Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Mitigating heat dissipation in a hydrogen-based Raman laser using coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering

We show that the novel heat mitigation technique called "Coherent Anti-Stokes Raman Scattering (CARS)-based heat mitigation" is able to substantially reduce the quantum-defect heating in hydrogen-based Raman lasers. This CARS-based heat mitigation technique causes the amount of phonons created in the hydrogen Raman medium to decrease by establishing an increase of the ratio of the number of anti-Stokes photons to the number of Stokes photons coupled out of the laser. To illustrate the effectiveness of this heat mitigation approach for a concrete hydrogen-based Raman laser setup, we numerically demonstrate for a Raman laser based on a hydrogen-filled hollow core photonic crystal fiber that the heat dissipation can be reduced with at least 30%.
Proximity-Based Non-uniform Abstractions for Approximate Planning

In a deterministic world, a planning agent can be certain of the consequences of its planned sequence of actions. Not so, however, in dynamic, stochastic domains where Markov decision processes are commonly used. Unfortunately these suffer from the 'curse of dimensionality': if the state space is a Cartesian product of many small sets ('dimensions'), planning is exponential in the number of those dimensions. Our new technique exploits the intuitive strategy of selectively ignoring various dimensions in different parts of the state space. The resulting non-uniformity has strong implications, since the approximation is no longer Markovian, requiring the use of a modified planner. We also use a spatial and temporal proximity measure, which responds to continued planning as well as movement of the agent through the state space, to dynamically adapt the abstraction as planning progresses. We present qualitative and quantitative results across a range of experimental domains showing that an agent exploiting this novel approximation method successfully finds solutions to the planning problem using much less than the full state space. We assess and analyse the features of domains which our method can exploit.
The orientation and temperature dependence of the work-hardening rate of single crystal Ni3(Al3, Ti)

Abstract The temperature dependence of the work-hardening rate at 1% true strain has been determined for Ni-rich, stoichiometric and Al-rich single crystals of Ni3(Al, Ti), having compression axes in the 〈123〉, 〈l44〉, 〈111〉 and 〈001〉 directions. Test temperatures were in the range -110 to 1000°C. Work-hardening rates were found to be strongly orientation-dependent and reached values as high as 64% of the shear modulus for oertain orientations and temperatures. Slip mechanisms are proposed to explain these observations and are discussed in terms of Schmid factor considerations and evidence available from transmission electron microscopy.
TLR2 Engagement on CD8 T Cells Enables Generation of Functional Memory Cells in Response to a Suboptimal TCR Signal1

TLR are involved in the detection of microbial infection as well as endogenous ligands that signal tissue and cell damage in mammals. This recognition plays an essential role in innate immune response and the initiation of adaptive immune response. We have previously shown that murine CD8 T cells express TLR2, and that costimulation of Ag-activated CD8 T cells with TLR2 ligands enhances their proliferation, survival, and effector functions. We also demonstrated that TLR2 engagement on CD8 T cells significantly reduces their need for costimulatory signals delivered by APC. We show in this study that TLR2 engagement on CD8 T cells lowers the Ag concentration required for optimal activation, and converts a partial activation into a productive process leading to a significant expansion of cells. Using altered peptide ligands, we demonstrate that TLR2 engagement increases CD8 T cell activation and enables the generation of functional memory cells in response to a low TCR signal. This increased activation is associated with an augmented activation of the PI3K. Taken together, our results demonstrate that TLR2 engagement on CD8 T cells lowers their activation threshold for TCR signal strength and enables efficient memory cell generation in response to a weak TCR signal.
Evaluation of the Relationship between Left Atrium Volume and Myocardial Ischemia : A Systematic Review

Introduction: The pathophysiology of ischemia involves the cellular effect of myocardial ischemia, reactive oxygen species, and Reactive inflammatory enzymes to form cascade. Left atrial (LA) ischemia has been shown to have several possible mechanisms through which it can lead to abnormalities in left ventricular filling in early diastole and thus reduce LA passive functional reserve. In this review study, we evaluated the physiological mechanisms of LA during myocardial ischemia, as previously demonstrated in experimental and clinical studies. Methods: Several databases were searched in order to find related articles. The outcome of interest included LA function measurements (measurement of left atrial volume) during ischemia. By applying a standardized protocol, reviewers independently abstracted and assessed the studies. Results: The literature review indicated 50 publications, among which 15 studies were eligible for analysis. Articles reporting outcomes from the same study were included once in the analysis. Discussion: Assessment of LA dimension and function is essential for clinical evaluation and prognostic purposes. In the present article, it was revealed that LA passive emptying volume and LA emptying volume significantly increased in myocardial ischemic patients. Conclusion: Further research could provide a better understanding of pathophysiological mechanisms behind LA enlargement and help predict clinical outcomes in many cardiovascular disorders.
A Framework for Information Propagation in Mobile Sensor Networks

