Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Influence de films fonctionnels sur les propriétés élastiques des substrats associés : application au système Ni/NiO

L'objet de ce travail est d'etudier l'influence des revetements natifs (oxydes) sur les proprietes elastiques du substrat associe. L'etude a ete effectuee sur du nickel pur polycristallin, materiau modele pour l'oxydation. Les couches d'oxyde de nickel ont ete elaborees a des temperatures et des durees differentes. Elles sont toutes caracterisees par une microstructure duplex comprenant une couche interne a grains equiaxes et une couche externe a grains colonnaires. Les proprietes elastiques du revetement ont ete caracterisees a temperature ambiante par indentation instrumentee. Si un effet de microstructure locale de la couche d'oxyde est detecte sur la reponse elastique, il reste toutefois assez tenu. Les proprietes elastiques macroscopiques des systemes Ni/NiO ont ete examinees en fonction de la temperature a l'aide de la methode dynamique resonante. L'evolution des modules d'elasticite en temperature du substrat de nickel est caracterisee par un comportement tres atypique. La presence de couches d'oxyde, pourtant en tres faible proportion volumique, modifie considerablement ce comportement. De plus, selon les conditions d'oxydation et la configuration des couches, l'effet est plus ou moins marque. Le comportement elastique atypique du nickel en temperature est associe a un couplage de type multi-physique, lie a son caractere ferromagnetique. Dans ce cadre, nous avons suggere que les contraintes internes, engendrees dans le substrat nickel par l'oxydation a haute temperature, limitent l'effet magneto-elastique et tendent a induire un comportement classique purement elastique.
Compressive Strength and Drying Shrinkage of Alkali-activated Fly Ash/Slag Mortars

This study investigates the compressive strength and drying shrinkage of alkali-activated fly ash/slag mortars (AFSM). The liquid sodium silicate with modulus ratios (mass ratio of SiO2 to Na2O) of 2.5 were used as alkaline activators to alkali-activate fly ash and slag with various ratios of 50/50, 60/40, 70/30, 80/20 for fly ash to slag and liquid-to-binder ratios of 0.5 and 0.6. Test results showed that the compressive strengths decreased with an increase of FA and liquid-to-binder ratio for all AFSM. At the age 28 days, M5A (AFSM with fly ash/slag ratios of 50/50) has the highest compressive strength of 76.2 MPa. The drying shrinkage rate decreased with an increase of FA. At the age of 28 days, the drying shrinkage rate of M5D (AFSM with fly ash/slag ratios of 80/20) is 43.33 × 10, which has the lowest drying shrinkage rate for all AFSM. Based on the test result, both the fly ash/slag ratio and the liquid-to-binder ratio have a significant influence on the compressive strength and drying shrinkage rate of AFSM.
Nonlinearity-Assisted All-Optical Clock Recovery for Phase Modulated Lightwave Systems

We report all-optical clock recovery from 10 GBaud NRZ shaped lightwave signals in QPSK and 16QAM formats through injection mode-locking of an Erbium-doped fiber laser. Since these optical NRZ phase modulated coherent signals lack in the strength of the clock-tones, a pre-processing stage for the enhancement of these clock-tones based on a nonlinear semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) is employed. Optical clock recovery is demonstrated experimentally for both modulation formats, along with wavelength tunability of the scheme over the entire C-band. Resilience of the clock recovery process to input OSNR conditions is also demonstrated. The RMS timing jitter of the recovered clock is measured to be $\leq 2$ ps. We also report the performance analysis of the scheme for coherent modulation formats with respect to the dispersion-induced degradation in practical links through simulations and experiments.
Learning-Based Complex Motion Patterns Recognition for Pedestrian Dead Reckoning

