query dict | pos dict | neg dict |
|---|---|---|
{
"abstract": "Music often plays an important role in people's daily lives. Because it has the power to affect human emotion, music has gained a place in work environments and in sports training as a way to enhance the performance of particular tasks. Studies have shown that office workers perform certain jobs better and joggers run longer distances when listening to music. However, a personalized music system which can automatically recommend songs according to user's physiological response remains absent. Therefore, this study aims to establish an intelligent music selection system for individual users to enhance their learning performance. We first created an emotional music database using data analytics classifications. During testing, innovative wearable sensing devices were used to detect heart rate variability (HRV) in experiments, which subsequently guided music selection. User emotions were then analyzed and appropriate songs were selected by using the proposed application software (App). Machine learning was used to record user preference, ensuring accurate and precise classification. Significant results generated through experimental validation indicate that this system generates high satisfaction levels, does not increase mental workload, and improves users' performance. Under the trend of the Internet of Things (IoT) and the continuing development of wearable devices, the proposed system could stimulate innovative applications for smart factory, home, and health care.",
"corpus_id": 2469160,
"title": "Develop a personalized intelligent music selection system based on heart rate variability and machine learning"
} | {
"abstract": "People often listen to music to influence their emotional state. However, the specific musical characteristics which cause this process are not yet fully understood. We have investigated the influence of the musical characteristics of tempo, mode and percussiveness on our emotions. In a quest towards ecologically valid results, 32 participants listened to 16 pop and 16 rock songs while conducting an office task. They rated experienced arousal, valence, and tension, while skin conductance and cardiovascular responses were recorded. An increase in tempo was found to lead to an increase in reported arousal and tension and a decrease in heart rate variability. More arousal was reported during minor than major mode songs. Level and frequency of skin conductance responses increased with an increase in percussiveness. Physiological responses revealed patterns that might not have been revealed by self-report. Interaction effects further suggest that musical characteristics interplay in modulating emotions. So, tempo, mode, and percussiveness indeed modulate our emotions and, consequently, can be used to direct emotions. Music presentation revealed subtly different results in a laboratory setting, where music was altered with breaks, from those in a more ecologically valid setting where continuous music was presented. All in all, this enhances our understanding of the influence of music on emotions and creates opportunities seamlessly to tap into listeners’ emotional state through their physiological responses.",
"corpus_id": 11124522,
"title": "Emotional and psychophysiological responses to tempo, mode, and percussiveness"
} | {
"abstract": "This paper offers motivations for an active suspension system which provides for both additional stability and maneuverability by performing active roll and pitch control during cornering and braking as well as eliminating road irregularities, hence increasing both vehicle and passenger safety and drive comfort. Various technologies are compared to the proposed electromagnetic suspension system which uses a tubular permanent magnet (PM) actuator together with a passive spring. Based upon on-road measurements and results from the literature, several specifications for the design of an electromagnetic suspension system are derived. The measured on-road movement of the passive suspension system is reproduced by electromagnetic actuation on a quarter car setup proving the dynamic capabilities of an electromagnetic suspension system.",
"corpus_id": 47235483,
"score": -1,
"title": "Active Electromagnetic Suspension System for Improved Vehicle Dynamics"
} |
{
"abstract": "Arabidopsis thaliana is the preeminent plant model organism. However, significant advances in evolution and ecology are being made by expanding the scope of research beyond this single species into the broader genus Arabidopsis. Surprisingly, few studies have rigorously investigated phylogenetic relationships between the nine Arabidopsis species, and this study evaluates both these and hypotheses related to two instances of intra-generic hybridization. DNA sequences from the 5' flanking region of the nuclear Atmyb2 gene from 12 of the 14 Arabidopsis taxa were used to reconstruct the generic phylogeny. The strict consensus tree was highly concordant with previous studies, identifying lineages corresponding to widespread species but exhibiting a large basal polytomy. Our data indicates that the paternal parent of the allopolyploid A. suecica is A. neglecta rather than A. arenosa s.l., although the need for a detailed phylogeographical study of these three species is noted. Finally, our data provided additional phylogenetic evidence of hybridization between Arabidopsis lyrata s.l. and A. halleri s.l. Taken together, the well-defined lineages within the genus and the potential for hybridization between them highlight Arabidopsis as a promising group for comparative and experimental studies of hybridization.",
"corpus_id": 2013024,
"title": "Further insights into the phylogeny of Arabidopsis (Brassicaceae) from nuclear Atmyb2 flanking sequence."
} | {
"abstract": "Polyploidy is known to be common in plants and recent work has focused on the rapid changes in genome structure and expression that occur upon polyploidization. In Arabidopsis, much of this work has been done on a synthetic allotetraploid obtained by crossing a tetraploid Arabidopsis thaliana (2n = 4x = 20) with A. arenosa (2n = 4x = 32). To explore an alternative route to polyploidy in this model species, we have developed a synthetic allopolyploid by crossing two diploid species: A. thaliana (2n = 2x = 10) and Arabidopsis lyrata subsp. petraea (2n = 2x = 16). F1 hybrids were easy to obtain and phenotypically more similar to A. lyrata. Spontaneous chromosome doubling events occurred in about 25% of the F1s, thus restoring fertility. The resulting allotetraploids (2n = 26) exhibited many genomic changes typically reported upon polyploidization. Nucleolar dominance was observed as only the A. lyrata rDNA loci were expressed in the F1 and allotetraploids. Changes in the degree of methylation were observed at almost 25% of the loci examined by MSAP analysis. Finally, structural genomic alterations did occur as a large deletion covering a significant portion of the upper arm of chromosome II was detected but no evidence of increased mobility of transposons was obtained. Such allotetraploids derived from two parents with sequenced (or soon to be sequenced) genomes offer much promise in elucidating the various changes that occur in newly synthesized polyploids.",
"corpus_id": 9354849,
"title": "The allotetraploid Arabidopsis thaliana–Arabidopsis lyrata subsp. petraea as an alternative model system for the study of polyploidy in plants"
} | {
"abstract": "Our research topic on the roles and mechanisms of parasitism in aquatic microbial communities should be of broad interest, given that there are probably more parasitic species than free-living ones (Windsor, 1998), a hypothesis increasingly supported by next generation sequencing technologies of microbial taxa (Sime-Ngando and Niquil, 2011). We know little about the parasites of microbes, but recent research suggests that they affect food-web dynamics, biogeochemical cycling, the functioning of ecosystems and related services, and host evolution. Furthermore, several new research topics, such as interactomics, molecular dialogue, host manipulation by parasites (Cezilly et al., 2014; Biron et al., 2015), “beneficial” parasites (Roossinck, 2011; Parfrey et al., 2014), priming of the host immune system (Llewellyn et al., 2014), microbiomics (Llewellyn et al., 2014), and tripartite symbiosis (Rohwer and Thurber, 2009; Gleason et al., 2014), are filled with interesting questions. We ordered the thirteen papers in this issue according to the biological complexity of parasites, from phages-bacteria, phage-bacteria-animal, microparasite-microbe, microparasite-microhyperparasite-microbe, microparasite-animal to macroparasite-microbe interactions. \n \nNew findings in the papers include the conceptualization of viral lifestyles and the extension of their role as microbe killers, cell partners, or metabolic manipulators (Sime-Ngando, 2014). These relationships have applications for economics and conservation. For instance, shore-based abalone aquaculture can discharge pathogens like the intracellular bacterium Candidatus Xenohaliotis californiensis (WS-RLO), with potential impacts to wild abalone (Lafferty and Ben-Horin, 2014). However, a novel bacteriophage now infects the WS-RLO, improving the survival of infected abalone and thereby offering a potential tool for population management via phage therapy (Friedman et al., 2014). The importance of such tripartite interactions relates to Gleason et al. (2014) argument that parasites of parasites may increase the complexity of