query dict | pos dict | neg dict |
|---|---|---|
{
"abstract": "Abstract Reverse engineering refers to the process of developing a CAD model from a set of data collected from a physical part. Most reverse engineering applications assume that the parts are complete and the collected data provide complete information on them. In this paper, however, the authors consider the case where the parts are not complete due to breakage, and develop algorithms to infer the shapes of the original parts. Sweeping techniques are extensively used for the inference of shapes. Sweeping refers to the moving of a generator such as a curve, surface, or solid along a path . In this paper, the generator of sweep will be limited to a curve. There are three cases to consider: translational, rotational, and general. In each case, a part will be represented as a surface swept by a profile curve along a spine curve or a trajectory, both of which are modelled as NURBS curves. Once the original shape is inferred, the dimensions may be extracted from the original or mating part. The ultimate goal of this project is to develop a software system that infers the shape of the original part from the incomplete data so that the broken or worn-out piece may be designed and manufactured.",
"corpus_id": 122752645,
"title": "Application of Sweeping Techniques to Reverse Engineering"
} | {
"abstract": "Each year, we see a growing number of 3D range scanning products on the SIGGRAPH exhibition floor. You may find yourself asking \"how do these technologies work?\" and \"how can I make use of the shape data they produce?\" In this article, I will describe a few of the more common range scanning technologies. Then, I will step through a pipeline that takes the range data into a single geometric model and will conclude with a discussion of the future of range scanning.",
"corpus_id": 442358,
"title": "From range scans to 3D models"
} | {
"abstract": "KNOWLEDGE of the skeletal anatomy of early hominoids has been based on various skeletal parts of fossil apes from the Miocene of East Africa and Europe. Postcranial remains from the earlier apes of the Oligocene of Egypt consisted of a single ulna, a basal phalanx and a hallucial metatarsal1–4. During 1977 a palaeontological expedition from the Cairo Geological Museum and Duke University recovered four new partial humeri attributable to these Egyptian apes. These specimens now provide the first evidence of humeral anatomy of Oligocene apes and permit a better assessment of primitive forelimb morphology and locomotor abilities of earliest hominoids.",
"corpus_id": 1039992,
"score": -1,
"title": "Humeral morphology of the earliest apes"
} |
{
"abstract": "............................................................................................................................... xvi CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................... 1 1.1 Background Information ........................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Statement of the Problem .......................................................................................................... 3 1.3 Justification ............................................................................................................................... 4 1.4 Aim of the Study ....................................................................................................................... 4 1.5 Purpose of the Study ................................................................................................................. 5 1.6 Objectives ................................................................................................................................. 5 1.6.1 Main objectives .......................................................................................................... 5 1.6.2 Specific objectives ..................................................................................................... 5 1.7 Hypotheses ............................................................................................................................... 5 1.8 Beneficiaries of the study ......................................................................................................... 6 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................ 7 2.1 History of Rickets ..................................................................................................................... 7 2.2 Definition and Overview of Rickets ......................................................................................... 7",
"corpus_id": 81926283,
"title": "Factors contributing to rickets among children under-five years: case study of Ishiara and Embu hospitals, Embu County"
} | {
"abstract": "Abstract The commonest cause of rickets worldwide is vitamin D deficiency, but studies from sub‐Saharan Africa describe an endemic vitamin D‐independent form that responds to dietary calcium enrichment. The extent to which calcium‐deficiency rickets is the dominant form across sub‐Saharan Africa and in other low‐latitude areas is unknown. We aimed to characterise the clinical and biochemical features of young children with rickets in a densely populated urban informal settlement in Kenya. Because malnutrition may mask the clinical features of rickets, we also looked for biochemical indices of risk in children with varying degrees of acute malnutrition. Twenty one children with rickets, aged 3 to 24 months, were identified on the basis of clinical and radiologic features, along with 22 community controls, and 41 children with either severe or moderate acute malnutrition. Most children with rickets had wrist widening (100%) and rachitic rosary (90%), as opposed to lower limb features (19%). Developmental delay (52%), acute malnutrition (71%), and stunting (62%) were common. Compared to controls, there were no differences in calcium intake, but most (71%) had serum 25‐hydroxyvitamin D levels below 30 nmol/L. These results suggest that rickets in young children in urban Kenya is usually driven by vitamin D deficiency, and vitamin D supplementation is likely to be required for full recovery. Wasting was associated with lower calcium (p = .001), phosphate (p < .001), 25‐hydroxyvitamin D (p = .049), and 1,25‐dihydroxyvitamin D (p = 0.022) levels, the clinical significance of which remain unclear.",
"corpus_id": 1166611,
"title": "Vitamin D deficiency causes rickets in an urban informal settlement in Kenya and is associated with malnutrition"
} | {
"abstract": "AIM\nTo investigate the interrelationships between pre- and postoperative microbiological changes by taking samples from both eyes of 40 patients who underwent septoplasty due to septal deviation.\n\n\nMATERIALS AND METHODS\nForty patients diagnosed with septal deviation who underwent a septoplasty operation under general anesthesia were enrolled in this study. The study was conducted on 40 patients who met the inclusion criteria and attended follow-up visits. One day before the operation and 48 h after the operation, cultures were taken individually from the conjunctivas and puncta of both eyes and sent to the microbiology laboratory.\n\n\nRESULTS\nPatients who were candidates for nasal surgery due to their symptoms and clinical examination results were randomly selected and 40 of these completed the study. No statistically significant differences in bacterial growth were observed between the eyes before the operation (P > 0.05). There were, however, statistically significant differences between the eyes in terms of bacterial growth in the postoperative period (P < 0.05). Pathogenic bacterial cultures were grown in 47 eyes in the postoperative period, and this finding was statistically significant. In the eye cultures, the most commonly isolated pathogens were S. epidermidis, and S. aureus.\n\n\nCONCLUSION\nAlthough the indicated microorganisms isolated from the patient groups were grown in cultures, there were neither clinical symptoms nor signs related to ocular infections.",
"corpus_id": 2628723,
"score": -1,
"title": "Ocular surface culture changes in patients after septoplasty."
} |
{
"abstract": "Ognjen Gabrić Đorđe Janjikopanji Jasna Plavšić 3 Đula Fabian UDK: 551.578.1:519.21 DOI:10.14415/konferencijaGFS2017.064 Summary: This paper presents the results of stochastic analysis of meteorological droughts occurrence in a growing season based on the data from two meteorological stations in Vojvodina (Sremska Mitrovica and Kikinda). Meteorological drought is defined as a product of drought length (period lasting at least 25 days with precipitation below 5 mm/day) and mean air temperature during the dry period. Stochastic model of the meteo-drought occurrence is based on the theory of extremes with a random number of random variables, allowing to make use of all significant observed meteo-droughts. The model is comprised of the Poissonian process that describes the droughts occurrence and selected theoretical distributions for the droughts magnitude. Design meteo-droughts having return period 10, 20, 50 and 100 years are determined on the basis of adopted theoretical distribution of meteo-drought, duration and mean air temperature.",
"corpus_id": 54734248,
"title": "STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF METEO-DROUGHTS FOR SREMSKA MITROVICA AND KIKINDA"
} | {
"abstract": "A simple stochastic model of meteorological droughts (meteo-droughts) is presented. All its components are analyzed and described, along with their probabilistic structures. The model is composed of ten defining descriptive parameters and each of them is a random variable. The statistical explanation of the entire probabilistic process of meteo-droughts provides the base from which the procedure of developing the m-year synthetic meteo-drought is derived. From the meteorologist’s and consulting engineer’s point of view this model can be used efficiently to explain meteo-drought phenomenon in a quantifiable manner. This model is an approximate, not exact theoretical method of the probabilistic meteo-drought analysis. The method is intended for practical use by various professionals, such as irrigation, agricultural and forest engineers, hydrologists and meteorologists. The method has been applied in this paper to data observed at Sombor meteorological station, Serbia. Each defined meteorological drought be it past, present or future, can be described quantitatively and completely by the presented stochastic method. In other words, each meteo-drought is given its “identification card” (ID card). The application of the procedure has shown that the method is simple, yet complete, reliable and efficient.",
"corpus_id": 156112382,
"title": "Modelling of Meteo-Droughts"
} | {
"abstract": "Abstract Seven statistical procedures including; simple correlation, path analysis, multiple linear regression, stepwise regression, factor analysis, principal components and cluster analysis were used to study the relationship between wheat grain yield and its components under drought conditions of Saudi Arabia. Results revealed that number of spikes/m2, 100-grain weight, weight of grains/spike and biological yield were the most effective variables influencing grain yield. Based on the results, it is reasonable to assume that high yield of wheat plants under drought conditions could be obtained by selecting breeding materials with high spikes/m2, 100-grain weight, weight of grains/ spike and biological yield.",
"corpus_id": 84101162,
"score": -1,
"title": "Statistical analysis of wheat yield under drought conditions"
} |
{
"abstract": "Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is highly prevalent in the setting of chronic kidney disease (CKD). Such coexistence of CVD and CKD—the so-called “cardiorenal or renocardiac syndrome”—contributes to exponentially increased risk of cardiovascular (CV) mortality. Uremic cardiomyopathy is a characteristic cardiac pathology commonly found in CKD. CKD patients are also predisposed to heart rhythm disorders especially atrial fibrillation. Traditional CV risk factors as well as known CKD-associated CV risk factors such as anemia are insufficient to explain CV complications in the CKD population. Accumulation of uremic retention solutes is a hallmark of impaired renal excretory function. Many of them have been considered inert solutes until their biological toxicity is unraveled and they become accepted as “uremic toxins”. Direct cardiotoxicity of uremic toxins has been increasingly demonstrated in recent years. This review offers a mechanistic insight into the pathological cardiac remodeling and dysfunction contributed by uremic toxins with a main focus on fibroblastic growth factor-23, an emerging toxin playing a central role in the chronic kidney disease–mineral bone disorder, and the two most investigated non-dialyzable protein-bound uremic toxins, indoxyl sulfate and p-cresyl sulfate. Potential therapeutic strategies that could address these toxins and their relevant mediated pathways since pre-dialysis stages are also discussed.",
"corpus_id": 52182429,
"title": "Cardiotoxicity of Uremic Toxins: A Driver of Cardiorenal Syndrome"
} | {
"abstract": "Background Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in patients with chronic kidney disease. A body of evidence suggests that p-cresyl sulfate (PCS), a uremic toxin, is associated with the cardiovascular mortality rate of patients with chronic kidney disease; however, the molecular mechanisms underlying this feature have not yet been fully elucidated. Methods and Results We aimed to determine whether PCS accumulation could adversely affect cardiac dysfunction via direct cytotoxicity to cardiomyocytes. In mice that underwent 5/6 nephrectomy, PCS promoted cardiac apoptosis and affected the ratio of left ventricular transmitral early peak flow velocity to left ventricular transmitral late peak flow velocity (the E/A ratio) observed by echocardiography (n=8 in each group). Apocynin, an inhibitor of NADPH oxidase activity, attenuates this alteration of the E/A ratio (n=6 in each group). PCS also exhibited proapoptotic properties in H9c2 cells by upregulating the expression of p22phox and p47phox, NADPH oxidase subunits, and the production of reactive oxygen species. Apocynin and N-acetylcysteine were both able to suppress the effect of PCS, underscoring the importance of NADPH oxidase activation for the mechanism of action. Conclusions This study demonstrated that the cardiac toxicity of PCS is at least partially attributed to induced NADPH oxidase activity and reactive oxygen species production facilitating cardiac apoptosis and resulting in diastolic dysfunction.",
"corpus_id": 2010195,
"title": "p-Cresyl Sulfate Aggravates Cardiac Dysfunction Associated With Chronic Kidney Disease by Enhancing Apoptosis of Cardiomyocytes"
} | {
"abstract": "This cross-sectional study tested the hypothesis that decreased serum levels of tetranectin (TN), a regulator of the fibrinolysis and proteolytic system, is associated with the presence and severity of CAD. We conducted a systematic serological and immunohistochemical (IHC) analysis to respectively compare the TN levels in serum and artery samples in CAD patients and healthy controls. Our results showed that serum levels of TN were significantly lower in patients with CAD than in healthy controls. Further analysis via trend tests revealed that serum TN levels correlated with the number of diseased arteries. Besides, the multivariate logistic regression model revealed TN as an independent factor associated with the presence of CAD. Additionally, IHC analysis showed that TN expression was significantly higher in atherosclerotic arteries as compared to healthy control tissues. In conclusion, our study suggests that increased serum TN level is associated with the presence and severity of diseased coronary arteries in patients with stable CAD.",
"corpus_id": 9505100,
"score": -1,
"title": "Tetranectin as a Potential Biomarker for Stable Coronary Artery Disease"
} |
{
"abstract": "There is no geographical definition of the neighbourhood despite it being the chosen spatial scale for U.K. government policy tackling social injustice and rebuilding democracy, and the setting for the majority of life’s experiences where an individual’s lifelong welfare is largely determined. Consequently, resources are targeted sub-optimally with environmental and social dynamics largely undiagnosed. This has fuelled an urgent demand for revealing the nature of neighbourhoods, and how they can be identified on the ground and delineated on maps. \nImplementing a positive methodology I build upon the foremost theoretically-supported pedestrian-street network neighbourhood model, harnessing established theory, and present an integrative geographical theory of the neighbourhood and its practical manifestation to address the research problem. \nUsing Grannis's empirical work as a benchmark I test the transferability of his methodology to the UK and the explanatory power of my housing area neighbourhood model, using correlation analysis, in two London case study areas, with positive results. Housing areas arise from the physical and built environments and are shown to explain social distributions better than other spatial units tested, and compare favourably with applied surrogate neighbourhoods. I then identify the datasets required to roll out the methodology for developing a practical, meaningful and bounded neighbourhood geography. Further analysis confirms the role of wealth as the great social and spatial segregator. \nThe neighbourhood is re-conceptualised as an holistic and commonly understood entity, whilst the spatial precision introduced facilitates measurement and assessment for optimal service and resource provision, as well as monitoring and intervention. Presenting structural and social homophily as the geneses of social interaction patterns and the explanation for how space is transformed into place is a paradigm shift in our understanding of this fundamental geographical concept which promises to stimulate additional theoretical substantiation and development whilst providing a framework for phenomenological and ethnographical approaches.",
"corpus_id": 127911999,
"title": "Defining and delineating urban neighbourhoods: a case study of housing areas in Brent, North London"
} | {
"abstract": "Model simulations of residential segregation have shown that even modest levels of social homophily (or wishing to live near residents with similar social characteristics) gives rise to distinct spatial patterns of residential segregation. However, this proposition has been contested where social homophily is modest. This paper contrasts two explanations for urban sociospatial patterns (socioeconomic and demographic spatial patterns) in a region where social homophily is modest-South East Queensland (SEQ). The research question is whether sociospatial patterns are better explained by social homophily or by structural homophily. In other words, are they better explained by residents wishing to live in neighborhoods with similar people (social homophily), or by residents with similar social characteristics finding similar neighborhood physical attributes important, and thus moving to neighborhoods with similar people (structural homophily). SEQ residents were asked how important various reasons were in choosing their neighborhood. The survey data were linked to neighborhood social characteristics from census data with the aid of geographic information systems. Six neighborhood social characteristics in SEQ were investigated. Social homophily explained a small, though statistically significant, level of spatial variation in socioeconomic and ethnic (non-Western) environments. However, it did not explain any variation in the other four neighborhood social characteristics which related to household structure: that is, younger nonnuclear household environments; nuclear family environments; and older nonnuclear household environments, or disadvantaged environments. Moreover, structural homophily explained much more variation than did social homophily in all six neighborhood social characteristics. In regions such as SEQ, spatial patterns can largely be explained by structural homophily. Thus, modest levels of social homophily are not necessarily important in explaining sociospatial patterning.",
"corpus_id": 154740974,
"title": "Explaining Sociospatial Patterns in South East Queensland, Australia: Social Homophily versus Structural Homophily"
} | {
"abstract": "The scoring of occupational categories has a long history. After reviewing the historical background, we develop and discuss the properties of two new Australian scales based on current theorising in stratification research. The first is based on the operation of the labour market and scores occupations to reflect their central role in converting educational credentials into market income. The second is based on patterns of social interaction and scores occupations to reflect the choices that people make in marriage markets. While these two scales are not theoretically or empirically equivalent, they are closely related and provide equally valid, but alternative, ways of measuring the underlying stratification order of modern societies.",
"corpus_id": 220491641,
"score": -1,
"title": "Scoring Occupational Categories for Social Research: A Review of Current Practice, with Australian Examples"
} |
{
"abstract": "Interactive virtual environments pose a wide variety of challenges for intelligent agents, especially to make decisions in order to reach their goals. The difficulty of decision making tasks rises quickly when introducing continuous space and real time. It also becomes increasingly harder to build intelligent agents that can meaningfully interpret and act in unknown situations. In this thesis, we take inspiration from cognitive science, specifically from how humans perform mental simulation to anticipate events in the world around them, with the aim of obtaining an autonomous agent that makes decisions and adapts itself to novel situations. The mental simulation paradigm enjoys significant interest from the cognitive science community, but computational approaches to mental simulation rely on specialised simulators for a given task and thus are limited to specific scenarios. Our contribution is a generic agent architecture (ORPHEUS) which supports decision-making based on the simulation of functional models of the world ahead of time, inspired from how humans imagine the outer world and the outcomes of their actions based on the state of the real environment. The novelty of our approach consists in its ability to integrate both physical and behavioural predictions into the same framework, based on heterogeneous mental models which are used to evolve internal, imaginary scenarios within the agent. We apply our generic architecture to different contexts, including artificial intelligence competitions, which require the agent using our approach to perform physical and behavioural anticipation in continuous space and time. We evaluate the applicability of our approach to realistic conditions such as noisy perception, decision time constraints and imperfect world models. Results demonstrate the genericness of our approach from one scenario to another without modifying the agent architecture, and highlight the possible uses of the proposed mental simulation framework.",
"corpus_id": 26762650,
"title": "ORPHEUS: Reasoning and Prediction with Heterogeneous rEpresentations Using Simulation. (ORPHEUS: raisonnement et prédiction avec des représentations hétérogènes en utilisant la simulation)"
} | {
"abstract": "This paper presents a subgroup discovery algorithm APRIORI-SD, developed by adapting association rule learning to subgroup discovery. The paper contributes to subgroup discovery, to a better understanding of the weighted covering algorithm, and the properties of the weighted relative accuracy heuristic by analyzing their performance in the ROC space. An experimental comparison with rule learners CN2, RIPPER, and APRIORI-C on UCI data sets demonstrates that APRIORI-SD produces substantially smaller rulesets, where individual rules have higher coverage and significance. APRIORI-SD is also compared to subgroup discovery algorithms CN2-SD and SubgroupMiner. The comparisons performed on U.K. traffic accident data show that APRIORI-SD is a competitive subgroup discovery algorithm.",
"corpus_id": 2298021,
"title": "APRIORI-SD: ADAPTING ASSOCIATION RULE LEARNING TO SUBGROUP DISCOVERY"
} | {
"abstract": "Numerous measures are used for performance evaluation in machine learning. In predictive knowledge discovery, the most frequently used measure is classification accuracy. With new tasks being addressed in knowledge discovery, new measures appear. In descriptive knowledge discovery, where induced rules are not primarily intended for classification, new measures used are novelty in clausal and subgroup discovery, and support and confidence in association rule learning. Additional measures are needed as many descriptive knowledge discovery tasks involve the induction of a large set of redundant rules and the problem is the ranking and filtering of the induced rule set. In this paper we develop a unifying view on some of the existing measures for predictive and descriptive induction. We provide a common terminology and notation by means of contingency tables. We demonstrate how to trade off these measures, by using what we call weighted relative accuracy. The paper furthermore demonstrates that many rule evaluation measures developed for predictive knowledge discovery can be adapted to descriptive knowledge discovery tasks.",
"corpus_id": 8239878,
"score": -1,
"title": "Rule Evaluation Measures: A Unifying View"
} |
{
"abstract": "Previous studies have demonstrated that chronic mechanical strain produced by continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) reduces in vivo airway reactivity in rabbits and ferrets. For CPAP to potentially have a therapeutic benefit for asthmatic subjects, the reduction in airway responsiveness would need to persist for 12-24 h after its discontinuation, require application for only part of the day, and be effective in the presence of atopic airway inflammation. In the present study, airway responsiveness to acetylcholine or methacholine was measured during mechanical ventilation following three different protocols in which active, nonanesthetized, tracheotomized rabbits were treated with High vs. Low CPAP (6 vs. 0 cmH(2)O). 1) High CPAP was applied continuously for 4 days followed by 1 day of Low CPAP; 2) High CPAP was applied at night and Low CPAP during the daytime for 4 days, and 3) High CPAP was applied for 4 days in animals following ovalbumin (Ova) sensitization and challenge. For all three protocols, treatment with High CPAP resulted in significantly reduced airway responsiveness compared with treatment with Low CPAP. Cumulatively, our in vivo results in rabbits suggest that high CPAP, even when applied only at night, produces a persistent reduction of airway responsiveness. In addition, CPAP reduces airway responsiveness even in the presence of atopic airway inflammation.",
"corpus_id": 27504067,
"title": "Chronic continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) reduces airway reactivity in vivo in an allergen-induced rabbit model of asthma."
} | {
"abstract": "Active, nonanesthetized, tracheotomized rabbits were subjected to continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) for 4 days to determine the effects of chronic mechanical strain on lung and airway function. Rabbits were maintained for 4 days at a CPAP of 6 cmH(2)O (high CPAP), at a CPAP of 0 cmH(2)O (low CPAP), or without tracheostomy (no CPAP). After treatment with CPAP, changes in respiratory resistance in response to increasing concentrations of inhaled ACh were measured during mechanical ventilation to evaluate respiratory system responsiveness in vivo. Intraparenchymal bronchial segments were isolated from the lungs of all animals to evaluate airway smooth muscle responsiveness and bronchial compliance in vitro. Rabbits maintained for 4 days at high CPAP demonstrated significantly lower responsiveness to ACh compared with rabbits that were maintained at low CPAP or with no CPAP. Airways isolated from the lungs of animals subjected to the chronic application of high CPAP were also less responsive to ACh in vitro than the airways isolated from animals subjected to low CPAP or no CPAP. The persistence of the decreased responsiveness in the excised airway tissues suggests that the decreased respiratory system responsiveness observed in vivo results primarily from direct effects on the airways. The results demonstrate that the application of prolonged mechanical strain in vivo can reduce airway reactivity.",
"corpus_id": 1865624,
"title": "Respiratory system responsiveness in rabbits in vivo is reduced by prolonged continuous positive airway pressure."
} | {
"abstract": "Vibrio alginolyticus is a Gram-negative halophilic bacterium and has been recognized as an opportunistic pathogen to both humans and marine animals. So far, most studies have been focused on marine animals and few reports have been aimed at mammals, including human. In this study, we first established a mouse model to understand the pathogenic mechanism of V. alginolyticus infection. After infection via intraperitoneal injection, hematological and liver function indicators were evaluated and serum interleukin (IL)-1β and IL-6 expression were detected by ELISA. Furthermore, we compared the virulence of two V. alginolyticus strains, ATCC17749T and E0666. The results demonstrated that V. alginolyticus infection causes robust lung and liver damage and induces changes in IL-1β, IL-6, hematological, and liver indicators. In addition, the ATCC17749T strain appeared to be more virulent than the E0666 strain. Better understanding of the pathogenic mechanism of V. alginolyticus infection should guide effective prevention and therapy for V. alginolyticus infection.",
"corpus_id": 15446432,
"score": -1,
"title": "Pathogenic analysis of Vibrio alginolyticus infection in a mouse model"
} |
{
"abstract": "Intelectins are carbohydrate-binding proteins implicated in innate immunity and highly conserved across chordate evolution, including both ascidians and humans. Human intelectin-1 (ITLN1) is highly abundant within the intestinal mucosa and binds microbial but not host glycans. Genome-wide association studies identified SNPs in ITLN1 that are linked to susceptibility for Crohn’s disease. Moreover, ITLN1 has been implicated in the pathophysiology of obesity and associated metabolic disease. To gain insight on biological activities of human ITLN1 in vivo, we developed a C57BL/6 mouse model genetically targeting the gene encoding the functional mouse ortholog. In wild-type C57BL/6 mice, both mRNA and protein analysis showed high expression of Itln1 in the small intestine, but manifold lower levels in colon and other extraintestinal tissues. Whereas intestinal expression of human ITLN1 localizes to goblet cells, our data confirm that mouse Itln1 is expressed in Paneth cells. Compared to wild-type littermate controls, mice homozygous for the Itln1 hypomorphic trapping allele had reduced expression levels of Itln1 expression (~10,000-fold). The knockout mice exhibited increased susceptibility in an acute model of experimentally induced colitis with 2% w/v dextran sulfate sodium (DSS). In a model of chronic colitis using a lower dose of DSS (1.5% w/v), which enabled a detailed view of disease activity across a protracted period, no differences were observed in body weight, fecal texture, hemoccult scores, food/water intake, or colon length at necropsy, but there was a statistically significant genotype over time effect for the combined fecal scores of disease activity. In model of diet-induced obesity, using two western-style diets, which varied in amounts of sugar (as sucrose) and saturated fat (as lard), mice with Itln1 expression ablated showed no increased susceptibility, in terms of weight gain, food intake, plasma markers of obesity compared to wildtype littermates. While the mouse genetic knockout model for Itln1 holds promise for elucidating physiological function(s) for mammalian intelectins, results reported here suggest that Itln1, a Paneth cell product in C57BL/6 mice, likely plays a minor role in the pathophysiology of chemically induced colitis or diet-induced obesity.",
"corpus_id": 251712228,
"title": "Characterization of an intelectin-1 (Itln1) knockout mouse model"
} | {
"abstract": "The glycans displayed on mammalian cells can differ markedly from those on microbes. Such differences could, in principle, be 'read' by carbohydrate-binding proteins, or lectins. We used glycan microarrays to show that human intelectin-1 (hIntL-1) does not bind known human glycan epitopes but does interact with multiple glycan epitopes found exclusively on microbes: β-linked D-galactofuranose (β-Galf), D-phosphoglycerol–modified glycans, heptoses, D-glycero-D-talo-oct-2-ulosonic acid (KO) and 3-deoxy-D-manno-oct-2-ulosonic acid (KDO). The 1.6-Å-resolution crystal structure of hIntL-1 complexed with β-Galf revealed that hIntL-1 uses a bound calcium ion to coordinate terminal exocyclic 1,2-diols. N-acetylneuraminic acid (Neu5Ac), a sialic acid widespread in human glycans, has an exocyclic 1,2-diol but does not bind hIntL-1, probably owing to unfavorable steric and electronic effects. hIntL-1 marks only Streptococcus pneumoniae serotypes that display surface glycans with terminal 1,2-diol groups. This ligand selectivity suggests that hIntL-1 functions in microbial surveillance.",
"corpus_id": 1150658,
"title": "Recognition of Microbial Glycans by Human Intelectin"
} | {
"abstract": "In the last decade, it has been demonstrated that brain functional asymmetry occurs not only in vertebrates but also in invertebrates. However, the mechanisms underlying functional asymmetry remain unclear. In the present study, we trained honeybees of the same parentage and age, on the proboscis extension reflex (PER) paradigm with only one antenna in use. The comparisons of gene expression between the left and right hemispheres were carried out using high throughput sequencing. Our research revealed that gene expression in the honeybee brain is also asymmetric, with more genes having higher expression in the right hemisphere than the left hemisphere. Our studies show that during olfactory learning, the left hemisphere is more responsible for long term memory and the right hemisphere is more responsible for the learning and short term memory.",
"corpus_id": 6735488,
"score": -1,
"title": "Lateralization of gene expression in the honeybee brain during olfactory learning"
} |
{
"abstract": "The water footprint is a consumption-based indicator of water use, referring to the total volume of freshwater used directly and indirectly by a nation or a company, or in the provision of a product or service. Despite widespread enthusiasm for the development and use of water footprints, some concerns have been raised about the concept and its usefulness. A variety of methodologies have been developed for water footprinting which differ with respect to how they deal with different forms of water use. The result is water footprint estimates which vary dramatically, often creating confusion. Despite these methodological qualms, the concept has had notable success in raising awareness about water use in agricultural and industrial supply chains, by providing a previously unavailable and (seemingly) simple numerical indicator of water use. Nevertheless, and even though a range of uses have already been suggested for water footprinting, its policy value remains unclear. Unlike the carbon footprint which provides a universal measure of human impact on the atmosphere's limited absorptive capacity, the water footprint in its conventional form solely quantifies a single production input without any accounting of the impacts of use, which vary spatially and temporally. Following an extensive review of the literature related to water footprints, this paper critically examines the present uses of the concept, focusing on its current strengths, shortcomings and promising research avenues to advance it.",
"corpus_id": 55593067,
"title": "Quantifying the human impact on water resources: a critical review of the water footprint concept"
} | {
"abstract": "The water footprint has been introduced as a potential sustainability indicator for human-induced water consumption, and has frequently been studied at local, national and international scales during the last decade. While water footprints are sometimes understood as a measure that includes environmental impact assessment, the water footprint as used in this paper refers to volumes of water consumed, without including weighting procedures to allow for the assessment of impacts. Two types of approaches have been applied to calculate the water footprint in the literature: bottom-up and top-down approaches. This study compares and discusses advantages and limitations of the water footprint of nations based on two input–output top-down approaches (Water Embodied in Bilateral Trade (WEBT) and Multi-regional Input–Output Analysis (MRIO)) and of the existing national water footprint accounts from the literature based on the bottom-up approach. The differences in the bottom-up and WEBT approaches are caused by inter-sectoral cut-off, because bottom-up approaches do not consider the entire industrial supply chains, while the WEBT method covers the water footprint by tracing the whole domestic supply chain of each country. The differences in the WEBT and MRIO approaches are due to an inter-regional cut-off effect, as the WEBT approach only traces domestic supply chains whereas the MRIO approach traces entire global supply chains. We found that both bottom-up and top-down approaches are heavily dependent on the quality of existing datasets, and differ substantially. The total water footprints of nations based on different approaches vary by up to 48%, and this variation is even larger at the sector level.",
"corpus_id": 154772484,
"title": "COMPARISON OF BOTTOM-UP AND TOP-DOWN APPROACHES TO CALCULATING THE WATER FOOTPRINTS OF NATIONS"
} | {
"abstract": "I hereby declare that I am the sole author of this thesis. This is a true copy of the thesis, including any required final revisions, as accepted by my examiners. I understand that my thesis may be made electronically available to the public. Signature ii Thesis Abstract The caribou (Rangifer tarandus groenlandicus) on Southampton Island, Nunavut, Canada for the years 1998-2000 and 2004, 2005, were investigated using stable isotope analysis (SIA) of carbon (δ 13 C) and nitrogen (δ 15 N). Spring signatures of rumen contents and muscle samples were correlated with standard biological measures of back fat and Riney kidney fat index. Caribou δ 13 C and δ 15 N ratios, together with detailed rumen content analysis, show that SIA data yields a time-integrated signal reflective of spatial and temporal variation in feeding ecology and as such is capable of detecting trophic interactions. Rumen content signatures provide current indication of forage selection, while muscle tissue signatures reflect bulk summer seasonal diet and in combination with rumen signatures, can help identify potential shifts in winter diet and the potential for short-term changes in caribou condition. δ 13 C and δ 15 N signatures for major forage species categories were also compared to variations in rumen content and muscle signatures to investigate possible changes in forage preference. The results indicate that SIA is capable of assessing the importance of seasonal habitat use with regard to seasonal food intake. Stable isotopes analysis (SIA) was also used to investigate the effects of winter snow thickness and temperature on caribou (Rangifer tarandus), on Southampton Island. Variations found in isotope signatures of rumen content and muscle indicated that differences in winter climate conditions might affect forage selection, and impact on animal condition. iii Acknowledgements I would like to thank my supervisor, Dr. Michael Power, for his never-wavering support and guidance in my pursuit of this thesis. I would also like to thank Don Russell, of the Canadian Wildlife Service, for serving on my committee and providing key information allowing this thesis to materialize. Thanks to Dr. Roland Hall, who was there in the beginning, and to Dr. Wayne Hawthorn who was there at the end, serving on my committee, and for Dr. David Barton sitting in at my defense. I would also like to thank Mitch Campbell, of the Nunavut Department of the Environment (Arviat), for inspiring me to study the caribou of Southampton Island, …",
"corpus_id": 17360358,
"score": -1,
"title": "Determining the relationships between forage use , climate and nutritional status of barren ground caribou , Rangifer tarandus groenlandicus , on Southampton Island , Nunavut , using stable isotopes analysis of δ 13 C and δ"
} |
{
"abstract": "Intention prediction has become a relevant field of research in Human-Machine and Human-Robot Interaction. Indeed, any artificial system (co)-operating with and along humans, designed to assist and coordinate its actions with a human partner, would benefit from first inferring the human's current intention. To spare the user the cognitive burden of explicitly uttering their goals, this inference relies mostly on behavioral cues deemed indicative of the current action. It has been long known that eye movements are highly anticipatory of the single steps unfolding during a task, hence they can serve as a very early and reliable behavioural cue for intention recognition. This review aims to draw a line between insights in the psychological literature on visuomotor control and relevant applications of gaze-based intention recognition in technical domains, with a focus on teleoperated and assistive robotic systems. Starting from the cognitive principles underlying the relationship between intentions, eye movements, and action, the use of eye tracking and gaze-based models for intent recognition in Human-Robot Interaction is considered, with prevalent methodologies and their diverse applications. Finally, special consideration is given to relevant human factors issues and current limitations to be factored in when designing such systems.",
"corpus_id": 256697252,
"title": "Gaze-based intention estimation: principles, methodologies, and applications in HRI"
} | {
"abstract": "Human-robot collaboration could be advanced by facilitating the intuitive, gaze-based control of robots, and enabling robots to recognize human actions, infer human intent, and plan actions that support human goals. Traditionally, gaze tracking approaches to action recognition have relied upon computer vision-based analyses of 2D egocentric camera videos. The objective of this study was to identify useful features that can be extracted from 3D gaze behavior and used as inputs to machine learning algorithms for human action recognition. We investigated human gaze behavior and gaze-object interactions in 3D during the performance of a bimanual, instrumental activity of daily living: the preparation of a powdered drink. A marker-based motion capture system and binocular eye tracker were used to reconstruct 3D gaze vectors and their intersection with 3D point clouds of objects being manipulated. Statistical analyses of gaze fixation duration and saccade size suggested that some actions (pouring, stirring) may require more visual attention than other actions (reach, pick up, set down, move). Three-dimensional gaze saliency maps, generated with high spatial resolution for six subtasks, appeared to encode action-relevant information. The \"gaze object sequence\" was used to capture information about the identity of objects in concert with the temporal sequence in which the objects were visually regarded. Dynamic time warping barycentric averaging was used to create a population-based set of characteristic gaze object sequences that accounted for intra- and inter-subject variability. The gaze object sequence was used to demonstrate the feasibility of a simple action recognition algorithm that utilized a dynamic time warping Euclidean distance metric. Averaged over the six subtasks, the action recognition algorithm yielded an accuracy of 96.4%, precision of 89.5%, and recall of 89.2%. This level of performance suggests that the gaze object sequence is a promising feature for action recognition whose impact could be enhanced through the use of sophisticated machine learning classifiers and algorithmic improvements for real-time implementation. Robots capable of robust, real-time recognition of human actions during manipulation tasks could be used to improve quality of life in the home as well as quality of work in industrial environments.",
"corpus_id": 4569748,
"title": "Exploiting Three-Dimensional Gaze Tracking for Action Recognition During Bimanual Manipulation to Enhance Human–Robot Collaboration"
} | {
"abstract": "This paper presents a novel technique for the estimation of the height of an object using a single camera view. In the proposed method, the only information required is the knowledge about the pose of the camera with respect to the world (i.e., height and pitch angle of the camera with respect to the ground) and a vanishing point. In the developed theory, the focal length may also be known, but in the proposed experiments it has not been employed: an approximation for small pitch angles has been taken into account and the consequent committed error has been then analysed. The presented method gives accurate results for any object placed in unstructured environments, regardless of the relative distance from the camera. The method has been tested in a series of outdoor and indoor environments, and the experimental results are presented in this paper.",
"corpus_id": 5502413,
"score": -1,
"title": "Height Estimation from a Single Camera View"
} |
{
"abstract": "The behaviour of marking trees by the brown bear occurs throughout the range of presence of the species. It has recently been recognised as a mean of intra-specific chemical communication, besides the likely function of ecto-parasite removal, and evidence from grizzlies showed that scent marking of trees is mainly performed by adult males during the breeding season. However, detailed studies on this behaviour in the Euroasian brown bear are lacking. We conducted a three year study on a wild bear population of 50 individuals in the Eastern Italian Alps, using camera traps. We aimed to assess the use of trees by bears’ age and sex classes, its temporal variation, and to determine key habitat and human disturbance drivers of the intensity of use of rub trees. Camera trapping yielded more than 500 videos of bears from more than 9000 camera trapping days, age and sex classes were identified in 59% of the videos. Results showed that rubbing was mainly performed by adult males, with females and sub-adults that only occasionally rubbed. Rubbing was performed more during the breeding season, confirming that the main function of this behaviour is associated to males' breeding strategy. Olfactory investigation was performed by bears of all ages and sexes, indicating the importance of scent marking at rub trees for intra-specific communication. We used the camera trapping event rate as a raw index of intensity of usage of rub trees and found it to be affected by aspect, type of roads and passage of motor vehicles at the sites, while the passage of people did not affect it. We also estimated bear occupancy and detectability and found that the latter was influenced by trail type and distance from roads and buildings. Our study provides a first contribution to the use of rub trees by brown bears in the Alps. Download the complete issue.",
"corpus_id": 55948694,
"title": "Patterns in the use of rub trees by the Eurasian Brown Bear"
} | {
"abstract": "We evaluated the potential of two noninvasive genetic sampling methods, hair traps and bear rub surveys, to estimate population abundance and trend of grizzly (Ursus arctos) and black bear (U. americanus) populations in Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada. Using Huggins closed population mark-recapture models, we obtained the first precise abundance estimates for grizzly bears ( = 73.5, 95% CI = 64–94 in 2006; = 50.4, 95% CI = 49–59 in 2008) and black bears ( = 62.6, 95% CI = 51–89 in 2006; = 81.8, 95% CI = 72–102 in 2008) in the Bow Valley. Hair traps had high detection rates for female grizzlies, and male and female black bears, but extremely low detection rates for male grizzlies. Conversely, bear rubs had high detection rates for male and female grizzlies, but low rates for black bears. We estimated realized population growth rates, lambda, for grizzly bear males ( = 0.93, 95% CI = 0.74–1.17) and females ( = 0.90, 95% CI = 0.67–1.20) using Pradel open population models with three years of bear rub data. Lambda estimates are supported by abundance estimates from combined hair trap/bear rub closed population models and are consistent with a system that is likely driven by high levels of human-caused mortality. Our results suggest that bear rub surveys would provide an efficient and powerful means to inventory and monitor grizzly bear populations in the Central Canadian Rocky Mountains.",
"corpus_id": 5711774,
"title": "Estimating Grizzly and Black Bear Population Abundance and Trend in Banff National Park Using Noninvasive Genetic Sampling"
} | {
"abstract": "Wildlife biologists often use grid-based designs to sample animals and generate abundance estimates. Although sampling in grids is theoretically sound, in application, the method can be logistically difficult and expensive when sampling elusive species inhabiting extensive areas. These factors make it challenging to sample animals and meet the statistical assumption of all individuals having an equal probability of capture. Violating this assumption biases results. Does an alternative exist? Perhaps by sampling only where resources attract animals (i.e., targeted sampling), it would provide accurate abundance estimates more efficiently and affordably. However, biases from this approach would also arise if individuals have an unequal probability of capture, especially if some failed to visit the sampling area. Since most biological programs are resource limited, and acquiring abundance data drives many conservation and management applications, it becomes imperative to identify economical and informative sampling designs. Therefore, we evaluated abundance estimates generated from grid and targeted sampling designs using simulations based on geographic positioning system (GPS) data from 42 Alaskan brown bears (Ursus arctos). Migratory salmon drew brown bears from the wider landscape, concentrating them at anadromous streams. This provided a scenario for testing the targeted approach. Grid and targeted sampling varied by trap amount, location (traps placed randomly, systematically or by expert opinion), and traps stationary or moved between capture sessions. We began by identifying when to sample, and if bears had equal probability of capture. We compared abundance estimates against seven criteria: bias, precision, accuracy, effort, plus encounter rates, and probabilities of capture and recapture. One grid (49 km2 cells) and one targeted configuration provided the most accurate results. Both placed traps by expert opinion and moved traps between capture sessions, which raised capture probabilities. The grid design was least biased (−10.5%), but imprecise (CV 21.2%), and used most effort (16,100 trap-nights). The targeted configuration was more biased (−17.3%), but most precise (CV 12.3%), with least effort (7,000 trap-nights). Targeted sampling generated encounter rates four times higher, and capture and recapture probabilities 11% and 60% higher than grid sampling, in a sampling frame 88% smaller. Bears had unequal probability of capture with both sampling designs, partly because some bears never had traps available to sample them. Hence, grid and targeted sampling generated abundance indices, not estimates. Overall, targeted sampling provided the most accurate and affordable design to index abundance. Targeted sampling may offer an alternative method to index the abundance of other species inhabiting expansive and inaccessible landscapes elsewhere, provided their attraction to resource concentrations.",
"corpus_id": 10976159,
"score": -1,
"title": "Sampling designs matching species biology produce accurate and affordable abundance indices"
} |
{
"abstract": "We aimed to evaluate the diagnostic value of orbital ultrasound in the etiologic diagnosis of central retinal artery occlusion (CRAO). For this purpose, patients with CRAO evaluated at our center between 2011 and 2021 were reviewed. Demographic variables, vascular risk factors and ultrasound findings were collected. An orbital duplex was performed in all cases and complemented with other diagnostic explorations. We attended 36 cases of CRAO. In all patients, orbital ultrasound confirmed the diagnosis of CRAO: in 75% emboli material (spot sign) was observed in CRA and in 25% flow alteration in CRA without visible embolus. The positive spot sign (PSS) group differed from patients with negative spot sign (NSS) in terms of etiology: 8 PSS cases (29.6%) had a major cardioembolic cause, 4 (14.8%) a large vessel atheromatous disease, 15 (55.6%) an undetermined cause. Some 21 (77.8%) PSS patients had some minor cardioembolic cause, mainly calcifications of the left valves. In the NSS group, 2 (22%) were diagnosed with giant cell arteritis (GCA). In CRAO, the ultrasound spot sign could be a guide for the detection of embolic sources. Its absence makes it necessary to consider more strongly the possibility of arteritis. Furthermore, our findings suggest a key role of calcium embolism in PSS patients.",
"corpus_id": 247504966,
"title": "Contribution of Orbital Ultrasound to the Diagnosis of Central Retinal Artery Occlusion"
} | {
"abstract": "OBJECTIVE\nTo compare prevalence of carotid artery disease and its various types of lesions in different types of ocular arterial occlusive disorders.\n\n\nDESIGN\nCohort study.\n\n\nSUBJECTS\n614 consecutive patients (728 eyes) with ocular arterial occlusive disorders.\n\n\nMETHODS\nAt first visit, all patients had a detailed ophthalmic and medical history, comprehensive ophthalmic evaluation, and carotid artery evaluation (by Doppler/angiography) on the side of ocular arterial occlusion, and echocardiography. The same ophthalmic evaluation was performed at each follow-up visit. Ocular arterial occlusive disorders were divided into central (CRAO) and branch (BRAO) retinal artery occlusion, ocular ischemic syndrome (OIS), non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NA-AION) and amaurosis fugax (AF).\n\n\nMAIN OUTCOME MEASURES\nCarotid artery and echocardiographic abnormalities, and incidence of transient ischemic attack (TIA)/stroke and myocardial ischemia.\n\n\nRESULTS\nThe study consists of a cohort of 266 eyes with NA-AION, 203 with CRAO, 127 with BRAO, 80 with OIS and 52 with AF. Carotid artery stenosis on the involved side was worse in AF and OIS compared to BRAO, CRAO, and NA-AION (p<0.0001). Presence of carotid artery plaques on the involved side was significantly higher in OIS, AF, and CRAO compared to NA-AION (p=0.002, p=0.003, and p=0.0003, respectively). Echocardiography revealed an embolic source in 61% of CRAO and 53% of BRAO compared to only 3% of NA-AION patients (p<0.0001). TIA/stroke before or after onset of ocular condition occurred in 17% of OIS, 11% of AF, 7% of CRAO, 6% of NA-AION, and 3% of BRAO patients. Kaplan-Meier estimate of the incidence of TIA /stroke within 3 months after onset was 6% (95% CI: 2%, 17%) for OIS, 3% (95% CI: 0.4%, 19%) for AF, and 1% (95% CI: 0.3%, 4.1%) for CRAO. Report of myocardial ischemia before or after onset of ocular condition was 52% in AF, 22% in OIS, 22% in BRAO, 21% in CRAO, and 6% in NA-AION patients.\n\n\nCONCLUSIONS\nThe incidence of carotid artery stenosis and plaques, cardiac embolic source, TIA/stroke and myocardial ischemia differ among various ocular arterial occlusive disorders. The role of embolism and hemodynamic disturbances caused by carotid artery disease in these disorders is discussed.",
"corpus_id": 1191532,
"title": "OCULAR ARTERIAL OCCLUSIVE DISORDERS AND CAROTID ARTERY DISEASE."