As the global navigation satellite system (GNSS) faces the problems of signals blocked by various objects and absorbed by many materials in indoor environments, many indoor positioning methods based on smartphones’ inertial measurement unit (IMU) become increasingly applicable. Pedestrian dead reckoning (PDR) as one of the most universal methods, several algorithms with high accuracy have been proposed based on it. However, many algorithms are only applicable to scenes where pedestrians are in the “going forward” state. When the pedestrian’s motions include complex patterns such as sidestepping and walking backward, PDR will not work normally as the estimated result is far from the real trajectory. In this paper, we design a deep learning model assisted PDR algorithm to recognize the pedestrian’s complex motion patterns (going forward, walking backward, left sidestepping, right sidestepping) from the smartphones’ IMU. We firstly employ one combined model of trained convolution neural network (CNN) and long short-term memory (LSTM) neural network to determine the correction angle for different motion patterns. Then, we estimate the pedestrian’s motion direction by adding the correction angle to the attitude estimated by the inertial navigation system (INS) mechanization. Finally, the position can be computed by the estimated stride length and the corrected motion direction. Compared with different algorithms, the experimental results have proved that our algorithm can effectively process data in complex motion patterns.
THE EFFECT OF THE ENVIRONMENT ON BRAIN ACTIVITY DURING PROBLEM SOLVING

In all functions of the brain, electrical signals called volumetric conduction occur in nerve cells in the brain. The process of measuring and recording these electrical signals by means of sensors placed in certain areas on the scalp is called electroencephalography (EEG). EEG signals occur in body movements, sleep and wakefulness, and in all kinds of processes in the brain, including cognitive processes. In this study, we investigate the effect of city noise and popular music environments while solving questions with different levels of difficulty (simple and hard) employing the EEG signals in Cognitive Tasks Database in Different Environments. Features are extracted from the EEG data, collected from 17 undergraduate and postgraduate students while solving simple and hard questions, by means of Continuous Wavelet Transform. EEG signals recorded while solving simple and hard questions, in city noise and popular music environments are classified with average accuracies of 90.10% and 93.92%, respectively using Bayesian Networks. Results show that, EEG data collected in two different environments, noise and favorite music, while solving problems can be classified with high accuracy and distinction can be made with higher success for difficult questions.
Statins Activate Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor γ Through Extracellular Signal-Regulated Kinase 1/2 and p38 Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase–Dependent Cyclooxygenase-2 Expression in Macrophages

Both statins and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)γ ligands have been reported to protect against the progression of atherosclerosis. In the present study, we investigated the effects of statins on PPARγ activation in macrophages. Statins increased PPARγ activity, which was inhibited by mevalonate, farnesylpyrophosphate, or geranylgeranylpyrophosphate. Furthermore, a farnesyl transferase inhibitor and a geranylgeranyl transferase inhibitor mimicked the effects of statins. Statins inhibited the membrane translocations of Ras, RhoA, Rac, and Cdc42, and overexpression of dominant-negative mutants of RhoA (DN-RhoA) and Cdc42 (DN-Cdc42), but not of Ras or Rac, increased PPARγ activity. Statins induced extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK)1/2 and p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) activation. However, DN-RhoA and DN-Cdc42 activated p38 MAPK, but not ERK1/2. ERK1/2- or p38 MAPK–specific inhibitors abrogated statin-induced PPARγ activation. Statins induced cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 exp.
“Everything We Do, It's Cedar”: First Nation and Ecologically-Based Forester Land Management Philosophies in Coastal British Columbia

Abstract. People's values and attitudes regarding the natural world determine the level of care with which they approach the use of natural resources. We studied how human relationships with nature influence people's actions, using western redcedar (Thuja plicata), a major forest tree of northwestern North America, as a study system. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eleven Northwest Coast Indigenous plant experts and eleven ecologists and foresters of mixed European descent with an ecologically-oriented perspective in coastal British Columbia. The transcripts were analyzed using NVivo qualitative data analysis software for emerging themes. Results demonstrate more commonalities than differences between the two groups; they both expressed a personal—often spiritual—connection with nature and both value long-term and interdisciplinary management strategies. First Nation individuals have a unique spiritual relationship with western redcedar that is linked to both everyday and ceremonial practices, while ecologically-based foresters and ecologists have personal and academic relationships broadly with nature. They have similar environmental concerns of damage from industrial forestry practices, particularly the loss of old growth forests, and the negative effects of climate change. Our results support the assertion that First Nation perspectives are equally scholarly as the foresters' perspectives are reverential, and people from varied cultural backgrounds can care for the environment in similar ways. Moreover, an interdisciplinary approach that unifies science with Indigenous teachings can encourage a new moral framework for forestry management that values resources beyond commodification.
Optimization-Based Autonomous Air Traffic Control for Airspace Capacity Improvement

