Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Structured sampling and reconstruction of illumination for image synthesis

An important goal of image synthesis is to achieve accurate, efficient and consistent sampling and reconstruction of illumination varying over surfaces in an environment. A new approach is introduced for the treatment of diffuse polyhedral environments lit by area light sources, based on the identification of important properties of illumination structure. The properties of unimodality and curvature of illumination in unoccluded environments are used to develop a high quality sampling algorithm which includes error bounds. An efficient algorithm is presented to partition the scene polygons into a mesh of cells, in which the visible part of the source has the same topology. A fast incremental algorithm is presented to calculate the backprojection, which is an abstract representation of this topology. The behaviour of illumination in the penumbral regions is carefully studied, and is shown to be monotonic and well behaved within most of the mesh cells. An algorithm to reduce the mesh size, and an algorithm which selects between linear and quadratic interpolants are presented. The results show that the mesh size and the degrees of the interpolants can be reduced without significant degradation of image quality. The preceding algorithms are combined into a complete structured sampling approach that allows accurate and efficient representation of illumination using interpolating polynomials for scenes with occlusion. Images with accurate shadows can be produced from the structured representation using either ray-casting or polygon rendering hardware. Finally, it is shown that our methodology generalises easily to the global illumination problem. An iterative solution to a Galerkin finite element approach is proposed, and it is shown how the structured algorithms provide a good initial approximation for the iteration, enhance efficiency for numerical integration and allow adaptive mesh modification. The structure driven global illumination algorithm thus promises significant improvement over previous higher-order finite element solutions.
Construction and Building Materials DEVELOPMENT OF COMPRESSION PULL-OFF TEST (CPOT) TO ASSESS BOND 7 STRENGTH OF BITUMEN

30 The quantification of moisture susceptibility has been a major concern for researchers as it 31 adversely affects the performance of asphalt pavements. Several methods have been 32 developed to assess bond strength using asphalt mixture in loose or compacted state. These 33 tests lack in their ability to study fundamental properties that the bond between bitumen and 34 aggregate. In this context, pull-off stub techniques have been developed such as pull-off stub 35 based tests and direct tension type tests. First group only measures the maximum pull-off 36 strength and second group has problems related to use of consistent binder film thickness and 37 operational problems in test itself. 38 This paper presents a new test to evaluate bond strength in an attempt to solve problems 39 associated with traditional pull-off techniques. This aim is achieved through review of existing 40 techniques, development of a direct tension test assembly and its evaluation, development of a 41 gap assembly and CPOT assembly. Key parameters for bitumen and mastics were evaluated. 42 The results show promising potential for use of this technique to study cohesive as well as 43 adhesive bond strength of binder.
OPTH_A_271923 3619..3625

1Private Practice, El Paso Eye Surgeons, P. A. , El Paso, Texas, USA; 2Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine-Lubbock, Lubbock, TX, USA; 3Texas Tech University Paul L. Foster School of Medicine, Lubbock, TX, USA Purpose: To characterize the efficacy of combined phacoemulsification and excisional goniotomy with the Kahook Dual Blade (KDB-phaco) in eyes of Latino adults with cataract and open-angle glaucoma (OAG). Methods: Health records of consecutive Latino patients undergoing KDB-phaco were retrospectively reviewed. Intraocular pressure (IOP) and IOP-lowering medication use were recorded at baseline and each postoperative visit through up to 24 months. Primary outcomes were reductions in IOP and medication use from baseline; secondary outcomes were the proportions of eyes achieving IOP reductions of ≥20% and medication reductions ≥1 medication from baseline. Subgroup analysis was conducted in eyes with high and low baseline IOP. Results: Data from 44 eyes of 32 Latino patients with OAG were analyzed. Mean IOP was 17.8 (0.7) mmHg at baseline and postoperatively ranged from 12.4 to 13.8 mmHg (p≥0.0003), representing mean IOP reductions of 4.2–4.6 mmHg (19.7–23.1%). Mean medication was 1.5 (0.2) medications per eye at baseline and postoperatively ranged from 0.2 to 1.0 (p≥0.0061), representing mean medication reductions of 0.7–1.2 medications per eye (47.1–87.2%). In the low baseline IOP group (<18 mmHg), mean IOP was significantly reduced through Month 24 and medications through Month 12; in the high baseline IOP group (≥18 mmHg), IOP and medications were significantly reduced through Month 24. From Months 1–24, IOP reductions of ≥20% were achieved by 48.4–56.2% of eyes in the full cohort, by 20.0–33.3% in the low IOP group, and by 66.7–100% in the high IOP group; medication reductions of ≥1 medication were achieved by 72.0–95.6%, 64.7–94.2%, and 87.5–100% of eyes, respectively. Conclusion: Combined KDB-phaco in eyes of Latino patients with glaucoma and cataract significantly lowers IOP and the need for IOP-lowering medications for up to 24 months and should be considered for such patients who warrant IOP reduction, medication reduction, or both.
Can Mean-Curvature Flow Be Made Non-Singular?

