Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of Very Short Rest Periods on Hormonal Responses to Resistance Exercise in Men

Rahimi, R, Qaderi, M, Faraji, H, and Boroujerdi, SS. Effects of very short rest periods on hormonal responses to resistance exercise in men. J Strength Cond Res 24(7): 1851-1859, 2010-The effect of 3 different rest periods on the acute hormonal responses to resistance exercise (RE) was examined in 10 experienced resistance trained men (age: 20.37 ± 2.24 years, weight: 65.5 ± 26.70 kg). On 3 separate sessions of an RE protocol, subjects were assigned in a random order a rest interval of 60 seconds (P60), 90 seconds (P90), or 120 seconds (P120) between sets. The RE session consisted of 4 sets of squat and bench press to failure using 85% of 1 repetition maximum. Blood draws occurred at pre-exercise (T0), immediately post (T1), and 30 minutes post (T30) exercise for measurement of serum growth hormone (GH), testosterone (TS), and blood-lactate concentrations. Serum GH concentrations were significantly higher at T1 in P60 (64%) compared with P120. Also, serum TS concentrations were significantly higher at T1 in P120 (65%) and P90 (76%) compared to P60 (p ≤ 0.05). Blood-lactate concentrations significantly increased at T1 for 3 protocols, but no significant protocols differences were observed. Although, training volume by using P90 and P120 was greater than that of P60, statistically a significant difference in training volume was not observed. The results of the present study support rest period in RE sets as an important variable to increase the anabolic hormone concentrations, and it should be mentioned that short rest intervals elevated greater increase in GH concentration compared with 120-second rest. However, TS response was greater in the RE protocol with a 120-second rest interval between sets.
Vertex Sparsifiers: New Results from Old Techniques

Given a capacitated graph G = (V, E) and a set of terminals K ⊆ V, how should we produce a graph H only on the terminals K so that every (multicommodity) flow between the terminals in G could be supported in H with low congestion, and vice versa? (Such a graph H is called a flow-sparsifier for G.) What if we want H to be a "simple" graph? What if we allow H to be a convex combination of simple graphs? Improving on results of Moitra [FOCS 2009] and Leighton and Moitra [STOC 2010], we give efficient algorithms for constructing: (a) a flow-sparsifier H that maintains congestion up to a factor ofO(log k/log log k) where k = |K|. (b) a convex combination of trees over the terminals K that maintains congestion up to a factor of O(log k). (c) for a planar graph G, a convex combination of planar graphs that maintains congestion up to a constant factor. This requires us to give a new algorithm for the 0-extension problem, the first one in which the preimages of each terminal are connected in G. Moreover, this result extends to minor-closed families of graphs. Our bounds immediately imply improved approximation guarantees for several terminal-based cut and ordering problems.
Coping with Social Exclusion

This paper aims to study whether and how Chinese women in three cities, namely Sheffield, Hong Kong and Beijing play an active role in choosing and assessing the approaches to social exclusion. It starts with identifying various approaches to social exclusion by examining the concepts of social exclusion, social capital, social control and human agency. It then discusses the findings of three studies conducted in these cities with the foci on women and health, new female migrants, and women and family care respectively. It argues that the selection of the approaches to social exclusion is not totally under Chinese women's control but is partly determined by the availability of social capital at their service. Despite this, some women manage to exercise some autonomy in choosing the approaches according to the relationship they want to establish with the mainstream community. Moreover. the approaches they used to cope with social exclusion to a certain extent affect the cohesion of the mainstream community and the chance for other members to build social capital.
Developmental expression of 2′,3′ ‐cyclic nucleotide 3′ ‐phosphohydrolase in dissociated fetal rat brain cultures and rat brain

