Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Intersatellite Calibration of Kalpana Thermal Infrared Channel Using AIRS Hyperspectral Observations

This letter presents the results from the intersatellite calibration of Kalpana observations using hyperspectral observations from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS). The intercalibration statistics have been generated for January, April, July, and October in 2009. Kalpana-observed brightness temperatures are found to be close to those of the AIRS observations with standard deviations of about 0.4 K during daytime and 0.3 K during nighttime. However, there are a large cold bias of 1.6 K in Kalpana observations during nighttime and a relatively small cold bias of 0.6 K during daytime. This calibration problem during nighttime is similar to that seen in the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) infrared channels.
EQUINE ANTIHAPTEN ANTIBODY

Anti-p-azophenyl-β-lactoside (Lac) antibody has been isolated from equine antiserum by specific precipitation with Lac-HSA (human serum albumin) and Lac-Hy (hemocyanin). Antibody was separated from antigen by chromatography on DEAE cellulose and zone electrophoresis in solvents containing lactose. Six antigenically distinct immunoglobulins have been identified in purified equine anti-Lac antibody: 7S β2A-globulin, 19S γ-globulin, a 10S γ1 globulin, and three antigenically distinct 7S γ-globulins. The specific hapten-binding activity of the 7S β2A-antibody and of the 10S γ1-antibody has been demonstrated by equilibrium dialysis and by analytical ultracentrifugation using a combination of schlieren and absorption optics. The 10S γ1-globulin antibody may be representative of a hitherto undescribed class of immunoglobulins.
Digital ulcers in systemic sclerosis: prevention by treatment with bosentan, an oral endothelin receptor antagonist.

OBJECTIVE Recurrent digital ulcers are a manifestation of vascular disease in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc; scleroderma) and lead to pain, impaired function, and tissue loss. We investigated whether treatment with the endothelin receptor antagonist, bosentan, decreased the development of new digital ulcers in patients with SSc. METHODS This was a randomized, prospective, placebo-controlled, double-blind study of 122 patients at 17 centers in Europe and North America, evaluating the effect of treatment on prevention of digital ulcers. The primary outcome variable was the number of new digital ulcers developing during the 16-week study period. Secondary assessments included healing of existing digital ulcers and evaluation of hand function using the Scleroderma Health Assessment Questionnaire. RESULTS Patients receiving bosentan had a 48% reduction in the mean number of new ulcers during the treatment period (1.4 versus 2.7 new ulcers; P = 0.0083). Patients who had digital ulcers at the time of entry in the study were at higher risk for the development of new ulcers; in this subgroup the mean number of new ulcers was reduced from 3.6 to 1.8 (P = 0.0075). In patients receiving bosentan, a statistically significant improvement in hand function was observed. There was no difference between treatment groups in the healing of existing ulcers. Serum transaminase levels were elevated to >3-fold the upper limit of normal in bosentan-treated patients; this elevation is comparable with that observed in previous studies of this agent. Other side effects were similar in the 2 treatment groups. CONCLUSION Endothelins may play an important role in the pathogenesis of vascular disease in patients with SSc. Treatment with the endothelin receptor antagonist bosentan may be effective in preventing new digital ulcers and improving hand function in patients with SSc.
Cost-Filtering Algorithms for the two Sides of the Sum of Weights of Distinct Values Constraint

This article introduces the sum of weights of distinct values constraint, which can be seen as a generalization of the number of distinct values as well as of the alldifferent, and the relaxed alldifferent constraints. This constraint holds if a cost variable is equal to the sum of the weights associated to the distinct values taken by a given set of variables. For the first aspect, which is related to domination, we present four filtering algorithms. Two of them lead to perfect pruning when each domain variable consists of one set of consecutive values, while the two others take advantage of holes in the domains. For the second aspect, which is connected to maximum matching in a bipartite graph, we provide a complete filtering algorithm for the general case. Finally we introduce several generic deduction rules, which link both aspects of the constraint. These rules can be applied to other optimization constraints such as the minimum weight alldifferent constraint or the global cardinality constraint with costs. They also allow taking into account external constraints for getting enhanced bounds for the cost variable. In practice, the sum of weights of distinct values constraint occurs in assignment problems where using a resource once or several times costs the same. It also captures domination problems where one has to select a set of vertices in order to control every vertex of a graph.
Research on Response Surface Optimization of Culture Medium for Antibacterial Substances Produced by Bacillus Amyloliquefaciens GN59

