Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Pursuit of quantum monodromy in the far-infrared and mid-infrared spectra of NCNCS using synchrotron radiation.

Quantum monodromy has a dramatic and defining impact on all those physical properties of chain-molecules that depend on a large-amplitude bending coordinate, including in particular the distribution of the ro-vibrational energy levels. As revealed by its pure rotational (a-type) spectrum [B. P. Winnewisser et al., Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2010, 12, 8158-8189] cyanogen iso-thiocyanate, NCNCS, is a particularly illuminating exemplar of quantum monodromy: it clearly shows the distinctive monodromy-induced dislocation of the ro-vibrational energy level pattern for its low-lying bending mode. This dislocation centers on a lattice defect in the energy vs. momentum map of the ro-vibrational levels at the top of the barrier to linearity, and represents an example of an excited state quantum phase transition [D. Larese and F. Iachello, J. Mol. Struct. , 2011, 1006, 611-628]. To complete the data, so far limited to ΔJ = +1 transitions, we decided to measure the high-resolution far-infrared band of the large-amplitude bending vibration ν7, and, if possible, mid-infrared bands. This Perspectives article presents our ongoing progress towards this goal, beginning with the description of how to predict line positions and intensities of the a- and b-type bands of the large amplitude bending mode using the Generalized-SemiRigid-Bender (GSRB) Hamiltonian for NCNCS and ab initio dipole moment functions [B. P. Winnewisser et al., Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2010, 12, 8158-8189]. We include background information about synchrotron physics to clarify the advantages and limitations of that radiation source for our experiments. Details of the chemical preparation and sample handling, leading to the realization that NCNCS is 50 kJ mol(-1) lower in energy than its isomer S(CN)2 [Z. Kisiel et al., J. Phys. Chem. A, 2013, 117, 13815-13824] are included. We present the far-infrared and mid-infrared spectrum of NCNCS obtained at the Canadian Light Source synchrotron, using the IFS 125HR Bruker Fourier transform spectrometer. Eight of the fundamental vibrational modes of NCNCS have now been observed at high resolution. Initial analyses of the data confirm band assignments and demonstrate the accuracy of the predictions.
Diagnosis of Privacy and Performance Problems in the Context of Mobile Applications

Complex systems need to run flawless and protecting the users privacy is mandatory to stay competitive. The consideration of privacy aspects is even more important for mobile applications, because a lot of sensitive data is transferred over a bunch of different networks. Especially after the espionage scandals in the last years the users care about their privacy more than ever. There are several approaches which enable the monitoring and analysis of performance issues. However, there is no approach which supports both privacy and performance diagnostics. Therefore we propose an approach for filling this gap, a monitoring and analysis strategy for applications which is capable of identifying privacy and performance problems. The monitoring is designed to collect performance metrics together with privacy related information. The resulting monitoring data is used to derive an architectural run-time model which takes part in the performance analysis and in the detection of privacy threats. During our evaluation we analyzed the accuracy and the overhead to confirm that our approach can be used in production.
Upregulation of miR-132 attenuates osteoblast differentiation of UC-MSCs.

OBJECTIVE Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway plays a role in upregulating expression of osteoblast (OB) specific transcriptional factor Osterix and promoting OB differentiation. It was shown that the elevation of the miR-132 level was associated with sclerotizing inhibition. Bioinformatics analysis revealed the complementary binding site between miR-132 and 3'-UTR of β-catenin. This study investigated the influence of miR-214 in regulating β-catenin expression and differentiation of umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (UC-MSCs) into OB. MATERIALS AND METHODS UC-MSCs were induced to differentiate to OB. The expressions of miR-132, β-catenin, Osterix, and ALP, together with ALP activity were detected on day 0, 5, 10, and 15. The regulatory relationship between miR-132 and β-catenin was confirmed by dual luciferase reporter gene assay. UC-MSCs were divided into five groups, including agomir-control, miR-132 agomir, pGPH1-NC, pGPH1-β-catenin, and miR-132 agomir + pGPH1-β-catenin groups. β-catenin, Osterix, and ALP expressions, together with ALP activity were tested after induction for 15 days. RESULTS MiR-132 was downregulated, while β-catenin Osterix and ALP expressions, together with ALP activity were enhanced in the process of UC-MSCs differentiating into OBs. MiR-132 agomir and/or pGPH1-β-catenin transfection significantly reduced β-catenin expression, downregulated Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway activity, declined Osterix level, weakened ALP expression and activity, and attenuated OB differentiation of UC-MSCs. CONCLUSIONS The level of β-catenin was enhanced, while the miR-132 level was decreased in the process of UC-MSCs differentiating into OBs. Upregulation of miR-132 inhibited the differentiation of UC-MSCs through suppressing β-catenin expression, attenuating Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway activity, and downregulating Osterix level.
How do performance-based financing programmes measure quality of care? A descriptive analysis of 68 quality checklists from 28 low- and middle-income countries