This work considers the question of whether mean-curvature flow can be modified to avoid the formation of singularities. We analyze the finite-elements discretization and demonstrate why the original flow can result in numerical instability due to division by zero. We propose a variation on the flow that removes the numerical instability in the discretization and show that this modification results in a simpler formulation for both the discretized and continuous formulations. We discuss the properties of the modified flow and present empirical evidence that not only does it define a stable surface evolution for genus-zero surfaces, but that the evolution converges to a conformal parameterization of the surface onto the sphere.
AVP inhibits LPS- and IL-1 b -stimulated NO and cGMP via V 1 receptor in cultured rat mesangial cells

AVP inhibits LPS- and IL-1 b -stimulated NO and cGMP via V 1 receptor in cultured rat mesangial cells. Am. J. Physiol. 276 ( Renal Physiol. 45): F433–F441, 1999. —The present study examined how arginine vasopressin (AVP) affects nitric oxide (NO) metabolism in cultured rat glomerular mesangial cells (GMC). GMC were incubated with test agents and nitrite, and intracellular cGMP content, inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) mRNA, and iNOS protein were analyzed by the Griess method, enzyme immunoassay, and Northern and Western blotting, respectively.AVP inhibited lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-and interleukin-1 b (IL-1 b )-induced nitrite production in a dose- and time-dependent manner, with concomitant changes in cGMP content, iNOS mRNA, and iNOS protein. This inhibition by AVP was reversed by V 1 - but not by oxytocin- receptor antagonist. Inhibition by AVP was also reproduced on LPS and interferon- g (IFN- g ). Protein kinase C (PKC) inhibitors reversed AVP inhibition, whereas PKC activator inhibited nitrite production. Although dexamethasone and pyrrolidinedithiocarbamate (PDTC), inhibitors of nuclear factor- k B, inhibited nitrite production, further inhibition byAVP was not observed. AVP did not show further inhibition of nitrite production with actinomycin D, an inhibitor of transcription, or cycloheximide, an inhibitor of protein synthesis. In conclusion, AVP inhibits LPS- and IL-1 b -induced NO production through a V 1 receptor. The inhibitory action of AVP involves both the activation of PKC and the transcription of iNOS mRNA in cultured rat GMC.
Parametrization of IDA-PBC by assignment of local linear dynamics

In this paper the open problem of finding a suitable parametrization for Interconnection and Damping Assignment Passivity Based Control (IDA-PBC) is addressed. IDA-PBC is motivated by the physical notion of storage, exchange and dissipation of energy. However, interconnection and damping matrices are fixed before the closed loop energy is determined. The interdependence of design parameters and energy impedes an a priori assessment of closed loop dynamics. We propose a systematic reduction of the set of constant design parameters in terms of solvability of the matching PDEs and closed loop stability. The constant parametrization simplifies the solvability conditions for the PDEs. A comparison of desired linearized dynamics with the linearized closed loop system yields a parametrization of IDA-PBC that ensures stability of the controlled system with a nonlinear Lyapunov function, while desired local dynamic behavior is realized. As a result of a linear coordinate transformation, the matching of the linearized dynamics is expressed by a linear system of equations. Its solution for suitable parameters obviates the tedious definiteness inspection of the resulting energy.
Feeding by Chaetognatha: Aspects of Inter- and Intra-Specific Predation

