Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The regularity of muscle spindle discharge in man.

1. The variability of discharge of thirty‐nine muscle spindle afferents from the pretibial muscles of normal human subjects was determined for spike train sequences recorded with the ankle joint fixed in 25 degrees plantar flexion, during further stretch and during graded voluntary contractions of the receptor‐bearing muscle. 2. In non‐contracting muscles with the ankle joint in 25 degrees plantar flexion, a sustained discharge was maintained by twenty‐four of the thirty‐nine endings. The mean discharge frequency for the active endings was 11.1 Hz (range 4.8‐‐22.1 Hz), the mean coefficient of variation 0.073 (range 0.021‐‐0.183). With further stretch, the discharge of endings maintaining frequencies below 10‐‐12 Hz became more regular. For endings maintaining higher frequencies, changes in the coefficient of variation were small and occurred in either direction. All secondary endings maintained a highly regular discharge, but, at these frequencies, there was no statistically significant difference in the variability of primary and secondary endings. 3. It is considered that these findings are comparable to those of Matthews & Stein (1969) for de‐efferented feline spindle endings, and support the view that there is no functionally effective background fusimotor drive to non‐contracting muscles of normal human subjects. 4. A voluntary contraction sufficient to accelerate a spindle ending invariably decreased the regularity of its afferent discharge. During voluntary contractions, coefficients of variation up to 0.345 were recorded. However, coefficients as low as 0.1 were not uncommon, and thus the absence of fusimotor drive cannot necessarily be inferred from a regular afferent discharge pattern. 5. With contractions of different strength, the increase in the coefficient of variation did not parallel the increase in discharge frequency. It is concluded that not all fusimotor influences acting on a spindle ending are translated into variability, and that measurements of the variability of discharge do not accurately reflect the level of fusimotor drive. 6. The discharge frequency of some spindle endings decreased slightly in some contractions and this was accompanied by an increase in the variability of discharge. It is suggested that contracting extrafusal muscle fibres can modulate the discharge pattern of spindle endings and contribute to the variability of discharge during a voluntary contraction. 7. In contracting muscles the irregular fusimotor‐driven spindle discharge contained a ‘hidden’ periodicity, but this was not as extensive as has been reported for the cat. No such periodicity could be demonstrated for spindle endings in non‐contracting human muscles.
Efficient configuration of monitoring slices for cloud platform administrators

Monitoring is an important issue in cloud environments because it assures that acquired cloud slices attend the user's expectations. However, these environments are multitenant and dynamic, requiring automation techniques to offload cloud administrators. In a previous work, we proposed FlexACMS: a framework to automate monitoring configuration related to cloud slices using multiple monitoring solutions. In this work, we enhanced FlexACMS to allow dynamic and automatic attribution of monitoring configuration tasks to servers without administrator intervention, which was not available in previous version. FlexACMS also considers the monitoring server load when attributing configuration tasks, which allows load balancing between monitoring servers. The evaluation showed that enhancements reduced FlexACMS response time up to 60% in comparison to previous version. The scalability evaluation of enhanced version demonstrated the feasibility of our approach in large scale cloud environments.
Effect of Display Technology on the Crosstalk Perception in Stereoscopic Video Content

3-D, and in particular stereoscopic, displays are believed to have great prospects. Due to imperfections in the optical and electronic components, however, some image distortions still exist in these displays. Among them, crosstalk is considered to be a very annoying one. The aim of the current research is to investigate crosstalk perception and its influence on image quality when rendering dynamic image sequences on two types of stereoscopic displays: a hold-type liquid-crystal display with patterned retarder and circular polarizing glasses, and an impulse-type digital light processing display with shutter glasses. Results show that the dynamic behavior of the displays has an impact on crosstalk perception. Perceived motion blur can mask crosstalk visibility, especially at low binocular parallax, which limits the crosstalk-induced image quality degradation.
Neutrino masses in the Lee-Wick standard model

