Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Molecular Characterization of Community Structures and Sulfur Metabolism within Microbial Streamers in Japanese Hot Springs

ABSTRACT Community structures of submerged microbial slime streamers (SMSS) in sulfide-containing hot springs at 72 to 80°C at Nakabusa and Yumata, Japan, were investigated by molecular analysis based on the 16S rRNA gene. The SMSS were classified into two consortia; consortium I occurred at lower levels of sulfide in the hot springs (less than 0.1 mM), and consortium II dominated when the sulfide levels were higher (more than 0.1 mM). The dominant cell morphotypes in consortium I were filamentous and small rod-shaped cells. The filamentous cells hybridized with fluorescent oligonucleotide probes for the domain Bacteria, the domain Archaea, and the family Aquificaceae. Our analysis of the denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) bands by using reverse transcription (RT)-PCR amplification with two primer sets (Eub341-F with the GC clamp and Univ907R for the Bacteria and Eub341-F with the GC clamp and Arch915R) indicated that dominant bands were phylogenetically related to microbes in the genus Aquifex. On the other hand, consortium II was dominated by long, small, rod-shaped cells, which hybridized with the oligonucleotide probe S-*-Tdes-0830-a-A-20 developed in this study for the majority of as-yet-uncultivated microbes in the class Thermodesulfobacteria. The dominant DGGE band obtained by PCR and RT-PCR was affiliated with the genus Sulfurihydrogenibium. Moreover, our analysis of dissimilatory sulfite reductase (DSR) gene sequences retrieved from both consortia revealed a high frequency of DSR genes corresponding to the DSR of Thermodesulfobacteria-like microorganisms. Using both sulfide monitoring and 35SO42− tracer experiments, we observed microbial sulfide production and consumption by SMSS, suggesting that there is in situ sulfide production by as-yet-uncultivated Thermodesulfobacteria-like microbes and there is in situ sulfide consumption by Sulfurihydrogenibium-like microbes within the SMSS in the Nakabusa and Yumata hot springs.
Observation of a reentrant insulating phase near the 1/3 fractional quantum Hall liquid in a two-dimensional hole system.

In a dilute, low-disorder, two-dimensional hole system at the GaAs/AlGaAs heterointerface, we observe a reentrant insulating behavior around the ν=1/3 fractional quantum Hall liquid at B⇒5 T, strikingly similar to recent observations in low-disorder 2D electron systems near ν=1/5. We interpret this behavior as manifesting a weakly pinned hole Wigner crystal around ν=1/3, and suggest that its observation at such large ν is a result of Landau-level mixing which, in the case of much heavier holes, significantly modifies the ground-state energies of the fractional quantum Hall and Wigner crystal states of the system
A 210 GHz Fully-Integrated OOK Transceiver for Short-Range Wireless Chip-to-Chip Communication in 40 nm CMOS Technology

This paper presents a fully-integrated 210 GHz transceiver (TRX) with non-coherent on-off-keying (OOK) modulation for short-range multi-Gb/s wireless chip-to-chip communication in 40 nm CMOS technology. The direct detection-based receiver (RX) part comprises an on-die -0.1 dBi gain modified dipole antenna, an 8-stage 210-GHz 21.7-dB peak gain low noise amplifier (LNA) along with differential-pair neutralization technique and a 2.83-kV/W peak responsivity simple demodulator (push detector) in order to operate efficiently in THz regime. The phased-locked transmitter (TX) consists of a 210 GHz -1.3 dBm output power 3.8% locking-range phased-locked loop (PLL), two modified cascode transistors as a simple OOK modulator, a 4-stage 210-GHz 19.4-dB peak power gain power amplifier (PA) with neutralization and especially layout enhancement techniques and a similar modified on-die dipole antenna. The implemented PLL employs a triple-push circular-geometry voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) followed by a divider chain (÷1024). The proposed TRX achieved error-free operation with +6.8 dBm of EIRP at center frequency of 210 GHz with 231-1 PRBS of 10.7 Gb/s data-rate over 1 cm distance while consuming 421 mW of DC power which results to energy efficiency of 39.3 pJ/bit.
Miniaturization of rectangular waveguide using uniaxial negative permeability meta-material