food webs, and play significant roles in suppressing diseases of animals, plants, or algae. The ecological importance of such disease dynamics is illustrated well by new quantitative data and modeling that shows how during blooms of inedible algae in freshwater lakes, (i) chytrid parasites of phytoplankton are able to shape aquatic ecosystems by altering sinking fluxes or determining system stability (Kagami et al., 2014), and (ii) divert about 20% of primary production to edible zoospores that comprise 50–57% of the zooplankton diet (Rasconi et al., 2014). This work is remarkable given how challenging it is to diagnose parasites of microbes in natural systems (Karpov et al., 2014). Economic incentive for improved diagnosis stems from the effects of infection dynamics on commercial-scale algal monocultures for bioenergy and chemical production (Carney and Lane, 2014). Several topics in this collection deal with microbial parasites and the microbiome of fishes and animals, demonstrating, for example, that viral, prokaryotic and small-eukaryotic parasites affect conservation and food security (Gozlan et al., 2014). For instance, indigenous microbiota affects innate and adaptive immunity, fish digestion, and nutrient metabolism (Llewellyn et al., 2014). The extent to which aquatic microbes differ from other small eukaryote communities is highlighted by Parfrey et al. (2014) who use high-throughput sequencing to consider how microbes in the mammalian gut reflect both host phylogeny and diet, and are distinctive from those in aquatic and terrestrial habitats. The microbiome might even influence host behavior as a result of the molecular crosstalk between a manipulative parasite and its host, disturbing the synthesis of neuroactive molecules (Biron et al., 2015). We end with Cezilly et al. (2014), who consider the hypothesis of conflict vs. cooperation in host manipulation, and provide empirical evidence that microorganisms can have synergistic and antagonistic interactions with co-occurring parasites. \n \nWe hope the contributions to this collection bring a new focus to the aquatic sciences. Microbial interactions are clearly important and largely unknown. There are still methodological barriers to assessing prokaryotic and eukaryotic parasites of aquatic microbes (Sime-Ngando and Niquil, 2011), although recent advancements provide new opportunities (Marano et al., 2012), which we expect will lead to, a predictive understanding of the role of parasitism in aquatic systems in particular, and of aquatic ecosystem functioning in general.",
"corpus_id": 2845764,
"score": 1,
"title": "Editorial: Roles and mechanisms of parasitism in aquatic microbial communities"
} |
{
"abstract": "Grifola frondosa is an economically important edible and medicinal mushroom usually produced on substrate consisting of sawdust supplemented with wheat bran. Cultivation of G. frondosa on crop straw (corn cob, corn straw, rice straw, and soybean straw) as a substrate was optimized by using the D-optimum method of the simplex-lattice design, and the alternative of crop straw as a substitute for sawdust in the substrate composition was determined by the optimized model. The results showed that there was a significant positive correlation existing between the yield and corn cob. The growth cycle was negatively correlated with sawdust, corn cob and soybean straw, with sawdust significantly shortening the growth cycle of G. frondosa. The optimized high-yielding formula included 73.125% corn cob, 1.875% rice straw, 23% wheat bran and 2% light calcium carbonate (CaCO3) (C/N = 48.40). The average yield of the first flush was 134.72 ± 4.24 g/bag, which was increased by 39.97% compared with the control formula. The biological efficiency (BE) was 44.91 ± 1.41%, which was increased by 38.53% compared with the control. Based on the results of this study, corn cob can replace sawdust as one of the main cultivation substrates of G. frondosa.",
"corpus_id": 4368330,
"title": "Assessing the effects of different agro-residue as substrates on growth cycle and yield of Grifola frondosa and statistical optimization of substrate components using simplex-lattice design"
} | {
"abstract": "The production of four strains of edible mushroom Lentinula edodes was evaluated through solid-state fermentation (SSF) of vineyard pruning (VP), barley straw (BS), and wheat straw (WS). Biological efficiency, proximal composition, and energy value of the fruiting bodies, as well as substrate chemical changes after harvest, were determined. The shortest primordium formation time (28 days), highest biological efficiency (93.25%), highest yield (37.46%), and shortest production cycle (6 days) were observed in VP. The fruiting bodies obtained from VP had high energy value (379.09 to 392.95 kcal) and contents of protein (12.37 to 17.19%), but low contents of fat (1.82 to 2.15%). After SSF, phenol concentration decreased on VP (1.2 mmol/L) and BS (0.31 mmol/L), but on WS remained practically the same. Hemicellulose decreased in all substrates; cellulose increased on WS and decreased in the rest of the treatments. Lignin decreased on WS and BS, but its concentration increased on VP. The variability observed in the degradation capacity of lignocellulosic components was influenced by the substrate's nature, environmental factors, and genetic factors among strains. VP has great potential for shiitake production due to its low cost, short production cycles, and high biological efficiency.",
"corpus_id": 44981928,
"title": "Bioconversion of agrowastes by Lentinula edodes: the high potential of viticulture residues"
} | {
"abstract": "ABSTRACT: Cowdria ruminantium is an obligate intracellular rickettsial pathogen which is responsible for a tick‐borne disease of domestic and wild ruminants called heartwater or cowdriosis. Although several genes have been cloned and partially sequenced, the genome size, gross structure, and organization of the C. ruminantium genome is unknown. Genome analysis of the organism has been hindered because it is difficult to obtain C. ruminantium DNA free from contaminating host cell DNA, and this probably accounts for the lack of genome size data for this organism. In this study we investigated several methods for purifying C. ruminantium from bovine cellular contaminants and organisms of a relatively high purity were obtained. These were used to prepare Cowdria DNA which was analyzed by pulsed‐field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and which revealed a genome approximately 1900 kbp in length plus an additional extra‐chromosomal fragment migrating with an apparent size of 815 kbp. This is the first time that the genome size of C. ruminantium has been determined and the first demonstration of an extrachromosomal element.",
"corpus_id": 25976574,
"score": 1,
"title": "Purification of Cowdria ruminantium Organisms for Use in Genome Analysis by Pulsed‐field Gel Electrophoresis a"
} |
{
"abstract": "Performing a genome-wide association study (GWAS) might add to a better understanding of the development of claw disorders and the need for trimming. Therefore, the aim of the current study was to perform a GWAS on claw disorders and trimming status and to validate the results for claw disorders based on an independent data set. Data consisted of 20,474 cows with phenotypes for claw disorders and 50,238 cows with phenotypes for trimming status. Recorded claw disorders used in the current study were double sole (DS), interdigital hyperplasia (IH), sole hemorrhage (SH), sole ulcer (SU), white line separation (WLS), a combination of infectious claw disorders consisting of (inter-)digital dermatitis and heel erosion, and a combination of laminitis-related claw disorders (DS, SH, SU, and WLS). Of the cows with phenotypes for claw disorders, 1,771 cows were genotyped and these cow data were used for the GWAS on claw disorders. A SNP was considered significant when the false discovery rate≤0.05 and suggestive when the false discovery rate≤0.20. An independent data set of 185 genotyped bulls having at least 5 daughters with phenotypes (6,824 daughters in total) for claw disorders was used to validate significant and suggestive SNP detected based on the cow data. To analyze the trait \"trimming status\" (i.e., the need for claw trimming), a data set with 327 genotyped bulls having at least 5 daughters with phenotypes (18,525 daughters in total) was used. Based on the cow data, in total 10 significant and 45 suggestive SNP were detected for claw disorders. The 10 significant SNP were associated with SU, and mainly located on BTA8. The suggestive SNP were associated with DS, IH, SU, and laminitis-related claw disorders. Three of the suggestive SNP were validated in the data set of 185 bulls, and were located on BTA13, BTA14, and BTA17. For infectious claw disorders, SH, and WLS, no significant or suggestive SNP associations were detected. For trimming status, 1 significant and 1 suggestive SNP were detected, both located close to each other on BTA15. Some significant and suggestive SNP were located close to SNP detected in studies on feet and leg conformation traits. Genes with major effects could not be detected and SNP associations were spread across the genome, indicating that many SNP, each explaining a small proportion of the genetic variance, influence claw disorders. Therefore, to reduce the incidence of claw disorders by breeding, genomic selection is a promising approach.",
"corpus_id": 5707963,
"title": "Genome-wide association study for claw disorders and trimming status in dairy cattle."