: Predation on chaetognaths by their own or other species - loosely termed 'cannibalism' - increases with the size of the predator species. It is also affected by abundance, although the relationship is less clear from the data available at present. For both of these relationships, as previously shown for prey size selection, head width is a better measure of predator size than length. The proportion of chaetognaths in the diets increases exponentially with predator size and at a rate greater then predicted by a random feeding model; large-headed chaetognath species appear to be primarily predators of small-sized species. The cost-benefit ratio, calculated by Kerr's (1971) model, heavily favors selection of chaetognath-sized particles over copepod-sized particles by large chaetognaths, and the levels of cannibalism achieved appear to maintain overall food-gathering efficiency approximately constant over a wide range of chaetognath sizes. The model is consistent with Darwinian evolution of inter- and intraspecific predation among large species.
In Silico Antidiabetic Activity of Linalool Isolated From Coriandrum Sativum Linn Fruit M International Journal of Cancer & Cellular Biology Research

Background and aim: Diabetes Mellitus [DM] is a metabolic disorder characterized by disturbances in carbohydrate, protein and lipid metabolism and by complications like micro vascular (retinopathy, neuropathy and nephropathy) and macro vascular (heart attack, stroke and peripheral vascular disease) complications. Coriandrum sativum Linn has been claimed to possess antidiabetic properties in Traditional System of Medicine. This study aimed to evaluate molecular interaction of linalool in C.sativum and targeted protein related to Type 2 DM. Material and Methods: Isolation of Linalool from the methanol extract of fruit of C.sativum was done by column chromatography. Evaluation of hypoglycemic activity through an in silico docking approach with molecular target such as glutamine: fructose- 6-phosphate amidotransferase was performed. Molecular docking study was performed with Autodock docking software. Results: The docking studies of the ligand linalool with target protein showed that this is a good inhibitor, which docks well related to diabetes mellitus with -2.0297kJ mol -1 Van der waal energy and -5.9265 kJ mol -1 as docking energy. Hence linalool can be considered for developing into a potent anti-diabetic drug. Conclusion: Management of diabetes is challenge to the medical treatment. This leads to increasing demand for natural products with antidiabetic activity with fewer side effects. This work establishes C.sativum extract as a potential inhibitor for diabetes. Thus enabling a possibility of this plant extract as a new alternative to existing diabetic treatment.
RETHINKING DUVERGERS LAW - PREDICTING THE EFFECTIVE NUMBER OF PARTIES IN PLURALITY AND PR SYSTEMS - PARTIES MINUS ISSUES ONE

Attempts to predict the number of political parties emerging in democracies have usually been based on one of two seemingly incompatible approaches: (1) the ‘institutional’ approach (e.g. Duverger’s Law and Hypothesis) focuses on the nature of the electoral system and also on the number of seats per district: (2) the ‘ideological’ approach stresses the nature and extent of social cleavages. This article attempts a synthesis by showing that election system and cleavage type interact to affect the number of parties. with the former factor determined in part by the latter. Our most striking finding. however. is that the effective number of parties tends to be obtained by adding ‘one’ to the number of issue dimensions. -Nithin this broader framework, Duverger’s Law emerges as a special case for polities with a single issue dimension. and Duverger’s Hypothesis is replaced by a much more quantitative prediction as to the effective number of parties.
Integrated Planning of Renewable-Dominated Energy Systems and Demand Side Resources

: In the present paper, the effect of an integrated planning of renewable energy resources, electrical and thermal storage, electric vehicles charger strategy, and various side demand response programs on electrical and thermal load supplying cost of a residential area was investigated. In this regard, a mathematical model was presented for an optimal integrated planning of renewable energy resources, heating equipment of buildings, thermal and electrical storages, electrical vehicles with respect to demand side management. The proposed model for optimal planning has been formulated as a mixed integer linear programing model. In this model, operational constraints of distribution network were considered. In order to evaluate the performance of the proposed model, its efficiency on electrical and thermal resources of a residential area with certain number of buildings was analyzed. The simulation obtained results revealed that using thermal and electrical storages and side demand response programs as well as the presence of a high number of electric vehicles can be followed by many merits when it is controlled by an energy management system. The outmost advantage is power absorption in low-load hours and releasing it in peak hours. This advantage causes decreasing load peak for electricity network and subsequently, decreasing the cost of supplying a residential area’s electricity. It is useful for both residents and operator. As found, it can be generally stated that an optimal and integrated planning of energy resources with respect to side demand management significantly decrease energy supply costs. According to simulation results, an integrated planning of all energy resources of a residential area can decrease consumption power in peak hours, energy supply cost as well as the need of buying it from a distribution network. This is in favor of both consumers and distributor company.
Lineage-restricted metabolic identities of mammary epithelial cells

