Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Barium‐Sensitive Potassium Channels in Astrocytes: Properties and Contribution to the Membrane Input Conductance

One of the major functions of glial cells is the clearance of the neuronal microenvironment of excess K+, accumulated by neuronal activity. The glial cells have carriermediated and channel-mediated (“spatial buffer”) mechanisms for this removal. ’ The channel-mediated mechanism uses the available K+ channels in glial cells as a pathway. Glial cells are well known for their high and selective K+ permeability, and it may be worthwhile to characterize the K+ channels in astrocytes further in order to get more information about this important K+ distribution pathway in the central nervous system. In this study primary cultures of cortical astrocytes from newborn rat and mouse brain and from the brain of 17-day-old chick embryos were used to analyze the K+ permeability by means of potassium-42 transport measurements and intracellular current-injection techniques. The unidirectional K+ influx and efflux (-2000 nmol x mg-’ X min-’) are blocked by almost 95% by 50 pMBaC1,. This concentration of Ba2+ does not influence other K+ transport systems. ’ The block appears within seconds of Ba’+ application, that is, the action is from the outside. Such an inhibitory effect of Bd+ was found for the K+ inward rectifier channel in giant eggs of the starfish and frog skeletal muscle. In astrocytes this channel is responsible for the high resting K+ turnover with a rate constant of 2.76 min-I, that is, within one minute their complete K+ content is exchanged about three times with the external K+. This is a reflection of their high K+ permeability. As can be seen from the example in FIGURE 1, the membrane input resistance of 2 Ma increased by 118% when 50 p M BaC1, was added. This is much less than expected of a 95% inhibition of K+ turnover and the transport and electrical measurements seem to contradict each other; however, cultured astrocytes are all connected by gap junctions and represent multidimensional systems. In these systems it is nearly impossible to determine membrane resistance changes from changes in input resistance, because the input resistance is highly insensitive to changes in the membrane resistance. Barium in this concentration does not change the resting potential; however, spontaneous depolarizations occur as a result of barium entry through
Impact of the Li substructure on the diffusion pathways in alpha and beta Li3PS4: an in situ high temperature neutron diffraction study

We report the first in situ variable temperature neutron powder diffraction (NPD) study of the solid-state ion conductor Li3PS4 which delineates the transitions between its three polymorphs (γ → β → α) and determines their crystalline Li-sublattices. They are compared to those of nanoporous β-Li3PS4, and β′-type Si-substituted Li3.25Si0. 25P0.75S4. Importantly, Rietveld refinement of the NPD data elucidates the crystal structure of the high-temperature α-Li3PS4 polymorph for the first time and shows that it crystallizes in the Cmcm space group. The lithium diffusion pathways of both the bulk β and α polymorphs are evaluated using the maximum entropy method and bond valence site energy calculations, revealing that the structure of α-Li3PS4 favors facile 3D conduction, supported mainly by its bcc S-sublattice. The variable temperature in situ NPD study of nanoporous β-Li3PS4 identifies the presence of an amorphous organic component that is only completely removed upon transformation to the α-phase at elevated temperature, and which may play a role in stabilizing this material at room temperature. Si-substitution of Li3PS4 not only stabilizes the β′-Li3.25Si0. 25P0.75S4 phase at room temperature but also prevents phase transformation to the α polymorph upon heating owing to its larger lattice volume.
The demand‐boost theory of exclusive dealing

This paper unifies various approaches to the analysis of exclusive dealing that so far have been regarded as distinct. The common element of these approaches is that firms depart from efficient pricing,raising marginal prices above marginal costs. We show that with distorted prices, exclusive dealing can be directly profitable and anti-competitive provided that the dominant firm enjoys a strong competitive advantage over rivals. The dominant firm gains directly, rather than in the future or in adjacent markets, thanks to the boost in demand it enjoys when buyers sign exclusive contracts. We discuss the implication of the theory for antitrust policy.
Expression of Sialic Acid Residues in Renal Tubule of Streptozotocin-induced Diabetes Rats

