Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Motor-free force generation in biological systems

A central part of soft matter physics is the investigation of effects in an active environment. These systems are driven out of equilibrium by a constant energy consumption. In biological systems, for instance, energy is consumed in the dynamic polymerization process of cytoskeletal filaments or by motor-filament interactions. These active processes convert chemical energy into mechanical work and impede a trapping of cellular structures in thermodynamically frozen states. Thus, active soft matter is crucial for biological systems to fulfill a broad range of tasks. Inherent physical principles relying on entropy maximizing arguments, however, cannot be easily switched off even in active systems. Cells might even employ these principles to accomplish certain tasks without the need to arrange elaborate, energy dissipating structures. Within the presented studies we demonstrate possibilities how biological relevant forces can be generated in the absence of any active accessory proteins. The presented studies are based on the cytoskeletal key components actin and microtubules. We demonstrate different approaches ranging from light induced softening to cross-linker expansion, which realize entropy driven contractions of the according system.
Sol gel synthesis and application of silica and titania nano particles for the dyeing and UV protection of cotton fabric with madder

ABSTRACT The effect of nano SiO2silica and nano TiO2 on the dyeing of cotton fabric with madder dye was studied. The metal nanoparticles were prepared by sol-gel method from respective precursors. Various concentrations of the nanoparticles were added during the dyeing of cotton with madder. The effect of nanoparticles on the color values, fastness, and ultraviolet protection properties was studied. The characterization of the nanoparticles and the dyed fabric was studied using various analytical techniques. The dye was characterized by FTIR and phytochemical analysis. The post dyeing results inferred that there is a considerable improvement in the dye uptake and fastness properties of the dyed fabric after introducing metal nanoparticles. The SEM and EDX analysis confirmed the presence of SiO2 and TiO2nanoparticles on the fabric surface. The physico-mechanical properties of the fabric were found intact after dyeing.
Super-stabilisation de mousses aqueuses par des fluides complexes

Nous etudions differentes strategies de stabilisations de mousses aqueuses faisant intervenir des fluides complexes. Nous presentons tout d'abord le cas d'une mousse generee a partir d'une suspension d'agregats de particules de latex, obtenues par melange de celles-ci avec un tensioactif de charge opposee. Nous montrons que si le cisaillement applique pendant le moussage est suffisant, les agregats peuvent s'assembler autour des bulles, et former entre celles-ci un reseau percole, rendant la mousse ultra-stable. Nous realisons ensuite des mousses avec un gel physique viscoelastique, en utilisant un procede de moussage sequence : nous mixons d'abord une solution de polymere pour incorporer l'air, puis nous introduisons un reticulant reversible de ce polymere, ce qui demultiplie la viscosite du fluide et des interfaces. Le drainage est alors considerablement ralentit, et les mousses fortement stabilisees. Nous montrons cependant que la quantite de reticulant que l'on peut ajouter est limitee par un certain ratio reticulant/polymere au-dela duquel les mousses deviennent instables au mixage. Nous etudions enfin le moussage d'un gel colloidal en presence un tensioactif. Un tel gel se comporte comme un fluide a seuil : il s'ecoule sous cisaillement permettant l'injection de bulles lors du mixage, et se reconstitue au repos une fois le mixage interrompu. Si les fractions d'air semblent limitees, les mousses ainsi obtenues elles sont en revanche ultra-stables. En effet, nous montrons que lorsque la contrainte seuil est suffisante, elle bloque non seulement le drainage mais aussi le murissement.
The (non) determinants of Olympic success

This paper empirically examines the determinants of Summer Olympic success during the period 1996-2016. By modifying the panel Tobit estimator using the Mundlak transform, the results find that population size and the host effect are the only statistically significant determinants of Olympic attainment. We also show that participating in front of a home crowd will stimulate athletic performance equally for each gender, but the impact of population differs between the sexes. These findings are confirmed using a hurdle estimator. This relaxes the assumption that the factors determining Olympic success are the same as those that influence the quantity of success.
On a Family of Log-Gamma-Generated Archimedean Copulas

