Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Atomic Force Microscopy Investigation of Vaccinia Virus Structure

ABSTRACT Vaccinia virus was treated in a controlled manner with various combinations of nonionic detergents, reducing agents, and proteolytic enzymes, and successive products of the reactions were visualized using atomic force microscopy (AFM). Following removal of the outer lipid/protein membrane, a layer 20 to 40 nm in thickness was encountered that was composed of fibrous elements which, under reducing conditions, rapidly decomposed into individual monomers on the substrate. Beneath this layer was the virus core and its prominent lateral bodies, which could be dissociated or degraded with proteases. The core, in addition to the lateral bodies, was composed of a thick, multilayered shell of proteins of diverse sizes and shapes. The shell, which was readily etched with proteases, was thoroughly permeated with pores, or channels. Prolonged exposure to proteases and reductants produced disgorgement of the viral DNA from the remainders of the cores and also left residual, flattened, protease-resistant sacs on the imaging substrate. The DNA was readily visualized by AFM, which revealed some regions to be “soldered” by proteins, others to be heavily complexed with protein, and yet other parts to apparently exist as bundled, naked DNA. Prolonged exposure to proteases deproteinized the DNA, leaving masses of extended, free DNA. Estimates of the interior core volume suggest moderate but not extreme compaction of the genome.
Serological characteristics of peanut allergy in children

Background: Food challenge is considered an excellent clinical tool for the diagnosis of specific food allergy. However in the case of peanut allergy it may be difficult to perform because of the severity of the reactions. The quantitation of a specific immunoglobulin E (IgE) response to different peanut allergens could also contribute to the improvement of the diagnosis. We characterized the IgE response to a whole peanut protein extract and to Ara h 1 and Ara h 2 in different groups of patients classified according to the severity of their allergic reactions.
The Sample Size-Richness Relation: A Comment on Plog and Hegmon

Plog and Hegmon (1993) focus on my research (Leonard 1989) on Black Mesa, Arizona, faunal assemblages as part of a broader critique of the work of a number of researchers who consider the effects of sample size on assemblage richness values. I suggest that their critique is problematic for a number of reasons, primarily statistical, but also because they do not provide an alternative hypothesis for the observed pattern.
Stress during ACLS courses: is it important for learning skills?

OBJECTIVE To determine the influence of stress on teaching medical emergencies in an Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) course and to verify this influence on learning, and the efficiency of emergency care training. METHODS Seventeen physicians signed up for an ACLS course. Their pulses were taken and blood pressure (BP) verified on the first day, before the beginning of the course, and on the second day, during the theoretical and practical test (TPT). Variations in pulse rates and BP were compared with students' test grades. Then, students answered a questionnaire of variables (QV) about the amount of sleep they had during the course, the quantity of study material and the time spent studying for the course, and a stress scale graphic. RESULTS Seven students had a pulse variation less than 10% between the 2 periods and 10 had a 10% or more variation. Grades on TPT were, respectively, 91.4+/-2.4 and 87.3+/-5.2 (p<0.05). Six students had a BP variation less than 20 mmHg, and in 11 it varied more than 21 mmHg. Grades on the TPT were 92.3+/-3.3 and 86.2+/- 8.1, respectively (p<0.05). The QV dates did not significantly influence grades. CONCLUSION Stress, as an isolated variable, had a negative influence on the learning process and on the efficiency of emergency training in this situation.
Complex internal dynamics underlying visual perception of motion

When ambiguous visual stimuli are presented continuously or repeatedly, they often lead to oscillations between (usually) two perceptions. Because of these oscillations, it has been thought that the underlying neural dynamics also arises from a binary or two-state system. Contradicting the binary assumption, it has recently been shown that the perception of families of ambiguous visual stimuli is governed by continuously varying, idiosyncratic biases. These biases differ considerably from one observer to the next, are quite stable even over long intervals, but have fine-scale temporal dynamics at least partly described by random walks (Wexler et al., 2015). Here I study bias patterns in the motion quartet, an ambiguous apparent motion stimulus. Presenting the motion quartet at different orientations results in bias patterns that are robust and idiosyncratic. However, the patterns are even more complex than those that have been described previously (Wexler et al., 2015). There are two qualitatively different extremes: preference for a translation axis, and preference for a rotation direction. The general case is a multidimensional combination of these extreme patterns. When measured repeatedly over 9 hours, the bias patterns usually remain stable, but also sometimes evolve both within dimensions (e.g., change of preferred axis) and across dimensions (change from axial to rotational bias).
Adaptive Context Transfer Scheme for Fast Handoff in Proxy Mobile IPv6

