Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Lubiprostone Increases Small Intestinal Smooth Muscle Contractions Through a Prostaglandin E Receptor 1 (EP1)-mediated Pathway

Background/Aims Lubiprostone, a chloride channel type 2 (ClC-2) activator, was thought to treat constipation by enhancing intestinal secretion. It has been associated with increased intestinal transit and delayed gastric emptying. Structurally similar to prostones with up to 54% prostaglandin E2 activity on prostaglandin E receptor 1 (EP1), lubiprostone may also exert EP1-mediated procontractile effect on intestinal smooth muscles. We investigated lubiprostone's effects on intestinal smooth muscle contractions and pyloric sphincter tone. Methods Isolated murine small intestinal (longitudinal and circular) and pyloric tissues were mounted in organ baths with modified Krebs solution for isometric recording. Basal muscle tension and response to electrical field stimulation (EFS; 2 ms pulses/10 V/6 Hz/30 sec train) were measured with lubiprostone (10-10-10-5 M) ± EP1 antagonist. Significance was established using Student t test and P < 0.05. Results Lubiprostone had no effect on the basal tension or EFS-induced contractions of longitudinal muscles. With circular muscles, lubiprostone caused a dose-dependent increase in EFS-induced contractions (2.11 ± 0.88 to 4.43 ± 1.38 N/g, P = 0.020) that was inhibited by pretreatment with EP1 antagonist (1.69 ± 0.70 vs. 4.43 ± 1.38 N/g, P = 0.030). Lubiprostone had no effect on circular muscle basal tension, but it induced a dose-dependent increase in pyloric basal tone (1.07 ± 0.01 to 1.97 ± 0.86 fold increase, P < 0.05) that was inhibited by EP1 antagonist. Conclusions In mice, lubiprostone caused a dose-dependent and EP1-mediated increase in contractility of circular but not longitudinal small intestinal smooth muscles, and in basal tone of the pylorus. These findings suggest another mechanism for lubiprostone's observed clinical effects on gastrointestinal motility.
Quantification of mid and late evoked sinks in laminar current source density profiles of columns in the primary auditory cortex

Current source density (CSD) analysis assesses spatiotemporal synaptic activations at somatic and/or dendritic levels in the form of depolarizing current sinks. Whereas many studies have focused on the short (<50 ms) latency sinks, associated with thalamocortical projections, sinks with longer latencies have received less attention. Here, we analyzed laminar CSD patterns for the first 600 ms after stimulus onset in the primary auditory cortex of Mongolian gerbils. By applying an algorithm for contour calculation, three distinct mid and four late evoked sinks were identified in layers I, III, Va, VIa, and VIb. Our results further showed that the patterns of intracortical information-flow remained qualitatively similar for low and for high sound pressure level stimuli at the characteristic frequency (CF) as well as for stimuli ± 1 octave from CF. There were, however, differences associated with the strength, vertical extent, onset latency, and duration of the sinks for the four stimulation paradigms used. Stimuli one octave above the most sensitive frequency evoked a new, and quite reliable, sink in layer Va whereas low level stimulation led to the disappearance of the layer VIb sink. These data indicate the presence of input sources specifically activated in response to level and/or frequency parameters. Furthermore, spectral integration above vs. below the CF of neurons is asymmetric as illustrated by CSD profiles. These results are important because synaptic feedback associated with mid and late sinks—beginning at 50 ms post stimulus latency—is likely crucial for response modulation resulting from higher order processes like memory, learning or cognitive control.
Constructing a Maximal Independent Set in Parallel

The problem of constructing in parallel a maximal independent set of a given graph is considered. A new deterministic NC-algorithm implemented in the EREW PRAM model is presented. On graphs with n vertices and m edges, it uses $O((n + m)/\log n)$ processors and runs in $O(\log^3 n)$ time. This reduces by a factor of $\log n$ both the running time and the processor count of the previously fastest deterministic algorithm that solves the problem using a linear number of processors.
Improving random write performance in homogeneous and heterogeneous erasure-coded drive arrays

