Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Dissertation Zur Erlangung Des Grades

In this thesis we present some results about analytic machines regarding computability over Q and R , solutions of differential equations, and the stability problem of dynamical systems. We first explain the machine model, which is a kind of BLUM-SHUB-SMALE machine enhanced by infinite convergent computations. Next, we compare the computational power of such machines over the fields Q and R showing e.g. that finite computations with real numbers can be simulated by infinite converging computations on rational numbers, but the precision of the approximation is not known during the process. Analytic computations over R are strictly more powerful than over Q . Our attention is then shifted to ordinary differential equations (ODEs) where we establish sufficient criteria for the computability of their solutions within our model. We investigate dynamical systems described by ODEs and show the undecidability of a class of stability problems for dynamical systems. Zusammenfassung In dieser Arbeit präsentieren wir einige Resultate über analytische Maschinen hinsichtlich des Berechenbarkeitsbegriffs über Q und R , der Lösungen von Differentialgleichungen und des Stabilitätsproblems dynamischer Systeme. Wir erläutern zuerst das Maschinenmodell, das eine Art von BLUM-SHUB-SMALEMaschine darstellt, erweitert um unendliche, konvergente Berechnungen. Danach vergleichen wir die Mächtigkeit dieses Berechnungsmodells über den Körpern Q und R und zeigen z.B. , daß endliche Berechnungen mit reellen Zahlen durch unendliche, konvergente Berechnungen mit rationalen Zahlen simuliert werden können, wobei die Genauigkeit der Approximation während des Prozesses nicht bekannt ist. Analytische Berechnungen über R sind echt mächtiger als über Q . Unsere Aufmerksamkeit wendet sich dann gewöhnlichen Differentialgleichungen (DGl) zu, bei denen wir hinreichende Kriterien für die Berechenbarkeit von Lösungen innerhalb unseres Modells angeben. Schließlich untersuchen wir dynamische Systeme, die durch DGl beschrieben werden, und zeigen die Unentscheidbarkeit einer Klasse von Stabilitätsproblemen für dynamische Systeme.
Generalized sampling theorems in multiresolution subspaces

It is well known that under very mild conditions on the scaling function, multiresolution subspaces are reproducing kernel Hilbert spaces (RKHSs). This allows for the development of a sampling theory. In this paper, we extend the existing sampling theory for wavelet subspaces in several directions. We consider periodically nonuniform sampling, sampling of a function and its derivatives, oversampling, multiband sampling, and reconstruction from local averages. All these problems are treated in a unified way using the perfect reconstruction (PR) filter bank theory. We give conditions for stable reconstructions in each of these cases. Sampling theorems developed in the past do not allow the scaling function and the synthesizing function to be both compactly supported, except in trivial cases. This restriction no longer applies for the generalizations we study here, due to the existence of FIR PR banks. In fact, with nonuniform sampling, oversampling, and reconstruction from local averages, we can guarantee compactly supported synthesizing functions. Moreover, local averaging schemes have additional nice properties (robustness to the input noise and compression capabilities). We also show that some of the proposed methods can be used for efficient computation of inner products in multiresolution analysis. After this, we extend the sampling theory to random processes. We require autocorrelation functions to belong to some subspace related to wavelet subspaces. It turns out that we cannot recover random processes themselves (unless they are bandlimited) but only their power spectral density functions. We consider both uniform and nonuniform sampling.
GmSAL1 Hydrolyzes Inositol-1,4,5-Trisphosphate and Regulates Stomatal Closure in Detached Leaves and Ion Compartmentalization in Plant Cells

Inositol polyphosphatases are important regulators since they control the catabolism of phosphoinositol derivatives, which are often signaling molecules for cellular processes. Here we report on the characterization of one of their members in soybean, GmSAL1. In contrast to the substrate specificity of its Arabidopsis homologues (AtSAL1 and AtSAL2), GmSAL1 only hydrolyzes inositol-1,4,5-trisphosphate (IP3) but not inositol-1,3,4-trisphosphate or inositol-1,4-bisphosphate.The ectopic expression of GmSAL1 in transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana led to a reduction in IP3 signals, which was inferred from the reduction in the cytoplasmic signals of the in vivo biomarker pleckstrin homology domain–green florescent protein fusion protein and the suppression of abscisic acid-induced stomatal closure. At the cellular level, the ectopic expression of GmSAL1 in transgenic BY-2 cells enhanced vacuolar Na+ compartmentalization and therefore could partially alleviate salinity stress.
A theory of locally low dimensional light transport

