Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Null strings in Schwarzschild spacetime

The null string equations of motion and constraints in Schwarzschild spacetime are given. The solutions are those of the null geodesics of general relativity appended by a null string constraint in which the {open_quotes}constants of motion{close_quotes} depend on the world-sheet spatial coordinate. Because of the extended nature of a string, the physical interpretation of the solutions is completely different from the point particle case. In particular, a null string is generally not propagating in a plane through the origin, although each of its individual points is. Some special solutions are obtained and their physical interpretation is given. Especially, the solution for a null string with a constant radial coordinate r moving vertically from the south pole to the north pole around the photon sphere is presented. A general discussion of classical null or tensile strings as compared to massless or massive particles is given. For instance, tensile circular solutions with a constant radial coordinate r do not exist at all. The results are discussed in relation to the previous literature on the subject. {copyright} {ital 1997} {ital The American Physical Society}
DC3, the Smallest Subunit of the Chlamydomonas Flagellar Outer Dynein Arm-docking Complex, Is a Redox-sensitive Calcium-binding Protein*

The outer dynein arm-docking complex (ODA-DC) targets the outer dynein arm to its correct binding site on the flagellar axoneme. The Chlamydomonas ODA-DC contains three proteins; loss of any one prevents normal assembly of the outer arm, leading to a slow, jerky swimming phenotype. We showed previously that the smallest ODA-DC subunit, DC3, has four EF-hands (Casey, D. M., Inaba, K., Pazour, G. J., Takada, S., Wakabayashi, K., Wilkerson, C. G., Kamiya, R., and Witman, G. B. (2003) Mol. Biol. Cell 14, 3650-3663). Two of the EF-hands fit the consensus pattern for calcium binding, and one of these contains two cysteine residues within its binding loop. To determine whether the predicted EF-hands are functional, we purified bacterially expressed wild-type DC3 and analyzed its calcium-binding potential in the presence and absence of dithiothreitol and Mg2+. The protein bound one calcium ion with an affinity (Kd) of ∼1 × 10-5 m. Calcium binding was observed only in the presence of dithiothreitol and thus is redox-sensitive. DC3 also bound Mg2+ at physiological concentrations but with a much lower affinity. Changing the essential glutamate to glutamine in both EF-hands eliminated the calcium binding activity of the bacterially expressed protein. To investigate the role of the EF-hands in vivo, we transformed the modified DC3 gene into a Chlamydomonas insertional mutant lacking DC3. The transformed strain swam normally, assembled a normal number of outer arms, and had a normal photoshock response, indicating that the Glu to Gln mutations did not affect ODA-DC assembly, outer arm assembly, or Ca2+-mediated outer arm activity. Thus, DC3 is a true calcium-binding protein, but the function of this activity remains unknown.
Fast entropy decoding method for high resolution personal video recorder

In this paper, we propose a fast entropy decoding method that is well suited for personal video recorder (PVR) applications for high resolution video (HRV). In PVR applications supporting HRV, it is essential to implement a fast encoder and decoder due to the large amount of video data. The proposed bit-precision based entropy method (BPEM) provides a way to design a very simple entropy decoding process, which can substantially reduce the overall computational complexity of the decoder. For the purpose of contents protection, it is common to have a proprietary codec in PVR. In such a case, additional transcoding for storing transmitted data is required. However, this may involve a complex process that requires encoding and decoding. The proposed method is only applied to the entropy coding method of the existing standard codecs for transcoding thereby reducing the transcoding complexity down to bitstream-level symbol mapping. We implemented BPEM on an MPEG-4 simple profile (SP) codec. The experimental results showed that BPEM produced about 30 percent lower decoder complexity and 50 to 80 percent lower syntax parsing time while maintaining similar coding efficiency compared to the conventional MPEG-4 SP codec.
Categorical Data Clustering using Cosine based similarity for Enhancing the Accuracy of Squeezer Algorithm

