Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Single-photon emission computed tomography as a fundamental tool in evaluation of myocardial reparation and regeneration therapies

Despite unquestionable progress in interventional and pharmacologic therapies of ischemic heart disease, the number of patients with chronic ischemic heart failure is increasing and the prognosis remains poor. Repair/restoration of functional myocardium through progenitor cell-mediated (PCs) healing and renovation of injured myocardium is one of the pivotal directions in biomedical research. PCs release numerous pro-angiogenic and anti-apoptotic factors. Moreover, they have self-renewal capability and may differentiate into specialized cells that include endothelial cells and cardiomyocytes. Uptake and homing of PCs in the zone(s) of ischaemic injury (i.e., their effective transplantation to the target zone) is an essential pre-requisite for any potential therapeutic effect; thus effective cell tracking is fundamental in pre-clinical and early clinical studies. Another crucial requirement in rigorous research is quantification of the infarct zone, including the amount of non-perfused and hypo-perfused myocardium. Quantitative and reproducible evaluation of global and regional myocardial contractility and left ventricular remodeling is particularly relevant in clinical studies. Using SPECT, our earlier work has addressed several critical questions in cardiac regenerative medicine including optimizing transcoronary cell delivery, determination of the zone(s) of myocardial cell uptake, and late functional improvement in relation to the magnitude of cell uptake. Here, we review the role of single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), a technique that offers high-sensitivity, quantitative cell tracking on top of its ability to evaluate myocardial perfusion and function on both cross-sectional and longitudinal bases. SPECT, with its direct relevance to routine clinical practice, is a fundamental tool in evaluation of myocardial reparation and regeneration therapies.
Deletion of Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3 Beta Reprograms NK Cell Metabolism

Simple Summary Natural killer (NK) cells from patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), or from healthy donors and expanded with IL-15, show defective cytotoxicity and elevated levels of glycogen synthase kinase 3 beta (GSK3β), and drug inhibition of GSK3β was able to improve their cytotoxicity and maturation. To better understand its biologic role, we deleted GSK3B in NK cells and assessed their phenotype, gene expression, and function. We did not find alterations in cytotoxicity or maturation, but did observe increased metabolic function and alterations in genes related to mitochondrial metabolism. This suggests that GSK3β is a regulator of NK-cell metabolism. Abstract Loss of cytotoxicity and defective metabolism are linked to glycogen synthase kinase 3 beta (GSK3β) overexpression in natural killer (NK) cells from patients with acute myeloid leukemia or from healthy donors after expansion ex vivo with IL-15. Drug inhibition of GSK3β in these NK cells improves their maturation and cytotoxic activity, but the mechanisms of GSK3β-mediated dysfunction have not been well studied. Here, we show that expansion of NK cells with feeder cells expressing membrane-bound IL-21 maintained normal GSK3β levels, allowing us to study GSK3β function using CRISPR gene editing. We deleted GSK3B and expanded paired-donor knockout and wild-type (WT) NK cells and then assessed transcriptional and functional alterations induced by loss of GSK3β. Surprisingly, our data showed that deletion of GSK3B did not alter cytotoxicity, cytokine production, or maturation (as determined by CD57 expression). However, GSK3B-KO cells demonstrated significant changes in expression of genes related to rRNA processing, cell proliferation, and metabolic function, suggesting possible metabolic reprogramming. Next, we found that key genes downregulated in GSK3B-KO NK cells were upregulated in GSK3β-overexpressing NK cells from AML patients, confirming this correlation in a clinical setting. Lastly, we measured cellular energetics and observed that GSK3B-KO NK cells exhibited 150% higher spare respiratory capacity, a marker of metabolic fitness. These findings suggest a role for GSK3β in regulating NK cell metabolism.
Intercropped Plants Provide a Reservoir of Predatory Mites in Coffee Crop