} | {
"abstract": "Feet and leg conformation is evaluated as a subset of conformational structure traits in dairy and beef cattle and is related to the feet and leg quality that can compromise the animals' productive performance and longevity. The aim of this study was to perform a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of two traits related to feet and leg conformation in Nellore cattle to identify chromosomal regions related to the expression of these traits. Phenotypic and pedigree data from 104,725 animals and genotypes from 1,435 animals and 407,730 SNPs were used. Feet and leg structure was evaluated as a binary trait (FL1) to identify yearling animals with feet and leg problems or as categorical score (FL2) to assess the overall quality of their feet and leg. The top ten 1-Mb windows that explained the largest proportion of the total genetic variance were identified and functional enrichment analyses were performed. The 10 windows with large effects obtained for FL1 are located on chromosomes 1, 2, 6, 7, 8, 10, and 14, and together explained 8.96% of the additive genetic variance. For FL2, these windows are located on chromosomes 1, 7, 10, 11, 18, 20, 22, 28, and 29, explaining 8.98% of the additive genetic variance. Several candidate genes were identified, including DLX2 which is associated with osteogenic differentiation, IL-1β and IL-1A associated with some properties of articular cartilage, PiT1 which plays an important role in bone physiology, and CTSL associated with rheumatoid arthritis. The results presented here should contribute to a better understanding of the genetic and physiologic mechanisms regulating both traits, and identifies candidate genes for future investigation of causal mutations.",
"corpus_id": 26072523,
"title": "Genome-wide association study and functional analysis of feet and leg conformation traits in Nellore cattle."
} | {
"abstract": "Abstract MicroRNAs (miRNAs) constitute some of the most significant regulatory factors involved at the post-transcriptional level after gene expression, contributing to the modulation of a large number of physiological processes such as development, metabolism, and disease occurrence. This review comprehensively and retrospectively explores the literature investigating silkworm, Bombyx mori L. (Lepidoptera: Bombicidae), miRNAs published to date, including discovery, identification, expression profiling analysis, target gene prediction, and the functional analysis of both miRNAs and their targets. It may provide experimental considerations and approaches for future study of miRNAs and benefit elucidation of the mechanisms of miRNAs involved in silkworm developmental processes and intracellular activities of other unknown non-coding RNAs.",
"corpus_id": 665648,
"score": 1,
"title": "Overview of research on Bombyx mori microRNA"
} |
{
"abstract": "In this paper, the radiated emission and the conducted susceptibility of vehicle electronic circuit to external radio frequency (RF) disturbances are studied using mixed-mode S-parameters method. The analytic method adopting mix-edmode S-parameters developed in this paper can be used to illustrate noise-converting phenomenon and verify successfully by the bulk current injection (BCI) test procedures. The Far-field measurement and the susceptible experiment were proved by BCI test and the mixed-mode S-parameters are obtained from four-port vector network analyzer. From the verified results, the correlation of the BCI test agrees very well with the mixed-mode S-parameters method.",
"corpus_id": 6454114,
"title": "Electromagnetic radiation and conducted susceptibility diagnosis and analysis of vehicle electronic circuit using mixed-mode S-parameter method"
} | {
"abstract": "Dos nos jours, l'evolution croissante des domaines d'application des circuits integres impose aux industriels de nouvelles contraintes de conception. Afin de realiser des circuits electroniques plus denses et plus performants, ils cherchent a faire cohabiter plusieurs types de composants sur des surfaces plus petites et de surcroit, fonctionnant a des frequences de plus en plus elevees. Cependant, cette cohabitation pourrait generer des problemes de CEM (compatibilite electromagnetique). Les travaux presentes dans ce memoire rentrent dans le cadre du projet de recherche SEISME (Simulation de l'Emission et de l'Immunite des Systemes et Modules Electroniques). Ils decrivent des methodologies de mesure et de modelisation de’immunite conduite des circuits integres complexes comme les memoires non volatiles ou bien les microcontroleurs. L'objectif est d'etudier l'influence des changements de composants et de cartes sur le comportement electromagnetique d'un systeme electronique. Dans cette perspective, afin de valider son utilisation dans le cas des circuits integres complexes, une etude detaillee du standard de mesure DPI (Direct Power injection) est d'abord proposee. Base sur cette derniere, un nouveau prototype de chemin de couplage est realise. Ce multiplexeur permet de superposer un signal agresseur a un signal fonctionnel, avec un chevauchement de leurs bandes de frequences. Ainsi, il est possible d'agresser une broche fonctionnelle (horloge par exemple) d'un circuit integre pendant son fonctionnement. Ensuite, une procedure de mesure globale d'immunite conduite est presentee. Elle permet de caracteriser la susceptibilite conduite des circuits complexes en tenant compte des differents modes de fonctionnement et avec la possibilite d’utiliser un critere d’immunite fonctionnel ou electrique. Grâce a l'application de cette procedure a deux memoires non volatiles compatibles broche a broche (memes caracteristiques mais de deux differents fournisseurs), il est possible de constater l’influence des technologies de fabrication sur l’immunite conduite de ce type de circuits. Par consequent, l’effet du changement de composant sur le comportement electromagnetique d’un systeme electronique devient predictible. Enfin pour la modelisation, deux methodologies sont proposees. Une au niveau composant et l'autre au niveau carte. La demarche de modelisation au niveau composant repose sur le standard ICIM-CI (Integrated Circuit Immunity Model-Conducted Immunity) et vise a generer un modele d’immunite simulable et predictif. Grâce a l'application de cette demarche dans le contexte des memoires non volatiles, il est possible de predire leur immunite dans le cas de modification de l’impedance d'entree par rajout d'elements de filtrage par exemple. En ce qui concerne la modelisation au niveau carte, une procedure basee sur la proposition de modele EBIM-CI (Electronic Board Immunity Model-Conducted Immunity) est developpee. Elle consiste a generer un modele d’immunite d’une carte electronique en utilisant les modeles des differents composants qui la constituent. Un cas d’etude a ete defini. Le modele issu de cette approche permet de simuler l’immunite conduite globale du demonstrateur ainsi que de predire le comportement electromagnetique de ce dernier lors du changement d’un ou plusieurs composants.",
"corpus_id": 124124928,
"title": "Modélisation l’immunité électromagnétique des composants en vue de la gestion de l’obsolescence des systèmes et modules électroniques."
