Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Quantitative phase-field modeling of dendritic growth in two and three dimensions

We report the results of quantitative phase-field simulations of the dendritic crystallization of a pure melt in two and three dimensions. These simulations exploit a recently developed thin-interface limit of the phase-field model [A. Karma and W. -J. Rappel, Phys. Rev. E 53, R3017 (1996)], which is given here a detailed exposition. This limit makes it possible to perform efficient computations with a smaller ratio of capillary length to interface thickness and with an arbitrary interface kinetic coefficient. Simulations in one and two dimensions are first carried out to test the accuracy of phase-field computations performed within this limit. Dendrite tip velocities and tip shapes are found to be in excellent quantitative agreement with exact numerical benchmarks of solvability theory obtained by a boundary integral method, both with and without interface kinetics. Simulations in three dimensions exploit, in addition to the asymptotics, a methodology to calculate grid corrections due to the surface tension and kinetic anisotropies. They are used to test basic aspects of dendritic growth theory that pertain to the selection of the operating state of the tip and to the three-dimensional morphology of needle crystals without sidebranches. For small crystalline anisotropy, simulated values of ${\ensuremath{\sigma}}^{*}$ are slightly larger than solvability theory predictions computed by the boundary integral method assuming an axisymmetric shape, and agree relatively well with experiments for succinonitrile given the uncertainty in the measured anisotropy. In contrast, for large anisotropy, simulated ${\ensuremath{\sigma}}^{*}$ values are significantly larger than the predicted values. This disagreement, however, does not signal a breakdown of solvability theory. It is consistent with the finding that the amplitude of the $\mathrm{cos}4\ensuremath{\varphi}$ mode, which measures the departure of the tip morphology from a shape of revolution, increases with anisotropy. This departure can therefore influence the tip selection in a way that is not accurately captured by the axisymmetric approximation for large anisotropy. Finally, the tail shape at a distance behind the tip that is large compared to the diffusion length is described by a linear law $r\ensuremath{\sim}z$ with a slope $dr/dz$ that is nearly equal to the ratio of the two-dimensional and three-dimensional steady-state tip velocities. Furthermore, the evolution of the cross section of a three-dimensional needle crystal with increasing distance behind the tip is nearly identical to the evolution of a two-dimensional growth shape in time, in accord with the current theory of the three-dimensional needle crystal shape.
MicroRNA-1 and -499 Regulate Differentiation and Proliferation in Human-Derived Cardiomyocyte Progenitor Cells

Objective—To improve regeneration of the injured myocardium, it is necessary to enhance the intrinsic capacity of the heart to regenerate itself and/or replace the damaged tissue by cell transplantation. Cardiomyocyte progenitor cells (CMPCs) are a promising cell population, easily expanded and efficiently differentiated into beating cardiomyocytes. Recently, several studies have demonstrated that microRNAs (miRNAs) are important for stem cell maintenance and differentiation via translational repression. We hypothesize that miRNAs are also involved in proliferation/differentiation of the human CMPCs in vitro. Methods and Results—Human fetal CMPCs were isolated, cultured, and efficiently differentiated into beating cardiomyocytes. miRNA expression profiling demonstrated that muscle-specific miR-1 and miR-499 were highly upregulated in differentiated cells. Transient transfection of miR-1 and -499 in CMPC reduced proliferation rate by 25% and 15%, respectively, and enhanced differentiation into cardiomyocytes in human CMPCs and embryonic stem cells, likely via the repression of histone deacetylase 4 or Sox6. Histone deacetylase 4 and Sox6 protein levels were reduced, and small interference RNA (siRNA)-mediated knockdown of Sox6 strongly induced myogenic differentiation. Conclusion—miRNAs regulate the proliferation of human CMPC and their differentiation into cardiomyocytes. By modulating miR-1 and -499 expression levels, human CMPC function can be altered and differentiation directed, thereby enhancing cardiomyogenic differentiation.
Energy optimization of heat engine with infinite heat capacity reservoirs