Recently, an extension of the standard model based on ideas of Lee and Wick has been discussed. This theory is free of quadratic divergences and hence has a Higgs mass that is stable against radiative corrections. Here, we address the question of whether or not it is possible to couple very heavy particles, with masses much greater than the weak scale, to the Lee-Wick standard model degrees of freedom and still preserve the stability of the weak scale. We show that in the LW-standard model the familiar seesaw mechanism for generating neutrino masses preserves the solution to the hierarchy puzzle provided by the higher derivative terms. The very heavy right-handed neutrinos do not destabilize the Higgs mass. We give an example of new heavy degrees of freedom that would destabilize the hierarchy, and discuss a general mechanism for coupling other heavy degrees of freedom to the Higgs doublet while preserving the hierarchy.
Data and Information Quality : Research Themes and Evolving Trends Emergent Research Forum

Along with data being increasingly viewed as a critical asset and the rise of “Big Data” with its potential uses, research of data and information quality has grown in importance to become a distinct area within information systems. Particularly with the ever more rapid changes in technology and adoption of datadriven decision-making, at this juncture it is important to take stock of data and information quality research by identifying the core topics and themes that distinguish this area. Next, it is important to understand its ongoing trends and patterns, which in turn will lead us to recognizing new and emerging research opportunities for researchers. This paper is a work in progress report on our study and the results for the first of these objectives, determining the core topics and themes that define the area of data and information quality research.
Optimisation de l'utilisation de phosphore alimentaire chez le porc et le poulet en croissance.

La reduction des apports alimentaires de phosphore (P) ainsi que l’optimisation de son utilisation par les animaux representent des enjeux majeurs pour assurer la durabilite des filieres avicole et porcine. Le developpement de systemes d’alimentation assurant une utilisation efficace du phosphore est donc crucial en particulier durant la periode de finition. Ce travail de these a permis de redefinir le besoin en P des animaux durant cette phase et ce en lien avec les autres constituants de la matrice alimentaire reconnus pour impacter de facon majeure sur l’utilisation globale de P (Ca, phytase microbienne). Ce travail a egalement permis de quantifier l’impact du Ca et de la phytase microbienne sur les flux digestifs et metaboliques de P. Les connaissances generees contribuent a developper d’une part, des modeles mecanistes simulant le devenir de P a l’echelle de l’animal et d’autre part, de nouveaux systemes d’alimentation repondant aux enjeux de la durabilite.
Increasing electromagnetic compatibility of Contactless Inductive Flow Tomography

In many metallurgical and silicon crystal growth applications the knowledge about the flow field of the respective liquid metals is vital for proper process management. The high temperatures and the opaqueness of those melts set severe restrictions on the applicable flow measurement methods. The Contactless Inductive Flow Tomography (CIFT) is able to reconstruct the mean flow structure of liquid metals by measuring the flow induced perturbation of an applied magnetic field outside the melt. Typically, these perturbations are about 4 orders of magnitude smaller than the applied magnetic field. Therefore, special care has to be taken to ensure a very high dynamic range of the utilized magnetic field sensors and to minimize the effect of electromagnetic interferences. In this paper we give a short overview on CIFT and delineate some methods to increase its electromagnetic compatibility.
Efficiency optimization of charge pump circuit in NAND FLASH memory

In this paper, power efficiency optimization scheme of charge pump circuit in NAND FLASH memory was proposed. The proposed scheme was implemented in program/erase charge pump by pump stage number control method. The maximum power efficiency of this pump is about 30%, and the maximum point is around 70% point of highest voltage level. So in this paper, to operate program/erase pump in highest power efficiency area, the pump stage number control scheme is proposed and evaluated in 20nm 64Gb MLC NAND FLASH memory circuit. Simulation result shows overall improvement of power efficiency, and at the wafer test about 10mA peak current reduction and overall improvement of power dissipation are found.
EPI-peptide designer: a tool for designing peptide ligand libraries based on epitope-paratope interactions