A rectangular waveguide filled with anisotropic uniaxial meta-material with transversal negative effective permeability is analyzed rigorously. It is shown that such waveguide supports propagation of backward wave below the cut-off frequency, thus, it can be considered as a dual of an ordinary waveguide. The transversal dimension of the waveguide can be arbitrarily smaller than a half of the wavelength, which may be used for fabrication of miniaturized rectangular waveguides. Several experimental miniaturized waveguides filled with different resonant meta-materials in the 7 GHz and 350 MHz frequency bands have been designed, fabricated and tested. The measured results revealed backward-wave pass-band located below the cut off frequency, which is in agreement with theoretical analysis.
Influence of the rotor optimization of an interior permanent magnet synchronous generator on the short circuit behavior

The operation of a permanent magnet generator with a passive rectifier puts several constraints on the operating point of the machine. Therefore the optimization of the machine has to take account of this operation mode. The variation of several rotor parameters of the interior permanent magnet generator was investigated for the whole operation range. Additionally the short circuit- and demagnetization behavior was studied for varying rotor parameters and compared to the results of the machine performance optimization. The magnetic flux density inside the magnet during short circuit was analyzed for different layers of the skewed machine.
Potential of biocompatible regenerated silk fibroin/sodium N-lauroyl sarcosinate hydrogels

Hydrogels are becoming widely used in biomaterial applications. The available methods for the preparation of these materials are continually growing. The gelation time (GT) of silk protein fibroin is difficult to control by physical methods. The cross-linkers used in available chemical techniques are likely to impact the biocompatibility of the resultant materials. In this paper, we demonstrate that the addition of sodium N-lauroyl sarcosinate (an amino-acid-based surfactant) accelerates the formation of hydrogels from fibroin. GT, turbidity variations, changes of viscoelasticity during the gelation process, and the mechanical properties of the products are measured. The secondary structure was probed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction and the morphologies of the products were investigated by scanning electron microscopy. Transformations in the β-sheet content were monitored by the fluorescence of Thioflavine T and circular dichroism measurements. The relationship between the surface tension of sodium N-lauroyl sarcosinate and the GT was also explained. To investigate cell compatibility, fibroblast cells were seeded onto the surface of the hydrogels. The results indicate that the sodium N-lauroyl sarcosinate/fibroin GT can be controlled. This blend-hydrogel demonstrates excellent cell compatibility, good compression strength, and outstanding compression-recovery characteristics. Sodium N-lauroyl sarcosinate/silk fibroin hydrogels containing β-sheets have considerable potential as replacement materials in addressing the tissue defects involved with repair surgery.
Mid-thigh pain in cementless arthroplasty Pathogenetic hypotheses

Mid Thigh Pain (MTP), i.e. a continuous dull pain in the thigh present after prolonged weight-bearing, is a common experience in hip arthroplasties. Since its origin is not clear, the Authors try to explain its etiology and pathogenesis through an analysis of a selection of their cases and of the literature. MTP seems to be a signal of bone overloading at the interface with the prosthesis; the overloading causes biochemical changes in the fibrous tissue surrounding the femoral component, which, in turn, provokes a bone resorption enhancing movements and overloading. If not treated with unloading, MTP may result in stem loosening.
Contribution of the Major Secreted Yops of Yersinia enterocolitica O:8 to Pathogenicity in the Mouse Infection Model