Blockwise or Clustered Principal Component Analysis (CPCA) is commonly used to achieve real-time rendering of shadows and glossy reflections with precomputed radiance transfer (PRT). The vertices or pixels are partitioned into smaller coherent regions, and light transport in each region is approximated by a locally low-dimensional subspace using PCA. Many earlier techniques such as surface light field and reflectance field compression use a similar paradigm. However, there has been no clear theoretical understanding of how light transport dimensionality increases with local patch size, nor of the optimal block size or number of clusters. In this paper, we develop a theory of locally low dimensional light transport, by using Szego's eigenvalue theorem to analytically derive the eigenvalues of the covariance matrix for canonical cases. We show mathematically that for symmetric patches of area A, the number of basis functions for glossy reflections increases linearly with A, while for simple cast shadows, it often increases as √A. These results are confirmed numerically on a number of test scenes. Next, we carry out an analysis of the cost of rendering, trading off local dimensionality and the number of patches, deriving an optimal block size. Based on this analysis, we provide useful practical insights for setting parameters in CPCA and also derive a new adaptive subdivision algorithm. Moreover, we show that rendering time scales sub-linearly with the resolution of the image, allowing for interactive all-frequency relighting of 1024 x 1024 images.
Pancreatic renin-angiotensin system: a novel target for the potential treatment of pancreatic diseases?

The hormonal renin-angiotensin system (RAS) has important physiological functions, which are related directly and indirectly to the regulation of blood pressure, fluid and electrolyte balance [1]. The potent vasoconstrictor action of angiotensin II (Ang II) originates from hepatic precursor angiotensinogen, where it is cleaved by the renal enzyme renin in the circulating blood. The product, Ang I, is subsequently hydrolyzed to Ang II by the pulmonary angiotensin converting-enzyme (ACE). However, alternate enzymes to renin and ACE can generate different RAS products called angiotensins in addition to Ang II including Ang III, Ang IV and Ang (1-7). The resultant angiotensins exert their physiological actions via their specific receptors, namely AT 1 , AT 2 , AT 4 , and AT 7 respectively. In this regard, a homologue of ACE, termed ACE2, has recently been identified and shown to be an essential regulator of heart function [2]. Unlike ACE, ACE2 acts as a carboxypeptidase on Ang II yielding Ang (1-7). Ang II can be also converted into Ang III and Ang IV by aminopeptidases. Ang IV binds at the AT 4 receptor which affects learning and memory and cognitive functions [3]. Recently, it has been demonstrated that many tissues/organs exhibit their own RAS products and activities. Such an intrinsic RAS can cater to specific local functions of their respective tissues/organs which are different from, complimentary or counteracting to the hormonal RAS, frequently in a paracrine and/or autocrine action [4]. They include cell proliferation, anti-proliferation, apoptosis, superoxide generation, and vasoconstriction as well as vasodilatation. These actions, as it has recently been found in the literature, extend beyond the nervous and cardiovascular systems and include such diverse targets as the pancreas [5]. In the pancreas, previous studies have made an incremental but significant advance in the knowledge of the expression, localization, regulation and potential function of a pancreatic RAS. It has been demonstrated that major components of such a local pancreatic RAS are responsive to a number of physiological stimuli and clinical conditions [6]. The available data indicate that a pancreatic RAS would be important for regulating the exocrine and endocrine functions such as acinar digestive enzyme secretion, islet hormonal secretion and ductal anion secretion. Aberrations from a normal regulation of a pancreatic RAS may be of clinical relevance in some pancreatic diseases. In this regard, a collection of up-to-date publications which specifically address the potential role of the pancreatic RAS and its clinical …
Relating Forest Attributes with Area- and Tree-Based Light Detection and Ranging Metrics for Western Oregon