Conservation biological control of pests may be achieved using a variety of integrated strategies based on crop diversification. We investigated whether the insertion of the intercropped plants species (IPS) Inga edulis, Senna macranthera, and Varronia curassavica modified the abundance of mites, their feeding behavior, and the dissimilarity of predator and herbivore mites over a gradient of distance from the IPS on coffee. To accomplish this, we recorded the mite species on coffee plants along transects of 16 m extending from the IPS, including on the IPS. A total of 8946 specimens were sampled. Tenuipalpidae was the most abundant family on coffee, followed by Tydeidae, while Eriophyidae was the most abundant on the IPS, followed by Phytoseiidae. The abundance and richness of mites differed between their feeding behavior and distance. The dissimilarity of predators and herbivores increased along a gradient of distance. Furthermore, the IPS harbored several mite species and the diversity of predator and herbivore mites among the IPS was different. The findings suggest that the intercropped plant species can attract and serve as a reservoir of predatory mites on coffee crops, which could improve the biocontrol of pest mites on coffee.
Erratum: “An Ultraviolet-to-Radio Broadband Spectral Atlas of Nearby Galaxies” (ApJ, 655, 863 [2007])

D. A. Dale, A. Gil de Paz, K. D. Gordon, H. M. Hanson, L. Armus, G. J. Bendo, L. Bianchi, M. Block, S. Boissier, A. Boselli, B. A. Buckalew, V. Buat, D. Burgarella, D. Calzetti, J. M. Cannon, C. W. Engelbracht, G. Helou, D. J. Hollenbach, T. H. Jarrett, R. C. Kennicutt, C. Leitherer, A. Li, B. F. Madore, M. J. Meyer, E. J. Murphy, M. W. Regan, H. Roussel, J. D. T. Smith, M. L. Sosey, D. A. Thilker, and F. Walter
Implementation of a Pilot-Scale Biotrickling Filtration Process for Biogas Desulfurization under Anoxic Conditions Using Agricultural Digestate as Trickling Liquid

A pilot-scale biotrickling filter (BTF) was operated in counter-current flow mode under anoxic conditions, using diluted agricultural digestate as inoculum and as the recirculation medium for the nutrient source. The process was tested on-site at an agricultural fermentation plant, where real biogas was used. The pilot plant was therefore exposed to real process-related fluctuations. The purpose of this research was to attest the validity of the filtration process for use at an industrial-scale by operating the pilot plant under realistic conditions. Neither the use of agricultural digestate as trickling liquid and nor a BTF of this scale have previously been reported in the literature. The pilot plant was operated for 149 days. The highest inlet load was 8.5 gS-H2Sm−3h−1 with a corresponding removal efficiency of 99.2%. The pH remained between 7.5 and 4.6 without any regulation throughout the complete experimental phase. The analysis of the microbial community showed that both anaerobic and anoxic bacteria can adapt to the fluctuating operating conditions and coexist simultaneously, thus contributing to the robustness of the process. The operation of an anoxic BTF with agricultural digestate as the trickling liquid proved to be viable for industrial-scale use.
STRUCTURAL GEOLOGY ALGORITHMS: VECTORS AND TENSORS

By Richard W. Allmendinger, Nestor Cardozo, and Donald M. Fisher (2012). Cambridge University Press, paperback 302 pages. ISBN: 978-1107401389. This book presents the mathematics behind structural geology and, by implication and example, tectonics—the difference being a matter of scale. The essence of structural geology is to understand the transition of an initial geometry (such as a layered sedimentary sequence) to a different final geometry (such as a fold and thrust belt). A huge part of that task involves characterizing the shape changes and their evolution, a prerequisite for understanding the driving forces behind such changes. That is a geometric and kinematic problem and the mathematical techniques of vector and tensor manipulation are ideally suited to the job. Some textbooks and lecture courses in structural geology tend to avoid or play down this mathematical framework, but this book does not: it puts the mathematics center stage and backs up the theoretical development with a suite of Matlab subroutines, which are given in the text and are available online. The book opens with a chapter on projections such as those used in constructing stereonets, then Chapters 2–5 introduce the …
A New Method Based on Lyapunov Exponent to Determine the Threshold of Chaotic Systems