In order to handle increasing demand in air transportation, high-level automation support seems inevitable. This article presents an optimization-based autonomous air traffic control (ATC) system and the determination of airspace capacity with respect to the proposed system. We model aircraft dynamics and guidance procedures for simulation of aircraft motion and trajectory prediction. The predicted trajectories are used during decision process and simulation of aircraft motion is the key factor to create a traffic environment for estimation of airspace capacity. We define the interventions of an air traffic controller (ATCo) as a set of maneuvers that is appropriate for real air traffic operations. The decision process of the designed ATC system is based on integer linear programming (ILP) constructed via a mapping process that contains discretization of the airspace with predicted trajectories to improve the time performance of conflict detection and resolution. We also present a procedure to estimate the airspace capacity with the proposed ATC system. This procedure consists of constructing a stochastic traffic simulation environment that includes the structure of the evaluated airspace. The approach is validated on real air traffic data for enroute airspace, and it is also shown that the designed ATC system can manage traffic much denser than current traffic.
Dielectric properties of Bi12SiO20 crystals doped with Al

The temperature-frequency dependences of the complex dielectric permittivity ε and the voltagefarad characteristics of undoped and aluminum doped Bi12SiO20 crystals are studied before and after their polarization. It is shown that Al ions in the Bi12SiO20 dielectric matrix provide a significant increase as well as nonlinearity of ε in the temperature range 300 – 800 K and electric field strengths Е = 10 – 10 V/cm. It is shown that polarization causes the appearance of dielectric hysteresis loops. Al impurity significantly affects the appearance and parameters of these loops. The role of Al ions in increasing the contribution of the quasi-dipole mechanism in the polarization processes is revealed.
Manipulation and (Mis)trust in Prediction Markets

Markets are increasingly used as information aggregation mechanisms to predict future events. If policymakers and managers use markets to guide policy and managerial decisions, interested parties may attempt to manipulate the market in order to influence decisions. We study experimentally the willingness of managers to base decisions on market information under the shadow of manipulation. We find that when there are manipulators in the market, managers under-utilize the information revealed in prices. Furthermore, mere suspicion of manipulation erodes trust in the market, leading to the implementation of suboptimal policies—even without actual manipulation. This paper was accepted by Yan Chen, behavioral economics and decision analysis.
Evaluation of Directional Dependence of Sensitivity for Room-Temperature Magnetic Flux Sensors With Wide Sensitivity Region

Recently, the room-temperature (RT) magnetic flux sensors have begun to be applied to biomagnetic measurements. The RT sensors have a large advantage that they can be placed closer to the magnetic sources and obtain larger signals, unlike the superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) flux sensors. However, when an RT sensor is placed closer to the sources, the dimension of the sensitivity region cannot be negligible, and the directional dependence of sensitivity should be considered to estimate the theoretical magnetic signals for magnetic source analysis. We proposed a method to evaluate the directional dependence of the sensitivity of the RT sensors in response to adjacent magnetic sources using the array of coils arranged along a circular arc. Consequently, it was revealed that a specific magnetoresistance device-based flux sensor with a certain spatial extent had the directional dependence of sensitivity with a bell-shaped profile. We also proposed the multiple sensitivity points model for the bell-shaped profile and estimated the sensitivity distribution over the sensitivity region, which is expected to be effective in improving the accuracy of the magnetic source analysis using an RT sensor array.
Semiempirical calculations of the polarizability and second-order hyperpolarizability of fullerenes (C60 and C70), and model aromatic compounds

The authors present the results of molecular orbital calculations of the polarizability and second-order hyperpolarizability of several aromatic hydrocarbons and C{sub 60} and C{sub 70}. For the hydrocarbons, the authors look at the question of what types of additions to the ring structure have the largest effects on polarizability. The authors are interested in the ability to predict the microscopic properties of molecules which will affect their non-linear optical properties.
Molecular Hydrogen Suppresses Renal Injury in Chronic Kidney Disease Rats