The development in primary dissociated rat brain cultures of 2′,3′ ‐cyclic nucleotide 3′ ‐phosphohydrolase (CNP) activity, the accumulation of CNP protein, and the number of cells accumulating this protein have been quantitatively determined as a function of time in culture. Parallel determinations have been made for the first two parameters for developing rat brain. The developmental profile of CNP enzymatic activity of CNP protein in culture paralleled that observed in rat brain, in which the period of most active development occurred 7–25 days after birth. Mean CNP activities of 5.6 and 8.1 μmol/min/mg total protein were recorded for the cultures and rat brain, respectively, at their maximal levels. The corresponding mean values for the CNP protein accumulation were calculated to be 138 and 150 pmol/mg total protein, respectively. Thus maximal specific activities of the CNP protein were estimated to be about 800 and 1,100 μmol/min/mg CNP protein for culture and rat brain enzyme, respectively. Approximately three million cells expressing CNP appeared in the cultures per dissociated fetal rat brain seeded. Each CNP + oligodendrocyte in culture had an average CNP activity of 3.2 pmol/min, and an average CNP protein content of 0.09 gmol (5.4 × 107 molecules), values which remained nearly constant during the course of development. Two pricipal conclusions are drawn from these data. First, the dissociated fetal brain culture system reproduces rather accurately the temporal developmental pattern of CNP expression occurring in the rat brain, but some important quantitativ differences occur which suggest the need for additional environmental stimuli missing in these cultures. Second, the quantitative increases in CNP specific activity and amount of CNP protein occurring during oligodendrocyte differentiation in these cultures are primarily the result of increases in the number of CNP + cells present which upon differentiation express very quickly, via an off‐on regulation, steady‐state levels of the enzyme.
A Mycobacterial Enzyme Essential for Cell Division Synergizes with Resuscitation-Promoting Factor

The final stage of bacterial cell division requires the activity of one or more enzymes capable of degrading the layers of peptidoglycan connecting two recently developed daughter cells. Although this is a key step in cell division and is required by all peptidoglycan-containing bacteria, little is known about how these potentially lethal enzymes are regulated. It is likely that regulation is mediated, at least partly, through protein–protein interactions. Two lytic transglycosylases of mycobacteria, known as resuscitation-promoting factor B and E (RpfB and RpfE), have previously been shown to interact with the peptidoglycan-hydrolyzing endopeptidase, Rpf-interacting protein A (RipA). These proteins may form a complex at the septum of dividing bacteria. To investigate the function of this potential complex, we generated depletion strains in M. smegmatis. Here we show that, while depletion of rpfB has no effect on viability or morphology, ripA depletion results in a marked decrease in growth and formation of long, branched chains. These growth and morphological defects could be functionally complemented by the M. tuberculosis ripA orthologue (rv1477), but not by another ripA-like orthologue (rv1478). Depletion of ripA also resulted in increased susceptibility to the cell wall–targeting β-lactams. Furthermore, we demonstrate that RipA has hydrolytic activity towards several cell wall substrates and synergizes with RpfB. These data reveal the unusual essentiality of a peptidoglycan hydrolase and suggest a novel protein–protein interaction as one way of regulating its activity.
Predicting the workload in urban general practice in The Netherlands from Jarman's indicators of deprivation at patient level.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: General practitioners (GPs) working in deprived areas supposedly have higher workloads. In the UK, this has led to a higher payment per patient from deprived areas, based on eight indicators of deprivation proposed by Jarman. This paper aimed to examine the applicability of the Jarman index (indicators and attached weights) at patient level in an urban GP setting outside the UK. DESIGN: Data on all GP contacts were collected from 5121 residents aged 16 and over by interview. SETTING: Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 1992-93. MAIN RESULTS: Results showed that six out or eight of the Jarman indicators of deprivation were indeed associated with higher GP contact rates in adults in Amsterdam, though some of them without statistical significance. The relative importance of the indicators, however, differed largely from Jarman's weights. In particular, people in poor housing, unskilled earners, and people born in a foreign country had higher contact rates. Furthermore, some indicators were highly inter-related at patient level. CONCLUSIONS: It is concluded that most of the Jarman indicators can be used to predict Amsterdam GP workload at patient level, but that their relative weights should be adapted for this aim. The applicability of the Jarman index (indicators and attached weights) in other European countries requires additional study.
Links between temperament and coparenting: The moderating role of family characteristics