A common complication for routing in mobile sensor networks is how to efficiently control the forwarding behaviors of relay nodes so as to save their energy consumption and buffer usage while simultaneously satisfy the specified delivery performance requirement. Available works either assign each message with a lifetime, a maximum number of copies, or a sequence number, or flush special feedback information among the whole network after the message reception. In the former case, a relay node has no idea of the message reception status and will carry and forward the message until meeting the destination, while the latter could efficiently notify all relay nodes but demands extra communication resources. Different from previous studies, we consider in this paper an explicit probabilistic stopping mechanism for relay nodes. Under such mechanism, a relay node that is actively disseminating a message will stop spreading the message with a certain probability, after meeting another node having already received the message. We first develop a two-dimensional Markov chain framework to characterize the highly complicated dynamics until the end of message propagation, then conduct Markovian analysis to derive the associated important performance metrics, including the average time required for the completion of message propagation, the expectation and variance of the fraction of nodes finally receiving the message, and the probability that a given number of nodes end up with the message, etc. Finally, extensive numerical results are provided to analytically explore how the network parameter settings may affect these performance metrics.
Feature points tracklng by using photometric model and colorimetric invariants

This article proposes several colour points tracking methods which are robust to illumination changes. Firstly, the illumination correction is achieved by computing simultaneously a local photometric model and a motion model during the image sequence. Secondly, some colour invariants are used to compensate in each point for the illumination changes. Then, since most of these attributes are not sufficiently robust to model specular highlights occurrence, we propose a third method which jointly uses a local photometric model and a global correction, by using colour invariants. To finish, the three methods are compared through experimental results, on images sequences where specular highlights and lighting changes appear.
Methylobacterium-plant interaction genes regulated by plant exudate and quorum sensing molecules

Bacteria from the genus Methylobacterium interact symbiotically (endophytically and epiphytically) with different plant species. These interactions can promote plant growth or induce systemic resistance, increasing plant fitness. The plant colonization is guided by molecular communication between bacteria-bacteria and bacteria-plants, where the bacteria recognize specific exuded compounds by other bacteria (e.g. homoserine molecules) and/or by the plant roots (e.g. flavonoids, ethanol and methanol), respectively. In this context, the aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of quorum sensing molecules (N-acyl-homoserine lactones) and plant exudates (including ethanol) in the expression of a series of bacterial genes involved in Methylobacterium-plant interaction. The selected genes are related to bacterial metabolism (mxaF), adaptation to stressful environment (crtI, phoU and sss), to interactions with plant metabolism compounds (acdS) and pathogenicity (patatin and phoU). Under in vitro conditions, our results showed the differential expression of some important genes related to metabolism, stress and pathogenesis, thereby AHL molecules up-regulate all tested genes, except phoU, while plant exudates induce only mxaF gene expression. In the presence of plant exudates there is a lower bacterial density (due the endophytic and epiphytic colonization), which produce less AHL, leading to down regulation of genes when compared to the control. Therefore, bacterial density, more than plant exudate, influences the expression of genes related to plant-bacteria interaction.
MicroRNA-16 suppresses metastasis in an orthotopic, but not autochthonous, mouse model of soft tissue sarcoma

ABSTRACT MicroRNAs (miRNAs) can regulate tumor cell invasion and metastasis in a tumor-specific manner. We recently demonstrated that global downregulation of miRNAs after deleting dicer can promote development of distant metastases in a mouse model of primary soft tissue sarcoma (STS). In this study, we identified miRNAs that are differentially downregulated in metastatic STS in both human and mouse, and investigated the role of these miRNAs in metastasis. miRNA- TaqMan PCR arrays showed a global downregulation of miRNAs in metastatic human sarcomas. Similar analysis in mouse metastatic sarcomas revealed overlap for several downregulated miRNAs including miR-16, miR-103, miR-146a, miR-223, miR-342 and miR-511. Restoration of these downregulated miRNAs in mouse primary sarcoma cell lines showed that miR-16, but not other downregulated miRNAs, was able to significantly suppress both migration and invasion in vitro, without altering cell proliferation. In addition, orthotopic transplantation of a sarcoma cell line stably expressing miR-16 into the muscle of immunocompromised mice revealed that restoration of miR-16 can significantly decrease lung metastasis in vivo. However, no change in the rate of lung metastasis was observed when miR-16 was deleted in mouse primary sarcomas at sarcoma initiation. Taken together, these results indicate that miR-16 can have metastasis-suppressing properties both in vitro and in vivo. However, the loss-of-function experiments in autochthonous tumors indicate that loss of miR-16 is not sufficient to promote metastasis in vivo. Summary: This work underscores the importance of studying cancer metastasis using in vivo model systems in addition to in vitro and transplant model systems.
Fabrication of cellulose triacetate/graphene oxide porous membrane