Cancer metabolism has been proposed to adapt the metabolic network from its tissue-of-origin. However, breast cancer is not a disease of a singular origin. There are multiple epithelial subpopulations that serve as the culprit cell-of-origin, giving rise to distinct breast cancer subtypes. Knowledge surrounding the metabolic identities of normal mammary epithelial cells (MEC) is limited. Proteomic profiling of primary FACS-purified human MECs revealed that each subpopulation possesses distinct metabolic networks. Luminal progenitors were enriched for electron transport chain subunits, had an enhanced capacity to undergo oxidative phosphorylation and were vulnerable to Complex I inhibition. Basal cells were more glycolytic, but their progenitor capacity was still dependent on mitochondrial activity. Targeting these pathways with inhibitors exposed lineage-restricted metabolic vulnerabilities. Furthermore, breast cancer subtypes demonstrated significant enrichment for the metabolic cluster of specific MEC. My work demonstrates that normal MEC have lineage-restricted metabolic identities, which can partly explain the metabolic heterogeneity observed in breast cancer.
Effet de la pression hydrostatique sur la distribution et l'activité (bioluminescence, dégradation de la matière organique) de différents micro-organismes marins

Le travail realise dans le cadre de cette these a pour but de fournir de nouvelles approches methodologiques pour caracteriser les communautes microbiennes en milieu oceanique profond et de mesurer leurs activites. Dans le cadre de cette these, nous avons tout d'abord ameliore une technique d'hybridation in situ (CARD-FISH) pour denombrer les groupes phylogenetiques majeurs en milieu marin profond. En Mer Tyrrhenienne, le pourcentage des Bacteria est toujours plus eleve que celui des Crenarchaea et des Euryarchaea. Alors que le pourcentage des Crenarchaea augmente avec la profondeur, celui des Euryarchaea est relativement homogene le long de la colonne d’eau. Dans le cadre d'une collaboration avec le Centre de Physique des Particules de Marseille sur le programme ANTARES (telescope sous-marin a neutrino), nous avons etudie quel pouvait etre le role des bacteries luminescentes dans le bruit lumineux detecte quelquefois par le telescope. Une premiere etape a ete de developper une approche quantitative par la methode CARD-FISH sur les ARNm des genes lux qui n'a ete qu'en partie concluante mais donne des resultats preliminaires encourageants. Notre attention s'est portee sur l'identification puis la caracterisation d'une souche isolee a 2200 m de profondeur a proximite du site ANTARES (nommee Photobacterium phosphoreum ANT-2200). Pour mieux comprendre le role des bacteries bioluminescentes en milieu profond, nous avons developpe un systeme hyperbare specifique pour evaluer l’effet de la pression hydrostatique sur cette souche. Alors que cette souche a ete caracterisee comme piezotolerante (croissance non sensible a des variations de pression), la lumiere produite est plus elevee a la pression de 22 MPa (2200 m simulee) qu'a 0.1 MPa (pression atmospherique). Enfin, une etude complementaire m'a conduit a etudier l'effet de la pression hydrostatique sur une souche hydrocarbonoclaste Marinobacter aquaeolei #5. La encore, nous montrons que la modification de la pression hydrostatique n’influence pas le taux de croissance (souche piezotolerante), mais peut fortement modifier les voies metaboliques, notamment la quantite et la nature des cires produites. Les cires intracellulaires s’accumulent sous formes de corps lipidiques avec une proportion moins importante a 35 MPa alors que le rapport d'insaturation des acides gras membranaires et la quantite de cires di-insaturees augmentent a la pression 35 MPa. Par ces etudes, nous suggerons que la pression hydrostatique joue un role important au niveau de la physiologie des bacteries marines et la distribution des procaryotes dans les ecosystemes marins profonds.
Electrostatic Interactions Drive Membrane Association of the Human Immunodeﬁciency Virus Type 1 Gag MA Domain (cid:1)