} | {
"abstract": "It has been well documented that nitrogen (N) additions significantly affect soil respiration (Rs) and its components [that is, autotrophic (Ra) and heterotrophic respiration (Rh)] in terrestrial ecosystems. These N-induced effects largely result from changes in plant growth, soil properties (for example, pH), and/ or microbial community. However, how Rs and its components respond to N addition gradients from low to high fertilizer application rates and what the differences are in diverse land-use types remain unclear. In our study, a field experiment was conducted to examine response patterns of Rs to a N addition gradient at four levels (0, 15, 30, and 45 g N m−2 y−1) in four types of land-use (paddy rice–wheat and maize–wheat croplands, an abandoned field grassland, and a Metasequoia plantation) from December 2012 to September 2014 in eastern China. Our results showed that N addition significantly stimulated Rs in all four land-use types and Rh in croplands (paddy rice–wheat and maize–wheat). Rs increased linearly with N addition rates in croplands and the plantation, whereas in grassland, it exhibited a parabolic response to N addition rates with the highest values at the moderate N level in spite of the homogeneous matrix for all four land-use types. This suggested higher response thresholds of Rs to the N addition gradient in croplands and the plantation. During the wheat-growing season in the two croplands, Rh also displayed linear increases with rising N addition rates. Interestingly, N addition significantly decreased the apparent temperature sensitivity of Rs and increased basal Rs. The different response patterns of Rs to the N addition gradient in diverse land-use types with a similar soil matrix indicate that vegetation type is very important in regulating terrestrial C cycle feedback to climate change under N deposition.",
"corpus_id": 748440,
"score": 0,
"title": "Different Response Patterns of Soil Respiration to a Nitrogen Addition Gradient in Four Types of Land-Use on an Alluvial Island in China"
} |
{
"abstract": "So far as technical aspects are concerned, physicians need have no immediate concern about any important change in the present method of recording electrocardiograms, New leads under investigation are not yet ready for clinical use, and it may be that in an attempt to get purity of components, systems have been set up which hide clinically important “impurities”.The most common error in electrocardiographic interpretation is to make an anatomic diagnosis from the electrocardiogram alone. Perhaps even more serious is the conclusion, reached too often, that a patient whose electrocardiogram is within normal limits does not have heart disease.",
"corpus_id": 1198208,
"title": "Modern electrocardiography and general practice."
} | {
"abstract": "Although rapid advances have been made in the understanding of the fundamental processes underlying the production of electrical energy by myocardial tissue and its subsequent distribution by the body, clinical evaluation of the surface electrocardiogram remains largely a subjective discipline. The purpose of this paper is to consider several measures of surface electrocardiograms that make possible a more objective evaluation. Since its introduction in 1931 by Wilson and his associates,' the concept of the ventricular gradient has been explored sporadically. Although a fair amount of data has been obtained concerning the frontal projection of this little information has been gained with regard to the spatial magnitude and orientation of the ventricular gradient. The tedium of the calculations involved probably has played a major role in delaying the gathering of these data. In order to circumvent this difficulty, apparatus that enables the automatic computation of the ventricular gradient has been constructed. The isosceles tetrahedral reference frame is utilized to obtain approximate orthogonal components of the electrocardiogram. Basically, the apparatus consists of a three-channel electronic integrator that is charged and discharged by high-speed relays? activated a t the appropriate time by a sequence of monostable multivibrators. Instantaneous analysis of successive electrocardiographic cycles demands that the timing of the sequence be performed within each cycle. The operation of the apparatus employed is diagramed in FIGURE 1. The P wave is utilized for synchronization by transforming its instant of rise into a sharp pulse by amplification, clipping, differentiation, and the triggering of a blocking oscillator. This pulse triggers a monostable multivibrator whose rectangular output is adjusted in length on a monitor oscilloscope to end at the initial ventricular deflection, The rectangular wave is utilized to clamp the integrating base line to the potential present a t the end of the P-R interval and to discharge the integrator. The trailing edge of this wave form triggers a second variable monostable multivibrator whose duration is adjusted by monitoring to coincide with the period of ventricular activity. A permanent record of this latter rectangular wave is obtained superimposed on one orthogonal component. This second rectangular output is utilized to: (1) unblank a dual-beam cathode-ray tube so that the frontal and horizontal planar projections of the spatial vectorcardiogram may be recorded, and (2) to connect the integrating circuits simultaneously to the electrically isolated output of the amplified orthogonal components. A third rectangular wave of fixed length, fired by the trailing edge of the preceding pulse, activates a transfer relay that replaces the patient connections with * Established Investigator of the American Heart Association, New York, N. Y. t Spring-wire relays, type AF, Bell Telephone Co.",
"corpus_id": 33469994,
"title": "THE INTEGRATED ELECTROCARDIOGRAM"
} | {
"abstract": "We investigated long-term responses (since 1850) of Fagus sylvatica (Luxembourg; central Europe) to shifts in temperature, precipitation, and nitrogen deposition by analyzing diameter at breast height (DBH) increment, basal area increment (BAI), and tree-ring stable isotopes (δ13C, δ15N). We compared stands on soils with contrasting water supply (Regosols and Cambisols with an available water capacity of ca. 40 and 170 mm, respectively) and of two different age classes (ca. 60 vs. 200 years). All stands showed a peak in DBH increment in the decade 1978–1987, but a decline in increment growth in subsequent decades. In addition, BAI declined in mature stands in the last two decades. Decreasing increment rates were attributable to an increasing drought limitation of stands, mainly induced by increasing temperatures in the last two decades. Contrary to our expectations, stands on Cambisols showed a similar susceptibility to shifts in temperature and precipitation as stands on Regosols, suggesting a strong adaptation of the respective ecotypes grown at dryer sites. This result was in line with long-term trends for tree-ring δ13C signatures, which did not differ significantly between stands on Cambisols and Regosols. Climate impacts on tree-ring δ15N signatures were low. High spring precipitation and temperatures caused increasing and decreasing δ15N values, respectively, but only in mature stands on Cambisols. Stands on Regosols tended to have lower δ15N values than stands on Cambisols. Decreasing δ15N values in recent decades suggest an increasing impact of allochthonous N loads with isotopically lighter N.",
"corpus_id": 18832761,
"score": 0,
"title": "Long-Term Trends in Tree-Ring Width and Isotope Signatures (δ13C, δ15N) of Fagus sylvatica L. on Soils with Contrasting Water Supply"
} |
{