There is conflicting evidence as to whether or not child temperament influences the manner in which couples coparent their children. The mixed results suggest that families with certain characteristics may be at risk for exhibiting low quality coparenting when they have a child who displays more negative affect. The purpose of the current study was to examine the association between child negative affect and coparenting in a sample of mothers of preschoolers. Drawing from family systems theory and Crockenberg's proposition of multiple risk, both main and interactive effects of child negative affect on mothers' perceptions of coparenting were examined. Child effortful control, maternal depressive symptoms, home chaos, and child sex was examined as moderators. A secondary goal was to examine the psychometric properties of the Coparenting Questionnaire which was designed to measure multiple dimensions of coparenting (i.e., coparenting solidarity, coparenting support, shared parenting, and undermining coparenting). Results of an exploratory factor analysis suggested that the Coparenting Questionnaire consisted of two dimensions of coparenting (i.e., positive and negative coparenting). The primary results demonstrated that child negative affect was negatively associated with mothers' perceptions of positive coparenting and positively associated with mothers' perceptions of negative coparenting. Child effortful control was positively associated with positive coparenting and negatively associated with negative coparenting. There was a negative relationship between child negative affect and positive coparenting when maternal depressive symptoms were high, but not when depressive symptoms were low. Child effortful control, home chaos, and child sex did not moderate the relationship between child negative affect and mothers' perceptions of positive coparenting. No moderation effects were found for mothers' perceptions of negative coparenting. For negative coparenting only, home chaos was positively associated with negative coparenting.
Microstrip dual band millimeter-wave antenna array for UAV applications

A Microstrip Dual band patch antenna array with coaxial feed which resonates at 29-30 GHz (ka band) and 57-66 GHz (unlicensed V band) is presented in this paper. The unit cell is a star shaped patch antenna with thin low cost substrate (FR4 Epoxy substrate, with relative permittivity of 4.4 and a thickness of 1.6 mm) in which slots were created and it has a max gain of 4.2 dBi. The 1×2 and 1×4 linear arrays of unit cell were designed to improve gain. The unit cell, 1×2 and 1×4 arrays were also investigated after placement onto the UAV's generic wing structure. The unit cell of the antenna was fabricated and tested. Radiation patterns after placement of the proposed antenna array were studied.
Optical Conformal Mapping

An invisibility device should guide light around an object as if nothing were there, regardless of where the light comes from. Ideal invisibility devices are impossible, owing to the wave nature of light. This study develops a general recipe for the design of media that create perfect invisibility within the accuracy of geometrical optics. The imperfections of invisibility can be made arbitrarily small to hide objects that are much larger than the wavelength. With the use of modern metamaterials, practical demonstrations of such devices may be possible. The method developed here can also be applied to escape detection by other electromagnetic waves or sound.
Biomechanical Analysis of the Jump Shot in Basketball

Abstract Basketball players usually score points during the game using the jump shot. For this reason, the jump shot is considered to be the most important element of technique in basketball and requires a high level of performance. The aim of this study was to compare the biomechanical characteristics of the lower limbs during a jump shot without the ball and a countermovement jump without an arm swing. The differences between variables provide information about the potential that an athlete can utilise during a game when performing a jump shot. The study was conducted among 20 second-league basketball players by means of a Kistler force plate and the BTS SMART system for motion analysis. The variables measured included the take-off time, mean power, peak power, relative mean power, jump height, maximum landing force and calculated impact ratio. Surprisingly, more advantageous variables were found for the jump shot. This finding suggests a very high performance level in the jump shot in the studied group and a maximum utilisation of their motor abilities. Both types of jumps were characterised by high mean and peak power values and average heights. The high forces at landing, which result in considerable impact ratios, may have prompted the studied group to land softly. Use of the countermovement jump without an arm swing is recommended to assess and predict the progression of player’s jumping ability
Face identification under uncontrolled environment with LGFSV face representation technique