The assembly of most retroviruses occurs at the plasma membrane. Membrane association is directed by MA, the N-terminal domain of the Gag structural protein. For human immunodeﬁciency virus type 1 (HIV-1), this association is mediated in part by a myristate fatty acid modiﬁcation. Conﬂicting evidence has been presented on the relative importance of myristoylation, of ionic interactions between protein and membrane, and of Gag multimerization in membrane association in vivo. We addressed these questions biochemically by determining the afﬁnity of puriﬁed myristoylated HIV-1 MA for liposomes of deﬁned composition, both for monomeric and for dimeric forms of the protein. Myristoylation increases the barely detectable intrinsic afﬁnity of the apo-protein for liposomes by only 10-fold, and the resulting afﬁnity is still weak, similar to that of the naturally nonmyristoylated MA of Rous sarcoma virus. Membrane binding of HIV-1 MA is absolutely dependent on the presence of negatively charged lipid and is abrogated at high ionic strength. Forced dimerization of MA increases its membrane afﬁnity by several orders of magnitude. When green ﬂuorescent protein fusions of monomeric or dimeric MA are expressed in cells, the dimeric but not the monomeric protein becomes strongly membrane associated. Computational modeling supports these results and suggests a rather than the center of mass of MA. We assumed that the myristoyl group conﬁnes MA to 2 Å (cid:2) R (cid:2) 3 Å and calculated (cid:11) G el (R, (cid:12) , (cid:6) , (cid:13) ) at R (cid:14) 2, 2.5, and 3 Å according to previous work. Electrostatic calculations. The electrostatic free energy of binding, (cid:11) G el (R, (cid:12) , (cid:6) , (cid:13) was calculated with a modiﬁed version of the DelPhi program (17), adapted to solve the nonlinear Poisson-Boltzmann (PB) equation for pro-tein-membrane systems (4, 34). DelPhi produces ﬁnite-difference solutions to the PB equation (the FDPB method [26]). The solvent is described in terms of a bulk dielectric constant and a concentration of mobile ions that produce a charge density proﬁle in response to the electrostatic potentials set up by the ﬁxed charges in the system (the mean ﬁeld approximation). The solutes (here, MA and the membrane) are described in terms of the coordinates of the individual atoms, their atomic radii, and partial charges. Electrostatic free energies are obtained from the calculated potentials, and the electrostatic free energy of interaction is determined as the difference between the electrostatic free energy of MA in a speciﬁc orientation with respect to the membrane surface and the electrostatic free energy of MA and the membrane taken separately: ﬁnal a . of resolution a series of
First Detection of Mycobacteria in African Rodents and Insectivores, Using Stratiﬁed Pool Screening (cid:1) †

With the rising number of patients with human immunodeﬁciency virus (HIV)/AIDS in developing countries, the control of mycobacteria is of growing importance. Previous studies have shown that rodents and insectivores are carriers of mycobacteria. However, it is not clear how widespread mycobacteria are in these animals and what their role is in spreading them. Therefore, the prevalence of mycobacteria in rodents and insectivores was studied in and around Morogoro, Tanzania. Live rodents were trapped, with three types of live traps, in three habitats. Pieces of organs were pooled per habitat, species, and organ type (stratiﬁed pooling); these sample pools were examined for the presence of mycobacteria by PCR, microscopy, and culture methods. The mycobacterial isolates were identiﬁed using phenotypic techniques and sequencing. In total, 708 small mammals were collected, 31 of which were shrews. By pool prevalence estimation, 2.65% of the animals were carriers of mycobacteria, with a higher prevalence in the urban areas and in Cricetomys gambianus and the insectivore Crocidura hirta . Nontuberculous mycobacteria ( Mycobacterium chimaera , M. intracellulare , M. arupense , M. parascrofulaceum , and Mycobacterium spp.) were isolated from C. gambianus , Mastomys natalensis , and C. hirta . This study is the ﬁrst to report ﬁndings of mycobacteria in African rodents and insectivores and the ﬁrst in mycobacterial ecology to estimate the prevalence of mycobacteria after stratiﬁed pool screening. The fact that small mammals in urban areas carry more mycobacteria than those in the ﬁelds and that potentially patho- genic mycobacteria were isolated identiﬁes a risk for other animals and humans, especially HIV/AIDS patients, that have a weakened immune system.