"abstract": "OBJECTIVE\nTo find out whether 14-16-year-old pupils with visual perception disabilities have atypical EEG activation patterns during visual discrimination.\n\n\nMETHODS\nEEG correlation indices (EEGCIs), based on the waveform characteristics of two EEG signals, were used as measures of slow joint activation of cortical regions during visual discrimination in pupils with visual perception disabilities.\n\n\nRESULTS\nDuring visual discrimination low EEGCIs were seen between the left temporal and both parieto-occipital EEG channels in pupils with visual perception disabilities and in pupils with a poor occupational outcome. The pupils with low performance intelligence and those with difficulties in the visual discrimination task had low EEGCIs within the left hemisphere. The left hemispheric dominance of the findings is suggested to reflect the psychophysiology of the task since visual discrimination demands attention to details (local processing) and is thus supposed to be more strongly represented in the left hemisphere.\n\n\nCONCLUSIONS\nDuring visual discrimination, low EEGCIs were seen in the posterior and left hemispheric regions of pupils with disabilities in visual perception and visual discrimination and with a poor occupational outcome.\n\n\nSIGNIFICANCE\nLow EEGCIs in posterior and left hemispheric regions during visual discrimination can to some extent be seen as neurophysiological markers for visual perception disabilities and a poor occupational outcome and imply an increased need for adjustment of the educational curriculum and a need for occupational guidance.",
"corpus_id": 1127743,
"title": "Adolescents with learning disorders have atypical EEG correlation indices. I. Correlation indices during visual discrimination"
} | {
"abstract": "EEG intrahemispheric coherences (HCohs) in the resting state in twenty-four 4 Hz frequency windows between 1 and 51 Hz were studied in 18 children with “nonverbal learning disorder” (NLD) and compared to a group of 18 children with “verbal learning disorder” (VLD). New facts were found in the NLD group. These concern hemispheric balance, expressed as left minus right (L-R) homologous HCohs. In the high frequencies (25–51 Hz) the number of long-distance HCohs, higher in the right hemisphere (RH), is lower than HCohs, which are higher in the left hemisphere (LH). A reversed interhemispheric asymmetry is seen for short distance HCohs in that band. These asymmetries are not found in the VLD group, and the tendency is even reversed. In the low frequencies (1–27 Hz) all higher HCohs are more numerous in the RH, irrespective of interelectrode distance (IED). In these bands there are no NLD-VLD group differences. In NLD there is a significant inverse relationship between IED and (L-R)HCoh values (LRDif) in the high frequencies; the larger the IED, the higher the LRDif. In the lower frequencies there is no such tendency. In the VLD group these relationships were absent. These preliminary results suggest long distance gamma band hypoconnectivity in the RH of NLD children, in line with the hypothesis of an RH long distance connectivity problem in NLD. This may explain the difficulties with intermodal perception (gestalt function). Finally, in the NLD group some gamma band interhemispheric (ICohs) over F7/F8 and T3/T4 were lower than in VLD children and some gamma band ICohs were higher in NLD compared to VLD over O1/O2. This is possibly connected with the cognitive differences subserved by these areas, i.e., language and the respectively visuospatial function.",
"corpus_id": 1541355,
"title": "Children with Nonverbal Learning Disabilities (NLD): Coherence Values in the Resting State May Reflect Hypofunctional Long Distance Connections in the Right Hemisphere"
} | {
"abstract": "The aim of the present study was to better understand how children with different abilities use playgrounds to engage in creative play and interact socially with their peers. Twenty children aged between 7 and 12 years, with different abilities, participated in interviews. The findings showed that playgrounds served as a reference point for all the children, they challenged a child's physical abilities and provided opportunities for role-playing and social interactions. However, for children with disabilities, playgrounds had limited accessibility, usability and did not support interaction with peers. A methodological limitation of the study was that the interviewer only met the children once. Further research should be carried out to investigate if creating playgrounds according to universal design principles and adapting them to the needs of children with disabilities would improve social interactions and provide more opportunities for play.",
"corpus_id": 6429864,
"score": 1,
"title": "Usability of playgrounds for children with different abilities."
} |
{
"abstract": "A key element in the designing process of vehicle sounds is the evaluation of the customers’ perception and cognitive expectation on the acoustic quality. As the human auditory perception comprises multiple dimensions, the degree of fulfilling the customers’ requirements on acoustic quality is a complex task. In this respect, the perception of impulsive sounds is particular important since those are the sounds the customers listen to at their first contact when visiting a dealership. This study presents psychoacoustic metrics that allow predicting their perceived sound quality. In a first step, significant psychoacoustic parameters were derived from verbal descriptors assessing the sound quality of door handle snapback. Then, paired comparison tests and categorical scale judgments were carried out for door closing and indicator snapback sounds. Based on these results, linear regression analysis revealed a significant predictive accuracy for two psychoacoustic parameters. The first is the classical percentile loudness N5 (see DIN 45 631) and the second is the newly considered measure duration of sharpness. Their relative contribution depends on the considered sound type. Whereas loudness appears to be the major predictor for the quality of indicator snapback sounds, the duration of sharpness has a large contribution when predicting the acoustic quality of door closing sounds. The influence of these parameters was confirmed in additional experiments measuring the quality of sounds where these parameters were explicitly varied. In summary, the data show that a linear combination of these parameters with signal type specific adjustments on their significance can serve as a good basis for the qualitative assessment of vehicle sound quality.",
"corpus_id": 162173554,
"title": "Predicting the perceived Quality of impulsive Vehicle sounds"
} | {
"abstract": "The focus of this investigation was to examine the acoustic trends present during operation of an automotive door closure at two impact speeds through experimental methods. Transient sound pressure of five different door closure mechanisms were collected in a semi-anechoic chamber using a three-element condenser microphone array. Post-processing methodologies such as Sound Pressure Level versus 1/3 Octave band and Continuous Wavelet Transform computations were conducted. These procedures provided an in-depth analysis on the overall generated sound in addition to identifying which frequencies dominate the response at specific impact events during latch operation. Computational model analyses of the closure system using Rigid Body Dynamic and Explicit Dynamic methods using ANSYS to obtain a clearer understanding of the latch component interactions. Recorded average sound pressure level, frequency decomposition, and impact reaction forces are presented in addition to the notable trends between both impacting speeds.",
"corpus_id": 116376002,
"title": "Experimental and Computational Methods for Investigating Automotive Door Closure Sounds"
} | {
"abstract": "An InP-based Schottky-barrier diode (SBD) is monolithically integrated with a wideband log-periodic toothed antenna for detecting millimeter- and sub-millimeter-waves at frequencies of up to the terahertz (THz) range. A module with a quasi-optical collimation lens fabricated for practical use exhibits sensitivities of 1000 V/W at 300 GHz and 125 V/W at 1.2 THz with good linearity. Near-distance wireless transmission of 5 Gbit/s data with a 240 GHz carrier is also examined using the fabricated SBD module.",