Three sets of linear models were developed to predict several forest attributes, using stand-level and single-tree remote sensing (STRS) light detection and ranging (LiDAR) metrics as predictor variables. The first used only area-level metrics (ALM) associated with first-return height distribution, percentage of cover, and canopy transparency. The second alternative included metrics of first-return LiDAR intensity. The third alternative used area-level variables derived from STRS LiDAR metrics. The ALM model for Lorey’s height did not change with inclusion of intensity and yielded the best results in terms of both model fit (adjusted R 2 0.93) and cross-validated relative root mean squared error (RRMSE 8.1%). The ALM model for density (stems per hectare) had the poorest precision initially (RRMSE 39.3%), but it improved dramatically (RRMSE 27.2%) when intensity metrics were included. The resulting RRMSE values of the ALM models excluding intensity for basal area, quadratic mean diameter, cubic stem volume, and average crown width were 20.7, 19.9, 30.7, and 17.1%, respectively. The STRS model for Lorey’s height showed a 3% improvement in RRMSE over the ALM models. The STRS basal area and density models significantly underperformed compared with the ALM models, with RRMSE values of 31.6 and 47.2%, respectively. The performance of STRS models for crown width, volume, and quadratic mean diameter was comparable to that of the ALM models.
Recent Advances in Plant NLR Structure, Function, Localization, and Signaling

Nucleotide-binding domain leucine-rich repeat (NLR) proteins play a central role in the innate immune systems of plants and vertebrates. In plants, NLR proteins function as intracellular receptors that detect pathogen effector proteins directly, or indirectly by recognizing effector-induced modifications to other host proteins. NLR activation triggers a suite of defense responses associated with programed cell death (PCD). The molecular mechanisms underlying NLR activation, and how activation is translated into defense responses, have been particularly challenging to elucidate in plants. Recent reports, however, are beginning to shed some light. It is becoming clear that plant NLR proteins are targeted to diverse sub-cellular locations, likely depending on the locations where the effectors are detected. These reports also indicate that some NLRs re-localize following effector detection, while others do not, and such relocalization may reflect differences in signaling pathways. There have also been recent advances in understanding the structure of plant NLR proteins, with crystal structures now available for the N-terminal domains of two well-studied NLRs, a coiled-coil (CC) domain and a Toll-interleukin Receptor (TIR). Significant improvements in molecular modeling have enabled more informed structure-function studies, illuminating roles of intra- and inter-molecular interactions in NLR activation regulation. Several independent studies also suggest that intracellular trafficking is involved in NLR-mediated resistance. Lastly, progress is being made on identifying transcriptional regulatory complexes activated by NLRs. Current models for how plant NLR proteins are activated and how they induce defenses are discussed, with an emphasis on what remains to be determined.
Perceptive Forwarding Strategy in Content-Centric Network

The Content-Centric Network (CCN), as a promising communication architecture for future networks, is still facing many challenges. In CCNs, it is difficult for the routing protocols, evolved from the proactive routing protocols in the current Internet, to discover temporary content replicas spread in router caches in time. This paper proposes a perceptive forwarding strategy (PFS) to perceive closer temporary content replicas to respond the users' requests quickly. In our proposal, a new data structure, called a chunk map (CM), cooperating with an improved cache replacement policy is designed to indicate the availability (or unavailability) of the content replicas in a router cache. An additional Interest packet is conditionally forwarded to probe the cached replicas while a CM, piggybacked in a Data packet as a response, is distributed to the forwarding routers. Moreover, an improved cache replacement policy would cooperate with the CM to temporarily prevent replacing the content replicas indicated available by a CM in a router's cache. The simulation result shows that our proposal has an outstanding performance in terms of the downloading delay and bandwidth consumption.
Prevalence of bronchial asthma and its associated factors among school children in urban Puducherry, India