ABSTRACT Pathogenic yersiniae (Yersinia pestis, Y. pseudotuberculosis, and Y. enterocolitica) harbor a 70-kb virulence plasmid (pYV) that encodes a type III secretion system and a set of at least six effector proteins (YopH, YopO, YopP, YopE, YopM, and YopT) that are injected into the host cell cytoplasm. Yops (Yersinia outer proteins) disturb the dynamics of the cytoskeleton, inhibit phagocytosis by macrophages, and downregulate the production of proinflammatory cytokines, which makes it possible for yersiniae to multiply extracellularly in lymphoid tissue. Y. enterocolitica serotype O:8 belongs to the highly mouse-pathogenic group of yersiniae in contrast to Y. enterocolitica serotype O:9. However, there has been no systematic study of the contribution of Yops to the pathogenicity of Y. enterocolitica O:8 in mice. We generated a set of yop gene deletion mutants of Y. enterocolitica O:8 by using the novel Red cloning procedure. We subsequently analyzed the contribution of yopH, -O, -P, -E, -M, -T, and -Q deletions to pathogenicity after oral and intravenous infection of mice. Here we showed for the first time that a ΔyopT deletion mutant colonizes mouse tissues to a greater extent than the parental strain. The ΔyopO, ΔyopP, and ΔyopE mutants were only slightly attenuated after oral infection since they were still able to colonize the spleen and liver and cause systemic infection. The ΔyopO mutant was lethal for mice, whereas ΔyopP and ΔyopE mutants were successfully eliminated from the spleen and liver 2 weeks after infection. In contrast the ΔyopH, ΔyopM, and ΔyopQ mutants were highly attenuated and not able to colonize the spleen and liver on any of the days tested. The ΔyopH, ΔyopO, ΔyopP, ΔyopE, ΔyopM, and ΔyopQ mutants had only modest defects in the colonization of the small intestine and Peyer's patches. The ΔyopE mutant was eliminated from the small intestine 3 weeks after infection, whereas the ΔyopH, ΔyopP, ΔyopM, and ΔyopQ mutants continued to colonize the small intestine at this time.
The role of the pharmacist in the management of kidney transplant recipients

Pharmacists may play a key role on the multidisciplinary transplant team. This article describes the development and current status of pharmacists in the management of transplant recipients in the United States. Traditionally, pharmacists played an important support role in transplant medicine. This role has been expanded to include direct patient care for the avoidance, detection, and/or treatment of side effects from the polypharmacy necessary in the management of these complex patients. Pharmacists provide pre- and post-transplant education to transplant recipients to enhance adherence to complicated medical regimens and thereby reduce readmission to hospital and unscheduled, costly visits to urgent care centers and/or hospital emergency departments.
Technological innovation in PPPs: incentives, opportunities and actions

From a construction perspective, Public‐Private Partnership projects (PPPs) are often credited as providing real incentives for the actors involved as well as a business environment that is conducive to innovation and improved practices. The validity of four common rhetorical arguments used to promote the PPP procurement route is explored: collaborative working, design freedom, long‐term commitment and risk transfer. Particular interest is given to the extent to which espoused intentions correlate with experienced realities in allowing actors involved in the design and construction phases to be presented with, and able to exploit, opportunities for technological innovation. It is argued that there is reason to be cautious in fully accepting the purported benefits of the PPP framework and that the arguments often presented need to be revised. Alternative interpretations are provided.
Dual targeting of cytochrome P4502B1 to endoplasmic reticulum and mitochondria involves a novel signal activation by cyclic AMP‐dependent phosphorylation at Ser128

We have investigated mechanisms of mitochondrial targeting of the phenobarbital‐inducible hepatic mitochondrial P450MT4, which cross‐reacts with antibody to microsomal P4502B1. Results show that P4502B1 and P450MT4 have identical primary sequence but different levels of phosphorylation and secondary structure. We demonstrate that P4502B1 contains a chimeric mitochondrial and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) targeting signal at its N‐terminus. Inducers of cAMP and protein kinase A‐mediated phosphorylation of P4502B1 at Ser128 activate the signal for mitochondrial targeting and modulate its mitochondrial or ER destination. S128A mutation inhibits in vitro mitochondrial transport and also in vivo mitochondrial targeting in COS cells. A fragment of P4502B1 containing the N‐terminal signal and the phosphorylation site could drive the transport of dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) into mitochondria. Ser128 phosphorylation reduced the affinity of 2B1 protein for binding to SRP, but increased the affinity of the 2B1–DHFR fusion protein for binding to yeast mitochondrial translocase proteins, TOM40 and TIM44, and matrix Hsp70. We describe a novel regulatory mechanism by which cAMP modulates the targeting of a protein to two distinct organelles.
STRUCTURAL FEATURES OF THE CORNEA : LIGHT AND ELECTRON MICROSCOPY