Clustering categorical data is the major challenge in data mining. Direct comparison of categorical data is not possible as in numerical data, understanding the province of categorical data help to form good quality clusters. This paper presents an algorithm Enhanced Squeezer, which incorporates Data Intensive Similarity Measure for Categorical data (DISC) in Squeezer algorithm. DISC measure, cluster data by understanding domain of the dataset, thus clusters formed are not purely based on frequency distribution as many similarity measures do. Clusters formed using Enhanced Squeezer algorithms are intensive and accurate.
International knowledge transfers through expatriates

International knowledge transfer processes and related internal stickiness factors have recently been targets of increasing research interest. However, the role of expatriate managers in these international knowledge transfers is not well understood. The objectives of the present study were (1) to analyze what kind of knowledge is transferred within MNCs and what is the role of expatriates in these transfer processes and (2) develop a theoretical framework on internal stickiness factors faced by the expatriates involved in the knowledge transfer processes on the basis of the literature, and test it empirically. The findings indicate that the role of expatriate managers was very central in the transfer processes. Furthermore, support was received for the theoretical framework of internal stickiness factors. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Effect of tying conditions on the knot security of suture materials

Although the knot security of suture materials has been widely investigated, there are few reports on the effects of knot tying conditions. With respect to foreign body reaction, it is preferable to use the minimum possible amount of suture materials and to use an appropriate material to ensure knot security. In this study, the different effects of knot tying conditions, such as knot type, tying force, and tying speed, were investigated. Knot tying was performed by a tensile tester for reproducible testing with the least amount of hand tying variation. The square knot (1 = 1 = 1) was shown to be the most appropriate knot type to evaluate monofilament sutures with a tensile tester. Increasing the tying speed and tying force enhanced knot security. The mechanical tying method was found to be a useful alternative to hand tying and provided reproducible test results. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2008
Revisiting Histograms and Isosurface Statistics

Recent results have shown a link between geometric properties of isosurfaces and statistical properties of the underlying sampled data. However, this has two defects: not all of the properties described converge to the same solution, and the statistics computed are not always invariant under isosurface-preserving transformations. We apply Federer's Coarea Formula from geometric measure theory to explain these discrepancies. We describe an improved substitute for histograms based on weighting with the inverse gradient magnitude, develop a statistical model that is invariant under isosurface-preserving transformations, and argue that this provides a consistent method for algorithm evaluation across multiple datasets based on histogram equalization. We use our corrected formulation to reevaluate recent results on average isosurface complexity, and show evidence that noise is one cause of the discrepancy between the expected figure and the observed one.
Effect of Aging on Anticipatory Postural Adjustment and Reaction Times in the Pre-Crossing Phase of Obstacle Negotiation

Background: Obstacle crossing is the common reason of falling in older adults. Anticipatory postural adjustments phase (APAP) and reaction time phase (RTP) are two important factors in falling prediction. According to previous studies, these parameters increase in older adults at high risk falling. This study explored the effect of aging on APAP and RTP in obstacle negotiation. Method: Nineteen older adults (mean age: 66.73 ± 3.38 years) and twelve young adults (mean age: 26.5 ± 4.37 years), participated in this study. Participants take part in gait initiation task from a starting position on a force platform under two conditions, unobstructed and obstructed (obstacle placed at 1 m from the initial position). RTP and APAP were measured and Timed “Up” & “Go” test (TUG) as a functional test, recorded for all participants. Results: There was no significant difference between healthy young and older adults in RTP and APAP in the unobstructed and obstructed conditions. TUG test was the most sensitive indicator of falling between two groups. Conclusion: Information processing capacity for motor planning and proper strategy selection in pre crossing phase of obstacle negotiation did not have significant difference in healthy old and young groups. Maybe in respect to select healthy older adults without any neurological disorders and cognitive impairments, low attention demand of well learned walking and obstacle negotiation tasks, lead to perform both postural task more automatically and without any significant difference detection.
Optical Fiber Sensors Based on Local Surface Plasmon Resonance Modified with Silver Nanoparticles