The optimal energy output of a heat engine based on the Carnot process is studied. The internal irreversibility of the engine is considered by taking into account the entropy generation in the adiabatic processes. The engine is connected to high and low temperature thermal energy reservoirs with infinite heat capacity. The process temperatures and the energy conductivity of heat exchangers that maximizes the energy output have been obtained. The effect of the internal irreversibility on the optimal performance of the engine is shown. Two numerical examples are given.
Biosurfactant Production by Bacillus strains isolated from sugar cane mill wastewaters

Biosurfactants possess diverse chemical properties and provide important characteristics to the producing microorganisms, which can act as surface-actives and emulsifiers of hydrocarbon and others water insoluble substances. Most of them are lipopeptides synthetized by Bacillus. This study evaluated the biosurfactant production by strains of Bacillus previously obtained from liquid residues of sugar-alcohol industry. The bacterial isolates LBPMA: BSC, BSD, J1, J2 and L1 were cultivated in medium that induces production of biosurfactants (Landy medium). During 48 h of incubation, at intervals of 12 h, the total contents of proteins, reducing carbohydrates and surfactant activity of the filtrated growth media free of cells were evaluated. The results showed that these strains use glucose as a source of carbon, energy and for synthesis of surfactant. In this medium (24 h), the best producer of biosurfactant was the strain LBPMA-J2, molecularly identified HIGHLIGHTS • Interest in biosurfactants has increased in the last two decades. • Surfactin from Bacillus is one of the most effective biosurfactants. • Bacillus species are known as the main producers of extracellular enzymes. • Isolation of new strains is strategic for several fields of biotechnology. 2 Santos, E.C. L. ; et al. Brazilian Archives of Biology and Technology. Vol.62: e19170630, 2019www.scielo. br/babt as Bacillus thuringiensis. Once the supernatant free of cells of this microorganism disperses the oil phase in the water, this strain has potential for being utilized on bioremediation processes.
The rise of reindeer pastoralism in Northern Eurasia: human and animal motivations entangled

Explanatory models of how domestic animals entered human societies often focus on human choices and overlook the role of animal agency in this process. After discussing the dichotomy between nature and society in these models and in anthropology, this article examines the respective roles of animal and human motivations and agencies in the advent of reindeer pastoralism in the Eurasian Arctic. Based on recent multidisciplinary approaches, it hypothesizes an intensification process whereby reciprocal adaptations by reindeer and people gave rise to new hybrid herding socialities. It proposes a holist interpretation that takes account of the triadic nature of the ‘pastoral niche’, characterized by an interaction between humans, animals, and the landscape.
Risk Factors for Growth of Unruptured Intracranial Aneurysms: Follow-up Study by Serial 0.5–T Magnetic Resonance Angiography

OBJECTIVE:The independent risk factors for aneurysm growth were retrospectively investigated in 130 patients with unruptured aneurysms who were followed up by 0.5–T serial magnetic resonance angiography with stereoscopic images. METHODS:Age, sex, site of aneurysm, size of aneurysm, multiplicity of aneurysms, type of circle of Willis, length of follow-up period, cerebrovascular event, hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, smoking habit, and family history of subarachnoid hemorrhage were investigated using multiple logistic analysis. RESULTS:Fourteen patients (16 aneurysms) among the 130 patients (159 aneurysms) showed aneurysm growth (10.8%) during follow-up of 10 to 69 months (mean 29.3 ± 10.5 mo). Multiple logistic analysis disclosed that location on the middle cerebral artery (odds ratio [OR] 0.08, P < 0.01), multiplicity of aneurysms (OR 68.5, P < 0.01), aneurysm size of 5 mm or larger (OR 1.17, P = 0.05), and family history of subarachnoid hemorrhage (OR 10.9, P < 0.01) were independent risk factors. CONCLUSION:Location on the middle cerebral artery, multiplicity, aneurysm size of 5 mm or larger, and family history of subarachnoid hemorrhage are independent risk factors for aneurysm growth. These results may help to determine the treatment choice for unruptured aneurysms.
Outbreak of scrub typhus in Pondicherry.