} | {
"abstract": "PURPOSE\nTo describe a framework for logical, immediate action to manage patients with retinal artery occlusion.\n\n\nDESIGN\nLiterature review and perspective.\n\n\nMETHODS\nReview of the literature and the author's experience.\n\n\nRESULTS\nSince embolism is the most common factor causing retinal artery occlusion, to manage these patients, immediate evaluation and management of the source of embolism is critical to prevent further episodes.\n\n\nCONCLUSIONS\nThe logical, immediate action to manage patients with retinal artery occlusion is evaluation of the carotid artery and heart for embolism, fasting lipid levels and a complete blood count, rather than neurological evaluation, unless, of course, there are neurological symptoms.",
"corpus_id": 52021491,
"score": -1,
"title": "Do Patients With Retinal Artery Occlusion Need Urgent Neurologic Evaluation?"
} |
{
"abstract": "Readers can be drawn into a narrative through emotional engagement with its characters and their prospective fates. The type and extent of this engagement can be manipulated by providing the characters with distinct personalities. For this reason computational storytelling systems can benefit from explicitly representing personality. We present the results of an empirical study that evaluates whether the perceived personality of fictional characters created by our simulation-based narrative generator correlates with those computationally modeled. Motivated by the mimetic narrative theory of fictional minds the system models characters’ action selection using an agent architecture grounded in a cognitive understanding of personality and affect. Results from our study support the claim that our system is capable of depicting narrative personality, that cognitive models are a viable approach to representing characters, and that a search-space of plot can be explored using character-personality as parameter. This can be taken to also provide functional evidence in support of the employed analytical narrative theory.",
"corpus_id": 52087641,
"title": "An Evaluation of Perceived Personality in Fictional Characters Generated by Affective Simulation"
} | {
"abstract": "\n \n Measuring the quality of plot is a desirable feature for computational narrative systems.One of the notions of plot quality used in narrative theory is called tellability, which can be derived from certain structural properties, namely the types of events present and the way they are connected.These structures include not only actualized events, but also take into account virtual plans and the affective valencies of events.The present paper introduces Marie-Laure Ryan's tellability principles and suggests to computationally model them using an affective multi-agent simulation system.It discusses how such an approach implies a broader understanding of plot than commonly assumed and analysis several existing narrative systems under these considerations.Furthermore, it introduces a plot-graph formalism that allows the computational representation and analysis of the extended plot understanding.An approach to automatically generating the plot-graph is suggested in the context of the introduced multi-agent simulation system.\n \n",
"corpus_id": 3720118,
"title": "Towards a Computational Measure of Plot Tellability"
} | {
"abstract": "The plots of narratives can be analyzed by decomposition into functional units (FUs): complex structural elements that carry semantic meaning. A manual approach to the identification of FU using a graph-representation of plot has been proposed for human-made narratives, and on this basis used for plot summarization. A computational utilization, however, has remained inviable due to the complexity of the involved interpretative tasks. The present paper explores the use of the FU approach for the analysis of computationally generated narratives, because in this case interpretation can be evaded. It demonstrates that an agent-based approach to computational storytelling can be used to generate and aggregate all necessary plot phenomena in order to identify FUs. This is validated in-vivo by demonstrating that the extracted FU structure can be used to summarize, and aesthetically evaluate a plot; as has been predicted by the underpinning narrative theory. We argue that such an analysis is beneficial because it provides the system with an abstract, functional understanding of the generated artifacts, a step towards more-general intelligence. For instance, in the computational creativity domain it allows a system that has been formerly only capable of expression-type generative acts to also perform aestheticand framing-type generative acts.",
"corpus_id": 135469742,
"score": -1,
"title": "Functional Unit Analysis: Framing and Aesthetics for Computational Storytelling"
} |
{
"abstract": "As part of an ongoing study of natural products from local medicinal plants, the methanol extract of stem bark of Rauvolfia caffra Sond was investigated for biological activity. Column chromatography and preparative thin-layer chromatography were used to isolate lupeol (1), raucaffricine (2), N-methylsarpagine (3), and spegatrine (4). The crude extract, fractions and isolated compounds were tested for anti-oxidant, antitrypanosomal and anti-proliferation activities. Two fractions displayed high DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) free radical scavenging activity and reducing power with IC50 (The half maximal inhibitory concentration) and IC0.5 values of 0.022 ± 0.003 mg/mL and 0.036 ± 0.007 mg/mL, and 0.518 ± 0.044 mg/mL and 1.076 ± 0.136 mg/mL, respectively. Spegatrine (4) was identified as the main antioxidant compound in R. caffra with IC50 and IC0.5 values of 0.119 ± 0.067 mg/mL and 0.712 ± 0 mg/mL, respectively. One fraction displayed high antitrypanosomal activity with an IC50 value of 18.50 μg/mL. However, the major constituent of this fraction, raucaffricine (2), was not active. The crude extract, fractions and pure compounds did not display any cytotoxic effect at a concentration of 50 μg/mL against HeLa cells. This study shows directions for further in vitro studies on the antioxidant and antitrypanosomal activities of Rauvolfia caffra Sond.",
"corpus_id": 221239270,
"title": "In Vitro Studies on Antioxidant and Anti-Parasitic Activities of Compounds Isolated from Rauvolfia caffra Sond"
} | {
"abstract": "Sutherlandia frutescens is a South African herb traditionally used for internal cancers, diabetes, a variety of inflammatory conditions and recently to improve the overall health in cancer and HIV/AIDS patients. The in vitro effects of S. frutescens extracts were evaluated on cell numbers, morphology, cell cycle progression and cell death. Dose-dependent studies (2-10 mg/ml) revealed a decrease in malignant cell numbers when compared to their controls. S. frutescens extracts (10 mg/ml) decreased cell growth in a statistically significantly manner to 26% and 49% (P<0.001) in human breast adenocarcinoma (MCF-7) and human non-tumorigenic epithelial mammary gland cells (MCF-12A) respectively after 72 h of exposure. Cell density was significantly compromised and hypercondensed chromatin, cytoplasmic shrinking, membrane blebbing and apoptotic bodies were more pronounced in the MCF-7 cell line. Both S. frutescens-treated cell lines exhibited and increased tendency for acridine orange staining, suggesting increased lysosomal and/or autophagy activity. Flow cytometry showed an increase in the sub G(1) apoptotic fraction and an S phase arrest in both the 5 mg/ml and 10 mg/ml S. frutescens-treated cells. S. frutescens induced an increase in apoptosis in both cell lines as detected by Annexin V and propidium iodide flow cytometric measurement. At 10 mg/ml, late stages of apoptosis were more prominent in MCF-7 S. frutescens-treated cells when compared to the MCF-12A cells. Transmission electron microscopy revealed hallmarks of increased vacuolarization and hypercondensed chromatin, suggesting autophagic and apoptotic processes. The preliminary study demonstrates that S. frutescens water extracts exert a differential action mechanism in non-tumorigenic MCF-12A cells when compared to tumorigenic MCF-7 cells, warranting future studies on this multi-purpose medicinal plant in southern Africa.",
"corpus_id": 230011,
"title": "In vitro effects of Sutherlandia frutescens water extracts on cell numbers, morphology, cell cycle progression and cell death in a tumorigenic and a non-tumorigenic epithelial breast cell line."
} | {
"abstract": "In order to engineer biomimetic osteochondral (OC) construct, it is necessary to address both the cartilage and bone phase of the construct, as well as the interface between them, in effect mimicking the developmental processes when generating hierarchical scaffolds that show gradual changes of physical and mechanical properties, ideally complemented with the biochemical gradients. There are several components whose characteristics need to be taken into account in such biomimetic approach, including cells, scaffolds, bioreactors as well as various developmental processes such as mesenchymal condensation and vascularization, that need to be stimulated through the use of growth factors, mechanical stimulation, purinergic signaling, low oxygen conditioning, and immunomodulation. This chapter gives overview of these biomimetic OC system components, including the OC interface, as well as various methods of fabrication utilized in OC biomimetic tissue engineering (TE) of gradient scaffolds. Special attention is given to addressing the issue of achieving clinical size, anatomically shaped constructs. Besides such neotissue engineering for potential clinical use, other applications of biomimetic OC TE including formation of the OC tissues to be used as high-fidelity disease/healing models and as in vitro models for drug toxicity/efficacy evaluation are covered.\n\n\nHIGHLIGHTS\nBiomimetic OC TE uses \"smart\" scaffolds able to locally regulate cell phenotypes and dual-flow bioreactors for two sets of conditions for cartilage/bone Protocols for hierarchical OC grafts engineering should entail mesenchymal condensation for cartilage and vascular component for bone Immunomodulation, low oxygen tension, purinergic signaling, time dependence of stimuli application are important aspects to consider in biomimetic OC TE.",
"corpus_id": 25433615,
"score": -1,
"title": "Mimetic Hierarchical Approaches for Osteochondral Tissue Engineering."
} |
{
"abstract": "Since its inception, chemistry has been predominated by the use of temperature to generate or change materials, but applications of pressure of more than a few tens of atmospheres for such purposes have been rarely observed. However, pressure is a very effective thermodynamic variable that is increasingly used to generate new materials or alter the properties of existing ones. As computational approaches designed to simulate the solid state are normally tuned using structural data at ambient pressure, applying them to high-pressure issues is a highly challenging test of their validity from a computational standpoint. However, the use of quantum chemical calculations, typically at the level of density functional theory (DFT), has repeatedly been shown to be a great tool that can be used to both predict properties that can be later confirmed by experimenters and to explain, at the molecular level, the observations of high-pressure experiments. This article’s main goal is to compile, analyze, and synthesize the findings of works addressing the use of DFT in the context of molecular crystals subjected to high-pressure conditions in order to give a general overview of the possibilities offered by these state-of-the-art calculations.",
"corpus_id": 262061399,
"title": "Review of Applications of Density Functional Theory (DFT) Quantum Mechanical Calculations to Study the High-Pressure Polymorphs of Organic Crystalline Materials"
} | {
"abstract": "The aim of this study was to determine whether the periodic density functional theory (DFT) calculations can be used for accurate prediction of the influence of the increased pressure on crystal structure and stability of molecular solids. To achieve this goal a series of geometry optimization and thermodynamic parameters calculations were performed for γ‐glycine and δ‐glycine structures at different pressure values using CASTEP program. In order to perform most accurate geometry optimization various exchange‐correlation functionals defined within generalized gradient approximation (GGA): PBE, PW91, RPBE, WC, PBESOL as well as defined within local density approximation (LDA), i.e. CAPZ, were tested. Geometry optimization was carried out using different dispersion correction methods (i.e. Grimme, TS, OBS) or without them. The linear response density functional perturbation theory (DFPT) was used to obtain the phonon dispersion curves and phonon density of states from which thermodynamic parameters, such as: free energy (ΔG), enthalpy (ΔH) and entropy (ΔS) were evaluated. The results of the geometry optimization depend strongly on the choice of the DFT functional. Calculated differences between the free energy of the studied polymorphic forms at the studied pressure values were consistent with experimental observations on their stability. The computations of thermodynamic properties not only confirmed the order of stability of two studied forms, but also enabled to predict the pressure at which this order is reversed. The results obtained in this study have proven that the plane‐wave basis set first principles calculations under periodic conditions is suitable for accurate prediction of crystal structure and stability. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.",
"corpus_id": 3881474,
"title": "Can we predict the structure and stability of molecular crystals under increased pressure? First‐principles study of glycine phase transitions"
} | {
"abstract": "Abstract Electrospun fibers have received significant interests for various application areas such as filtration, composites and biomedical products due to their large surface area, good continuity, high porosity and many other unique properties. In bio-related applications, electrospun fibers have been used for in-situ drug delivery, tissue engineering scaffolds and wound dressing. In more recent years, there has been a drive toward novel electrospun fibers with added functionalities. Nanoengineering of electrospun fibers has introduced many of such novel properties. Through this review, researchers are provided with a state of the art overview of nanoenhanced electrospun fibers with added functionalities. Examples of some nanoengineered fibers include; surface functionalization, multi-component fibers, porous nanofibers, the creation of surface nano-topographies, and the incorporation of nanoparticles to create hierarchical fibrous structures for tailoring of physicochemical properties with a special focus on biomedical applications. Graphical Abstract",
"corpus_id": 234307590,
"score": -1,
"title": "Nanoengineered electrospun fibers and their biomedical applications: a review"
} |
{
"abstract": "Viral infections cause a major stress in host cells. The cellular responses to stress are mediated by p53, which by deregulation of cell cycle and apoptosis, may also be part of the host cell reaction to fight infections. Therefore, during evolutionary viral adaptation to host organisms, viruses have developed strategies to manipulate host cell p53 dependent pathways to facilitate their viral life cycles. Thus, interference with p53 function is an important component in viral pathogenesis. Many viruses have proteins that directly affect p53, whereas others alter the regulation of p53 in an indirect manner, mediated by Hdm2 or Akt, or induction of interferon. Rescue of p53 activity is becoming an area of therapeutic development in oncology. It might be feasible that manipulation of p53 mediated responses can become a therapeutic option to limit viral replication or dissemination. In this report, the mechanisms by which viral proteins manipulate p53 responses are reviewed, and it is proposed that a pharmacological rescue of p53 functions might help to control viral infections. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.",
"corpus_id": 8180078,
"title": "Interference with p53 functions in human viral infections, a target for novel antiviral strategies?"
} | {
"abstract": "ABSTRACT Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) is a gammaherpesvirus that has been implicated in the pathogenesis of Kaposi's sarcoma. KSHV encodes K-bZIP (open reading frame K8), a protein that belongs to the basic region-leucine zipper (bZIP) family of transcription factors. Here we show that K-bZIP associates with the cellular transcription factor p53 directly in vitro and in vivo. This interaction requires the bZIP domain of K-bZIP and the carboxy-terminal region (amino acids 300 to 393) of p53. We also show that K-bZIP represses the transcriptional activity of p53 which is required for apoptosis of the host cell. These results imply that K-bZIP blocks p53-mediated host cell death through its interaction with p53.",
"corpus_id": 1826841,
"title": "The K-bZIP Protein from Kaposi's Sarcoma-Associated Herpesvirus Interacts with p53 and Represses Its Transcriptional Activity"
} | {
"abstract": "Recent molecular evidence suggests an association with a new herpesvirus, Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV/HHV-8), and primary effusion lymphomas (PELs). PELs have a characteristic morphology, phenotype, and clinical presentation, with malignant effusions in the absence of a contiguous solid tumor mass. We have established a cell line (KS-1) from a KSHV-positive human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-negative patient with pleural cavity-based lymphoma that was passaged into triple-immunodeficient BNX mice. In contrast to cell lines from body cavity-based lymphomas derived from HIV-positive individuals that contain both KSHV and Epstein Barr viral genome, these cells contain only KSHV, allowing for uncontaminated virologic studies. Ultrastructural examination identified malignant cells with features of late differentiating B cells (immunoblasts). Cells with viral cytopathic effect contained typical 110-nm intranuclear herpesvirus nucleocapsids and complete cytoplasmic virions, confirming the association of PEL with KSHV.",
"corpus_id": 36681512,
"score": -1,
"title": "Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV or HHV8) in primary effusion lymphoma: ultrastructural demonstration of herpesvirus in lymphoma cells."
} |
{
"abstract": "Opportunistic spectrum access is regarded as an emerging technique to utilize scarce RF spectrum efficiently. The performance study of opportunistic spectrum often overlooks the impact of unlicensed SU mobility. Many of the methods assume secondary users stationary or with low mobility. In this paper, we investigate the impact of mobility of wireless devices for opportunistic spectrum access and communications using National Instrument Universal Software Radio Peripherals (USPR) 292x devices. Each USRP device sends its geolocation to query the spectrum database for idle channels using dedicated links such as cellular link periodically. If the USRP user is within the contour of idle channels, it gets a list of channels. Then, transmitter and receiver with their respective lists of channels choose a common channel for communications using quorum based rendezvous. Numerical results obtained from experiments are presented to evaluate the proposed approach and we found that the longer (shorter) query interval results in higher (lower) false list of channels for the users.",
"corpus_id": 31983985,
"title": "Experimental study of dynamic spectrum access for opportunistic mobile communications using USRP devices"
} | {
"abstract": "Need for Radio Frequency (RF) spectrum is increasing along with increasing wireless subscriptions and devices that is causing scarcity in total available RF spectrum. Opportunistic spectrum access in cognitive radio networks is emerging for maximizing the RF spectrum efficiency where unlicensed Secondary Users (SUs) access idle spectrum bands without causing any harmful interference to licensed Primary Users (PUs). All SUs are required to scan/sense RF spectrum to find idle bands or search for idle bands in a spectrum database not to interfere with PUs while using those idle bands. In this paper, we propose a Real-time Opportunistic Spectrum Access in Cloud-assisted Cognitive Radio Networks (ROAR) architecture where SUs (i.e., USRP wireless devices) are equipped with wide-band (50 MHz – 6 GHz) antenna and GPS units. ROAR uses cloud computing platform for real-time processing of wide-band data since SUs' performance is considerably constrained by their limited power, memory and computational capacity. In ROAR architecture, there are two parts: spectrum sensing to create a database of idle channels and dynamic spectrum access for opportunistic SU communications using idle channels. For the spectrum database, RF sensors scan/sense RF bands to find idle bands and report the geo-location of idle band, channel frequency and time stamp to the database installed in the distributed cloud platform. For opportunistic spectrum access, each SU interested for opportunistic communication queries a spectrum database to find idle channels. Distributed cloud computing is used to find idle channels for the SU where geolocation and other demands (e.g., data rate) are checked to find whether the SU is admissible or not for a given geo-location and time. If the SU is admissible based on the admissibility criteria, spectrum server sends the list of channels available for a given location and time to the SU. Then SU chooses the best suited channel to communicate opportunistically. We evaluate the ROAR architecture using numerical results obtained from extensive experiments.",
"corpus_id": 6780383,
"title": "ROAR: An architecture for Real-Time Opportunistic Spectrum Access in Cloud-assisted Cognitive Radio Networks"
} | {
"abstract": "With the development of wireless communication technology, the need for bandwidth is increasing continuously, and the growing need makes wireless spectrum resources more and more scarce. Cognitive radio (CR) has been identified as a promising solution for the spectrum scarcity, and its core idea is the dynamic spectrum access. It can dynamically utilize the idle spectrum without affecting the rights of primary users, so that multiple services or users can share a part of the spectrum, thus achieving the goal of avoiding the high cost of spectrum resetting and improving the utilization of spectrum resources. In order to meet the critical requirements of the fifth generation (5G) mobile network, especially the Wider-Coverage , Massive-Capacity , Massive-Connectivity , and Low-Latency four application scenarios, the spectrum range used in 5G will be further expanded into the full spectrum era, possibly from 1 GHz to 100 GHz. In this paper, we conduct a comprehensive survey of CR technology and focus on the current significant research progress in the full spectrum sharing towards the four scenarios. In addition, the key enabling technologies that may be closely related to the study of 5G in the near future are presented in terms of full-duplex spectrum sensing, spectrum-database based spectrum sensing, auction based spectrum allocation, carrier aggregation based spectrum access. Subsequently, other issues that play a positive role for the development research and practical application of CR, such as common control channel, energy harvesting, non-orthogonal multiple access, and CR based aeronautical communication are discussed. The comprehensive overview provided by this survey is expected to help researchers develop CR technology in the field of 5G further.",
"corpus_id": 4735659,
"score": -1,
"title": "Full Spectrum Sharing in Cognitive Radio Networks Toward 5G: A Survey"
} |
{
"abstract": "In this paper we present a study on the interpretation of weekday names in texts. Our algorithm for assigning a date to a weekday name achieves 95.91% accuracy on a test data set based on the ACE 2005 Training Corpus, outperforming previously reported techniques run against this same data. We also provide the first detailed comparison of various approaches to the problem using this test data set, employing re-implementations of key techniques from the literature and a range of additional heuristic-based approaches.",
"corpus_id": 17530553,
"title": "What’s the Date? High Accuracy Interpretation of Weekday Names"
} | {
"abstract": "Recent years have seen increasing research on extracting and using temporal information in natural language applications. However most of the works found in the literature have focused on identifying and understanding temporal expressions in newswire texts. In this paper we report our work on anchoring temporal expressions in a novel genre, emails. The highly under-specified nature of these expressions fits well with our constraint-based representation of time, Time Calculus for Natural Language (TCNL). We have developed and evaluated a Temporal Expression Anchoror (TEA), and the result shows that it performs significantly better than the baseline, and compares favorably with some of the closely related work.",
"corpus_id": 1049011,
"title": "Understanding Temporal Expressions in Emails"
} | {
"abstract": "Proper management on user-driven virtual circuits (VCs) is essential for seamless operation of virtual networks. The Network Provisioning System (NPS) is useful software for creating user-driven VCs automatically and must take fault management into account for physical layer impairments on user-driven VCs. This paper addresses a user-driven and trusty protection management in an NPS with an open standard Network Service Interface (NSI), as a contribution to show how to implement the user-driven and trusty protection management required for user-driven VCs. In particular, it provides a RESTful web service Interface for Configuration and Event management (RICE) that enable management of a distinguished data and control plane VC status between Network Service Agents (NSAs) in the event of a node or link fault and repair in a domain. This capability represents a contribution to show how network and protection events in a domain can be monitored between NSAs (NPSs with the NSI) in multiple domains. The implemented NPS controls and manages both the primary and backup VC with disjoint path in a user-driven manner. A demonstration to verify RICE API's capability is addressed for the trusty protection in the dynamic VC network.",
"corpus_id": 249152684,
"score": -1,
"title": "Implementation of a Network Provisioning System with User-driven and Trusty Protection Management"
} |
{
"abstract": "Monoacylglycerol acyltransferase (MGAT) enzymes convert monoacylglycerol to diacylglycerol (DAG), a lipid that has been linked to the development of hepatic insulin resistance through activation of protein kinase C (PKC). The expression of genes that encode MGAT enzymes is induced in the livers of insulin-resistant human subjects with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, but whether MGAT activation is causal of hepatic steatosis or insulin resistance is unknown. We show that the expression of Mogat1, which encodes MGAT1, and MGAT activity are also increased in diet-induced obese (DIO) and ob/obmice. To probe the metabolic effects of MGAT1 in the livers of obese mice, we administered antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) against Mogat1 to DIO and ob/ob mice for 3 weeks. Knockdown of Mogat1 in liver, which reduced hepatic MGAT activity, did not affect hepatic triacylglycerol content and unexpectedly increased total DAG content. Mogat1 inhibition also increased both membrane and cytosolic compartment DAG levels. However, Mogat1 ASO treatment significantly improved glucose tolerance and hepatic insulin signaling in obese mice. In summary, inactivation of hepatic MGAT activity, which is markedly increased in obese mice, improved glucose tolerance and hepatic insulin signaling independent of changes in body weight, intrahepatic DAG and TAG content, and PKC signaling.",
"corpus_id": 8775025,
"title": "Abrogating Monoacylglycerol Acyltransferase Activity in Liver Improves Glucose Tolerance and Hepatic Insulin Signaling in Obese Mice"
} | {
"abstract": "Aims/hypothesisWe sought to evaluate if the cellular localisation and molecular species of diacylglycerol (DAG) were related to insulin sensitivity in human skeletal muscle.MethodsHealthy sedentary obese controls (Ob; n = 6; mean±SEM age 39.5 ± 2.3 years; mean±SEM BMI 33.3 ± 1.4 kg/m2), individuals with type 2 diabetes (T2D; n = 6; age 44 ± 1.8 years; BMI 30.1 ± 2.3 kg/m2), and lean endurance-trained athletes (Ath; n = 10; age 35.4 ± 3.1 years; BMI 23.3 ± 0.8 kg/m2) were studied. Insulin sensitivity was determined using an IVGTT. Muscle biopsy specimens were taken after an overnight fast, fractionated using ultracentrifugation, and DAG species measured using liquid chromatography/MS/MS.ResultsTotal muscle DAG concentration was higher in the Ob (mean±SEM 13.3 ± 1.0 pmol/μg protein) and T2D (15.2 ± 1.0 pmol/μg protein) groups than the Ath group (10.0 ± 0.78 pmol/μg protein, p = 0.002). The majority (76–86%) DAG was localised in the membrane fraction for all groups, but was lowest in the Ath group (Ob, 86.2 ± 0.98%; T2D, 84.2 ± 1.2%; Ath, 75.9 ± 2.7%; p = 0.008). There were no differences in cytoplasmic DAG species (p > 0.12). Membrane DAG species C18:0/C20:4, Di-C16:0 and Di-C18:0 were significantly more abundant in the T2D group. Cytosolic DAG species were negatively related to activation of protein kinase C (PKC)ε but not PKCθ, whereas membrane DAG species were positively related to activation of PKCε, but not PKCθ. Only total membrane DAG (r = −0.624, p = 0.003) and Di-C18:0 (r = −0.595, p = 0.004) correlated with insulin sensitivity. Disaturated DAG species were significantly lower in the Ath group (p = 0.001), and significantly related to insulin sensitivity (r = −0.642, p = 0.002).Conclusions/interpretationThese data indicate that both cellular localisation and composition of DAG influence the relationship to insulin sensitivity. Our results suggest that only saturated DAG in skeletal muscle membranes are related to insulin resistance in humans.",
"corpus_id": 865067,
"title": "Localisation and composition of skeletal muscle diacylglycerol predicts insulin resistance in humans"
} | {
"abstract": "Fungi of the genera Aspergillus, Candida, and Cryptococcus and the class Zygomycetes are the most common causes of thoracic opportunistic mycoses in immunocompromised patients. Candidiasis and zygomycosis usually manifest as severe, often life-threatening, pneumonias. Aspergillus species are commonly implicated as the causative organisms in a broad spectrum of pulmonary disorders, ranging from hypersensitivity lung disease in atopic patients to invasive pneumonia in immunocompromised patients. Cryptococcus neoformans infects both immunologically normal and abnormal patients, with variable clinical and radiologic findings. The diagnosis of an opportunistic mycosis requires familiarity with the epidemiology of the disease, the various modes of clinical presentation, and the full spectrum of radiologic manifestations. Because many of these fungi may normally colonize in the upper respiratory tract, sputum cultures are considered diagnostically unreliable. Instead, definitive diagnosis hinges on either culture of the fungus from infected tissue or demonstration of the organism at microscopic examination.",
"corpus_id": 5641334,
"score": -1,
"title": "Thoracic mycoses from opportunistic fungi: radiologic-pathologic correlation."
} |
{
"abstract": "Coarse-Grained Reconfigurable Architectures (CGRA) is a promising solution for accelerating computation intensive tasks due to its good trade-off in energy efficiency and flexibility. One of the challenging research topic is how to effectively deploy loops onto CGRAs within acceptable compilation time. Modulo scheduling (MS) has shown to be efficient on deploying loops onto CGRAs. Existing CGRA MS algorithms still suffer from the challenge of mapping loop with higher performance under acceptable compilation time, especially mapping large and irregular loops onto CGRAs with limited computational and routing resources. This is mainly due to the under utilization of the available buffer resources on CGRA, unawareness of critical mapping constraints and time consuming method of solving temporal and spatial mapping. This article focus on improving the performance and compilation robustness of the modulo scheduling mapping algorithm for CGRAs. We decomposes the CGRA MS problem into the temporal and spatial mapping problem and reorganize the processes inside these two problems. For the temporal mapping problem, we provide a comprehensive and systematic mapping flow that includes a powerful buffer allocation algorithm, and efficient interconnection & computational constraints solving algorithms. For the spatial mapping problem, we develop a fast and stable spatial mapping algorithm with backtracking and reordering mechanism. Our MS mapping algorithm is able to map loops onto CGRA with higher performance and faster compilation time. Experiment results show that given the same compilation time budget, our mapping algorithm generates higher compilation success rate. Among the successfully compiled loops, our approach can improve 5.4 to 14.2 percent performance and takes x24 to x1099 less compilation time in average comparing with state-of-the-art CGRA mapping algorithms.",
"corpus_id": 218597729,
"title": "Towards Higher Performance and Robust Compilation for CGRA Modulo Scheduling"
} | {
"abstract": "Coarse-grained reconfigurable arrays (CGRA) exhibit high performance, improved flexibility, low cost, and power efficiency for various application domains. Compute-intensive loop kernels are mapped to CGRA through modified modulo scheduling algorithms that integrate placement and routing. Most existing approaches are heavily influenced by VLIW compilation and FPGA synthesis techniques. A salient feature of these approaches is that data routing from a single source node to multiple destination nodes follow independent paths leading to resource wastage and hence inefficient schedule.We transform the CGRA mapping problem with route sharing into a graph minor problem. Our graph minor formalization provides a solid foundation for application mapping on CGRA. We provide an efficient framework based on graph mapping to solve this problem. Experimental validation shows that our approach leads to higher performance compared to state-of-the-art solutions with better resource utilization and minimal compilation time.",
"corpus_id": 2548719,
"title": "Graph minor approach for application mapping on CGRAs"
} | {
"abstract": "In this paper we study the performance improvements and trade-offs derived from an optimized mapping approach applied on a parametric coarse grained reconfigurable array architecture. The processing elements' local register files and the processing elements' interconnection network is exploited for caching memory data values with data reuse opportunities. The data reused values are transferred through the processing elements' interconnection network hence, relieving the bus from the burden of transferring these values. A novel mapping algorithm is also proposed that uses a modulo scheduling technique. This algorithm targets on a flexible architecture template which permits experimental exploration over different architecture alternatives. The experimental results showed that the operation parallelism was significantly improved by our mapping approach. Additionally, we have outlined the relation that exists between the performance improvements and the memory access latency, the interconnection network and the processing elements' register file size.",
"corpus_id": 6192155,
"score": -1,
"title": "Exploring the design space of an optimized compiler approach for mesh-like coarse-grained reconfigurable architectures"
} |
{
"abstract": "We examined the effects of polyspecific associations on the behavior of one group of Callimico goeldii in northwestern Bolivia. Data were collected for 1 year using focal animal sampling at 5‐min intervals, for a total of 1,375 observation hours. In total, C. goeldii formed mixed species troops with five groups of Saguinus fuscicollis and six groups of S. labiatus, and these were maintained during 81% of observations. C. goeldii rested more and traveled less while alone than while associated, but neither vigilance behavior in the understory nor habitat use were affected by association status. The composition of the group's diet was different while alone (higher in structural carbohydrates [fungi] and lower in simple sugars [ripe fruits] and protein [insects]) than while associated (fungi 65 vs. 37%; fruits 13 vs. 32%; insects 5 vs. 15%). We propose therefore, that C. goeldii has a lower quality and more narrowly based diet while alone as compared to while associated. The factors that allow for this dietary expansion while in mixed species troops require further investigation. Am. J. Primatol. 69:1340–1353, 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.",
"corpus_id": 23762286,
"title": "Niche expansion of a cryptic primate, Callimico goeldii, while in mixed species troops"
} | {
"abstract": "Studies of sympatric species can provide important data to define how dietary and habitat requirements differ among them. I collected dietary data during a first yearlong comparative study of wild groups of Callimico goeldii, Saguinus labiatus and S. fuscicollis. Dietary overlap was highest between Saguinus fuscicollis and Saguinus labiatus throughout the year, and lowest between Saguinus labiatus and Callimico goeldii. All three species had high dietary overlap in February and March when a few abundant fruit species dominated their diets. Although all three species rely heavily on many of the same fruits and arthropods, there are several important distinctions among their diets. Surprisingly, Callimico goeldii consume large quantities of fungus throughout the year: 29% of annual feeding records. Mycophagy is more frequent in the dry season when fruits are scarce. In contrast, Saguinus labiatus rarely eat fungus during the period of fruit scarcity, and instead rely on nectar, a resource never exploited by Callimico goeldii. Saguinus fuscicollis also rely on nectar during periods of low fruit availability and increase their intake of arthropods and exudates. During April, a period of fruit scarcity, exudates comprise >50% of the feeding records of Saguinus fuscicollis. The use of different food resources during fruit scarcity, and differences in the heights at which each species feeds and forages appear to define a distinct ecological niche for each of them and allow them to maintain long-term associations throughout the year. Furthermore, I hypothesize that the limited distribution of Callimico goeldii may result from their restriction to forests that have high disturbance rates, where microhabitats appropriate for fungal growth are abundant, but which also contain abundant fruit and insects.",
"corpus_id": 2156788,
"title": "Dietary Differences Among Sympatric Callitrichinae in Northern Bolivia: Callimico goeldii, Saguinus fuscicollis and S. labiatus"
} | {
"abstract": "Spatial factors conditioning the formation of radiation-induced chromosome exchange aberrations are reviewed, and concepts such as 'rejoining distance' and 'site' are re-examined in the light of the unexpectedly high frequencies of multi-break ('Complex') exchanges being revealed by FISH painting. Given the anticipated densities of dsb within a nucleus, and assuming random 3-D break distribution, nearest-neighbour analysis indicates that the most likely break interaction distance is a well defined shell, several hundred nm from each break. The sharpness with which this shell is defined increases with break density, and therefore with dose. It is argued that random movement and chance meeting over such distances will not account for the Complex frequencies observed, and that other factors, or modes of formation, must be invoked.",
"corpus_id": 37876872,
"score": -1,
"title": "Insight into sites."
} |
{
"abstract": "Simazine is an herbicide that is able to contaminate surface waters, ground waters, and milk/dairy products, thus posing concerns in both environmental health and food safety. A yeast-based bioprobe was utilized to detect simazine in spiked real samples of livestock drinking water and raw cow’s milk. Yeast aerobic respiration was taken as short-term toxicological endpoint. We carried out comparative measures of yeast oxygen consumption between simazine-spiked samples and blank samples. Percentage interference (%ρ) on yeast aerobic respiration was calculated through the comparison of aerobic respiration of simazine-exposed and non-exposed yeast cells. The method was optimized for raw cow’s milk samples by using boric acid as fungistatic agent in order to avoid cellular proliferation. Overall, the results have shown that simazine can be detected up to concentrations five times below the EU legal concentration limits for drinking water (0.02 ppb) and cow’s milk (2 ppb) (%ρ values of 18.53% and 20.43% respectively; %RSD ≤ 15%). Dose-effect relationships of simazine were assessed. The findings of the bioassays match reasonably well with known mechanisms of toxicity and intracellular detoxification in yeast. A correlation between fat content in milk samples and analytical performance of the bioprobe was established. Results suggest the involvement of a matrix effect, presumably due to lipid sequestration of simazine. The yeast-based bioprobe has proved to be sensitive and suitable for the detection of simazine in real samples in concentrations of interest.",
"corpus_id": 53567264,
"title": "Towards Simazine Monitoring in Agro-Zootechnical Productions: A Yeast Cell Bioprobe for Real Samples Screening"
} | {
"abstract": "Although atrazine has been banned in the European Union since 2007 it still persists in soil from where it can enter the food chain. Milk-producing animals accumulate atrazine from contaminated feed and water and since large quantities of milk and milk products are consumed its quality should be constantly monitored. The objective of this investigation was to develop a simple tube ELISA procedure suitable for use in non-specialised laboratories and in the field. A polyclonal antibody raised in sheep and the hapten-gelatine conjugate was immobilised onto polystyrene tubes. This enables the colour produced to be read on a basic spectrophotometer. Milk samples were collected from three farms in different regions of Poland and diluted before immunoassay was performed. Samples were extracted with hexane-acetone for HPLC analysis. The amount of fat in the milk samples interferes with the dose response so it essential that the standards are prepared in the same samples matrix. A good correlation between 1% and 2% was found between the two methods in the analysis of real samples. However the ELISA procedure was more sensitive that the HPLC method since atrazine was detected in some samples by the ELISA but was not confirmed by the HPLC method. The study demonstrated that the simple antigen-coated tube assay provides a cost effective and valuable screening test that can be easily modified for direct use as a screening tool in the field.",
"corpus_id": 282968,
"title": "Monitoring of atrazine in milk using a rapid tube-based ELISA and validation with HPLC."