Silver nanoparticles were prepared adopting microwave synthesizing method and coated on the optical fiber lateral utilizing a self-assembling technology. An optical fiber sensor based on localized surface plasmon resonant (LSPR) was developed. UV-vis extinction spectrum of the optical fiber modified nanoparticles was investigated with a fiber spectrometer. The results show that LSPR extinction peak locates at 426.57 nm in pure water. LSPR peak produces a red shift with the increase of the refractive index of sample solution. The peak wavelength bears a linear relationship to the refractive index of sucrose solution over a range of 6%-30% (mass percentage), with a sensitivity of 178 nm/RIU. Although silver nanoparticles aggregated fractionally, the optical sensor still can distinguish the difference of dielectric constant of the sample solution. But the sensitivity is lowered to 120 nm/RIU. And, there is a linear relationship between the extinction peak intensity of LSPR and the refractive index of the solution, with a sensitivity of 1.612 AU/RIU.
A hybrid image reconstruction approach for ultra-wide band microwave tomography featuring radar based and iterative methods

This paper presents a hybrid approach that combines two distinct classes of solutions for microwave tomography; namely radar and tomographic approaches. In this case, the fast computational advantage of radar based methods are utilized in obtaining a more suitable initial guess that can be used as an input to the iterative tomographic process, thus yielding an accurate quantitative result that is less sensitive to the inherited nonlinearity of the inverse scattering problem. Experimentation on numerical results suggest the effectiveness of this approach especially with common imaging setups.
Translational initiation in prokaryotes.

INTRODUCTION 365 BIOCHEMISTRY OF TRANSLATIONAL INITIATION 367 A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK: RIBOSOME BINDING SITE STRENGTHS 373 THE NATURE OF RIBOSOME BINDING SITES 374 A First Approximation 374 Three Approaches to a Higher Order Approximation 380 Genetics and biochemistry 380 Statistics . •••••••••. ••. •. ••. •. •. •. •. •••••••••••••••••• •. •••••••••• •. •. • 382 DETERMINANTS: SEQUENCE AND/OR STRUCTURE . 388 Pathways to Initiation 388 Unstructured Signals 389 Structured Initiation Regions 389 TRANSLATIONAL REGULATION 392 Unstructured RNAs 393 RNAs Whose Structures Seem Obvious 394 Complex Translational Regulation 396
Acquired retinochoroiditis in hamsters inoculated with ME 49 strain Toxoplasma.

PURPOSE These studies were undertaken to establish an animal model for use in studies of ocular toxoplasmosis. An animal model is needed to examine the development, progression, and resolution of ocular Toxoplasma infections and to study the effects on the disease of currently used and experimental therapies. METHODS Cysts of the ME 49 strain of Toxoplasma gondii were injected intraperitoneally into each of 60 golden hamsters. The hamsters' eyes were examined before inoculation and at intervals after inoculation, and fundus photographs were taken. Histologic sections were analyzed and photographed to document the ocular effects of the infection. RESULTS Retinochoroiditis was found in both eyes of all hamsters within 2 to 3 weeks of inoculation. The disease resolved spontaneously without treatment and was quiescent in most cases at 12 weeks after inoculation. The animals remained in good general health, and those tested had high antibody titers to Toxoplasma (1:256 to 1:32,000) at 6 months after the infection. The discovery of cysts and lesions in the retina confirmed the diagnosis. CONCLUSIONS Although the lesions were not identical to those of human disease, this animal model of ocular toxoplasmosis offers several advantages: reproducibility, short incubation time, spontaneous resolution without treatment, consistent production of cysts, and ease of inoculation intraperitoneally without intraocular injection.
A process for the production of human proinsulin in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

