Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Phase-noise scaling in quantum soliton propagation.

We treat the scaling of thermal phase-noise effects and quantum fluctuations for solitons in optical fibers. The central result is that the size of the thermal noise relative to quantum noise is reduced in proportion to the soliton duration for solitons whose duration is less than the thermal correlation times, suggesting that squeezed quantum solitons should be realizable in optical fibers. The physical basis for this effect is largely the fact that squeezing, which is nonlinear, occurs more rapidly for shorter pulses.
Genetic Susceptibility to Atherosclerosis

Atherosclerosis is a complex multifocal arterial disease involving interactions of multiple genetic and environmental factors. Advances in techniques of molecular genetics have revealed that genetic ground significantly influences susceptibility to atherosclerotic vascular diseases. Besides further investigations of monogenetic diseases, candidate genes, genetic polymorphisms, and susceptibility loci associated with atherosclerotic diseases have been identified in recent years, and their number is rapidly increasing. This paper discusses main genetic investigations fields associated with human atherosclerotic vascular diseases. The paper concludes with a discussion of the directions and implications of future genetic research in arteriosclerosis with an emphasis on prospective prediction from an early age of individuals who are predisposed to develop premature atherosclerosis as well as to facilitate the discovery of novel drug targets.
Diagnosis of Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome in Adults: A Brief Review of Existing Data for Practice in Iran

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a common disorder associated with major comorbidities. It is estimated that 5–35% of the adult population in Iran are at high risk for OSA. This review article is designed to assist sleep medicine specialists as well as general practitioners in Iran to screen for OSA. It summarizes empirical data for diagnosing OSA including history taking, physical examination, diagnostic testing, and diagnostic criteria with regards to existing sleep medicine centers and availability of diagnostic tests in Iran.
Comparison of pulsed-field gel electrophoresis and ribotyping for subtyping of Vibrio cholerae O139 isolated in Thailand

Summary Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) of Cpo I-digested genomic DNA and ribotyping (Bgl I) were applied to 60 Vibrio cholerae strains including 48 V. cholerae O139 from Thailand to compare their value in differentiating strains of the present V. cholerae O139 epidemic. PFGE patters were divided into groups A and B representing five and four subtypes, respectively, while ribotyping showed four different patterns. PFGE group B subtypes were only presented among O139 isolates from Thailand, whereas four O139 strains from Bangladesh and India showed identical PFGE group A subtypes observed in O139 isolates from Thailand. Two nontoxigenic O139 isolates from Thailand showed different and unique PFGE types as did five V. cholerae non-Ol non-O139 isolates containing a gene virulence complex found in V. cholerae O139. These results indicate that PFGE (Cpo I) can resolve recent evolutionary divergence within V. cholerae O139 and offers a useful supplementary tool for following the progressing V. cholerae O139 epidemic.
Hexose Kinases and Their Role in Sugar-Sensing and Plant Development

Hexose sugars, such as glucose and fructose produced in plants, are ubiquitous in most organisms and are the origin of most of the organic matter found in nature. To be utilized, hexose sugars must first be phosphorylated. The central role of hexose-phosphorylating enzymes has attracted the attention of many researchers, leading to novel discoveries. Only two families of enzymes capable of phosphorylating glucose and fructose have been identified in plants; hexokinases (HXKs), and fructokinases (FRKs). Intensive investigations of these two families in numerous plant species have yielded a wealth of knowledge regarding the genes number, enzymatic characterization, intracellular localization, and developmental and physiological roles of several HXKs and FRKs. The emerging picture indicates that HXK and FRK enzymes found at specific intracellular locations play distinct roles in plant metabolism and development. Individual HXKs were shown for the first time to be dual-function enzymes – sensing sugar levels independent of their catalytic activity and controlling gene expression and major developmental pathways, as well as hormonal interactions. FRK, on the other hand, seems to play a central metabolic role in vascular tissues, controlling the amounts of sugars allocated for vascular development. While a clearer picture of the roles of these two types of enzymes is emerging, many questions remain unsolved, such as the specific tissues and types of cells in which these enzymes function, the roles of individual HXK and FRK genes, and how these enzymes interact with hormones in the regulation of developmental processes. It is anticipated that ongoing efforts will broaden our knowledge of these important plant enzymes and their potential uses in the modification of plant traits.
Familial collaborations in a museum

Studies of interactive systems in museums have raised important design considerations, but so far have failed to address sufficiently the particularities of family interaction and co-operation. This paper introduces qualitative video-based observations of Japanese families using an interactive portable guide system in a museum. Results show how unexpected usage can occur through particularities of interaction between family members. The paper highlights the necessity to more fully consider familial relationships in HCI.
Growth, development, and behavior in early childhood following prenatal cocaine exposure: a systematic review.