Cellulose triacetate (AC)/graphene oxide (GO) porous membranes were successfully fabricated by combining ultrasonication and phase inversion method. The structures and morphologies of the resultant composite membranes were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy, respectively. Microscopic and X-ray diffraction measurements revealed that GO sheets were uniformly dispersed within the AC matrix. The pore size and structure were modulated by changing GO concentration from 0.25 to 1 wt%. Membrane thermal properties were also studied. Among all tested membranes, the most favorable GO amount was 1 wt%, giving Td3% of 274°C, which represents a 22°C enhancement compared with AC. Conversely, the membranes showed improved barrier properties against water and ethanol. The decrease of both ethanol and water fluxes was assigned to the stabilization of composite membrane structure, as a result of GO progressive addition. Bovine serum albumin rejection assay indicated an increasing from 78% in the case of CA membrane to 99% in the case of CA/GO 1 wt% of the rejection degree after 90 min. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Tail chimeras of Dictyostelium myosin II support cytokinesis and other myosin II activities but not full development

Dictyostelium lacking myosin II cannot grow in suspension culture, develop beyond the mound stage or cap concanavalin A receptors and chemotaxis is impaired. Recently, we showed that the actin-activated MgATPase activity of myosin chimeras in which the tail domain of Dictyostelium myosin II heavy chain is replaced by the tail domain of either Acanthamoeba or chicken smooth muscle myosin II is unregulated and about 20 times higher than wild-type myosin. The Acanthamoeba chimera forms short bipolar filaments similar to, but shorter than, filaments of Dictyostelium myosin and the smooth muscle chimera forms much larger side-polar filaments. We now find that the Acanthamoeba chimera expressed in myosin null cells localizes to the periphery of vegetative amoeba similarly to wild-type myosin but the smooth muscle chimera is heavily concentrated in a single cortical patch. Despite their different tail sequences and filament structures and different localization of the smooth muscle chimera in interphase cells, both chimeras support growth in suspension culture and concanavalin A capping and colocalize with the ConA cap but the Acanthamoeba chimera subsequently disperses more slowly than wild-type myosin and the smooth muscle chimera apparently not at all. Both chimeras also partially rescue chemotaxis. However, neither supports full development. Thus, neither regulation of myosin activity, nor regulation of myosin polymerization nor bipolar filaments is required for many functions of Dictyostelium myosin II and there may be no specific sequence required for localization of myosin to the cleavage furrow.
Transition to the Cloud: A Vendor Perspective

The rising of cloud computing has dramatically changed the way software companies provide and distribute their IT product and related services over the last decades. Today, most software is bought off-the-shelf and distributed over the Internet. This transition is greatly influencing how software companies operate. In this paper, we present a case study of an ERP vendor for SMB (small and medium-size business) in making a transition towards a cloud-based business model. Through the theoretical lens of ecosystem, we are able to analyze the evolution of the vendor and its business network as a whole, and find that the relationship between vendor and Value-added-Reseller (VAR) is greatly affected. We conclude by presenting critical issues and challenges for managing such cloud transition.
Providing Customer-Centric Service: Customization and Composition of Service on the Semantic Web

The semantic Web promotes customer-centric approaches in the creation of value and upgrades the role of agents in the configuration of service and solutions for the customer. In this paper we provide a framework for exploiting semantic Web opportunities in the selection, synthesis and performance of value adding activities for the end customer. The role of the mediator is extended beyond the automation of the process to allow for the identification customerspsila implicit needs. We consider the use of WSMO for the development of such a customer-centric environment and outline the technological environment and some characteristic implementation features. Our purpose is to reveal the opportunities of semantic Web for the development of customer-centric service models and to describe the role and functions of intermediaries in such environments.
Composites of MCM-41 silica with rice husk: hydrothermal synthesis, characterisation and application for perchlorate separation

Abstract Mesoporous MCM-41 silica and rice husk composites were synthesised under hydrothermal conditions using cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) as an organic template, aqueous ammonia solution (NH4OH) and rice husk, the latter as a silica source and substrate for the deposition of MCM-41. Both untreated and carbonised rice husks were used for preparing composites at a temperature of 100–120°C for 24–48 h. The as synthesised composites or hybrid materials were characterised by using XRD and SEM and they were found to be useful for the uptake of perchlorate. These composites could be used to separate perchlorate from solutions in column operation without the necessity for their pelletisation because the rice husk substrates are several millimetres in size.
Graph Analytics for anomaly detection in homogeneous wireless networks - A Simulation Approach