The distribution of sialic acid residues in renal tubule of streptozotocin-induced diabetes rats was investigated using lectin histochemical method to compare with specimens from control animals. Sialic acid specific lectins, Limax flavus (LFA), Sambucus nigra (SNA), and Maackia amurensis (MAA) were applied. This sialic acid residues of the renal tubule in diabetes rats were markedly different from those in the control. The epithelial cells of the entire proximal tubule in normal rats were positive for LFA and SNA, and negative for MAA. Meantime, the proximal tubule in diabetes rats was negative for these lectins. The medullary thick ascending limb in normal rats showed negative for LFA, SNA and MAA. In contrast, that limb in diabetes rats showed positive for these lectins. Moreover, the degenerated epithelial cells in the cortical thick ascending limb were intensely positive for LFA and MAA, and negative for SNA. The present study revealed that the different distribution of epithelial sialic acid residues in the renal tubule might be related to the functional diversity exhibited by these tubular regions between diabetic and normal rats.
Nitrogen immobilization in decaying hardwood leaf litter as a function of initial nitrogen and lignin content

Equations presented in an earlier paper, expressing organic matter and nitrogen dynamics in decomposing hardwood leaf litter, are extended to predict nitrogen immobilization patterns in litters of varying initial lignin and nitrogen content. A continuum of immobilization rates coincides with the successional status of the six northern hardwood species examined, with early successional species exhibiting the fastest rates. By using data from the literature, similar trends were found for southeastern hardwoods. Patterns for important species from Douglas-fir forests of the Pacific Northwest are quite different and may reflect differences in nitrogen availability following disturbance.
Revisiting Recent U.S. Heat Waves in a Warmer and More Humid Climate

The frequency and intensity of heat waves in the United States is projected to increase in the 21st century. We investigate dry and humid heat waves in a pair of high‐resolution model simulations that constrain large‐scale atmospheric circulation, to isolate the thermodynamic impacts on characteristics of present and future heat waves over the United States. The two kinds of heat waves show differences in mean intensity, amplitude, duration, and frequency over the Southeast, Northeast, and Midwest, while their characteristics are largely similar in the drier central and western United States. In a warmer climate, relative humidity is projected to decrease during dry heat waves, whereas it remains unchanged during humid heat waves. However, the overall increase in daily maximum temperature intensifies the heat stress during future humid and dry heat waves across all regions. With large‐scale circulation constrained, these simulations emphasize the importance of thermodynamic drivers in determining future heat wave characteristics.
Bushmeat and food security in the Congo Basin: linkages between wildlife and people's future

Tropical moist forests in Africa are concentrated in the Congo Basin. A variety of animals in these forests, in particular mammals, are hunted for their meat, termed bushmeat. This paper investigates current and future trends of bushmeat protein, and non-bushmeat protein supply, for inhabitants of the main Congo Basin countries. Since most bushmeat is derived from forest mammals, published extraction (E) and production (P) estimates of mammal populations were used to calculate the per person protein supplied by these. Current bushmeat protein supply may range from 30 g person−1 day−1 in the Democratic Republic of Congo, to 180 g person−1 day−1 in Gabon. Future bushmeat protein supplies were predicted for the next 50 years by employing current E:P ratios, and controlling for known deforestation and population growth rates. At current exploitation rates, bushmeat protein supply would drop 81% in all countries in less than 50 years; only three countries would be able to maintain a protein supply above the recommended daily requirement of 52 g person−1 day−1. However, if bushmeat harvests were reduced to a sustainable level, all countries except Gabon would be dramatically affected by the loss of wild protein supply. The dependence on bushmeat protein is emphasized by the fact that four out of the five countries studied do not produce sufficient amounts of non-bushmeat protein to feed their populations. These findings imply that a significant number of forest mammals could become extinct relatively soon, and that protein malnutrition is likely to increase dramatically if food security in the region is not promptly resolved.
Low temperature, continuous wine ‐ making by immobilized cells: A comparative study of the effect of temperature on volatile by ‐ products