CONTEXT Despite recent studies that failed to show catastrophic effects of prenatal cocaine exposure, popular attitudes and public policies still reflect the belief that cocaine is a uniquely dangerous teratogen. OBJECTIVE To critically review outcomes in early childhood after prenatal cocaine exposure in 5 domains: physical growth; cognition; language skills; motor skills; and behavior, attention, affect, and neurophysiology. DATA SOURCES Search of MEDLINE and Psychological Abstracts from 1984 to October 2000. STUDY SELECTION Studies selected for detailed review (1) were published in a peer-reviewed English-language journal; (2) included a comparison group; (3) recruited samples prospectively in the perinatal period; (4) used masked assessment; and (5) did not include a substantial proportion of subjects exposed in utero to opiates, amphetamines, phencyclidine, or maternal human immunodeficiency virus infection. DATA EXTRACTION Thirty-six of 74 articles met criteria and were reviewed by 3 authors. Disagreements were resolved by consensus. DATA SYNTHESIS After controlling for confounders, there was no consistent negative association between prenatal cocaine exposure and physical growth, developmental test scores, or receptive or expressive language. Less optimal motor scores have been found up to age 7 months but not thereafter, and may reflect heavy tobacco exposure. No independent cocaine effects have been shown on standardized parent and teacher reports of child behavior scored by accepted criteria. Experimental paradigms and novel statistical manipulations of standard instruments suggest an association between prenatal cocaine exposure and decreased attentiveness and emotional expressivity, as well as differences on neurophysiologic and attentional/affective findings. CONCLUSIONS Among children aged 6 years or younger, there is no convincing evidence that prenatal cocaine exposure is associated with developmental toxic effects that are different in severity, scope, or kind from the sequelae of multiple other risk factors. Many findings once thought to be specific effects of in utero cocaine exposure are correlated with other factors, including prenatal exposure to tobacco, marijuana, or alcohol, and the quality of the child's environment. Further replication is required of preliminary neurologic findings.
Diversity and Enzymatic Profiling of Halotolerant Micromycetes from Sebkha El Melah, a Saharan Salt Flat in Southern Tunisia

Twenty-one moderately halotolerant fungi have been isolated from sample ashes collected from Sebkha El Melah, a Saharan salt flat located in southern Tunisia. Based on morphology and sequence inference from the internal transcribed spacer regions, 28S rRNA gene and other specific genes such as β-tubulin, actin, calmodulin, and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, the isolates were found to be distributed over 15 taxa belonging to 6 genera of Ascomycetes: Cladosporium (n = 3), Alternaria (n = 4), Aspergillus (n = 3), Penicillium (n = 5), Ulocladium (n = 2), and Engyodontium (n = 2). Their tolerance to different concentrations of salt in solid and liquid media was examined. Excepting Cladosporium cladosporioides JA18, all isolates were considered as alkali-halotolerant since they were able to grow in media containing 10% of salt with an initial pH 10. All isolates were resistant to oxidative stresses and low temperature whereas 5 strains belonging to Alternaria, Ulocladium, and Aspergillus genera were able to grow at 45°C. The screening of fungal strains for sets of enzyme production, namely, cellulase (CMCase), amylase, protease, lipase, and laccase, in presence of 10% NaCl, showed a variety of extracellular hydrolytic and oxidative profiles. Protease was the most abundant enzyme produced whereas laccase producers were members of the genus Cladosporium.
Blood Hematology and Biochemical Traits and Some Organs Relative Weights of Chicken Cocks

Two local strains of chickens [Bandara (B) and Gimmizah (G)] were used in reciprocal crossing to determine the effects of different genotypes on blood hematology and biochemical traits, body weight and relative organs weights of cocks. Results showed significnat differences among all genotypes studied concerning all blood hematology traits, while the BxG cross had the highest values of packed cell volume and mean cell hemoglubin. Both BxG and its reciprocal cross had significnatly a highest and equal averages of hemoglubin and mean cell volume concentration while G strain had the highest red blood cells count comapred to the other genotypes. Concerning blood biochemical traits, both pure strains (G and B) had nearly significnatly similar averages of serum protein, while G strain had the highest serum albumin average and B strain had the highest content of cholesterol. However, both crosses (BxG and GxB) had the highest average of alanine amino transaminase (ALT) overall genotypes. Cocks of B and GxB cross were significnatly heaviest weights compared to the other genotypes. Liver relative weight of BxG cocks was the heaviest while B cocks had the heaviest relative weights of tests and pancrease. The G cocks had the heaviest spleen J.Agric. &Env.Sci.Alex.Univ.,Egypt Vol.5 (1)2006 7: relative weight, but no significant effects of crossing on thymus relative weight were found. It could be concluded that heterotic effects of crossing between Bandara and Gimmizah and their reciprocal crosses were positive in most blood hematological traits, body weight and testes relative weights at 16 weeks of age. Negative estimates of heterotic effects for all biochemical blood traits were found except for serum alanine amino transaminase (ALT) when Gimmizah strain was used as a sire. Also, negative heterotic effects were found concerning relative weights of most organs studied.
Scattering attenuation in randomly layered structures with finite lateral extent: A hybrid Q model