Modeling dependence structure among various risks, especially the measure of tail dependence and the aggregation of risks, is crucial for risk management. In this article, we present an extension to the traditional one-parameter Archimedean copulas by integrating the log-gamma-generated (LGG) margins. This class of novel multivariate distribution can better capture the tail dependence. The distortion effect on the classic one-parameter Archimedean copulas is well exhibited and the analytical expression of the sum of bivariate margins is proposed. The model provides a flexible way to capture tail risks and aggregate portfolio losses. Sufficient conditions for constructing a legitimate d-dimensional LGG Archimedean copula as well as the simulation framework are also proposed. Furthermore, two applications of this model are presented using concrete insurance datasets.
D-PARK: User-Centric Smart Parking System over BLE-Beacon Based Internet of Things

Our daily life services are quickly becoming smarter with intelligence and information through artificial intelligence (AI) and Big Data technologies. Parking services are one of the most frequently used in our daily life-cycle. This parking application could be classified into several features according to demands and properties, such as parking capacity balancing on a city-level view, parking fee maximization for achieving the service provider demand, empty parking spot notification within a parking lot, etc. This paper concentrates on parking space detection and alert to users. Most smart services rely on smart mobile derives of users such as smartphones and smartwatches. The proposed novel mechanism for smart parking is based on a smart device to gather mobile sensing data such as users’ activity and position data. Acquired mobile data are analyzed via machine learning technologies to provide dedicated parking services per user. Based on real testbed setups on campus and the proof-of-concept implementation, the proposed localization can achieve accuracy of a parking spot scale (2m-second guess 95%); moreover, it shows a much lower service operation period of 6.8 times (34s) than the legacy approach (230s).
A Stochastic Planning Model for Battery Energy Storage Systems Coupled with Utility-Scale Solar Photovoltaics

With recent technology advances and price drop, battery energy storage systems (BESSs) are considered as a promising storage technology in power systems. In this paper, a stochastic BESS planning model is introduced, which determines optimal capacity and durations of BESSs to co-locate utility-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) systems in a high-voltage power system under the uncertainties of renewable resources and electric load. The optimization model minimizing total costs aims to obtain at least 20% electric energy from renewable sources, while satisfying all the physical constraints. Furthermore, two-stage stochastic programming is applied to formulate mathematical optimization problem to find out optimal durations and capacity of BESSs. In scheduling BESSs, chronology needs to be considered to represent temporal changes of BESS states; therefore, a scenario generation method to generate random sample paths with 1-h time step is adopted to explicitly represent uncertainty and temporal changes. The proposed mathematical model is applied to a modified IEEE 300-bus system that comprises 300 electric buses and 411 transmission lines. Optimal BESS durations and capacity are compared when different numbers of scenarios are employed to see the sensitivity to the number of scenarios in the model, and “value of stochastic solution” (VSS) is calculated to verify the impacts of inclusion of stochastic parameters. The results show that the building costs and capacity of BESSs increase when the number of scenarios increases from 10 to 30. By inspecting VSSs, it is observed that an explicit representation of stochastic parameters affects the optimal value, and the impacts become larger when the larger number of scenarios are applied.
Effects of Expandable Graphite at Moderate and Heavy Loadings on the Thermal and Electrical Conductivity of Amorphous Polystyrene and Semicrystalline High-Density Polyethylene

In this work, we prepared and investigated two series of polymer composites, wherein the matrix was either an amorphous polystyrene (PS) or a semicrystalline high-density polyethylene (HDPE) filled with expandable graphite (EGr) at relatively high loadings within the range 5–55 wt %. For the investigation we employed a thermogravimetric analysis and differential scanning calorimetry to assess the thermal transitions and evaluate the various polymer fractions (crystalline (CF), mobile (MAF) and rigid amorphous (RAF)) in addition to broadband dielectric spectroscopy and a laser flash analysis to evaluate the EGr effects on electrical conductivity, σ, and thermal conductivity, λ, respectively. In PS, EGr was found to impose an increase of the glass transition temperature and a systematic decrease of the corresponding heat capacity change. The latter was rationalized in terms of the formation of an interfacial RAF. No glass transition was recorded for HDPE whereas the fillers increased the CF moderately. As expected, σ increased with the filler loading for both matrices, up to 10−3–10−2 S/cm, resulting in a conductive percolation threshold for electrons at > 8 wt % EGr. Simultaneously, the λ of PS and HDPE were strongly increased, from 0.13 and 0.38 W·K–1·m–1 up to 0.55 and ~2 W·K–1·m–1, respectively. λ demonstrated an almost linear EGr loading dependence whereas the semicrystalline composites exhibited a systematically higher λ.
Struktur und Funktion eines porenbildenden Proteins aus Acanthamoeba culbertsoni.