In data storage systems, drive arrays known as RAIDs are often used in order to avoid data loss and to maintain availability in the event of drive failure(s). RAID schemes define various drive array organizations (denoted as RAID levels) that can be used in arrays of hard disk drives (HDDs) and arrays of NAND flash memory solid-state drives (SSDs). For larger drive arrays, using data striping with erasure coding is appealing due to its notably higher space efficiency compared to data replication. However, the main issue of data striping with erasure coding is the performance of random writes smaller than a stripe. This problem is even aggravated if the random access performance characteristics of the deployed device type (HDD or SSD) and device model are not properly considered when choosing the data striping configuration (in particular the stripe unit size). In this article, we provide an analytical model allowing to predict the random write throughput of homogeneous drive arrays as well as of a heterogeneous drive array with code blocks stored on the faster drives. Based on our model, we develop a method to improve the random write throughput in homogeneous drive arrays (comprising only one device type, e.g., HDDs or SSDs) by adapting the data striping configuration to the used device type and model in relation to the workload. Then, based on our previous work, we describe an organization for heterogeneous drive arrays, which is especially suitable for arrays combining HDDs with SSDs, and permits to further increase the random write throughput by storing data blocks on slower and code blocks on faster drives. Finally, we experimentally evaluate our analytical claims and show that random write throughput can indeed be notably increased in drive arrays that use data striping with erasure coding.
Remembering the past and imagining the future: Identifying and enhancing the contribution of episodic memory

Recent studies have shown that imagining or simulating future events relies on many of the same cognitive and neural processes as remembering past events. According to the constructive episodic simulation hypothesis, such overlap indicates that both remembered past and imagined future events rely heavily on episodic memory: future simulations are built on retrieved details of specific past experiences that are recombined into novel events. An alternative possibility is that commonalities between remembering and imagining reflect the influence of more general, non-episodic factors such as narrative style or communicative goals that shape the expression of both memory and imagination. We consider recent studies that distinguish the contributions of episodic and non-episodic processes in remembering the past and imagining the future by using an episodic specificity induction—brief training in recollecting the details of a past experience—and also extend this approach to the domains of problem solving and creative thinking. We conclude by suggesting that the specificity induction may target a process of event or scene construction that contributes to episodic memory as well as to imagination, problem solving, and creative thinking.
High-pressure melting of wüstite

Abstract Iron oxide (FeO) is an important component in the mineralogy of Earth’s lower mantle and possibly its core, so its phase diagram is essential to models of the planet’s interior. The melting curve of wüstite, Fe0.94O, was determined up to 77 GPa and 3100 K in a laser-heated diamond anvil cell. Melting transition temperatures were identified from discontinuities in the emissivity vs. temperature relationship within the laser-heated spot. The melting curve exhibits no obvious kinks that could be related to a subsolidus transition in wüstite, but there is evidence for a two-phase loop at pressures below 30 GPa. Comparison of these results to previous studies on Fe, Fe-O, and Fe-S confirms that the melting point depression in the Fe-O system remains significantly less, by a factor of 2 or more, than that in the Fe-S system up to pressures exceeding 80 GPa.
Software error analysis: a real case study involving real faults and mutations

The paper reports on a first experimental comparison of software errors generated by real faults and by 1st-order mutations. The experiments were conducted on a program developed by a student from the industrial specification of a critical software from the civil nuclear field. Emphasis was put on the analysis of errors produced upon activation of 12 real faults by focusing on the mechanisms of error creation, masking, and propagation up to failure occurrence, and on the comparison of these errors with those created by 24 mutations. The results involve a total of 3730 errors recorded from program execution traces: 1458 errors were produced by the real faults, and the 2272 others by the mutations. They are in favor of a suitable consistency between errors generated by mutations and by real faults: 85% of the 2272 errors due to the mutations were also produced by the real faults. Moreover, it was observed that although the studied mutations were simple faults, they can create erroneous behaviors as complex as those identified for the real faults. This lends support to the representativeness of errors due to mutations.
Semantic Visualization