In IETF NetLMM WG (Network-Based Localized Mobility Management), proxy mobile IPv6 has attracted a lot of attention to support IP mobility for mobile nodes without host involvement. For supporting delay sensitive services like VoIP, various faster handoff schemes have been proposed recently. In this paper, we propose adaptive context transfer schemes for a fast handoff in proxy mobile IPv6 which reduces the delay in AAA authentication and specified context transfer scenarios taking into account proactive and reactive handoff. A context transfer protocol will reduce the latency and packet losses by avoiding the re-initiation of signaling to and from the mobile node.
The effects of extracellular K+, Na+ and Ca++ on lysosomal enzyme secretion from polymorphonuclear leukocytes.

Release of the lysosomal enzymes, lysozyme and β-glucuronidase, from rabbit peritoneal polymorphonuclear leukocytes induced by three kinds of secretogogues, chemotactic factors in the presence of cytochalasin B, the K+ ionophore, valinomycin, and the Ca++ ionophore, A23187 is profoundly affected by the presence and level of K+, Na, and Ca++ in the extracellular medium. K+ approximately doubles the ability of all chemotactic factors to release in the presence of cytochalasin B. Ouabain, except in a minority of instances, does not prevent enhancement by K+ suggesting that the enhancement is not due to activation of the Na+,K+ pump. Other monovalent cations can substitute for K+ but with less efficiency. Removing Na+ from the medium increased spontaneous release in the presence of Ca++ but to a much lesser extent in its absence. Chemotactic factor-stimulated release is depressed in the absence of Na+. The K+ ionophore, valinomycin, has no effect on chemotactic factor-stimulated release; however, it is capable of inducing release by itself. The secretogogue action of valinomycin requires the presence of Ca++ and is enhanced by cytochalasin B or K+. Nigericin, another K+ ionophore, in noncytotoxic concentrations is without effect on release. The enhancing effect of Ca++ on release by chemotactic factors and cytochalasin B was confirmed. La+++ has two effects on release; at sufficiently low concentrations it inhibits the Ca++-dependent release induced by chemotactic factors. At concentrations above 10-5 M, it can sustain chemotactic factor-dependent release in the presence or absence of Ca++. The release induced by the Ca++ ionophore A23187 requires Ca++ and is enhanced by cytochalasin B and by K+. The results obtained attest to the central role of external Ca++ in the induced secretion of lysosomal enzymes from the neutrophil. It is suggested that all three kinds of secretogogues induce release by causing an influx of Ca++ into the cytoplasm of the PMN. Cytochalasin B and K+ are believed to exert their effects by increasing the rate or extent of the hypothesized Ca++ influx.
Restoration of polarimetric SAR images using simulated annealing

Filtering synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images ideally results in better estimates of the parameters characterizing the distributed targets in the images while preserving the structures of the nondistributed targets. However, these objectives are normally conflicting, often leading to a filtering approach favoring one of the objectives. An algorithm for estimating the radar cross-section (RCS) for intensity SAR images has previously been proposed in the literature based on Markov random fields and the stochastic optimization method simulated annealing. A new version of the algorithm is presented applicable to multilook polarimetric SAR images, resulting in an estimate of the mean covariance matrix rather than the RCS. Small windows are applied in the filtering, and due to the iterative nature of the approach, reasonable estimates of the polarimetric quantities characterizing the distributed targets are obtained while at the same time preserving most of the structures in the image. The algorithm is evaluated using multilook polarimetric L-band data from the Danish airborne EMISAR system, and the impact of the algorithm on the unsupervised H-/spl alpha/ classification is demonstrated.
Human Factors : The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society

can be found at: Society Human Factors: The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Additional services and information for http://hfs.sagepub. com/cgi/alerts Email Alerts: http://hfs.sagepub. com/subscriptions Subscriptions: http://www.sagepub. com/journalsReprints.nav Reprints: http://www.sagepub. com/journalsPermissions.nav Permissions: http://hfs.sagepub. com/content/52/2/329.refs.html Citations:
Stereotype Associations and Emotion Recognition