In order to develop a large‐scale fermentation process for the production of human proinsulin in yeast, the intra‐cellular expression of a human superoxide dismutase‐human proinsulin fusion product (SOD‐PI) has been studied. The expression of SOD‐PI in Saccharomyces cerevisiae is regulated by a hybrid alcohol dehydrogenase 2/glyceraldehyde‐3‐phosphate dehydrogenase promoter. The promoter is repressed by glucose and derepressed by depletion of glucose. Although the genetic stability of the construction is shown to be poor under product‐inducing conditions, it is demonstrated in shake flask experiments that a stable expression potential can be maintained in a complex medium for more than 60 generations by maintaining excess glucose throughout the cultivations. These results have been confirmed in continuous cultures in chemostat and turbidostat experiments. Addition of the glucose analogs glucosamine, 2‐desoxyglucose, methylglucose, and thioglucose also leads to repression of SOD‐PI formation. The analogs, however, are not suitable for improving genetic stability during propagation because of growth inhibition. In batch fermentation experiments in a complex medium at 30°C, it has been demonstrated that initial glucose concentrations up to 50 g/L result in high specific SOD‐PI yields giving an overall yield of up to 700 mg SOD‐PI/L whereas higher glucose concentrations lead to both lower specific and overall yields due to depletion of critical medium components in the production period. In fed‐batch experiments at 30°C it has been possible to obtain high specific SOD‐PI yields even at high biomass concentrations by feeding glucose at a constant rate of 1.5 g/L/h for 40 h followed by a feeding of ethanol at 1.0 g/L/h for 24 h, thus giving an overall yield of 1200 mg/L. Decreasing the temperature from 30 to 26°C leads to improved yields in batch as well as fed‐batch experiments. The optimized fed‐batch fermentation process which is suitable to be scaled up to the cubic meter level has been tested in 200‐L fermentations resulting in yields of more than 1500 mg/L of the fusion protein which conveniently can be used as a precursor in the production of recombinant human proinsulin.
Efficient parallel solution of sparse systems of linear diophantine equations

We present a new iterative algorithm for solving large sparse systems of linear Diophantine equations which is fast, provably exploits sparsity, and allows an efficient parallel implementation. This is accomplished by reducing the problem of finding an integer solution to that of finding a very small number of rational solutions of random Toeplitz preconditionings of the original system. We then employ the Block-Wiedemann algorithm to solve these preconditioned systems efficiently in parallel. Solutions produced are small and space required is essentially linear in the output size.
Impact of Transceiver I/Q Imbalance on Transmit Diversity of Beamforming OFDM Systems

One of the serious imperfections affecting OFDM systems is transceiver I/Q imbalance. In this letter, closed-form expressions for the outage probability of beamforming OFDM systems with transmit and receive I/Q imbalances are derived. Moreover, the asymptotic behavior and diversity order of the system is investigated. The analytical results are confirmed by simulations.
Simultaneous optimisation of earwig hindwings for flight and folding

ABSTRACT Earwig wings are highly foldable structures that lack internal muscles. The behaviour and shape changes of the wings during flight are yet unknown. We assume that they meet a great structural challenge to control the occurring deformations and prevent the wing from collapsing. At the folding structures especially, the wing could easily yield to the pressure. Detailed microscopy studies reveal adaptions in the structure and material which are not relevant for folding purposes. The wing is parted into two structurally different areas with, for example, a different trend or stiffness of the wing veins. The storage of stiff or more flexible material shows critical areas which undergo great changes or stress during flight. We verified this with high-speed video recordings. These reveal the extent of the occurring deformations and their locations, and support our assumptions. The video recordings reveal a dynamical change of a concave flexion line. In the static unfolded state, this flexion line blocks a folding line, so that the wing stays unfolded. However, during flight it extends and blocks a second critical folding line and prevents the wing from collapsing. With these results, more insight in passive wing control, especially within high foldable structures, is gained. Summary: Adjustments of the wing structure in earwig hindwings enable passive wing control during flapping flight. With an expansion of the claval flexion line, the highly foldable wing can withstand deformations during flapping flight and stay unfolded.
Possible role of vitamin E, coenzyme Q10 and rutin in protection against cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury in irradiated rats