"corpus_id": 122896273,
"score": 0,
"title": "InP-Based Planar-Antenna-Integrated Schottky-Barrier Diode for Millimeter- and Sub-Millimeter-Wave Detection"
} |
{
"abstract": "It is aimed to design a X-band monopulse microstrip antenna array that can be used almost in all modern tracking radars and having superior properties in angle detection and angular accuracy than the classical ones. In order to create a monopulse antenna array, a rectangular microstrip antenna is designed and 16 of it gathered together using the nonlinear central feeding to suppress the side lobe level (SLL) of the antenna. The monopulse antenna is created by the combining 4 of these 4×4 array antennas with a microstrip comparator designed using four branch line coupler. Good agreement is noted between the simulation and measurement results.",
"corpus_id": 36862632,
"title": "SLL suppressed monopulse microstrip antenna design"
} | {
"abstract": "In this paper, modeling of the rectangular substrate integrated waveguide (SIW)cavity backed narrow slot antenna for input impedance is developed by using the transmission-line model and lumped-element circuit. The model of a transverse slot in broad wall of the waveguide is used in the transmission-line model. The results based on transmission-line and circuit modeling are presented and compared with those obtained by full wave simulation. The proposed model gives, for the first time, some fundamental characteristics of the rectangular SIW cavity backed narrow slot antenna.",
"corpus_id": 25104412,
"title": "Input impedance of rectangular substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) cavity backed slot antennas"
} | {
"abstract": "Different kinds of spiral planar circularly polarized (CP) antennas are presented. These antennas are based on an interaction between a cylindrical surface-wave excited by an omnidirectional probe and a inhomogeneous surface impedance with a spiral pattern. The surface impedance interaction transforms a bounded surface wave into a circularly polarized leaky wave with almost broadside radiation. The problem is studied by adiabatically matching the local 2D solution of a modulated surface-impedance problem to the actual surface. Analytical expressions are derived for the far-field radiation pattern; on this basis, universal design curves for antenna gain are given and a design procedure is outlined. Two types of practical solutions are presented, which are relevant to different implementations of the impedance modulation: i) a grounded dielectric slab with a spiral-sinusoidal thickness and ii) a texture of dense printed patches with sizes variable with a spiral-sinusoidal function. Full wave results are compared successfully with the analytical approximations. Both the layouts represent good solutions for millimeter wave CP antennas.",
"corpus_id": 23097298,
"score": -1,
"title": "Spiral Leaky-Wave Antennas Based on Modulated Surface Impedance"
} |
{
"abstract": "BACKGROUND\nAssociations between environmental factors and spatial disparity of mortality rates of Alzheimer's disease (AD) in the US are not well understood.\n\n\nOBJECTIVE\nTo find associations between 41 trace elements, four common risk factors, and AD mortality rates in the48 contiguous states.\n\n\nMETHODS\nIsopleth maps of AD mortality rates of the 48 states and associated factors were examined. Correlations between state average AD mortality rates and concentrations of 41 soil elements, wine consumption, percentage of current smokers, obesity, and diagnosed diabetes of the 48 states between 1999 and 2014 were analyzed.\n\n\nRESULTS\nAmong 41 elements, soil selenium concentrations have the most significant inverse correlations with AD mortality rates. Rate ratio (RR) of the 6 states with the lowest product of soil selenium and sulfur concentrations is 53% higher than the 6 states with the highest soil selenium sulfur product in the 48 states (RR = 1.53, CI95% 1.51-1.54). Soil tin concentrations have the most significant inverse correlation with AD mortality growth rates between 1999 and 2014, followed by soil sulfur concentrations. Percentages of obesity, diagnosed diabetes, smoking, and wine consumption per capita also correlate significantly with AD mortality growth rates.\n\n\nCONCLUSIONS\nHigh soil selenium and sulfur concentrations and wine consumption are associated with low AD mortality rates. Given that average soil selenium and sulfur concentrations are indicators of their intakes from food, water, and air by people in a region, long-term exposure to high soil selenium and sulfur concentrations might be beneficial to AD mortality rate reduction in a region.",
"corpus_id": 4114342,
"title": "Associations of Spatial Disparities of Alzheimer's Disease Mortality Rates with Soil Selenium and Sulfur Concentrations and Four Common Risk Factors in the United States."
} | {
"abstract": "Alzheimer’s disease (AD), characterized by progressive loss of memory, language, reasoning and other cognitive functions, including dementia, is characterized pathologically by the presence of senile plaques, neurofibrillary tangles and synapse loss. Increased oxidative/nitrosative stress, decreased antioxidants, mitochondrial damage and other factors play major roles in the development and progression of AD. Strategies to reduce pro-oxidant species to ameliorate AD pathology have been proposed with mixed results. In this review, we focus on the most recent in vitro and in vivo antioxidant approaches for removing oxidant species with relevance to AD, including N-acetyl-l-cysteine, vitamin D, vitamin E, ferulic acid, tricyclodecan-9-yl-xanthogenate, selenium and melatonin as therapeutic stratagems in AD management. In addition, we reviewed the most effective mitochondria targeted antioxidants such as coenzyme Q10 and lipoic acid. We suggest the use of multitargeted approaches by formulas containing one or more antioxidant compounds may be more promising than single-agent approaches.",
"corpus_id": 9021225,
"title": "Strategy to reduce free radical species in Alzheimer’s disease: an update of selected antioxidants"
} | {
"abstract": "The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between internal force production in selected skeletal muscles and the externally calculated joint moment during overground locomotion in the adult cat. Hindlimb segments were modelled as a linked system of rigid bodies and a generalized muscle moment (GMM), the sum over all active and passive tissues acting about the joint, was calculated using principles of inverse dynamics. Moments produced by individual muscles were calculated using tendon transducers implanted in freely moving cats and muscle moment arm information. Results indicated that the externally measured variables of peak ground reaction force and joint position were equally important to the determination of peak ankle GMM. Examination of peak moments revealed that increases in peak ankle GMM were met by increases in medial (MG) and lateral (LG) gastrocnemius output. Peak soleus (SOL) moments did not change significantly as a function of peak ankle GMM. The role of the plantaris (PLT) was less clear, with peak moments increasing significantly as a function of peak ankle GMM in one cat. All four ankle extensors were important to the attainment of peak ankle GMM early in stance. Subsequently, SOL and PLT contributed substantially to the ankle GMM throughout stance, LG moments declined to near zero, soon after peak ankle GMM; and MG moments demonstrated a substantial but more gradual decline. The relative contributions of these individual muscles to the ankle GMM were supported by their respective architecture, uniarticular versus multiarticular function, and physiological profiles.",
"corpus_id": 21363553,
"score": 0,
"title": "Relationship between ankle muscle and joint kinetics during the stance phase of locomotion in the cat."