Abstract A comparison study concerning the formation of methanol, ethylacetate, propanol‐1, isobutanol and amyl alcohols (mixture of 2‐ methylbutanol‐1 and 3‐methylbutanol‐1) in continuous wine‐making by γ‐alumina, kissiris and alginates supported biocatalysts is performed in this investigation. The effect of temperature was also examined. Methanol content was not affected by the support, process and temperature, but the concentrations of the other above compounds were reduced by the reduction of the temperature in all studied supports. The percentage content of ethyl acetate in the total volatile determined plus methanol was higher in the case of immobilized cells than in free cells. Kissiris supported biocatalyst increased this parameter but the other and free cells decreased it. Propanol‐1, isobutyl‐alcohol and amyl alcohols as percentage on total volatiles determined plus methanol were less than those of free cells for all supports and temperatures studied. The effect of the improvement of the formati.
Advancing Social Justice for Asylum Seekers and Refugees in the UK: An Open Education Approach to Strengthening Capacity through Refugee Action’s Frontline Immigration Advice Project

Britain’s asylum system fails the most vulnerable; it cannot ensure that people who are least able to protect themselves are provided with the legal assistance that they require to cope with the challenges with which they are inevitably faced. Against this background, the charity Refugee Action developed the Frontline Immigration Advice Programme (FIAP), a technology-supported capacity strengthening programme that aims to increase access to justice for those going through the asylum system in the UK. This paper is concerned with the design and implementation of the FIAP as a free digitally enabled programme that provides learning opportunities for organisations and frontline workers in the refugee sector and supports them in developing new forms of legal practice. It provides empirical data from interviews with members of staff from six participating organisations in the FIAP, and from Refugee Action and the Office of the UK’s Immigration Services Commissioner1 (n = 21). The paper adopts a view on social justice, which according to Fraser (2005) is understood as ‘parity of participation’. We draw on Fraser’s work, as well as work of other scholars such as Lambert (2018) and Hodgkinson-Williams and Trotter (2018) to explore the relationship between social justice and open education by taking into consideration the context within which organisations and professionals operate. The analysis highlights six dimensions for social justice approaches for professional learning as demonstrated through the case of the FIAP: i. deliberate iterative design; ii. access to provision; iii. flexibility of provision; iv. development of resources; v. support and vi. advancing knowledge and skills whilst adapting the workplace. All these dimensions are discussed in the paper in relation to the concept of openness and are critical in developing open socially just programmes that aim to change work practice and address the needs of the most vulnerable.
Subsets and supermajorities Optimal hashing-based set similarity search

We formulate and optimally solve a new generalized Set Similarity Search problem, which assumes the size of the database and query sets are known in advance. By creating polylog copies of our data-structure, we optimally solve any symmetric Approximate Set Similarity Search problem, including approximate versions of Subset Search, Maximum Inner Product Search (MIPS), Jaccard Similarity Search and Partial Match. Our algorithm can be seen as a natural generalization of previous work on Set as well as Euclidean Similarity Search, but conceptually it diﬀers by optimally exploiting the information present in the sets as well as their complements, and doing so asymmetrically between queries and stored sets. Doing so we improve upon the best previous work: MinHash [J. Discrete Algorithms 1998], SimHash [STOC 2002], Spherical LSF [SODA 2016, 2017] and Chosen Path [STOC 2017] by as much as a factor n 0 . 14 in both time and space; or in the near-constant time regime, in space, by an arbitrarily large polynomial factor. Turning the geometric concept, based on Boolean supermajority functions, into a practical algorithm requires ideas from branching random walks on Z 2 , for which we give the ﬁrst non-asymptotic near tight analysis. Our lower bounds follow from new hypercontractive arguments, which can be seen as char-acterizing the exact family of similarity search problems for which supermajorities are optimal. The optimality holds for among all hashing based data structures in the random setting, and by reductions, for 1 cell and 2 cell probe data structures. As a side eﬀect, we obtain new hypercontractive bounds on the directed noise operator T p 1 → p 2 ρ .
Quantitative usability assessment relying on experiential and specific task based SUS ratings