} | {
"abstract": "This study aimed to use surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) to detect herbicide residues (atrazine and arsenic trioxide) in drinking water. Gold-coated nanosubstrates were used in the SERS measurements to acquire enhanced Raman signals of herbicides in drinking water. Compared with the control, characteristic patterns of SERS spectra were distinguishable for atrazine at 3 ppb and arsenic trioxide at 1 ppb. Partial least squares analysis was used to develop quantitative models for detection of two herbicides in drinking water and calibration curves were plotted with R2 of 0.988 and 0.991 for atrazine and arsenic trioxide, respectively. The study of limit of detection (LOD) demonstrates that at 99.86 % confidence interval, SERS can detect both herbicides at 0.1 ppm in drinking water. Satisfactory recoveries were obtained for samples with concentration at and higher than the LOD (92.3–119.3 % for atrazine and 88.2–102.1 % for arsenic trioxide). These results demonstrate that SERS coupled with gold nanostructures holds great potential for rapid detection of herbicide residues and other chemical contaminants in drinking water.",
"corpus_id": 94550263,
"score": -1,
"title": "Detection of herbicides in drinking water by surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy coupled with gold nanostructures"
} |
{
"abstract": "The paper makes a thermal predictive analysis of the electric power system security for a day ahead. This predictive analysis is set as a thermal computation of the expected security. This computation is obtained by cointegrating the daily electric power systen load and the weather, by finding the daily electric power system thermodynamics and by introducing tests for this thermodynamics. The predictive analysis made shows the electricity consumers' wisdom.",
"corpus_id": 17783858,
"title": "Cointegration of the Daily Electric Power System Load and the Weather"
} | {
"abstract": "Stokes parameters form a Minkowskian 4-vector under various optical transformations. As a consequence, the resulting two-by-two density matrix constitutes a representation of the Lorentz group. The associated Poincar´ e sphere is a geometric representation of the Lorentz group. Since the Lorentz group preserves the determinant of the density matrix, it cannot accommodate the decoherence process through the decaying off-diagonal elements of the density matrix, which yields to an increase in the value of the determinant. It is noted that the O(3, 2) de Sitter group contains two Lorentz subgroups. The change in the determinant in one Lorentz group can be compensated by the other. It is thus possible to describe the decoherence process as a symmetry transformation in the O(3, 2) space. It is shown also that these two coupled Lorentz groups can serve as a concrete example of Feynman’s rest of the universe.",
"corpus_id": 7806747,
"title": "de Sitter group as a symmetry for optical decoherence"
} | {
"abstract": "A wavelet-based conditional analysis of unsteady flow and sound signals highlights the role of intermittent perturbations both in the sound generation and the unsteady field of an aerofoil tip leakage flow experiment. It is shown how the most probable flow perturbations generated at the pressure side tip edge are convected through the gap and swept downstream along the suction side past the trailing edge tip corner, where they radiate sound. The nascent sound sources are identified and localized in the clearance between 40% and 60% of the chord. It is also found that the time dependence of the averaged intermittent structures scales with the inverse of the square root of the mean velocity and a physical interpretation based on a simple potential vortex model is proposed. The data are retrieved from an experiment that has been carried out at low Mach number (Ma < 0.3) in an anechoic test facility. A single motionless instrumented NACA 5510 aerofoil was mounted into the potential core of an open rectangular jet between two plates with an adjustable clearance. The tip leakage flow was ensured by the 5% camber and a 15° angle of attack. A large database obtained by a variety of measurement techniques is thus available for the present analysis. More specifically, the conditional approach is applied to joint far field, wall pressure and particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurements. The wall pressure probes are located along the suction side tip edge and on the tip inside the gap, whereas the PIV plane is parallel to the mid-gap plane. Additional joint wall pressure and single hot-wire anemometry (HWA) measurements are also analysed with a hot-wire probe located near the trailing edge tip corner. The conditional averaging is triggered by high-energy wavelet events selected in a reference signal by setting a threshold to the so-called local intermittency measure.",
"corpus_id": 14172837,
"score": -1,
"title": "Experimental study of a tip leakage flow: wavelet analysis of pressure fluctuations"
} |
{
"abstract": "Abstract : Current military operations involve exposure to high ambient temperatures while wearing protective clothing and/or the use of biological and chemical ensembles. Under heat stress, aerobic fitness is a critical factor in explaining the higher core temperature (Tc) that can be tolerated by endurance trained (TR) versus untrained (UT) individuals. Tolerating higher Tc not only extends exposure time but it ensures that individuals can safely continue to be mobile while carrying their own weight and additional loads. The purpose of this research was to examine whether differences in the immuno-inflammatory activation existed between TR and UT that might help explain the different Tc tolerated at exhaustion (EXH). Twelve TR and eleven UT walked at 4.5 km/h and 2% grade to EXH in 40 C and 30% RH while wearing a protective overgarment. Blood was sampled at 0.5 C increments until Tc reached 40.0 C or the trial was terminated due to high heart rates, nausea, dizziness or volition. Plasma endotoxin and serum lipopolysaccharide binding protein (LBP) were determined as were intracellular pro and anti-inflammatory cytokines and heat stress protein (HSP) in circulating monocytes using flow cytometry. Blood volume (BV) was determined before the trial. There were no differences between groups in the rate of Tc increase; the longer tolerance time for TR vs UT reflected differences in Tc tolerated at EXH. BV was increased for TR vs UT but these differences were not related to the differences in Tc tolerated. Exercise and heat stress invoked significant increases in plasma endotoxin and LBP but the increase was greater for UT vs TR. Plasma endotoxin was more than 2-fold greater for UT than TR. Pro-inflammatory cytokines increased for both groups with increasing Tc yet values were greater for TR compared with UT. However, at higher Tc these cytokine expressions decreased for TR but continued to increase for UT. Anti-inflammatory cytokines were also increased for TR vs UT. Intracellular",
"corpus_id": 33853732,
"title": "The Importance of Aerobic Fitness in Extending Thermotolerance in Extreme Environments: Connecting Molecular Biology to the Whole Body Response"
} | {
"abstract": "AbstractStudies have shown that variations in ambient water vapour pressure from 1.7 to 3.7 kPa have little effect on heat tolerance time at a metabolic rate above 450 W while wearing protective clothing. With lighter exercise, where tolerance times exceed 60 min, variations in vapour pressure have a significant impact on evaporative heat loss and, therefore, heat tolerance. The present study has examined whether these findings extend to conditions with more extreme variations in vapour pressure. Twelve males performed light (L, 350 W) and heavy (H, 500 W) exercise at 40°C in a dry (D, 1.1 kPa) and humid (H, 4.8 kPa) environment while wearing a semi-permeable nuclear, biological and chemical protective clothing ensemble (0.29 m2×°C−1·W−1 or 1.88 clo; Woodcock vapour permeability coefficient,im=0.33). Partitional calorimetry was used to determine the rate of heat storage (\n$$\\dot S$$\n) with evaporative heat loss from the skin (\n$$\\dot E_{sk} $$\n) calculated from changes in dressed mass or the physical properties of the clothing and the vapour pressure gradient between the skin and the environment. Skin vapour pressure was predicted from measurements of water vapour pressure above the skin surface and in the clothing with humidity sensors coupled with thermistors. Final mean skin temperature (\n$$\\bar T$$\nsk) was higher for the humid trials and averaged 37.4 (0.3)°C, 38.9 (0.4)°C, 37.6 (0.5)°C and 38.5 (0.4)°C for LD, LH, HD and HH, respectively. Final rectal temperature (Tre) was higher for D with respective values for LD, LH, HD and HH of 39.0 (0.4)°C, 38.7 (0.4)°C, 38.8 (0.4)°C and 38.5 (0.4)°C. Tolerance time was significantly different among the trials and averaged 120.3 (19.3) min, 54.8 (7.3) min, 63.5 (6.9) min and 36.8 (3.1) min for LD, LH, HD and HH, respectively.\n$$\\dot E_{sk} $$\n was overestimated and, therefore,\n$$\\dot S$$\n was underestimated when the changes in dressed mass were used to determine evaporative heat loss. When skin vapour pressure determined from the humidity sensor data was used to calculate\n$$\\dot E_{sk} $$\n, heat storage was significantly different among the trials and averaged 15.0 (3.0), 13.0 (1.8), 14.2 (2.6) and 12.2 (1.9) kJ·kg−1 for LD, LH, HD and HH, respectively. It was concluded that while wearing the protective clothing all indices of heat strain, including tolerance time, were significantly affected by the change in ambient water vapour pressure from 1.1 to 4.8 kPa during both light and heavy exercise.",
"corpus_id": 2745267,
"title": "Effects of metabolic rate and ambient vapour pressure on heat strain in protective clothing"
} | {
"abstract": "All insects, indeed all organisms, have certain habitable zones delimited by physical parameters, outside of which they cannot persist for long. Within these zones, populations of all long established species exhibit a typical \"average\" density which fluctuates within more or less narrow limits. They can be described very broadly as rare, common, or abundant. A very large proportion of population studies has been concerned with the mechanisms which regulate relative abundance within the habitable or tolerable zones of a species. By comparison, little emphasis has been given to the important fact that some species do not occur at all within zones or habitats which potentially are perfectly suitable to them as far as physical conditions are concerned, even though they may reach these habitats from time to time in suitable numbers. Sometimes species have become extinct i n such habitats and sometimes they are unable to invade successfully from adjacent habitats. The reasons for their absence obviously must involve some sort of i nteraction between species because the physical environment has been stated to be suitable. It should go without saying that the mere fact of geographical isolation keeps many species from reaching new habitats which would be eminently suitable to them. Thus, absence of a species from a habitat may be due to (a) unsuit ability of physical factors, (b) lack of physical or biological requisites, (c) geographical isolation, i . e . , the species never reaches the habitat, or Cd) inter specific interactions. This paper deals primarily with competitive displacement between ecological homologues which is a unique and special type of interaction between species where one species brings about the extinction or displace ment of another ecologically homologous species, or prevents a second such species from invading and successfully colonizing all or a part of its habitat. Obviously, this would limit the range of distribution of certain species. In its strictest application, competitive displacement is an all or none situation. One species wins, the other dies out. There is no natural balance for the loser in a classical case. In nature, and for many reasons to be discussed later, most cases are not black or white like this, but usually i nvolve different shades of gray represented by various degrees of coexistence or displace-",
"corpus_id": 86600844,
"score": -1,
"title": "The Competitive Displacement and Coexistence Principles"
} |
{
"abstract": "Education 4.0 imitates Industry 4.0 in many aspects such as technology, customs, challenges, and benefits. The remarkable advancement in embryonic technologies, including IoT (Internet of Things), Fog Computing, Cloud Computing, and Augmented and Virtual Reality (AR/VR), polishes every dimension of Industry 4.0. The constructive impacts of Industry 4.0 are also replicated in Education 4.0. Real-time assessment, irregularity detection, and alert generation are some of the leading necessities of Education 4.0. Conspicuously, this study proposes a reliable assessment, irregularity detection, and alert generation framework for Education 4.0. The proposed framework correspondingly addresses the comparable issues of Industry 4.0. The proposed study (1) recommends the use of IoT, Fog, and Cloud Computing, i.e., IFC technological integration for the implementation of Education 4.0. Subsequently, (2) the Symbolic Aggregation Approximation (SAX), Kalman Filter, and Learning Bayesian Network (LBN) are deployed for data pre-processing and classification. Further, (3) the assessment, irregularity detection, and alert generation are accomplished over SoTL (the set of threshold limits) and the Multi-Layered Bi-Directional Long Short-Term Memory (M-Bi-LSTM)-based predictive model. To substantiate the proposed framework, experimental simulations are implemented. The experimental outcomes substantiate the better performance of the proposed framework, in contrast to the other contemporary technologies deployed for the enactment of Education 4.0.",
"corpus_id": 248467781,
"title": "IoT-Inspired Reliable Irregularity-Detection Framework for Education 4.0 and Industry 4.0"
} | {
"abstract": "Abstract Reliability measure is a fundamental problem in reliability engineering due to the electromechanical products should be with high performance speed and position control with the flexibility to adapt to the rapidly changing needs. The coexistence of random uncertainty, fuzzy uncertainty and incomplete trust uncertainty is common. However, a reliability measure model for this scenario has not been fully studied. Hence, the fuzzy reliability measure (FRM) model is proposed, which enables the reliability of any combination of random and fuzzy variables to be solved. In order to further consider the incomplete trust uncertainty in the reliability measure process, the improved fuzzy reliability measure (IFRM) model is presented based on the FRM model. The hyper entropy of the cloud model is used to consider the incomplete trust uncertainty, providing improved processing. Besides, the concept of credibility is introduced to indicate the degree of trust in the reliability measure results. The reliability-credibility curve is viewed as the reliability measure result of the IFRM model. The reliability and credibility of the electromechanical products under multiple types of uncertainties can be obtained. Besides, the reliability-credibility curve showed the probability of reliability being greater than a certain value and read one certain credibility and its corresponding reliability interval. The calculated results were compared with those obtained from the other methods, which demonstrated the accuracy and wider applicability of the IFRM model. The IFRM model establishes the relationship between reliability and credibility and used as a theoretical basis for either reliability studies or the development and improvement of the reliability of electromechanical products.",
"corpus_id": 4957819,
"title": "Reliability measure model for electromechanical products under multiple types of uncertainties"
} | {
"abstract": "This work is concerned with the automatic characterisation and classification of the sea-bed for side-scan sonar trace power-spectra.A parametric model of side-scan sonar trace power-spectra is developed from the equation for the magnitude frequency response of a Butterworth filter. The model's parameters are optimised to give a least squares fit with observed spectra. Three of the optimised parameters are used to define features.The parametric optimisation approach to feature extraction is compared to a method described by Pace and Gao (1988) in which features are defined in terms of ratios of integrals over frequency intervals of observed (specially defined) power spectra.Scatter distributions in feature space are reduced to sets of numbers that define distribution fields and these constitute seabed characteristics. A classification exercise is undertaken to demonstrate the utility of the feature extraction methods. The discrimination between sea-bed types achieved by the feature extraction methods is succintly conveyed in class discrimination matrices.The merits of the spectral modelling approach to feature extraction are: (1) the features provide a meaningful description of the spectra from which they are extracted, (2) the features enjoy a degree of immunity to changes in noise in the signal from which they are extracted, and (3) the features provide excellent discriminants. The parametric fitting process, however, is slow. An important merit of the Pace and Gao (1988) approach is that feature extraction is rapid.",
"corpus_id": 128753520,
"score": -1,
"title": "Sea-bed characterisation and classification from the power spectra of side-scan sonar data"
} |
{
"abstract": ".............................................................................................................. 2 Acknowledgements ............................................................................................. 4 Declaration .......................................................................................................... 5 Table of",
"corpus_id": 83254602,
"title": "Investigating the role of mitochondrial respiratory chain activity and mitochondrial DNA damage in skin ageing"
} | {
"abstract": "BACKGROUND\nSunscreens have long been used to protect against the acute effects of UV radiation. They can also have protective effects on chronic UV-induced changes, such as photoaging and skin cancer. Recent studies have focused on marine organisms as a source of natural bioactive molecules and some UV-absorbing algal compounds are under investigation as candidates for new natural sunscreens.\n\n\nOBJECTIVE\nThe cutaneous photoprotective ability of the mycosporine-like aminoacids (MAAs) Porphyra-334 and shinorine (P-334+SH), high UV-absorbing compounds isolated from the red alga Porphyra rosengurttii, was evaluated by in vivo procedures in mouse skin. The expression of the heat shock protein HSP70 as a potential biomarker for acute UV damage was also investigated.\n\n\nMETHODS\nA galenic formulation containing the MAA combination of P-334+SH was applied topically to the dorsal skin of SkhR-1 H hairless mice, which were irradiated with a single UV radiation dose of 3.87Jcm(-2) and compared with a combination of UVB- and UVA-absorbing reference filters. Clinical signs of sunburn, such as erythema and edema, as well as other quantifiable histological and biochemical parameters, such as the expression of the heat shock protein 70 and antioxidant enzyme activities, were measured from skin biopsies at 6, 24, 48 and 72h post-radiation.\n\n\nRESULTS\nThe formulation containing MAA prevented sunburn cell formation, as well as corneum stratum, malphigian, dermal and hypodermal thickening and other structural and morphological alterations observed in biopsies of non-photoprotected skin. A significant increase in Hsp70 was observed in the epidermis of non-photoprotected mouse skin, besides a de novo expression in deeper layers. P-334+SH protected against the significant decrease in superoxide dismutase and catalase activities observed in non-photoprotected mice.\n\n\nCONCLUSION\nThe topical application of P-334+SH protected against UV-induced skin damage in mice and contributed to maintaining the antioxidant defence system of the skin as well as Hsp70 expression.",
"corpus_id": 645975,
"title": "Prevention of the ultraviolet effects on clinical and histopathological changes, as well as the heat shock protein-70 expression in mouse skin by topical application of algal UV-absorbing compounds."
} | {
"abstract": "ABSTRACT This article examines how Ugandan immigrants in Norway experience cultural shifts in parenting. Data were collected from six parents by using narrative inquiry and micro-ethnography in the setting of the family’s everyday life, and data were interpreted using thematic narrative analysis. The parents’ narratives emphasized how they struggled to understand Norwegian parenting values and reconcile Norwegian and Ugandan parenting values and norms. The parents tried to adapt their parenting practices according to Norwegian parenting expectations while also preserving their own cultural practices. Consequently, two worlds frame the parents’ social identities and parenting experiences over time, creating a difficult split with consequences for their parenting practices and entire existential situation. Parents felt that failing to meet the expectations of parenting attracted interventions from Norwegian Child Welfare Services, and these interventions were found to be frightening and difficult to understand. The findings are relevant to social work because they emphasise how the interaction between immigrant parents and welfare professionals may cause parents to feel they are not ‘good’ parents and may produce marginalisation and feelings of social exclusion in Norwegian society.",
"corpus_id": 199886159,
"score": -1,
"title": "Parenting in double translation: lived experiences of Ugandan immigrant parents in Norway"
} |
{
"abstract": "The global limit on the sulfur content of ship fuel was reduced from 3.50% to 0.50% in January 2020 to reduce ship emissions of SO2 and particulate matter. We conducted observational campaigns before and after the new global limit was introduced to detect changes in coastal air quality. We measured ambient concentrations of SO2 and CO2 ship plumes on shore with the sniffing method under the Kanmon Bridge over the Kanmon Straits between Honshu and Kyusyu Islands, Japan, for several weeks in August to September in 2019 and 2020. The fuel sulfur content (FSC) estimated from our measurements mainly varied from 0.50% to 3.00% in 2019, whereas the range narrowed to 0.10% to 0.40% in 2020, showing that all the ships complied. The mean FSC in 2020 was reduced to 16% of that in 2019, which was consistent with the reduction in the ambient SO2 concentration. Sakurai et al.(2021) estimated that after the 2020 global limit was brought in, SO2 emissions from ships were reduced to 24% of their previous values by assuming that all ships have a FSC of 0.50%. Our results indicate the 2020 global limit led to much greater reductions in SO2 emissions from ships than expected.",
"corpus_id": 251336239,
"title": "Detection of Ship Fuel Sulfur Contents in Exhaust Plumes at the Kanmon Straits, Japan, before and after the Global Sulfur Limit 2020"
} | {
"abstract": "In 2015 new rules from the IMO and legislation from EU (Sulfur directive) and the US requires ships to run with maximum fuel sulfur content (FSC) of 0.1 % m/m in northern European and North American waters. In order to promote a level playing field within the shipping sector, there is a need for measurement systems that can make effective compliance control and this is the main objective of the CompMon project, funded through the European CEF program (Connecting Europe Facility). As part of this project, an automatic sniffer sensor system has been applied in the Goteborg ship channel at the Alvsborg island during 3 years (2014- 2016) and at the Oresund Bridge during two months at the end of 2016. The typical distances from the ships here varied between 500 -1000 m. The sniffer system is based on several extractive instruments measuring concentrations of SO2 and CO2 and others species, such as NOx, in the ship emission plumes that drift over the measurement station. In addition to fixed stations, the system can also be used from mobile platforms such as harbor patrol vessels and aircraft. From the data above, together with information about the ships from AIS (Automatic Identification System) and wind data, the FSC is automatically calculated and the ship is identi- fied. This is done using software developed as part of this project (Single Emitter identification Tool). The measurement precision (1σ) of the sniffer system is approx. 0.04 % m/m for ships using a FSC of 0.1 % m/m. The sniffer system also has a negative bias in the measured FSC, varying between 0.04 % to 0.08 % m/m and this is accounted for when calculating the threshold for non-compliance. Based on the above, it is possible to identify ships with FSC above 0.18 % m/m with 95% confidence limit, if the bias is corrected for statistically. For the measurements at the Alvsborg island site in 2014 and 2015, the corresponding limit is higher, 0.29 % m/m, due to a measurement artifact that was eliminated in 2016. On board measurements in 2015 and 2016 by the Swedish port state control authority shows that most non-compliant ships had FSCs be- tween 0.1 % to 0.2 % m/m when controlled at berth and this is generally below the 95% confidence limit threshold of the sniffer. Therefore many non-compliant ships will not be detected when using the sniffer close to harbors and a more precise sensor is therefore preferred. The measurements at the Alvsborg island were carried out during a time period when the allowed FSC limit changed significantly. The data for 2014, corresponding to more than 4000 measurements of 500 individual ships, shows that 99 % of the ships were using compliant fuel below the FSC limit of 1 % m/m. In 2015 the FSC limit changed to 0.1 % m/m. The measurements in 2015 and 2016, corresponding to the same amount of ships as in 2014, showed that 91.5 % and 98 %, respectively, were using compliant fuel with respect to FSC. The lower compliance rate in 2015 compared to 2016 is potentially influenced by measurement artifacts that were later eliminated in 2016. At the Oresund Bridge. 58 ships were measured as part of the CompMon pro- ject. The measurements continued another month with support from the interreg project Envisum, with anoth- er 62 ships measured. The compliance level at the Oresund Bridge corresponds to 98 %. This is actually com- parable to the corresponding measurements elsewhere and at the Alvsborg island site during the same time period.",
"corpus_id": 4636176,
"title": "Fixed remote surveillance of fuel sulfur content in ships from fixed sites in the Göteborg ship channel and Öresund bridge"
} | {
"abstract": "Ohmoto et al. reply - The idea of a methane-rich Archaean atmosphere has become popular since Rye et al. assumed in their calculation that siderite was absent in pre-2.2-Gyr palaeosols. We have concluded that the absence of siderite in some Archaean palaeosols does not constrain the atmospheric pCO2, but the presence of much siderite in sedimentary rocks does. Sleep's recognition that siderite occurs in Archaean palaeosols substantiates our arguments: although siderite should be absent in well aerated soils of all geological ages, it may form in waterlogged soils where pO2 became less than about 10−60 atm owing to the abundant anaerobic production of H2. In fact, we have reported this in a 2.6-Gyr soil profile at Schagen, South Africa: abundant ferric-rich minerals formed while the soil was exposed to air, but ferrous-rich carbonate formed while it was apparently submerged under an anoxic pond.",
"corpus_id": 4354704,
"score": -1,
"title": "Palaeoclimatology: Archaean palaeosols and Archaean air (reply)"
} |
{
"abstract": "Previous studies of the human neuroblastoma cell line SK-N-SH had demonstrated the presence of and phenotypic interconversion (transdifferentiation) between two morphologically and biochemically distinct cell types: N (neuroblastic) cells with properties of noradrenergic neurons and S (substrate-adherent) cells with properties of melanocytes. Current studies have sought to test the generality of these findings among other cultured human neuroblastoma cell lines and to define further the S-cell phenotype and that of a newly identified, morphologically intermediate, I-type cell. Morphologically homogeneous populations (clonal sublines or subpopulations) of N, S, and I cells were isolated from five additional neuroblastoma cell lines and analyzed biochemically for neuronal, glial, and melanocytic marker enzyme activities and norepinephrine uptake. Immunoblot techniques were used to detect intermediate filament proteins (neurofilament protein, vimentin, glial fibrillar}' acidic protein) and fibronectin. All N-type cells exhibited neuronal marker enzyme activities, specific uptake of norepinephrine, and presence of one or more neurofil ament proteins. S-type cells generally lacked neuronal characteristics but contained, instead, tyrosinase activity (a melanocytic marker enzyme), vimentin, and fibronectin. This combination of attributes is suggestive of a multipoli-m embryonal precursor cell of the neural crest. I-type cells differentially expressed both Sand N-cell properties and could represent either a stem cell or an intermediate in the transdifferentiation process. Studies of the biological significance of human neuroblastoma cell transdifferentiation and the molecular mechanisms underlying this process may be of relevance to the biological and clinical behavior of this tumor in the patient.",
"corpus_id": 18758792,
"title": "Expression of Distinct Neural Crest Lineages Phenotypic Diversification in Human Neuroblastoma Cells : Updated"
} | {
"abstract": "Two morphologically distinct types of cells have been observed in cultures of human neuroblastoma cells. One, designated N-type, is composed of small neuroblast-like cells; the other, designated S-type, is composed of large, substrate-adherent cells. To obtain additional information on the nature of these two phenotypes, we have investigated the collagen biosynthesis in several clones of human neuroblastoma cells with N-type, S-type, or mixed morphology, using acrylamide gel electrophoresis, ion exchange chromatography, and Northern and Southern blots. A direct correlation between the proportion of cells with S-type morphology and the amount of collagen secreted was observed, with the largest amount of collagen being produced by clones composed exclusively of S-type cells. Type I trimer and type III collagens were the two major isotypes secreted by these cells. The absence of secretion of the alpha 2(I) collagen chain was associated with absence of RNA coding for this protein chain. The pro-alpha 2 gene of type I collagen was found highly methylated in these cells. Our data indicate that the presence of S-type cells in neuroblastoma cultures represents a differentiation of these neural crest-derived neuroblastic cells into glial cells such as Schwann cells.",
"corpus_id": 1350624,
"title": "Differential collagen biosynthesis by human neuroblastoma cell variants."
} | {
"abstract": "Restriction endonuclease analysis was used to determine the methylation status of collagen, c-Ha-ras, and thymidine kinase genes in human fibroblasts and tumor cell lines. When digested with the methylation sensitive enzymes HpaII or HhaI, the DNA of each cell line generated a unique banding pattern for each gene examined. No generalized trend of gene hypomethylation or decreases in overall cytosine methylation were observed in tumor cell lines when compared to fibroblasts. Collagen biosynthetic profiles were also determined, and no correlations could be made between patterns of type I and type III collagen gene methylation and expression. Our findings support those of a previous report in which methylation and expression of the chick alpha 2(I) collagen gene were examined, and this represents the first such analysis of the pro-alpha 1 (III) collagen gene. MspI restriction fragment length polymorphisms were detected within c-Ha-ras, pro-alpha 2(I) collagen, pro-alpha 1(III) collagen, and thymidine kinase genes. The ras gene polymorphisms can be attributed to variation in the number of tandem repeats within a MspI fragment at the 3' end of the gene. The other gene polymorphisms may be due to base pair mutations at methylated cytosine residues within CCGG sequences.",
"corpus_id": 6590591,
"score": -1,
"title": "Patterns of DNA methylation and gene expression in human tumor cell lines."
} |
{
"abstract": "This paper examines the choice of pension scheme and job mobility in Britain. Workers in Britain can choose to belong wholly to the social security (public pension) programme, or to a company-provided plan (occupational pension), or to purchase their own individual pension. We use household panel data for the 1990s to show that individuals that subsequently move job select pension arrangements that a priori impose lower costs on job mobility. A feature of the British policy experiment, and of the data, is that we can differentiate between choice of actual pension arrangement by the individual and what pension arrangements were offered to that individual. This permits us to test indirectly whether the observed relationship arises from employer selection or from pension scheme design.",
"corpus_id": 5377166,
"title": "Choice of pension scheme and job mobility in Britain"
} | {
"abstract": "In this paper we construct a model of the loss of firm-specific capital suffered by employees with occupational pensions who change job. The simplest loss function may be represented as the product of job tenure and years to retirement. Estimates of logit equations for individual job search in Great Britain suggest that the effect of pension status can be satisfactorily captured by this simple loss function. These equations and others for job turnover indicate that membership of an occupational pension scheme substantially reduces job mobility.",
"corpus_id": 153402905,
"title": "The influence of pensions on job mobility"
} | {
"abstract": "This paper develops a theoretical model explaining management’s choice of using corporate cash flow to pay dividends, repurchase shares, or invest in a real project. The model demonstrates the case in which managers have better information than investors about the quality of the firm (information asymmetry) and may invest excess cash in unprofitable projects rather than return it to shareholders (moral hazard). The results show that paying dividends is a dominated strategy for the high-quality firm. In an efficient market, there exists a separating equilibrium in which the high-quality firm invests in the new project while the low-quality firm pays dividends. However, if investors underreact to share repurchase announcements, there exists a separating equilibrium in which the high-quality firm repurchases shares while the low-quality firm pays dividends.",
"corpus_id": 1023181,
"score": -1,
"title": "Payout Policy and Real Investment Under Asymmetric Information"
} |
{
"abstract": "Simple Summary The preeminent purpose of precision livestock farming (PLF) is to provide affordable and straightforward solutions to severe problems with certainty. Some data collection techniques in PLF such as RFID are accurate but not affordable for small- and medium-sized farms. On the other hand, camera sensors are cheap, commonly available, and easily used to collect information compared to other sensor systems in precision pig farming. Cameras have ample chance to monitor pigs with high precision at an affordable cost. However, the lack of targeted information about the application of cameras in the pig industry is a shortcoming for swine farmers and researchers. This review describes the state of the art in 3D imaging systems (i.e., depth sensors and time-of-flight cameras), along with 2D cameras, for effectively identifying pig behaviors, and presents automated approaches for monitoring and investigating pigs’ feeding, drinking, lying, locomotion, aggressive, and reproductive behaviors. In addition, the review summarizes the related literature and points out limitations to open up new dimensions for future researchers to explore. Abstract Pork is the meat with the second-largest overall consumption, and chicken, pork, and beef together account for 92% of global meat production. Therefore, it is necessary to adopt more progressive methodologies such as precision livestock farming (PLF) rather than conventional methods to improve production. In recent years, image-based studies have become an efficient solution in various fields such as navigation for unmanned vehicles, human–machine-based systems, agricultural surveying, livestock, etc. So far, several studies have been conducted to identify, track, and classify the behaviors of pigs and achieve early detection of disease, using 2D/3D cameras. This review describes the state of the art in 3D imaging systems (i.e., depth sensors and time-of-flight cameras), along with 2D cameras, for effectively identifying pig behaviors and presents automated approaches for the monitoring and investigation of pigs’ feeding, drinking, lying, locomotion, aggressive, and reproductive behaviors.",
"corpus_id": 237315803,
"title": "The Application of Cameras in Precision Pig Farming: An Overview for Swine-Keeping Professionals"
} | {
"abstract": "The recent advances in RFID offer vast opportunities for research, development and innovation in agriculture. The aim of this paper is to give readers a comprehensive view of current applications and new possibilities, but also explain the limitations and challenges of this technology. RFID has been used for years in animal identification and tracking, being a common practice in many farms. Also it has been used in the food chain for traceability control. The implementation of sensors in tags, make possible to monitor the cold chain of perishable food products and the development of new applications in fields like environmental monitoring, irrigation, specialty crops and farm machinery. However, it is not all advantages. There are also challenges and limitations that should be faced in the next years. The operation in harsh environments, with dirt, extreme temperatures; the huge volume of data that are difficult to manage; the need of longer reading ranges, due to the reduction of signal strength due to propagation in crop canopy; the behavior of the different frequencies, understanding what is the right one for each application; the diversity of the standards and the level of granularity are some of them.",
"corpus_id": 32403758,
"title": "The role of RFID in agriculture: Applications, limitations and challenges"
} | {
"abstract": "In the field of textile and clothing, radio frequency identification (RFID), which is one of the most promising technological innovations, is used in manufacturing, inventory control, warehousing, distribution, logistics, automatic object tracking and supply chain management. Various retailers and manufacturers (of clothing as well as consumer goods) such as CVS, Tesco, Prada, Benetten, Wal-mart and Procter & Gamble, are now implementing the technology and exploring the impact of the technology on their business. RFID technologies may improve the potential benefits of supply chain management through reduction of inventory losses, increase of the efficiency and speed of processes and improvement of information accuracy. The basic of success lies in understanding the technology and other features to minimize the potential problems. Although the technology existed for several years, the technological challenges and cost issues are the major hurdles for the widespread use of RFID. In this paper, the authors have addressed the technology of RFID and various applications related to inventory management, production control, retail management, brand segregation etc. in textile and clothing industry. In addition, the disadvantages, challenges and future directions of RFID technology have also been highlighted.",
"corpus_id": 36454273,
"score": -1,
"title": "RFID in textile and clothing manufacturing: technology and challenges"
} |
{
"abstract": "In recent years, users have increasingly focused on the privacy of social networking sites (SNS); users have reduced their self-disclosure intention. To attract users, SNS rely on active platforms that collect accurate user information, even though that information is supposed to be private. SNS marketers must understand the key elements for sustainable operation. This study aims to understand the influence of motivation (extrinsic and intrinsic) and self-disclosure on SNS through soft computing theories. First, based on a survey of 1108 users of SNS, this study used a dominance-based rough set approach to determine decision rules for self-disclosure intention on SNS. In addition, based on 11 social networking industry experts’ perspectives, this study validated the influence between the motivation attributes by using Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL). In this paper, the decision rules of users’ self-disclosure preference are presented, and the influences between motivation attributes are graphically depicted as a flow network graph. These findings can assist in addressing real-world decision problems, and can aid SNS marketers in anticipating, evaluating, and acting in accord with the self-disclosure motivations of SNS users. In this paper, practical and research implications are offered.",
"corpus_id": 96428131,
"title": "Exploring Users’ Self-Disclosure Intention on Social Networking Applying Novel Soft Computing Theories"
} | {
"abstract": "Market segmentation is a crucial activity in the present business environment. Data mining is a useful tool for identifying customer behavior patterns in large amounts of data. This information can then be used to help with decision-making in areas such as the airline market. In this study, we use the Dominance-based Rough Set Approach (DRSA) to provide a set of rules for determining customer attitudes and loyalties, which can help managers develop strategies to acquire new customers and retain highly valued ones. A set of rules is derived from a large sample of international airline customers, and its predictive ability is evaluated. The results, as compared with those of multiple discriminate analyses, are very encouraging. They prove the usefulness of the proposed method in predicting the behavior of airline customers. This study demonstrates that the DRSA model helps to identify customers, determine their characteristics, and facilitate the development of a marketing strategy.",
"corpus_id": 6983477,
"title": "A Dominance-based Rough Set Approach to customer behavior in the airline market"
} | {
"abstract": "Banks are important to national, and even global, economic stability. Banking panics that follow bank insolvency or bankruptcy, especially of large banks, can severely jeopardize economic stability. Therefore, issuers and investors urgently need a credit rating indicator to help identify the financial status and operational competence of banks. A credit rating provides financial entities with an assessment of credit worthiness, investment risk, and default probability. Although numerous models have been proposed to solve credit rating problems, they have the following drawbacks: (1) lack of explanatory power; (2) reliance on the restrictive assumptions of statistical techniques; and (3) numerous variables, which result in multiple dimensions and complex data. To overcome these shortcomings, this work applies two hybrid models that solve the practical problems in credit rating classification. For model verification, this work uses an experimental dataset collected from the Bankscope database for the period 1998-2007. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed hybrid models for credit rating classification outperform the listing models in this work. A set of decision rules for classifying credit ratings is extracted. Finally, study findings and managerial implications are provided for academics and practitioners.",
"corpus_id": 9375432,
"score": -1,
"title": "Hybrid models based on rough set classifiers for setting credit rating decision rules in the global banking industry"
} |
{
"abstract": "ion What is the relationship between a real-world entity and the data? Data Structure How is the data for the project organized? What fields in the data are particularly relevant to the stakeholder? Questions What questions were explored? Visualizations How did students graphically present the results of their analysis? Answers What were the answers to the questions? How does the student interpret them? Limitations What are limitations of the data provided, and the kinds of analyses that could be performed? Social Impacts Who is interested in the results of the analysis, and who is affected? What potential concerns or problems can arise with regards to the analyses’ impact? Communication Were the slides well constructed? Did the student convey them clearly? The complete text of the project rubric is available in Appendix A.3. Appendix A.2 gives an example project created by the instructor, shown to students. Austin Cory Bart Chapter 4. Results 80",
"corpus_id": 64831670,
"title": "Motivating Introductory Computing Students with Pedagogical Datasets"
} | {
"abstract": "Since its publication, Lave and Wenger's concept of legitimate peripheral participation (LPP) [18] has become an important concept for understanding situated learning. LPP states that learning only occurs when students perceive that what's being taught is aligned with their goals (in LPP terms, with the students' perceived community of practice). This has implications for our traditional CS courses (e.g., are we teaching what the students perceive as being relevant for their future careers?), but even greater implications for courses for non-CS majors. When computer science educators are asked to teach non-CS majors, we are often placed in the position of teaching in alignment with a community of practice that does not, or does not yet, exist. In that sense, our teaching is inauthentic---not aligned with a community of practice. However, there is the possibility that we can generate a perception of authenticity or alignment. We use the example of two classes at Georgia Tech that seem successful by several measures, yet suffer this inauthenticity. We propose that a useful tool for understanding how these classes work is the Disney Corporation's Imagineering---their process of story-telling in three-dimensions as used in their theme parks. However, in the end, we find that what students actually learn is not necessarily the story that we are telling them, which points toward future research.",
"corpus_id": 493949,
"title": "Imagineering inauthentic legitimate peripheral participation: an instructional design approach for motivating computing education"
} | {
"abstract": "Creativity is essential for successful engineering; it is necessary for all technological advancement, and is highly correlated with economic prosperity and success [1,2]. Creativity and innovation play a role in most levels of engineering education, and yet they are rarely discussed explicitly in courses. Engineers typically receive instruction in scientific principles and their conceptual application, but seldom do they receive formal instruction in creative problem solving. [3-5] .",
"corpus_id": 36983839,
"score": -1,
"title": "Evaluation of creativity and problem solving in chemical engineering education"
} |
{
"abstract": "To improve the biocompatibility of medical implants, a chemical composition of bone-like material (e.g., hydroxyapatite) can be deposited on the surface of various substrates. When hydroxyapatite is deposited on surfaces of orthopedic implants, several parameters must be addressed including the need of rapid bone ingrowth, high mechanical stability, corrosion resistance, biocompatibility, and osseointegration induction. However, the deposition process can fail due to poor adhesion of the hydroxyapatite coating to the metallic substrate. Increasing adhesion by enhancing chemical bonding and minimizing biocoating degradation can be achieved through surface activation and pretreatment techniques. Surface activation can increase the adhesion of the biocoating to implants, providing protection in the biological environment and restricting the leaching of metal ions in vivo. This review covers the main surface activation and pretreatment techniques for substrates such as titanium and its alloys, stainless steel, magnesium alloys, and CoCrMo alloys. Alkaline, acidic, and anodizing techniques and their effects on bioapatite deposition are discussed for each of the substrates. Other chemical treatment and combination techniques are covered when used for certain materials. For titanium, the surface pretreatments improve the thickness of the TiO2 passive layer, improving adhesion and bonding of the hydroxyapatite coating. To reduce corrosion and wear rates on the surface of stainless steel, different surface modifications enhance the bonding between the bioapatite coatings and the substrate. The use of surface modifications also improves the morphology of hydroxyapatite coatings on magnesium surfaces and limits the concentration of magnesium ions released into the body. Surface treatment of CoCrMo alloys also decreased the concentration of harmful ions released in vivo. The literature covered in this review is for pretreated surfaces which then undergo deposition of hydroxyapatite using electrodeposition or other wet deposition techniques and mainly limited to the years 2000-2019.",
"corpus_id": 190886097,
"title": "Surface Activation and Pretreatments for Biocompatible Metals and Alloys Used in Biomedical Applications"
} | {
"abstract": "To obtain smooth TiO2 coatings for building a new design of Ti-6Al-4V heart valve, the anodic oxidation technique in pre-spark conditions was evaluated. TiO2 coating is necessary for its recognized biocompatibility and corrosion resistance. A required feature on surfaces in contact with blood is a low level of roughness (Ra ≤ 50 nm) that does not favor the formation of blood clots. The present paper compares the coatings obtained by anodic oxidation of the Ti-6Al-4V alloy using H2SO4 at different concentrations (0.1–4 M) as electrolyte and applying different voltages (from 20 to 70 V). Color and morphological analysis of coatings are performed using optical and scanning microscopy. The crystalline phases were analyzed by glancing X-ray diffraction. By varying the applied voltage, different interference colors coatings were obtained. The differences in morphologies of the coatings caused by changes in acid concentration are more evident at high voltages, limiting the oxidation conditions for the desired application. Anatase phase was detected from 70 V for 1 M H2SO4. An increase in the concentration of H2SO4 decreases the voltage at which the transformation of amorphous to crystalline coatings occurs; i.e., with 4 M H2SO4, the anatase phase appears at 60 V.",
"corpus_id": 17864332,
"title": "Influence of the Electrolyte Concentration on the Smooth TiO2 Anodic Coatings on Ti-6Al-4V"
} | {
"abstract": "An Al/Ni composite coating was deposited on the surface of a pure Ti substrate by arc spray technology and plasma spray technology. In order to enable the in-situ reaction between the Al/Ni composite coating and the specimen, they were heated under different conditions. In addition, oxidation testing was conducted to test the oxidation-resistant property of the coating. The phase transition regulation of the coating after heating, the influence of heating at different temperatures and time on the reaction depth, and the correlated theory of the in-situ formation of the NiAl intermetallic compounds were studied and analyzed. The results showed that after the heat treatment, a ragged wave-like morphology was exhibited in the diffusion front of Al, and a small amount of the Ni in the diffusion region did not participate in the reaction. The growth of the NiAl intermetallic layer in the diffusion region of the Al/Ni/Ti specimen was obviously slower compared with the Al/Ni specimen.",
"corpus_id": 52267517,
"score": -1,
"title": "High-Temperature Oxidation Resistance of NiAl Intermetallic Formed In Situ by Thermal Spraying"
} |
{
"abstract": "Using the Jones matrix eigenanalysis and Poincare/spl acute/ arc methods, we measured the differential group delay (DGD) in a recirculating loop for arbitrary fiber realizations and for different round trips. The measurement uncertainty was less than 2.0 ps in most cases. With this capability, we measured the DGD distribution with and without loop-synchronous polarization scrambling. We found that the DGD distribution can be influenced by the slow drift of fiber realization in the loop.",
"corpus_id": 38539158,
"title": "Measurement of distributions of differential Group delay in a recirculating loop with and without loop-synchronous scrambling"
} | {
"abstract": "The statistical distribution of polarization-mode dispersion in a recirculating loop is investigated. Numerical simulations are performed in both Jones and Stokes space and are verified by experiments. The probability distribution of the differential group delay (DGD) is obtained numerically, theoretically, and experimentally. As the number of circulations increase, the probability density function of the DGD approaches a uniform distribution.",
"corpus_id": 1807906,
"title": "Statistics of PMD in recirculating loops"
} | {
"abstract": "Using the transient hot-wire method, simultaneous measurements of the thermal conductivity, λ, and the heat capacity per unit volume, ρc p, were made for solid phases I and II of benzene (C6H6). Data were obtained over the temperature range 105 K to 375 K, and at pressures up to 2·4 GPa. At 300 K, the I → II transition was sluggish, so phase I could be retained over a pressure range where it was metastable with respect to phase II. At about 1·2 GPa and 375 K, λ for phase II is detectably greater than for phase I, but at 300 K the two values are almost equal. The value of c p for phase I was found to decrease by about 10 per cent over the range 0–1 GPa and to remain essentially constant at higher pressures. Values of c p in phases I and II were found to be equal at all temperatures. The temperature and volume dependences of λ are discussed in relation to current theoretical ideas.",
"corpus_id": 95633646,
"score": -1,
"title": "Thermal conductivity and heat capacity of solid phases of benzene under pressure"
} |
{
"abstract": "This article presents the digital design of a versatile and low-power broadband impedance spectroscopy (IS) system based on the pseudorandom binary sequence (PRBS) excitation. The PRBS technique allows fast and low-power estimation of the impedance spectrum over a wide bandwidth with adequate accuracy, proving to be a good candidate for portable medical devices, especially. This article covers the low-power design of the firmware algorithms and implements them on a versatile and reconfigurable digital platform that can be easily adjusted to the specific application. It will analyze the digital platform with the aim of reducing power consumption while maintaining adequate accuracy of the estimated spectrum. This article studies two main algorithms (time-domain and frequency-domain) used for PRBS-based IS and implements both of them on the ultralow- power GAP-8 digital platform. They are compared in terms of accuracy, measurement time, and power budget, while the general design tradeoffs are drawn out. The time-domain algorithm demonstrated the best accuracy, while the frequency-domain one contributes more to save power and energy. However, the analysis of the energy-per-error FOM revealed that the time-domain algorithm outperforms the frequency-domain algorithm, offering better accuracy for the same energy consumption. Numerical methods and microprocessor resources are exploited to optimize the implementation of both algorithms, achieving a 27-ms processing time, the power consumption of as low as 1.4 mW, and a minimum energy consumption per measurement of 0.5 mJ, for a dense impedance spectrum estimation of 214 points.",
"corpus_id": 229460205,
"title": "Energy-Efficient PRBS Impedance Spectroscopy on a Digital Versatile Platform"
} | {
"abstract": "This paper presents a low power reconfigurable IC for wearable health devices that perform bio-impedance (BioZ) spectroscopy, respiration, and ECG signals measurement. The IC consists of a broadband excitation current source (I-DAC) and a power efficient readout circuit (RO). Both are highly scalable to mitigate the tradeoff among noise, dynamic range, speed, power, and safe current limits. On circuit level, the I-DAC supports two broadband excitation modes based on maximum length sequence (MLS), a flexible selection of frequency points, bandwidth, and current magnitude. The RO employs a low noise instrumentation amplifier and a reconfigurable 8-to-12 bit ADC for flexible sensitivity, dynamic range and speed with an automatic scaling of the power consumption. On system level, calibration of the entire circuit chain, oversampling and MLS averaging further improve the bandwidth, accuracy and sensitivity of BioZ spectroscopy beyond the intrinsic circuit performance. As a result, the BioZ sensor IC achieves 2 $\\text{m}\\Omega $ sensitivity within 3.3 $\\text{m}\\Omega $ – $100~\\Omega $ range and $0.6~\\Omega $ sensitivity within $3.3~\\Omega $ –100 $\\text{k}\\Omega $ range. The BioZ spectroscopy spans up to 125 kHz while consuming $155~\\mu \\text{W}$ . Furthermore, this IC can measure respiration and ECG simultaneously at a lower sampling rate of 20 kS/s while consuming $31~\\mu \\text{W}$ . Compared to prior art, to the best of our knowledge, this IC is the only work that can measure BioZ and ECG simultaneously with a single readout channel while consuming the lowest power and offering the highest flexibility in performance, application range, and power consumption.",
"corpus_id": 52194649,
"title": "An Energy-Efficient and Reconfigurable Sensor IC for Bio-Impedance Spectroscopy and ECG Recording"
} | {
"abstract": "Internet of Things (IoT) software is required not only to dispose of huge volumes of real-time and heterogeneous data, but also to support different complex applications for business purposes. Using an ontology approach, a Configurable Information Service Platform is proposed for the development of IoT-based application. Based on an abstract information model, information encapsulating, composing, discomposing, transferring, tracing, and interacting in Product Lifecycle Management could be carried out. Combining ontology and representational state transfer (REST)-ful service, the platform provides an information support base both for data integration and intelligent interaction. A case study is given to verify the platform. It is shown that the platform provides a promising way to realize IoT application in semantic level.",
"corpus_id": 8530523,
"score": -1,
"title": "IoT-Based Configurable Information Service Platform for Product Lifecycle Management"
} |
{
"abstract": "Tesis Doctoral leida en la Universidad Rey Juan Carlos de Madrid en 2011. Directores de la Tesis: Angel Miguel Gonzalez Sanz y Daniel Gutierrez Acero",
"corpus_id": 162808451,
"title": "Estado de salud bucodental y necesidades de tratamiento en adultos con discapacidad intelectual en la zona este de la Comunidad de Madrid"
} | {
"abstract": "T he direct and indirect economic costs associated with mental retardation in the United States are significant: 51.2 billion dollars (2003 dollars) for persons born in 2000. This represents a significant and ongoing economic impact, especially since the beneficial effect of numerous intervention and prevention programs such as newborn screening for metabolic disorders (phenylketonuria, hypothyroidism) have likely already been realized by the time of this birth cohort. There continue to be multiple etiologies for mental retardation despite the successful interventions directed at these high-severity, lowfrequency disorders. Lifetime indirect costs (ie, productivity losses) far exceed direct health and educational costs, emphasizing the need to address the physical, social, and economic factors that limit the functional participation of persons with mental retardation. The number of children classified as “mentally retarded” receiving services in federally funded educational programs has stabilized over the past 9 years between 1.26 and 1.28%. During this same period, the number of children identified as “learning disabled” or as having “autism” has increased. Educational support remains a primary intervention for individuals with all levels of mental retardation and is guaranteed under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. It is for these reasons that better efforts to understand the reasons for mental retardation and to develop effective strategies to both prevent, whenever possible, and minimize the impact of mental retardation on individuals, their families, and their communities continue to be important.",
"corpus_id": 2347474,
"title": "Mental retardation: diagnosis, management, and family support."
} | {
"abstract": "Abstract Purpose: To compare the adverse pregnancy outcomes between the pregnant women undergoing chorionic villous sampling (CVS) and those without CVS. Materials and methods: A cohort study was conducted on low risk pregnancies attending Chiang Mai University Hospital between years 2003 and 2017 and identify the database of women undergoing CVS (study group) and control group. Each case in study group was matched for 10 cases of the control by maternal age and year of procedure. Results and conclusions: Of 1384 pregnancies undergoing CVS, 776 cases met criteria and were matched with 7760 controls. The gestational age at delivery and actual birth weight were significantly different between two groups (38.02 versus 38.96 weeks, p value <.001 and 3025 versus 3092 g, p value .001). Moreover, CVS group had significantly higher preterm birth (9.4 versus 7.3%, p value .037; RR 1.287, 95% CI 1.017–1.629). However, there was no significant difference in fetal loss rate before 24 weeks (1.16 versus 1.9%, p value .14), small for gestational age (SGA); SGA (4 versus 4%, p value .948) and low birth weight (LBW); LBW (8.9 versus 8.0%, p value .41). Pregnancies undergoing CVS tend to deliver earlier and has significantly higher preterm birth. However, the incidences of fetal loss, SGA and LBW are not significantly increased.",
"corpus_id": 58652916,
"score": -1,
"title": "Chorionic villous sampling-related complications: a cohort study"
} |
{
"abstract": "What controls how long the eyes remain fixated during scene perception? We investigated whether fixation durations are under the immediate control of the quality of the current scene image. Subjects freely viewed photographs of scenes in preparation for a later memory test while their eye movements were recorded. Using the saccade-contingent display change method, scenes were degraded (Experiment 1) or enhanced (Experiment 2) via blurring (low-pass filtering) during predefined saccades. Results showed that fixation durations immediately after a display change were influenced by the degree of blur, with a monotonic relationship between degree of blur and fixation duration. The results also demonstrated that fixation durations can be both increased and decreased by changes in the degree of blur. The results suggest that fixation durations in scene viewing are influenced by the ease of processing of the image currently in view. The results are consistent with models of saccade generation in scenes in which moment-to-moment difficulty in visual and cognitive processing modulates fixation durations.",
"corpus_id": 145540524,
"title": "Eye movement control during scene viewing: Immediate degradation and enhancement effects of spatial frequency filtering"
} | {
"abstract": "Recent research on eye movements during scene viewing has primarily focused on where the eyes fixate. But eye fixations also differ in their durations. Here we investigated whether fixation durations in scene viewing are under the direct and immediate control of the current visual input. Subjects freely viewed photographs of scenes in preparation for a later memory test while their eye movements were recorded. Using a novel scene degradation paradigm based on a saccade-contingent display change method, scenes were reduced in luminance during saccades ending in critical fixations. Results from two experiments showed that the durations of the critical fixations were immediately affected by scene luminance, with a monotonic relationship between luminance reduction and fixation duration. The results are the first to demonstrate that fixation durations in scene viewing are immediately influenced by the ease of processing of the image currently in view. These results are consistent with the CRISP (a timer-Controlled Random-Walk with Inhibition for Saccade Planning) computational model of saccade generation in scenes, proposing that difficulty in moment-by-moment visual and cognitive processing of the scene modulates fixation durations.",
"corpus_id": 2417324,
"title": "Eye movement control during scene viewing: immediate effects of scene luminance on fixation durations."