In the Internet of Things (IoT) devices are exposed to various kinds of attacks when connected to the Internet. An attack detection mechanism that understands the limitations of these severely resource-constrained devices is necessary. This is important since current approaches are either customized for wireless networks or for the conventional Internet with heavy data transmission. Also, the detection mechanism need not always be as sophisticated. Simply signaling that an attack is taking place may be enough in some situations, for example in NIDS using anomaly detection. In graph networks, central nodes are the nodes that bear the most influence in the network. The purpose of this research is to explore experimentally the relationship between the behavior of central nodes and anomaly detection when an attack spreads through a network. As a result, we propose a novel anomaly detection approach using this unique methodology which has been unexplored so far in communication networks. Also, in the experiment, we identify presence of an attack originating and propagating throughout a network of IoT using our methodology.
Clinical use of nintedanib in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a rare lung disease characterised by progressive loss of lung function, dyspnoea and cough. IPF has a variable clinical course but a poor prognosis. Nintedanib, a tyrosine kinase inhibitor, is one of two drugs approved for the treatment of IPF. In clinical trials, nintedanib slowed disease progression by reducing the rate of decline in forced vital capacity (FVC) in patients with IPF and mild or moderate lung function impairment. The effect of nintedanib was consistent across patient subgroups defined by baseline characteristics including FVC % predicted, diffusion capacity of the lung for carbon monoxide % predicted and the presence of emphysema. Recently, it has been shown that the rate of decline in FVC and the treatment effect of nintedanib are the same in patients with preserved lung volume (FVC >90% predicted) as in patients with greater impairment in FVC, supporting the value of early treatment of IPF. The adverse events most commonly associated with nintedanib, both in clinical trials and real-world clinical practice, are mild gastrointestinal events, particularly diarrhoea. Side effects are manageable in a majority of patients through symptomatic treatment, dose reductions and treatment interruptions, enabling most patients to stay on treatment in the long term.
Decomposition of Decidable First-Order Logics over Integers and Reals

We tackle the issue of representing infinite sets of real- valued vectors. This paper introduces an operator for combining integer and real sets. Using this operator, we decompose three well-known logics extending Presburger with reals. Our decomposition splits a logic into two parts : one integer, and one decimal (i.e. on the interval [0,1]). We also give a basis for an implementation of our representation.
The Localized-SOI MOSFET as a Candidate for Analog/RF Applications

In this paper, the characteristics of a localized-SOI (L-SOI) MOSFET are investigated for analog/RF applications. In the L-SOI device, the source/drain regions are quasi-surrounded by L-type oxide layers to reduce junction capacitance and avoid source/drain punchthrough, while the channel is directly connected with the substrate to alleviate the self-heating effect. Such structures can combine the advantages of both bulk and SOI MOSFETs and avoid their issues. Due to the unique structure of this novel device, the L-SOI MOSFET can exhibit excellent analog/RF behaviors. Higher g m / I ds ratio and intrinsic gain (g m / g ds)can be received compared with the conventional SOI structure, particularly at low gate bias. Higher and , which are due to higher g m and reduced gate capacitance, can be observed in the L-SOI MOSFET. In addition, better noise performance can be achieved resulting from reduced lattice temperature and improved g m . Thus, the L-SOI MOSFET can be considered as one of the potential candidates for analog/RF applications.
Effect of admixtures on the use of short fibres in structural concrete to enhance mechanical properties.

Fibre-reinforced concrete is a term used when concrete is reinforced with randomly distributed short fibres. The addition of short fibres causes a reduction in workability. On the other hand, Superplasticisers can be used to increase the workability of concrete. The main objectives of the project were to investigate the effects of Superplasticisers on structural concrete with the addition of short-fibres, which vary from the most commonly used steel fibres, to polypropylene and fibre mesh. The behaviours of Superplasticisers on plain and fibre-reinforced concrete are compared. Lastly, data for the fresh and harden properties of the concrete were collected and analysed. The scope of this project is based on the usage of Superplasticisers in steel short-fibres, fibre mesh and polypropylene short-fibres. To evaluate the effects of Superplasticisers on the workability of fresh short-fibre reinforced concrete, several tests were carried out. These tests consist of slump tests Vebe tests and compacting factor tests. Meanwhile, the harden properties of concrete were assessed by the conducting tests, which involved compressive strength test, indirect-strength test, flexural strength test and finally test to determine the value for the modulus of elasticity. From the results of Vebe test and compacting factor test obtained, steel short-fibre reinforced concrete have the highest workability, which were followed by polypropylene short-fibre and Fibremesh reinforced concrete. Generally, when more then 1% of short-fibres are used to reinforce the concrete, rate of workability increases with the addition of Superplasticisers. Meanwhile, it was also found that flexural strength for fibre-reinforced concrete with the usage of Superplasticisers was higher.