Abstract This study has two main objectives; one is to present the empirical result that shows how the SUS scores vary when end-users perform usability assessment relying on experience and by executing the assigned list of specific tasks on academic websites. The results are obtained by using independent sample t-test that scrutinizes the slight but significant difference in mean SUS scores among two. Results also investigate that 85.29% of websites have shown higher mean SUS scores when usability assessment is conducted with the assigned list of specific tasks whereas only 14.70% of websites have shown higher mean SUS scores when usability assessment is performed based on the experience. Another aim is to determine the relationship which is found to be strong positive correlation between system effectiveness, an ISO metric, measured as task success rate and subjective usability scores, measured through System Usability Scale (SUS) for 50-academic websites. It concludes that successful completion of the tasks results in high usability scores.
The use of surface electromyography in assessing the effectiveness of manual therapy: a systematic review

Research on the use of surface electromyography (sEMG) for analyzing the effects of Manual Therapy (MT) seems to have very dispersed intentions. The development of data collection protocols using sEMG might not be stable for conducting clinical studies. This study aimed to evaluate the current literature using surface sEMG in the context of MT and verify if it is a useful tool to verify its effectiveness. Also, to assess the methodologic quality and reporting standards and make a reflective analysis of how this technique has been used for this treatment modality. A computerized search was performed in May 2017 and repeated in June 2018, the search was performed in 8 electronic databases following PRISMA protocol. Thirty-one papers were included. More and better-designed studies are needed to create improved protocols. Further exploration and validation of these protocols may help to conduct more reliable clinically driven trials and it may inform policymakers of the role of MT in health care. The detection of clinically meaningful electrical alterations in muscles seems to be the main objective of most authors. Several sEMG items were not reported, and overall methodology quality was low.
Turbulence in a Coronal Loop Excited by Photospheric Motions

Photospheric motions are believed to be the source of coronal heating and of velocity fluctuations detected in the solar corona. A numerical model, based on the shell technique applied on reduced magnetohydrodynamics equations, is used to represent energy injection due to footpoint motions, storage and dissipation of energy in a coronal loop. Motions at the loop bases are simulated by random signals whose frequency-wavenumber spectrum reproduces features of photospheric motions: the p-mode peak and the low-frequency continuum. Results indicate that a turbulent state develops, dominated by magnetic energy, where dissipation takes place in an intermittent fashion. The nonlinear cascade is mainly controlled by velocity fluctuations, where resonant modes are dominant at high frequencies. Low frequency fluctuations present a power-law spectra and a bump at p-mode frequency; similar features are observed in velocity spectra detected in the corona. For typical loop parameters the energy input flux is comparable with that necessary to heat the quiet-Sun corona.
Do outpatient decision aids improve patients' perception of their knowledge and understanding when facing decisions regarding their health care?

Patient decision aids (PDAs) increase patient knowledge by 13%, double the proportion of patients who accurately perceive the risks of their decisions, and improve by two-fold the congruence between the patients’ decisions and their personal values (SOR:A, systematic reviewof randomizedcontrolled trials [RCTs]). Theuseof PDAs during the clinical encountermoderately improves patient knowledge and decreases patient decisional conflict (SOR: A, systematic review of RCTs). An AmericanAcademyof Family Physicians policy identifies the use of decision aids as an integral part of theMedical Home model (SOR: C, expert opinion). Copyright © 2020 by Family Physicians Inquiries Network, Inc. DOI 10.1097/EBP.0000000000000852
Tuta absoluta, a South American pest of tomato now in the EPPO region: biology, distribution and damage