Background: Cathode side commercial hydrogen dissolved water (HW) exhibits low dissolved oxygen, high dissolved hydrogen and significant negative redox potential. Therapeutic applications of HW have recently been reported. Thus, the present study aimed to examine effects of HW consumption on renal injury in a rat model of chronic kidney disease. Methods: Twenty Dahl S rats were given HW and tap water (TW), over a 4-week period. Thereafter, they were allocated to either group; non stressed (NS), and oxi-carbonyl stressed (OC: 5% salt diet and 1% methylglyoxal in drinking water) group, respectively (HW, TW n=5 each group). OS groups were subjected to unilateral kidney ischemic reperfusion (IR) in the final week. Results: No differences were found in blood pressure and urinary parameters between HW and TW. Glomerular adhesion rates in the IR kidney and positive osteopontin of the non-IR kidney were significantly higher in OC rats on HW, respectively. ED-1 staining on HW was significantly lower than TW in both the IR and non-IR kidneys of the OC rats. Plasma MCP-1 was significantly lower on HW after IR. Conclusion: Drinking HW at least partly suppressed renal damage in rats with combination of oxidative, carbonyl and ischemic stimulus.
Integrated epigenome, exome and transcriptome analyses reveal molecular subtypes and homeotic transformation in uterine fibroids

Uterine fibroids are benign myometrial smooth muscle tumors of unknown etiology that when symptomatic are the most common indication for hysterectomy in the USA. We conducted an integrated analysis of fibroids and adjacent normal myometria by whole exome sequencing, Infinium MethylationEPIC array, and RNA-sequencing. Unsupervised clustering by DNA methylation segregated normal myometria from fibroids, and further separated the fibroids into subtypes marked by MED12 mutation, HMGA2 activation (HMGA2hi) and HMGA1 activation (HMGA1hi). Upregulation of HMGA2 expression in HMGA2hi fibroids did not always appear to be dependent on translocation, as has been historically described, and was associated with hypomethylation in the HMGA2 gene body. Furthermore, we found that expression of HOXA13 was highly upregulated in fibroids and that overexpression of HOXA13 in a myometrial cell line induced expression of genes classically associated with uterine fibroids. Transcriptome analyses of the most differentially expressed genes between cervix and myometrium also showed that uterine fibroids and normal cervix clustered together and apart from normal myometria. Together, our integrated analysis shows a role for epigenetic modification in fibroid biology and strongly suggests that homeotic transformation of myometrium cells to a more cervical phenotype is important for the etiology of the disease.
Effect of Vitamin E as α-Tocopherol Acetate on Mercuric Chloride-Induced Chronic Oxidoreductive Stress and Nephrotoxicity in Rats

Impact of vitamin E against mercuric chloride induced nephrotoxicity in Wister albino rats was studied. Feeding rats with contaminated diet and water with HgCl2 at a non-lethal dose of (0.20 mg HgCl2/kg food or water) every other day for 42 days resulted in significant increase in the serum malonaldehyde (MDA), a biomarker of lipid peroxidation and significant decrease in the reduced glutathione concentration and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) enzymes activities as compared to the normal group. Simultaneous co-administration of vitamin E (as α-tocopherol acetate) 100 mg/kg BW/+p.o, every other day for 42 days along with mercuric chloride produced a pronounced cardinal nephroprotective effect against the mercuric chloride induced nephrotoxicity by restoring the normal levels of the estimated biochemical antioxidant parameters. In conclusion, serum biochemical and kidney histopathological findings of the current study highlight the beneficial antioxidoreductive stress ameliorative effects of vitamin E against HgCl2-induced nephrotoxicity in rats.
Riparian buffer and density management influences on microclimate of young headwater forests of Western Oregon.