Since the pioneering work of O'Doherty and Anstey (1971), much research has been devoted to understand the effect of stratigraphic filtering of seismic waves, i.e., the problem of multiple scattering in 1D random structures (e.g., Burridge et al., 1993; Shapiro and Hubral, 1999). For many subsurface structures, such as sedimentary basins, the assumption of layering is reasonable as a first approximation. However, real geostructures do not show perfect layering but exhibit a finite lateral extent in their elastic properties. This becomes particularly important when studying overburden effects in reflection seismology, where amplitude information is used in subsequent data analysis. For example, Malme et al. (2003) showed that the amplitude variation with offset (AVO) response for a vertical seismic profile (VSP) experiment over a North Sea field is significantly distorted by nonlayered overburden inhomogeneities. They demonstrated by seismic forward modeling that pointlike diffractors and large-scale, gas-filled sand bodies can be responsible for strong amplitude fluctuations. In this short note, we study the transmission behavior of seismic primaries when the finite lateral extent of the inhomogeneities is accounted for. Physically speaking, we intend to quantify the combined effects of scattering attenuation due to thin layering and random diffractions and refractions. It is important to understand that our approach describes scattering attenuation of seismic primaries and not attenuation of the mean field (ensemble averaged wavefield) as presented in earlier works (e.g., Lerche, 1986). We use the model of an anisotropic 3D random medium. Anisotropy in this context means that the randomly distributed inhomogeneities have three different characteristic length scales and are characterized by a spatially anisotropic correlation function. We also assume that the medium is lossless, so that no intrinsic wave attenuation occurs. A sketch of such a structure is shown in Figure 1, resembling a realization of a 2D …
Even Delta-Matroids and the Complexity of Planar Boolean CSPs

The main result of this article is a generalization of the classical blossom algorithm for finding perfect matchings. Our algorithm can efficiently solve Boolean CSPs where each variable appears in exactly two constraints (we call it edge CSP) and all constraints are even Δ-matroid relations (represented by lists of tuples). As a consequence of this, we settle the complexity classification of planar Boolean CSPs started by Dvořák and Kupec. Using a reduction to even Δ-matroids, we then extend the tractability result to larger classes of Δ-matroids that we call efficiently coverable. It properly includes classes that were known to be tractable before, namely, co-independent, compact, local, linear, and binary, with the following caveat: We represent Δ-matroids by lists of tuples, while the last two use a representation by matrices. Since an n×n matrix can represent exponentially many tuples, our tractability result is not strictly stronger than the known algorithm for linear and binary Δ-matroids.
Laser ablation ICP-MS analysis of olivine-hosted melt inclusions from the Mull plateau group lavas, Mull, Scotland

The 840 km lava field of the Isle of Mull, Scotland, represents only a small part of the North Atlantic Tertiary Igneous Province. The cause of this igneous activity at approximately 60 Ma, was the arrival and decompression melting of a hot plume. Previous work on the Mull lavas has focused on the whole rock geochemistry. The aim of this study is the analysis of olivine-hosted melt inclusions by Laser-Ablation Inductively-Coupled-Plasma Mass-Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS). Melt inclusions are small aliquots of melt trapped by growing crystals (i.e. olivine, plagioclase) during magma evolution prior to and during eruptions. Therefore, melt inclusions analysis can provide valuable information on crystallisation temperatures, the sequence of phase changes in the host magma during cooling, cooling rates, the composition and volatile content of the host magma and liquid lines of decent. In the context of Continental Flood Basalts, melt inclusions also have the potential to provide information on the timing, extent and geochemical effects of crustal contamination. Whole rock data indicated that the parental magmas of Mull Plateau Group lavas represent 4 to 13% melting of a depleted mantle source, located in the spinel-garnet transition zone. Whereas, melt inclusion data show that these parental magmas are mixtures of partial melts of between 2 and 20%, and that the whole rock values only reflect the mean extent of melting. These parental magmas rose through the lithosphere, with little interaction, before ponding near the lithospheric-crust boundary. Fractionation of spinel, olivine and clinopyroxene occurred concurrently with contamination of up to 8% Lewisian granulite by both Assimilation during Turbulent Assent and Assimilation during Fractional Crystallisation processes, with the hottest, most voluminous mantle melts suffering the greatest contamination. Many of the MPG lavas contain olivine phenocrysts enclosing decrepitated melt inclusions, which decrepitate in response to a drop in pressure, but without a corresponding drop in temperature. Therefore, the parental magmas of the MPG lavas rose rapidly from the lower crust, before being emplaced on Mull.
Exploring Vibrato-Motivated Acoustic Features for Singer Identification