MOTIVATION Antibodies are an important class of biological drugs, but with limitations, such as inadequate pharmacokinetics, adverse immunogenicity and high production costs. Synthetic peptides for the desired target represent an important alternative to antibodies. However, no computational tool exists to guide the design of these peptides. RESULTS To identify the interacting residues in a given antibody-antigen (Ab-Ag) interface we used Interface Interacting Residue (I2R), a selection method based on computed molecular interactions. The aggregation of all the molecular interactions between epitope and paratope residues allowed us to transform the 3D Ab-Ag complex structures into interface graphs. Based on these data and the probability of molecular interaction we developed EPI-Peptide Designer tool that uses predicted paratope residues for an epitope of interest to generate targeted peptide ligand libraries. EPI-Peptide Designer successfully predicted 301 peptides able to bind to LiD1 target protein (65% of the experimentally tested peptides), an enrichment of 22% compared to randomly generated peptides. This tool should enable the development of a new generation of synthetic interacting peptides that could be very useful in the biosensor, diagnostic and therapeutic fields. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION All software developed in this work are available at http://www.biocomp. icb.ufmg. br/biocomp/ CONTACT liza@icb.ufmg. br SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Heterogeneity of Genotypic and Phenotypic Characteristics of Fifteen Permanent Cell Lines Derived from Human Gliomas

Six new permanent cell lines were established from human gliomas and compared to nine other cell lines from human gliomas. All fifteen lines had individually distinct HLA phenotypes and all but two, which were from a black patient, had type B glucose-6-phosphate-dehydrogenase isoenzymes. Morphologically, the lines could be classified into four patterns descriptively designated as fibroblastic, fascicular, epithelial, or glial. Four of the lines grew progressively and could be serially transplanted when injected into athymic mice; two others grew initially and then regressed. From none to 100% of cells developed elongated tapering processes and showed reduction in nuclear-cytoplasmic ratio in the presence of 1 miu cyclic AMP and theophylline. Levels of 2'-3' cyclic nucleotide 3'-phosphohydrolase activity ranged from nondetectable to 12.78 ± 1.49 μmoles 2' AMP formed per hr per mgm total protein. None of the lines had detectable S-100 protein, but two had readily demonstrable glial fibrillary acidic protein in indirect immunofluorescence. Fibronectin levels in spent culture supernatanls ranged from undetectable levels to 21.4 μg/ml/105 cells. All but one line shared surface antigens with normal human adult or fetal brain, as detected in absorption analyses with nonhuman primate antiserum raised against glioblastoma multiforme tissue or cell line U-251 MG. Although there were many common properties of the lines, each line had a unique profile of the parameters evaluated. This heterogeneity most likely reflects the individuality of the tumors of origin and individual genotypes and capacity for a range of phenotypic expression of the cells
From constituents to syntax-oriented dependencies

This paper describes the automatic process of building a dependency annotated corpus based on Ancora constituent structures. The Ancora corpus already has a dependency structure information layer, but the new annotated data applies a purely syntactic orientation and offers in this way a new resource to the linguistic research community. The paper details the process of reannotating the corpus, the linguistic criteria used and the obtained results.
Oligodendroglial Signal Transduction Systems Are Regulated by Neuronal Contact