Die freilebende, ubiquitar vorkommende Amobenart, Acanthamoeba culbertsoni, nutzt in ihrer naturlichen Umgebung Bakterien als Nahrungsquelle. Als fakultatives Pathogen kann die Amobe bei immunsupprimierten Individuen die Granulomatose Amoboide Enzephalitis sowie bei Immunkompetenten die Amobenkeratitis im Zusammenhang mit dem Gebrauch von weichen Kontaktlinsen verursachen. Beide Krankheiten zeichnen sich durch nekrotische Gewebszerstorungen aus. Als ein mogliches Effektormolekul wurde zuvor aus A. culbertsoni-Extrakten ein porenbildendes, antimikrobielles Peptid namens Culbicin isoliert. In dieser Arbeit wurde die Tertiarstruktur von Culbicin mittels mehrdimensionaler, heteronuklearer NMR-Spektroskopie aufgeklart und ergab ein Vier-α-Helixprotein, dessen Faltungstopologie bisher unbekannt war. Dazu musste zunachst ein Protokoll fur die rekombinante Herstellung von Culbicin in Bakterien und die Anreicherung des Proteins mit dem fur die NMR-spektroskopischen Analysen wichtigen Stickstoffisotop, 15N, nebst Reinigungsprotokoll etabliert werden. Untersuchungen an Modellmembranen zeigten, dass Culbicin an anionischen Membranen pH-Wert-abhangig oligomerisiert. Der Mechanismus der zuvor beschriebenen pH-Wert-abhangigen antimikrobiellen Aktivitat konnte mithilfe der Tertiarstrukturen sowohl des Culbicin-Monomers als auch des Dimers aufgeklart werden. Die Analyse der Tertiarstruktur von Culbicin erlaubte es, Porenmodelle zu generieren. Untersuchungen zur Cytotoxizitat von Culbicin an humanen Neuroblastomazellen konnte die Bedeutung des Proteins als Virulenzfaktor bei Gewebsschadigungen, die durch die Amobe hervorgerufen werden, nahelegen. Culbicin stellt somit nicht nur das erste Mitglied einer neuen Superfamilie von Proteinen dar, sondern begrundet auch eine neue Familie von cytolytischen, porenbildenden Proteinen parasitischer Amoben.
Chemistry Simulations Using MERRA-2 Reanalysis with the GMI CTM and Replay in Support of the Atmospheric Composition Community

Simulations using reanalyzed meteorological conditions have been long used to understand causes of atmospheric composition change over the recent past. Using the new Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications, version 2 (MERRA-2) meteorology, chemistry simulations are being conducted to create products covering 1980-2016 for the atmospheric composition community. These simulations use the Global Modeling Initiative (GMI) chemical mechanism in two different models: the GMI Chemical Transport Model (CTM) and the GEOS-5 model developed Replay mode. Replay mode means an integration of the GEOS-5 general circulation model that is incrementally adjusted each time step toward the MERRA-2 analysis. The GMI CTM is a 1 x 1.25 simulation and the MERRA-2 GMI Replay simulation uses the native MERRA-2 approximately horizontal resolution on the cubed sphere. The Replay simulations is driven by the online use of key MERRA-2 meteorological variables (i.e. U, V, T, and surface pressure) with all other variables calculated in response to those variables. A specialized set of transport diagnostics is included in both runs to better understand trace gas transport and changes over the recent past.
Simplified Reactor Design for Mixed Culture-Based Electrofermentation toward Butyric Acid Production