Vibrato is a slightly tremulous effect imparted to vocal or instrumental tone for added warmth and expressiveness through slight variation in pitch. It corresponds to a periodic fluctuation of the fundamental frequency. It is common for a singer to develop a vibrato function to personalize his/her singing style. In this paper, we explore the acoustic features that reflect vibrato information in order to identify singers of popular music. We start with an enhanced vocal detection method that allows us to select vocal segments with high confidence. From the selected vocal segments, the cepstral coefficients which reflect the vibrato characteristics are computed. These coefficients are derived using bandpass filters, such as parabolic and cascaded bandpass filters, spread according to the octave frequency scale. The strategy of our classifier formulation is to utilize the high level musical knowledge of song structure in singer modeling. Singer identification is validated on a database containing 84 popular songs from commercially available CD recordings from 12 singers. We achieve an average error rate of 16.2% in segment level identification
Late Holocene ,-..; 1500 yr climatic periodicities and their implications

Fourier and nonlinear regression analysis of a 4000+ yr paleoclimate proxy record in western Canada shows strong periodicities of ∼1500 yr and several weaker century- to millenial-scale periodicities. In conjunction with the 23 708 yr Milankovitch periodicity, these produce a model of climate fluctuation through the postglacial consistent with recognized paleoclimatic fluctuations of the past 15 000 yr in the northern mid-latitudes. These results suggest that postglacial climatic anomalies such as the Little Ice Age and the Younger Dryas were at least in part periodic phenomena rather than the result of unique, aperiodic events. Projecting these periodicities into the future suggests that even in the absence of anthropogenic climate forcing, a natural warming trend will continue until ca. a.d. 2400.
Chitin, Chitosan, and Its Derivatives for Wound Healing: Old and New Materials

Chitin (β-(1-4)-poly-N-acetyl-d-glucosamine) is widely distributed in nature and is the second most abundant polysaccharide after cellulose. It is often converted to its more deacetylated derivative, chitosan. Previously, many reports have indicated the accelerating effects of chitin, chitosan, and its derivatives on wound healing. More recently, chemically modified or nano-fibrous chitin and chitosan have been developed, and their effects on wound healing have been evaluated. In this review, the studies on the wound-healing effects of chitin, chitosan, and its derivatives are summarized. Moreover, the development of adhesive-based chitin and chitosan are also described. The evidence indicates that chitin, chitosan, and its derivatives are beneficial for the wound healing process. More recently, it is also indicate that some nano-based materials from chitin and chitosan are beneficial than chitin and chitosan for wound healing. Clinical applications of nano-based chitin and chitosan are also expected.
Immunosensors for Pesticide Analysis: Antibody Production and Sensor Development

ABSTRACT: Immunosensors, a type of affinity biosensor, are based on the binding interactions between an immobilized biomolecule (antibody/antigen) on the electronic transducer surface with the analyte of interest (antigen/antibody), resulting in a detectable signal. The sensor system takes advantage of the high selectivity provided by the molecular recognition characteristic of an antibody, which binds reversibly with a specific antigen. This review article presents the current status of immunosensors, highlighting their potential benefits and limitations for pesticide analysis. The basic criteria for generating specific antibodies against low-molecular-mass pesticides, which are usually nonimmunogenic in nature, are briefly discussed. The article also describes the fundamentals of important transducer technologies and their use in immunosensor development.
Traumatic events: prevalence and delayed recall in the general population.

A random sample of 724 individuals across the United States were mailed a questionnaire containing demographic information, an abridged version of the Traumatic Events Survey (D. M. Elliott, 1992), and questions regarding memory for traumatic events. Of these, 505 (70%) completed the survey. Among respondents who reported some form of trauma (72%), delayed recall of the event was reported by 32%. This phenomenon was most common among individuals who observed the murder or suicide of a family member, sexual abuse survivors, and combat veterans. The severity of the trauma was predictive of memory status, but demographic variables were not. The most commonly reported trigger to recall of the trauma was some form of media presentation (i.e., television show, movie), whereas psychotherapy was the least commonly reported trigger.