The Duffing equation has been widely used to detect weak periodic signals. The transition threshold is the key to detect. Unfortunately, there is no effective method to determine the critical threshold. To solve this problem, a new method based on the QR decomposition to calculate Lyapunov exponent is presented. The accuracy of the algorithm will gradually improve with the sampling time increasing or the sampling period decreasing. The experimental results show that the method can determine the interval which contains the threshold, and detect the mutation acts of chaotic systems.
Analysis of CO and temperature distributions in simulated molecular clouds

We have analyzed the distributions of CO and temperature in a large suite of simulated molecular clouds, in order to help us understand how to interpret CO line emission from real molecular clouds. We find that most of the CO is located at densities over 10 3 cm -3 where the temperature is roughly 10–20 K independently of the mean density, metallicity and UV field strength. Although, most of the volume is in warmer and thinner regions where CO abundance is small. On that account, CO observations alone give a misleading view of the physical conditions in the clouds.
Thermal Boundary Conditions on the Cross Sections Normal to the Main Flow of a Fully Developed Convection in a Tube with Tape Insert

Reasonable thermal boundary conditions are very necessary for a numerical analysis to achieve reasonable results. When conjugated heat transfer is considered, it is very hard to specify the thermal boundary conditions on the inlet and outlet sections of the solid regions. As an example, the case of a tube with tape insert is studied. Based on results obtained by the model that simulates the fluid flow and heat transfer from entrance region to fully developed region, the characteristics of temperature distribution on the cross sections of the tube wall, the tape and the fluid flow in a tube with tape insert are analyzed. Then, the nondimensional temperatures having the characteristics of zero gradient along the main stream direction in the tube, the tape and the fluid regions are found. To check the correctness and usefulness of the defined nondimensional temperatures, the results obtained by the model from developing into a fully developed region are compared with those of the fully developed model. The results reveal that there exist the above-mentioned nondimensional temperatures in the fully developed region, which can be used to specify the thermal boundary conditions on the cross sections of the solids along the main stream direction.
DONUTS: An efficient method for checkpointing in non‐volatile memories

Non‐volatile memory (NVM) is an emerging technology being explored as an alternative to DRAM main memory in computing systems because of its persistence, higher storage density, lower energy consumption, and access latency close to DRAM. However, persistent memory systems must ensure data consistency on system failures, a property known as crash consistency. One of the main challenges in these systems is creating efficient checkpointing mechanisms in terms of performance and usability. Thus, it is necessary to remove persistence from the critical execution path and reduce the excessive number of writes to NVM caused by logging operations, resulting in increased memory bandwidth usage. Another limitation is that most proposed mechanisms restrict application source code to programming interfaces based on transactional models, typed as software‐based approaches. These factors make it challenging to adopt NVM systems. This article presents a software‐transparent mechanism based on dynamic epochs with logging operations via processing‐in‐memory and checkpoints integrated into the cache replacement policy. Compared to the previous best‐performing system, our strategy reduces 50.6% of writes to NVM. Furthermore, it does not increase the average memory bandwidth usage, providing crash consistency with less than 2% runtime overhead.
Geoffrey M. Lilley: A Very Brief Biography

This introductory article is an attempt to highlight some background information as well as some career highlights for Professor Geoffrey M. Lilley. Though an attempt has been made to describe some earlier activities, there is an emphasis on those achievements made after I crossed paths with Professor Lilley in 1964. In the next article in this special issue Bob Westley gives a much lengthier description of his collaborations with Professor Lilley at Cranfield College of Aeronautics in the 1940's and 50's. It must be left to others, including Professor Lilley himself, to expand on the brief biography and bibliography compiled here. I have kept the account very factual and that may make it somewhat dry reading, though the breadth of Professor Lilley's achievements may come as a surprise to some. It did to me. If I had chosen to include my recollections of Professor Lilley's many stories of his adventures around the world, this article would have been much much longer. Also, I could never do these stories justice, as Professor Lilley's skill as a raconteur is unrivalled. I hope that this article will give the reader some sense of Professor Lilley's contributions to aerospace engineering and science for more than seven decades.
Regulating Li+ Transfer and Solvation Structure via Metal-Organic Framework for Stable Li Anode