This paper summarizes several initiatives at MITRE that are investigating the visualization of a range of content. We present results of our work in relevancy visualization, news visualization, world events visualization and sensor/battlefield visualization to enhance user interaction in information access and exploitation tasks. We summarize several initiatives we are currently pursuing and enumerate unsolved problems. 1. Visualizing Semantic Content Visualization can support effective and efficient interaction with a range of information for a variety of tasks. As Figure 1 illustrates, information (data elements, attributes, relations, events) can be encoded in (possibly interactive) visual displays which users can exploit for a variety of cognitive tasks such as retrieval, analysis (e.g., of trends, anomalies, relations), summarization, and inference. In this paper we consider a range of semantic content, visual mechanisms, and cognitive tasks to deepen our understanding of the role of interactive visualization. f 2 1 ~ . Figure 1. Information Visualization Process 2. Document Relevancy Visualization Today's users are faced with a dizzying array of information sources. MITRE's Forager for Information on the SuperHighway (FISH) (Smotroff, Hirschrnan, and Bayer 1995) was developed to enable the rapid evaluation of information sources and servers. Figure 2a illustrates the application of FISH to three Wide Area Information Server (WAIS) TM databases containing information on joint ventures from the Message Understanding Conference (MUC). Figure 2b illustrates the application of FISH to visualize e-mail clustered by topic type for a moderator supporting a National Performance Review electronic town hall.
Health and Quality of Life Outcomes

Background: Questionnaires are used in research and clinical practice. For gastrointestinal complaints the Rome II questionnaire is internationally known but not validated. The aim of this study was to validate a printed and a computerized version of Rome II, translated into Swedish. Results from various analyses are reported. Methods: Volunteers from a population based colonoscopy study were included (n = 1011), together with patients seeking general practice (n = 45) and patients visiting a gastrointestinal specialists' clinic (n = 67). The questionnaire consists of 38 questions concerning gastrointestinal symptoms and complaints. Diagnoses are made after a special code. Our validation included analyses of the translation, feasibility, predictability, reproducibility and reliability. Kappa values and overall agreement were measured. The factor structures were confirmed using a principal component analysis and Cronbach's alpha was used to test the internal consistency. Results and Discussion: Translation and back translation showed good agreement. The questionnaire was easy to understand and use. The reproducibility test showed kappa values of 0.60 for GERS, 0.52 for FD, and 0.47 for IBS. Kappa values and overall agreement for the predictability when the diagnoses by the questionnaire were compared to the diagnoses by the clinician were 0.26 and 90% for GERS, 0.18 and 85% for FD, and 0.49 and 86% for IBS. Corresponding figures for the agreement between the printed and the digital version were 0.50 and 92% for GERS, 0.64 and 95% for FD, and 0.76 and 95% for IBS. Cronbach's alpha coefficient for GERS was 0.75 with a span per item of 0.71 to 0.76. For FD the figures were 0.68 and 0.54 to 0.70 and for IBS 0.61 and 0.56 to 0.66. The Rome II questionnaire has never been thoroughly validated before even if diagnoses made by the Rome criteria have been compared to diagnoses made in clinical practice. Conclusion: The accuracy of the Swedish version of the Rome II is of doubtful value for clinical practice and research. The results for reproducibility and reliability were acceptable but the outcome of the predictability test was poor with IBS as an exception. The agreement between the digital and the paper questionnaire was good. Published: 29 December 2009 Health and Quality of Life Outcomes 2009, 7:106 doi:10.1186/1477-7525-7-106 Received: 5 March 2009 Accepted: 29 December 2009 This article is available from: http://www.hqlo. com/content/7/1/106 © 2009 Molinder et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Proteomic Insight Into the Primycin Fermentation Process of Saccharomonospora Azurea

