest for applications in civil engineering. AE indeed is a passive nonintrusive technique that can be applicable either in structural health monitoring (global evaluation) and in defect localization (local evaluation). The most promising application of such a technique seems to be however in the evaluation of growing defects. Defects such as cracks and delamination can be caused by reinforcement corrosion as well as by other concrete deterioration mechanisms (alkali silica reaction, sulphate attack, etc.) as well as originating from improper concrete casting, curing or structure setting. Damage severity can be evaluated by means of the intensity analysis (IA) through the use of different indexes such as ‘Load Ratio’, ‘Calm Ratio’, ‘Felicity Ratio’ or ‘Historical Index’. Damage evolution analysis along time could be however significantly improved by adopting some procedure already used in the field of geophysics and earth science. Among various parameters, the most significant one is the b‐value which is derived from the amplitude distribution data of AE following the methods used in seismology. Several application examples applied to prestressed concrete structures are reported in the paper.
Role-based path planning and task allocation with exploration tradeoff for UAVs

After large accidents or natural disasters a fast and efficient retrieval of injured is required. With recent advances, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are more and more a viable choice under such circumstances. The problem of coordination arises with the number of employed UAVs as well as proper task allocation among possibly heterogeneous UAVs. In this work a hybrid approach for UAV coordination and task allocation is presented. It covers the exploration of unknown terrains as well as role-based, goal-oriented path planning and simultaneous task allocation. The approach uses a role system to support prioritized task assignment and an informed search algorithm to find consistent trajectories to known goal positions. The system is suited for highly dynamic environments, requiring frequent recalculations.
Methylation status of retinoic acid receptor beta2 promoter and global DNA in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

Focal hypermethylation in promoter regions of tumor suppressor genes against the background of global hypomethylation is a landmark of carcinogenesis. This study aimed to investigate the methylation status of retinoic acid receptor beta2 (RARβ2) and long interspersed nuclear elements (LINE‐1) in different stages of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC).
The Effect of Sintering Temperature on the Microstructural and Mechanical Characteristics of Hydroxyapatite Macroporous Scaffolds Prepared via Freeze-Casting

The most important characteristic of biomaterial as bone-repairing material, in addition to biocompatibility and appropriate porosity, is providing mechanical strength complying with injured tissue. In the present work, slurry with 15 vol% HA prepared from calcinated hydroxyapatite. The prepared slurry freeze casted unidirectionally with the cooling rate of 8°C/min from the ambient temperature. Then, green bodies freeze-dried for 72h following with sintering at different temperatures of 1250-1350°C with intervals of 25°C. The results showed that lamella space and porosity decreases with temperature while compressive strength and shrinkage goes up. Total porosity has a range of 75-83% while has a compressive strength of ~2-8 MPa. The sintered sample at 1350°C, with 75% porosity, which has a ~ 8 MPa compressive strength, chose to be the optimum. Also, some dendritic branch like structure and bridges can be seen on the internal walls of lamellae which can improve mechanical properties. These features may improve adhesion and growth of osseous cells.
Neuromyelitis Optica: A Diffusional Kurtosis Imaging Study

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Conventional MR imaging typically yields normal images of the brain or indicates lesions in areas of high aquaporin expression in patients with neuromyelitis optica. Diffusional kurtosis imaging was applied in patients with neuromyelitis optica to determine whether this technique could detect alterations in diffusion and diffusional kurtosis parameters in normal-appearing white matter and to explore the relationship between diffusional kurtosis imaging and DTI parameters. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirteen patients with neuromyelitis optica and 13 healthy controls underwent MR imaging of the brain with conventional and diffusional kurtosis imaging sequences. Tract-based spatial statistics and region-of-interest-based analyses were conducted to identify differences between patients with neuromyelitis optica and controls through conventional DTI and diffusional kurtosis imaging parameters. The parameters were correlated to determine the potential relationship between them. RESULTS: Compared with healthy controls, several diffusional kurtosis imaging and DTI parameters were altered in various fiber tracts of patients with neuromyelitis optica (P < .05). A significant decrease (P < .05) in radial kurtosis was observed in the corpus callosum and anterior corona radiata and left optic radiation. Differences (P < .1) in mean kurtosis were found in patients with neuromyelitis optica. We found a negative correlation between diffusional kurtosis imaging (radial kurtosis, axial kurtosis, mean kurtosis) and the corresponding DTI parameters (radial diffusivity, axial diffusivity, mean diffusivity). Positive correlations were found for radial kurtosis and mean kurtosis with fractional anisotropy. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated differences in conventional diffusion and diffusional kurtosis parameters, especially radial kurtosis, in the normal-appearing white matter of patients with neuromyelitis optica compared with healthy controls. Larger studies of patients with neuromyelitis optica should be performed to assess the potential clinical impact of these findings.
Multi-resolution codebook design for two-stage precoding in FDD massive MIMO networks

In this paper, we develop a new codebook design method for multi-resolution codebook based two-stage precoding scheme in massive MIMO networks in frequency division duplex (FDD) mode. A narrow-beam generated by each codeword is intended to provide coverage over certain beam range with strict constraints on the average and the variation in the radiated power. Each narrow-beam or codeword is designed based on a new performance metric, the ratio of the expected average power within the coverage beam range to that outside the beam range, i.e., beam-to-leakage ratio (BLR). An optimization problem for narrow-beam design is formulated to maximize the BLR. The codebook is generated via solving the optimization problem. Based on numerical evaluation, our novel codebook design based transmission scheme can improve the overall network throughput compared with the DFT-based and covariance based method when the angular spread of the channel is relative large or when the channel is rich scattering.
Effects of trichothecene mycotoxins on eukaryotic cells: A review