} | {
"abstract": "Listening to music on personal, digital devices while mobile is an enjoyable, everyday activity. We explore a scheme for exploiting this practice to immerse listeners in navigation cues. Our prototype, Ontrack, continuously adapts audio, modifying the spatial balance and volume to lead listeners to their target destination. An initial lab-based evaluation has demonstrated the approach's efficacy: users were able to complete tasks within a reasonable time and their subjective feedback was positive. Encouraged by these findings, we are building a pocket-sized prototype for further testing.",
"corpus_id": 17471768,
"score": -1,
"title": "Navigation via continuously adapted music"
} |
{
"abstract": "The study was conducted to assess the effect of different wax coating materials and Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) on storage life and quality of ‘Kaghzi lime’ (Citrus aurantifolia Swing.) fruits. The fruits were harvested at light yellow skin color stage and treated with different wax coating materials: T1= Citrus Wax (wood resins18%, Imazalil 0.3%, Thiabendazloe 0.5%), T2= PHRC SCM Wax [9% total solids (castor and shellac based wax)]; T3= Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP), and T0= The fruit without any treatment were used as control. The fruits were stored at 10°C for 45 days and relative humidity was maintained at 90%. Physiochemical, sensory, organoleptic, and quality parameters were measured after 30 and 45 days of harvesting. The coating treatments significantly (P≤ 0.05) reduced physiological weight loss, increased shelf life and maintained the quality of fruits. Among all treatments, Citrus Wax proved best because it maintained relatively higher levels of acidity, flavor, vitamin C content and fruit firmness; prevented disease attack; and improved juice recovery of lime fruits compared with control. Thus this treatment can be used to enhance the shelf life and maintain quality of the lime fruits.",
"corpus_id": 56086256,
"title": "Surface Coating and Modified Atmosphere Packaging Enhances Storage Life and Quality of ‘Kaghzi lime’"
} | {
"abstract": "An experiment was conducted to assess the influence of chemical and oil coatings on storage life of kagzi lime fruits. Fruits were harvested at physiological light green mature stage and treated with different concentrations of chemicals viz., Cacl2 and KMnO4 and edible coatings viz., (coconut oil, mustard oil, sesamum oil, castor oil and liquid paraffin wax). After treatment, fruits were kept at ambient condition (25–30 °C, 60–70% RH) till 18 days and analyzed for various physical and chemical parameters like PLW, marketable fruits retained, TSS, acidity, ascorbic acid, juice content and also organoleptic values. The results revealed that edible oil emulsion coating particularly coconut oil had significantly (p ≤ 0.05) effect on reduction of the physiological loss in weight (9.67%) and maximum marketable fruits retained (70%), total soluble solids (8.43%), ascorbic acid (49.93 mg/100 ml juice), acidity (1.52%) and juice content (42.34%) of fruits. Similarly, application of this oil emulsion coating acceptable for sensory quality parameters such as appearance, flavour, taste, external colour and no incidence of moulds & their growth up to 18 days of storage.",
"corpus_id": 2577673,
"title": "Effect of skin coatings on prolonging shelf life of kagzi lime fruits (Citrus aurantifolia Swingle)"
} | {
"abstract": "The organoleptic rating was significantly higher with GA3 25 and 50 ppm treatments in CFB cartons. Fruits were rated ‘Good’ even after 30 days of storage (0–3.3°C) temp, and 85–90% RH) in CFB cartons. These treatments also experienced least spoilage percentage and minimum reduction in vitamin C. Lowest PLW was found in wax 1:2 treatment under packing of CFB cartons. Fruits retained their original colour upto 20 days and there was least browning percentage upto 30 days of storage with GA3 25 and 50 ppm treatments and CFB cartons packing. The acidity of ber fruits was significantly reduced during early storage period and again increased slightly at the end of storage. Maximum loss in acid content was noted with wax treatments under netlon packing. Total soluble solids and total sugars were higher in netlon packing with wax 1:4 and 1:6 treatments.",
"corpus_id": 88227155,
"score": -1,
"title": "Effect of Post-Harvest Treatments and Packaging on Shelf Life of Umran Ber at Cool Temperature"
} |
{
"abstract": "An ectopic kidney is a rare developmental anomaly in which the kidney can be pelvic, iliac, abdominal, and thoracic, and affected patients are more prone to conditions such as reflux, pelvic ureteric junction (PUJ) obstruction, hydronephrosis, nephrolithiasis, and even renal failure than patients with normally structured kidneys. In this case, we present a 43-year-old male who is a known case of ectopic left pelvic kidney and presented with chronic lower abdominal pain. Upon imaging, it was revealed that he had a staghorn stone for which he underwent laparoscopy-assisted percutaneous nephrolithotripsy (PCNL). Postoperatively, the patient underwent a quick recovery and was discharged on postoperative day 3 without any perioperative complications. Hence given our experience with this case and the similar experiences of urologists over time, the use of laparoscopy-assisted PCNL appears to create a safe way of entering the abdomen and locating the ectopic kidney as well as provide visual guidance in puncture and dilatation all the while protecting the adjacent structures from harm. This demonstrates that laparoscopy-assisted PCNL is a feasible safe and minimally invasive procedure for patients with ectopic kidneys presenting with large stones.",
"corpus_id": 250631418,
"title": "Laparoscopy-Assisted Percutaneous Nephrolithotripsy (PCNL) in Ectopic Pelvic Kidney"
} | {
"abstract": "Abstract Objectives: To review the current role of laparoscopy and robot-assisted laparoscopy for managing urinary lithiasis. Results: The contemporary indications for laparoscopic stone management are: anatomical variations in location or shape of the kidney (pelvic kidney, horseshoe kidney and malrotated kidney); coexisting pathologies, e.g. pelvi-ureteric junction obstruction; and stones in a renal unit with lower ureteric obstruction. The laparoscopic approach allows the simultaneous management of both the pathologies. Symptomatic stones in diverticula not amenable to endourological intervention can be treated with laparoscopy. Large impacted pelvic and ureteric calculi with a functioning renal unit are an indication for laparoscopic ureterolithotomy or pyelolithotomy. This review of current reports suggests that in a selected group of patients with complex stone disease the laparoscopic approach offers good success rates with minimal complications. There are few reports of robotic procedures in stone disease but existing data suggest that it is feasible. Conclusion: Laparoscopic surgery is effective for complex renal stones and offers excellent stone clearance rates with minimal morbidity. Laparoscopic surgery is complementary in managing these stones. Robot-assisted laparoscopic technique of urinary tract stone management is in its early stage of implementation and randomised trials that compare robot assisted outcomes with other minimally invasive techniques are needed.",
"corpus_id": 548111,
"title": "Laparoscopic and robot-assisted surgery in the management of urinary lithiasis"
} | {
"abstract": "PURPOSE\nThe treatment of symptomatic stone filled caliceal diverticula has evolved from open surgery to less invasive procedures, such as extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy, percutaneous techniques, retrograde ureteroscopy and laparoscopy, but it remains controversial. We describe a laparoscopic technique for the management of symptomatic caliceal diverticula.\n\n\nMATERIALS AND METHODS\nAn extraperitoneal laparoscopic procedure was done in 3 women with symptomatic caliceal diverticula. Watertight obliteration of the diverticular cavity was achieved without suturing, using gelatin resorcinol formaldehyde glue.\n\n\nRESULTS\nAverage operating time was 80 minutes, including ureteral catheterization. All patients became stone-free, there were no complications and average hospital stay was 6.6 days. At 6-month followup the patients remained asymptomatic with no diverticula or stone recurrence.\n\n\nCONCLUSIONS\nRetroperitoneoscopy allows safe access to caliceal diverticula regardless of location, and permits complete removal of stone and fulguration of the diverticular neck. Gelatin resorcinol formaldehyde glue minimizes the risk of urinoma formation, and provides a simple, quick and safe alternative for nephrotomy closure.",
"corpus_id": 23177729,
"score": -1,
"title": "Symptomatic caliceal diverticula treated with extraperitoneal laparoscopic marsupialization fulguration and gelatin resorcinol formaldehyde glue obliteration."
} |
{
"abstract": "Simple Summary Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) causes early immune deficiency and susceptibility to both opportunistic infections and cancer relapse. In this study, using a mouse model where donor cells can be tracked over time, we have observed that the combination of IL-2 (a cytokine which activates the immune system) combined with the blockade of TGF-β (a cytokine which suppresses the immune system) increased immune recovery and resulted in greater anti-tumor efficacy. The combination of IL-2 and anti-TGF-β accelerated NK cell and myeloid cell reconstitution after HSCT. Abstract The failure of autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) has been associated with a profound immunodeficiency that follows shortly after treatment, which renders patients susceptible to opportunistic infections and/or cancer relapse. Thus, given the additional immunosuppressive pathways involved in immune evasion in cancer, strategies that induce a faster reconstitution of key immune effector cells are needed. Natural killer (NK) cells mediate potent anti-tumor effector functions and are the first immune cells to repopulate after HSCT. TGF-β is a potent immunosuppressive cytokine that can impede both the development and function of immune cells. Here, we evaluated the use of an immunotherapeutic regimen that combines low dose of IL-2, an NK cell stimulatory signal, with TGF-β neutralization, in order to accelerate NK cell reconstitution following congenic HSCT in mice by providing stimulatory signals yet also abrogating inhibitory ones. This therapy led to a marked expansion of NK cells and accelerated NK cell maturation. Following HSCT, mature NK cells from the treated recipients displayed an activated phenotype and enhanced anti-tumor responses both in vitro and in vivo. No overt toxicities or adverse effects were observed in the treated recipients. However, these stimulatory effects on NK cell recovery were predicated upon continuous treatment as cessation of treatment led to return to baseline levels and to no improvement of overall immune recovery when assessed at later time-points, indicating strict regulatory control of the NK cell compartment. Overall, this study still demonstrates that therapies that combine positive and negative signals can be plausible strategies to accelerate NK cell reconstitution following HSCT and augment anti-tumor efficacy.",
"corpus_id": 226242422,
"title": "IL-2 and Anti-TGF-β Promote NK Cell Reconstitution and Anti-tumor Effects after Syngeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation"
} | {
"abstract": "Allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) is a powerful therapy to treat multiple hematological diseases. The intensive conditioning regimens used to allow for donor hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) engraftment are often associated with severe toxicity, delayed immune reconstitution, life-threatening infections, and thus higher relapse rates. Additionally, due to the high incidence of graft versus host disease (GvHD), HCT protocols have evolved to prevent such disease that has a detrimental impact on antitumor and antiviral responses. Here, we analyzed the role of host T and natural killer (NK) cells in the rejection of donor HSC engraftment as well as the impact of donor regulatory T cells (Treg) and NK cells on HSC engraftment. We review some of the current strategies that utilize NK or Treg to improve allogeneic HCT therapy in order to accomplish better HSC engraftment and immune reconstitution and achieve a lower incidence of cancer relapse, opportunistic infections, and GvHD.",
"corpus_id": 204756,
"title": "NK Cell and CD4+FoxP3+ Regulatory T Cell Based Therapies for Hematopoietic Stem Cell Engraftment"
} | {
"abstract": "ABSTRACT Introduction: Haploidentical stem cell transplantation (Haplo-SCT) is currently a suitable alternative worldwide for patients with hematological diseases, who lack human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-matched siblings or unrelated donors. Areas covered: This review summarizes the advancements in Haplo-SCT in recent years, primarily focusing on the global trends of haploidentical allograft, the comparison of outcomes between Haplo-SCT and other transplantation modalities, strategies for improving clinical outcomes, including donor selection, hematopoietic reconstitution promotion, and graft-versus-host disease, and relapse prevention/management, as well as the expanded indications of Haplo-SCT, such as severe aplastic anemia, myeloma and lymphoma. Expert commentary: Haploidentical allografts, including granulocyte colony-stimulating factor-based protocol and a post-transplant cyclophosphamide-based protocol, have been the mainstream strategy for Haplo-SCT. However, there are many unanswered questions in this field.",
"corpus_id": 4430231,
"score": -1,
"title": "Update on current research into haploidentical hematopoietic stem cell transplantation"
} |
{
"abstract": "We have been able to connect statistics of the observed double-image gravitational lenses to general properties of the internal structure of lens haloes. Our analytical theory for the generalization of the Navarro, Frenk & White (NFW) profile (GNFW) lenses with a parametrized cusp slope (α) gives a relation connecting the cusp slope of a lens mass profile to the observed magnification ratio of the produced images and location of the optical axis. The relation does not depend on the cosmology, total lens mass, concentration or redshifts of the the lens and the lensed object. Simple geometry of axially-symmetric lensing and the aforementioned relation enables us to define the cusp slope limit value, α CSL , for the cusp slope, independent of the location of the optical axis. The threshold cusp slope value α=α CSL is the shallowest slope for the inner part of the GNFW profile that can produce the observed magnification ratio with any lensing configuration. We use a distribution of these threshold values that depend only on the observed flux ratio of the lensed images, in a statistical study of the double image lenses in order to limit the possible cusp slope values and identify whether there exists a population of haloes with similar profiles. Our theoretical fit indicates that within our sample of double-image gravitational lenses, most of the haloes have the cusp slope α=-1.95± 0.02. We have also found an indication of a second population of lenses with a cusp slope value α=-1.51±0.02. We estimate that there is about 97 per cent probability that the observed feature in the threshold value limit distribution is produced by a second population of lenses, with their own characteristic density profile. The data indicating the exact characteristics of the subpopulation are noisy. Roughly one out of eight haloes within the sample belongs to this shallower cusp slope group. We investigate the accuracy of our analysis by constructing mock catalogues with Monte Carlo method.",
"corpus_id": 18499897,
"title": "Cusped mass density profiles and magnification ratios of double-image gravitational lenses"
} | {
"abstract": "Accurate measurements of the mass distribution in galaxy and cluster haloes are essential to test the cold dark matter (CDM) paradigm. The cosmological model predicts a universal shape for the density profile in all haloes, independent of halo mass. Its profile has a ‘cuspy’ centre, with no evidence for the constant density core. In this paper, we carry out a careful analysis of 12 galaxy clusters, using Chandra data to compute the mass distribution in each system under the assumption of hydrostatic equilibrium. Due to their low concentration, clusters provide ideal objects for studying the central cusps in dark matter haloes. The majority of the systems are consistent with the CDM model, but four objects exhibit flat inner density profiles. We suggest that the flat inner profile found for these clusters is due to an underestimation of the mass in the cluster centre (rather than any problem with the CDM model), since these objects also have a centrally peaked gas mass fraction. We discuss possible causes for erroneously low-mass measurements in the cores of some systems.",
"corpus_id": 3253505,
"title": "Galaxy cluster mass profiles"
} | {
"abstract": "We present spatially resolved X-ray spectra taken with the EPIC cameras of XMM-Newton of a sample of 17 cooling clusters and three non-cooling clusters for comparison. The deprojected spectra are analyzed with a multi-temperature model, independent of any a priori assumptions about the physics behind the cooling and heating mechanisms. All cooling clusters show a central decrement of the average temperature, most of them of a factor of ∼2. Three clusters (Sersic 159−3, MKW 3s and Hydra A) only show a weak temperature decrement, while two others (A 399 and A 2052) have a very strong temperature decrement. All cooling clusters show a weak pressure gradient in the core. More important, at each radius within the cooling region the gas is not isothermal. The differential emission measure distribution shows a strong peak near the maximum (ambient) temperature, with a steep decline towards lower temperatures, approximately proportional to T 3 , or alternatively a cut-off at about a quarter to half of the maximum temperature. In general, we find a poor correlation between radio flux of the central galaxy and the temperature decrement of the cooling flow. This is interpreted as evidence that except for a few cases (like the Hydra A cluster) heating by a central AGN is not the most common cause of weak cooling flows. We investigate the role of heat conduction by electrons and find that the theoretically predicted conductivity rates are not high enough to balance radiation losses. The differential emission measure distribution has remarkable similarities with the predictions from coronal magnetic loop models. Also the physical processes involved (radiative cooling, thermal conduction along the loops, gravity) are similar for clusters loops and coronal loops. If coronal loop models apply to clusters, we find that a few hundred loops per scale height should be present. The typical loop sizes deduced from the observed emission measure distribution are consistent with the characteristic magnetic field sizes deduced from Faraday rotation measurements.",
"corpus_id": 5599008,
"score": -1,
"title": "Spatially resolved X-ray spectroscopy of cooling clusters of galaxies"
} |
{
"abstract": "Literature reviews are essential for any scientific work, both as part of a dissertation or as a stand-alone work. Scientists benefit from the fact that more and more literature is available in electronic form, and finding and accessing relevant literature has become more accessible through scientific databases. However, a traditional literature review method is characterized by a highly manual process, while technologies and methods in big data, machine learning, and text mining have advanced. Especially in areas where research streams are rapidly evolving, and topics are becoming more comprehensive, complex, and heterogeneous, it is challenging to provide a holistic overview and identify research gaps manually. Therefore, we have developed a framework that supports the traditional approach of conducting a literature review using machine learning and text mining methods. The framework is particularly suitable in cases where a large amount of literature is available, and a holistic understanding of the research area is needed. The framework consists of several steps in which the critical mind of the scientist is supported by machine learning. The unstructured text data is transformed into a structured form through data preparation realized with text mining, making it applicable for various machine learning techniques. A concrete example in the field of smart cities makes the framework tangible.",
"corpus_id": 251556562,
"title": "THE APPLICATION OF MACHINE LEARNING IN LITERATURE REVIEWS: A FRAMEWORK"
} | {
"abstract": "There has been a flowering of scholarly interest in the literature review as a research method in the information systems discipline. We feel privileged to contribute to this conversation and introduce the work of the authors represented in this special issue. Some of the highlights include three new methods for conducting literature analysis and guidelines, tutorials, and approaches for coping with some of the challenges involved in carrying out a literature review. Of the three “new method” papers, one (ontological meta-analysis and synthesis) is entirely new, and two (stylized facts and critical discourse analysis) are novel in the information systems context. The other four paper address more general issues: the challenges of effective search strategies when confronted with the burgeoning volume of research available, a detailed tool-supported approach for conducting a rigorous review, a detailed tutorial for conducting a qualitative literature review, and a discussion of quality issues. Collectively, the papers place emphasis beyond the traditional “narrative synthesis” on the importance of selecting the appropriate approach for the research context and the importance of attention to quality and transparency at all stages of the process, regardless of which approach is adopted.",
"corpus_id": 11110068,
"title": "Introduction to the Special Issue: The Literature Review in Information Systems"
} | {
"abstract": "As mobile devices widely used for personal and business purpose, mobile devices loss and theft have become one big security threat. In this paper, we analyze the potential risks of mobile devices loss and theft and summarize the countermeasures that can be used to cope with such risks. Based on protection motivation theory, we propose a research framework to investigate the factors that affect users' behavior to cope with the risk of mobile devices loss and theft.",
"corpus_id": 11880110,
"score": -1,
"title": "Understanding User's Behaviors in Coping with Security Threat of Mobile Devices Loss and Theft"
} |
{
"abstract": "....................................................................................................................................... ix Table of",
"corpus_id": 54940840,
"title": "Firing distance estimation through the quantification of gunshot residues in blowfly larvae (calliphoridae family) using inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry"
} | {
"abstract": "An experimental study aiming to estimate the firing distance was conducted using a 7.65 mm × 17 mm Browning (.32ACP) pistol. Briefly, test shots were made against a target of cotton tissue (35 cm × 35 cm), and the amounts of antimony (Sb), barium (Ba), and lead (Pb) deposited in quadrangular pieces (1 cm × 1 cm) of the target cut from four radial positions at increasing distances from the bullet entrance hole (\"samples\") were determined by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The data obtained were used to search for a mathematical model for estimating the firing distance. The best model was a simple linear correlation between FD (the firing distance) and ln c (where c is the content of Sb, Ba or Pb in the samples, expressed in μg/g of target tissue). Best results were obtained with samples collected at radial distances within 2.0-3.0 cm from the bullet entrance hole. Using this approach, it was possible to accurately (±6 cm) estimate the firing distance in the interval [20-90] cm from the target.",
"corpus_id": 992718,
"title": "Firing distance estimation based on the analysis of GSR distribution on the target surface using ICP-MS--an experimental study with a 7.65 mm × 17 mm Browning pistol (.32 ACP)."
} | {
"abstract": "One of the best known applications of neutron activation analysis (NAA) in the forensic laboratory is the determination of antimony (Sb) and barium (Ba) concentrations deposited on the hand when a firearm is discharged.",
"corpus_id": 39451979,
"score": -1,
"title": "Activity after shooting and its effect on the retention of primer residue."
} |
{
"abstract": "ABSTRACT Obtaining a clear assessment of the anterior segment is critical for disease diagnosis and management in ophthalmic telemedicine. The anterior segment can be imaged with slit lamp cameras, robotic remote controlled slit lamps, cell phones, cell phone adapters, digital cameras, and webcams, all of which can enable remote care. The ability of these devices to identify various ophthalmic diseases has been studied, including cataracts, as well as abnormalities of the ocular adnexa, cornea, and anterior chamber. This article reviews the current state of anterior segment imaging for the purpose of ophthalmic telemedical care.",
"corpus_id": 232112756,
"title": "Anterior Segment Imaging Devices in Ophthalmic Telemedicine"
} | {
"abstract": "Background & objectives: There is a concern on the quality and the usefulness of teleophthalmology images, particularly those using indigenous equipment, in making a diagnosis and treatment decisions in ophthalmology. The present study was done to compare the level of agreement and sensitivity and specificity of diagnosis and management decisions of various eye diseases by teleophthalmology using indigenous equipment, compared to the in-clinic assessment. Methods: Patients having different eye diseases were evaluated by two ophthalmologists – one ophthalmologist examined the patient in clinic setting while the other ophthalmologist made the diagnosis and management decision based on images sent by teleophthalmology. The images were taken by the ophthalmic technician using digital imaging system and fundus camera. The clinical findings and management decisions by the two ophthalmologists were masked to each others. Results: In diagnosis of anterior segment eye diseases such as cataract and corneal diseases there was good to very good agreement (kappa values of 0.68 and 0.91 for cataract and corneal diseases respectively) between in-clinic assessment and assessment by teleophthalmology. There was moderate agreement (kappa values of 0.52 and 0.48 for glaucoma and retinal diseases respectively) between in-clinic assessment and assessment by teleophthalmology for the diagnosis of glaucoma and retinal diseases. For the management decisions of patients, there was moderate level of agreement in all groups of eye diseases. Interpretation & conclusions: Teleophthalmology, using indigenous equipment was found to be effective in diagnosis and management decision of anterior segment eye diseases such as cataract and cornea, and with some modification and continuous training to the technicians could become an effective tool for screening and referral of glaucoma and retinal diseases.",
"corpus_id": 2457355,
"title": "Evaluation of the effectiveness of diagnostic & management decision by teleophthalmology using indigenous equipment in comparison with in-clinic assessment of patients"
} | {
"abstract": "Teleophthalmology is gaining importance as an effective eye care delivery modality worldwide. In many developing countries, teleophthalmology is being utilized to provide quality eye care to the underserved urban population and the unserved remote rural population. Over the years, technological innovations have led to improvement in evidence and teleophthalmology has evolved from a research tool to a clinical tool. The majority of the current teleophthalmology services concentrate on patient screening and appropriate referral to experts. Specialty care using teleophthalmology services for the pediatric group includes screening as well as providing timely care for retinopathy of prematurity (ROP). Among geriatric eye diseases, specialty teleophthalmology care is focused toward screening and referral for diabetic retinopathy (DR), glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration (ARMD), and other sight-threatening conditions. Comprehensive vision screening and refractive error services are generally covered as part of most of the teleophthalmology methods. Over the past decades, outcome assessment of health care system includes patients’ assessments on their health, care, and services they receive. Outcomes, by and large, remain the ultimate validators of the effectiveness and quality of medical care. Teleophthalmology produces the same desired clinical outcome as the traditional system. Remote portals allow specialists to provide care over a larger region, thereby improving health outcomes and increasing accessibility of specialty care to a larger population. A high satisfaction level and acceptance is reported in the majority of the studies because of increased accessibility and reduced traveling cost and time. Considering the improved quality of patient care and patient satisfaction reported for these telemedicine services, this review explores how teleophthalmology helps to improve patient outcomes.",
"corpus_id": 14353362,
"score": -1,
"title": "Teleophthalmology: improving patient outcomes?"
} |
{
"abstract": "Salmonella serotypes can develop biofilms in fresh food products. This study focused on determining the antimicrobial resistance profile and the effects of different growth media and environmental conditions on biofilm formation by multidrug-resistant serotypes of Salmonella. All 49.4% of the Salmonella strains (five serotypes) were multidrug resistant. Assessment of the ability to form biofilms using the crystal violet staining method revealed that 95.6% of the strains of Salmonella were strong biofilm producers in 96-well polystyrene microtiter plates. Overall, 59.3% of the Salmonella strains showed the rdar (red dry and rough colony) morphotype, 2.1% pdar (pink dry and rough colony), 27.4% bdar (brown dry and rough colony) and 10.9% saw (smooth and white colony), at two temperatures (22 and 35 °C). Mono-species biofilms of Salmonella serotypes showed a mean cell density of 8.78 log10 CFU/cm2 ± 0.053 in TSBS (1/20 diluted TSB (tryptic soy broth) + 1% strawberry residues) and 8.43 log10 CFU/cm2 ± 0.050 in TSBA (1/20 diluted TSB + 1% avocado residues) on polypropylene type B (PP) (p < 0.05). In addition, epifluorescence microscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) enabled visualizing the bacteria and extracellular polymeric substances of biofilms on PP. Salmonella form biofilms depending on the serotype of the strains and the environmental conditions. Mono-species biofilms formed by Salmonella serotypes respond to nutrient limitation with the use of simplified culture media such as TSBA and TSBS.",
"corpus_id": 234871391,
"title": "Biofilm Formation by Multidrug-Resistant Serotypes of Salmonella Isolated from Fresh Products: Effects of Nutritional and Environmental Conditions"
} | {
"abstract": "Salmonella, one of the most important pathogens transmitted by food, especially poultry, has the ability to form biofilms on surfaces. Its adhesion can be influenced by different physicochemical properties of these surfaces, while Salmonella uses fimbriae and produces cellulose as the main matrix components of biofilms. Their synthesis is co-regulated by a LuxR-type regulator, the agfD (aggregative fimbriae, curli), and adrA genes, respectively. Thus, this study investigated the production of biofilm by Salmonella spp. isolated from raw poultry (breast fillet), purchased in Botucatu, Sao Paulo, Brazil, on glass, polyvinyl chloride, and stainless steel at different temperatures (16°, 20°, 28°, and 35°C). We analyzed the frequency of the agfD and adrA genes and the rdar morphotype at 28°C and 35°C in isolated strains. We found Salmonella in 112 of 240 poultry samples (46.7%), and 62 strains previously isolated from the same kind of food were included in the study on biofilm development, gene expression, and rdar morphotype. All of them were positive for both genes, and 98.3% were able to produce biofilm in at least one temperature. The rates of rdar morphotype at 28°C and at 35°C were 55.2% (96 strains) and 2.3% (4 strains), respectively. Glass was the best material to avoid biofilm production, while Salmonella grew even at 16°C on stainless steel. These results point out the need for more effective sanitizing processes in the slaughter plants in order to avoid the permanence of these bacteria in food and eventual human foodborne diseases.",
"corpus_id": 5592419,
"title": "Ability of Salmonella spp. to produce biofilm is dependent on temperature and surface material."
} | {
"abstract": "In this study, Co-HTC of food waste with yard waste was conducted for biofuel pellets production, and also to understand any possible synergy between two feedstock types. The calorific value of blended raw feedstock was 13.5 MJ/kg which increased to 27.6 MJ/kg after Co-HTC at 220 °C for 1 h. Energy yield and fuel ratio calculated was 45% and 0.65 respectively. Hydrochar produced demonstrated a stable combustion profile as compared to reactive combustion profile for raw samples. The blend of food and yard waste hydrochar was easily pelletized, and its pellets showed improvement in mechanical properties as compared to pellets made from mono-substrate((food waste) hydrochar. Pellets produced from the blend of food and yard waste hydrochar showed higher energy (46.4 MJ/m3) and mass density (1679 kg/m3) as compare to the pellet produced from food waste hydrochar alone. Tensile strength obtained for the blended hydrochar pellet was 2.64 MPa while same for the pellets produced from food waste hydrochar alone was 1.30 MPa. In addition to improving hydrophobicity, soften lignin from yard waste also helped in binding the food waste hydrochar particles together within the pellets matrix during heated pelletization. The results presented in the study indicated that in the presence of all favorable conditions, there is a potential that approximately 11% of the global coal consumption could be replaced by the combustion of hydrochar produced from food and yard waste globally.",
"corpus_id": 222170455,
"score": -1,
"title": "Co-hydrothermal carbonization of food waste with yard waste for solid biofuel production: Hydrochar characterization and its pelletization."
} |
{
"abstract": "Background: Lower limb ulcers are debilitating and associated with significant morbidity, loss of productivity and decreased the quality of life. Currently used antiseptics are cytotoxic, damage the granulation tissue and interfere in the wound healing process. Superoxidized solution is nontoxic and contains reactive oxygen species which have bactericidal and wound healing properties. \n \nAims and Objective: To compare the microbiological response and clinical efficacy of superoxidized solution versus povidone iodine in the management of lower limb ulcers. \n \nMaterials and Methods: This was a prospective randomized open label study with 68 patients randomized into two groups of 34 each. They were assessed for pain, wound size, periwound erythema, periwound edema, appearance of granulation tissue, re-epithelialization, slough, discharge, and growth on culture on day 1, 5, 9, 12, 18, and 21. Microbiological response and clinical efficacy were assessed at the end of the study. The results were assessed by descriptive methods, ANOVA, unpaired t-test, and Chi-square test. \n \nResults: The mean duration of treatment, ulcer size, pain, periwound edema, erythema, and microbial growth were significantly reduced in the superoxidized solution treated group. Early appearance of granulation tissue and re-epithelialization was noted in superoxidized group. A superior microbiological response, statistically higher cure rate and lower rates of clinical failure were also observed with superoxidized solution compared to povidone iodine. \n \nConclusion: Superoxidized solution when compared to povidone iodine was found to significantly accelerate wound healing, reduce the signs of inflammation faster and achieve better microbiological clearance.",
"corpus_id": 58254004,
"title": "Microbiological and clinical response of superoxidized solution versus povidone iodine in the management of lower limb ulcers"
} | {
"abstract": "BACKGROUND\nThis randomized, prospective, multicenter, open-label study was designed to test whether a topical, electrolyzed, superoxidized solution (Microcyn Rx) is a safe and effective treatment for mildly infected diabetic foot ulcers.\n\n\nMETHODS\nSixty-seven patients with ulcers were randomized into three groups. Patients with wounds irrigated with Microcyn Rx alone were compared with patients treated with oral levofloxacin plus normal saline wound irrigation and with patients treated with oral levofloxacin plus Microcyn Rx wound irrigation. Patients were evaluated on day 3, at the end of treatment on day 10 (visit 3), and 14 days after completion of therapy for test of cure (visit 4).\n\n\nRESULTS\nIn the intention-to-treat sample at visit 3, the clinical success rate was higher in the Microcyn Rx alone group (75.0%) than in the saline plus levofloxacin group (57.1%) or in the Microcyn Rx plus levofloxacin group (64.0%). Results at visit 4 were similar. In the clinically evaluable population, the clinical success rate at visit 3 (end of treatment) for patients treated with Microcyn Rx alone was 77.8% versus 61.1% for the levofloxacin group. The clinical success rate at visit 4 (test of cure) for patients treated with Microcyn Rx alone was 93.3% versus 56.3% for levofloxacin plus saline-treated patients. This study was not statistically powered, but the high clinical success rate (93.3%) and the P value (P = .033) suggest that the difference is meaningfully positive for Microcyn Rx-treated patients.\n\n\nCONCLUSIONS\nMicrocyn Rx is safe and at least as effective as oral levofloxacin for mild diabetic foot infections.",
"corpus_id": 2828756,
"title": "An open-label, three-arm pilot study of the safety and efficacy of topical Microcyn Rx wound care versus oral levofloxacin versus combined therapy for mild diabetic foot infections."
} | {
"abstract": "Abstract Current American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) guidelines recommend replacing 150% of sweat losses between training bouts separated by ≤12 hours, but little evidence exists concerning the implications of this strategy for runners. Participants (n = 13) in this study replaced 75% (1637 ± 372 mL) or 150% (3099 ± 850 mL) of sweat losses following an outdoor evening run (∼75 minutes; Wet-bulb-globe temperature (WBGT) = ∼27°C) and consumed a standardised evening meal and breakfast before completing an outdoor (WBGT = ∼23°C) 10-km time-trial the following morning. Urine was collected between runs and urine specific gravity (USG) was assessed pre-run. Significant differences were found in pre-run body mass (75% = 69.6 ± 9.2; 150% = 70.1 ± 9.3 kg; P = 0.02) and USG (75% = 1.026 ± 0.005; 150% = 1.014 ± 0.007; P < 0.001). Heart rate during 10-km run (168 ± 14 versus 168 ± 12 beats min−1) and post-run intestinal temperature (39.08 ± 0.52 versus 39.00 ± 0.70 °C) did not differ for 75% and 150%, respectively, despite an ∼3% performance improvement (75% = 47.28 ± 6.64; 150% = 45.93 ± 6.04 minutes; P = 0.001) due to a faster pace in the second half of the run with 150% replacement. Session rate of perceived exertion (RPE) was lower (P = 0.02) during 150% (7.5 ± 1.3) versus 75% (8.4 ± 0.9). Reluctant drinkers potentially hinder training quality between evening and morning runs in the heat, but copious urine production and difficulty in consuming recommended fluid volumes suggest fluid replacement <150% may be more ideal.",
"corpus_id": 24987920,
"score": -1,
"title": "Hydration kinetics and 10-km outdoor running performance following 75% versus 150% between bout fluid replacement"
} |
{
"abstract": "OBJECTIVE:Ewing sarcoma/peripheral primitive neuroectodermal tumors (pPNET family) are small, round, blue cell tumors that have a decided predilection for young patients and commonly arise in bone and soft tissue. We are reporting a rare case of cavernous sinus pPNET in a 48-year-old woman. CLINICAL PRESENTATION:A 48-year-old woman presented with headache, ipsilateral maxillary, and ophthalmic and oculomotor nerve palsies. Neuroimaging revealed a cavernous sinus lesion. INTERVENTION:The patient underwent debulking of the tumor, and the diagnosis of a pPNET was made based on histological, immunohistochemical, and molecular genetics (EWS-FLI1 fusion gene) findings. Bone scans, bone marrow aspiration, and biopsy and chest computed tomographic scans showed no evidence of systemic involvement. The patient had adjuvant treatment with radiotherapy and chemotherapy. After 14 months, the patient had no neurological deficits, and neuroimaging showed stable disease, although some chemotherapy complications occurred. CONCLUSION:This is a case of cavernous sinus pPNET in a 48-year-old woman, in whom the diagnosis is supported by the presence of EWS-FLI1 fusion gene. This seems to be the first reported case of a cavernous sinus pPNET confirmed by molecular genetic analysis.",
"corpus_id": 22992138,
"title": "Peripheral Primitive Neuroectodermal Tumor of the Cavernous Sinus: Case Report"
} | {
"abstract": "We report a case of primitive neuroectodermal tumor (PNET) arising from the meninges in a 30-yr-old female patient whose clinical and radiological features were consistent with meningioma.The neoplasm was composed of primitive small, round cells, growing in sheets and nests in continuity with meningeal layers. Ultrastructurally, the neoplastic cells were characterized by large and regular nuclei, primitive cytoplasm with pools of glycogen, and lack of dense core granules. The neuroectodermal nature of the tumor was confirmed by positive immunostaining for vimentin, neurofilaments, neuron specific enolase (NSE), and 013 (an antibody raised against MIC2 antigen). Further support to the diagnosis was obtained by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) detection of Chromogranin A and Secretogranin II genes. t(11;22) translocation was also observed by RT-PCR, a finding that was not recorded in previously described intracranial PNET. The tumor followed a malignant course, recurring and spreading to chest wall and sacro-iliac region over a 10-yr period. The meningeal location enlarges the topographic spectrum of intracranial PNET, and this tumor has to be considered in the differential diagnosis with meningioma.",
"corpus_id": 2164159,
"title": "Primitive neuroectodermal tumor of the meninges: An histological, immunohistochemical, ultrastructural, and cytogenetic study"
} | {
"abstract": "Chromogranin A (CGA), also referred to as secretory protein I, is an acidic protein that has been detected in all neuroendocrine cell types examined and is often present in large amounts relative to other secreted proteins. For example, CGA comprises at least 40% of the soluble protein of the adrenal chromaffin granule, and it appears to be the major secretory protein in the parathyroid secretory granules. CGA complementary DNAs (cDNAs) from bovine adrenal and pituitary have recently been cloned and sequenced and found to be nearly identical. A region of bovine CGA has a high degree of amino acid sequence identity to pancreastatin, a recently isolated porcine peptide that inhibits glucose-induced insulin secretion. This suggests that CGA may be a prohormone. We have cloned and sequenced a human cDNA encoding CGA. This human CGA cDNA has an overall 86% nucleic acid identity to the bovine cDNA. Like the bovine CGA cDNA, the human cDNA has little homology to pancreastatin at the 5' region of this peptide but significant amino acid homology to the carboxyl-terminal portion of pancreastatin where the biologic activity resides. There is an area within the pancreastatin region of human CGA and porcine pancreastatin with a 70% amino acid identity to the calcium-binding moiety of the E-F hand proteins such as parvalbumin and oncomodulin. These data suggest that CGA and pancreastatin may both be members of a larger family of calcium-binding proteins.",
"corpus_id": 7042199,
"score": -1,
"title": "Molecular cloning and primary structure of human chromogranin A (secretory protein I) cDNA."
} |
{
"abstract": "Abstract Portal vein tumor thrombus (PVTT) frequently occurs with the progression of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and is an important factor in determining the prognosis of HCC. In many cases of HCC with advanced PVTT, treatment is difficult because the tumor has considerable extension into the liver, and portal hypertension is a frequent complication. The standard therapy for unresectable HCC with advanced PVTT is sorafenib therapy in patients with good hepatic function. However, the outcomes of sorafenib therapy are not completely satisfactory, making the development of another therapy an urgent task. Therefore, this review aims to summarize non-operative treatments for HCC with advanced PVTT and discuss future perspectives based on those therapies, including therapies still being developed.",
"corpus_id": 6517160,
"title": "A Review of Non-operative Treatments for Hepatocellular Carcinoma with Advanced Portal Vein Tumor Thrombus"
} | {
"abstract": "BACKGROUND & AIMS\nYttrium-90 ((90)Y) radioembolization is a microembolic procedure. Hence, it is commonly used in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients with portal venous thrombosis (PVT). We analyzed liver function, imaging findings, and treatment options (local/systemic) at disease progression following (90)Y treatment in HCC patients with PVT.\n\n\nMETHODS\nWe treated 291 HCC patients with (90)Y radioembolization. From this cohort, we included patients with liver-only disease, PVT and Child-Pugh (CP) score ≤ 7; this identified 63 patients with HCC and PVT (CP-A:35, CP-B7:27). Liver function, CP status, and imaging findings at progression were determined in order to assess potential candidacy for systemic treatment/clinical trials. Survival, time-to-progression (TTP), and time-to-hepatic decompensation analyses were performed using Kaplan-Meier methodology.\n\n\nRESULTS\nOf 35 CP-A and 28 CP-B7 patients, 29 and 15 progressed, respectively. Median survival and TTP were 13.8 and 5.6 months in CP-A and 6.5 and 4.9 months in CP-B7 patients, respectively. Of the 29 CP-A patients who progressed, 45% maintained their CP status at progression (55% decompensated to CP-B). Of the 15 CP-B7 patients who progressed, 20% improved to CP-A, 20% maintained their CP score and 60% decompensated.\n\n\nCONCLUSIONS\nKnowledge of liver function and CP score of HCC with PVT progressing after (90)Y is critically relevant information, as these patients may be considered for systemic therapy/clinical trials. If a strict CP-A status is mandated, our study demonstrated that 64% of cases exhibited inadequate liver function and were ineligible for systemic therapy/clinical trials. An adjuvant approach using local therapy and systemic agents prior to progression should be investigated.",
"corpus_id": 2038431,
"title": "Radioembolization for hepatocellular carcinoma with portal vein thrombosis: impact of liver function on systemic treatment options at disease progression."
} | {
"abstract": "In this paper, a distributed event-triggered control strategy is proposed to investigate aflocking problem in a multi-agent system with Lipschitz nonlinear dynamics, where triggeringconditions are proposed to determine the instants to update the controller. A distributedevent-triggered control law with bounded action function is proposed for free flocking. It is provedthat the designed event-triggered controller ensures a group of agents reach stable flocking motionwhile preserving connectivity of the communication network. Lastly, simulations are provided toverify the effectiveness of the theoretical results.",
"corpus_id": 109930444,
"score": -1,
"title": "Flocking of Multi-Agent System with Nonlinear \nDynamics via Distributed Event-Triggered Control"
} |
{
"abstract": "For the promotion of environment-friendly agriculture, use of organic fertilizers and green materials is increasingly attempted in rice farming. Although effects of organic fertilizers on soil bacteria in the rhizosphere can differ from those in non-rhizosphere soil, microbiological studies that specifically address the rice rhizosphere still limited. This study was undertaken to investigate the impact of organic fertilizers on soil bacteria communities through comparison of rhizosphere soils and bulk soils. Effects of soil types and seasonal change were also analyzed. Rice plants (Oryza sativa L. cv. Nipponbare) were cultivated in a lowland paddy field of Andosol soil. Applications of compost and rice bran in combination with chemical fertilizer were compared with control soil (chemical fertilizer only). Soil 16S rDNA extracted from rhizosphere soil collected using ultrasonic treatment of rice roots and from bulk soils were analyzed using PCR-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE). Principal component analysis based on PCR-DGGE profiles revealed clear differences in the community structures of soil bacteria between rhizosphere and bulk soils. Furthermore, rhizosphere bacterial community structures of compost and rice bran treatments were plainly different from that of control, and changed with the seasons. The organic fertilizers showed pronounced effects on bacterial communities until mid-summer, but small effects in autumn. Results of this study suggest that the rhizosphere microorganisms in paddy fields can be modified through organic fertilizer management. Moreover, effects of organic fertilizer application, soil type, and phenology on soil bacteria appear depending on interaction with the rice rhizosphere effects in paddy fields.",
"corpus_id": 84248006,
"title": "Study on rhizosphere bacterial community in lowland rice grown with organic fertilizers by using PCR-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis"
} | {
"abstract": "Bacterial communities in groundwater collected from five different sites at the Kamaishi Mine were investigated by using denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE). The bacterial cells in groundwater were collected on Millipore filters, and their nucleic acid was extracted by freeze-thaw cycles. A partial 16S rRNA gene was amplified by using a universal primer set by PCR. The PCR products were analyzed by DGGE. The band pattern of DGGE was essentially identical between two samples obtained from different depths in the same borehole (KH-1). Samples from the other sites differed from one another. The partial sequences of 16S rRNA genes (about 350 base pairs) isolated from bands were determined and analyzed for phylogenetic position. Almost half the sequences from two samples of the KH-1 belonged to the cluster of spore-forming, gram-positive sulfate reducer, Desulfotomaculum. The other bands also were related to those of obligate anaerobes. This suggests that the environment in both sites of KH-1 was highly anaerobic. Although only a few sequences were retrieved from the other sites, they were phylogenetically distanced from known isolates.",
"corpus_id": 295058,
"title": "Characterization by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis of bacterial communities in deep groundwater at the Kamaishi Mine, Japan."