We investigated whether stereotype associations between specific emotional expressions and social categories underlie stereotypic emotion recognition biases. Across two studies, we replicated previously documented stereotype biases in emotion recognition using both dynamic (Study 1) and static (Study 2) expression displays. Stereotype consistent expressions were more quickly decoded than stereotype inconsistent expression on Moroccan and White male faces. Importantly, we found consistent and novel evidence that participants’ associations between ethnicities and emotions, as measured with a newly developed emotion Implicit Association Test (eIAT), predicted the strength of their ethnicity-based stereotype biases in expression recognition. In both studies, as perceivers’ level of Moroccan-anger and Dutch-sadness associations (compared with the opposite) increased, so did perceivers’ tendency to decode anger more readily on Moroccan faces and sadness on White faces. The observed stereotype effect seemed to be independent of implicit prejudice (Study 2), suggesting dissociable effects of prejudices and stereotypes in expression perception.
Stable locomotion control of bipedal walking robots: synchronization with neural oscillators and switching control

Two novel approaches to stable legged locomotion control (neural-oscillator based control and switching control) are studied for achieving bipedal locomotion stability. Postural stability is realized by structural dynamics shaping, and gait stability is achieved by synchronization with neural oscillators and switching control. A biologically inspired control with neural oscillators (central pattern generator, abbreviated as CPG) is used for global stable locomotion of bipeds based on a mutually inhibited neural oscillator model (Matsuoka, 1985). A systematic design approach is studied for the entrainment between the dynamics of neural oscillators and the natural dynamics of the plant (bipedal skeletal dynamics) in the neural oscillator driven rhythmic control. This design can guarantee global dynamic entrainment, bipedal gait stability and system robustness, which are explored and analyzed using nonlinear system theories. The second control approach, called nonlinear switching control, is proposed to achieve stable locomotion control for a bipedal walking robot. This approach applies nonlinear switching control theory in the locomotion control system so as to ensure bipedal gait stability in the stable limit cycle sense. The switching surface is determined by means of the orbital contraction tuning technique. Both the structural dynamics stability and gait stability are analyzed. The convergence of the walking gait is proved based on nonlinear system theory. Two common features for the above control approaches are that a global state machine based switching module and a closed-loop gait stabilization mechanism are used in both control systems. In neural oscillator driven locomotion control, the sensory feedback signals are switched according to the states of global state machine. However, in the switching control, the global state machine is used to select the appropriate control sub-systems in addition to a contraction tuning mechanism. In both approaches, an explicit closed-loop gait control mechanism is implemented to guarantee the bipedal gait stability.
Preparation of enteric-coated microcapsules of astaxanthin oleoresin by complex coacervation

Abstract Astaxanthin oleoresin (AO) has a number of beneficial physiological functions. However, its sensitivity to light, heat, oxygen and gastric fluids has limited its application. In this paper, we describe the preparation of AO enteric microcapsules by coacervation to improve its stability and enteric solubility, and evaluate their efficacy by measuring the drug loading, encapsulation efficiency, optical microscopic appearance, stability, in vitro release and bioavailability. The results obtained showed that the AO enteric microcapsules possessed a high encapsulation efficiency (85.9%), a satisfactory in vitro release profile, and the ability of the microencapsulated AO to resist the effects of light, heat and oxygen was improved by 2.2-fold, 3.1-fold and 2.4-fold, respectively, during storage. In addition, the bioavailability of AO microcapsules was approximately 1.29-fold higher than AO, which is important for pharmaceutical applications and as a functional food.
Democratizing Content Distribution