The major products of the trichothecene mycotoxin biosynthetic pathway produced in a species– and sometimes isolate–specific manner by cereal–pathogenic Fusarium fungi include T–2 toxin, diacetoxyscirpenol, deoxynivalenol and nivalenol. This paper briefly reviews the major effects of such trichothecenes on the gross morphology, cytology and molecular signalling within eukaryotic cells. The gross toxic effects of select trichothecenes on animals include growth retardation, reduced ovarian function and reproductive disorders, immuno–compromization, feed refusal and vomiting. The phytotoxic effects of deoxynivalenol on plants can be summarized as growth retardation, inhibition of seedling and green plant regeneration. Trichothecenes are now recognized as having multiple inhibitory effects on eukaryote cells, including inhibition of protein, DNA and RNA synthesis, inhibition of mitochondrial function, effects on cell division and membrane effects. In animal cells, they induce apoptosis, a programmed cell death response. Current knowledge about the eukaryotic signal transduction cascades and downstream gene products activated by trichothecenes is limited, especially in plants. In mammalian cells, certain trichothecenes trigger a ribotoxic stress response and activate mitogen–activated protein kinases. DON mediates the inflammatory response by modulating the binding activities of specific transcription factors and subsequently inducing cytokine gene expression. Several genes are up–regulated in wheat in response to trichothecene mycotoxins; the significance, if any, of these genes in the host response to trichothecenes has yet to be elucidated.
Ergonomics Intervention in Automobile Driver Communication in a Developing Country

Communication is a crucial process in ensuring safety in road transportation. This paper explores the constructs of communication from a cognitive ergonomics point-of-view in order to explain the need and relevance of communication in ensuring on-road safety. An attempt to establish a communication error model has been made with the help of communication and information processing tasks, and delving into the cognitive aspects of traffic behavior. Direct observation on errors in various communication tasks was used to understand the relevance of the proposed model. From an information ergonomics perspective, workflows of major driving maneuvers are proposed that could be used in the development of driver assistance systems, as well as in driver training, to make novice drivers understand the importance of accurate communication in ensuring safety of self and other road users.
Fulminant JC virus encephalopathy with productive infection of cortical pyramidal neurons

The polyomavirus JC (JCV) is the causative agent of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy and of JCV granule cell neuronopathy. We present a human immunodeficiency virus–negative patient who experienced development of multiple cortical lesions, aphasia, and progressive cognitive decline after chemotherapy for non–small‐cell lung cancer. Brain biopsy and cerebrospinal fluid polymerase chain reaction demonstrated JCV, and she had a rapidly fatal outcome. Postmortem analysis showed diffuse cortical lesions and areas of necrosis at the gray–white junction. Immunostaining showed a productive JCV infection of cortical pyramidal neurons, confirmed by electron microscopy, with limited demyelination. This novel gray matter syndrome expands the scope of JCV clinical presentation and pathogenesis. Ann Neurol 2009;65:742–748
Alternative approaches for low temperature front surface passivation of interdigitated back contact silicon heterojunction solar cell

In this work, we investigated two alternative approaches for the front surface passivation of interdigitated back contact silicon heterojunction (IBC-SHJ) solar cells: (1) with plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposited (PEVCD) a-Si-based stack structure consisting of a-Si:H/a-SiNx:H/a-SiC:H, and (2) with physical vapor deposited (PVD) zinc sulfide (ZnS) film. The processing temperatures for both the approaches are under 300°C. Effective surface recombination velocities (SRV) of < 6.2cm/s and < 35cm/s are obtained with stack structure and ZnS respectively on n-type float zone (FZ) crystalline silicon (c-Si) wafers. The anti-reflection (AR) properties of these two passivation approaches are studied and the optimization procedure of the stack structure was discussed and shown to improve the photo-generated current. The IBC-SHJ solar cells were fabricated using both the front surface passivation approaches and a 15% cell efficiency was achieved on 150µm thick FZ c-Si wafer without surface texturing and optical optimization.
Analysis of the oscillation problem in tri-flops

A tri-flop can be used to build fast three-way arbiters. It is known that this device may exhibit oscillatory behaviour which is difficult to filter out. Using a small-signal dynamic model, this paper presents new conditions for avoiding oscillations that are more accurate than previously known. Some theoretical and practical limitations of these conditions are outlined.
CrowdTerrier: automatic crowdsourced relevance assessments with terrier

In this demo, we present CrowdTerrier, an infrastructure extension to the open source Terrier IR platform that enables the semi-automatic generation of relevance assessments for a variety of document ranking tasks using crowdsourcing. The aim of CrowdTerrier is to reduce the time and expertise required to effectively Crowdsource relevance assessments by abstracting away from the complexities of the crowdsourcing process. It achieves this by automating the assessment process as much as possible, via a close integration of the IR system that ranks the documents (Terrier) and the crowdsourcing marketplace that is used to assess those documents (Amazon's Mechanical Turk).