} | {
"abstract": "The main actors in this report are the microorganisms (microbes is a synonymous designation). Let us therefore first define this concept. The following description can be read in the Swedish National Encyclopaedia: A microorganism is an organism that is invisible for the naked eye (smaller than some tenths of a millimetre), and requires adapted techniques for a successful study, such as sterilisation, sterile techniques, methods in molecular biology, microscope, and particular culturing devices and chemicals. Bacteria, unicellular algae, yeast, microscopic fungi, and protozoa (unicellular animals) are all microorganisms; sometimes, also viruses are improperly included (they are not true living entities). A unifying characteristic is that all micororganisms have the ability to grow as unicellular organisms in nature. The intention with this report is, with present knowledge as a starting-point, to give a broad and thorough description of how microorganisms may influence performance safety assessment of repositories for radioactive waste. Potential positive, neutral and negative effects have been identified. To the best of our knowledge, bacteria are the totally dominating microorganisms in the deep subterranean environment. Therefore, the report mainly deals with this group of microorganisms. Most of the microbiological concepts discussed in the repost are discussed in relation to the disposal concepts for radioactive waste in specific concluding sections in the text and also in summaries ending each chapter. The first chapter gives an overview of the Swedish concepts for disposal of low-, intermediateand highlevel radioactive waste. Further, the geological, chemical and hydological conditions in repositories, that can be related to microorganisms are discussed. The following two chapters are intended to give the reader knowledge of the requirements for life of microorganisms and possible limiting or stimulating growth factors. Their relations to oxygen, temperature, pH, radiation, pressure, availability of water and nutrients, and their need for energy sources are discussed in detail. More, a basic knowledge about bacterial processes is presented. The participation of bacteria in the cycling of carbon, nitrogen, sulphur, iron, manganese and hydrogen is dealt with. Chapter four is mainly a literature review of the knowledge about subterranean bacteria. Chiefly, we aim at a current description of the far-field environment in which repositories are or will be placed. The problems connected with sampling without disturbing the samples is reviewed. Also, a large number of techniques are presented for the determination of the numbers of bacteria in natural environments, their spatial distribution and species diversity, and methods for determination of microbial activity. Thereafter follows a summary of results about the microbiology in various",
"corpus_id": 102227876,
"score": -1,
"title": "Investigations of subterranean microorganisms. Their importance for performance assessment of radioactive waste disposal"
} |
{
"abstract": "Objective: A number of disorders have become virtual epidemics in the modern era, including Attention Deficit (ADD), with or without hyperactivity, recurrent ear infections, Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and obesity. All have male gender preponderance and obesity has been linked to cognitive dysfunction. High calorie malnutrition, defined as calorie yielding foods with insufficient non-caloric nutrients, is common in America. The objective of this review is to show that this type of malnutrition, particularly with the consumption of simple carbohydrate foods, induces thiamin deficiency, often also with magnesium deficiency, providing a common etiological component for these diseases, analogically compared with variations on a symphonic theme in music. Conclusion: High calorie malnutrition is affecting millions of people, involving the inordinate consumption of sugar and fat as empty calories. All simple carbohydrates are metabolized in the body as glucose, with thiamin as the rate limiting factor in the three enzymes that make up pyruvic dehydrogenase and as a cofactor in transketolase. Other non-caloric nutrients are also crucial in oxidative metabolism. Thiamin has been found to be a cofactor in the enzyme 2-hydroxyacyl-CoA lyase (HACl1) in peroxisomes, indicating its role in fat metabolism and the potential clinical effects of Thiamin Deficiency (TD). The phenotype for a mutation in HACL1 has not yet been described although the gene has been mapped to chromosome 3p25. The effect of blocking phytanic acid and long chain fatty acid metabolism and the downstream effect on beta oxidation would be expected to have serious consequences in the brain.",
"corpus_id": 53076694,
"title": "The Role of Thiamin in High Calorie Malnutrition"
} | {
"abstract": "Thiamine deficiency (TD) is accepted as the cause of beriberi because of its action in the metabolism of simple carbohydrates, mainly as the rate limiting cofactor for the dehydrogenases of pyruvate and alpha-ketoglutarate, both being critical to the action of the citric acid cycle. Transketolase, dependent on thiamine and magnesium, occurs twice in the oxidative pentose pathway, important in production of reducing equivalents. Thiamine is also a cofactor in the dehydrogenase complex in the degradation of the branched chain amino acids, leucine, isoleucine and valine. In spite of these well accepted facts, the overall clinical effects of TD are still poorly understood. Because of the discovery of 2-hydroxyacyl-CoA lyase (HACL1) as the first peroxisomal enzyme in mammals found to be dependent on thiamine pyrophosphate (TPP) and the ability of thiamine to bind with prion protein, these factors should improve our clinical approach to TD. HACL1 has two important roles in alpha oxidation, the degradation of phytanic acid and shortening of 2-hydroxy long-chain fatty acids so that they can be degraded further by beta oxidation. The downstream effects of a lack of efficiency in this enzyme would be expected to be critical in normal brain metabolism. Although TD has been shown experimentally to produce reversible damage to mitochondria and there are many other causes of mitochondrial dysfunction, finding TD as the potential biochemical lesion would help in differential diagnosis. Stresses imposed by infection, head injury or inoculation can initiate intermittent cerebellar ataxia in thiamine deficiency/dependency. Medication or vaccine reactions appear to be more easily initiated in the more intelligent individuals when asymptomatic marginal malnutrition exists. Erythrocyte transketolase testing has shown that thiamine deficiency is widespread. It is hypothesized that the massive consumption of empty calories, particularly those derived from carbohydrate and fat, results in a high calorie/thiamine ratio as a major cause of disease. Because mild to moderate TD results in pseudo hypoxia in the limbic system and brainstem, emotional and stress reflexes of the autonomic nervous system are stimulated and exaggerated, producing symptoms often diagnosed as psychosomatic disease. If the biochemical lesion is recognized at this stage, the symptoms are easily reversible. If not, and the malnutrition continues, neurodegeneration follows and results in a variety of chronic brain diseases. Results from acceptance of the hypothesis could be tested by performing erythrocyte transketolase tests to pick out those with TD and supplementing the affected individuals with the appropriate dietary supplements.",
"corpus_id": 1083005,
"title": "Thiamine and magnesium deficiencies: keys to disease."
} | {
"abstract": "Rapidly progressive Alzheimer's disease (rpAD) is a variant of AD distinguished by a rapid decline in cognition and short disease duration from onset to death. While attempts to identify rpAD based on biomarker profile classifications have been initiated, the mechanisms which contribute to the rapid decline and prion mimicking heterogeneity in clinical signs are still largely unknown. In this study, we characterized prion protein (PrP) expression, localization, and interactome in rpAD, slow progressive AD, and in non-dementia controls. PrP along with its interacting proteins were affinity purified with magnetic Dynabeads Protein-G, and were identified using Q-TOF-ESI/MS analysis. Our data demonstrated a significant 1.2-fold decrease in di-glycosylated PrP isoforms specifically in rpAD patients. Fifteen proteins appeared to interact with PrP and only two proteins3/4histone H2B-type1-B and zinc alpha-2 protein3/4were specifically bound with PrP isoform isolated from rpAD cases. Our data suggest distinct PrP involvement in association with the altered PrP interacting protein in rpAD, though the pathophysiological significance of these interactions remains to be established.",
"corpus_id": 4640952,
"score": -1,
"title": "Prion Protein Interactome: Identifying Novel Targets in Slowly and Rapidly Progressive Forms of Alzheimer's Disease."
} |
{
"abstract": "Background: Intramedullary, nondysraphic, spinal cord lipomas are rare and account for less than 1% of all spinal cord lesions. Symptoms typically consist of a progressive myelopathy associated with increasing degrees of paralysis (e.g., quadriparesis/plegia, paraparesis/plegia). Case Description: A 39-year-old male, without a history of spinal dysraphism, presented with a progressive spastic quadriparesis. This was attributed to magnetic resonance-documented large intramedullary cervical lipoma. Following partial intramedullary surgical debulking of the lesion, the patient neurologically improved. Conclusion: Partial debulking of a cervical intramedullary lipoma in a patient who originally presented with a severe quadriparesis resulted in significant neurological improvement. Notably, utilization of intraoperative ultrasonography, CO2 laser, and both motor evoked and somatosensory evoked potentials can be helpful during the removal of such lipomas.",
"corpus_id": 35314926,
"title": "Cervical intramedullary spinal cord lipoma"
} | {
"abstract": "We present a large cervicomedullary intramedullary lipoma in a 17-year-old boy, who presented with spastic quadriparesis and exaggerated reflexes. MRI revealed an intramedullary lipoma extending from the craniovertebral junction to the sixth cervical vertebra. There was no spinal dysraphism. Subtotal excision with primary dural closure was performed, which produced an improvement in the patient's condition. The technique we used is discussed.",
"corpus_id": 1937648,
"title": "A massive cervicomedullary intramedullary spinal cord lipoma"
} | {
"abstract": "We demonstrate feasibility of endoscopic imaging of Cerenkov light originated when charged nuclear particles, emitted from radionuclides, travel through a biological tissue of living subjects at superluminal velocity. The endoscopy imaging system consists of conventional optical fiber bundle/ clinical endoscopes, an optical imaging lens system, and a sensitive low-noise charge coupled device (CCD) camera. Our systematic studies using phantom samples show that Cerenkov light from as low as 1 µCi of radioactivity emitted from 18F-Fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) can be coupled and transmitted through conventional optical fibers and endoscopes. In vivo imaging experiments with tumor bearing mice, intravenously administered with 18F-FDG, further demonstrated that Cerenkov luminescence endoscopy is a promising new tool in the field of endoscopic molecular imaging.",
"corpus_id": 292166,
"score": -1,
"title": "Endoscopic imaging of Cerenkov luminescence"
} |
{
"abstract": "In this paper we introduce our idea of emotiveness-analysis-based timing algorithm, aimed to detect conditions in which it is appropriate to tell a joke in a conversation. We briefly summarize existing works concerning correlations between emotions and humor and describe the outline of proposed algorithm. The concept is to be used in our research on joking conversational systems.",
"corpus_id": 306261,
"title": "When Should Computers Joke?-Concept of Emotiveness Analysis Based Timing Algorithm for Humor-Equipped Conversational Systems"
} | {
"abstract": "The moderating effects of emotional weeping and humor on the impact of negative life events were examined. Subjects who reported weeping frequently showed more mood disturbance at high levels of negative events and less to low levels of negative events than those who reported less frequent weeping. Humor-coping buffered stress in all groups except for males who reported frequent crying.",
"corpus_id": 2832736,
"title": "The stress-moderating effects of weeping and humor."
} | {
"abstract": "The study investigated the effects of locus of control beliefs as an individual difference variable on (a) the relationship between negative life events and psychological disorder, (b) perceptions of control over negative life events, and (c) the receipt and impact of social support. Ninety-three college undergraduates (52 internals, 41 externals) reported the negative events which occurred to them in the past year, their perceived control over these events, the amount of socially supportive transactions they received, and their psychological symptomatology (anxiety and depression). The correlation between negative events and anxiety was greater for externals than for internals. However, locus of control did not effect ratings of control over negative events or the correlations between high and low control negative events and psychological disorder. Locus of control did effect the receipt and impact of social support. Externality was positively related to the quantity of support received (r(90) = .21, p less than .05) but the stress-buffering effect of support was obtained for internals and not externals. Implications of the results from understanding the process by which locus of control moderates the effects of stress are discussed.",
"corpus_id": 41143814,
"score": -1,
"title": "Locus of control as a stress moderator: The role of control perceptions and social support"
} |
{
"abstract": "This article presents a novel maximum point searching design for Photovoltaic (PV) systems using a Maximum Power Point Scanning (MPPS) technique. The MPPS is integrated into an online or off-line tester and finds out the Maximum Power Points (MPPs) automatically. The MPPS shows powerful sampling capacity with the hardware support—a Controlled Voltage Source (CVS). The performance of PV power sources controlled by the MPPS is studied under various partial shading conditions, and multiple MPPs are exhibited in Power-Voltage (<inline-formula><tex-math notation=\"LaTeX\">$P-V$</tex-math></inline-formula>) and Current-Voltage (<inline-formula><tex-math notation=\"LaTeX\">$I-V$</tex-math></inline-formula>) characteristic curves. Meantime, these curves reflect the “health” of the PV sources. The performance is mainly compared with two typical MPPT methods, namely the Perturb and Observe (P&O) method and the Group Searching Optimizer (GSO). The proposed MPPS algorithm is implemented on a PV system using MATLAB/SIMULINK. An experimental setup is also developed to verify the efficiency and accuracy of the proposed method. From the obtained simulation and experimental results, it is observed that the proposed MPPS algorithm outperforms the P&O method and the GSO.",
"corpus_id": 214165483,
"title": "Maximum Power Point Scanning for PV Systems Under Various Partial Shading Conditions"
} | {
"abstract": "This paper presents a maximum power point tracking (MPPT) method that compensates fast, though smooth, irradiance (or temperature) changes. The proposed method belongs to the family of perturb and observe (P&O) methods as the photovoltaic (PV) voltage is intentionally perturbed to induce changes on the PV power. In consequence, the slope of the $pv$ -characteristic curve can be detected, which reveals the MPP position. The perturbation is usually an increment with varying direction, which is used to update the next PV voltage reference. However, changes on irradiance (or temperature) may also cause changes on the PV power, which mix with the algorithm's intentional increment effect on the PV power. This combination of effects confuses the slope detection, which may entail a wrong decision on the next increment direction, and a considerable deviation from the MPP. The scheme presented here proposes the use of more samplings and an associated combination of increments directions before taking a decision. This additional information is used to separate the effect of irradiance (or temperature) changes from the algorithm's intentional perturbation effect. Thus, the proposed multisampling MPPT can provide effective MPP tracking despite of irradiance (or temperature) changes. The proposed scheme is experimentally tested and compared to the conventional P&O under irradiance changes.",
"corpus_id": 43178269,
"title": "Multisampling Maximum Power Point Tracker (MS-MPPT) to Compensate Irradiance and Temperature Changes"
} | {
"abstract": "A modified fuzzy-logic controller for maximum power point (MPP) tracking is proposed to increase photovoltaic (PV) system performance during partially shaded conditions. Instead of perturbing and observing the PV system MPP, the controller scans and stores the maximum power during the perturbing and observing procedures. The controller offers accurate convergence to the global maximum operating point under different partial shadowing conditions. A mathematical model of the PV system under partial shadowing conditions is derived. To validate the proposed modified fuzzy-logic-based controller, simulation and experimentation results are provided.",
"corpus_id": 5643599,
"score": -1,
"title": "A Maximum Power Point Tracking Technique for Partially Shaded Photovoltaic Systems in Microgrids"
} |
{
"abstract": "In order to extract information in a rich environment, we focus on different features that allow us to direct attention to whatever source is of interest. The cortical network deployed during spatial attention, especially in vision, is well characterized. For example, visuospatial attention engages a frontoparietal network including the frontal eye fields (FEFs), which modulate activity in visual sensory areas to enhance the representation of an attended visual object. However, relatively little is known about the neural circuitry controlling attention directed to non-spatial features, or to auditory objects or features (either spatial or non-spatial). Here, using combined magnetoencephalography (MEG) and anatomical information obtained from MRI, we contrasted cortical activity when observers attended to different auditory features given the same acoustic mixture of two simultaneous spoken digits. Leveraging the fine temporal resolution of MEG, we establish that activity in left FEF is enhanced both prior to and throughout the auditory stimulus when listeners direct auditory attention to target location compared to when they focus on target pitch. In contrast, activity in the left posterior superior temporal sulcus (STS), a region previously associated with auditory pitch categorization, is greater when listeners direct attention to target pitch rather than target location. This differential enhancement is only significant after observers are instructed which cue to attend, but before the acoustic stimuli begin. We therefore argue that left FEF participates more strongly in directing auditory spatial attention, while the left STS aids auditory object selection based on the non-spatial acoustic feature of pitch.",
"corpus_id": 8009866,
"title": "Auditory Selective Attention Reveals Preparatory Activity in Different Cortical Regions for Selection Based on Source Location and Source Pitch"
} | {
"abstract": "We studied orienting and maintenance of spatial attention in audition and vision. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in nine healthy subjects revealed activations in the same superior and inferior parietal, and posterior prefrontal areas in the auditory and visual orienting tasks when these tasks were compared with the corresponding maintenance tasks. Attention-related activations in the thalamus and cerebellum were observed during the auditory orienting and maintenance tasks and during the visual orienting task. In addition to the supratemporal auditory cortices, auditory orienting, and maintenance produced stronger activity than the respective visual tasks in the inferior parietal and prefrontal cortices, whereas only the occipital visual cortex and the superior parietal cortex showed stronger activity during the visual tasks than during the auditory tasks. Differences between the brain networks involved in auditory and visual spatial attention could be, for example, due to different encoding of auditory and visual spatial information or differences in stimulus-driven (bottom-up triggered) and voluntary (top-down controlled) attention between the auditory and visual modalities, or both.",
"corpus_id": 1288030,
"title": "Orienting and maintenance of spatial attention in audition and vision: multimodal and modality-specific brain activations"
} | {
"abstract": "Recent findings suggest the processing of emotional stimuli is prioritized compared to neutral stimuli; however, it is not necessarily automatic and depends on several modulating factors. The current paper highlights three major factors that affect the reactions to emotional stimuli: (i) stimulus properties, (ii) task demands and attention, and (iii) individual characteristics. The evidence reviewed here suggests that individual characteristics shape the structure, function and connectivity within a neural network that is involved in the reactions to emotional stimuli. This neural network includes regions related to emotion and attention, in line with evidence for reciprocal connections between these two processes. Activation in this network further depends on the emotional value of a certain item, as well as physical features of the stimulus. This integrative view can lead to better understanding of the underlying mechanisms of emotional reactions, as well as better therapeutic approaches.",
"corpus_id": 2067781,
"score": -1,
"title": "Dynamic modulation of emotional processing"
} |
{
"abstract": "The synovial fluid glycoprotein lubricin (also known as proteoglycan 4) is a mucin-type O-linked glycosylated biological lubricant implicated to be involved in osteoarthritis (OA) development. Lubricin's ability to reduce friction is related to its glycosylation consisting of sialylated and unsialylated Tn-antigens and core 1 and core 2 structures. The glycans on lubricin have also been suggested to be involved in crosslinking and stabilization of the lubricating superficial layer of cartilage by mediating interaction between lubricin and galectin-3. However, with the spectrum of glycans being found on lubricin, the glycan candidates involved in this interaction were unknown. Here, we confirm that the core 2 O-linked glycans mediate this lubricin–galectin-3 interaction, shown by surface plasmon resonance data indicating that recombinant lubricin (rhPRG4) devoid of core 2 structures did not bind to recombinant galectin-3. Conversely, transfection of Chinese hamster ovary cells with the core 2 GlcNAc transferase acting on a mucin-type O-glycoprotein displayed increased galectin-3 binding. Both the level of galectin-3 and the galectin-3 interactions with synovial lubricin were found to be decreased in late-stage OA patients, coinciding with an increase in unsialylated core 1 O-glycans (T-antigens) and Tn-antigens. These data suggest a defect in crosslinking of surface-active molecules in OA and provide novel insights into OA molecular pathology.",
"corpus_id": 221720915,
"title": "Decrease of core 2 O-glycans on synovial lubricin in osteoarthritis reduces galectin-3 mediated crosslinking"
} | {
"abstract": "The lubricative, heavily glycosylated mucin-like synovial glycoprotein lubricin has previously been observed to contain glycosylation changes related to rheumatoid and osteoarthritis. Thus, a site-specific investigation of the glycosylation of lubricin was undertaken, in order to further understand the pathological mechanisms involved in these diseases. Lubricin contains an serine/threonine/proline (STP)-rich domain composed of imperfect tandem repeats (EPAPTTPK), the target for O-glycosylation. In this study, using a liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry approach, employing both collision-induced and electron-transfer dissociation fragmentation methods, we identified 185 O-glycopeptides within the STP-rich domain of human synovial lubricin. This showed that adjacent threonine residues within the central STP-rich region could be simultaneously and/or individually glycosylated. In addition to core 1 structures responsible for biolubrication, core 2 O-glycopeptides were also identified, indicating that lubricin glycosylation may have other roles. Investigation of the expression of polypeptide N-acetylgalactosaminyltransferase genes was carried out using cultured primary fibroblast-like synoviocytes, a cell type that expresses lubricin in vivo. This analysis showed high mRNA expression levels of the less understood polypeptide N-acetylgalactosaminyltransferase 15 and 5 in addition to the ubiquitously expressed polypeptide N-acetylgalactosaminyltransferase 1 and 2 genes. This suggests that there is a unique combination of transferase genes important for the O-glycosylation of lubricin. The site-specific glycopeptide analysis covered 82% of the protein sequence and showed that lubricin glycosylation displays both micro- and macroheterogeneity. The density of glycosylation was shown to be high: 168 sites of O-glycosylation, predominately sialylated, were identified. These glycosylation sites were focused in the central STP-rich region, giving the domain a negative charge. The more positively charged lysine and arginine residues in the N and C termini suggest that synovial lubricin exists as an amphoteric molecule. The identification of these unique properties of lubricin may provide insight into the important low-friction lubricating functions of lubricin during natural joint movement.",
"corpus_id": 1797980,
"title": "The O-glycomap of Lubricin, a Novel Mucin Responsible for Joint Lubrication, Identified by Site-specific Glycopeptide Analysis"
} | {
"abstract": "Articular cartilage is a highly efficacious water-based tribological system that is optimized to provide low friction and wear protection at both low and high loads (pressures) and sliding velocities that must last over a lifetime. Although many different lubrication mechanisms have been proposed, it is becoming increasingly apparent that the tribological performance of cartilage cannot be attributed to a single mechanism acting alone but on the synergistic action of multiple “modes” of lubrication that are adapted to provide optimum lubrication as the normal loads, shear stresses, and rates change. Hyaluronic acid (HA) is abundant in cartilage and synovial fluid and widely thought to play a principal role in joint lubrication although this role remains unclear. HA is also known to complex readily with the glycoprotein lubricin (LUB) to form a cross-linked network that has also been shown to be critical to the wear prevention mechanism of joints. Friction experiments on porcine cartilage using the surface forces apparatus, and enzymatic digestion, reveal an “adaptive” role for an HA-LUB complex whereby, under compression, nominally free HA diffusing out of the cartilage becomes mechanically, i.e., physically, trapped at the interface by the increasingly constricted collagen pore network. The mechanically trapped HA-LUB complex now acts as an effective (chemically bound) “boundary lubricant”—reducing the friction force slightly but, more importantly, eliminating wear damage to the rubbing/shearing surfaces. This paper focuses on the contribution of HA in cartilage lubrication; however, the system as a whole requires both HA and LUB to function optimally under all conditions.",
"corpus_id": 891994,
"score": -1,
"title": "From the Cover: Adaptive mechanically controlled lubrication mechanism found in articular joints"
} |
{
"abstract": "Natural spa springs are diffused all over the world and their use in pools is known since ancient times. This review underlines the cultural and social spa context focusing on hygiene issues, public health guidelines and emerging concerns regarding water management in wellness or recreational settings. The question of the \"untouchability\" of therapeutic natural waters and their incompatibility with traditional disinfection processes is addressed considering the demand for effective treatments that would respect the natural properties. Available strategies and innovative treatments are reviewed, highlighting potentials and limits for a sustainable management. Alternative approaches comprise nanotechnologies, photocatalysis systems, advanced filtration. State of the art and promising perspectives are reported considering the chemical-physical component and the biological natural complexity of the spa water microbiota.",
"corpus_id": 54136979,
"title": "Recreational Use of Spa Thermal Waters: Criticisms and Perspectives for Innovative Treatments"
} | {
"abstract": "Disinfection of water for human use is essential to protect against microbial disease; however, disinfection also leads to formation of disinfection by-products (DBPs), some of which are of health concern. From a chemical perspective, swimming pools are a complex matrix, with continual addition of a wide range of natural and anthropogenic chemicals via filling waters, disinfectant addition, pharmaceuticals and personal care products and human body excretions. Natural organic matter, trace amounts of DBPs and chlorine or chloramines may be introduced by the filling water, which is commonly disinfected distributed drinking water. Chlorine and/or bromine is continually introduced via the addition of chemical disinfectants to the pool. Human body excretions (sweat, urine and saliva) and pharmaceuticals and personal care products (sunscreens, cosmetics, hair products and lotions) are introduced by swimmers. High addition of disinfectant leads to a high formation of DBPs from reaction of some of the chemicals with the disinfectant. Swimming pool air is also of concern as volatile DBPs partition into the air above the pool. The presence of bromine leads to the formation of a wide range of bromo- and bromo/chloro-DBPs, and Br-DBPs are more toxic than their chlorinated analogues. This is particularly important for seawater-filled pools or pools using a bromine-based disinfectant. This review summarises chemical contaminants and DBPs in swimming pool waters, as well as in the air above pools. Factors that have been found to affect DBP formation in pools are discussed. The impact of the swimming pool environment on human health is reviewed.",
"corpus_id": 584755,
"title": "Occurrence and formation of disinfection by-products in the swimming pool environment: A critical review."
} | {
"abstract": "The aim of our study was to investigate the risk and characteristics of self‐reported skin diseases among hydrotherapists. We attempted to contact 400 adults who participated in 1 of 2 training courses. 248 were reached and 190 of them (76.6%) completed the questionnaires. The data were collected by means of a telephone interview and a detailed questionnaire sent by mail. Statistical analysis included descriptive statistics, univariate and multifactorial analysis. Of those completing the questionnaire (75.8% females and 24.2% males), 44.4% of the hydrotherapists reported on the development of skin disease for the first time after the beginning of work at the swimming pool. The most common symptoms included pruritus and erythematous patches affecting mainly the extremities and trunk. Both smoking and increased exposure hours to pool water were independently associated with skin disease, suggesting a dose–response relationship. We conclude that contact dermatitis should be recognized as an occupational disease in hydrotherapists.",
"corpus_id": 23609083,
"score": -1,
"title": "Self‐reported skin disease in hydrotherapists working in swimming pools"
} |
{
"abstract": "Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a bacterium of high clinical and biotechnological importance thanks to its high adaptability to environmental conditions. The increasing incidence of antibiotic-resistant strains has created a need for alternative methods to increase the chance of recovery in infected patients. Various nanomaterials have the potential to be used for this purpose. Therefore, we aimed to study the physiological response of P. aeruginosa PAO1 to titanium dioxide/silica nanotubes. The results suggest that UV light-irradiated nanomaterial triggers strong agglomeration in the studied bacteria that was confirmed by microscopy, spectrophotometry, and flow cytometry. The effect was diminished when the nanomaterial was applied without initial irradiation, with UV light indicating that the creation of reactive oxygen species could play a role in this phenomenon. The nanocomposite also affected biofilm formation ability. Even though the biomass of biofilms was comparable, the viability of cells in biofilms was upregulated in 48-hour biofilms. Furthermore, from six selected genes, the mexA coding efflux pump was upregulated, which could be associated with an interaction with TiO2. The results show that titanium dioxide/silica nanotubes may alter the physiological and metabolic functions of P. aeruginosa PAO1.",
"corpus_id": 225049159,
"title": "The Response of Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 to UV-activated Titanium Dioxide/Silica Nanotubes"
} | {
"abstract": "In this paper, we study synthesis and characteristics of mesoporous silica nanotubes modified by titanium dioxide, as well as their antimicrobial properties and influence on mitochondrial activity of mouse fibroblast L929. Nanocrystalized titania is confined in mesopores of silica nanotubes and its light activated antibacterial response is revealed. The analysis of the antibacterial effect on Escherichia coli. (ATCC 25922) shows strong enhancement during irradiation with the artificial visible and ultraviolet light in respect to the commercial catalyst and control sample free from the nanomaterials. In darkness, the mesoporous silica/titania nanostructures exhibited antibacterial activity dependent on the stirring speed of the suspension containing nanomaterials. Obtained micrograph proved internalization of the sample into the microorganism trough the cell membrane. The analysis of the mitochondrial activity and amount of lactate dehydrogenase released from mouse fibroblast cells L929 in the presence of the sample were determined with LDH and WST1 assays, respectively. The synthesized silica/titania antibacterial agent also exhibits pronounced photoinduced inactivation of the bacterial growth under the artificial visible and UV light irritation in respect to the commercial catalyst. Additionally, mesoporous silica/titania nanotubes were characterized in details by means of high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM), XRD and BET Isotherm.",
"corpus_id": 15533510,
"title": "Antibacterial performance of nanocrystallined titania confined in mesoporous silica nanotubes"
} | {
"abstract": "Sludge disposal is one of the most costly and environmentally problematic challenges of modern wastewater treatment worldwide. In this study, a new process was developed, which has a significant potential for lower cost of waste disposal, protection of the environment and public health, and yield of economically useful byproducts. Titanium oxide (TiO2), which is the most widely used metal oxide, was produced from the wastewater sludge generated by the flocculation of secondary wastewater with titanium tetrachloride (TiCl4). Detailed analyses were conducted to compare TiCl4, ferric chloride (FeCl3), and aluminum sulfate (Al2(SO4)3) flocculation. Removal of organic matter and different molecular sizes by Ti-salt flocculation was similar to that of the most widely used Fe- and Al-salt flocculation. The mean size of Ti-, Fe-, and Al-salt flocs was 47.5, 42.5, and 16.9 microm, respectively. The decantability of the settled flocs by TiCl4 coagulant was similar to that by FeC13 coagulant and much higher than that of Al2(SO4)3. The photocatalyst from wastewater (PFW) produced by TiCl4 flocculation was characterized by X-ray diffraction, BET surface area, scanning electron microscopy/energy dispersive X-ray, transmission electron microscopy, photocatalytic activity, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The resulting PFW was found to be superior to commercial TiO2 (P-25) in terms photocatalytic activity and surface area. The PFW as also found to be mainly doped with C and P atoms. The atomic percentage of the PFW was TiO(1.42)C(0.44)P(0.14).",
"corpus_id": 31137111,
"score": -1,
"title": "Preparation of titanium dioxide (TiO2) from sludge produced by titanium tetrachloride (TiCl4) flocculation of wastewater."
} |
{
"abstract": "Background and Objectives The prevalence and progression of respiratory muscle dysfunction in patients with limb girdle muscular dystrophies (LGMDs) has been only partially described to date. Most reports include cross-sectional data on a limited number of patients making it difficult to gain a wider perspective on respiratory involvement throughout the course of the disease and to compare the most prevalent LGMD subtypes. Methods We reviewed the results of spirometry studies collected longitudinally in our cohort of patients in routine clinical visits from 2002 to 2020 along with additional clinical and genetic data. A linear mixed model was used to investigate the factors associated with the progression of respiratory dysfunction. Results We followed up 156 patients with 5 different forms of LGMDs for a median of 8 years (range 1–25 years). Of them, 53 patients had pathogenic variants in the Capn3 gene, 47 patients in the Dysf gene, 24 patients in the Fkrp gene, 19 in the Ano5 gene, and 13 in one of the sarcoglycan genes (SCG). At baseline, 58 patients (37.1%) had a forced vital capacity percentage predicted (FVCpp) below 80%, while 14 patients (8.9%) had peak cough flow (PCF) values below 270 L/min. As a subgroup, FKRP was the group with a higher number of patients having FVC <80% and/or PCF <270 L/min at initial assessment (66%). We observed a progressive decline in FVCpp and PCF measurements over time, being age, use of wheelchair, and LGMD subtype independent factors associated with this decline. Fkrp and sarcoglycan patients had a quicker decline in their FVC (Kaplan–Meier curve, F test, p < 0.001 and p = 0.02, respectively). Only 7 of the 58 patients with low FVCpp values reported symptoms of respiratory dysfunction, which are commonly reported by patients with FVCpp below 50%–60%. The number of patients ventilated increased from 2 to 8 during follow-up. Discussion Respiratory dysfunction is a frequent complication of patients with LGMDs that needs to be carefully studied and has direct implications in the care offered in daily clinics. Respiratory dysfunction is associated with disease progression because it is especially seen in patients who are full-time wheelchair users, being more frequent in patients with mutations in the Fkrp and sarcoglycan genes.",
"corpus_id": 259831266,
"title": "Longitudinal Analysis of Respiratory Function of Different Types of Limb Girdle Muscular Dystrophies Reveals Independent Trajectories"
} | {
"abstract": "Limb‐girdle muscular dystophy 2A (LGMD2A, OMIM) is a slowly progressive myopathy caused by the deficiency in calpain 3, a calcium‐dependent cysteine protease of the skeletal muscle.",
"corpus_id": 1338433,
"title": "Natural history of LGMD2A for delineating outcome measures in clinical trials"
} | {
"abstract": "Maximum voluntary isometric contraction (MVIC) is a standardized method for measurement of muscle strength in patients with neuromuscular disease. Values obtained from MVIC testing are difficult to interpret at present as normative data are limited. The objective of this study was to generate reference values for MVIC. A convenience sample of 494 healthy men and women aged 20–76 years was recruited. MVIC testing was performed on nine muscle groups bilaterally: neck flexors, shoulder abductors, shoulder adductors, elbow and knee flexors and extensors, and hip and ankle flexors. MVIC was performed using the Quantitative Muscle Assessment system. Age and sex related reference values were calculated for each muscle group using quantile regression. A clinical reporting system was developed to facilitate interpretation of patient values with reference to normal percentiles. Reference values generated from this study can be used to determine the presence and extent of muscle weakness in a given population and to evaluate the effectiveness of treatment interventions.",
"corpus_id": 19682034,
"score": -1,
"title": "Maximum voluntary isometric contraction: Reference values and clinical application"
} |
{
"abstract": "There are several topological spaces associated to a complex hyperplane arrangement: the complement and its boundary manifold, as well as the Milnor fiber and its own boundary. All these spaces are related in various ways, primarily by a set of interlocking fibrations. We use cohomology with coefficients in rank 1 local systems on the complement of the arrangement to gain information on the homology of the other three spaces, and on the monodromy operators of the various fibrations.",
"corpus_id": 14015018,
"title": "Hyperplane arrangements and Milnor fibrations"
} | {
"abstract": "For an arrangement with complement X and fundamental group G, we relate the truncated cohomology ring, H �2 (X), to the second nilpotent quotient, G/G3. We define invariants of G/G3 by counting normal subgroups of a fixed prime index p, according to their abelianization. We show how to compute this distribution from the resonance varieties of the Orlik-Solomon algebra mod p. As an application, we establish the cohomology classification of 2-arrangements of n� 6 planes in R 4 .",
"corpus_id": 1283044,
"title": "Cohomology rings and nilpotent quotients of real and complex arrangements"
} | {
"abstract": "In the crystal structure of the title 1:1 adduct, C12H12N2·C8H9NO2, the 4-amino-3-methylbenzoic acid molecules and 1,2-bis(4-pyridyl)ethane molecules are linked by intermolecular O—H⋯N, N—H⋯O and N—H⋯N hydrogen bonds, forming a two-dimensional supramolecular network parallel to (001). In the 1,2-bis(4-pyridyl)ethane molecule, the two pyridine rings are twisted to each other by a dihedral angle of 12.12 (8)°. The non-H atoms of the 4-amino-3-methylbenzoic acid molecule are almost coplanar, the maximum atomic deviation being 0.029 (1) Å. Weak C—H⋯π interactions are present in the crystal structure.",
"corpus_id": 38930230,
"score": -1,
"title": "4-Amino-3-methylbenzoic acid–1,2-bis(4-pyridyl)ethane (1/1)"
} |
{
"abstract": "Blogs have been increasingly sought by companies to form strategic alliances. These alliances form digital networks of relationships between blogs, readers and sponsors. The network, structured by preferential attachment, forces the new blogger to not only manage resources that the blog depends on to survive and build attractiveness in a competitive, heterogeneous and mutable environment; but also the challenge of overcoming the uncertainties, contingencies and vulnerabilities imposed by the context (network), in which they operate. However, do bloggers take different managerial actions in the pursuit of survival and success? With this question in mind, a theoretical model was developed to characterize managerial action according to blog context. The empirical tests of this model, carried out by quantitative and qualitative analysis with 21 blogs, indicated not only that bloggers have adaptive managerial actions, but also that their actions evolve in attempts to increase attractiveness. These results shed light on how managerial actions and decisions can be used to overcome the favoritism intrinsic to networks and contribute to the understanding of how some blogs achieve success quickly and legitimately by acting dynamically and contextually. This explains how leadership positions may switch, something assumed to be random in research based on network theory (preferential attachment).",
"corpus_id": 147406187,
"title": "\"O Que Gerencio e de Quem Dependo?\": Determinantes da Ação de Blogueiros"
} | {
"abstract": "We investigate the dynamics of blog reading behavior of employees in an enterprise blogosphere. A dynamic model is developed and calibrated using longitudinal data from a Fortune 1,000 IT services firm. Our modeling framework allows us to segregate the impact of textual characteristics sentiment and quality of a post on attracting readers from retaining them. We find that the textual characteristics that appeal to the sentiment of the reader affect both reader attraction and retention. However, textual characteristics that reflect only the quality of the posts affect only reader retention. We identify a variety-seeking behavior of blog readers where they dynamically switch from reading on one set of topics to another. The modeling framework and findings of this study highlight opportunities for the firm to influence blog-reading behavior of its employees to align it with its goals. Overall, this study contributes to improved understanding of reading behavior of individuals in communities formed around user generated content.",
"corpus_id": 1406150,
"title": "How to Attract and Retain Readers in Enterprise Blogging?"