Mixed microbial culture (MMC) electrofermentation (EF) represents a promising tool to drive metabolic pathways toward the production of a specific compound. Here, the MMC-EF process has been exploited to obtain butyric acid in simplified membrane-less reactors operated by applying a difference of potential between two low-cost graphite electrodes. Ten values of voltage difference, from −0.60 V to −1.5 V, have been tested and compared with the experiment under open circuit potential (OCP). In all the tested conditions, an enhancement in the production rate of butyric acid (from a synthetic mixture of glucose, acetate, and ethanol) was observed, ranging from 1.3- to 2.7-fold relative to the OCP. Smaller enhancements in the production rate resulted in higher values of the calculated specific energy consumption. However, at all applied voltages, a low flow of current was detected in the one-chamber reactors, accounting for an average value of approximately −100 µA. These results hold a substantial potential with respect to the scalability of the electrofermentation technology, since they pinpoint the possibility to control MMC-based bioprocesses by simply inserting polarized electrodes into traditional fermenters.
Angiotensin receptor neprilysin inhibitor for patients with heart failure and reduced ejection fraction: Real-world experience from Turkey (ARNi-TR).

OBJECTIVE Heart failure (HF) is a growing public health problem with high morbidity and mortality. Recently, angiotensin receptor neprilysin inhibitor (ARNi) has emerged as a promising treatment for HF with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). Here, we shared our experience with the use of ARNi in HFrEF from multiple centers in Turkey. METHODS The ARNi-TR is a multicenter, noninterventional, retrospective, observational study. Overall, 779 patients with HF from 22 centers in Turkey who were prescribed sacubitril/valsartan were examined. Initial clinical status, biochemical and echocardiographic parameters, and New York Heart Association functional class (NYHA-FC) values were compared with follow-up values after 1 year of ARNi use. In addition, the effect of ARNi on number of annual hospitalizations was investigated, and the patients were divided into 2 groups, depending on whether ARNi was initiated at hospitalization or under outpatient clinic control. RESULTS N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP), left-ventricle ejection fraction (LV-EF), and NYHA-FC values improved significantly in both groups (all parameters, p<0.001) within 1-year follow-up. In both groups, a decrease in hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) values was observed in ARNi use (p<0.001), and a decrease in daily diuretic doses and hospitalizations owing to HF were observed after ARNi use (all comparisons, p<0.001). Hypertension (16.9%) was the most common side effect in patients using ARN. CONCLUSION The ARNi-TR study offers comprehensive real-life data for patients using ARNi in Turkey. The use of ARNi has shown significant improvements in FC, NT-proBNP, HbA1c levels, and LV-EF. Likewise, reductions in the number of annual hospitalizations and daily furosemide doses for HF were seen in this study.
Distributed H∞ Robust Control of Multiagent Systems With Uncertain Parameters: Performance-Region-Based Approach

This article deals with the distributed <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mathcal {H}_{\infty }$ </tex-math></inline-formula> robust control problem for linear multiagent systems perturbed by external disturbances and norm-bounded uncertain parameters over the Markovian randomly switching communication topologies. To tackle this problem, the distributed observer-based controller is proposed, which requires the relative information between neighbors and the absolute information of a subset of the nodes, and thus is intrinsically distributed. It is of great interest to see that the distributed <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mathcal {H}_{\infty }$ </tex-math></inline-formula> robust control problem governed by such a controller can be converted to the stabilization with <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mathcal {H}_{\infty }$ </tex-math></inline-formula> disturbance attenuation problems of some decoupled linear systems, whose dimensions equal those of a single node. Then, the <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mathcal {H}_{\infty }$ </tex-math></inline-formula> stochastic robust performance region is defined to indicate the robustness of this controller against the variation of communication topologies. It is theoretically shown that the distributed observer-based controller yields bounded and connected robust performance region. Finally, the theoretical results are verified by conducting numerical simulations and experiments.
Effect of Convective Mixing Process on Storage of CO2 in Saline Aquifers with Layered Permeability