Single factor optimization experiment and response surface optimization experiment were designed to research the influence of different culture medium components to bacteriostatic active substances produced by bacillus amyloliquefaciens GN59 strain, and a culture medium formula suitable for the GN59 strain to produce the bacteriostatic active substances was screened. In the single factor experiment, the optimal formula was: glucose 10.0g/L, K2HPO4·3H2O 1.2 g/L, KH2PO4 1.0 g/L, (NH4)2SO4 2.00 g/L, Na3C6H5O7·3H2O 0.9 g/L, and MgSO4·7H2O 0.15 g/L, and the bacteriostatic activity was improved by 14.32% in comparison with that before optimization. In the response surface optimization experiment, the optimal culture medium components were glucose 6.15 g/L, K2HPO4·3H2O 1.2 g/L, KH2PO4 1.0 g/L, (NH4)2SO4 2.50 g/L, Na3C6H5O7·3H2O 1.01 g/L, and MgSO4·7H2O 0.15 g/L, the bacteriostatic activity was improved by 31.18% in comparison with that before optimization, and meanwhile, the product cost was lowered, and batch low-cost and efficient fermentation production of the bacillus amyloliquefaciens GN59 strain was realized.
Predicting gradation of L2 English mispronunciations using ASR with extended recognition network

A CAPT system can be pedagogically improved by giving effective feedback according to the severity of mispronunciations. We obtained perceptual gradations of L2 English mispronunciations through crowdsourcing, conducted quality control to filter for reliable ratings and proposed approaches to predict gradation of word-level mispronunciations. This paper presents our work on making improvements using ASR with extended recognition network to the previous predicting approach to solve its limitations: 1. it is not working for those mispronounced words whose transcriptions are not immediately available; 2. perceptually differently articulated words with the same transcription have the same predicted gradation.
Reputation and Quality of Service for WirelessSensor Networks Using Ant Colony Optimization

In wireless sensor network, security is a major concern. The protection of integrity and confidentiality of information can be protected from unauthorized access is an important one. In open wireless medium and small size of sensor nodes, the implementation of security can be challenged one. In existing, they can be used QDV for securing WSN. Two parameters are used such as QOS and reputation. It takes more simulation time. In proposed, Ant colony optimization concept can be used for more securable between the two neighbour nodes and it can be providing the trusted nodes and more reliable data for communication purposes. Additionally, it can provide the scalability and computation power.
An Electrochemical Quartz Crystal Microbalance Multisensor System Based on Phthalocyanine Nanostructured Films: Discrimination of Musts

An array of electrochemical quartz crystal electrodes (EQCM) modified with nanostructured films based on phthalocyanines was developed and used to discriminate musts prepared from different varieties of grapes. Nanostructured films of iron, nickel and copper phthalocyanines were deposited on Pt/quartz crystals through the Layer by Layer technique by alternating layers of the corresponding phthalocyanine and poly-allylamine hydrochloride. Simultaneous electrochemical and mass measurements were used to study the mass changes accompanying the oxidation of electroactive species present in must samples obtained from six Spanish varieties of grapes (Juan García, Prieto Picudo, Mencía Regadío, Cabernet Sauvignon, Garnacha and Tempranillo). The mass and voltammetric outputs were processed using three-way models. Parallel Factor Analysis (PARAFAC) was successfully used to discriminate the must samples according to their variety. Multi-way partial least squares (N-PLS) evidenced the correlations existing between the voltammetric data and the polyphenolic content measured by chemical methods. Similarly, N-PLS showed a correlation between mass outputs and parameters related to the sugar content. These results demonstrated that electronic tongues based on arrays of EQCM sensors can offer advantages over arrays of mass or voltammetric sensors used separately.
The high harm score of alcohol. Time for drug policy to be revisited?