} |
{
"abstract": "We have observed the quantization of magnetic flux in a high-Tc yttrium-based ceramic superconductor1 and obtain a value for the flux quantum in this material. The value of the flux quantum, h/2e where h is Planck's constant and e is the electron charge, implies that the charge carriers of superconductivity are electron pairs.",
"corpus_id": 8594357,
"title": "Flux quantization in a high-Tc superconductor"
} | {
"abstract": "Thus, microwave surface impedance measurements of Fe-pnictide superconductors allow accurate finding reactive and real part of complex conductivity of these materials despite of their small dimensions. At present, microwave measurements do not disturb consensus regarding the wave symmetry in all studied Fe-based superconductors. In turns, the complex conductivity makes it possible to find the temperature dependence of not only the penetration depth, but also quasiparticle conductivity and the rate of quasiparticle scattering. Here we obtain a chance to find the absolute value of the rate. Obviously, we will have a lot of work in this direction in a wide range of lengths of electromagnetic waves. In addition, the complex conductivity of the pnictides in temperature range above Tc is of undoubted interest too.",
"corpus_id": 1994599,
"title": "Microwave response, complex conductivity and effect of order parameter symmetry in Fe-based superconductors"
} | {
"abstract": "This paper reports the behavior of the FBAR and its performance due to change of materials and their thicknesses. The resonance of the resonator depends on the thickness of the piezoelectric thin film acoustic resonator. The confinement of the acoustic wave in resonator depends on the electrode thickness and materials. Here such materials effects and the geometric effects are studied. It is found that acoustic properties of all the layers influences the resonator performance, with increased resonance frequency results from thinner electrodes, as it decreases the mass loading effect of resonator's electrodes and uses high longitudinal velocity of the piezoelectric materials.",
"corpus_id": 10122148,
"score": 1,
"title": "Optimization and analysis of piezoelectric and electrode materials' thickness effects on the performance of film bulk acoustic resonator"
} |
{
"abstract": "SUMMARY The main features of the deep structure of the Gorringe Ridge are analysed on the basis of gravity and magnetic measurements, as well as seismic profiles, drill holes, rock dredges, submersible observations and seismicity data. The gravity and magnetic models of the Gettysburg and Ormonde seamounts, which form the Gorringe Ridge, suggest that the Moho is approximately flat and the upper part of the ridge corresponds to a northwestwards vergent fold. This structure is the result of a northwestward vergent thrust that deformed the oceanic crust, with a minimum slip of approximately 20 km. The activity of the thrust probably started 20 Myr, and produced the recent stages of seamount uplift. The seamount is mainly composed of gabbros of the oceanic crust, serpentinized rocks and alkaline basalts. The large antiform, located in the hangingwall of the thrust, is probably deformed by minor faults. This oceanic ridge is a consequence of the oblique convergence between the African Plate and the overlapping Eurasian Plate.",
"corpus_id": 12413031,
"title": "Gorringe Ridge gravity and magnetic anomalies are compatible with thrusting at a crustal scale"
} | {
"abstract": "The Gorringe Bank is a 5000 m high seamount near the Atlantic coast of Iberia characterized by a 9 m high geoid anomaly and a ∼120 mGal Bouguer anomaly relative to the surrounding abyssal plains. It has been linked to a NW directed thrust carrying exhumed upper mantle rocks and transitional crust on top of flexed‐down Eurasian oceanic crust along the Tagus Abyssal Plain. However, estimations of crustal shortening have yielded dissimilar results, and the deep structure of the ridge remains highly unknown. We present a restored cross section and a new model of the lithospheric structure based on gravity, geoid, elevation, and the presence of serpentinized peridotites. At least 20 km of shortening took place along a flat‐ramp‐flat thrust fault, and the density structure of the lithosphere is consistent with mantle serpentinization varying from 70% at the surface to 20% at 14 km depth and 0% at 40 km. The topographic relief and gravity anomalies are explained by assuming a flexural isostatic model with an elastic thickness Te of ∼30 km. The evolution of the Gorringe Bank since the Late Jurassic is interpreted in relation to Eurasia‐Africa‐North America plate motion in four stages: (1) transtension between Newfoundland‐Iberia and Africa, which generated small oceanic basins and mantle exhumation; (2) opening of the North Atlantic and seafloor spreading at the NW side of the exhumed Gorringe, which produced gabbro intrusions and serpentinization; (3) a quiescent tectonic period dominated by subsidence and sediment accumulation; and (4) a transpressional plate boundary between Eurasia and Africa with NW directed subcrustal thrusting and generation of the present Gorringe relief.",
"corpus_id": 36244747,
"title": "Lithospheric structure of the Gorringe Bank: Insights into its origin and tectonic evolution"
} | {
"abstract": "Abstract The effects of obstetric fistula surpass the individual woman and affect husbands, relatives, peers and the community at large. Few studies have documented the experiences of men who live with wives suffering from fistula. In this study, our objective was to understand how fistula affects these men’s lives. We conducted 16 in-depth interviews with men in central and western Uganda. We used thematic narrative analysis and discuss our findings based on Connell’s theory of hegemonic masculinity. Findings show that the men’s experiences conflicted with Ugandan norms of hegemonic masculinity. However, men had to find other ways of explaining their identity, such as portraying themselves as small men but still be responsible, caring husbands and fathers. The few individuals who married a second wife remained married to the wife with the fistula. These men viewed marriage as a lifetime promise before God and a responsibility that should not end because of a fistula. Poverty, love, care for children and social norms in a patriarchal society compelled the men to persevere in their relationship amidst many challenges.",
"corpus_id": 205798366,
"score": 0,
"title": "‘As a man I felt small’: a qualitative study of Ugandan men’s experiences of living with a wife suffering from obstetric fistula"
} |
{
"abstract": "In this study, we examined the electrical properties of wet human cortical and cancellous bone tissue from distal tibia and their relationship to the wet, dry, and ash tissue densities. The resistivity and specific capacitance of both cortical and cancellous bone were determined for different frequencies and directions (orientation). The wet, dry, and ash tissue densities of the bone samples were measured, and the ash content was determined. Correlation and regression analysis was used to examine the possible relationships among the electrical properties and the tissue densities for cancellous and cortical bone specimens separately as well as for all of the bone specimens combined. Highly significant positive correlations (p<0.001) were found between the wet density of bone and the dry and ash densities. The specific capacitance of the cancellous bone specimens in all three orthogonal directions showed significant (p<0.01) positive correlations with the wet, dry, and ash densities. In general, the specific capacitance depended more on density for all bone specimens, and only a weak relationship was found between the resistivity of human cortical bone and density.",
"corpus_id": 6908068,
"title": "The electrical and dielectric properties of human bone tissue and their relationship with density and bone mineral content"
} | {
"abstract": "Recent experiments indicate that both inductive and capacitively generated electromagnetic fields can be used to non-invasively stimulate bone formation in osteotomies and fracture non-unions. However, very little is known about the mechanisms which produce this effect in either type of field. In order to provide information relative to elucidating such mechanisms, as well as some insight into the problems associated with clinically applying either system, a comparative analysis of the two types of fields is presented. In each case the electrical and magnetic components of the field are defined, along with its total energy flux and the electrical currents induced in the tissue. Also, pertinent electrical factors related to its generation are calculated. The electric field strength and currents in the two devices can be about the same, but important differences exist in the geometry of the electric field and its temporal relationship to the magnetic field. These results are discussed relative to current experimental data and eventual clinical application.",
"corpus_id": 13077970,
"title": "Comparison of capacitive and inductive bone stimulation devices"
} | {
"abstract": "Abstract The object of this research was to investigate the effect of electric fields on bone loss due to disuse. Plaster casts embedded with electric field generating plates were applied to the right legs of forty-eight male rats. Fields of various types were applied over a period of 28 days. A paired analysis of the properties of the right and left femurs was compared to a sham group which received no field treatments. Parameters measured included bone weight, specific gravity, cortical area, ultimate strength, modulus of elasticity, hardness, osteon count, and chemical analysis. It was found that the bone weight loss and cortical area reduction caused by immobilization were reduced by electric field treatments. Eight bone tumors were observed on eighteen femurs treated with the electric fields. No tumors were observed on the sham group.",
"corpus_id": 4626983,
"score": 2,
"title": "Electric fields and bone loss of disuse."