Abstract: Previous reports indicate that oligodendrocytes express signaling systems activated by classical neurotransmitters. Several signaling systems linked to mobilization of intracellular calcium have been demonstrated, and some of these are developmentally lost in vitro and in vivo. The experiments described here use oligodendrocyte‐neuron cocultures to examine the effects of neuronal contact on the expression of these signaling pathways. Neonatal rat cerebral oligodendrocytes in contact with dorsal root ganglia (DRG) neurites responded to bath application of histamine, ATP, carbachol, glutamate, or bradykinin with increases in intracellular Ca2+ concentration. Similar results were obtained in coculture with superior cervical ganglia neurons. Preventing neuronal contact by transection of DRG neurites significantly reduced the percentage of oligodendrocytes responsive to each ligand, with the exception of bradykinin responsiveness, which was unaffected. Oligodendroglia isolated from adult rat spinal cord were also examined for responsiveness to these neuroligands. Few isolated adult oligodendroglia were responsive to these ligands, and coculture with DRG neurons failed to restore responsiveness. Neuroligand responsiveness was not induced in oligodendrocytes maintained 8 days in purified culture before establishment of cocultures. A significant reduction in the number of neuroligand‐responsive oligodendroglia was noted for histamine, carbachol, glutamate, and ATP after including tetrodotoxin for the final 6 days of coculture. These results suggest that both neuronal contact and neuronal activity contribute to the maintenance of functional neurotransmitter‐activated signaling pathways coupled to mobilization of intracellular calcium in oligodendrocytes.
LTCC embedded laminated waveguide filters and couplers for microwave SiP applications

Microwave filters and couplers embedded in low temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) substrates for system in package (SiP) applications are proposed in this paper. Taking advantages of the multilayer nature of LTCC, laminated waveguides and cavities can be flexibly arranged and embedded in the substrate to minimize either the area occupation or interference between different components. With the multimode characteristics of laminate waveguides cavities and the proposed coupling schemes, coupling coefficients with respect to various functionality such as miniaturized filters, trisection filters, dualband filters, diplexers, wideband magic-Ts, magic-Ts with bandpass filter responses can be accomplished.
A new method for accurate QRS detection using stationary wavelet transform

It is well-known that the wavelet transform is a very useful mathematical tool for scale analysis, with very accurate frequency components estimation for the input signal. In this paper, we propose a new efficient method for QRS detection by employing the Stationary Wavelet Transform (SWT) also known as short wavelet transform. Our approach has been tested over MIT/BIH benchmark database. The obtained results are in a good agreement with the published works. Globally, we achieved a sensitivity of 99.733%, specificity of 99.922% and an error rate of 0.345% using Lead I ECG.
Las marcas, la denominación de origen y la región de origen: ¿Qué estrategias de marketing en la globalización de la industria tequilera?

El objetivo de este trabajo consiste en explicar la interaccion entre las marcas, la denominacion de origen y la region de origen en la industria del tequila, dimensiones generalmente poco estudiadas en la literatura academica y en el area de los negocios. En primer lugar, desde una perspectiva teorica, subrayamos la funcion y el interes por las marcas y proponemos un marco conceptual que acentua las principales concordancias entre esos tres conceptos. En segundo lugar explicamos la funcion de las marcas en la industria del tequila y la manera en que influyen en las estrategias de las empresas a escala tanto nacional como internacional. En la parte final, de acuerdo con nuestro “marco conceptual”, se sugieren algunas implicaciones en terminos de empresas y de politica economica, particularmente en lo que se corresponde con la politica publi-promocional.
An index of self-rated health deficits in relation to frailty and adverse outcomes in older adults.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Poor self-rated health is associated with adverse outcomes but its relationship with frailty is not completely understood. We examined how self-rated health (SRH) is related to health outcomes and how this relationship might differ by individual level of fitness or frailty in older people. METHODS In the Atlantic Canada sample of the Canadian Study of Health and Aging, individuals aged > or =65 (n=1318) completed a self-administered questionnaire, from which we constructed an index of self-rated health deficits (SRHDI). Heterogeneity in health status was evaluated (n=1260) by determining their Frailty Index (FI). Higher values on the FI indicate worse health status. We evaluated health attitudes in relation to other health markers and to mortality. RESULTS Comparing those with the lowest vs highest SRHDI, significant differences (p<0.001) were seen in the mean hospital admissions in the past year (0.2 (+/-0.02) vs 0.8 (+/-0.08)), 3MS cognitive score (85.0 (+/-0.5) vs 78.4 (+/-1.2)) and (p=0.003) for age (75.3 (+/-0.3) vs 77.1 (+/-0.6)). The SRHDI and FI were moderately correlated (r=0.49) and both predicted mortality. In the fittest older people, those with poor SRHDI had a significantly increased risk of death (OR=18, 95% CI 6.0-53.6); SRHDI did not affect mortality in those who were frail. CONCLUSIONS Measuring SRH by an index of deficits is a valid construct and is associated with adverse health outcomes. The SRHDI may facilitate exploration of the complex relationships between illness burden and health outcomes in older people.When people are frail, worse health attitude does not seem to increase mortality, but in contrast, appears to increase mortality risk in fit older people.
Road Constrained Monocular Visual Localization Using Gaussian-Gaussian Cloud Model