Thinning of 30to 70-year-old Douglas-fir (Pseudotsugu menziesii [Mirb.] Franco) stands is a common silvicultural activity on federal forest lands of the Pacific Northwest, United States. Empirical relationships among riparian functions, silvicultural treatments, and different riparian buffer widths are not well documented for small headwater streams. We investigated buffer width and density management effects on riparian microclimates of headwater streams in western Oregon. Spatial variations in stand density, canopy cover, and microclimate were measured along transects extending from stream center upslope into thinned stands, patch openings, or unthinned stands, with riparian buffers ranging from <5 m up to 150 m width. For treated stands, summer mean daily air and soil temperature maxima increased, and mean daily humidity minima decreased with distance from stream. Microclimate gradients were strongest within 10 m of stream center, a distinct area of stream influence within broader riparian areas. Thinning resulted in subtle changes in microclimate as mean air temperature maxima were 1 to 4OC higher than in unthinned stands. With buffers 15 m or greater width, daily maximum air temperature above stream center was less than 1 "C greater, and daily minimum relative humidity was less than 5% lower than for unthinned stands. In contrast, air temperatures were significantly warmer within patch openings (+6 to +9OC), and within buffers adjacent to patch openings (+3"C) than within unthinned stands. Buffers of widths defined by the transition from riparian to upland vegetation or topographic slope breaks appear sufficient to mitigate the impacts of upslope thinning on the microclimate above headwater streams. FOR. SCI. 53(2):254-269.
Physical constraints for the Stoneham model for light-dependent magnetoreception

A new biophysical model for magnetoreception in migratory birds has recently been proposed by Stoneham et al. In this photo-induced radical pair (RP) model the signal transduction mechanism was physical rather than chemical in nature, as otherwise generally assumed in the literature. The proposal contains a magnetosensor and a signal transduction mechanism. The sensor would be an electric dipole related to a long lived triplet state of an RP. This makes it sensitive to the geomagnetic field via the Zeeman interaction. The field of the electric dipole moment would then promote isomerization from cis-to-trans in the retinal of a nearby rhodopsin. This would trigger the neuronal signal. Here we gather several observations from different works that constrain the feasibility of this physical model. In particular we argue that the perturbation of rhodopsin by a local electric field from a nearby electric dipole (10^6 V/m) cannot modify the field in the binding pocket of rhodopsin (10^9 V/m) sufficiently to trigger the isomerization of cis-retinal. The dipole field is much weaker than those from other sources in the vicinity which are known not to promote isomerization.
Females facilitate male patch discovery in a wild fish population

When individuals are more socially responsive to one sex than the other, the benefits they get from foraging socially are likely to depend on the sex composition of the social environment. We tested this hypothesis by performing experimental manipulations of guppy, Poecilia reticulata, sex compositions in the wild. Males found fewer novel food patches in the absence of females than in mixed-sex compositions, while female patch discovery did not differ between compositions. We argue that these results were driven by sex-dependent mechanisms of social association: Markov chain-based fission-fusion modeling revealed that males reduced sociality when females were absent, while less social individuals found fewer patches. Females were similarly social with or without males. Finally, males, but not females, preferred to join females over males at patches. Our findings reveal the relevance of considering how individual and population-level traits interact in shaping the adaptive value of social living in the wild.
Anti-Influenza virus effects of Enterococcus faecalis KH2 and Lactobacillus plantarum SNK12 RNA

Bacterial RNA has recently emerged as an immune-stimulating factor during viral infection. The immune response in an organism is directly related to the progression of virus infections. Lactic acid bacteria in particular have anticancer, bioprotective, and antiallergic effects by modulating immunity. Here, we aimed to demonstrate the effect of bacterial RNA on in vitro production of IL-12, a proinflammatory cytokine, and on in vivo activity against influenza A virus (IFV) infection. Oral administration of heat-killed Enterococcus faecalis KH2 (KH2) or Lactobacillus plantarum SNK12 (SNK) in IFV-infected mice suppressed viral replication and stimulated production of virus-specific antibodies. However, ribonuclease-treated KH2 or SNK abrogated the effect, reducing IL-12 production in vitro and anti-IFV effects in vivo. Taken together, KH2 or SNK showed antiviral effects in vivo when administered orally, and the RNAs of KH2 and SNK play a part in these effects, despite the phylogenetic differences between the bacteria.