Background: Bronchial asthma is an important public health problem at the global level. There is paucity of studies on bronchial asthma among school children in Urban India. Objective: To assess the prevalence and associated factors of bronchial asthma among school children. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 263 children studying in the 8th, 9th, and 10th standard using the modified International Study on Allergy and Asthma in Childhood questionnaire in Urban Puducherry. Data on associated factors that include family history of asthma, type of fuel used for cooking, placement of kitchen in the house, number of windows in sleeping room, pet animals, smoking among family members, birth order, and smoke outlet were collected. Data were analyzed by univariate analysis and expressed in proportion or percentages. Results: Prevalence of ever bronchial asthma was found to be 5.3%, of which 4.2% had current episode of asthma during the last 1-year period. About 72.7% of the current asthmatics had cold or rhinitis and 54.5% each had itching or rashes and nocturnal dry cough. Prevalence is more among the 12-13 years age group (6.5%) compared to the 14-16 years age group (3.6%). Boys (5.4%) and girls (5.2%) had comparable prevalence rates. The prevalence was significantly more among those with a family history of asthma, having smoking habits in any of the family members, and the absence of smoke outlet in the house (P < 0.05). Conclusion: Bronchial asthma is an important health problem among children in urban Puducherry. Intervention on exposure to passive smoking and provision of smoke outlets may help to reduce the burden of disease at the community level.
DLC coatings for cam follower applications: The role of the surface on tribochemical reactions, friction and wear

In this study, the tribological properties of steel, Mn-phosphate, Si doped (S1s), and hydrogenated tetrahedral amorphous carbon (ta-C:H) diamond like carbon (DLC) coatings were investigated in a pin on reciprocating plate tribometer and single cam test rig. S1s and taC-H DLC coating architectures were obtained with plasma assisted chemical vapor deposition technique with hardness 20 ± 4 GPa and 35 ± 7 GPa respectively. All materials had a centre-line average surface roughness (Ra) of 0.02-0.03 µm except for the Mn(PO3)2 which had Ra of 0.30 µm. The S1s showed severe delamination after tests on the reciprocating tribometer while spots of wear flakes were observed in the bench test. Both single cam rig and reciprocating tests have shown similar wear and friction results which can be used to rank materials, surface coatings and lubricants for optimum performance of valve train components.
T Cell Dynamic Activation and Functional Analysis in Nanoliter Droplet Microarray

Objective Characterization of the heterogeneity in immune reactions requires assessing dynamic single cell responses as well as interactions between the various immune cell subsets. Maturation and activation of effector cells is regulated by cell contact-dependent and soluble factor-mediated paracrine signalling. Currently there are few methods available that allow dynamic investigation of both processes simultaneously without physically constraining non-adherent cells and eliminating crosstalk from neighboring cell pairs. We describe here a microfluidic droplet microarray platform that permits rapid functional analysis of single cell responses and co-encapsulation of heterotypic cell pairs, thereby allowing us to evaluate the dynamic activation state of primary T cells. Methods The microfluidic droplet platform enables generation and docking of monodisperse nanoliter volume (0.523 nl) droplets, with the capacity of monitoring a thousand droplets per experiment. Single human T cells were encapsulated in droplets and stimulated on-chip with the calcium ionophore ionomycin. T cells were also co-encapsulated with dendritic cells activated by ovalbumin peptide, followed by dynamic calcium signal monitoring. Results Ionomycin-stimulated cells depicted fluctuation in calcium signalling compared to control. Both cell populations demonstrated marked heterogeneity in responses. Calcium signalling was observed in T cells immediately following contact with DCs, suggesting an early activation signal. T cells further showed non-contact mediated increase in calcium level, although this response was delayed compared to contact-mediated signals. Conclusions Our results suggest that this nanoliter droplet array-based microfluidic platform is a promising technique for assessment of heterogeneity in various types of cellular responses, detection of early/delayed signalling events and live cell phenotyping of immune cells.
Identification of osteocalcin mrna in nonosteoid tissue of rats and humans by reverse transcription—polymerase chain reaction