There are two main challenges, drift and scale ambiguity, restricting monocular visual odometry from an extensive application on real autonomous navigation. In this paper, an iterative localization framework is presented to globally localize a mobile vehicle equipped with a single camera and a freely available digital map. Inspired by the concept of cloud, a new Gaussian–Gaussian Cloud model is proposed to give a unified representation of the measurement randomness and scale ambiguity in monocular visual odometry. In this model, a collection of cloud drops is generated. Both the drift and scale ambiguity are considered and represented simultaneously in each cloud drop. To reduce the measurement uncertainties of any drop in Gaussian–Gaussian Cloud, road constraints from the open source map—OpenStreetMap—are utilized. The map is first converted to a template edge map and a shape matching step is then implemented to assign the probability of each cloud drop, indicating to what degree the drop accords with road constraints. A parameter estimation scheme is used to narrow down the scale ambiguity of monocular visual odometry while resampling cloud drops. Evaluations on the KITTI benchmark data set and our self-collected data set have demonstrated the stability and accuracy of the proposed approach.
Community Proteomics of a Natural Microbial Biofilm

Using genomic and mass spectrometry–based proteomic methods, we evaluated gene expression, identified key activities, and examined partitioning of metabolic functions in a natural acid mine drainage (AMD) microbial biofilm community. We detected 2033 proteins from the five most abundant species in the biofilm, including 48% of the predicted proteins from the dominant biofilm organism, Leptospirillum group II. Proteins involved in protein refolding and response to oxidative stress appeared to be highly expressed, which suggests that damage to biomolecules is a key challenge for survival. We validated and estimated the relative abundance and cellular localization of 357 unique and 215 conserved novel proteins and determined that one abundant novel protein is a cytochrome central to iron oxidation and AMD formation.
The Princeton Field Guide to Prehistoric Mammals

“Up-to-date, comprehensive, and very readable. Prothero is a renowned expert in this field, with decades of experience working on diverse groups of prehistoric mammals. He clearly knows his subject well and skillfully conveys this knowledge to readers. ” —Spencer G. Lucas, New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science The ultimate illustrated guide to the lost world of prehistoric mammals The princeton Field Guide to prehistoric Mammals
Effect of Nitrosative Stress on Extracellular Nucleotide Metabolism in Endothelial Cells

Mechanisms of free radical injury involve chemical modification of proteins, lipid derivatives and nucleic acids and consequent loss of its function. However, specific targets and exact sequence of events has not been fully clarified. We determined whether extracellular enzymes that are involved in adenosine formation such as ecto-5′nucleotidase (e5N) and removal such as extracellular form of adenosine deaminase (eADA) could be affected by peroxynitrite. We used intact cell assay system that involves exposure of cultured HMEC-1 cells to substrates followed by HPLC analysis of conversion of substrates into products. We found that e5N and ADA activities decreased by 20–40% after incubation for 20 or 60 minutes with 30 μM peroxynitrite. Decrease of cellular ATP and NAD was also observed. We conclude that besides other cytotoxic effects modification of extracellular enzymes of nucleotide metabolism could be important target for free radical injury.