AIM To describe the diverse clinical and laboratory manifestations of scrub typhus diagnosed in Pondicherry Institute of Medical Sciences, Pondicherry. MATERIALS AND METHODS All cases of febrile illness diagnosed as scrub typhus over a period of 2 years were analysed. Diagnosis was based on the presence of the eschar and/or positive Weil Felix test with a titre of > 1:80. RESULTS Fifty cases of scrub typhus were seen over a period of 2 years (April 2006 and April 2008). Common symptoms were high grade fever of 7-14 days duration, nausea, vomiting, headache, myalgia, cough and breathlessness. Eschar was seen in 23 cases (46%) and the common sites were axilla, breast and groin. Weil Felix test was positive in 39 cases (78%). Liver enzymes were elevated in nearly all cases (95.9%). Multiple Organ Dysfunction Syndrome (MODS) was present in one third of our patients (17 out of 50, 34%). Hypotension (8 patients, 16%), renal impairment (6 patients, 12%), ARDS (4 patients, 8%) and meningitis (7 patients, 14%) were some of the important complications. There was a dramatic response to doxycycline in nearly all the patients. CONCLUSION Scrub typhus has emerged as an important cause of febrile illness in Pondicherry. Empirical treatment with doxycycline is justified in endemic areas.
Usefulness of homocysteine as a cancer marker: total thiol compounds and folate levels in untreated lung cancer patients.

BACKGROUND Apart from being a risk factor for atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases, the latest research suggests homocysteine as a marker for cancer. We aimed to explore the clinical utility of plasma homocysteine levels as a marker in lung cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS Changes in serum total thiols and folate levels were investigated in newly diagnosed untreated lung cancer patients (n = 37) and compared with healthy controls (n = 26). Fluorometric HPLC methods were used for the determination of thiols. Other parameters were determined with commercial diagnostic kits. RESULTS Increased total homocysteine (t-Hcy), decreased total glutathione (t-GSH) and folate levels were observed in lung cancer patients compared with healthy controls. Total levels of thiols and folate did not show any significant difference between SCLC and NSCLC patients. However, there were significantly higher t-Hcy, lower t-GSH and folate levels in the advanced-stage group compared with controls. Prevalence of hyperhomocysteinemia was 65% in lung cancer patients when 12 micromol/l were taken as a cut-off value for t-Hcy levels. CONCLUSION Homocysteine is suggested as a marker for several types of cancer, but our result did not support this hypothesis for lung cancer. Although higher homocysteine levels were observed in the present study, further investigation in the larger cancer population would clarify the importance of homocysteine as a cancer marker.
Levosimendan attenuates reperfusion injury in an isolated perfused rat heart model.

OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of levosimendan on apoptosis and infarct size when administered before ischemia in an isolated rat heart model. DESIGN An in vitro experimental study. SETTING Animal laboratory. PARTICIPANTS Isolated perfused rat heart preparation (n = 22). INTERVENTIONS Perfusion with Krebs-Henseleit solution was performed for 30 minutes and then 0.1 micromol/L of levosimendan was added to the perfusion fluid for 10 minutes before global ischemia; the control hearts received no levosimendan. Hearts underwent global ischemia for 30 minutes and then were reperfused for 30 minutes before specimens were obtained for testing. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS Infarct sizes were measured at the end of the reperfusion period and expressed as a percentage of the area at risk. Myocardial apoptosis was detected by using the terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick end-labelling (TUNEL) method. Bcl-2 expression was determined to detect antiapoptotic activity. Infarct size was significantly less in the levosimendan group (26% +/- 3% v 40% +/- 4%, respectively; p = 0.009). Levosimendan significantly reduced the proportion of TUNEL-positive cardiomyocytes (3 +/- 1 v 20 +/- 4, respectively; p < 0.001) and increased Bcl-2 expression compared with control hearts (44% +/- 3% v 31% +/- 3%, respectively; p = 0.01). Recovery of left ventricular-developed pressure 30 minutes after reperfusion in ischemic hearts pretreated with levosimendan was significantly better than that of placebo-treated hearts (53% +/- 3% v 38% +/- 3% of baseline, respectively; p = 0.004). CONCLUSIONS Levosimendan has a cardioprotective effect when administered before ischemia in ischemia-reperfusion injury. This effect may be useful in elective cardiac surgery for protecting myocytes from ischemia-reperfusion-induced apoptosis.
Role of pHi, and proton transporters in oncogene-driven neoplastic transformation