This paper presents a new log Gabor-FPLBP-SVD (LGFSV) face representation technique that extracts singular values from log Gabor_FPLBP response image to form the LGFSV feature for face representation. The proposed LGFSV is invariant to changes in pose, illumination and facial expression. The novelty of this paper comes from (i) the design of minimal number of log Gabor filters to cover all directional shape features from face image which is further applied with Four phase Local Binary Pattern to enhance texture features in all direction; (ii) the extraction of singular value from each local matrix of log Gabor_FPLBP response image to form feature for face identification using nearest neighbour classifier; and (iii) extensive performance evaluation. In particular, the performance of the proposed LGFSV for face identification under pose variation and change in illumination and expression is evaluated on standard face databases such as ORL; Head Pose Image Database, Georgia Tech Face Database, CMU-PIE, GTAV and RLCI face databases. Experimental results with LGFSV show a significant improvement over individual face representation techniques.
Energy Efficient VM Live Migration in Energy Efficient VM Live Migration in Energy Efficient VM Live Migration in Energy Efficient VM Live Migration in Cloud Data Centers

Server consolidation is one of the techniques to reduce the overall energy consumption in the data centers besides various hardware and software features. Virtualization technology (VT) has made this possible with the help of various hypervisors which helps to create the virtual machines (VMs). During consolidation there are various parameters that needs to be thrown light into including performance, SLA (Service Level Agreement), CPU-I/O relation etc. Live migration of VM is the key to consolidating the servers without stopping them thereby with near-zero downtime for the systems. Excessive consolidation causes performance degradation which has severe impact on the QoS (Quality of Service) of the application that are running in that environment. VM allocation and placement are the main issues in consolidation. The performance- energy tradeoffs have been discussed based on Greedy heuristics. Finally the simulation and live demonstration results are plotted.
Optical Recording of Action Potentials with Second-Harmonic Generation Microscopy

Nonlinear microscopy has proven to be essential for neuroscience investigations of thick tissue preparations. However, the optical recording of fast (∼1 msec) cellular electrical activity has never until now been successfully combined with this imaging modality. Through the use of second-harmonic generation microscopy of primary Aplysia neurons in culture labeled with 4-[4-(dihexylamino)phenyl][ethynyl]-1-(4-sulfobutyl)pyridinium (inner salt), we optically recorded action potentials with 0.833 msec temporal and 0.6 μm spatial resolution on soma and neurite membranes. Second-harmonic generation response as a function of change in membrane potential was found to be linear with a signal change of ∼6%/100 mV. The signal-to-noise ratio was ∼1 for single-trace action potential recordings but was readily increased to ∼6–7 with temporal averaging of ∼50 scans. Photodamage was determined to be negligible by observing action potential characteristics, cellular resting potential, and gross cellular morphology during and after laser illumination. High-resolution (micrometer scale) optical recording of membrane potential activity by previous techniques has been limited to imaging depths an order of magnitude less than nonlinear methods. Because second-harmonic generation is capable of imaging up to ∼400 μm deep into intact tissue with submicron resolution and little out-of-focus photodamage or bleaching, its ability to record fast electrical activity should prove valuable to future electrophysiology studies.
Swimming with Sharks: Technology Ventures, Defense Mechanisms and Corporate Relationships

This paper focuses on the tension that firms face between the need for resources from partners and the potentially damaging misappropriation of their own resources by corporate “sharks. ” Taking an entrepreneurial lens, we study this tension at tie formation in corporate investment relationships in five U.S. technology-based industries over a 25-year period. Central to our study is the “sharks” dilemma: when do entrepreneurs choose partners with high potential for misappropriation over less risky partners? Our findings show that entrepreneurs take the risk when they need resources that established firms uniquely provide (i.e., financial and manufacturing) and when they have effective defense mechanisms to protect their own resources (i.e., secrecy and timing). Overall, the findings show that tie formation is a negotiation that depends on resource needs, defense mechanisms, and alternative partners. These findings contribute to the recent renaissance of resource dependence theory and to the discussion on the surprising power of entrepreneurial firms in resource mobilization.
Insight into Antigenic Diversity of VAR2CSA-DBL5ε Domain from Multiple Plasmodium falciparum Placental Isolates