Purpose: To investigate the possible role of vitamin E, coenzyme Q10 and rutin in ameliorating the biochemical changes in brain and serum induced by cerebral ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) in whole body γ-irradiated rats. Materials and methods: Cerebral ischemia was induced in male Wistar rats (either irradiated or non-irradiated) followed by reperfusion. Results: I/R increased brain content of malondialdehyde (MDA) and depleted its glutathione (GSH) content with a compensatory elevation in cytosolic activities of glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and glutathione reductase (GR) enzymes. It also raised brain cytosolic lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activity and calcium (Ca2+) level. Furthermore, I/R provoked an inflammatory response reflected by an increment in serum levels of the proinflammatory cytokines tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interlukin-1β (IL-1β). Moreover, induction of I/R in irradiated rats resulted in a further increase in brain oxidative stress and cytosolic LDH activity, disturbed brain Ca2+ homeostasis and exaggerated the inflammatory reaction. During irradiation, administration of each of vitamin E, coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) and rutin to irradiated rats before induction of I/R, alleviated the brain oxidative stress. Moreover, these antioxidants caused attenuation of the rise of the cytosolic activities of GPx and GR. A lowering effect of the cytosolic LDH activity and Ca2+ level were caused by treatment with antioxidants. Each of vitamin E and rutin revealed an anti-inflammatory action of these antioxidants, while CoQ10 had no effect on serum levels of TNF-α and IL-1β. Conclusion: These findings indicate that supplementation with either vitamin E, CoQ10 or rutin ameliorated most of the biochemical changes induced by I/R in irradiated rat brain and serum.
Violent behaviour and post-traumatic stress disorder in US Iraq and Afghanistan veterans

Background Violence towards others in the community has been identified as a significant problem for a subset of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. Aims To investigate the extent to which post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other risk factors predict future violent behaviour in military veterans. Method A national, multiwave survey enrolling a random sample of all US veterans who served in the military after 11 September 2001 was conducted. A total of 1090 veterans from 50 US states and all military branches completed two survey waves mailed 1 year apart (retention rate = 79%). Results Overall, 9% endorsed engaging in severe violence and 26% in other physical aggression in the previous year, as measured at Wave 2. Younger age, financial instability, history of violence before military service, higher combat exposure, PTSD, and alcohol misuse at Wave 1 were significantly associated with higher severe violence and other physical aggression in the past year at Wave 2. When combinations of these risk factors were present, predicted probability of violence in veterans rose sharply. Veterans with both PTSD and alcohol misuse had a substantially higher rate of subsequent severe violence (35.9%) compared with veterans with alcohol misuse without PTSD (10.6%), PTSD without alcohol misuse (10.0%) or neither PTSD nor alcohol misuse (5.3%). Using multiple regression, we found that veterans with PTSD and without alcohol misuse were not at significantly higher risk of severe violence than veterans with neither PTSD nor alcohol misuse. There was a trend for other physical aggression to be higher in veterans with PTSD without alcohol misuse. Conclusions Co-occurring PTSD and alcohol misuse was associated with a marked increase in violence and aggression in veterans. Compared with veterans with neither PTSD nor alcohol misuse, veterans with PTSD and no alcohol misuse were not significantly more likely to be severely violent and were only marginally more likely to engage in other physical aggression. Attention to cumulative effects of multiple risk factors beyond diagnosis – including demographics, violence history, combat exposure, and veterans' having money to cover basic needs like food, shelter, transportation, and medical care – is crucial for optimising violence risk management.
Ultrasound Guided Obturator Versus Sciatic Nerve Block in Addition to Continuous Femoral Nerve Block for Analgesia After Total Knee Arthroplasty

Both obturator and sciatic nerve block in combination with femoral nerve block (FNB) have been suggested to be useful in relieving pain after total knee arthroplasty (TKA), compared with FNB alone. We compared their efficacy in this retrospective study. For six consecutive months, patients undergoing unilateral TKA under general anesthesia with continuous FNB plus obturator nerve block (n = 8) or continuous FNB plus sciatic nerve block (n = 8) were investigated. Knee pain was assessed using visual analogue scale (VAS) on the day of surgery and on postoperative days one to three. In addition, we also investigated intraoperative and postoperative morphine consumption. VAS scores and total morphine consumption were not different between the two groups, although patients in the FNB plus sciatic nerve block group were administered less morphine during surgery. Sciatic nerve block with continuous FNB may be superior to obturator nerve block with continuous FNB for analgesia during surgery for TKA.