Tuta absoluta (Meyrick) is an invasive pest of tomato native to South America, where it is responsible for extensive damage. It rapidly spread into several European countries, becoming a key pest. Knowledge of its main biological traits can be used to develop effective plant protection management strategies. It is a multivoltine species with a homodynamous behaviour, and the length of its life cycle depends on environmental conditions, particularly temperature. The larvae feed and develop inside tomato leaves, stems and fruits throughout the entire growing cycle. The adults have crepuscular habits, and in Mediterranean conditions they can be easily detected throughout the year. Damage is directly related to the reduction of plants' photosynthetic capacity and of production levels in both protected and open-field tomato crops; indirect damage can be also caused by secondary infections, with pathogens developing on the infested plant and fruit tissues.
Abundance and Relative Importance of Caterpillars Attacking Cabbage in Eastern Ontario

Cabbage and related crops are attacked every year throughout Ontario by caterpillars of three species, namely, the imported cabbageworm, Pieris rapae (L.), the diamondback moth, Plutella maculipennis (Curt.), and the cabbage looper, Trichoplusia ni (Hbn.). The imported cabbageworm is generally regarded as the most abundant of the three species and is reported as doing damage of considerable economic importance each year. The cabbage looper does not occur in large numbers until late in the season, but in most years it is believed to be second only in importance to the imported cabbageworm. The diamondback moth is generally considered to be much less important than the other two species (Caesar, 19i8). As previously reported (Matthewman et al., 1952), these beliefs were not borne our by observations of field populations at Ottawa in 1950. Whereas populations of the cabbage looper were strikingly low, those of the diamondback moth were much higher than the literature indicated. This paper is a summary of four seasons' experiments, 1951-1954, undertaken to assess the abundance and relative importance of the three species in eastern Ontario.
Enabling Cellular Communication for Aerial Vehicles: Providing Reliability for Future Applications

Due to safety concerns, a reliable radio communication link is a key component in the future application of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), as it will enable beyond visual line-of-sight (BVLOS) operations. In terms of cost and deployment time, radio communication for aerial vehicles will greatly benefit from the ready-to-market infrastructure and ubiquitous coverage of cellular networks. However, these are optimized for terrestrial users, and the different propagation environment experienced by aerial vehicles poses some interference challenges. In this article, field measurements and system-level simulations are used to assess interferencemitigation solutions that can improve aerial-link reliability. We then discuss how 5 G New Radio (NR) favors the integration of UAVs into cellular networks, as its flexible air interface and beamforming-suited frequencies facilitate the deployment of interference-management solutions.
Research on Emergency Coordinated Control System of Reactive Power and Voltage in Shandong Power Grid

This research project uses the existing capacitors, reactors and other reactive power resources in substations to construct the first regional reactive power and voltage emergency coordinated control system to solve the voltage problems after DC commutation failure or blocking. The system adopts the centralized control structure of master station, sub-station and executive station. The coordinated control master station communicates with AVC master station and converter substation sub-station to determine the fault, and then sends action instructions through the optical fiber communication to reasonably switch the capacitors and reactors of relevant substation, so as to give fast and effective reactive dynamic compensation to key nodes of the power grid to avoid voltage collapse.
InP Monolithically Integrated Transmitters Based on High Speed Directly Modulated DFB Lasers

In this paper we summarize results concerning high-speed integrated multi-wavelength transmitters fabricated using a generic InP integration platform. The photonic integrated circuits (PICs) include tunable directly modulated DFB lasers emitting in the C-band, monitoring photodetectors, MMI couplers and output spot size converters. The directly modulated lasers, designed in order to fit within a 100 GHz grid, show a maximum 3-dB small signal bandwidth of 21 GHz and a tunability range of about 4 nm. In particular, we report an 8-channel transmitter showing operation up to 30 Gb/s per channel (for 200+ Gb/s applications) and a 4-channel transmitter capable of operating up to 34 Gb/s per channel (for 100+ Gb/s applications). Error free operation (bit error rates <10−9) is achieved for all the channels in all the cases.