Saccharomonospora azurea SZMC 14600 is a member of the family Pseudonocardiaceae exclusively used for industrial scale production of primycin a large 36-membered non-polyene macrolide lactone antibiotic belonging to the polyketide class of natural products. Even though maximum antibiotic yield has been achieved by empirically optimized two-step fermentation process, little is known about the molecular components and mechanisms underlying the efficient antibiotic production. In order to identify differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) between the pre- and main-fermentation stages of primycin, comparative 2D-PAGE experiments were performed. In total, 98 DEP spots were reproducibly detected, out of which four spots were excised from gels, and identified through MALDI-TOF/TOF mass spectrometry. Peptide mass fingerprint analysis revealed peptide matches to HicB antitoxin for the HicAB toxinantitoxin system (EHK86651), to a nucleoside diphosphate kinase regulator ((Ndk; EHK81899) and two other proteins with unknown function (EHK88946 and EHK86777).
Influence of Metakaolin, Fly Ash and Nano Silica on Mechanical and Durability Properties of Concrete

Concrete is widely used construction material for the development of built environment which consumes huge amount of cement, around 4.3 billion metric ton all over the world. Reinforced concrete construction exposed to harsh environment such as chloride bound air causes deterioration in concrete through its pore structure by corroding the steel bar. The use of pozzolanic material i.e. metakaolin (MK), fly ash (FA), silica fume (SF), nano silica (NS) can be used as partially cement replacing material which not only reduces the pores in concrete but improves the mechanical, durability properties and microstructure of concrete. This paper reviews various transport mechanisms involved in ingress of deleterious material and incorporation of MK, FA and NS in concrete and their effects on concrete mechanical and durability properties. However, the research work provides an extended approach to evaluate combine effect using MK, FA, and NS and to produce a concrete with more refined pore structure for aggressive environment.
Preparation and Characterization of Enzymatically-Treated Granular Cassava Starch and Poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) Blends

Raw cassava starch was treated with α-amylase and amyloglucosidase in aqueous solution under annealing condition to obtain starch granules with rough and porous surfaces. Many different pits and pores formed by the activity of the enzymes on the surface granules and were observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The obtained starch granules with rough surfaces were mechanically blended with poly(butylenes adipate-co-terephthalate)(PBAT) at different ratios by using a single screw extruder. The results showed that the samples comprised of enzymatically treated starch blends had higher elongation than those comprised of untreated starch blends. At 10% starch content, the treated starch/PBAT blend had about 37.55% more elongation than the untreated starch/PBAT blend. This resulted in the improved compatibility of the starch granules and PBAT matrix in the blends as confirmed by SEM.
Nondestructive evaluation of simulated and actual surface defects using a photoacoustic microscope

Using the specimens of two types with simulated surface defect and the specimen with actual crack, the detection of the surface defect and crack has been demonstrated by photoacoustic microscope. The surface defect of the first type is a group of mutually parallel two defects. The geometry of the second type is the defects crossing orthogonally each other. The specimen of third type is an actual crack. The PA images are obtained for the specimen with double and crossing defects. Furthermore, the detection of actual surface crack has been performed.
Abductive reasoning with temporal information

Texts in natural language contain a lot of temporal information, both explicit and implicit. Verbs and temporal adjuncts carry most of the explicit information, but for a full understanding general world knowledge and default assumptions have to be taken into account. We will present a theory for describing the relation between, on the one hand, verbs, their tenses and adjuncts and, on the other, the eventualities and periods of time they represent and their relative temporal locations, while allowing interaction with general world knowledge. The theory is formulated in an extension of first order logic and is a practical implementation of the concepts described in Van Eynde 2001 and Schelkens et al. 2000. We will show how an abductive resolution procedure can be used on this representation to extract temporal information from texts. The theory presented here is an extension of that in Verdoolaege et al. 2000, adapted to VanEynde 2001, with a simplified and extended analysis of adjuncts and with more emphasis on how a model can be constructed.
Automated Blend Naming Based on Human Creativity Examples