Lithium metal batteries (LMBs) possess large application potential for advanced rechargeable batteries due to the high energy density (> 500 Wh kg−1) and alternative cathode materials. Random Li dendrite growth caused by uneven Li+ distribution and local ion depletion near surface of Li anode induces battery failure with inferior long-term stability. Therefore, regulation of ion distribution near anode surface is essential to realize dendrite-free and uniform Li deposition. Herein, a metal-organic framework (MOF), i.e., ZIF-8, is applied to regulate Li+ solvation structure via unsaturated metal-ion sites to achieve uniform Li+ distribution and Li deposition. A stable cycling performance over 800 h for Li symmetrical cell at 3 mA cm−2 and 3 mAh cm−2 without short circuit is realized. The facilitated Li+ solvation via the adsorption effect of metal-ion sites on anions is demonstrated, which further enhances the uniform Li+ distribution near Li anode surface. This work demonstrates an effective strategy for regulating ion coordination and Li+ distribution to stabilize Li anode via MOF-based materials.
Investigations into a power-combining structure using a reflectarray of dual-feed aperture-coupled microstrip patch antennas

This paper details an investigation of a power combiner that uses a reflectarray of dual-feed aperture-coupled microstrip patch antennas and a corporate-fed dual-polarized array as a signal distributing/combining device. In this configuration, elements of the reflectarray receive a linearly polarized wave and retransmit it with an orthogonal polarization using variable-length sections of microstrip lines connecting receive and transmit ports. By applying appropriate lengths of these delay lines, the array focuses the transmitted wave onto the feed array. The operation of the combiner is investigated for a small-size circular reflectarray for the cases of -3 dB, -6 dB and -10 dB edge illumination by the 2/spl times/2-element dual-polarized array.
Amorphous silicon-based guided-wave passive and active devices for silicon integrated optoelectronics

Waveguides and interferometric light amplitude modulators for application at the 1.3- and 1.55-/spl mu/m fiber communication wavelengths have been fabricated with thin-film hydrogenated amorphous silicon and its related alloys. The technique adopted for the thin-film growth is the plasma- enhanced chemical vapor deposition, which has been shown to give the lowest defect concentration in the film. Consequently the proposed waveguiding structures take advantage of the low optical absorption shown by a-Si:H at photon energies below the energy gap. In addition a good radiation confinement can be obtained thanks to the bandgap tailoring opportunity offered by this simple and inexpensive technology. In particular rib waveguides, based on a a-SiC:H/a-Si:H stack, have been realized on crystal silicon, showing low propagation losses. Recently, however, a new interest as low as 0.7 dB/cm. The same structure has been utilized for the fabrication of thermooptic Fabry-Perot modulators with switching times of 10 /spl mu/s. Modulators based on the alternative waveguiding configuration ZnO/a-Si:H, giving comparable results, are also presented.
Determination of large strains in metalforming

Abstract Certain techniques for the experimental determination of large strains in metalforming are discussed. The methods employ a grid pattern marked on the surface of the workpiece before forming and subsequently measured after deformation. The grid method is a surface phenomenon and the strain determination is reduced to a two dimensional problem. Any measurements taken on the initial and final grid configurations only, without knowing the deformation path, are insufficient to determine the strains precisely. Nevertheless, in practice, strains are determined by such a technique, often by using grid circles and by further assuming they deform into ellipses. The deformation process which transforms circles to ellipses and straight lines to straight lines, still does not define the straining path. Under such a deformation mode strain paths can be divided into two main types, those where an initially orthogonal pair of line elements (the principal axes) remain orthogonal throughout the deformation and those where they do not. The same change in shape can be achieved by either type of straining path, but the distinction between each straining mode is discussed and analysed in simple terms. The analysis is performed with reference to a square or quadrilateral grid of lines since automatic image analysis can be most effectively exploited when using coordinate or nodal point measures.
Modelling dynamic crack propagation using the scaled boundary finite element method