The aim of this paper is to create awareness of the negative health impact and economic burden and benefits associated to alcohol consumption. Worldwide about two billion people consume alcohol. Low intake of alcohol has a minor protective cardiovascular effect. On the other hand, even moderate alcohol consumption appears to be weakly, but significantly, associated to a limited number of chronic diseases. Alcohol causes a considerable economic burden to society due to the high absolute number of alcohol consumers. As such, alcohol abuse is more harmful for public health and society than illicit drug use. Some 3.7% of alcohol consumers (worldwide 76 million people) have an alcohol use disorder leading to 60–70% of the societal costs related to alcohol. Therefore, policy measures should, in addition to regulatory measures to reduce alcohol use, aim at closing the treatment gap and improving treatment effectiveness of people with an alcohol use disorder. The key message is that policy-makers unjustifiably focus on the harm of illicit drugs, whereas they underestimate the harm of alcohol use. Policy makers should therefore consider alcohol to be at least as harmful as illicit drugs and invest more in prevention and harm reduction strategies for alcohol abuse and dependence.
THERMAL NOISE ANALYSIS OF SWITCHED CAPACITOR NETWORKS

Thermal noise is one of the most important challenges in analogue intergrated circuits design. This problem is more critical in switched capacitor (Sc) filters due to the aliasing effect of wide band thermal noise. In these circuits, switching introduces a boost in the power spectral density of the thermal noise due to aliasing. Unfortunately, even though the theory of noise in Sc circuits is discussed in the literature, it is very tedious and requires highly sophisticated and not widely available software. The purpose of this paper is twofold. It provides a tutorial description of the physical phenomena taking place in anSc circuit while it processes noise. It also proposes some specialized but highly efficient algorithms for estimating the resulting sampled noise in Sc circuits, which need only simple calculations. A practical design procedure, which follows directly from the estimate, is also described. The accuracy of the proposed estimation algorithms is verified by simulation using spectre RF. As an example, it is applied to the estimation of the total thermal noise in a second order lowdistortion delta sigma converter.
Extragenic Accumulation of RNA Polymerase II Enhances Transcription by RNA Polymerase III

Recent genomic data indicate that RNA polymerase II (Pol II) function extends beyond conventional transcription of primarily protein-coding genes. Among the five snRNAs required for pre-mRNA splicing, only the U6 snRNA is synthesized by RNA polymerase III (Pol III). Here we address the question of how Pol II coordinates the expression of spliceosome components, including U6. We used chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) and high-resolution mapping by PCR to localize both Pol II and Pol III to snRNA gene regions. We report the surprising finding that Pol II is highly concentrated ∼300 bp upstream of all five active human U6 genes in vivo. The U6 snRNA, an essential component of the spliceosome, is synthesized by Pol III, whereas all other spliceosomal snRNAs are Pol II transcripts. Accordingly, U6 transcripts were terminated in a Pol III-specific manner, and Pol III localized to the transcribed gene regions. However, synthesis of both U6 and U2 snRNAs was α-amanitin-sensitive, indicating a requirement for Pol II activity in the expression of both snRNAs. Moreover, both Pol II and histone tail acetylation marks were lost from U6 promoters upon α-amanitin treatment. The results indicate that Pol II is concentrated at specific genomic regions from which it can regulate Pol III activity by a general mechanism. Consequently, Pol II coordinates expression of all RNA and protein components of the spliceosome.
Likelihood-based object detection and object tracking using color histograms and EM

The topic of this paper is the integration of expectation maximization (EM) background modeling and template matching using color histograms as templates to improve person tracking for surveillance applications. The tracked objects are humans, which are not rigid bodies. As such shape deformations of the objects must be allowed. For each frame, the decision has to be made which pixels belong to an object, and which do not. The integration of detection and tracking is done using a likelihood-based framework. This way the classification of pixels between background and object can be based on comparing likelihoods rather then separate thresholds. A demonstration of the proposed algorithm is given.
Optimism bias in project appraisal: deception or selection?