In this paper we investigate which principles people use when they name new things as results of blending. The aim is to uncover patterns with high creative potential and to use them for automated generation of names for new creations or phenomena. We collected ex- amples with a web survey in which participants were asked to evaluate pictures of animals with blended anatomies from two dierent animals, and to provide their own names for blended creatures on the pictures. The blended animals served as a trigger of human creativity manifested through imaginative, humorous, surprising names collected in the survey. We studied how the features from the pictures reected in the names, what are dierent complexity levels of lexical blend formation and how far in other realms subjects \travelled" to search for associations and metaphors used in the names. We used the ndings to guide automated generation of names for the blends.
Quantum bit regeneration.

Decoherence and loss will limit the practicality of quantum cryptography and computing unless successful error correction techniques are developed. To this end, we have discovered a new scheme for perfectly detecting and rejecting the error caused by loss (amplitude damping to a reservoir at T=0), based on using a dual-rail representation of a quantum bit. This is possible because (1) balanced loss does not perform a ``which-path'' measurement in an interferometer, and (2) balanced quantum nondemolition measurement of the ``total'' photon number can be used to detect loss-induced quantum jumps without disturbing the quantum coherence essential to the quantum bit. Our results are immediately applicable to optical quantum computers using single photonics devices.
Surrogate data method applied to nonlinear time series

The surrogate data method is widely applied as a data dependent technique to test observed time series against a barrage of hypotheses. However, often the hypotheses one is able to address are not those of greatest interest, particularly for system known to be nonlinear. In the review we focus on techniques which overcome this shortcoming. We summarize a number of recently developed surrogate data methods. While our review of surrogate methods is not exhaustive, we do focus on methods which may be applied to experimental, and potentially nonlinear, data. In each case, the hypothesis being tested is one of the interests to the experimental scientist.
Effect of Rheological Strain Hardening on Extrusion Blown Film of Polyvinylidene Fluoride

In this work the effect of strain hardening on poly-vinylidene fluoride (PVDF) extrusion blown film is investigated. Controlled long chain branching is introduced via a multi-functional initiator to produce two PVDF samples with different molecular weight and chain architecture. The branched samples are compared to two reference resins having identical molecular weight and no chain branching. All samples are characterized by size exclusion chromatography (SEC) coupled with triple detection system comprising a Differential Refractive Index (DRI) detector, Intrinsic Viscosity (IV) detector, and Multi-Angle Laser Light Scattering (MALLS) detector, to determine their molecular weights and their distribution as well as to detect chain branching via measuring the coil size in dilute solution. The rheological properties are determined using oscillatory measurement and melt strength at 230°C while extensional viscosity measurements are conducted at 180°C to determine strain hardening at different extension rates. The resins are evaluated using a small scale extrusion blown film set-up to determine the blow-up ratio and the minimum thickness achievable. The characterization results show that the control samples are different in molecular weight and almost identical in the polydispersity index (Mw/Mn). The branched samples, however, have higher molecular weight and a slightly broader molecular weight distribution. Light scattering data together with inherent viscosity data show that the branched samples have a lower radius of gyration (RG) and inherent viscosity (IV) over the entire molecular weight distribution confirming chain branching. The rheological properties in oscillatory measurements show that the branched samples exhibit almost identical viscosities as the control samples. However, a broader transition from the Newtonian to the non-Newtonian region for the branched sample is observed confirming the SEC—MALLS results. This is corroborated using extensional viscosity and melt strength measurements, which show a significant strain hardening and an increase in melt strength, respectively. Blown film experiments show that the samples containing chain branching could be processed under similar process conditions as the control samples, and with a higher blow up ratio thereby achieving 5 μm film thickness with high clarity.