This study presents a novel application of the scaled boundary finite element method (SBFEM) to model dynamic crack propagation problems. Accurate dynamic stress intensity factors are extracted directly from the semi‐analytical solutions of SBFEM. They are then used in the dynamic fracture criteria to determine the crack‐tip position, velocity and propagation direction. A simple, yet flexible remeshing algorithm is used to accommodate crack propagation. Three dynamic crack propagation problems that include mode‐I and mix‐mode fracture are modelled. The results show good agreement with experimental and numerical results available in the literature. It is found that the developed method offers some advantages over conventional FEM in terms of accuracy, efficiency and ease of implementation. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Fast calculation of a voltage stability index

The minimum singular value of the power flow Jacobian matrix has been used as a static voltage stability index, indicating the distance between the studied operating point and the steady-state voltage stability limit. A fast method to calculate the minimum singular value and the corresponding (left and right) singular vectors is presented. The main advantages of the algorithm are the small amount of computation time needed, and that it only requires information available from an ordinary program for power flow calculations. The proposed method fully utilizes the sparsity of the power flow Jacobian matrix and the memory requirements for the computation are low. These advantages are preserved when applied to various submatrices of the Jacobian matrix. The algorithm was applied to small test systems and to a large system with over 1000 nodes, with satisfactory results. >
Competition between prismatic and basal slip in hexagonal titanium–aluminum alloys with short-range order

Plasticity of hexagonal titanium–aluminum alloys depends on the solute concentration and the order state of Al atoms. Development of short-range order (SRO) modifies Al strengthening and impacts the competition between prismatic and basal slip modes. Using ab initio calculations, we study the interaction of a screw dislocation with isolated Al atoms and Al pairs in an hcp Ti existing in short-range ordered Ti–Al alloys. Calculated activation energies reveal pronounced hardening caused by Al addition for both slip systems, which become competitive. This hardening is enhanced for Al pairs, resulting in a reduced plastic anisotropy of Ti–Al alloys with SRO. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT IMPACT STATEMENT Short-range ordering is shown to impact plasticity in ahexagonal Ti–Al solid solution through ab initio modeling of dislocation interaction withsolute and pair of solute atoms.
A Single-Stage Regulating Voltage-Doubling Rectifier for Wireless Power Transfer

In this letter, a 6.78-MHz single-stage regulating voltage-doubling rectifier is presented for biomedical wireless power transfer (WPT) applications. Derived from a full-wave voltage doubler, a theoretical voltage conversion ratio (VCR) of 2 can be achieved, which benefits the end-to-end voltage gain of a biomedical WPT system with varying link conditions. As a result, a wider WPT operational range and less coil-link loss can be achieved. To avoid efficiency loss due to cascading, the rectifier output is in-situ regulated in a sub-50-mV hysteresis window by pulse-skipping control. To ensure a high power conversion efficiency (PCE), adaptive delay-compensated active diodes are adopted with an offset locking technique. The input/output capacitors of the rectifier are fabricated on-chip, achieving a fully integrated design. The rectifier was fabricated in a 180-nm BCD process, occupying a silicon area of 0.3/2.7 mm2 without/with on-chip capacitors. The measurements show that the rectifier can realize a peak PCE at 90.6% when the output power is 79.8 mW. The PCE and VCR are achieved higher than 86.4% and 1.6, respectively, over a large loading range (from 1 to 40 mA). The rectifier can output a maximum power of 159.2 mW, satisfying most biomedical implants.