&NA; This paper seeks to systematically describe the length and content of quality checklists used in performance‐based financing programmes, their similarities and differences, and how checklists have evolved over time. We compiled a list of supply‐side, health facility‐based performance‐based financing (PBF) programmes in low‐ and lower middle‐income countries based on a document review. We then solicited PBF manuals and quality checklists from implementers and donors of these PBF mechanisms. We entered each indicator from each quality checklist into a database verbatim in English, and translated into English from French where appropriate, and categorized each indicator according to the Donabedian framework and an author‐derived categorization. We extracted 8,490 quality indicators from 68 quality checklists across 32 PBF implementations in 28 countries. On average, checklists contained 125 indicators; within the same program, checklists tend to grow as they are updated. Using the Donabedian framework, 80% of indicators were structure‐type, 19% process‐type, and less than 1% outcome‐type. The author‐derived categorization showed that 57% of indicators relate to availability of resources, 24% to managing the facility and 17% assess knowledge and effort. There is a high degree of similarity in a narrow set of indicators used in checklists for common service types such as maternal, neonatal and child health. We conclude that performance‐based financing offers an appealing approach to targeting specific quality shortfalls and advancing toward the Sustainable Development Goals of high quality coverage. Currently most indicators focus on structural issues and resource availability. There is scope to rationalize and evolve the quality checklists of these programs to help achieve national and global goals to improve quality of care.
Experimental investigation and computational modelling of the thermoforming process of thermoplastic starch

Plastic packaging waste currently forms a significant part of municipal solid waste and as such is causing increasing environmental concerns. Such packaging is largely non-biodegradable and is particularly difficult to recycle or to reuse due largely to its complex compositions. Apart from limited recycling of some easily identifiable packaging wastes that can be separated economically, such as bottles, most packaging waste ends up in landfill sites. In recent years, in an attempt to address this problem in plastic packaging, the development of packaging materials from renewable plant resources has received increasing attention and a wide range of bioplastic materials based on starch are now available. Environmentally these bioplastic materials also reduce reliance on oil resources and have the advantage that they are biodegradable and can be composted upon disposal to reduce the environmental impact. Many food packaging containers are produced by thermoforming processes in which thin sheets are inflated under pressure into moulds to produce the required thin -wall structures. Hitherto these thin sheets have almost exclusively been made of oilbased polymers and it is for these that computational models of thermoforming processes have been developed. Recently, in the context of bioplastics, commercial thermoplastic starch sheet materials have been developed. The behaviour of such materials is influenced both by temperature and, because of the inherent hydrophilic characteristics of the materials, by moisture content. Both of these aspects affect the behaviour of bioplastic sheets during the thermoforming process. This thesis describes experimental work and work on the computational modelling of thermoforming processes for thermoplastic starch sheets using a commercially available material. The experimental work has been carried in order to characterise the deformation behaviour of the material with regard to different temperature, moisture contents and strain rates. Thermoforming of the material was performed and samples produced were used for comparison and verification of the computational modelling of the thermoforming process. In the first attempt to model the thermoforming process, a hyperelastic constitutive equation was established to approximate the material behaviour taking account of the combined effects of temperature and moisture content and a simple
Characterization of model sets by dynamical systems

It is shown how regular model sets can be characterized in terms of the regularity properties of their associated dynamical systems. The proof proceeds in two steps. First, we characterize regular model sets in terms of a certain map $\beta$ and then relate the properties of $\beta$ to those of the underlying dynamical system. As a by-product, we can show that regular model sets are, in a suitable sense, as close to periodic sets as possible among repetitive aperiodic sets.
Notice of RetractionStudy on the Relationship between the Characters of Board of Directors Structure and Corporate Growth: On Chinese Listed Companies in Competitive Industry

This paper made the research on the relationship between the characters of board of directors structure and corporate growth of listed companies in competitive industries. The results showed that the scale of the board of directors was correlated negatively with corporate growth; the independent director and business growth were positive related, but statistically not significant; the board leadership structure had no significant impact on the growth of an enterprise. Therefore, the scale and the independence of the board of directors had more effect on the growth of an enterprise than leadership structure.
Application of hybrid polymer as two dimensional grating and it’s lasing characteristic