The change of a normal, healthy cell to a transformed cell is the first step in the evolutionary arc of a cancer. While the role of oncogenes in this ‘passage’ is well known, the role of ion transporters in this critical step is less known and is fundamental to our understanding the early physiological processes of carcinogenesis. Cancer cells and tissues have an aberrant regulation of hydrogen ion dynamics leading to a reversal of the normal tissue intracellular to extracellular pH gradient (ΔpHi to ΔpHe). When this perturbation in pH dynamics occurs during carcinogenesis is less clear. Very early studies using the introduction of different oncogene proteins into cells observed a concordance between neoplastic transformation and a cytoplasmic alkalinization occurring concomitantly with a shift towards glycolysis in the presence of oxygen, i.e. ‘Warburg metabolism’. These processes may instigate a vicious cycle that drives later progression towards fully developed cancer where the reversed pH gradient becomes ever more pronounced. This review presents our understanding of the role of pH and the NHE1 in driving transformation, in determining the first appearance of the cancer ‘hallmark’ characteristics and how the use of pharmacological approaches targeting pH/NHE1 may open up new avenues for efficient treatments even during the first steps of cancer development.
King's Conceptual System, Theory of Goal Attainment, and Transaction Process in the 21st Century

We live in an information-processing world of systems and constant change due to increasing technology and research. Several articles in The Futurist magazine identified some of the current and future-oriented research and technology through the year 2030 and beyond. A special report in the l996 edition of the magazine discussed the kind of knowledge students must have for the 21 century. A few examples are the need for interpersonal skills to work within a team, and the need for honesty, integrity, critical thinking, and multicultural understanding relative to the diversity and need of individuals and groups (Uchida, Cetron, & McKenzie, 1996). Another issue of The Futurist provided information on research being conducted and reported relative to advances in neuroscience, such as “understanding the effects of media and technology on our thoughts and emotions” (Restak, 2004, p. 35). Pearson and Neild (2006), in their article, “Timeline for Technology: To the Year 2030 and Beyond,” presented information about the kind of technology advances that will take place within the next 50 years. Most of the changes reported in these articles appeared to deal with things, objects, and knowledge with few suggestions about how these will affect human beings in a changing environment.
The dual mechanisms of alkali cation absorption by plant cells: their parallel operation across the plasmalemma.

When the rate of absorption of potassium and many other ions by plant tissue is measured as a function of the external concentration of the ions, a dual pattern of absorption becomes apparent. At low concentrations, an isotherm is obtained in which for many tissues the rate of absorption levels off at around 0.2 mM K, with a wide plateau from that value to about 1 mM. The relationship between the external concentration and the rate of absorption follows simple MichaelisMenten kinetics.1 At higher concentrations (1-50 mMl), the rate of absorption of K does not remain constant at the level of that plateau but rises again, the isotherm depicting the relation between external concentration and rate of uptake having several characteristic inflections.2 Evidence for such a dual pattern of ion absorption has been shown for ions of many elements, and for many and diverse plant materials.3 The interpretation of these and other findings has been that there are two mechanisms of absorption of a given ion. The first of these (mechanism 1) operates even at low external concentrations, i.e., its affinity for the ions is high. The other (mechanism 2) has much less affinity for the ions and hence does not operate except at high concentrations, on the order of 1 mM and above. The two mechanisms differ not only in their relative affinities for the ions but in several other well-defined ways.3 One question these findings provoke concerns the locale of the two mechanisms. Earlier, good reasons were given for the conclusion that the mechanisms operating even at low concentrations (the type 1 mechanisms) reside in the plasmalemma.3I 4 Apart from specific experimental evidence for this conclusion there is the consideration that the concentration of K and other ions in the soil solution is often very low, within the range where mechanism 1 is the only one functioning. Presumably, then, this mechanism must be in the membrane facing the medium, i.e., the plasmalemma. As for the type 2 mechanisms, Laties and his collaborators in many papers'-" have advanced the claim that they lie in the tonoplast. This view necessitates the assumption that at those concentrations at which mechanism 2 comes into play (i.e., above 1 mM), mechanism 1 is not rate-limiting for entry into the cytoplasm. If it were, mechanism 1 would always be rate-limiting for the over-all process, as it would be supplying the ions to mechanism 2, and the rate of operation of mechanism 2, lying in series behind mechanism 1, could therefore not exceed the maximal rate of mechanism 1. To meet this difficulty, Laties and co-workers assume that at concentrations above 1 miMi, the plasmalemma becomes permeable to the ions and they enter
A Passive Approach for Detecting Image Splicing using Deep Learning and Haar Wavelet Transform