Diseased or necrotic tissue can become calcified in a way that resembles bone. We examined soft tissues for the presence and regulation of the mRNA for the bone‐associated protein, osteocalcin (OC). RNA was isolated from liver, kidney, lung, brain, muscle, and bone of young (2 months) male SD rats and analyzed for β‐actin, IGF‐I, metallothionein IIa, α1 collagen, calbindin‐D9k (CaBP), and OC mRNA by reverse transcription‐polymerase chain reaction (RT‐PCR). All PCR products but CaBP were found in bone; CaBP was present only in duodenum, kidney, and lung. OC product was detected in all tissues; the identity of the PCR product was confirmed by sequencing. Bone OC mRNA levels were calculated to be 1000‐fold higher than duodenal levels. Rats fed a 0.8% strontium diet for 7 days to drive down serum 1,25‐dihydroxyvitamin D3 levels [1,25(OH)2D3] and then injected with 300 ng 1,25(OH)2D3/100 body weight had increased duodenal CaBP (2.5‐fold) and femur OC mRNA (2.2‐fold) 24 h after treatment. Duodenal OC mRNA was unchanged. OC mRNA was found in nondiseased human aortae, and the amount of message was elevated in calcified aorta and calcified aortic plaques. These results demonstrate that (1) tissues other than bone have low basal expression of OC mRNA, (2) OC mRNA is not regulated by vitamin D in nonosteoid tissue, and (3) expression of OC mRNA in atherosclerotic aorta reflects a role for bone‐forming cells in ectopic bone formation observed in certain disease conditions.
Variations of Lung Fissures : A Cadaveric Study

Background: The presence of fissures in the normal lungs enhances uniform expansion and hence facilitates more air intake. Accessory and incomplete fissures of varying depth can be seen in unusual locations of the lung, delimiting abnormal lobes which correspond to the normal bronchopulmonary segments. The knowledge of anatomical variations of lung fissures is essential for clinicians, surgeons, and for radiologist for recognizing various images of related abnormalities because an accessory or anomalous fissure can be mistaken for a lung lesion or an atypical appearance of pleural effusion. Aims and Objectives: The aim of the present study is to observe the variations of lung fissures in Indian population. Fifty pairs (right50; left50) of lungs were used for this study. Each lung was studied carefully for number of fissures whether complete or incomplete or absent. Presences of accessory fissures were noted. Results: We observed complete absence of fissures in two right and left lungs. Accessory fissures were present in 38% right lungs and 32% in left lungs. Conclusion: Incidence of absence of oblique fissure and accessory fissure was greater in our present work when compared our results with other authors. Considering this we feel that more elaborative study should be done on this topic which will throw more light on this.
Retinal Circadian Clocks and Control of Retinal Physiology

Retinas of all classes of vertebrates contain endogenous circadian clocks that control many aspects of retinal physiology, including retinal sensitivity to light, neurohormone synthesis, and cellular events such as rod disk shedding, intracellular signaling pathways, and gene expression. The vertebrate retina is an example of a “peripheral” oscillator that is particularly amenable to study because this tissue is well characterized, the relationships between the various cell types are extensively studied, and many local clock-controlled rhythms are known. Although the existence of a photoreceptor clock is well established in several species, emerging data are consistent with multiple or dual oscillators within the retina that interact to control local physiology. Aprominent example is the antiphasic regulation of melaton in and dopamine in photoreceptors and inner retina, respectively. This review focuses on the similarities and differences in the molecular mechanisms of the retinal versus the SCN oscillators, as well as on the expression of core components of the circadian clockwork in retina. Finally, the interactions between the retinal clock(s) and the master clock in the SCN are examined.
Realtime phase-based optical flow on the GPU

Phase-based optical flow algorithms are characterized by high precision and robustness, but also by high computational requirements. Using the CUDA platform, we have implemented a phase-based algorithm that maps exceptionally well on the GPUpsilas architecture. This optical flow algorithm revolves around a reliability measure that evaluates the consistency of phase information over time. By exploiting efficient filtering operations, the high internal bandwidth of the GPU, and the texture units, we obtain dense and reliable optical flow estimates in realtime at high resolutions (640 times 512 pixels and beyond). Even though the algorithm is local and does not involve iterative regularization, highly accurate results are obtained on synthetic and complex real-world sequences.