A two dimensional grating has been fabricated from hybrid polymer incorporated with organic dye-laser. The precursor hybrid polymers were synthesized from TMSPMA by sol-gel method. The precursor was mixed with photo-initiator to make sensitive with UV light. The photosensitive film was irradiated by laser interference of THG Nd-YAG laser (λ = 355 nm) yield 2D grating with hexagonal structure. The characteristic of lasing was investigated using strip-line excitation light of SHG Nd-YAG laser (λ = 532 nm). The lasing wavelengths are observed at 606 and 621 nm for grating period of 400 and 410 nm, respectively. The spectral width (FWHM) of lasing is about 3 nm at pumping power 14.88 mJ/pulse cm2.
Interleukin (IL)-13, Prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), and Prostacyclin 2 (PGI2) Activate Hepatic Stellate Cells via Protein kinase C (PKC) Pathway in Hepatic Fibrosis

Background Protein kinase C (PKC), interleukin (IL)-13, prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), and prostacyclin 2 (PGI2) can all play crucial roles in pulmonary fibrosis. However, their functions remain unclear in hepatic fibrosis mediated by hepatic stellate cells (HSCs), which has been demonstrated to be related to transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) and platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF). Material/Methods All the experiments were based on LX-2 Hepatic stellate cells. The expression of TGF-β1 and PDGF were assessed by ELISA, RT-PCR, and Western blotting in human HSCs treated by IL-13, PGE2, and PGI2, respectively. At the same time, bridge assay and CCK8 assay were used to detect the cell proliferation and activity, PKC activity assay was used to test the activity of PKC, and PKC agonist and antagonist were used to verify the results obtained previously. Results We found that IL-13, PGE2, and PGI2 significantly enhanced the expression of TGF-β1 and PDGF in human HSCs, which also clearly improved the proliferation and cell activity of HSCs. Moreover, PKC activity was significantly increased following IL-13, PGE2, and PGI2 treatments. We also found that the expression of TGF-β1 and PDGF, as well as the proliferation and cell activity of HSCs, were significantly enhanced by the PKC agonist phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA), but suppressed by the PKC antagonist calphostin C. Conclusions We found that IL-13, PGE2, and PGI2 stimulated HSCs proliferation and secretion of TGF-β1 and PDGF by activating PKC, which predicted their potential roles in hepatic fibrosis.
A pilot study on sperm DNA damage in β-thalassemia major: is there a role for antioxidants?

Excess iron deposition in patients with beta thalassemia major (BTM) causes excess free radical formation, damages the hypothalamic pituitary testicular axis and production of sperms with DNA defects. As antioxidants were reported to improve fertility in healthy males; their effectiveness to improve sperm DNA defects in adult males with BTM was studied. Twenty fully pubertal BTM patients were included consecutively, all had semen analysis; 10 were found to be azoospermic, so further analysis for sperms and DNA defects was conducted on the remaining 10 participants. Semen was analyzed for antioxidants in seminal plasma and sperms for defects including the DNA fragmentation index, sperm deformity index, teratozospermia index and acrosomal index. Participants were then given L-carnitine and N-acetylcysteine for 6 months. All semen parameters were reassessed after treatment. The sperm deformity index and teratozospermia index increased significantly after treatment from 1.90±0.33 to 2.46±0.61 and from 1.59±0.22 to 1.86±0.28 respectively. So, apparently antioxidants accentuated sperm deformities in men with BTM. Therefore, the results of this study are not in favour with the use of antioxidants in BTM patients for improving potential fertility. Larger studies, however, are needed to confirm these preliminary results. (www.actabiomedica.it)
Direct Rotational

This paper investigates a design for a new form of interactivity with information projected onto a spherical surface. This form of interaction is related to the direct rotation of the spherical surface itself. Traditional methods of computer interaction use a representative format, such as the movement of a mouse representing the motion of a cursor on a flat screen. This representative interaction often becomes less obvious with a three dimensional object, as there is often an exact view position required. The rotational interaction method developed provides a more direct physical connection with the data interaction upon a sphere by mimicking globe style rotational interaction. The authors discuss in detail the design and implementation of the rotation interactivity, including a discussion of the limitations involved.
The sigma factor σ54 is required for the long‐term survival of Leptospira biflexa in water