Convective mixing of free-phase CO2 and brine in saline aquifers is an established technique to accelerate the CO2 dissolution process. Correct estimation of the convection onset time and rate of CO2 dissolution into brine are two crucial parameters regarding safety issues, as the timescale for dissolution corresponds to the same time over which the free-phase CO2 has a chance to leak out from the storage site. In real practice, underground formations are heterogeneous with a layered structure, but the convective mixing in heterogeneous porous media has received less attention than the homogeneous one. This study aims to develop a basic understanding of the role of layered permeability media (layered structure with variation in permeability vertically) on the behavior of convective mixing via well-controlled laboratory experiments. The effects of layering and layer properties on the rate of dissolution of CO2 in water and geometries of the formed convection fingers are studied using a precise experimental set-up with layered-permeability Hele-Shaw cell geometry. Qualitative (snapshots of convection fingers) and quantitative data (amount of the dissolved CO2 into water) are collected simultaneously for a better understanding of the process. The behavior of convection fingers (after the onset of convection) and the effects of model properties on this mixing process are also discussed.
Assessing poison ivy (Toxicodendron radicans) presence and functional traits in relation to land cover and biophysical factors

ABSTRACT Understanding species distributions remains central to research in ecology and biogeography. Emphasis is placed on the spatial presence/absence of plants as related to underlying environmental factors; however, distributions result from both abiotic factors and adaptations to the abiotic environment. We analyzed poison ivy (Toxicodendron radicans (L.) Kuntze), which has high intraspecies variability in the plant functional trait of growth habit, to assess implications of plant strategies for spatial distributions. Our objectives were to: 1) determine whether anthropogenic habitats are statistically overrepresented in poison ivy incidence and growth habits (shrub, climbing liana, crawling liana), and 2) model biophysical parameters that constitute preferred poison ivy habitat and the three growth habits. We collected poison ivy field data along a trail-transect with corresponding geospatially indexed parameters, subsequently analyzed using Bayesian spatial modeling. Model results revealed poison ivy preference for human-modified habitat; Developed and Planted/Cultivated land use categories showed the largest marginal posterior probabilities for crawling and climbing lianas. Increasing temperature and elevation preferentially benefit the climbing growth habit. Our results suggest that variability in functional traits may impact species geographic distributions by expanding niche breadth. Incorporation of functional traits may thus advance predictive niche models of species distributions.
The Effect of Iodine-131 Beta-particles in Combination With A-966492 and Topotecan on Radio-sensitization of Glioblastoma

Glioblastoma tumors are resistant to radiotherapy, and the need for drugs to induce radio-sensitization in tumor cells has always been a challenge. Besides, radiotherapy using targeted radionuclide is effective even for resistant tumors. Poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) and topoisomerase I enzymes have critical roles in the repairmen of DNA damage in cells. Thus, the inhibition of the activity of these enzymes can prevent the process of DNA repair and lead to the accumulation of damaged DNA in cells, resulting in the induction of cell death in tumors. In the current study, we investigated the effect of beta-particles of iodine-131 in combination with Topotecan (TPT), as the inhibitor of topoisomerase I, and A-966492, as the inhibitor of the PARP enzyme to increase radio-sensitivity of glioblastoma cells.The U87MG cell line (a human glioblastoma cell line) were cultured in Poly-Hema-coated flasks to reach 300μm-diameter spheroids. Then, the cells were treated with non-toxic concentrations of A-966492 and TPT. The viability of the cells treated with iodine131 in combination with A-966492 and TPT was determined by the clonogenic assay. The expression level of the gamma-H2AX protein, as a biomarker of DNA double-strand breaks, was measured by the immunofluorescence staining method to examine the impact of A-966492 (1μM), TPT, and radiation on the induction cell death.The combination of A-966492 and TPT with radiation resulted in the enhanced cell death, and sensitizer enhancement ratios at 50% survival (SER50) were 1.25 and 1.45, respectively. Radio- and chemo-sensitization were promoted when iodine-131 was combined with A-966492 and TPT, with the SER50 of 1.68. Also, the expression of γ-H2AX was significantly increased in cells treated with A-966492 and TPT combined with radiation.The results demonstrated that iodine-131, in combination with A-966492 and TPT, had marked effects on radio-sensitizing and can be used as a targeted radionuclide for targeting radiotherapy in combination with PARP and topoisomerase I inhibitors to improve radiotherapy in clinics.