In order to reach their large audiences, today's Internet publishers primarily use content distribution networks (CDNs) to deliver content. Yet the architectures of the prevalent commercial systems are tightly bound to centralized control, static deployments, and trusted infrastructure, inherently limiting their scope and scale to ensure cost recovery. To move beyond such shortcomings, this thesis contributes a number of techniques that realize cooperative content distribution. By federating large numbers of unreliable or untrusted hosts, we can satisfy the demand for content by leveraging all available resources. We propose novel algorithms and architectures for three central mechanisms of CDNs: content discovery (where are nearby copies of the client's desired resource? ), server selection (which node should a client use? ), and secure content transmission (how should a client download content efficiently and securely from its multiple potential sources? ). These mechanisms have been implemented, deployed, and tested in production systems that have provided open content distribution services for more than three years. Every day, these systems answer tens of millions of client requests, serving terabytes of data to more than a million people. This thesis presents five systems related to content distribution. First, Coral provides a distributed key-value index that enables content lookups to occur efficiently and returns references to nearby cached objects whenever possible, while still preventing any load imbalances from forming. Second, CoralCDN demonstrates how to construct a self-organizing CDN for web content out of unreliable nodes, providing robust behavior in the face of failures. Third, OASIS provides a general-purpose, flexible anycast infrastructure, with which clients can locate nearby or unloaded instances of participating distributed systems. Fourth, as a more clean-slate design that can leverage untrusted participants, Shark offers a distributed file system that supports secure block-based file discovery and distribution. Finally, our authentication code protocol enables the integrity verification of large files on-the-fly when using erasure codes for efficient data dissemination. Taken together, this thesis provides a novel set of tools for building highly-scalable, efficient, and secure content distribution systems. By enabling the automated replication of data based on its popularity, we can make desired content available and accessible to everybody. And in effect, democratize content distribution.
Peritoneal mast cells as a possible source of circulating heparin in the rat

Conjecture as to why the peritoneal fluid of rats may contain as many as 3500 mast cells per cubic millimeter (Padawer and Gordon, '52, '55) led to this work, Since mast cells are a source of heparin (Holmgren and Wilander, '37; Oliver et al., '47; Ehrich et al., '49) we theorized that mast cells which leave the mesentery to enter the peritoneal fluid produce heparin or heparin-like compounds and thus represent a source of these substances constantly available to the circulatory system. To test this idea we studied the rate of liberation of mast cells from the mesentery to the peritoneal fluid; the rate of reappearance of mast cells in the peritoneal fluid following their destruction or degranulatioii ; the concentration of heparin or heparin-like compounds in whole peritoneal fluid ; and finally, the concentration of these same substances in the blood serum.
Effects of protein source on nitrogen metabolism in continuous culture and intestinal digestion in vitro.

Eight dual flow continuous culture fermenters were used in four replicated periods to study the effects of protein supplements on ruminal fermentation and CP digestion. A basal diet was supplemented with isonitrogenous amounts of urea and tryptone (control; CTRL), soybean meal (SBM), lignosulfonate-treated SBM (LSBM), corn gluten meal (CGM), blood meal (BM), hydrolyzed feather meal (HFM), fish meal (FM), or meat and bone meal (MBM). Digestion of DM, OM, and carbohydrates was not affected by treatment. Ammonia N concentration was highest (P < .05) for CTRL and lowest (P < .05) for LSBM, CGM, BM, HFM, and FM. Nonammonia N flow was lowest (P < .05) for CTRL. Dietary N flow was lowest (P < .05) for CTRL, intermediate for SBM, and highest (P < .05) for LSBM, CGM, BM, HFM, FM, and MBM. Total N flow, bacterial N flow, and efficiency of microbial protein synthesis were not affected by treatment. Protein degradation was highest (P < .05) for CTRL. Flow of total amino acids (AA) was lowest (P < .05) for CTRL, SBM, and MBM. Diets containing BM provided the largest (P < .05) amounts of essential AA and lysine, and FM provided the largest (P < .05) amounts of methionine in fermenter effluent. Supplementation of diets with proteins low in ruminal degradability increased flows of nonammonia N, dietary N, and total and essential AA and modified the AA profile flowing out of fermenters.
A Two Concentric Slot Loop Based Connected Array MIMO Antenna System for 4G/5G Terminals