A number of highly cited papers by Flyvbjerg and associates have shown that ex-ante infrastructure appraisals tend to be overly optimistic. Ex post evaluations indicate a bias where investment cost is higher and demand lower on average than predicted ex ante. These authors argue that the bias must be attributed to intentional misrepresentation by project developers. This paper shows that the bias may arise simply as a selection bias, without there being any bias at all in predictions ex ante, and that such a bias is bound to arise whenever ex ante predictions are related to the decisions whether to implement projects. Using a database of projects we present examples indicating that the selection bias may be substantial. The examples also indicate that benefit-cost ratios remains a useful selection criterion even when cost and benefits are highly uncertain, gainsaying the argument that such uncertainties render cost-benefit analyses useless.
Anaesthetic Management of Two Patients with Pompe Disease for Caesarean Section

The introduction of enzyme replacement therapy and the resultant stabilisation or improvement in mobility and respiratory muscle function afforded to patients with late-onset Pompe may lead to an increased number of Pompe patients prepared to accept the challenges of parenthood. In this case report, we describe our anaesthetic management of two patients with Pompe disease for a caesarean section.
Phosphorylation and cleavage of presenilin-associated rhomboid-like protein (PARL) promotes changes in mitochondrial morphology

Remodeling of mitochondria is a dynamic process coordinated by fusion and fission of the inner and outer membranes of the organelle, mediated by a set of conserved proteins. In metazoans, the molecular mechanism behind mitochondrial morphology has been recruited to govern novel functions, such as development, calcium signaling, and apoptosis, which suggests that novel mechanisms should exist to regulate the conserved membrane fusion/fission machinery. Here we show that phosphorylation and cleavage of the vertebrate-specific Pβ domain of the mammalian presenilin-associated rhomboid-like (PARL) protease can influence mitochondrial morphology. Phosphorylation of three residues embedded in this domain, Ser-65, Thr-69, and Ser-70, impair a cleavage at position Ser77–Ala78 that is required to initiate PARL-induced mitochondrial fragmentation. Our findings reveal that PARL phosphorylation and cleavage impact mitochondrial dynamics, providing a blueprint to study the molecular evolution of mitochondrial morphology.
The ideal free distribution as an evolutionarily stable state in density‐dependent population games

In classical games that have been applied to ecology, individual fitness is either density independent or population density is fixed. This article focuses on the habitat selection game where fitness depends on the population density that evolves over time. This model assumes that changes in animal distribution operate on a fast time scale when compared to demo graphic processes. Of particular interest is whether it is true, as one might expect, that resident phenotypes who use density-dependent optimal foraging strategies are evolutionarily stable with respect to invasions by mutant strategies. In fact, we show that evolutionary stability does not require that residents use the evolutionarily stable strategy (ESS) at every population density; rather it is the combined resident–mutant system that must be at an evolutionary stable state. That is, the separation of time scales assumption between behavioral and ecological processes does not imply that these processes are independent. When only consumer population dynamics in several habitats are considered (i.e. when resources do not undergo population dynamics), we show that the existence of optimal foragers forces the resident-mutant system to approach carrying capacity in each habitat even though the mutants do not die out. Thus, the ideal free distribution (IFD) for the single-species habitat selection game becomes an evolutionarily stable state that describes a mixture of resident and mutant phenotypes rather than a strategy adopted by all individuals in the system. Also discussed is how these results are affected when animal distribution and demographic processes act on the same time scale.
Demographic, ecological, and physiological responses of ringed seals to an abrupt decline in sea ice availability