Leptospira spp. comprise both pathogenic and free‐living saprophytic species. Little is known about the environmental adaptation and survival mechanisms of Leptospira. Alternative sigma factor, σ54 (RpoN) is known to play an important role in environmental and host adaptation in many bacteria. In this study, we constructed an rpoN mutant by allele exchange, and the complemented strain in saprophytic L. biflexa. Transcriptome analysis revealed that expression of several genes involved in nitrogen uptake and metabolism, including amtB1, glnB‐amtB2, ntrX and narK, were controlled by σ54. While wild‐type L. biflexa could not grow under nitrogen‐limiting conditions but was able to survive under such conditions and recover rapidly, the rpoN mutant was not. The rpoN mutant also had dramatically reduced ability to survive long‐term in water. σ54 appears to regulate expression of amtB1, glnK‐amtB2, ntrX and narK in an indirect manner. However, we identified a novel nitrogen‐related gene, LEPBI_I1011, whose expression was directly under the control of σ54 (herein renamed as rcfA for RpoN‐controlled factor A). Taken together, our data reveal that the σ54 regulatory network plays an important role in the long‐term environmental survival of Leptospira spp.
Neuroprotective effects of erythropoietin on rat retinas subjected to oligemia

OBJECTIVES: Erythropoietin may have neuroprotective potential after ischemia of the central nervous system. Here, we conducted a study to characterize the protective effects of erythropoietin on retinal ganglion cells and gliotic reactions in an experimentally induced oligemia model. METHODS: Rats were subjected to global oligemia by bilateral common carotid artery occlusion and then received either vehicle or erythropoietin via intravitreal injection after 48 h; they were euthanized one week after the injection. The densities of retinal ganglion cells and contents of glial fibrillary acidic protein (astrocytes/Müller cells) and cluster of differentiation 68 clone ED1 (microglia/macrophages), assessed by fluorescence intensity, were evaluated in frozen retinal sections by immunofluorescence and epifluorescence microscopy. RESULTS: Retinal ganglion cells were nearly undetectable one week after oligemia compared with the sham controls; however, these cells were partially preserved in erythropoietin-treated retinas. The contents of glial fibrillary acidic protein and cluster of differentiation 68 clone ED1, markers for reactive gliosis, were significantly higher in retinas after bilateral common carotid artery occlusion than those in both sham and erythropoietin-treated retinas. CONCLUSIONS: The number of partially preserved retinal ganglion cells in the erythropoietin-treated group suggests that erythropoietin exerts a neuroprotective effect on oligemic/ischemic retinas. This effect could be related to the down-modulation of glial reactivity, usually observed in hypoxic conditions, clinically observed during glaucoma or retinal artery occlusion conditions. Therefore, glial reactivity may enhance neurodegeneration in hypoxic conditions, like normal-tension glaucoma and retinal ischemia, and erythropoietin is thus a candidate to be clinically applied after the detection of decreased retinal blood flow.
Endoscopic and Open Release Similarly Safe for the Treatment of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

BACKGROUND The Endoscopic Release of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (ECTR) is a minimal invasive approach for the treatment of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. There is scepticism regarding the safety of this technique, based on the assumption that this is a rather "blind" procedure and on the high number of severe complications that have been reported in the literature. PURPOSE To evaluate whether there is evidence supporting a higher risk after ECTR in comparison to the conventional open release. METHODS We searched MEDLINE (January 1966 to November 2013), EMBASE (January 1980 to November 2013), the Cochrane Neuromuscular Disease Group Specialized Register (November 2013) and CENTRAL (2013, issue 11 in The Cochrane Library). We hand-searched reference lists of included studies. We included all randomized or quasi-randomized controlled trials (e.g. study using alternation, date of birth, or case record number) that compare any ECTR with any OCTR technique. Safety was assessed by the incidence of major, minor and total number of complications, recurrences, and re-operations.The total time needed before return to work or to return to daily activities was also assessed. We synthesized data using a random-effects meta-analysis in STATA. We conducted a sensitivity analysis for rare events using binomial likelihood. We judged the conclusiveness of meta-analysis calculating the conditional power of meta-analysis. CONCLUSIONS ECTR is associated with less time off work or with daily activities. The assessment of major complications, reoperations and recurrence of symptoms does not favor either of the interventions. There is an uncertain advantage of ECTR with respect to total minor complications (more transient paresthesia but fewer skin-related complications). Future studies are unlikely to alter these findings because of the rarity of the outcome. The effect of a learning curve might be responsible for reduced recurrences and reoperations with ECTR in studies that are more recent, although formal statistical analysis failed to provide evidence for such an association. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE I.