} | {
"abstract": "In models of demand and supply, consumer price sensitivity affects both the sales of a good through price, and the price that is set by producers and retailers. The relationship between the dependent variables (e.g., demand and price) and the common parameters (e.g., price sensitivity) is typically non-linear, especially when heterogeneity is present. In this paper, we develop a Bayesian method to address the computational challenge of estimating simultaneous demand and supply models that can be applied to both the analysis of household panel data and aggregated demand data. The method is developed within the context of a heterogeneous discrete choice model coupled with pricing equations derived from either specific competitive structures, or linear equations of the kind used in instrumental variable estimation, and applied to a scanner panel dataset of light beer purchases. Our analysis indicates that incorporating heterogeneity into the demand model all but eliminates the bias in the price parameter due to the endogeneity of price. The analysis also supports the use of a full information analysis.",
"corpus_id": 153490018,
"score": -1,
"title": "Bayesian Analysis of Simultaneous Demand and Supply"
} |
{
"abstract": "Species range expansion induced by climate change and human activities threaten native populations and communities across the biosphere. Insect herbivores, important consumers of plants, are known to expand or contract their range under global change, with potential consequences to the newly reached environment. The selection of oviposition sites by herbivorous insects could notably impact offspring performance. However, the role of such effects in impacting the receiving ecosystem has been rarely explored. Here, we provide the first evidence showing that a terrestrial range‐expanding phytophagous wood‐borer moth (Zeuzera leuconotum Butler) heavily attacked the saplings of a foundation plant species tamarisk (Tamarix chinensis) in salt marshes. Long‐term field surveys and laboratory behaviour experiments revealed that the oviposition preference of adult females was beneficial to their larval performance. The preference to oviposit on young branches of the new host plants, which were often softer and contained enough nutrients for larval development, indicates that females could still make the right choice on novel host‐plants. This finding supports the ‘mother knows best’ hypothesis that female insects will evolve to oviposit on hosts on which their offspring fare best. Consequently, the survival of host‐plant saplings decreased dramatically under this top‐down control, revealing that herbivory of this range‐expanding insect has a profound negative impact on the recruitment and succession of coastal foundation species, thereby potentially leading to saltmarsh degradation. These findings highlight the importance of the maternal oviposition effects in range‐expanding insects and how these populations can establish using novel host‐plants and threaten coastal wetlands.",
"corpus_id": 249116398,
"title": "‘Mother knows best’: Maternal oviposition effects of a range‐expanding insect herbivore degrade coastal wetlands by targeting juvenile foundation plant species"
} | {
"abstract": "Global climatic changes may lead to the arrival of multiple range‐expanding species from different trophic levels into new habitats, either simultaneously or in quick succession, potentially causing the introduction of manifold novel interactions into native food webs. Unraveling the complex biotic interactions between native and range‐expanding species is critical to understand the impact of climate change on community ecology, but experimental evidence is lacking. In a series of laboratory experiments that simulated direct and indirect species interactions, we investigated the effects of the concurrent arrival of a range‐expanding insect herbivore in Europe, Spodoptera littoralis, and its associated parasitoid Microplitis rufiventris, on the native herbivore Mamestra brassicae, and its associated parasitoid Microplitis mediator, when co‐occurring on a native plant, Brassica rapa. Overall, direct interactions between the herbivores were beneficial for the exotic herbivore (higher pupal weight than the native herbivore), and negative for the native herbivore (higher mortality than the exotic herbivore). At the third trophic level, both parasitoids were unable to parasitize the herbivore they did not coexist with, but the presence of the exotic parasitoid still negatively affected the native herbivore (increased mortality) and the native parasitoid (decreased parasitism rate), through failed parasitism attempts and interference effects. Our results suggest different interaction scenarios depending on whether S. littoralis and its parasitoid arrive to the native tritrophic system separately or concurrently, as the negative effects associated with the presence of the parasitoid were dependent on the presence of the exotic herbivore. These findings illustrate the complexity and interconnectedness of multitrophic changes resulting from concurrent species arrival to new environments, and the need for integrating the ecological effects of such arrivals into the general theoretical framework of global invasion patterns driven by climatic change.",
"corpus_id": 3356073,
"title": "With or without you: Effects of the concurrent range expansion of an herbivore and its natural enemy on native species interactions"
} | {
"abstract": "What happens when an exotic herbivore invades and encounters novel host plants and enemies? Here, we investigate the impacts of host plant quality and plant architecture on an exotic generalist herbivore, Epiphyas postvittana (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) and its interactions with resident parasitoids in California. Using artificial diet and five plant species, we found significant effects of diet on the fitness of E. postvittana under laboratory conditions. In the field, based on a common garden experiment with host plants of nine species, we found that larval parasitism varied among plant species by a factor of 2.1 with a higher risk of parasitism on shorter than taller plants. Parasitism of egg masses varied by a factor of 4.7 among plant species with a higher risk of parasitism on taller than shorter plants. In the laboratory, the foraging time of a resident egg parasitoid on excised leaves varied among plant species, but did not correspond to observed egg parasitism rates on these same plants in the field. On leaves of Plantago lanceolata, the probability of egg parasitism decreased with trichome density. Overall, there was a significant effect of host plant on the intrinsic rate of increase of E. postvittana and on the extent of parasitism by resident parasitoids, but no correlation existed between these two effects. The recent decline of E. postvittana in California may be due to the low quality of some host plants and to the many resident enemies that readily attack it, perhaps due to its phylogenetic relatedness to resident tortricids.",
"corpus_id": 21305085,
"score": -1,
"title": "Novel multitrophic interactions among an exotic, generalist herbivore, its host plants and resident enemies in California"
} |
{
"abstract": "Accurate forecasting of the soil water in crop growth is crucial for developing an irrigation management strategy and saving water resources. The CERES model can be used to quantitatively predict the soil water content (SWC), but its accuracy and stability should be improved. The objectives of this research were to assess the CERES‐Wheat model for its ability to simulate the SWC in the winter wheat growth season and to study the possibility of improving simulation accuracy by building a modified model through introducing on‐field data and simulated values of CERES‐Wheat. Field experiment data of the varieties ShiJiaZhuang 8 and JiMai 22 from three to four irrigation treatments conducted over 4 years were used to compare precision of the CERES‐Wheat model and the modified model for SWC in the North China Plain. On average across all soil layers between 20 and 120 cm and two winter wheat varieties, the NRMSE decreased from 20.3% with the CERES‐Wheat model to 13.2% with the modified model. The results showed that the further improvement of SWC based on on‐field data and simulated data of CERES‐Wheat may be possible. Application prospects of dynamic water management of the modified model by introducing on‐field data during the wheat growth season were also discussed. © 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.",
"corpus_id": 197433332,
"title": "SIMULATION OF SOIL WATER CONTENT FOR IRRIGATION MANAGEMENT BASED ON ON‐FIELD AND CERES‐WHEAT SIMULATED DATA IN WINTER WHEAT IN THE NORTH CHINA PLAIN"
} | {
"abstract": "Abstract The SWATRER-SUCROS and CERES-MAIZE models were compared in terms of their performance in predicting biomass yield, leaf area index and soil water content during the growing season of 1988 at the Rogers farm (University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA). Five statistics often used to compare the quality of simulation results were used in the comparison. The comparison was performed based on the prediction of moisture content during the growing season in soil layer depths of 0–30 cm, 30–60 cm, 60–90 cm, and 90–120 cm in addition to the prediction of above ground biomass and leaf area index. Within the limits of experimental error both models predicted the moisture content, leaf area index, and above ground biomass reasonably well. Large deviations in moisture content variation were observed in the early part of the growth period where irrigation did not start yet. Based on the statistics the CERES-MAIZE model predicted soil moisture content better than SWATRER-SUCROS while the opposite was true for leaf area index and above ground biomass.",
"corpus_id": 153379409,
"title": "Comparative study of two crop yield simulation models"
} | {
"abstract": "We used a genetic algorithm (GA) to identify soil water retention θ(h) and hydraulic conductivity K(h) functions by inverting a soil‐water‐atmosphere‐plant (SWAP) model using observed near‐surface soil moisture (0‐5 cm) as search criterion. Uncertainties of parameter estimates were estimated using multipopulations in GA and considering data and modeling errors. Three hydrologic cases were considered: (1) homogenous free‐draining soil column, (2) homogenous soil column with shallow water table, and (3) heterogeneous soil column under free‐drainage condition, considering three different rainfall patterns in northern Texas. Results (cases 1 and 2) showed the identifiability of soil hydraulic parameters improving at coarse and fine scales of the soil textural class. Medium‐textured soils posed identifiability problems when the soil is dry. Nonlinearity in θ(h) and K(h) is greater at drier conditions, and some parameters are less sensitive for estimation. Flow regimes controlled by upward fluxes were found less successful, as the information content of observed near‐surface data may no longer influence the hydrologic processes in the subsurface. The identifiability of soil hydraulic parameters was found better when the soil profile is predominantly draining. In case 3, top soil layer hydraulic properties were defined using near‐surface data alone as criterion. Adding evapotranspiration (ET) improved identification of the second soil layer, although not all parameters were identifiable. Under uncertainties, θ(h) was found to be well defined while K(h) is more uncertain. Finally, we applied the method to a validation site in Little Washita watershed, Oklahoma, where derived effective soil hydraulic properties closely matched the measured ones at the field site.",
"corpus_id": 4987971,
"score": -1,
"title": "Near‐surface soil moisture assimilation for quantifying effective soil hydraulic properties using genetic algorithm: 1. Conceptual modeling"
} |
{
"abstract": "A dele erfaringer og kunnskap med hverandre er en viktig del av var personlige utviklingsprosess, og kunnskapsforvalting innad i organisasjoner kan vaere til stor verdi om de ansatte ...",
"corpus_id": 169530183,
"title": "Case-studie av organisatorisk kunnskapsforvaltning i et mellomstort IT-konsulentselskap"
} | {
"abstract": "Numerous studies have been conducted on design and architecture of knowledge repositories. This paper addresses the need for looking at practices where knowledge repositories are actually used in concrete work situations. This insight should be used when developing knowledge repositories in the future. Through methods inspired by ethnography this paper investigates how an unstructured knowledge repository is used for different purposes by software developers and managers in a medium-sized software consulting company. The repository is a part of the company's knowledge management tool suite on the Intranet. We found five distinct ways of using the tool, from solving specific technical problems to getting an overview of competence in the company. We highlight the importance of informal organization and the social integration of the tool in the daily work practices of the company.",
"corpus_id": 8399540,
"title": "An empirical study of an informal knowledge repository in a medium-sized software consulting company"
} | {
"abstract": null,
"corpus_id": 540013,
"score": -1,
"title": "THE EXPERIENCE FACTORY"
} |
{
"abstract": "Counterfactual explanations interpret the recommendation mechanism via exploring how minimal alterations on items or users affect the recommendation decisions. Existing counterfactual explainable approaches face huge search space and their explanations are either action-based (e.g., user click) or aspect-based (i.e., item description). We believe item attribute-based explanations are more intuitive and persuadable for users since they explain by fine-grained item demographic features (e.g., brand). Moreover, counterfactual explanation could enhance recommendations by filtering out negative items. In this work, we propose a novel Counterfactual Explainable Recommendation (CERec) to generate item attribute-based counterfactual explanations meanwhile to boost recommendation performance. Our CERec optimizes an explanation policy upon uniformly searching candidate counterfactuals within a reinforcement learning environment. We reduce the huge search space with an adaptive path sampler by using rich context information of a given knowledge graph. We also deploy the explanation policy to a recommendation model to enhance the recommendation. Extensive explainability and recommendation evaluations demonstrate CERec's ability to provide explanations consistent with user preferences and maintain improved recommendations. We release our code at https://github.com/Chrystalii/CERec.",
"corpus_id": 250526534,
"title": "Reinforced Path Reasoning for Counterfactual Explainable Recommendation"
} | {
"abstract": null,
"corpus_id": 10487605,
"title": "Collaborative Recommendation via Adaptive Association Rule Mining"
} | {
"abstract": "Mining frequent patterns in transaction databases, time-series databases, and many other kinds of databases has been studied popularly in data mining research. Most of the previous studies adopt an Apriori-like candidate set generation-and-test approach. However, candidate set generation is still costly, especially when there exist a large number of patterns and/or long patterns. ::: ::: In this study, we propose a novel frequent-pattern tree (FP-tree) structure, which is an extended prefix-tree structure for storing compressed, crucial information about frequent patterns, and develop an efficient FP-tree-based mining method, FP-growth, for mining the complete set of frequent patterns by pattern fragment growth. Efficiency of mining is achieved with three techniques: (1) a large database is compressed into a condensed, smaller data structure, FP-tree which avoids costly, repeated database scans, (2) our FP-tree-based mining adopts a pattern-fragment growth method to avoid the costly generation of a large number of candidate sets, and (3) a partitioning-based, divide-and-conquer method is used to decompose the mining task into a set of smaller tasks for mining confined patterns in conditional databases, which dramatically reduces the search space. Our performance study shows that the FP-growth method is efficient and scalable for mining both long and short frequent patterns, and is about an order of magnitude faster than the Apriori algorithm and also faster than some recently reported new frequent-pattern mining methods.",
"corpus_id": 21192,
"score": -1,
"title": "Mining Frequent Patterns without Candidate Generation: A Frequent-Pattern Tree Approach"
} |
{
"abstract": "Datacenter power architectures have improved over time, but the majority of the loss still occurs at the server power supply and board level voltage regulators. Google has proposed and implemented a 48 volt server architecture that can reduce their overall conversion losses by up to 30%, but to fully realize these benefits new technology is needed to converter 48 volts down to the point of load voltage levels. The Intermediate Bus Architecture is a very attractive option to bridge the gap between the 48 volt architecture of cutting edge servers, and the existing 12 volt architecture. The family of converters presented in this paper are intermediate bus converters that have demonstrated up to 990W/in3 power density, and higher than 99% peak efficiency for 48V to 12V conversion. Compared with other cutting edge designs this family of converters achieves high power density and efficiency without the need for complex control, or a sensitive resonant based design. This is achieved through low reliance on magnetic components, without the drawbacks traditionally associated with switched capacitor topologies.",
"corpus_id": 208634147,
"title": "A Comparison of Multilevel \"Zero Inductor-Voltage\" Converters for Data Center Applications"
} | {
"abstract": "A novel topology to achieve 4:1 voltage step down, aimed at 48 volt to 12 volt conversion, is presented. The primary application for 48 volt to 12 volt conversion is for server power supplies as part of an Intermediate Bus Architecture, as Google and other large companies are pushing to switch from 12 volt to 48 volt server architecture to improve the performance of their data centers. The topology presented in this paper makes use of multi-level switching with flying capacitors to minimize the voltage stress of the switches, allow for significant reduction in the size of the magnetic components by reducing the voltage applied to the inductor, and enable low switching frequencies to be used. The switching scheme used in the topology causes the output inductor to see only the capacitor ripple voltage across its terminals. As this inductor sees almost zero voltage, the ripple current and reliance on magnetics is significantly reduced in this circuit. Through these advantages, the topology can achieve a peak efficiency of 99.5% for 48 volt to 12 volt conversion.",
"corpus_id": 5035798,
"title": "Zero inductor voltage multilevel bus converter"
} | {
"abstract": "Recently the use of nonisolated point of load converters (niPOLs) powered from an intermediate bus converter (IBC) has become very popular. This paper looks at the design issues facing the designer of the intermediate bus converter when determining whether the intermediate bus voltage should be regulated or unregulated. It looks at the pros and cons of various regulation methods from a design and also from the perspective of the end customer.",
"corpus_id": 19815407,
"score": -1,
"title": "Design issues in regulated and unregulated intermediate bus converters"
} |
{
"abstract": "Despite the unquestionable success of antiretroviral therapy (ART) in the treatment of HIV infection, the cost, need for daily adherence, and HIV-associated morbidities that persist despite ART all underscore the need to develop a cure for HIV. The cure achieved following an allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) using HIV-resistant cells, and more recently, the report of short-term but sustained, ART-free control of HIV replication following allogeneic HSCT, using HIV susceptible cells, have served to both reignite interest in HIV cure research, and suggest potential mechanisms for a cure. In this review, we highlight some of the obstacles facing HIV cure research today, and explore the roles of gene therapy targeting HIV entry, and allogeneic stem cell transplantation in the development of strategies to cure HIV infection.",
"corpus_id": 11235665,
"title": "Gene Therapy Targeting HIV Entry"
} | {
"abstract": "CCR5 is the chemokine co-receptor for R5-tropic human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) isolates most often associated with primary infection. We have developed an HIV-1 self-inactivating vector, CAD-R5, containing a CCR5 single-chain antibody (intrabody) gene, which when expressed in T-cell lines and primary CD4 T cells disrupts CCR5 cell surface expression and provides protection from R5-tropic isolate exposure. Furthermore, CAD-R5 intrabody expression in primary CD4 T cells supports significant growth and enrichment over time during HIV-1-pulsed dendritic cell–T-cell interactions. These results indicate that CCR5 intrabody-expressing CD4 T cells are refractory against this highly efficient primary route of infection. CD34 cells transduced with the CAD-R5 vector gave rise to CD4 and CD8 thymocytes in non-obese diabetic (NOD)/ severely combined-immunodeficient (SCID)-human thymus/ liver (hu thy/liv) mice, suggesting that CCR5 intrabody expression can be maintained throughout differentiation without obvious cellular effects. CD4 T cells isolated from NOD/SCID-hu thy/liv mice were resistant to R5-tropic HIV-1 challenge demonstrating the maintenance of protection. Our findings demonstrate delivery of anti-HIV-1 activity through CCR5 intrabodies in primary CD4 T cells and CD34 cell-derived T-cell progeny. Thus, gene delivery strategies that provide a selective survival and growth advantage for T effector cells may provide a therapeutic benefit for HIV-1-infected individuals who have failed conventional therapies. Gene Therapy advance online publication, 1 June 2006; doi:10.1038/sj.gt.3302801",
"corpus_id": 673505,
"title": "T-cell protection and enrichment through lentiviral CCR5 intrabody gene delivery"
} | {
"abstract": "AIM\nTo measure the economic impact of the introduction of a preferred medicines list and drug utilisation review process on drug therapy costs at the six Christchurch hospitals in the Canterbury Area Health Board.\n\n\nMETHODS\nThe preferred medicines list, a consensus derived recommended drug list, was introduced along with a drug utilisation review process in December 1990. Detailed drug therapy costs were collected from the pharmacy computer for the 1990/1 and 1991/2 hospital financial years. Data was analysed under the 15 British National Formulary drug groups and also 14 other categories. National hospital drug costs based on sales to hospitals and local drug cost trends prior to the preferred medicine list system introduction were used as baseline measures. Hospital patient discharge numbers and patient days were also recorded.\n\n\nRESULTS\nPrior to the preferred medicines list introduction local drug therapy costs had been rising on average 30% per year. Between 1990/1 and 1991/2 total drug costs fell by 2% from $12.16M to $11.86M while nationally, drug sales to hospitals increased by 15%. Included in the local expenditure were drugs external to the preferred medicine list/drug utilisation review system whose costs are reimbursed to the area health board. When these costs were deducted, inpatient drug costs fell by 11% from $8.76M to $7.7M. In the 29 categories reviewed, 17 had decreases, while the remaining areas increased. Total patient numbers during the period increased by 3% while total patient days decreased by 10%.\n\n\nCONCLUSION\nThe preferred medicines list and the associated drug utilisation review process played a major role in the reduction of inpatient drug therapy costs at the Christchurch hospitals. Other factors such as cost shifting or changes in community drug use may have also been responsible for some of the savings.",
"corpus_id": 1672678,
"score": -1,
"title": "Hospital drug therapy cost containment through a preferred medicines list and drug utilisation review system."
} |
{
"abstract": "During early Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (Map) infection, complex interactions occur between the bacteria, cells from the mononuclear phagocyte system (MPS) including both resident (macrophages and dendritic cells) and recruited (monocytes) cells, and other mucosal sentinel cells such as γδ T lymphocytes. Though the details of early host–pathogen interactions in cattle remain largely underexplored, our hypothesis is that these significantly influence development of host immunity and ultimate success or failure of the host to respond to Map infection. The aims of the present study were to first characterize monocyte-derived MPS cells from young calves with respect to their immunophenotype and function. Then, we set out to investigate the effects of WC1+ and WC1neg γδ T lymphocytes on (1) the differentiation of autologous monocytes and (2) the maturation of autologous monocyte-derived dendritic cells (MDDCs). To achieve this, peripheral blood WC1+ or WC1neg γδ T lymphocytes were cocultured with either autologous freshly isolated peripheral blood-derived monocytes or autologous immature MDDCs (iMDDCs). We began by measuring several markers of interest on MPS cells. Useful markers to distinguish monocyte-derived macrophages (MDMs) from MDDCs include CD11b, CD163, and CD172a, which are expressed significantly higher on MDMs compared with MDDCs. Function, but not phenotype, was influenced by WC1neg γδ T lymphocytes: viability of Map harvested from monocytes differentiated in the presence of WC1neg γδ T lymphocytes (dMonWC1neg) was significantly lower compared to MDMs and MDDCs. With respect to DC maturation, we first showed that mature MDDCs (mMDDCs) have significantly higher expression of CD11c, CD80, and CD86 compared with iMDDCs, and the phagocytic capacity of mMDDCs is significantly reduced compared to iMDDCs. We then showed that γδ T lymphocyte subsets induce functional (reduced phagocytosis) but not phenotypic (surface marker expression) iMDDC maturation. These data collectively show that γδ T lymphocytes influence differentiation, maturation, and ultimately the function of monocytes during Map infection, which has significant implications on survival of Map and success of host defense during early Map infection.",
"corpus_id": 24064586,
"title": "Bovine WC1+ and WC1neg γδ T Lymphocytes Influence Monocyte Differentiation and Monocyte-Derived Dendritic Cell Maturation during In Vitro Mycobacterium avium Subspecies paratuberculosis Infection"
} | {
"abstract": "Exposing bovine dendritic cells (DC) and macrophages (MΦ) to Salmonella typhimurium at a ratio of 1 cell to 10 bacteria had a cytotoxic effect that was not evident with a ratio of 1000 cells to 1 bacterium. This lower dose was considered to mimic more closely the in vivo situation and a comparison was made with this model of the consequences of infection for MΦ and DC. DC infected with S. typhimurium up‐regulated cell surface expression of major histocompatibility class I (MHC‐I), MHC‐II, CD40, CD80 and CD86. In contrast, infected MΦ did not exhibit detectable changes in expression of cell surface molecules, except for a marginal increase in CD40. mRNA transcription for tumour necrosis factor‐α, interleukin (IL)‐1β, IL‐6 and inducible nitric oxide synthase was up‐regulated in both infected DC and infected MΦ, although mRNA transcription for granulocyte–macrophage colony‐stimulating factor and IL‐12p40 was up‐regulated only in infected DC and for IL‐10 was only in infected MΦ. Infected DC had an increased ability to stimulate both allogeneic and antigen‐specific T‐cell responses compared to non‐infected controls. In contrast, infected MΦ showed an increased ability to induce allogeneic responses but this was less than seen for DC and no enhancement of ability to induce antigen‐specific T cell responses was seen. Thus, in a low‐dose infection model that does not result in the cytotoxicity of a substantial percentage of antigen presenting cells, bovine MΦ and DC respond differently to infection with S. typhimurium and this could have important implications for the development of the immune response.",
"corpus_id": 1479526,
"title": "Differential response of bovine monocyte‐derived macrophages and dendritic cells to infection with Salmonella typhimurium in a low‐dose model in vitro"
} | {
"abstract": "Salmonella typhimurium (ST) can cause infection inman, and attenuated strains are under consideration as live vaccinevectors. However, little is known about the interaction of ST withhuman dendritic cells (DC). Here, we compared the consequences ofexposure of human, monocyte‐derived DC with different attenuatedstrains of ST. Infection was observed with all four strains tested(wild type, PhoP−, PhoPc, and AroA), but the PhoPc strainwas by far the most efficient. Intracellular persistence of wild typeand PhoP− was longer than that of PhoPc and AroA, both ofwhich were largely eliminated within 24 h. Most DC survivedinfection by the attenuated strains, although apoptosis was observed ina fraction of the exposed cells. All strains induced DC maturation,independent from the extent of infection. Although all strainsstimulated secretion of TNF‐α and IL‐12 strongly, PhoPc inducedsignificantly less IL‐10 than the other three strains and as much as 10times less IL‐10 than heat‐killed PhoPc, suggesting that this mutantsuppressed the secretion of IL‐10 by the DC. These data indicate thatinfectivity, bacterial elimination, and cytokine secretion in human DCare controlled by the genetic background of ST.",
"corpus_id": 23119677,
"score": -1,
"title": "Genetic background of attenuated Salmonella typhimurium has profound influence on infection and cytokine patterns in human dendritic cells"
} |
{
"abstract": "Bacteria and other organisms, including cyanobacteria, employ two‐component signal transducing modules comprising histidine kinases and response regulators to acclimate to changing environments. While the number and composition of these modules differ among cyanobacteria, two response regulators that contain DNA binding domains, RpaB and Rre1, are conserved in all sequenced cyanobacterial genomes and are essential for viability. Although RpaB negatively or positively regulates high light and other stress‐responsive gene expression, little is known about the function of Rre1. Here, they investigated the direct regulatory targets of Rre1 in the cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942. Chromatin immunoprecipitation and high‐density tiling array analysis were used to map Rre1 binding sites. The sites included promoter regions for chaperone genes such as dnaK2, groESL‐1, groEL‐2, hspA and htpG, as well as the group 2 sigma factor gene rpoD2. In vivo and in vitro analyses revealed that Rre1 phosphorylation level, DNA binding activity and adjacent gene transcription increased in response to heat stress. These responses were much diminished in a knock‐out mutant of Hik34, a previously identified heat shock regulator. Based on our results, we propose Hik34‐Rre1 is the heat shock‐responsive signaling module that positively regulates major chaperone and other genes in cyanobacteria.",
"corpus_id": 22349570,
"title": "Conserved two‐component Hik34‐Rre1 module directly activates heat‐stress inducible transcription of major chaperone and other genes in Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942"
} | {
"abstract": "Ruth Silversmith is a research associate professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She brings a biochemistry and biophysics perspective to research on the molecular mechanisms of signal transduction in twocomponent regulatory systems and jointly operates a laboratory with Bob Bourret. 1986 was a very good year for research on signal transduction in bacteria, with the publication of two landmark papers that reflected progress in biological research at the time. DNA sequencing was a relatively new technology (subject of the 1980 Nobel Prize), but manual sequencing techniques had become widespread enough to be routinely performed in individual laboratories. Geneticists who had studied various regulatory systems for years could determine the sequences of their favorite genes and deposit that information in publicly accessible databases. As a result, it suddenly became apparent that many diverse and seemingly unrelated processes were in fact controlled by closely related pairs of regulatory proteins with similar amino acid sequences. This connection was independently recognized and published by multiple research groups beginning in 1985, and in 1986 Nixon, Ronson, and Ausubel coined the phrase ‘two-component regulatory systems’ to describe the discovery [1]. At the time, protein phosphorylation (to be the topic of the 1992 Nobel Prize) was the subject of vigorous investigation in eukaryotes, but had only been confirmed in bacteria less than a decade before and was not yet known to be widespread in prokaryotes [2]. Thus the demonstration by Ninfa and Magasanik, also in 1986, that the two-component regulatory system controlling nitrogen assimilation utilizes protein phosphorylation was a major step forward [3]. The dual 1986 discoveries of amino acid sequence similarity and protein phosphorylation in two-component systems sparked an expanding field of investigation that continues vigorously to this day. This entire issue of Current Opinion in Microbiology is devoted to reviewing the current state of knowledge concerning twocomponent signal transduction.",
"corpus_id": 3261158,
"title": "Two-component signal transduction."
} | {
"abstract": "Plant Genetics Relevant to Symbiotic Nitrogen Fixation.- A. Breeding Approaches.- Host Plant Characteristics of Common Bean Lines Selected Using Indirect Measures of N2 Fixation.- Genetic Improvement of Symbiotic Nitrogen Fixation in Legumes.- Plant Host Genetics of Nodulation and Symbiotic Nitrogen Fixation in Pea and Soybean.- Poster Summaries:.- (i) Genetic Improvement of Legume-Rhizobium Symbiosis.- (ii) Legume Nodulation Mutants.- B. Molecular Approaches.- Structure and Transcription of the Soybean Leghemoglobin and Nodulin Genes.- Nodulin Gene Expression in Pisum sativum.- Poster-Summaries.- Poster-Summaries.- Discussion Group Summary (Convenor: N.J. Brewin).- Microbial Genetics Relevant to Symbiotic Nitrogen Fixation.- A. Nodulation (nod) Genes.- Identification and Organization of Rhizobium meliloti Genes Relevant to the Initiation and Development of Nodules.- Plant-Secreted Factors Induce the Expression of R. trifolii Nodulation and Host-Range Genes.- Fine Structure Studies of R. Meliloti and NodDABC Genes.- Structure and Regulation of the Nodulation Genes of Rhizobium leguminosarum.- Genes of Rhizobium japonicum Involved in Development of Nodules.- Developmental Biology of the Rhizobium meliloti-Alfalfa Symbiosis: A Joint Genetic and Cytological Approach.- Poster Summaries:.- (i) nod Genes in Fast-Growing Rhizobia.- (ii) nod Genes in Slow-Growing Rhizobia.- (iii) Genes Involved in Nodule Development.- (iv) Genes Involved in Competitiveness.- (v) Miscellaneous.- Discussion Group Summary (Convenor: G. Ditta).- B. Organization and Regulation of nif Genes.- Organization and Regulation of Symbiotic Nitrogen Fixation Genes from Bradyrhizobium japonicum.- Organization and Regulation of Rhizobium meliloti and Parasponia bradyrhizobium Nitrogen Fixation Genes.- Rhizobium phaseoli: Nitrogen Fixation Genes and DNA Reiteration.- Poster Summaries.- Poster Summaries.- C. Genes Involved in Nodule Functioning.- A Model of Nutrient Exchange in the Rhizobium-Legume Symbiosis.- Genes Involved in the Carbon Metabolism of Bacteroids.- Characterization, Significance and Transfer of Hydrogen Uptake Genes from Rhizobium japonicum.- Poster Summaries:.- (i) Carbon Metabolism and Ammonia Assimilation.- (ii) Hydrogen Metabolism.- Discussion Group Summary (Convenor: N.J. Brewin).- Recognition and Infection in Symbiosis.- Recognition and Infection of Clover Root Hairs by Rhizobium trifolii.- Recognition and Infection by Slow-Growing Rhizobia.- Poster Summaries:.- (i) Competition and Attachment.- (ii) Host-Induced Phenomena.- (iii) Compositional Variations.- (iv) Actinorhizal Systems.- Discussion Group Summary (Convenor: R.W. Carlson).- Physiology of Nitrogen-Fixing Symbioses.- Carbon Metabolism in Legume Nodules.- Factors Limiting N2 Fixation by the Legume-Rhizobium Symbiosis.- Site of Nitrogenase in Frankia in Free-Living Culture and in Symbiosis.- Use of 13N to Study N2 Fixation and Assimilation By Cyanobacterial-Lower Plant Associations.- Poster Summaries:.- (i) Structural Studies.- (ii) Factors Affecting Nodulation.- (iii) Nitrogen Metabolism.- (iv) Carbon Metabolism.- (v) Oxygen Transport and Effects.- (vi) Hydrogen Uptake and Evolution.- (vii) Actinorhizal Systems.- (viii) Associative Relationships.- Discussion Group Summary (Convenor: R.V. Klucas).- Physiology and Ecology of Nitrogen-Fixing Microorganisms.- Recent Advances in the Ecology of Rhizobium.- Physiological and Biochemical Aspects of N2-Fixing Cyanobacteria.- Poster Summaries:.- (i) Rhizobium - Competition.- (ii) Rhizobium - Survival.- (iii) Rhizobium - General.- (iv) Associative Bacteria.- (v) Cyanobacteria.- (vi) Frankia.- (vii) Miscellaneous.- Discussion Group Summary (Convenor: M.G. Yates).- Genetics of Nitrogen Fixation in Free-Living Bacteria.- Progress in Understanding Organization and Expression of nif Genes in Klebsiella.- Regulation of Klebsiella pneumoniae Nitrogen Fixation Gene Promoters by Regulatory Proteins ntrC, nifA, and nifL.- Genetic and Physical Characterization of nif and ntr Genes in Azotobacter chroococcum and A. vinelandii.- Advances in The Genetics of Azospirillum.- Organization of the Genes For Nitrogen Fixation in the Cyanobacterium Anabaena.- Development of the Genetics Of Heterocyst-Forming Cyano-Bacteria.- Genetics of Nitrogen Fixation In Photosynthetic Bacteria.- Poster Summaries:.- (i) Identification, Cloning and Mapping of nif.- (ii) Analysis of nif Sequences.- (iii) Rearrangement of nif DNA.- (iv) nif Regulation.- (v) Biochemistry and Physiology of Mutants.- Discussion Group Summary (Convenor: C. Elmerich).- Enzymology and Chemistry of Nitrogen Fixation.- A. Nitrogenase.- Nitrogenase Mechanism - An Overview.- Regulation of Nitrogenase Activity in the Anoxygenic Phototrophic Bacteria.- Structure And Mechanism of the Azobobacter vinelandii Fe Protein.- Role of Fe Protein in Nitrogenase Catalysis.- Studies on the Structure And Function of The Mofe Protein Of Nitrogenase.- Redox Properties of The Nitrogenase Component Proteins From Azotobacter vinelandii.- Mossbauer and EPR Studies on Nitrogenase.- Iron-Molybdenum Cofactor of Nitrogenase.- Redox and Compositional Insights Into The Iron-Molybdenum Cofactor of Azotobacter vinelandii Nitrogenase as a Guide to Synthesis of New Mo-Fe-S Clusters.- Poster Summaries:.- (i) Mechanism.- (ii) Proteins and Cofactors.- (iii) Purification and Properties.- (iv) Regulation.- (iv) ATP Effects.- Discussion Group Summary (Convenor: R.H. Burris).- B. Chemical Approaches.- From Phosphorus Towards Sulphur: The Development of New Nitrogen Binding Sites.- Detection of Intermediates in Chemical N2 Fixation.- Poster Summaries.- Poster Summaries.- Discussion Group Summary (Convenor: G.J. Leigh).- Nitrogen Fixation in Agriculture and Forestry: Strategies, Limitations and Potential.- Nitrogen Fixation in Agriculture in Temperate Regions.- Current Research Strategies for Use of Actinorhizal Symbioses in Forestry.- Biological Nitrogen Fixation in Tropical Agriculture.- Applications of Nitrogen Fixation in Agriculture and Forestry.- Poster Summaries:.- (i) Management Practice.- (ii) Rhizobial Inoculant Technology.- (iii) Frankia.- (iv) Free-Living Fixers.- (v) Quantitation.- Discussion Group Summary (Convenors: D.B. Hannaway And T.L. Righetti).- Current Thoughts on Nitrogen Fixation.- Current Thoughts on Nitrogen Fixation.- Author Index.",
"corpus_id": 83398924,
"score": -1,
"title": "Nitrogen fixation research progress : proceedings of the 6th International Symposium on Nitrogen Fixation, Corvallis, OR 97331, August 4-10, 1985"
} |
{
"abstract": "This thesis consists of two studies. The first study examines whether the mandatory adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) affects stock price informativeness, as measured by the extent to which firm-specific information is capitalised into the stock price. Using a sample of 6,367 firm-year observations from 970 publicly listed UK firms during the period from 1990 to 2013, the results show that the mandatory adoption of IFRS does make the stock price more informative. In particular, the results suggest a significant negative relationship between IFRS adoption and the stock price synchronicity. This indicates that the increased transparency following the mandatory adoption of IFRS facilitates the incorporation of firm-specific information into the stock price, leading to more informative stock prices. In this study, the effect of financial analysts’ activities on the relationship between IFRS adoption and stock price informativeness is also considered. The regressions results show that, within the IFRS adopters, the firms followed by a higher number of financial analysts have a higher stock price synchronicity than those followed by a lower number of financial analysts, suggesting that the IFRS adoption increases financial analysts’ ability to incorporate market-wide and industry-wide information into the stock price. Furthermore, these results indicate that the financial analysts’ activities attenuate the synchronicity-reducing effect of mandatory IFRS adoption. The second study, examines the effect of earnings quality on the informativeness of the stock price, using a sample of 5,214 firm-year observations, collected from 880 UK firms for the period from 1994 to 2013. The findings suggest that higher earnings quality encourages the investors to collect and process more firm-specific information, which in turn facilitates the incorporation of this information into the stock price, leading to less synchronous and more informative stock price. In addition, the effect of mandatory IFRS adoption on the relationship between earnings quality and stock price informativeness is examined. Contrary to expectations, the results suggest that the mandatory adoption of IFRS does not have a significant impact on the relationship between earnings quality and stock price informativeness.",
"corpus_id": 169992467,
"title": "Do IFRS adoption, financial analysts and earnings quality affect the informativeness of stock price?Evidence from the UK"
} | {
"abstract": "This paper investigates the effects of largest-shareholder ownership concentration, foreign ownership, and audit quality on the amount of firm-specific information incorporated into share prices, as measured by stock price synchronicity, of Chinese-listed firms over the 1996-2003 period. We show that synchronicity is a concave function of ownership by the largest shareholder with its maximum at an approximate 50% level. Further, we find that synchronicity is higher when the largest shareholder is government related. We also find that foreign ownership and auditor quality are inversely associated with synchronicity. Finally, we show that the amount of earnings information reflected in stock returns is lower for firms with high synchronicity.",
"corpus_id": 154463569,
"title": "Ownership Concentration, Foreign Shareholding, Audit Quality, and Stock Price Synchronicity: Evidence from China"
} | {
"abstract": "This paper indicates that there is an inverse relationship between collateralized shares and firm performance. Furthermore when the entire sample is divided into a sub-sample of conglomerate firms and a sub-sample of non-conglomerate firms, we show that this inverse relationship exists only in conglomerate firms. These findings imply that agency problems resulting from shares used as collateral by boards of directors are more serious in conglomerate firms than in non-conglomerate firms. Moreover, we provide evidence that monitoring by institutional investors, creditors and dividend policy can effectively reduce the agency problems of shares used as collateral and thus can improve firm performance. Empirical findings indicate that institutional holdings, debt ratio and dividend payout ratio can mitigate the negative effect of agency problems on firm performance. In addition, monitoring mechanisms are more beneficial for conglomerate firms than for non-conglomerate",
"corpus_id": 219681562,
"score": -1,
"title": "Agency Problems, Firm Performance and Monitoring Mechanisms: The Evidence from Collateralized Shares"
} |
{
"abstract": "Today's wireless networks are very reliable but in emergency scenarios they can quickly become saturated. One way to provide a temporary solution is to mount femtocell base stations on drones. In this study, we investigate if the number of required drones can be reduced by equipping public transport and emergency services vehicles with a femtocell base station. To this end, a network planning tool for the drones has been developed while accounting for the coverage already provided by the base stations installed in public transport and emergency services vehicles. The tool has been applied on a realistic disaster scenario in the city center of Ghent, Belgium. Our results show that the amount of tra c of the drone mounted base stations can be reduced. As using emergency services and public transport vehicles enables to reconnect 5% of all users. This limited in uence is due to the less optimal location of the vehicles. Still 3205 drones are required to cover all users.",
"corpus_id": 62897774,
"title": "Spreading the Tra c Load in Emergency Ad-Hoc Networks deployed by Drone Mounted Base Stations Di user la charge du tra c dans des réseaux d'urgence ad-hoc par des stations de base montées sur drones"
} | {
"abstract": "In case of a large scale disaster, the wireless access network can become quickly saturated. This is of course undesirable because for this kind of situations we actually need a reliable wireless connectivity. In this study, the potential of mounting LTE femtocell base stations on drones to offer an alternative for the saturated existing wireless infrastructure is investigated. Our preliminary results show that this a very promising approach although a high amount of drones are needed to cover all users in the city center of Ghent, Belgium during a 1h intervention. The number of drones can be significantly reduced (up to 64%) by using a more advanced type of drone, by decreasing the user coverage requirement (11% less drones when requiring 80% instead of 90%) or by increasing the fly height of the drones (about 10% less drones needed when increasing the fly height by 10 m). This study shows that it is interesting to further investigate the use of drones to provide an emergency wireless access network.",
"corpus_id": 16627392,
"title": "Emergency ad-hoc networks by using drone mounted base stations for a disaster scenario"
} | {
"abstract": "A nationwide interoperable public safety wireless broadband network is being planned by the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) under the auspices of the United States government. The public safety network shall provide the needed wireless coverage in the wake of an incident or a disaster. This paper proposes a drone-assisted multi-hop device-to-device (D2D) communication scheme as a means to extend the network coverage over regions where it is difficult to deploy a landbased relay. The resource are shared using either time division or frequency division scheme. Efficient algorithms are developed to compute the optimal position of the drone for maximizing the data rate, which are shown to be highly effective via simulations.",
"corpus_id": 16008159,
"score": -1,
"title": "Drone-assisted public safety wireless broadband network"
} |
{
"abstract": "The recurrence of tumors after years of disease-free survival has spurred interest in the concept that cancers may have a stem cell basis. Current speculation holds that as few as 0.1% of the tumor mass may be chemoresistant and radioresistant, harboring stem-like properties that drive tumor survival, development, and metastasis. There are intense investigations to characterize cancer stem cells on the basis of self-renewal and multi-lineage differentiation. Thus far, no successful targeted therapies have been developed and reached the clinic, but as these cells are isolated and characterized, insights may be unraveled. In this review, we discuss the controversy over the origins of the cancer stem cell hypothesis and the unforeseen factors that may facilitate breast cancer stem cell survival and metastasis. We discuss the role of tumor microenvironment, including carcinoma-associated fibroblasts, epigenetic factors, and the Th1/Th2 balance, in supporting breast cancer stem cells. In addition, we have incorporated ideas on the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition in metastatic dissemination of epithelial malignancies. This area is relevant since breast cancer stem cells have been suggested to revert to a mesenchymal phenotype during the progression of cancer. Finally we discuss prospects of developing targeted therapy including novel treatment modalities such as oncolytic viral therapy, differentiation therapy, and nanotechnology.",
"corpus_id": 6037957,
"title": "Challenges in the development of future treatments for breast cancer stem cells."
} | {
"abstract": "Human tumors are immunogenic and tumor-associated proteins that generate immunity in cancer patients have been defined. Many of these proteins are involved in the malignant transformation and play a role in either initiating or maintaining the malignant phenotype. Furthermore, due to technical advances in basic immunology over the last decade we have a better understanding of the immune effector cell phenotypes that are potentially involved in tumor eradication and have developed methods to quantitate and characterize these immune effectors. Breast cancer is an intriguing model tumor to target with active immunization. Dozens of breast cancer antigens have been defined [1]. Although many patients with breast cancer can be rendered free of disease with standard therapy such as surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy, some patients will have their disease recur. However, relapse may not occur for many months to years after definitive treatment giving an extended period of micrometastatic disease that may be amenable to immune eradication or modulation. Peptide based vaccines are one of the most commonly studied vaccine strategies targeting breast cancer.",
"corpus_id": 2794242,
"title": "Peptide-based Vaccines in Breast Cancer"
} | {
"abstract": "Binding of linear fragments of protein antigens to class I or class II molecules of the MHC is necessary for the stimulation of a cellular immune response. This report describes the binding of a biotinylated T cell determinant from influenza hemagglutinin to class II proteins on the surface of Epstein-Barr virus-transformed B lymphocytes. The rapid, simple, and quantitative binding assay involves flow cytometric analysis of transformed B cells stained with fluoresceinated streptavidin following incubation with the biotinylated peptide. Binding of the biotinylated peptide required cell surface expression of human class II molecules, and was inhibited by an anti-HLA-DR monoclonal antibody as well as the unbiotinylated natural determinant. Rates of association and dissociation of the peptide were similar to those reported for purified MHC class II proteins, and the peptide bound only approximately 1% of the DR molecules expressed on the cell surface. When assayed on many different DR-homozygous B cell lines, the biotinylated hemagglutinin T cell determinant bound to HLA-DR on each cell line. The degeneracy of peptide binding to B cell lines was not unique to the hemagglutinin peptide because three other biotinylated T cell determinants failed to bind to class II deficient B-lymphoblastoid cells but bound to varying degrees to multiple DR-homozygous lines.",
"corpus_id": 8718472,
"score": -1,
"title": "Degenerate binding of immunogenic peptides to HLA-DR proteins on B cell surfaces."
} |
{
"abstract": "ABSTRACT Technological advancements are giving rise to the fourth industrial revolution – Industry 4.0 –characterized by the mass employment of smart objects in highly reconfigurable and thoroughly connected industrial product-service systems. The purpose of this paper is to propose a theory-based knowledge dynamics model in the smart grid scenario that would provide a holistic view on the knowledge-based interactions among smart objects, humans, and other actors as an underlying mechanism of value co-creation in Industry 4.0. A multi-loop and three-layer – physical, virtual, and interface – model of knowledge dynamics is developed by building on the concept of ba – an enabling space for interactions and thee mergence of knowledge. The model depicts how big data analytics are just one component in unlocking the value of big data, whereas the tacit engagement of humans-in-the-loop – their sense-making and decision-making – is needed for insights to be evoked from analytics reports and customer needs to be met.",
"corpus_id": 198316358,
"title": "A conceptual model of knowledge dynamics in the industry 4.0 smart grid scenario"
} | {
"abstract": "Purpose ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: The purpose of this paper is to introduce and define Cognitive Big Data as a concept. Furthermore, it investigates what is really “new” in Big Data, as it seems to be a hyped-up concept that has emerged during recent years. The purpose is also to broaden the discussion around Big Data far beyond the common 4V (velocity, volume, veracity and variety) model. ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: Design/methodology/approach ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: The authors established an expert think tank to discuss the notion of Big Data, identify new characteristics and re-think what really is new in the idea of Big Data, by analyzing over 60 literature resources. They identified typical baseline scenarios (traffic, business processes, retail, health and social media) as a starting point from which they explored the notion of Big Data from different perspectives. ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: Findings ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: They concluded that the idea of Big Data is simply not new and recognized the need to re-think a new approach toward Big Data. The authors also introduced a five-Trait Framework for “Cognitive Big Data”, socio-technical system, data space, data richness, knowledge management (KM)/decision-making and visualization/sensory presentation. ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: Research limitations/implications ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: The viewpoint is centered on cognitive processes as KM process. ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: Practical implications ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: Data need to be made available in an understandable form for the right application context and in the right portion size that it can be turned into knowledge and eventually wisdom. The authors need to know about data that can be ignored, data that they are not aware of (dark data) and data that can be fully utilized for analysis (light data). In the foreground is the extension of human mental capabilities and data understandability. ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: Social implications ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: Cognitive Big Data implies a socio-technological knowledge system. ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: Originality/value ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: Introduction of cognitive Big Data as concept and framework.",
"corpus_id": 206405914,
"title": "Cognitive big data: survey and review on big data research and its implications. What is really \"new\" in big data?"