Background Protection against pregnancy associated malaria (PAM) is associated with high levels of anti-VAR2CSA antibodies. This protection is obtained by the parity dependent acquisition of anti-VAR2CSA antibodies. Distinct parity-associated molecular signatures have been identified in VAR2CSA domains. These two observations combined point to the importance of identifying VAR2CSA sequence variation, which facilitate parasitic evasion or subversion of host immune response. Highly conserved domains of VAR2CSA such as DBL5ε are likely to contain conserved epitopes, and therefore do constitute attractive targets for vaccine development. Methodology/Principal Findings VAR2CSA DBL5ε-domain sequences obtained from cDNA of 40 placental isolates were analysed by a combination of experimental and in silico methods. Competition ELISA assays on two DBL5ε variants, using plasma samples from women from two different areas and specific mice hyperimmune plasma, indicated that DBL5ε possess conserved and cross-reactive B cell epitopes. Peptide ELISA identified conserved areas that are recognised by naturally acquired antibodies. Specific antibodies against these peptides labelled the native proteins on the surface of placental parasites. Despite high DBL5ε sequence homology among parasite isolates, sequence analyses identified motifs in DBL5ε that discriminate parasites according to donor's parity. Moreover, recombinant proteins of two VAR2CSA DBL5ε variants displayed diverse recognition patterns by plasma from malaria-exposed women, and diverse proteoglycan binding abilities. Conclusions/Significance This study provides insights into conserved and exposed B cell epitopes in DBL5ε that might be a focus for cross reactivity. The importance of sequence variation in VAR2CSA as a critical challenge for vaccine development is highlighted. VAR2CSA conformation seems to be essential to its functionality. Therefore, identification of sequence variation sites in distinct locations within VAR2CSA, affecting antigenicity and/or binding properties, is critical to the effort of developing an efficient VAR2CSA-based vaccine. Motifs associated with parasite segregation according to parity constitute one such site.
Genetic Variants of Pregnane X Receptor (PXR) and CYP2B6 Affect the Induction of Bupropion Hydroxylation by Sodium Ferulate

This study investigated the effects of pregnane X receptor (PXR/NR1I2) and CYP2B6 genetic variants on sodium ferulate (SF)-mediated induction of bupropion hydroxylation. The pharmacokinetics of bupropion and hydroxybupropion were evaluated after an oral dose of bupropion (150 mg) administered with and without SF pretreatment for 14 days in 33 healthy subjects. The area under the time-concentration curve (AUC) ratio of AUC_hyd (AUC(0-∞) of hydroxybupropion)/AUC_bup (AUC(0-∞) of bupropion) represents the CYP2B6 hydroxylation activity, which was significantly lower in CYP2B6*6 carriers (NR1I2 TGT noncarriers or carriers) than in noncarriers in both the basal and SF-induced states (p-value<0.05). AUC ratio and AUC_hyd of NR1I2 -24113AA variant were markedly lower than GA and GG genotypes (7.5±2.1 versus 14.5±3.3 and 20.6±1.1, and 8873±1431 versus 14,504±2218 and 17,586±1046) in the induced states. However, -24020(-)/(-) variant didn't show significant difference in the induction of CYP2B6 hydroxylation activity by SF compared with other -24020[GAGAAG]/(-) genotypes. NR1I2 TGT haplotype (-25385T+g.7635G+g.8055T) carriers exhibited a significantly decreased AUC ratio, compared with TGT noncarriers, in the basal states (7.6±1.0 versus 9.7±1.0), while this result wasn't observed in CYP2B6*6 noncarriers. Moreover, individuals with complete mutation-type [CYP2B6*6/*6+NR1I2 TGT+ -24113AA+ -24020 (-)/(-)] showed even lower percent difference of AUC ratio (8.7±1.2 versus 39.5±8.2) than those with complete wild-type. In conclusion, it is suggested that NR1I2 variants decrease the bupropion hydroxylation induced by SF treatment, particularly in CYP2B6*6 carriers. Trial Registration ChiCTR.org ChiCTR-TRC-11001285