In this paper, an integrated design with a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna system for fourth generation (4G) and fifth generation (5G) applications is presented. The proposed design contains a two-element slot-based MIMO antenna system for 4G and a connected antenna array (CAA)-based two-element MIMO antenna system for a potential 5G band. Two rectangular loops are etched on the periphery of the ground plane. The top and bottom portions of the thin loops act as the two 4G MIMO antennas, while parts of their sides are acting as 5G arrays. The antenna system is fabricated on a commercially available Roger 4350 substrate with $\epsilon _{r}$ equal to 3.5, while the dimensions of the board are $100\times 60 \times 0.76$ mm3 representing a typical smart phone back plane size. The integrated antenna system covers multibands at 4G with a combined bandwidth of 1.565 GHz (−6 dB BW) in addition to the band between 16.50 and 17.80 GHz for 5G. The design is planar, low profile, simple, and compact in structure making suitable for wireless handheld devices and mobile terminals. The measured gain at 3.46 GHz was at least 2.22 dBi and at 17 GHz was 8 dBi for the 4G and 5G MIMO antenna systems, respectively. The envelope correlation coefficient was also calculated from the measured 3-D patterns and showed good MIMO performance. This is the first integrated 4G/5G MIMO antenna system with below 6 GHz and above 10-GHz covered bands using CAA.
Enhancement of algal growth in Cyanophyta-bacteria systems by carbonaceous compounds.

Planktonic blue-green algae are always associated with bacteria. This association leads to enhanced or abundant algal growth when atmospheric carbon dioxide becomes a limiting factor and bacteria-assimilable carbonaceous matter is added. The study was carried out with 12 bacteria-associated blue-green species and 22 aliphatic, bacteria-assimilable carbon compounds. A normal, phosphate-rich Zehnder–Gorham culture medium (No. 11) was used. The bacterial assimilation of the aliphatic matter apparently leads to the production of CO2, which accelerates algal photosynthesis. The observed growth effects are not specific for a particular algal species. They appear to be specific mainly for the bacteria which happen to be associated with the algal cells. Similar growth enhancement was observed when the atmosphere was enriched with 0.5% CO2. With this augmented supply of atmospheric CO2, however, the enhancing effect of organic matter disappeared. The presence of the organic additives also appears to delay bacteria.
Control mechanisms of differential translation of Hsp90 isoforms in 9L rat gliosarcoma cells

Although the differential expression of heat shcok proteins, Hsp90α and Hsp90β was extensively studied in many kinds of cells, the post‐transcriptional regulation of Hsp90 isoforms remains unclear. In control and GA‐treated rat gliosarcoma cells, it has been reported that the translational efficiency of hsp90α is higher than hsp90β. In this study, we present evidences identifying the roles for leaky scanning and 5′‐UTR sequence in translational regulation of Hsp90β. The result of in vitro transcription and translation (IVTT) experiment showed that hsp90α exhibited higher translation efficiency than hsp90β. Sequence analysis revealed that there is an out‐of‐frame downstream AUG codon in hsp90β gene. However, elimination of the downstream AUG by site‐directly mutagenesis or introducing Kozak context sequence around the initiator AUG of hsp90β open reading frame increased its translational efficiency, which indicated that leaky scanning might be a possible mechanism regulating hsp90β. Furthermore, we also constructed a firefly luciferase reporter system to verify the effect of subsequent translation at the downstream out‐of‐frame AUG codon in 9L and A549 cells. Furthermore, it is believed that 5′‐untranslated region (5′‐UTR) also plays a significant role in translational control. We showed hsp90β 5′‐UTR gives rise to the reduction of the translation efficiency in IVTT experiment. Additionally, the reductive effect of hsp90β 5′‐UTR was further confirmed by luciferase reporter assay using truncated deletion analyses of 5′‐UTR of hsp90β. Our results support the hypothesis that ribosome leaky scanning mechanism and 5′‐UTR sequence acts as negative regulators in hsp90β mRNA. J. Cell. Biochem. 107: 418–427, 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.