The aim of this study was to examine and compare the cornea structure of young and adult dogs, and pigs using light and electron microscopy. Young (10-15-day-old) and adult (over 8 month) dogs, and young (2-day-old) and adult (8-9 month) pigs were used in this study. We used 4 eyes of young dogs, 12 eyes of adult dogs, 12 eyes of piglets and 12 eyes of adult pigs. Corneal thickness was measured using ultrasonic pachymeter. Later cornea was taken for light (from young and adult pigs, and only from adult dogs) and transmission electron microscopy. Ultrasonic measurements of cornea thickness showed that young and adult pig cornea was significantly thicker than cornea of young and adult dogs. Cornea of adult individuals was thinner than that of young ones. Light microscopy showed the Descemet’s membrane seen clearly in adult pigs and dogs’ cornea but in piglets’ cornea did the definite layer not mould. Electron microscopy of the young and adult dogs revealed that corneal epithelium contained several layers of the cells. The basement membrane of the corneal epithelium cells was clearly seen in both young and adult dogs cornea. Superficial cells of the cornea epithelium were elongated. In young dogs superficial cells of epithelium had a lot of vacuoles. The stromal collagen formed different clearly seen layers in young and adult dogs’ cornea. The corneal structure of the pigs’ cornea is similar to that in dogs. Two types of cells, dark and light, were seen in the corneal epithelium of the piglets. Corneal stroma consisted of the collagen layers and fibroblasts. Descemet’s membrane was seen as thick homogenous layer in the piglet cornea. The endothelial cells of piglets’ cornea had more square form than adult pigs’ cells.
Region-of-Interest Extraction Based on Frequency Domain Analysis and Salient Region Detection for Remote Sensing Image

Traditional approaches for detecting visually salient regions or targets in remote sensing images are inaccurate and prohibitively computationally complex. In this letter, a fast, efficient region-of-interest extraction method based on frequency domain analysis and salient region detection (FDA-SRD) is proposed. First, the HSI transform is used to preprocess the remote sensing image from RGB space to HSI space. Second, a frequency domain analysis strategy based on quaternion Fourier transform was employed to rapidly generate the saliency map. Finally, the salient regions are described by an adaptive threshold segmentation algorithm based on Gaussian Pyramids. Compared with existing models, the new algorithm is computationally more efficient and provides more visually accurate detection results.
Athletes’ use of goal-directed self-talk: Situational determinants and functions

The purpose of this study was to explore situational determinants of goal-directed self-talk and to advance our understanding of athletes’ goal-directed self-talk functions. Participants were 97 young adult athletes (Mage = 20.36; SD = 3.38), competing at regional, national, and international level. In face-to-face meetings, participants were guided to describe situations in which they had used goal-directed self-talk. Subsequently, they were asked to report what their goal-directed self-talk in these situations had been. Both inductive and deductive data analyses were used to address the research questions. Regarding the situations, participants used goal-directed self-talk mainly in a variety of situations in training, and before, during and after competition. Furthermore, they also employed self-talk to better handle substitutions, injuries and interpersonal conflicts. Regarding self-talk functions, the initial coding scheme was expanded with additional categories to add depth and specificity to the model. Specifically, newly described self-talk functions relate to performance analyses, goal-orientation promotion, reasons underlying persistence, time perceptions and down-regulation of excessive confidence. Overall, the findings of this study suggest that athletes have different self-talk functions at their disposal, to manage a large variety of situations.
Copula-based universal integrals

A hierarchical family of copula-based integrals is introduced and discussed. When considering the product copula, a family of decomposition integrals independently introduced by Even and Lehrer, and by Mesiar and Stupňanová, is recovered. Boundary members are distinguished universal integrals introduced by Klement at al. in 2010.
Architectural reorganization of the nuclei upon transfer into oocytes accompanies genome reprogramming