To assess whether demographic declines of Arctic species at the southern limit of their range will be gradual or punctuated, we compared large-scale environmental patterns including sea ice dynamics to ringed seal (Pusa hispida) reproduction, body condition, recruitment, and stress in Hudson Bay from 2003 to 2013. Aerial surveys suggested a gradual decline in seal density from 1995 to 2013, with the lowest density occurring in 2013. Body condition decreased and stress (cortisol) increased over time in relation to longer open water periods. The 2010 open water period in Hudson Bay coincided with extremes in large-scale atmospheric patterns (North Atlantic Oscillation, Arctic Oscillation, El Nino-Southern Oscillation) resulting in the earliest spring breakup and the latest ice formation on record. The warming event was coincident with high stress level, low ovulation rate, low pregnancy rate, few pups in the Inuit harvest, and observations of sick seals. Results provide evidence of changes in the condition of Arctic marine mammals in relation to climate mediated sea ice dynamics. We conclude that although negative demographic responses of Hudson Bay seals are occurring gradually with diminishing sea ice, a recent episodic environmental event played a significant role in a punctuated population decline.
A Dishful of a Troubled Mind: Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells in Psychiatric Research

Neuronal differentiation of induced pluripotent stem cells and direct reprogramming represent powerful methods for modeling the development of neurons in vitro. Moreover, this approach is also a means for comparing various cellular phenotypes between cell lines originating from healthy and diseased individuals or isogenic cell lines engineered to differ at only one or a few genomic loci. Despite methodological constraints and initial skepticism regarding this approach, the field is expanding at a fast pace. The improvements include the development of new differentiation protocols resulting in selected neuronal populations (e.g., dopaminergic, GABAergic, hippocampal, and cortical), the widespread use of genome editing methods, and single-cell techniques. A major challenge awaiting in vitro disease modeling is the integration of clinical data in the models, by selection of well characterized clinical populations. Ideally, these models will also demonstrate how different diagnostic categories share overlapping molecular disease mechanisms, but also have unique characteristics. In this review we evaluate studies with regard to the described developments, to demonstrate how differentiation of induced pluripotent stem cells and direct reprogramming can contribute to psychiatry.
Halothane and isoflurane preferentially depress a slowly inactivating component of Ca2+ channel current in guinea‐pig myocytes.

1. The effects of the inhalational anaesthetics halothane and isoflurane on the high‐voltage‐activated Ca2+ channels were determined in isolated guinea‐pig ventricular myocytes using the patch‐clamp technique. 2. Recording solutions were equilibrated with inhalational anaesthetic vapour delivered from a calibrated vaporizer set at clinically relevant ranges of partial pressure. Anaesthetic concentrations in solution were determined using gas chromatography. 3. Halothane (0.9 mM in solution) and isoflurane (0.8 mM in solution) decreased peak whole‐cell CA2+ current (ICa) by approximately 40 and approximately 20%, respectively, while increasing the apparent rate of inactivation. 4. The sum of fast and slow exponential decay functions was required to fit the inactivation phase of ICa. The anaesthetics preferentially affected the slow component of inactivation while also increasing the rate of slow inactivation. The physiological significance of these effects was addressed by examining ICa evoked by a ventricular action potential waveform. 5. Measurement of the current carried by Ba2+ through Ca2+ channels (IBa) permitted the isolation of the slow component of inactivation. Halothane and isoflurane diminished peak IBa at 0 mV by approximately 45 and approximately 20% respectively, with similar changes in rate and magnitude of the slowly inactivating component as with ICa. 6. Cell‐attached patch‐clamp measurements of Ca2+ channel activity revealed that halothane did not alter single‐channel conductance. Instead, the anaesthetic reduced channel open probability to the same extent as observed during the whole‐cell recording, an effect partially due to an increase in null sweeps. In patches with a single channel present, the open‐time distribution, fitted by a single exponential, showed a decrease in mean open time. The closed‐time distribution, fitted by the sum of slow and fast exponential components, revealed an anaesthetic‐induced increase in the duration of the slow component with no effect on the fast component. Results are presented in terms of a channel‐gating model, and model predictions are examined with a computer simulation.