Passive image forgery detection has attracted many researchers in the recent years. Image manipulation becomes easier than before because of the fast development of digital image editing software. Image splicing is one of the most widespread methods for tampering images. Research on detection of image splicing still carries great challenges. In this paper, an algorithm based on deep learning approach and wavelet transform is proposed to detect the spliced image. In the deep learning approach, Convolution Neural Network (CNN) is employed to automatically extract features from the spliced image. CNN is applied and then Haar Wavelet Transform (HWT) is used. Support Vector Machine (SVM) is used later for classification. Additional experiments are performed. That is, Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) replaces HWT and then Principle Component Analysis (PCA) is applied. The proposed algorithm is evaluated on a publicly available image splicing datasets (CASIA v1.0 and CASIA v2.0). It achieves high accuracy while using a relatively low dimension feature vector. Our results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm is effective and accomplishes better performance for detecting the spliced image.
The relative efficacy of two interventions in altering maltreated preschool children's representational models: Implications for attachment theory

A narrative story-stem task was used to evaluate the efficacy of two competing, developmentally informed preventive interventions for maltreated preschoolers and their mothers designed to modify children's internal representations of self and of self in relation to other. One hundred and twenty-two mothers and their preschoolers (87 maltreated and 35 nonmaltreated) served as participants. Maltreating families were randomly assigned to either the preschooler–parent psychotherapy (PPP, n = 23), psychoeducational home visitation (PHV, n = 34), or community standard (CS, n = 30) intervention group at baseline. Thirty-five nonmaltreating (NC) families served as comparisons. Narratives were administered to children at baseline and at the postintervention evaluation. Children in the PPP intervention evidenced more of a decline in maladaptive maternal representations over time than PHV and CS children and displayed a greater decrease in negative self-representations than CS, PHV, and NC children. Also, the mother–child relationship expectations of PPP children became more positive over the course of the intervention, as compared to NC and PHV participants. These results suggest that an attachment-theory informed model of intervention (PPP) is more effective at improving representations of self and of caregivers than is a didactic model of intervention directed at parenting skills. Findings are discussed with respect to their implications for developmental theory, with a specific focus on attachment theory and internal working models of relationships.
An Analysis of Privacy-Aware Personalization Signals by Using Online Evaluation Methods

Personalization despite being an effective solution to the problem information overload remains tricky on account of multiple dimensions to consider. Furthermore, the challenge of avoiding overdoing personalization involves estimation of a user's preferences in relation to different queries. This work is an attempt to make inferences about when personalization would be beneficial by relating observable user behavior to his/her social network usage patterns and user-generated content. User behavior on a search system is observed by means of team-draft interleaving whereby results from two retrieval functions are presented in an interleaved manner, and user clicks are utilised to infer preference for a certain retrieval function. This improves upon earlier work which had limited usefulness due to reliance on user survey results; our findings may aid real-time personalization in search systems by detecting a user-related and query-related personalization signals.