The ability of cloned embryos to sustain full‐term development depends on the ability of the recipient ooplasm to reprogram the donor cell genome. As the nuclear architecture has recently emerged as a key‐factor in the regulation of gene expression, we questioned whether early embryos obtained from transfer of ES metaphasic chromosomes into mouse ooplasm would adopt the somatic or embryonic type of nuclear organization. We have particularly focused on the arrangement of chromosomal territories with respect to the nucleolar compartment, and the pericentric heterochromatin domains called chromocenters. We found that nuclear transfer triggers profound chromatin rearrangements including the dispersion of the donor cell chromocenters components. These rearrangements lead to a typical 1‐cell pronuclear organization, namely a radial arrangement of the chromosome territories with centromeres attached to the nucleoli, which adopt the compact fibrillar structure of nucleolar precursor bodies (NPBs). Subsequently, during the second cycle, the cloned embryos undergo further reorganization with the establishment of new chromocenters, clustered in one part of the nucleus, as during normal embryogenesis. We could also establish that the adequate distribution of chromosomal territories at the pronuclear stage seems important for the development until blastocyst. Mol. Reprod. Dev. 1102–1111, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Long-Term Noninvasive Ventilation in Patients with Cystic Fibrosis

Background: The benefits of long-termnoninvasive positive pressure ventilation (NPPV) have not yet been evaluated in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF). Objectives: To evaluate the effect of 1 year of NPPV on lung function in patients with advanced CF. Methods: Data were obtained from the French CF Registry. Patients who started NPPV (ventilated group, n = 41) were compared to matched controls (control group, n = 41). Each ventilated patient was matched to a control 1 year before the start of NPPV (year –1) for gender, CFTR genotype, age ± 5 years and forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) ± 10%. The ventilated group was compared to the control group at year –1, during the year of NPPV initiation (year 0) and 1 year after NPPV (year +1). Results: At year –1, the two groups were comparable with regard to forced vital capacity (FVC; 43.7 vs. 49.1% in the ventilated group and the control group, respectively) and FEV1 (28.2 vs. 28.5%). At year 0, the ventilated group had significantly greater declines in FVC (–3.6 ± 9.2 vs. +0.8 ± 8.9%, p = 0.03) and in FEV1 (–3.0 ± 6.7 vs. +2.6 ± 4.4, p < 0.0001). At year +1, the decreases in FVC (–2.1 ± 10.0 vs. –2.2 ± 9.9%) and in FEV1 (–2.2 ± 6.7 vs. –2.3 ± 6.2%) were similar in both groups. Conclusions: These data show that NPPV is associated with stabilization of the decrease in lung function in patients with advanced CF.
A New Way to Beat the Limits on Shrinking Transistors?

QUANTUM OPTICSA new lithography scheme could sidestep a fundamental limit of classical optics and open the way to drawing ultraprecise patterns with simple lasers, a team of electrical engineers and physicists predicts. ([Read more][1].) [1]: http://www.sciencemag. org/cgi/content/full/312/5774/672a
Sound Synthesis for Communicating Nonverbal Expressive Cues

Non-verbal sounds (NVS) constitute an appealing communicative channel for transmitting a message during a dialog. They provide two main benefits, such as they are not linked to any particular language, and they can express a message in a short time. NVS have been successfully used in robotics, cell phones, and science fiction films. However, there is a lack of deep studies on how to model NVS. For instance, most of the systems for NVS expression are ad hoc solutions that focus on the communication of the most prominent emotion. Only a small number of papers have proposed a more general model or dealt directly with the expression of pure communicative acts, such as affirmation, denial, or greeting. In this paper we propose a system, referred to as the sonic expression system (SES), that is able to generate NVS on the fly by adapting the sound to the context of the interaction. The system is designed to be used by social robots while conducting human–robot interactions. It is based on a model that includes several acoustic features from the amplitude, frequency, and time spaces. In order to evaluate the capabilities of the system, nine categories of communicative acts were created. By means of an online questionnaire, 51 participants classified the utterances according to their meaning, such as agreement, hesitation, denial, hush, question, summon, encouragement, greetings, and laughing. The results showed how very different NVS generated by our SES can be used for communicating.