} | {
"abstract": "The current statuses and future promises of the Internet of Things (IoT), Internet of Everything (IoE) and Internet of Nano-Things (IoNT) are extensively reviewed and a summarized survey is presented. The analysis clearly distinguishes between IoT and IoE, which are wrongly considered to be the same by many commentators. After evaluating the current trends of advancement in the fields of IoT, IoE and IoNT, this paper identifies the 21 most significant current and future challenges as well as scenarios for the possible future expansion of their applications. Despite possible negative aspects of these developments, there are grounds for general optimism about the coming technologies. Certainly, many tedious tasks can be taken over by IoT devices. However, the dangers of criminal and other nefarious activities, plus those of hardware and software errors, pose major challenges that are a priority for further research. Major specific priority issues for research are identified.",
"corpus_id": 52115960,
"score": -1,
"title": "Internet of Nano-Things, Things and Everything: Future Growth Trends"
} |
{
"abstract": "Molecular hydrogen emission is commonly observed in planetary nebulae. Images taken in infrared H2 emission lines show that at least part of the molecular emission is produced inside the ionized region. In the best studied case, the Helix nebula, the H2 emission is produced inside cometary knots (CKs), comet-shaped structures believed to be clumps of dense neutral gas embedded within the ionized gas. Most of the H2 emission of the CKs seems to be produced in a thin layer between the ionized diffuse gas and the neutral material of the knot, in a mini-photodissociation region (mini-PDR). However, PDR models published so far cannot fully explain all the characteristics of the H2 emission of the CKs. In this work, we use the photoionization code AANGABA to study the H2 emission of the CKs, particularly that produced in the interface H + /H 0 of the knot, where a significant fraction of the H2 1–0 S(1) emission seems to be produced. Our results show that the production of molecular hydrogen in such a region may explain several characteristics of the observed emission, particularly the high excitation temperature of the H2 infrared lines. We find that the temperature derived from H2 observations, even of a single knot, will depend very strongly on the observed transitions, with much higher temperatures derived from excited levels. We also proposed that the separation between the Hα and [N II] peak emission observed in the images of CKs may be an effect of the distance of the knot from the star, since for knots farther from the central star the [N II ]l ine is produced closer to the border of the CK than Hα.",
"corpus_id": 119266858,
"title": "Modelling the warm H2 infrared emission of the Helix nebula cometary knots"
} | {
"abstract": "This paper presents an analysis of the concentration of hydrogen molecules inside the ionized region of planetary nebulae (PNs). The equations corresponding to the ionization and chemical equilibria of H, H+, H-, H2, H, and H are coupled with the equations of ionization and thermal balance for a photoionized atomic gas. A total of 40 different reactions related to the formation or destruction of these species are included. The presence of dust is taken into account, since grains act as catalysts for the production of H2 as well as shield the molecules against the stellar ionizing radiation. We analyze the effect of the stellar ionizing continuum as well as of the gas and grain properties on the calculated H2 mass. It is shown that a significant concentration of H2 can survive inside the ionized region of planetary nebulae, mostly in the inner region of the recombination zone. The total H2 to total hydrogen mass ratio inside the ionized region increases with the central star temperature, and, depending on the PN physical conditions, it may be of the order of ~10-6 or even higher. The increase of the recombination zone with stellar temperature can account for such correlation. This may explain why H2 emission is more frequently observed in bipolar PNs (Gatley's rule), since this kind of object typically has hotter stars. Applying our results to the planetary nebula NGC 6720, we obtain an H2 to hydrogen mass ratio similar to the value obtained from the observed H2 line emission.",
"corpus_id": 5227003,
"title": "Molecular Hydrogen in the Ionized Region of Planetary Nebulae"
} | {
"abstract": "Observations of CO, HCO+, and H2CO have been carried out at nine positions across the Helix Nebula (NGC 7293) using the Submillimeter Telescope and the 12 m antenna of the Arizona Radio Observatory. Measurements of the J = 1 → 0, 2 → 1, and 3 →2 transitions of CO, two transitions of HCO+ (J = 1 → 0 and 3 →2), and five lines of H2CO (JKa, Kc = 10, 1 → 00, 0, 21, 2 → 11, 1, 20, 2 → 10, 1, 21, 1 → 11, 0, and 30, 3 →20, 2) were conducted in the 0.8, 1, 2, and 3 mm bands toward this highly evolved planetary nebula. HCO+ and H2CO were detected at all positions, along with three transitions of CO. From a radiative transfer analysis, the kinetic temperature was found to be TK ∼ 15–40 K across the Helix with a gas density of n(H2) ∼ 0.1–5 × 105 cm−3. The warmer gas appears to be closer to the central star, but high density material is distributed throughout the nebula. For CO, the column density was found to be Ntot ∼ 0.25–4.5 × 1015 cm−2, with a fractional abundance of f (CO/H2) ∼ 0.3–6 × 10−4. Column densities for HCO+ and H2CO were determined to be Ntot ∼ 0.2–5.5 × 1011 cm−2 and 0.2–1.6 × 1012 cm−2, respectively, with fractional abundances of f (HCO+/H2) ∼ 0.3–7.3 × 10−8 and f (H2CO/H2) ∼ 0.3–2.1 × 10−7—several orders of magnitude higher than predicted by chemical models. Polyatomic molecules in the Helix appear to be well-protected from photodissociation and may actually seed the diffuse interstellar medium.",
"corpus_id": 16138276,
"score": -1,
"title": "CHEMICAL COMPLEXITY IN THE HELIX NEBULA: MULTI-LINE OBSERVATIONS OF H2CO, HCO+, AND CO"
} |
{
"abstract": "Dimension reduction (DR)-based on extreme learning machine auto-encoder (ELM-AE) has achieved many successes in recent years. By minimizing the self-reconstruction error, the ELM-AE-based DR algorithms learn the compressed representations which facilitate the subsequent classification. However, the existing ELM-AEs only consider the DR problem in an unsupervised manner and ignore the valuable supervised information when these information is available. To find discriminative features of the original data, in this paper, we propose a graph embedding-based DR framework with ELM (GDR-ELM) for DR problems. Instead of self-reconstruction, the proposed GDR-ELM reconstructs all samples according to the weights in a graph matrix containing the supervised information. Furthermore, GDR-ELM can be stacked as building blocks to construct a multilayer framework like other ELM-AEs for more complicated representation learning tasks. Experiments on various datasets demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed GDR-ELM and its multilayer framework.",
"corpus_id": 202131496,
"title": "Graph Embedding-Based Dimension Reduction With Extreme Learning Machine"
} | {
"abstract": "Data may often contain noise or irrelevant information, which negatively affect the generalization capability of machine learning algorithms. The objective of dimension reduction algorithms, such as principal component analysis (PCA), non-negative matrix factorization (NMF), random projection (RP), and auto-encoder (AE), is to reduce the noise or irrelevant information of the data. The features of PCA (eigenvectors) and linear AE are not able to represent data as parts (e.g. nose in a face image). On the other hand, NMF and non-linear AE are maimed by slow learning speed and RP only represents a subspace of original data. This paper introduces a dimension reduction framework which to some extend represents data as parts, has fast learning speed, and learns the between-class scatter subspace. To this end, this paper investigates a linear and non-linear dimension reduction framework referred to as extreme learning machine AE (ELM-AE) and sparse ELM-AE (SELM-AE). In contrast to tied weight AE, the hidden neurons in ELM-AE and SELM-AE need not be tuned, and their parameters (e.g, input weights in additive neurons) are initialized using orthogonal and sparse random weights, respectively. Experimental results on USPS handwritten digit recognition data set, CIFAR-10 object recognition, and NORB object recognition data set show the efficacy of linear and non-linear ELM-AE and SELM-AE in terms of discriminative capability, sparsity, training time, and normalized mean square error.",
"corpus_id": 1803922,
"title": "Dimension Reduction With Extreme Learning Machine"
} | {
"abstract": "Due to the variation of botanical origin honey differs in appearance, sensory perception and composition. The main nutritional and health relevant components are carbohydrates, mainly fructose and glucose but also about 25 different oligosaccharides. Although honey is a high carbohydrate food, its glycemic index varies within a wide range from 32 to 85, depending on the botanical source. It contains small amounts of proteins, enzymes, amino acids, minerals, trace elements, vitamins, aroma compounds and polyphenols. The review covers the composition, the nutritional contribution of its components, its physiological and nutritional effects. It shows that honey has a variety of positive nutritional and health effects, if consumed at higher doses of 50 to 80 g per intake.",
"corpus_id": 10645287,
"score": -1,
"title": "Honey for Nutrition and Health: A Review"
} |
{
"abstract": "License. The full terms of the License are available at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/. Non-commercial uses of the work are permitted without any further permission from Dove Medical Press Limited, provided the work is properly attributed. Permissions beyond the scope of the License are administered by Dove Medical Press Limited. Information on how to request permission may be found at: http://www.dovepress.com/permissions.php Infection and Drug Resistance 2014:7 57–62 Infection and Drug Resistance Dovepress",
"corpus_id": 260436666,
"title": "Mortality and molecular epidemiology associated with extended-spectrum β-lactamase production in Escherichia coli from bloodstream infection"
} | {
"abstract": "BACKGROUND\nThe incidence of nosocomial infections caused by extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) producing microbes is increasing rapidly in the last few years. However, the clinical significance of infections caused by ESBL-producing bacteria in ICU patients remains unclear. We did a prospective study to look for incidence, risk factors and outcome of these infections in ICU patients.\n\n\nMETHODS\nConsecutive isolates of Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae in blood cultures were included for the analysis. Patients were divided into two groups based on the production of ESBL. Primary outcome measure was ICU mortality. Logistic regression analysis was done to identify risk factors for ESBL production.\n\n\nRESULTS\nAmong the 95 isolates tested, 73 (76.8%) produced ESBL. Transfer from other hospitals or wards (OR 3.65; 95% CI: 1.3-10.1 and RR 1.35; 95% CI: 1.05-1.73) and previous history of antibiotics usage (OR 3.54; 95% CI: 1.04-11.97 and RR 1.5; 95% CI: 0.89-2.5) were risk factors for ESBL production. There was no significant difference in ICU mortality (p=0.588), need for organ support between two groups.\n\n\nCONCLUSION\nThere is a high incidence of ESBL producing organisms causing blood stream infections in critically ill patients. Transfer from other hospitals and previous antibiotic usage are important risk factors for ESBL production. However ESBL production may not be associated with a poorer outcome if appropriate early antibiotic therapy is instituted.",
"corpus_id": 1381147,
"title": "An observational study on bloodstream extended-spectrum beta-lactamase infection in critical care unit: incidence, risk factors and its impact on outcome."
} | {
"abstract": "Abstract Plasma and urinary cyclic AMP were determined in 8 control rats and 8 rats with Walker carcinosarcoma 256 both at the sixth and the eighth day after transplantation. In addition, serum parathyroid hormone, 25-OH -vitamin D and a 12 channel chemistry profile were determined. Histology of the bone was carried out and evaluated. Six days after transplantation only a slight degree of hypercalcemia existed, however, hypophosphatemia was marked, so that a “parathyroid hormone-like activity” might have been responsible for these alterations. In contrast to hyperparathyroidism in man, serum chloride was not increased at this time. The animals exhibited severe hypercalcemia 8 days after transplantation and died within 10 to 11 days . Calcinosis of kidneys and the heart was observed. Urinary cAMP markedly increased in the animals and was statistically significant above normal as early as 3 days after transplantation. Bone histology showed marked osteoclastic activity. Because the “osteoclast activating factor” and prostaglandins of the E-group according to the literature don't increase urinary cAMP excretion, a “parathyroid hormone-like substance”, which is able to stimulate renal adenylate cyclase, might be responsible for the changes observed in Walker carcinosarcoma in the rat.",
"corpus_id": 19983524,
"score": -1,
"title": "Urinary cyclic AMP and bone histology in Walker carcinosarcoma: evidence of parathyroid hormone-like activity."
} |
{
"abstract": "ABSTRACT Virtual agents are systems that add a social dimension to computing, often featuring not only natural language input but also an embodiment or avatar. This allows them to take on a more social role and leverage the use of nonverbal communication (NVC). In humans, NVC is used for many purposes, including communicating intent, directing attention, and conveying emotion. As a result, researchers have developed agents that emulate these behaviors. However, challenges pervade the design and development of NVC in agents. Some articles reveal inconsistencies in the benefits of agent NVC; others show signs of difficulties in the process of analyzing and implementing behaviors. Thus, it is unclear what the specific outcomes and effects of incorporating NVC in agents and what outstanding challenges underlie development. This survey seeks to review the uses, outcomes, and development of NVC in virtual agents to identify challenges and themes to improve and motivate the design of future virtual agents.",
"corpus_id": 233690421,
"title": "Examining the Use of Nonverbal Communication in Virtual Agents"
} | {
"abstract": "This experimental study employed a 2x2x2 factorial design to investigate the effects of type of instruction (procedural module, attitudinal module), deictic gesture (presence, absence), and facial expression (presence, absence) on student perception of pedagogical agent persona, attitude toward the content, and learning. The interaction effect between type of instruction and agent nonverbal behavior (deictic gestures and facial expression) was also investigated. A total of 236 college students learned from an animated pedagogical agent that varied by two factors: deictic gestures and facial expression within one of two instructional environments: one training them to perform tasks within a software program (procedural learning outcome); the other focusing on changing their beliefs regarding intellectual property (attitudinal learning outcome). Results indicated that the main effects of agent facial expression and gesture as well as the interaction were significant for agent perception and learning. With regard to learning, for attitudinal instruction, participants learned more when the agent's facial expression was present but deictic gesture was absent; however, for procedural instruction, students learned more when the agent's gestures were present. These results are discussed in light of a preliminary pedagogical agent design principle that suggests that it is most desirable to employ the one nonverbal communicative behavior that is most appropriate to the learning outcome.",
"corpus_id": 2270176,
"title": "Designing nonverbal communication for pedagogical agents: When less is more"
} | {
"abstract": "The field of Artificial Intelligence in Education has continued to broaden and now includes research and researchers from many areas of technology and social science. This study opens opportunities for the cross-fertilization of information and ideas from researchers in the many fields that make up this interdisciplinary research area, including artificial intelligence, other areas of computer science, cognitive science, education, learning sciences, educational technology, psychology, philosophy, sociology, anthropology, linguistics, and the many domain-specific areas for which Artificial Intelligence in Education systems have been designed and built. An explicit goal is to appeal to those researchers who share the perspective that true progress in learning technology requires both deep insight into technology and also deep insight into learners, learning, and the context of learning. The theme \"Supporting Learning through Intelligent and Socially Informed Technology\" reflects this basic duality.",
"corpus_id": 33836147,
"score": -1,
"title": "Artificial Intelligence in Education: Supporting Learning through Intelligent and Socially Informed Technology"
} |
{
"abstract": "UNLABELLED\nMultiple pyogenic liver abscesses formed after appendectomy and their percutaneous treatment with multiple catheters have been rarely described. We report a case of multiple pyogenic liver abscesses in a critically ill patient, formed after appendectomy and treated successfully by antibiotics and drainage with six catheters that were introduced simultaneously under ultrasound control. Even though this was a case of liver abscess secondary to appendicitis, today very rare in Western countries, but still a serious complication in developing countries, it was successfully resolved by percutaneous drainage, along with antibiotic therapy.\n\n\nCONCLUSION\nWe emphasize the advantages of percutaneous treatment compared with surgery regarding the avoidance of perioperative complications and the risks of general anesthesia.",
"corpus_id": 31604939,
"title": "Multiple pyogenic liver abscesses formed after appendectomy: the role of percutaneous drainage in a critically ill patient."
} | {
"abstract": "Multiple pyogenic liver abscesses have been rarely described. We report a fatal case of multiple pyogenic liver abscesses affecting a 38-year-old woman requiring surgical drainage. Evolution was marked by occurrence of a septic shock with multi-organ system failure. The patient died 48 h after surgery. Causes, therapeutics and outcome of the disease are discussed.",
"corpus_id": 769860,
"title": "Multiple pyogenic liver abscess."
} | {
"abstract": "Most recent reviews of pyogenic hepatic abscess emphasize percutaneous versus open surgical management and devote little time to studying the etiology or the clinical condition of the patient. In this study a detailed review was performed with a computerized analysis of multiple clinical parameters in 73 patients treated for pyogenic hepatic abscess during a 17-year period. The mean age of the patients was 55 years and 38 of them (52%) were male. The mortality rate was comparable for solitary (17%) and multiple (23%) abscesses. The likelihood of death was higher with antibiotic treatment alone (45%) or percutaneous treatment (25%) than with surgical treatment (9.5%). The primary determinant of outcome, however, was the underlying disease, i.e., malignancy or an immunocompromised patient, rather than solitary versus multiple abscesses. In addition the incidence of hepatic abscess seen at this center has doubled from the first half to the second half of the review, reflecting a population of more severely ill patients. It is apparent that in current clinical practice several methods of management are effective, and the choice of therapy should be determined by individualized selection. The principle of timely diagnosis and prompt institution of treatment appropriate to the specific patient remains the standard of care in this potentially grave disease.",
"corpus_id": 7707866,
"score": -1,
"title": "Hepatic abscess. Changes in etiology, diagnosis, and management."
} |
{
"abstract": "This study seeks to assess the impact of IT infrastructure capability on cooperative interfirm relationship. Grounded in IT infrastructure framework and transaction cost and information processing theories, we identify multiple dimensions of IT infrastructure capabilityIT resources, information resources, and process resources and propose a model and formulate hypotheses, which articulate relationships between the dimensions and electronic cooperation. We then test the hypotheses empirically using the data from a survey of IS managers in manufacturing and retailing industries. The results support the multi-dimensional view of IT infrastructure capability in interfirm relationship.",
"corpus_id": 62505576,
"title": "The Multiple Dimensions of Information Technology Infrastructure Capability toward Cooperative Interfirm Relationship: An Empirical Study"
} | {
"abstract": "This study seeks to identify the means by which information technology helps cocreate relational value in the context of interfirm relationships in the logistics industry--a large and information-intensive industry. We identify a set of IT functionalities--single-location shipping, multilocation shipping, supply chain visibility, and financial settlement--that can be used to manage the flows of physical goods, information, and finances across locations in interfirm logistics processes. Progressively more advanced sets of IT functionalities, when implemented and used in the interfirm relationship to execute logistics processes, are proposed to form four distinct IT capability profiles of increased sophistication. Interfirm IT capability profiles of higher sophistication are proposed to help cocreate greater relational value by facilitating the flows of physical goods, information, and finances across locations in the interfirm logistics process. Besides their direct role in helping cocreate relational value, these interfirm IT capability profiles are proposed to further enhance relational value cocreation when complemented by interfirm communications for business development and IT development. \n \nOur empirical study was situated in one of the world's largest logistics suppliers and over 2,000 of its interfirm relationships with buyers across industries. Integrated data from four archival sources on the IT functionalities implemented and used in interfirm logistics relationships, interfirm communications, relational value (share of wallet and loyalty), and multiple control variables were collected. The results show that the proposed interfirm IT capability profiles and interfirm communications have both a direct and an interaction effect on relational value. Implications for cocreating relational value in interfirm relationships with the aid of IT are discussed.",
"corpus_id": 1255483,
"title": "Interfirm IT Capability Profiles and Communications for Cocreating Relational Value: Evidence from the Logistics Industry"
} | {
"abstract": "In order to provide new products that are more innovative and are suited to customer needs, enterprises have started to look for assistance from external partners. Consequently, as firms launch new product development (NPD), it has become more critical to determine a method by which to integrate technology and knowledge together and to enhance absorptive capability (AC) of firms in the process of information, technology and knowledge sharing. This study thus combines the concepts of corporate social capital (CSC), intellectual capital, and AC, and discusses the influence of internal/external resource integration on technology integration mechanisms (TIM) and knowledge integration mechanisms (KIM), as well as AC’s effect on NPD. Three hundred and ninety-four valid responses were collected and partial least squares structural equation modeling was adopted for data analysis. The results show that interaction ties and the shared language of CSC positively affect TIM, while human capital and organizational capital have positive influences on KIM. In addition, TIM and KIM both have significant and positive influences on AC and AC further influences NPD performance. Therefore, this study suggests that firms have to establish interaction bases for utilizing external knowledge to assist in NPD, and this can be achieved by offering a friendly environment to encourage employees to be more willing to contribute their knowledge.",
"corpus_id": 36789569,
"score": -1,
"title": "Exploring the antecedents and consequences of technology and knowledge integration mechanisms in the context of NPD"
} |
{
"abstract": "Identifying the optimal time to replace a passenger bus in a buses fleet has implications on the size of the reserve fleet. Such calculations rest on endogenous and exogenous economic variables: the former include operating and maintenance costs and bus depreciation; the latter include market imponderables such as the inflation and real discount rates, as well as energy costs, particularly fuel. The authors have created models for the withdrawal/replacement of buses using endogenous economic variables. The models include standard econometric models reflecting the influence of maintenance policies, especially Condition Monitoring (CM) or predictive maintenance, and the size of the reserve fleet. The paper deals with exogenous economic variables, specifically the influence of the cost of money, the inflation and real discount rates rate and the cost of fuel. Both variables fluctuate over time. The paper proposes analytical models for determining the influence of those variables on the withdrawal time and the size of the reserve fleet. It then comprehensively summarizes the variables in a global model, showing its relevance to the dimensioning of the reserve fleet and the withdrawal time.",
"corpus_id": 203997295,
"title": "RESERVE FLEET INDEXED TO EXOGENOUS COST VARIABLES"
} | {
"abstract": "This paper presents the proposal of a generic model of stochastic process based on neural networks, called Neural Stochastic Process (NSP). The proposed model can be applied to problems involving phenomena of stochastic behavior and / or periodic features. Through the NSP's neural networks it is possible to capture the historical series' behavior of these phenomena without requiring any a priori information about the series, as well as to generate synthetic time series with the same probabilities as the historical series. The NSP was applied to the treatment of monthly inflows series and the results indicate that the generated synthetic series exhibit statistical characteristics similar to historical series.",
"corpus_id": 564375,
"title": "A stochastic model based on neural networks"
} | {
"abstract": "The generic model of stochastic process based on neural networks, called Neural Stochastic Process (NSP), was applied to the treatment of series of monthly inflows. These series correspond to Affluent Natural Energy (ANE), which is the aggregation of the inflows to the plants, comprising a reservoir equivalent of a subsystem of National Interconnected System (NIS). The series of ANE presents temporal correlation and spatial correlation. The NSP model in its original version can capture the temporal correlation, however, does not incorporate the spatial correlation of the series. This paper presents a variant of the NSP model aimed at the incorporation of spatial correlation of the series of ANE. The results indicated that the model is able to capture the behavior of the time series of all NIS subsystems, providing different scenarios for the next 5 years that embody the same temporal and spatial correlation of the historical data.",
"corpus_id": 102396141,
"score": -1,
"title": "Processo Estocástico Neural Aplicado em Séries de Afluências Mensais"
} |
{
"abstract": "We propose a novel type of low distortion radial embedding which focuses on one specific entity and its closest neighbors. Our embedding preserves near-exact distances to the focus entity and aims to minimize distortion between the other entities. We present an interactive exploration tool SolarView which places the focus entity at the center of a “solar system” and embeds its neighbors guided by concentric circles. SolarView provides an implementation of our novel embedding and several state-of-the-art dimensionality reduction and embedding techniques, which we adapted to our setting in various ways. We experimentally evaluated our embedding and compared it to these state-of-the-art techniques. The results show that our embedding competes with these techniques and achieves low distortion in practice. Our method performs particularly well when the visualization, and hence the embedding, adheres to the solar system design principle of our application. Nonetheless—as with all dimensionality reduction techniques—the distortion may be high. We leverage interaction techniques to give clear visual cues that allow users to accurately judge distortion. We illustrate the use of SolarView by exploring the high-dimensional metric space of bibliographic entity similarities.",
"corpus_id": 52008222,
"title": "SolarView: Low Distortion Radial Embedding with a Focus"
} | {
"abstract": "Consider a geometric graph G, drawn with straight lines in the plane. For every pair a, b of vertices of G, we compare the shortest-path distance between a and b in G (with Euclidean edge lengths) to their actual Euclidean distance in the plane. The worst-case ratio of these two values, for all pairs of vertices, is called the vertex-to-vertex dilation of G. \n \nWe prove that computing a minimum-dilation graph that connects a given n-point set in the plane, using not more than a given number m of edges, is an NP-hard problem, no matter if edge crossings are allowed or forbidden. In addition, we show that the minimum dilation tree over a given point set may in fact contain edge crossings.",
"corpus_id": 126154,
"title": "Computing Geometric Minimum-Dilation Graphs is NP-Hard"
} | {
"abstract": "Abstract The estimation of time-varying parameters in continuous-time nonlinear systems is considered under the framework of the modulating functions method. The parameter is approximated as a finite Fourier series, which is reconstructed from the estimated Fourier spectral coefficients. Unlike the popular polynomial approximation, this approach is general enough for piecewise smooth parameter changes. The locations of abrupt jumps are accurately identified by the presence of Gibbs phenomenon. The global Fourier spectral coefficients are then used to extract local finite Gegenbauer polynomial series to recover smooth parameter variations between the jumps. This method of resolution of the Gibbs phenomenon avoids the necessity of estimating a large number of Fourier coefficients for series convergence. A van der Pol oscillator simulation example is included to demonstrate the performance of the approach.",
"corpus_id": 120470545,
"score": -1,
"title": "On the Estimation of Time-varying Parameters in Continuous-time Nonlinear Systems"
} |
{
"abstract": "The development and international diffusion of total quality management (TQM) as a normative theory are examined. It is shown that the main concepts associated with TQM contain an implicit Darwinist view of society made up only of institutions struggling to survive against increasingly ruthless competition. It is also shown that their development was the result of a process in which universities, large corporations, and government interacted to develop a response to the increasingly serious economic challenge that Japan presented to the United States from the 1960s to the mid-1980s. The TQM paradigm was taken up by U.S. multinational corporations and the leading business and management schools of the United States and disseminated throughout the world. It is concluded that TQM has an ideological dimension designed to help diffuse to private and public service institutions throughout the world the dominant U.S. view of society and economy at the end of the twentieth century.",
"corpus_id": 145671477,
"title": "Total Quality Management and Inequality: The Triple Helix in Global Historical Perspective:"
} | {
"abstract": "This paper examines the political process through which the U.S. auto industry pursued and ultimately received protection from Japanese competition. Following a brief review of research on the competitiveness of the industry (section II) and on the effects of protection on industry performance (section III), it is not at all obvious that trade protection was the most effective policy response to the industry's economic problems. The remainder of the paper argues that the industry's political strategy reflects a response to a crisis in the political-economic regime regulating relations among the major interests in the U.S. auto industry. To make this argument, section IV develops the notion of a sectoral regime and applies it to the auto industry. Section V develops the argument further suggesting that conditions in the industry constituted a regime crisis and reexamines the industry's pursuit of aggressive trade policy toward Japanese producers in this context. Section VI illustrates the usefulness of this perspective by examining the politics of North American integration from the perspective of the auto industry. Section VII concludes.",
"corpus_id": 153273260,
"title": "The Political-Economy of U.S. Automobile Protection"
} | {
"abstract": "The development and international diffusion of total quality management (TQM) as a normative theory are examined. It is shown that the main concepts associated with TQM contain an implicit Darwinist view of society made up only of institutions struggling to survive against increasingly ruthless competition. It is also shown that their development was the result of a process in which universities, large corporations, and government interacted to develop a response to the increasingly serious economic challenge that Japan presented to the United States from the 1960s to the mid-1980s. The TQM paradigm was taken up by U.S. multinational corporations and the leading business and management schools of the United States and disseminated throughout the world. It is concluded that TQM has an ideological dimension designed to help diffuse to private and public service institutions throughout the world the dominant U.S. view of society and economy at the end of the twentieth century.",
"corpus_id": 145671477,
"score": -1,
"title": "Total Quality Management and Inequality: The Triple Helix in Global Historical Perspective:"
} |
{
"abstract": "Introduction: Low back pain (LBP) is prevalent worldwide and is affecting even more individuals as the population ages. There has recently been an increase in production of low back pain (LBP) vibration modality belts that apply localized vibration to the lumbar region of the spine as it has shown to reduce pain. However, vibration is also known to perturb muscle spindles and thus interfere with proprioception. If a LBP vibration modality causes a proprioceptive deficit in the trunk lumbar region it could potentially increase an individual’s risk of injury due to poor postural control. Therefore, the effects of a LBP vibration modality on trunk motor control needed to be investigated further. Methods: 15 participants who had not experienced LBP for longer than 3 days in the previous year were recruited to partake in a control and experimental day approximately one week apart from each other. Each day consisted of 3 conditions including; previbration, post-vibration, and vibration ON. Between each condition participants sat on a standard chair for 15 minutes while wearing the vibration belt and the belt was also worn during the last vibration ON condition. On the control day the vibration belt was worn but not turned on between conditions or during the last vibration ON condition. Each condition consisted of 4 sudden unexpected trunk perturbations following by 3 halfand 3 full-trunk flexion repositioning tasks. Electromyography (EMG) was collected from several trunk muscles to analyze changes in trunk postural control and motion capture was collected to analyze changes in lumbar spine movement. Results: The magnitude of lumbar flexion caused from the sudden trunk perturbation decreased after sitting for 15-minutes and was exacerbated by vibration. No other significant differences in the variables measured after wearing the vibration belt for 15TRUNK POSTURAL CONTROL AND VIBRATION 3 minutes were found. However, profound differences were found during the vibration ON condition. Bilaterally the LES (p<0.0001), LEO (p=0.03), and REO (p=0.002) displayed significantly delayed muscle activation onset latencies. Bilaterally the LES (p<0.0001), LTES (p=0.01), RTES (p<0.0001), EO (p<0.0001), LRA (p<0.0001), and RRA (p=0.0001) all showed significant increases in resting muscle activation pre-perturbation. The LLES (p=0.0002), RLES (p=0.0003), LTES (p=0.0008), RTES (p=0.03), LRA (p=0.02), and RRA (p=0.01) also all displayed significantly reduced muscle activation magnitudes post-perturbation. Discussion and Conclusion: The increased resting muscle activation pre-perturbation caused from the vibration can be explained as the tonic vibration reflex (TVR) because of vibrations stimulatory effect on Ia afferents. The delayed muscle activation onset latencies that were observed while wearing the vibration belt most likely occurred because of the ability for vibration to create a ‘busy line’ or vibration-locked discharge of the muscle spindles. Proper muscle spindle function is essential for providing critical proprioceptive information on body awareness and functions as a protective mechanism against injury. Additionally, the TVR can also lead to fatigue and subsequent altered trunk motor control. The findings of the current study reveal that impaired trunk motor control when wearing a LBP vibration modality belt needs to be considered due to the potentially greater risk for experiencing an injury to the low back or LBP. TRUNK POSTURAL CONTROL AND VIBRATION 4",
"corpus_id": 55388792,
"title": "The Effects of a Low Back Pain Vibration Modality on Trunk Postural Control"
} | {
"abstract": "I present a brief review of current understanding of the innervation of the mammalian muscle spindle, from a personal historical perspective. The review begins with comparative studies on the numbers of spindle afferents and considers how their relative abundance may best be assessed. This is followed by an examination of the distribution and some functional properties of the motor innervation. The primary ending is the subject of the final section, in particular, I look at what can be learned from serial sectioning and volumetric reconstruction, and present new results on a model and simulations concerning sensory terminal deformation during stretch.",
"corpus_id": 348398,
"title": "The innervation of the muscle spindle: a personal history"
} | {
"abstract": "SummaryThe influence of innervation on muscle spindle morphogenesis has been investigated in rat hind-limb muscles by sectioning the sciatic nerve, with suture of the stumps, at various postnatal stages. After nerve section at 4 or 7 days of age a proportion of spindles survived during the denervation phase and developed, during the subsequent reinnervation phase, into atypical structures. The reinnervated spindles were recognized by the presence of a limiting capsule but lacked the characteristic distinction of equatorial and polar regions. The intrafusal fibres were fewer than normal and were indistinguishable in size and fine structure from extrafusal fibres; they had a single motor endplate and lacked sensory nerve terminals. In reinnervated muscles of animals operated at 13 and 22 days of age there was a progressive tendency towards a restoration of normal spindle structure and innervation. These findings indicate that muscle spindle morphogenesis is profoundly altered by nerve lesion at early developmental stages, apparently as a result of inadequate sensory reinnervation. This study also shows that the differentiation of intrafusal fibres is dictated by their specific pattern of innervation and is not intrinsically predetermined.",
"corpus_id": 23465880,
"score": -1,
"title": "Morphogenesis of rat muscle spindles after nerve lesion during early postnatal development"
} |
{
"abstract": "Advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) continues to be an incurable family of thoracic malignancies that is chronically managed with chemotherapy, targeted therapy, and immunotherapy. While the discovery of driver oncogenes and the advent of targeted therapies in the last decade have vastly improved disease management for patients whose tumors harbor druggable mutations, the clinical efficacy of targeted therapies remains limited by the development of acquired drug resistance. One proto-oncogene that is mutated in 10-15% of NSCLC is the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). Activating EGFR mutations drive constitutive receptor phosphorylation, which in turn activates downstream kinase cascades promoting cell proliferation and survival. Tumors harboring sensitizing EGFR mutations respond to EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI), before ultimately becoming refractory to therapy. Resistance to targeted EGFR TKIs predominantly occurs through reactivation of EGFR signaling, either by acquisition of secondary EGFR mutations that enable the receptor to evade drug binding and remain active, or through compensatory upregulation of bypass signaling pathways that reactivate canonical EGFR-downstream signaling. MET kinase is a proto-oncogene that is",
"corpus_id": 216877376,
"title": "Characterizing resistance and sensitivity to targeted therapies in patient-derived models of EGFR mutant lung cancer"
} | {
"abstract": "Intracellular signaling is mediated by reversible posttranslational modifications (PTMs) that include phosphorylation, ubiquitination, and acetylation, among others. In response to extracellular stimuli such as growth factors, receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs) typically dimerize and initiate signaling through phosphorylation of their cytoplasmic tails and downstream scaffolds. Signaling effectors are recruited to these phosphotyrosine (pTyr) sites primarily through Src homology 2 (SH2) domains and pTyr-binding (PTB) domains. This review describes how these conserved domains specifically recognize pTyr residues and play a major role in mediating precise downstream signaling events.",
"corpus_id": 430012,
"title": "Molecular mechanisms of SH2- and PTB-domain-containing proteins in receptor tyrosine kinase signaling."
} | {
"abstract": "THE domain organization of many signalling proteins facilitates a segregation of binding, catalytic and regulatory functions1,2. The mammalian SH2 domain protein tyrosine phosphatases (PTPs) contain tandem SH2 domains and a single carboxy-terminal catalytic domain3. SH-PTP1 (PTP1C, HCP) and SH-PTP2 (Syp, PTP2C, PTP1D) function downstream from tyrosine kinase-Iinked insulin, growth factor, cytokine and antigen receptors4–12. As well as directing subcellular localization by binding to receptors and their substrates, the two SH2 domains of these PTPs function together to regulate catalysis7,13,14. Here we report the structure of the tandem SH2 domains of SH-PTP2 in complex with monophosphopeptides. A fixed relative orientation of the two domains, stabilized by a disulphide bond and a small hydrophobic patch within the interface, separates the peptide binding sites by ~ 40 Å. The defined orientation of the SH2 domains in the structure, and data showing that peptide orientation and spacing between binding sites is critical for enzymatic activation, suggest that spatial constraints are important in this multidomain protein–protein interaction.",
"corpus_id": 4280372,
"score": -1,
"title": "Spatial constraints on the recognition of phosphoproteins by the tandem SH2 domains of the phosphatase SH-PTP2"
} |
{
"abstract": "Poster: \"ECR 2014 / C-0954 / Real-time elastography: a comparison of qualitative and semi-quantitative methods for analysis of the elastograms\" by: \"C. Puppo1, F. Paparo2, M. Revelli2, L. Cevasco1, D. Astengo2, E. Aleo1, L. Bacigalupo1, S. Banderali1, G. A. Rollandi1; 1Genoa/IT, 2Genova/IT\"",
"corpus_id": 43163618,
"title": "Real-time elastography: a comparison of qualitative and semi-quantitative methods for analysis of the elastograms"
} | {
"abstract": "Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate liver fibrosis using non-invasive Real-time Tissue Elastography® (RTE) and transient elastography (FibroScan®) methods. Methods: RTE, FibroScan and percutaneous liver biopsy were all performed on patients with chronic liver disease, particularly hepatitis C, to investigate liver fibrosis. Results: FibroScan and RTE were compared for fibrous liver staging (F stage), which was pathologically classified using liver biopsy. In FibroScan, significant differences were observed between F1/F3 and F2/F4, but no such differences were observed between F1/F2, F2/F3 and F3/F4. In RTE, significant differences were observed between F1/F2, F2/F3 and F2/F4. But for F3/F4, no significant differences were observed. Conclusion: FibroScan and RTE correlated well with F staging of the liver. In particular RTE was more successful than FibroScan in diagnosing the degree of liver fibrosis.",
"corpus_id": 418715,
"title": "Non-Invasive Evaluation of Hepatic Fibrosis for Type C Chronic Hepatitis"
} | {
"abstract": "Objective: analyze the association between family stress and individual coping styles with therapeutic adherence in patients with ischemic heart disease. Methods: an analytical cross-sectional study conducted in 2018 in the Family Medicine Unit (fmu) no. 92 of the Mexican Institute of Social Security (imss); patients diagnosed with ischemic heart disease of thirty to sixty years of age participated, and with an evolution time of one to five years from the time of diagnosis. The sample size was determined using the finite population formula, a simple randomized sampling was performed. An identification sheet, the Family Inventory of Life Events and Changes (file), the Coping Strategies Inventory (csi) and the Medication Adherence Rating Scale (mars) instruments were applied. The χ 2 Test was used to determine association between the indicated variables. Results: 130 patients participated in this study, when analyzing the association between family stress and therapeutic adhesion the values were χ 2 =1.336 and p=0.513; when studying the association between coping styles and therapeutic adhesion, the following values χ 2 = 2.698 and p=0.100 were obtained. Moderate family stress predominated in 57% of cases (n=74), passive coping at 53% (n=69) and suboptimal therapeutic adhesion in 94% of them (n=122). Conclusions: No association was found between a high level of family stress and passive coping with suboptimal therapeutic adherence in patients with ischemic heart disease.",
"corpus_id": 225652982,
"score": -1,
"title": "Estrés familiar y afrontamiento individual asociados a la adherencia terapéutica de pacientes con cardiopatía isquémica"
} |
{
"abstract": "Chronic ethanol exposure during the fetal period alters spontaneous neuronal discharge, excitatory and inhibitory amino acid neurotransmission and neuronal sensitivity to ethanol in the adult brain. However, nothing is known about the effects of such exposure on the central respiratory rhythmic network, which is highly dependent on ethanol‐sensitive amino acid neurotransmission. In 3‐ to 4‐week‐old rats, we investigated (1) the effects of chronic ethanol exposure (10% v/v as only source of fluid) during gestation and lactation on phrenic (Phr) and hypoglossal (XII) nerve activity using an in situ preparation and on spontaneous breathing at rest in unanaesthetized animals using plethysmography; (2) the sensitivity of the respiratory system to ethanol re‐exposure in situ; and (3) the phrenic nerve response to muscimol, a GABAA receptor agonist, applied systemically in an in situ preparation. In control rats, ethanol (10–80 mm) induced a concentration‐dependent decrease in the amplitude of both XII and Phr motor outflows. At 80 mm ethanol, the amplitude of the activity of the two nerves displayed a difference in sensitivity to ethanol and respiratory frequency increased as a result of shortening of postinspiratory duration period. After chronic ethanol exposure, respiratory frequency was significantly reduced by 43%in situ and by 23% in unanaesthetized animals, as a result of a selective increase in expiratory duration. During Phr burst, the ramp was steeper, revealing modification of inspiratory patterning. Interestingly that re‐exposure to ethanol in situ elicited a dramatic inhibitory effect. At 80 mm, ethanol abolished rhythmic XII nerve outflow in all cases and Phr nerve outflow in only 50% of cases. Furthermore, administration of 50 µm muscimol abolished Phr nerve activity in all control rats, but only in 50% of ethanol‐exposed animals. Our results demonstrate that chronic ethanol exposure at an early stage of brain development depresses breathing in juvenile rats, and sensitizes the respiratory network to re‐exposure to ethanol, which does not seem to involve GABAergic neurotransmission.",
"corpus_id": 22989642,
"title": "Early chronic ethanol exposure in rats disturbs respiratory network activity and increases sensitivity to ethanol"
} | {
"abstract": "Ethanol potentiates glycinergic synaptic transmission to hypoglossal motoneurons (HMs). This effect on glycinergic transmission changes with postnatal development in that juvenile HMs (P9-13) are more sensitive to ethanol than neonate HMs (P1-3). We have now extended our previous study to investigate ethanol modulation of synaptic GABA(A) receptors (GABA(A)Rs), because both GABA and glycine mediate inhibitory synaptic transmission to brain stem motoneurons. We tested the effects of ethanol on GABAergic and glycinergic miniature inhibitory postsynaptic currents (mIPSCs) recorded from neonate and juvenile rat HMs in an in vitro slice preparation. Bath application of 30 mM ethanol had no significant effect on the GABAergic mIPSC amplitude or frequency recorded at either age. At 100 mM, ethanol significantly decreased the GABAergic mIPSC amplitude recorded from neonate (6 +/- 3%, P < 0.05) and juvenile (16 +/- 3%, P < 0.01) HMs. The same concentration of ethanol increased the GABAergic mIPSC frequency recorded from neonate (64 +/- 17%, P < 0.05) and juvenile (40 +/- 15%, n.s.) HMs. In contrast, 100 mM ethanol robustly potentiated glycinergic mIPSC amplitude in neonate (31 +/- 3%, P < 0.0001) and juvenile (41 +/- 7%, P < 0.001) HMs. These results suggest that glycine receptors are more sensitive to modulation by ethanol than GABA(A) receptors and that 100 mM ethanol has the opposite effect on GABA(A)R-mediated currents in juvenile HMs, that is, inhibition rather than enhancement. Further, comparing ethanol's effects on GABAergic mIPSC amplitude and frequency, ethanol modulates GABAergic synaptic transmission to HMs differentially. Presynaptically, ethanol enhances mIPSC frequency while postsynaptically it decreases mIPSC amplitude.",
"corpus_id": 1238567,
"title": "Differential effects of ethanol on GABA(A) and glycine receptor-mediated synaptic currents in brain stem motoneurons."
} | {
"abstract": "Enhancement of the activation of GABAA receptors is a common feature of many sedative and hypnotic drugs, and it is probable that the GABAA receptor complex is a molecular target for these drugs in the mammalian central nervous system. We set out to elucidate the role of the two predominant (α1 and β2) subunits of GABAA receptor in sedative drug action by studying mice lacking these two subunits. Both α1 (−/−) and β2 (−/−) null mutant mice showed markedly decreased sleep time induced by nonselective benzodiazepine, flurazepam, and GABAA agonist, 4,5,6,7-tetrahydroisoxazolo(5,4-c)pyridin-3-ol. The sleep time induced by the β-selective drug etomidate was decreased only in β2 (−/−) knockout mice. In contrast, α1 (−/−) mice were more resistant to the α1-selective drug zolpidem than β2 (−/−) or wild-type animals. Knockout mice of both strains were similar to wild-type mice in their responses to pentobarbital. The duration of loss of the righting reflex produced by ethanol was decreased in male mice for both null alleles compared with wild-type mice, but there were no differences in ethanol-induced sleep time in mutant females. Deletion of either the α1 or β2 subunits reduced the muscimol-stimulated 36Cl− influx in cortical microsacs suggesting that these mutant mice have reduced number of functional brain GABAA receptors. Our results show that removal of either α1 or β2subunits of GABAA receptors produce strong and selective decreases in hypnotic effects of different drugs. Overall, these data confirm the crucial role of the GABAA receptor in mechanisms mediating sedative/hypnotic effects.",
"corpus_id": 1846375,
"score": -1,
"title": "Deletion of the α1 or β2 Subunit of GABAAReceptors Reduces Actions of Alcohol and Other Drugs"
} |
{
"abstract": "A field experiment was conducted to study the effects of elements zinc (Zn), boron (B) and sulfur (S) and their interactions on quantitative and qualitative agronomic characteristics of rapeseed. Minimum grain oil and seed yield were obtained from control treatments and the highest seed yield were obtained from S + B + Zn treatments. The maximum of oleic acid (229.6 mg g -1 ) and linolenic acid (27.14 mg g -1 ) were obtained from B + Zn + S treatment. Maximum of linoleic acid (55.55 mg g -1 ) were obtained from B + Zn treatment. However, the highest superoxide dismutase activity was obtained from S + B + Zn treatments 10.24 unit mg -1 and the highest peroxidase activity were obtained from Zn treatment 0.87 µmol g -1 FM min. Regard to this experiment results, application of B, S and Zn fertilizers with NPK fertilizer can help to increase the yield and yield components in rapeseed. Also fatty acids composition of rapeseed are influenced by nutrients and since quality of edible oils depends on unsaturated fatty acids, especially linoleic and linolenic acids and these acids are essential fatty acids for the human body that must be supplied through diet. Therefore this research showed that we are not only able only to increase oil yield but also oil quality with desired fatty acid composition.",
"corpus_id": 89992367,
"title": "Effects of zinc, boron and sulfur on grain yield, activity of some antioxidant enzymes and fatty acid composition of rapeseed (Brassica napus L.)"
} | {
"abstract": "The residual effects of Zn supplied (+Zn: 1 mg kg−1 soil, -Zn: no Zn added) in subsoil to four oilseed rape genotypes (Zhongyou 821, Xinza 2 and Narendra: Brassica napus type, and CSIRO-1: Brassica juncea type) were studied on the following wheat in a glasshouse experiment in pots (100 cm long, 10.5 cm diameter). The topsoil (upper 20 cm soil in pots) was supplied with Zn (0.5 mg kg−1 soil) in all treatments whereas Zn (1 mg Zn kg−1 dry soil) was either supplied or omitted from the subsoil at time of sowing of oilseed rape genotypes. Oilseed rape plants were harvested at maturity and wheat (variety Songlen) was grown to evaluate the residual effects of subsoil Zn and oilseed rape genotypes. Subsoil residual Zn significantly improved the root growth, yield attributes, grain and straw yield of wheat. Wheat grain Zn concentration was 4 times higher in +Zn subsoil residual than under -Zn subsoil residual. Oilseed rape genotypes did not vary in their residual effect on grain and straw yield of wheat, but reflected a differential effect on Zn concentration and Zn content of wheat grain. Zinc uptake per wheat plant (grain + shoot + root Zn uptake) was about 4 times higher in +Zn subsoil residual than -Zn subsoil residual. Out of total Zn uptake per plant, 77%, 15% and 8% of Zn was loaded in wheat grains, shoots and roots respectively in +Zn subsoil residual. However in -Zn subsoil residual, distribution of Zn in grains, shoots and roots was 55%, 29% and 16% respectively. Zinc loading in grains of wheat was significantly higher in wheat grown after Narendra and Xinza 2 compared with wheat grown after Zhongyou 821 (Zn-inefficient genotype). These results indicate that subsoil residual Zn and Zn-efficient genotypes of oilseed rape have the potential to increase the Zn loading in wheat grains.",
"corpus_id": 2394391,
"title": "Residual effects of subsoil zinc and oilseed rape genotype on the grain yield and distribution of zinc in wheat"
} | {
"abstract": "The association between natural mold resistance and the wood’s chemical components was studied for nine wood species. The mold resistance of the different wood species was tested by artificially accelerated tests and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The chemical components were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The results indicated that the sequence of mold resistance of different wood flours was as follows, from greatest to least resistance: spruce, Mongolian pine and camphor, toon and teak, eucalyptus (E. urophylla and E. grandis × E. urophylla), sweetgum, and castor straw fiber. GC-MS analysis indicated that the total contents of the antifungal compounds present in all wood flour extractives were consistent with the sequence of mold resistance of wood flour. This suggested that the natural durability of wood flour against molds was affected by its chemical components.",
"corpus_id": 55623605,
"score": -1,
"title": "Evaluation of the association between natural mold resistance and chemical components of nine wood species"
} |
{
"abstract": "The approach of Causal Dynamical Triangulations (CDT), a candidate theory of nonperturbative quantum gravity in 4D, turns out to have a rich phase structure. We investigate the recently discovered bifurcation phase Cb and relate some of its characteristics to the presence of singular vertices of very high order. The transition lines separating this phase from the “time-collapsed” B-phase and the de Sitter phase CdS are of great interest when searching for physical scaling limits. The work presented here sheds light on the mechanisms behind these transitions. First, we study how the B–Cb transition signal depends on the volume fixing implemented in the simulations, and find results compatible with the previously determined second-order character of the transition. The transition persists in a transfer matrix formulation, where the system’s time extension is taken to be minimal. Second, we relate the new Cb–CdS transition to the appearance of singular vertices, which leads to a direct physical interpretation in terms of a breaking of the homogeneity and isotropy observed in the de Sitter phase when crossing from CdS to the bifurcation phase Cb.",
"corpus_id": 86860295,
"title": "Universitet Characteristics of the new phase in CDT"
} | {
"abstract": "A bstractThis work focuses on the newly discovered bifurcation phase transition of CDT quantum gravity. We define various order parameters and investigate which is most suitable to study this transition in numerical simulations. By analyzing the behaviour of the order parameters we present evidence that the transition separating the bifurcation phase and the physical phase of CDT is likely a second or higher-order transition, a result that may have important implications for the continuum limit of CDT.",
"corpus_id": 166067,
"title": "Exploring the new phase transition of CDT"
} | {
"abstract": "The approach of Causal Dynamical Triangulations (CDT), a candidate theory of nonperturbative quantum gravity in 4D, turns out to have a rich phase structure. We investigate the recently discovered bifurcation phase $$C_{b}$$Cb and relate some of its characteristics to the presence of singular vertices of very high order. The transition lines separating this phase from the “time-collapsed” B-phase and the de Sitter phase $$C_{dS}$$CdS are of great interest when searching for physical scaling limits. The work presented here sheds light on the mechanisms behind these transitions. First, we study how the B–$$C_{b}$$Cb transition signal depends on the volume fixing implemented in the simulations, and find results compatible with the previously determined second-order character of the transition. The transition persists in a transfer matrix formulation, where the system’s time extension is taken to be minimal. Second, we relate the new $$C_{b}$$Cb–$$C_{dS}$$CdS transition to the appearance of singular vertices, which leads to a direct physical interpretation in terms of a breaking of the homogeneity and isotropy observed in the de Sitter phase when crossing from $$C_{dS}$$CdS to the bifurcation phase $$C_{b}$$Cb.",
"corpus_id": 6016263,
"score": -1,
"title": "Characteristics of the new phase in CDT"
} |
{
"abstract": "Bitter crab disease (BCD) is caused by Hematodinium sp., an endoparasitic dinoflagellate. It lives within the hemocoeloms of snow crabs Chionoecetes opilio and Tanner crabs C. bairdi, making them unmarketable due to their bitter flavor. Two recent outbreaks of BCD have occurred in Conception Bay, Newfoundland, one from 1999 to 2000 and another from 2003 to 2005. In the earlier outbreak, prevalence was highest in juvenile and primiparous females and juvenile males. It was thought to be highest in these hosts because they molt more frequently than larger males and the disease is transmitted to newly molted crabs. In the 2003 to 2005 outbreak, the prevalence of BCD changed and was at its highest, 24% in trapped males and 13.5% in trawled males. This apparent shift in the dynamics of the infection between the earlier 1999 to 2000 and later 2003 to 2005 outbreaks was highly correlated with 2 factors: an increase in bottom temperatures, associated with the recent climatic warming trend in the Northwest Atlantic, and an increase in molting activity of the snow crabs due presumably to the temperature increase within Conception Bay. That is, rising temperatures occurring from 2003 to 2005 likely stimulated molting activity in snow crabs, which led to an increase in susceptible hosts in the population. Given the positive correlation between increased bottom temperature, increased molting activity, and the latest outbreak of BCD, we predict that further trends in climatic warming will enhance transmission, spreading the parasite into additional fishing areas.",
"corpus_id": 15632954,
"title": "Epidemiological determinants in outbreaks of bitter crab disease (Hematodinium sp.) in snow crabs Chionoecetes opilio from Conception Bay, Newfoundland, Canada."
} | {
"abstract": "Bitter crab disease (BCD) of snow crabs Chionoecetes opilio is caused by a parasitic dinoflagellate, Hematodinium sp. In Newfoundland's commercial fishery, infected snow crabs are identified using visual, macroscopic signs of disease for separation prior to processing. We estimated the sensitivity and specificity of gross, macroscopic diagnosis of Hematodinium sp. by comparing these results with microscopic examination of prepared hemolymph smears. The sensitivity of a diagnostic test is the probability that the test will yield a positive result given that the animal has the disease. The specificity is the probability of a negative result given the animal is not diseased. In October 1998, we conducted a design-based survey using cluster sampling in 2 strata. Over 10 000 snow crabs from pot and trawl surveys were examined macroscopically for BCD. In addition, over 350 crabs were randomly examined microscopically for disease. The double sampling resulted in an estimated sensitivity of 52.7% and an estimated specificity of 100%. That is, a positive result from macroscopic examination is definitive, if the observer is well trained, but macroscopic examination will fail to detect infections in crabs with borderline clinical signs of disease. The prevalence estimated from macroscopic observations (p(st) = 2.24%) was corrected for misclassification by dividing p(st) by the estimated sensitivity (0.527), giving a corrected estimate of 4.25%. The use of double sampling provides for efficient estimation of prevalence in that large numbers of crabs can be quickly examined for gross signs of infection and the results corrected for misclassification based on a limited number of observations with a better, but time-consuming test. In addition, the prevalence of macroscopically infected male crabs was lower in a trap survey (0.57%) compared to a trawl survey (1.59%). In the trawl survey, female crabs had a significantly higher prevalence of macroscopically diagnosed infections than males (6.34%). The prevalence of BCD has shown an alarming increase since it was first detected in Newfoundland during the early 1990s. Transmission and mortality studies are warranted to better understand the effect of the disease on its commercially important host.",
"corpus_id": 2117061,
"title": "Monitoring the prevalence of the parasitic dinoflagellate Hematodinium sp. in snow crabs Chionoecetes opilio from Conception Bay, Newfoundland."
} | {
"abstract": "Cymatocarpus solearis, a brachycoeliid trematode that parasitizes sea turtles, uses spiny lobsters Panulirus argus as second intermediate hosts. We examined variability in infection by C. solearis in Bahía de la Ascensión, Mexico, a tropical bay with a highly productive fishery for P. argus that is based on the extensive use of casitas (large artificial shelters), which can harbor multiple juveniles and adults of this gregarious lobster species. We sampled 3956 lobsters from 466 casitas distributed over three bay zones within two closed seasons and one fishing season. In these lobsters (9.5-115.2mm carapace length, CL), the average infection prevalence was 11.7% but the probability of infection increased significantly with size. Prevalence varied with season but was consistently higher in one zone than in the other two zones. Infection with C. solearis was negatively related with clinical infection with Panulirus argus Virus 1 (PaV1). We also sampled 405 lobsters from the commercial catch obtained throughout the bay at the onset of the fishing season. In these relatively larger lobsters (70.3-168.0mm CL), average prevalence of C. solearis was higher (23.5%) but was not affected by lobster size or sex. Encysted metacercariae occurred in both abdominal and cephalothoracic muscles. The effects of C. solearis on phenotypic traits of P. argus that may potentially impact the host population dynamics and fisheries remain to be investigated.",
"corpus_id": 4132499,
"score": -1,
"title": "Variability in prevalence of Cymatocarpus solearis (Trematoda, Brachycoeliidae) in Caribbean spiny lobsters Panulirus argus (Decapoda: Palinuridae) from Bahía de la Ascensión (Mexico)."
} |
{
"abstract": "An indigenous mixed microbial culture isolated from an effluent treatment section of a coke oven plant has been studied for its m -cresol biodegradation capacity under aerobic batch reactor operation. The culture, after acclimatization could biodegrade up to 700 mg/L of m -cresol. The m -cresol concentration in the present study was at 50 mg/L and then ranged from 100 to 700 mg/L with step up concentration of 100 mg/L. Both biodegradation kinetics and microorganism growth kinetics were studied and kinetic parameters were estimated. The result showed that m -cresol was an inhibitory-type substrate and the inhibition effect became predominant after 200 mg/L of initial m -cresol. The specific growth rate of microorganisms increased up to 200 mg/L of m -cresol as sole carbon source, and then started decreasing. The kinetic data obtained in this study have been fitted to different substrate inhibition models (Haldane, Han-Levenspiel, Edward, Luong, Aiba, Teissier, Yano-Koga). Among all models, Han-Levenspiel and Luong were best fitted for this study (root mean square error = 0.001349). In addition, the variation of observed yield coefficient Yx/s with initial m -cresol concentration was investigated. The values of kinetic constants estimated by the models proved that the mixed culture used in the study had good potential for m -cresol degradation.",
"corpus_id": 94838135,
"title": "Kinetic modelling for removal of m-cresol from wastewater using mixed microbial culture in batch reactor"
} | {
"abstract": "The inhibitory effect of butanol on yeast growth has been studied for the strain Candida utilis ATCC 8205 growing aerobically on butanol under batch conditions. A mathematical expression was then proposed to fit the kinetic pattern of butanol inhibition on the specific growth rate: \\documentclass{article}\\pagestyle{empty}\\begin{document}$$ \\mu = \\frac{{\\mu _m S}}{{K_s + S}}\\left[{1 - \\frac{S}{{S_m }}} \\right]^n $$\\end{document}",
"corpus_id": 10184773,
"title": "Generalization of monod kinetics for analysis of growth data with substrate inhibition"
} | {
"abstract": "SUMMARY: Acinetobacter calcoaceticus, a soil isolate capable of utilizing ethanol as a sole carbon source, was cultivated in a chemostat under ethanol-limiting conditions. The pulse addition of ethanol (to less than 0.1% final concentration) to steady state cultures inhibited growth. Growth inhibition was accompanied by conversion of ethanol to acetate, after which growth resumed on the accumulated acetate and the culture returned to the original steady state. The final concentration of ethanol added and acetate accumulated were lower than levels that inhibited growth in batch culture. The rate of acetate synthesis after the pulse addition of ethanol was sufficient to support the maximum specific growth rate. (μmax) although the growth rate immediately before ethanol addition was only 47% of μmax. In batch culture acetate- or ethanol-grown cells preferentially consumed the acetate component of an ethanol-acetate mixture, but in chemostat cultures the presence of acetate did not prevent ethanol oxidation.",
"corpus_id": 85941003,
"score": -1,
"title": "Ethanol Inhibition of a Bacterium (Acinetobacter calcoaceticus) in Chemostat Culture"
} |
{
"abstract": "From the microscopic point of view, realistic black holes are time-dependent and the teleological concept of the event horizon fails. At present, the apparent or trapping horizon seem to be its best replacements in various areas of black hole physics. We discuss the known phenomenology of apparent and trapping horizons for analytical solutions of General Relativity and alternative theories of gravity. These specific examples (we focus on spherically symmetric inhomogeneities in a background cosmological spacetime) are useful as toy models for research on various aspects of black hole physics.",
"corpus_id": 17351990,
"title": "Evolving Black Hole Horizons in General Relativity and Alternative Gravity"
} | {
"abstract": "We consider self-interacting scalar fields coupled to gravity. Two classes of exact solutions to Einstein's equations are obtained: the first class corresponds to the minimal coupling, the second one to the conformal coupling. One of the solutions is shown to describe a formation of a black hole in a cosmological setting. Some properties of this solution are described. There are two kinds of event horizons: a black-hole horizon and cosmological horizons. The cosmological horizons are not smooth. There is a mild curvature singularity, which affects extended bodies but allows geodesics to be extended. It is also shown that there is a critical value for a parameter on which the solution depends. Above the critical point, the black-hole singularity is hidden within a global black-hole event horizon. Below the critical point, the singularity appears to be naked. The relevance to cosmic censorship is discussed.",
"corpus_id": 5828526,
"title": "Exact Einstein scalar field solutions for formation of black holes in a cosmological setting"
} | {
"abstract": "We present an analytic construction of the three-bit quantum conditional swap (Fredkin) gate that uses only five quantum gates, each acting on only two qubits. Our implementation is based on previous work on the three-bit quantum conditional-NOT (Toffoli) gate. Numerical evidence suggests that this is a minimal implementation. \\textcopyright{} 1996 The American Physical Society.",
"corpus_id": 16015693,
"score": -1,
"title": "Five two-bit quantum gates are sufficient to implement the quantum Fredkin gate."
} |
{
"abstract": "It is unlikely that a hacker is able to compromise sensitive data that is stored in an encrypted form. However, when data is to be processed, it has to be decrypted, becoming vulnerable to attacks. Homomorphic encryption fixes this vulnerability by allowing one to compute directly on encrypted data. In this survey, both previous and current Somewhat Homomorphic Encryption (SHE) schemes are reviewed, and the more powerful and recent Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE) schemes are comprehensively studied. The concepts that support these schemes are presented, and their performance and security are analyzed from an engineering standpoint.",
"corpus_id": 24789575,
"title": "A Survey on Fully Homomorphic Encryption"
} | {
"abstract": "The first plausible scheme of fully homomorphic encryption (FHE), introduced by Gentry in 2009, was considered a major breakthrough in the field of information security. FHE allows the evaluation of arbitrary functions directly on encrypted data on untrusted servers. However, previous implementations of FHE on general-purpose processors had very long latency, which makes it impractical for cloud computing. The most computationally intensive components in the Gentry-Halevi FHE primitives are the large-number modular multiplications and additions. In this paper, we attempt to use customized circuits to speedup the large number multiplication. Strassen's algorithm is employed in the design of an efficient, high-speed large-number multiplier. In particular, we propose an architecture design of an 768K-bit multiplier. As a key compoment, an 64K-point finite-field fast Fourier transform (FFT) processor is designed and prototyped on the Stratix-V FPGA. At 100 MHz, the FPGA implementation is about twice as fast as the same FFT algorithm executed on the NVIDA C2050 GPU which has 448 cores running at 1.15 GHz but at much lower power consumption.",
"corpus_id": 11567986,
"title": "FPGA implementation of a large-number multiplier for fully homomorphic encryption"
} | {
"abstract": "Distant supervision has become the standard method for relation extraction. However, even though it is an efficient method, it does not come at no cost---The resulted distantly-supervised training samples are often very noisy. To combat the noise, most of the recent state-of-the-art approaches focus on selecting one-best sentence or calculating soft attention weights over the set of the sentences of one specific entity pair. However, these methods are suboptimal, and the false positive problem is still a key stumbling bottleneck for the performance. We argue that those incorrectly-labeled candidate sentences must be treated with a hard decision, rather than being dealt with soft attention weights. To do this, our paper describes a radical solution---We explore a deep reinforcement learning strategy to generate the false-positive indicator, where we automatically recognize false positives for each relation type without any supervised information. Unlike the removal operation in the previous studies, we redistribute them into the negative examples. The experimental results show that the proposed strategy significantly improves the performance of distant supervision comparing to state-of-the-art systems.",
"corpus_id": 44144625,
"score": -1,
"title": "Robust Distant Supervision Relation Extraction via Deep Reinforcement Learning"
} |
{
"abstract": "Simple Summary The projected global population growth by 2050 will require an increase in the production of high-quality food. Insects represent a promising alternative ingredient for feed with a lower environmental impact than conventional livestock such as poultry, swine and bovine species. In a context of commercial-scale production and considering the great diversity of insects, it is crucial to optimize the processing steps, including those used to kill insects. In addition to being able to maximize the nutritional and microbiological quality of the final product, insect killing methods should be rapid and effective. This project aims to optimize killing methods, i.e., blanching, desiccation, freezing (−20 °C; −40 °C; liquid nitrogen), high hydrostatic pressure, grinding and asphyxiation (CO2; N2; vacuum conditioning), and to evaluate their impact on the composition, lipid oxidation, colour and microbiological quality on the black soldier fly larvae. Blanching appears to be the most appropriate strategy since it is a rapid and effective killing method reducing larval moisture while minimizing lipid oxidation, microbial contamination and colour alteration. Ultimately, this work will help to establish a standardized protocol that meets the Canadian regulatory quality requirements for feed. Abstract Black soldier fly (BSF) larvae represent a promising alternative ingredient for animal feed. Post-production processing can, however, affect their quality. This project aimed to optimize larval killing by comparing the effects on the nutritional and microbiological quality of 10 methods, i.e., blanching (B = 40 s), desiccation (D = 60 °C, 30 min), freezing (F20 = −20 °C, 1 h; F40 = −40 °C, 1 h; N = liquid nitrogen, 40 s), high hydrostatic pressure (HHP = 3 min, 600 MPa), grinding (G = 2 min) and asphyxiation (CO2 = 120 h; N2 = 144 h; vacuum conditioning, V = 120 h). Some methods affected the pH (B, asphyxiation), total moisture (B, asphyxiation and D) and ash contents (B, p < 0.001). The lipid content (asphyxiation) and their oxidation levels (B, asphyxiation and D) were also affected (p < 0.001). Killing methods altered the larvae colour during freeze-drying and in the final product. Blanching appears to be the most appropriate strategy since it minimizes lipid oxidation (primary = 4.6 ± 0.7 mg cumen hydroperoxide (CHP) equivalents/kg; secondary = 1.0 ± 0.1 mg malondialdehyde/kg), reduces microbial contamination and initiates dehydration (water content = 78.1 ± 1.0%). We propose herein, an optimized protocol to kill BSF that meet the Canadian regulatory requirements of the insect production and processing industry.",
"corpus_id": 128361128,
"title": "Effects of Killing Methods on Lipid Oxidation, Colour and Microbial Load of Black Soldier Fly (Hermetia illucens) Larvae"
} | {
"abstract": "ABSTRACT \n The late-aged egg and third-instar life stages of laboratory-reared Malaysian fruit fly, Bactrocera latifrons (Hendel); Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann); melon fly, B. cucurbitae Coquillett; and oriental fruit fly, B. dorsalis (Hendel), (Diptera: Tephritidae); and the third instars of wild Mediterranean fruit fly were exposed to thermal treatments. A heating block system was used to determine the thermal death kinetics of the four fruit fly species. Treatments consisted of heating the fruit fly life stages to 44, 46, 48, and 50°C and holding for different times ranging from 0 to 120 min depending on the thermal mortality response and time required to obtain 100% mortality for each species and life stage. The 0.5-order kinetic model had the best fit to the survival ratio for all the treatment temperatures and was used to predict lethal times. The thermal death time (TDT) curves showed a tolerance order of Mediterranean fruit fly eggs ≤ third instars at 44, 46, and 50°C, third instars ≤ eggs at 48°C, and wild third instars < the laboratory-reared third instars. Comparison between Mediterranean fruit fly third instar thermotolerance from Hawaii and Israel showed that Israel Mediterranean fruit fly was more thermotolerant. A comparison of minimum treatment times at a given temperature required to obtain 100% mortality of laboratory-reared Malaysian, Mediterranean (Hawaii and Israel strains), melon, Mexican, and oriental fruit fly eggs or third instars and wild Mediterranean fruit fly (Hawaii strain) eggs or third instars showed that oriental fruit fly was the most thermotolerant among the third instars, and the difference in heat tolerance between third instars and eggs was negligible at 50°C.",
"corpus_id": 1600662,
"title": "Thermal Death Kinetics of Mediterranean, Malaysian, Melon, and Oriental Fruit Fly (Diptera: Tephritidae) Eggs and Third Instars"
} | {
"abstract": "Abstract Heat treatments have been suggested as alternatives to chemical fumigants for control of postharvest insects in dried fruits and nuts. Conventional forced hot air treatments heat product too slowly to be practical, but radio frequency treatments are capable of more rapid product heating. While developing radio frequency heat treatments for dried fruits and nuts, the heat tolerance of nondiapausing and diapausing fifth-instar larvae of the Indianmeal moth, Plodia interpunctella (Hübner), was determined using a heating block system developed by Washington State University. Both a 0.5th order kinetic model and a classical empirical model were used to estimate lethal exposure times for temperatures of 44–52°C for nondiapausing fifth-instar larvae. We obtained 95% mortality at exposures suitable for practical radio frequency treatments (≤5 min) with temperatures of 50 and 52°C. Diapausing larvae were significantly more tolerant than nondiapausing larvae at the lowest treatment temperature and shortest exposure, but differences were not significant at more extreme temperature-time combinations. Previous studies showed that fifth-instar larvae of the navel orangeworm, Amyelois transitella (Walker), were more heat tolerant than either diapausing or nondiapausing Indianmeal moth larvae. Consequently, efficacious treatments for navel orangeworm would also control Indianmeal moth.",
"corpus_id": 198123569,
"score": -1,
"title": "Thermal Death Kinetics of Fifth-instar Plodia interpunctella (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae)"
} |
{
"abstract": "A software specification language Templar is defined in this article. The development of the language was guided by the following objectives: requirements specifications written in Templar should have a clear syntax and formal semantics, should be easy for a systems analyst to develop and for an end-user to understand, and it should be easy to map them into a broad range of design specifications. Templar is based on temporal logic and on the Activity-Event-Condition-Activity model of a rule which is an extension of the Event-Condition-Activity model in active databases. The language supports a rich set of modeling primitives, including rules, procedures, temporal logic operators, events, activities, hierarchical decomposition of activities, parallelism, and decisions combined together into a cohesive system.",
"corpus_id": 2753123,
"title": "Templar: a knowledge-based language for software specifications using temporal logic"
} | {
"abstract": "A family of formal languages that extends classic temporal logic with mechanisms to define new modalities is described. The languages are sufficiently flexible to express a wide range of database transition constraints, that is, restrictions on what sequences of database states are meaningful. They are useful in the context of a database design methodology where the first level of specification consists of a purely declarative definition of both static and transition constraints. A sequence of results about the solvability of the decision problem of these languages is also presented that helps assess the expressive power of the languages.",
"corpus_id": 501185,
"title": "On the Description of Database Transition Constraints Using Temporal Languages"
} | {
"abstract": "A key objective of any Service-driven architectural approach is to improve the alignment between business and information technology (IT). Business process management, service composition, and service orchestration, play major roles in achieving this goal. In particular, they allow for the process-aware integration of business actors, business data, and business services. To optimize business-IT alignment and to achieve high business value, the business processes implemented in process-aware information systems (PAISs) must be defined by domain experts, and not by members of the IT department. In current practice, however, the information relevant for process execution is usually not captured at the required level of detail in business process models. In turn, this requires costly interactions between IT departments and domain experts during process implementation. To improve this situation, required execution information should be captured at a sufficient level of detail during business process design (front-loading). As another drawback, existing methods and tools for business process design do not consider available Service-oriented Architecture (SOA) artifacts such as technical service descriptions during process design (look-ahead). Both front-loading and look-ahead are not adequately supported by existing business process modeling tools. In particular, for many process aspects, appropriate techniques for specifying them at a sufficient level of detail during business process design are missing. This chapter presents techniques for enabling front-loading and look-ahead for selected process aspects and investigates how executable process models can be derived from business process models when enriched with additional information.",
"corpus_id": 4089941,
"score": -1,
"title": "Improving the Quality and Cost-effectiveness of Process-oriented, Service-driven Applications: Techniques for Enriching Business Process Models"
} |
{
"abstract": "Sphingomyelin phosphodiesterase 3 (SMPD3), a lipid-metabolizing enzyme present in bone and cartilage, has important roles in the developing skeleton. We previously showed that SMPD3 deficiency results in delayed extracellular matrix (ECM) mineralization and severe skeletal deformities in an inducible knockout mouse model, Smpd3flox/flox; Osx-Cre mice, in which Smpd3 was ablated in Osx-expressing chondrocytes and osteoblasts during early skeletogenesis. ABSTRACT Sphingomyelin phosphodiesterase 3 (SMPD3), a lipid-metabolizing enzyme present in bone and cartilage, has important roles in the developing skeleton. We previously showed that SMPD3 deficiency results in delayed extracellular matrix (ECM) mineralization and severe skeletal deformities in an inducible knockout mouse model, Smpd3flox/flox; Osx-Cre mice, in which Smpd3 was ablated in Osx-expressing chondrocytes and osteoblasts during early skeletogenesis. However, as shown in the current study, ablation of Smpd3 postnatally in 3-month-old Smpd3flox/flox; Osx-Cre mice resulted in only a mild bone mineralization defect. Interestingly, though, there was a marked increase of unmineralized osteoid in the fractured tibiae of 3-month-old Smpd3flox/flox; Osx-Cre mice. As was the case in the embryonic bones, we also observed impaired chondrocyte apoptosis at the fracture sites of Smpd3flox/flox; Osx-Cre mice. We further examined how Smpd3 expression is regulated in ATDC5 chondrogenic cells by two major regulators of chondrogenesis, bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP-2) and PTHrP. Our data show that BMP-2 positively regulates Smpd3 expression via p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase. Taken together, our findings show that SMPD3 plays a significant role in ECM mineralization and chondrocyte apoptosis during fracture healing. Furthermore, our gene expression analyses suggest that BMP-2 and PTHrP exert opposing effects on the regulation of Smpd3 expression in chondrocytes.",
"corpus_id": 54471811,
"title": "Role of SMPD3 during Bone Fracture Healing and Regulation of Its Expression"
} | {
"abstract": "ABSTRACT Sphingomyelin phosphodiesterase 3 (SMPD3), a lipid-metabolizing enzyme present in bone and cartilage, has been identified to be a key regulator of skeletal development. A homozygous loss-of-function mutation called fragilitas ossium (fro) in the Smpd3 gene causes poor bone and cartilage mineralization resulting in severe congenital skeletal deformities. Here we show that Smpd3 expression in ATDC5 chondrogenic cells is downregulated by parathyroid hormone-related peptide through transcription factor SOX9. Furthermore, we show that transgenic expression of Smpd3 in the chondrocytes of fro/fro mice corrects the cartilage but not the bone abnormalities. Additionally, we report the generation of Smpd3flox/flox mice for the tissue-specific inactivation of Smpd3 using the Cre-loxP system. We found that the skeletal phenotype in Smpd3flox/flox; Osx-Cre mice, in which the Smpd3 gene is ablated in both late-stage chondrocytes and osteoblasts, closely mimics the skeletal phenotype in fro/fro mice. On the other hand, Smpd3flox/flox; Col2a1-Cre mice, in which the Smpd3 gene is knocked out in chondrocytes only, recapitulate the fro/fro mouse cartilage phenotype. This work demonstrates that Smpd3 expression in both chondrocytes and osteoblasts is required for normal endochondral bone development.",
"corpus_id": 3887355,
"title": "Smpd3 Expression in both Chondrocytes and Osteoblasts Is Required for Normal Endochondral Bone Development"
} | {
"abstract": "To investigate the putative role of beta-amyloid peptide (A beta) in inducing oxidative stress damage in Alzheimer disease (AD), we studied the effects of proinflammatory cytokines and A beta peptide on the induction of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS). A beta(25-35) upregulated the cytokine (TNF-alpha/IL-1 beta)-induced expression of iNOS and the production of nitric oxide (NO) in astrocytes, which were inhibited by vitamin E. A beta treatment of C6 glial cells (together with LPS and IFN-gamma), in addition to inducing iNOS, enhanced the oxidative stress as measured by increased expression of manganese superoxide dismutase and an increase in 2,7'-dichlorofluorescein diacetate fluorescence. We also observed that LPS, IFN-gamma, and A beta(25-35) treatment led to the activation of the sphingomyelin-ceramide (SM-Cer) cascade with an increase in cellular ceramide. Inhibition of the SM-Cer cascade either by vitamin E treatment or by the neutral sphingomyelinase inhibitor 3-O-methyl sphingomyelin also resulted in alteration of the transcriptional binding activities of C/EBP, NFkappaB, AP-1, and CREB in C6 glial cells. Hence, these findings suggest a role for ceramide in iNOS induction and NO production in Abeta-induced AD pathobiology and provide a possible explanation for the beneficial effects of vitamin E therapy.",
"corpus_id": 2303907,
"score": -1,
"title": "Inflammatory mediator and beta-amyloid (25-35)-induced ceramide generation and iNOS expression are inhibited by vitamin E."
} |
{
"abstract": "................................................................................................................................................. ii PREFACE .................................................................................................................................................... iii TABLE OF CONTENTS .............................................................................................................................. iv LIST OF TABLES ....................................................................................................................................... vii LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................................................... viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................................................ xi DEDICATION .............................................................................................................................................. xii CHAPTER 1. THESIS OVERVIEW .............................................................................................................. 1 1.",
"corpus_id": 113019599,
"title": "Risk profile modeling for large scale projects : case study of a transmission line project"
} | {
"abstract": "This paper presents an integrated knowledge-based system (KBS) that assists project managers in identifying potential risk factors and the corresponding project risks. The knowledge acquired from previous experience is captured by the proposed project risk identification model which incorporates the work breakdown structure (WBS). The knowledge is then translated into rules for the KBS. A prototype was developed based on the proposed KBS to determine potential risk factors along with their risk effects and the related work packages for an extra high-voltage (EHV) transmission line construction project. The results obtained clearly demonstrate the feasibility and the applicability of this system in a real engineering project environment.",
"corpus_id": 154666837,
"title": "A Knowledge-based System for Identifying Potential Project Risks"
} | {
"abstract": "This paper deals with the stability analysis of a cylinder which is rotating about its axis in an axial flow. The basic flow is numerically computed by using the boundary layer approximation. Then linear stability analysis elucidates the instability mechanism and also determines the region of instability. The effect of small rotation on temporal stability is explained using a perturbation method.",
"corpus_id": 55821843,
"score": -1,
"title": "Linear stability analysis of boundary layer over a long cylinder with rotation"
} |
{
"abstract": "Background: Dengue fever is prevalent in several areas in Saudi Arabia; however, information on the prediction of disease severity and progression to liver failure is lacking. Aim: To identify the possible associations between liver chemistry and clinical presentation. Methods: This was a retrospective chart review of patients admitted to Al-Noor Specialist Hospital, a tertiary facility with a large referral area. We identified patients with the ICD-10 codes for dengue fever and dengue hemorrhagic fever. Data collected included liver chemistry and other blood work for secondary liver diseases. Statistical analysis involved descriptive data and correlation data analyzed using Mann-Whitney and KruskalWallis tests. Results: A total of 535 patients met the selection criteria. There were 388 male patients (72.5%), 512 with dengue fever (95.7%), 21(3.9%) with dengue hemorrhagic fever, and two (0.4%) with dengue shock syndrome. Gastrointestinal symptoms were predominant in 312 patients (58.3%). Correlation analysis revealed that median serum levels of AST and ALT on admission significantly correlated with male sex. When the severe dengue disease group was analyzed separately, there were no significant differences in median serum levels of transaminases on admission and gender or symptom presentation. Conclusions: Male patients presenting with dengue fever most often had associated elevated transaminase levels on admission and may benefit from early attention. Serum transaminase levels were not associated with particular symptom presentation.",
"corpus_id": 247596338,
"title": "Gastrointestinal Involvement in Dengue Fever Infection: A Study from the Western Region of Saudi Arabia"
} | {
"abstract": "Dengue fever (DF) and dengue haemorrhagic fever (DHF) are important mosquito-borne viral diseases of humans and recognized as important emerging infectious diseases in the tropics and subtropics. Compared to nine reporting countries in the 1950s, today the geographic distribution includes more than 100 countries worldwide. Dengue viral infections are known to present a diverse clinical spectrum, ranging from asymptomatic illness to fatal dengue shock syndrome. Mild hepatic dysfunction in dengue haemorrhagic fever is usual. However, its presentation as acute liver failure (ALF) is unusual. We report a patient with dengue shock syndrome who presented with acute liver failure and hepatic encephalopathy in a recent outbreak of dengue fever in Delhi, India.",
"corpus_id": 3388703,
"title": "Document heading doi : Dengue fever presenting as acute liver failure-a case report"
} | {
"abstract": "BACKGROUND\nDengue virus infection may be asymptomatic or lead to undifferentiated febrile illness or dengue haemorrhagic fever and dengue shock syndrome (DHF/DSS). The major clinical manifestations of DHF/DSS are high fever, haemorrhage, hepatomegaly and circulatory failure.\n\n\nOBJECTIVES\nThe relatively high level of viraemia only a few days after infection may reflect a large number of replication sites. However, the degree of cell injury in fatal cases of DHF/DSS is not sufficient to explain death and suggests metabolic disturbance rather than tissue destruction. This theory was investigated in this study.\n\n\nRESULTS\nWe demonstrated that replication of dengue virus in infected cells induces stress leading to apoptotic cell death in vitro and in vivo.\n\n\nCONCLUSIONS\nThe elimination of apoptotic bodies by phagocytic cells is a previously unsuspected pathway of dengue virus clearance from infected tissues. However, the mechanisms of host defence involving apoptosis and phagocytic cell activation may cause local tissue injury or transient homeostasis imbalance and may trigger further deleterious events.",
"corpus_id": 807431,
"score": -1,
"title": "Apoptotic cell death in response to dengue virus infection: the pathogenesis of dengue haemorrhagic fever revisited."
} |
{
"abstract": "Over the past few decades, scholars have attempted to explore the effects of diversity on teams and workgroups. This study aims to assess the state of the art, to expose new trends in diversity research, and to consolidate the results of previous studies in order to infer common wisdom about effects of diversity on teams/workgroups in organizations. In this paper, 122laboratory and field studies, and 17 review studies conducted between 1959 and 2016were qualitatively and systematically analyzed. It has been observed that although there is no single commonly accepted effect of diversity on performance per se, it tends to have a negative impact on cohesion, communication, and integration, and is likely to increase conflict and turnover. On the positive side, diversity up to a certain limit tends to improve decision-making and problem-solving processes through higher creativity and innovation potential. Furthermore, it was demonstrated that reactions of team members to diversity vary; there is no straightforward association between diversity and team dynamics, as many factors influence this association. Nevertheless, this paper investigates how leaders/managers of multicultural can make the best of a diverse team based on the insights of this review.",
"corpus_id": 161054329,
"title": "Effects of Diversity in Teams and Workgroups : A Qualitative Systematic Review"
} | {
"abstract": "Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between national diversity and team performance. Research on US teams involved in a task of low interdependence (baseball) is replicated with a Japanese sample to investigate possible cross‐national differences. The paper also presents a new quantitative measure of diversity.Design/methodology/approach – This study uses quantitative research based on archival data. Regression modeling is applied to professional sports data from Japan. National diversity of teams is operationalized using a new approach to Blau's Index.Findings – A negative relationship was found between national diversity and team performance in Japan. No significant results were found for age diversity. The results for national diversity are in contrast to research conducted on similar teams in the USA.Practical implications – The findings provide evidence of cross‐national differences between US and Japanese teams. Findings are also directly applicable to managers in the ...",
"corpus_id": 154666516,
"title": "National diversity and team performance in low interdependence tasks"
} | {
"abstract": "In personal wireless communications systems, multipath propagation has a significant effect on system design and performance. Signal strength fading caused by destructive interference between multiple replicas of the signal of interest arriving at the receiver over different paths often is the limiting factor in system range/fidelity. Antenna diversity is one technique that can be used to help overcome multipath fading. This paper presents a description of experiments, data processing, and results used to evaluate the diversity performance of three candidate dual-antenna handset configurations: two side-mounted planar-inverted F antennas (PIFAs), a back-mounted PIFA with a top-mounted helix, a top-mounted PIFA, and a \"flip\" monopole. In particular, the indoor industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) band (902-928 MHz) propagation channel was of interest. These experiments did not include operator proximity effects, and in these tests, the dual-antenna handset remained stationary while the transmitter was moved along predetermined indoor paths. The issue of data normalization for extraction of fast fading behavior from measured data is addressed, with results showing its effect on observed correlation presented. Also, measured indoor fading distributions are presented and seen to fit the Rician and Rayleigh models well. From the diversity results presented, it is seen that the three proposed dual-antenna handsets yield sufficient decorrelation to warrant consideration for use in diversity systems.",
"corpus_id": 55556665,
"score": -1,
"title": "Evaluation of personal communications dual-antenna handset diversity performance"
} |
{
"abstract": "Acetylation and deacetylation are posttranslational modifications (PTMs) which affect the regulation of chromatin structure and its remodeling. Acetylation of histone 3 at lysine placed on position 18 (H3K18Ac) plays an important role in driving progression of many types of cancer, including breast, colon, lung, hepatocellular, pancreatic, prostate, and thyroid cancer. The aim of this review is to analyze and discuss the newest findings regarding the role of H3K18Ac and acetylation of other histones in carcinogenesis. We summarize the level of H3K18Ac in different cancer cell lines and analyze its association with patients’ outcomes, including overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), and disease-free survival (DFS). Finally, we describe future perspectives of cancer therapeutic strategies based on H3K18 modifications.",
"corpus_id": 163166866,
"title": "H3K18Ac as a Marker of Cancer Progression and Potential Target of Anti-Cancer Therapy"
} | {
"abstract": "Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is characterized by loss of cell-cell junctions, polarity and epithelial markers, and in turn, acquisition of mesenchymal features and motility. Changes associated with this developmental process have been extensively implicated in breast cancer progression and metastasis. Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) have been identified as specific inducers of EMT in mammary epithelial cells. MMP-3 induces EMT associated with malignant transformation via a pathway dependent upon production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). While the process by which exposure to MMP-3 leads to induction of ROS has been extensively studied, exactly how the MMP-3-induced ROS stimulate EMT remains unknown. Here, we used profiling methods to identify MMP-3-induced transcriptional alterations in mouse mammary epithelial cells, finding common overlap with changes mediated by nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) and found in advanced breast cancer. In cultured cells, we found that Snail, an ROS-dependent key mediator of MMP-3-induced changes, is regulated by NF-κB in response to MMP-3. More specifically, we found MMP-3 to cause binding of p65 and cRel NF-κB subunits to the Snail promoter, leading to its transcription. Our results identify a specific pathway by which MMPs induce EMT and malignant characteristics, and provide insight into potential therapeutic approaches to target MMP-associated breast cancers.",
"corpus_id": 93246,
"title": "ROS-induced epithelial-mesenchymal transition in mammary epithelial cells is mediated by NF-κB-dependent activation of Snail"
} | {
"abstract": "Nuclear transcription factors of the NF-κB/Rel family are inhibited by IκB proteins, which inactivate NF-κB by trapping it in the cell cytoplasm. Phosphorylation of IκBs marks them out for destruction, thereby relieving their inhibitory effect on NF-κB. A cytokine-activated protein kinase complex, IKK (for IκB kinase), has now been purified that phosphorylates IκBs on the sites that trigger their degradation. A component of IKK was molecularly cloned and identified as a serine kinase. IKK turns out to be the long-sought-after protein kinase that mediates the critical regulatory step in NF-κB activation.",
"corpus_id": 4354442,
"score": -1,
"title": "A cytokine-responsive IκB kinase that activates the transcription factor NF-κB"
} |
{
"abstract": "Machine learning algorithms for the analysis of time-series often depend on the assumption that utilised data are temporally aligned. Any temporal discrepancies arising in the data is certain to lead to ill-generalisable models, which in turn fail to correctly capture properties of the task at hand. The temporal alignment of time-series is thus a crucial challenge manifesting in a multitude of applications. Nevertheless, the vast majority of algorithms oriented towards temporal alignment are either applied directly on the observation space or simply utilise linear projections-thus failing to capture complex, hierarchical non-linear representations that may prove beneficial, especially when dealing with multi-modal data (e.g., visual and acoustic information). To this end, we present Deep Canonical Time Warping (DCTW), a method that automatically learns non-linear representations of multiple time-series that are (i) maximally correlated in a shared subspace, and (ii) temporally aligned. Furthermore, we extend DCTW to a supervised setting, where during training, available labels can be utilised towards enhancing the alignment process. By means of experiments on four datasets, we show that the representations learnt significantly outperform state-of-the-art methods in temporal alignment, elegantly handling scenarios with heterogeneous feature sets, such as the temporal alignment of acoustic and visual information.",
"corpus_id": 4534547,
"title": "Deep Canonical Time Warping for Simultaneous Alignment and Representation Learning of Sequences"
} | {
"abstract": "Alignment of time series is an important problem to solve in many scientific disciplines. In particular, temporal alignment of two or more subjects performing similar activities is a challenging problem due to the large temporal scale difference between human actions as well as the inter/intra subject variability. In this paper we present canonical time warping (CTW), an extension of canonical correlation analysis (CCA) for spatio-temporal alignment of human motion between two subjects. CTW extends previous work on CCA in two ways: (i) it combines CCA with dynamic time warping (DTW), and (ii) it extends CCA by allowing local spatial deformations. We show CTW's effectiveness in three experiments: alignment of synthetic data, alignment of motion capture data of two subjects performing similar actions, and alignment of similar facial expressions made by two people. Our results demonstrate that CTW provides both visually and qualitatively better alignment than state-of-the-art techniques based on DTW.",
"corpus_id": 15663028,
"title": "Canonical Time Warping for Alignment of Human Behavior"
} | {
"abstract": "We propose in this paper a differentiable learning loss between time series, building upon the celebrated dynamic time warping (DTW) discrepancy. Unlike the Euclidean distance, DTW can compare time series of variable size and is robust to shifts or dilatations across the time dimension. To compute DTW, one typically solves a minimal-cost alignment problem between two time series using dynamic programming. Our work takes advantage of a smoothed formulation of DTW, called soft-DTW, that computes the soft-minimum of all alignment costs. We show in this paper that soft-DTW is a differentiable loss function, and that both its value and gradient can be computed with quadratic time/space complexity (DTW has quadratic time but linear space complexity). We show that this regularization is particularly well suited to average and cluster time series under the DTW geometry, a task for which our proposal significantly outperforms existing baselines. Next, we propose to tune the parameters of a machine that outputs time series by minimizing its fit with ground-truth labels in a soft-DTW sense.",
"corpus_id": 9566599,
"score": -1,
"title": "Soft-DTW: a Differentiable Loss Function for Time-Series"
} |
{
"abstract": "Light Field imaging has emerged as a technology that enables the capture of images and video with richer information. Captured content is composed of numerous views aligned in both horizontal and vertical directions providing full parallax, offering light intensity and directional information, but at the same time significantly increasing bandwidth requirements. Several multi-view coding methods have attempted to tackle this problem. However, these approaches do not fully assess the intricacies that are found in light field content. This paper proposes a prediction structure for coding light field content using the MV-HEVC standard, exploiting the inter-view correlations in two directions along with the high similarity between views around the center of each frame. Experimental results show BD-rate gains up to 38% compared to an existing state-of-the-art method.",
"corpus_id": 115197191,
"title": "A New Prediction Structure for Efficient MV-HEVC based Light Field Video Compression"
} | {
"abstract": "The High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) standard has recently been extended to support efficient representation of multiview video and depth-based 3D video formats. The multiview extension, MV-HEVC, allows efficient coding of multiple camera views and associated auxiliary pictures, and can be implemented by reusing single-layer decoders without changing the block-level processing modules since block-level syntax and decoding processes remain unchanged. Bit rate savings compared with HEVC simulcast are achieved by enabling the use of inter-view references in motion-compensated prediction. The more advanced 3D video extension, 3D-HEVC, targets a coded representation consisting of multiple views and associated depth maps, as required for generating additional intermediate views in advanced 3D displays. Additional bit rate reduction compared with MV-HEVC is achieved by specifying new block-level video coding tools, which explicitly exploit statistical dependencies between video texture and depth and specifically adapt to the properties of depth maps. The technical concepts and features of both extensions are presented in this paper.",
"corpus_id": 750942,
"title": "Overview of the Multiview and 3D Extensions of High Efficiency Video Coding"
} | {
"abstract": null,
"corpus_id": 33903973,
"score": -1,
"title": "Artificial life for computer graphics"
} |
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