} |
{
"abstract": "Neuroimaging-based diagnostics could potentially assist clinicians to make more accurate diagnoses resulting in faster, more effective treatment. We participated in the 2011 ADHD-200 Global Competition which involved analyzing a large dataset of 973 participants including Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) patients and healthy controls. Each participant's data included a resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scan as well as personal characteristic and diagnostic data. The goal was to learn a machine learning classifier that used a participant's resting state fMRI scan to diagnose (classify) that individual into one of three categories: healthy control, ADHD combined (ADHD-C) type, or ADHD inattentive (ADHD-I) type. We used participants' personal characteristic data (site of data collection, age, gender, handedness, performance IQ, verbal IQ, and full scale IQ), without any fMRI data, as input to a logistic classifier to generate diagnostic predictions. Surprisingly, this approach achieved the highest diagnostic accuracy (62.52%) as well as the highest score (124 of 195) of any of the 21 teams participating in the competition. These results demonstrate the importance of accounting for differences in age, gender, and other personal characteristics in imaging diagnostics research. We discuss further implications of these results for fMRI-based diagnosis as well as fMRI-based clinical research. We also document our tests with a variety of imaging-based diagnostic methods, none of which performed as well as the logistic classifier using only personal characteristic data.",
"corpus_id": 8563566,
"title": "ADHD-200 Global Competition: diagnosing ADHD using personal characteristic data can outperform resting state fMRI measurements"
} | {
"abstract": "Functional MRI (fMRI) and diffusion MRI (dMRI) are non-invasive imaging modalities that allow in-vivo analysis of a patient's brain network (known as a connectome). Use of these technologies has enabled faster and better diagnoses and treatments of neurological disorders and a deeper understanding of the human brain. Recently, researchers have been exploring the application of machine learning models to connectome data in order to predict clinical outcomes and analyze the importance of subnetworks in the brain. Connectome data has unique properties, which present both special challenges and opportunities when used for machine learning. The purpose of this work is to review the literature on the topic of applying machine learning models to MRI-based connectome data. This field is growing rapidly and now encompasses a large body of research. To summarize the research done to date, we provide a comparative, structured summary of 77 relevant works, tabulated according to different criteria, that represent the majority of the literature on this topic. (We also published a living version of this table online at this http URL that the community can continue to contribute to.) After giving an overview of how connectomes are constructed from dMRI and fMRI data, we discuss the variety of machine learning tasks that have been explored with connectome data. We then compare the advantages and drawbacks of different machine learning approaches that have been employed, discussing different feature selection and feature extraction schemes, as well as the learning models and regularization penalties themselves. Throughout this discussion, we focus particularly on how the methods are adapted to the unique nature of graphical connectome data. Finally, we conclude by summarizing the current state of the art and by outlining what we believe are strategic directions for future research.",
"corpus_id": 8057200,
"title": "Machine Learning on Human Connectome Data from MRI"
} | {
"abstract": "Smart health home systems and assisted living architectures rely on severely energy-constrained sensing devices, such as wearable sensors, for the generation of data and their reliable wireless communication to a central location. However, the need for recharging the battery regularly constitutes a maintenance burden that hinders the long-term cost-effectiveness of these systems, especially for health-oriented applications that target people in need, such as the elderly or the chronically ill. These sensing systems generate raw data that is processed into knowledge by reasoning and machine learning algorithms. This paper investigates the benefits of embedded machine learning, i.e. executing this knowledge extraction on the wearable sensor, instead of communicating abundant raw data over the low power network. Focusing on a simple classification task and using an accelerometer-based wearable sensor, we demonstrate that embedded machine learning has the potential to reduce the radio and processor duty cycle by several orders of magnitude; and, thus, substantially extend the battery lifetime of resource-constrained wearable sensors.",
"corpus_id": 19192912,
"score": -1,
"title": "Extending the battery lifetime of wearable sensors with embedded machine learning"
} |
{
"abstract": "Structural and functional studies of lateral heterogeneity in biological membranes have underlined the importance of membrane organization in biological function. Most inquiries have focused on steric determinants of membrane organization, such as headgroup size and acyl-chain saturation. This manuscript reports a combination of theory and experiment that shows significant electrostatic contributions to surface pressures in monolayers of phospholipids where the charge spacing is smaller than the Bjerrum length. For molecules with steric cross sections typical of phospholipids in the cell membrane (approximately 50 A(2)), only polyphosphoinositides achieve this threshold. The most abundant such lipid is phosphatidylinositol bisphosphate, which has between three and four charged groups at physiological conditions. Theory and experiment show that surface pressure increases linearly with phosphatidylinositol bisphosphate net charge and reveal crossing of high and low ionic strength pressure-area isotherms, due to opposing effects of ionic strength in compressed and expanded monolayers. Theory and experiment show that electrostatic effects are negligible for monolayers of univalent lipids, emphasizing the unique importance of electrostatic effects for lateral organization of polyphosphoinositides. Quantitative differences between theory and experiment suggest that attractive interactions between polyphosphoinositides, possibly mediated by hydrogen bonding, can lessen the effect of electrostatic repulsions.",
"corpus_id": 823256,
"title": "Electrostatic contribution to the surface pressure of charged monolayers containing polyphosphoinositides."
} | {
"abstract": "Electrostatic interactions at charged lipid membranes make a significant contribution to the free energy of the system, and can be varied within a wide range by alteration either of the membrane's surface charge density or of the concentration of electrolytes in the surrounding medium. Changes in the charged membrane's structure, such as the ordered in equilibrium fluid phase transition, can thus be induced at constant temperature by variations in pH and salt concentration. An adequate quantitative description of these phenomena is obtained from the Gouy--Chapman theory. The good agreement between theory and experiment confirms that the expression derived for the electrostatic free energy especially in respect of its positive sign is correct. The classical expression derived for the electrostatic free energy, especially in respect of its positive sign, is correct. The classical expression for the \"free energy of the double layer\" derived by Verwey and Overbeek, which has a negative sign, is not applicable to lipid membranes with ionizable polar groups.",
"corpus_id": 4925575,
"title": "Electrostatic interactions at charged lipid membranes. I. Effects of pH and univalent cations on membrane structure."
} | {
"abstract": "Abstract The changes in X-ray diffraction pattern which accompany modifications of the myelin sheath of frog sciatic nerve (details of which have been published previously) have been reconsidered in detail. It is noted that some modifications lead to increases in the diffraction spacings of the complex structure, and in the case of the dried specimens this is explained in terms of variations in the angle of tilt of lipid molecules within the layered lipoprotein structure. Approximate layer dimensions are deduced from the variation of the diffraction spacings of modified nerve, and the interpretation summarized diagrammatically. In the case of fresh nerve myelin the necessary condensation of the lipid layer thicknesses is achieved by having the longest lipid molecules stabilized individually in a curled position by association with cholesterol molecules rather than by tilting them. This enables the myelin components to retain their radial orientation, and suggests a specific function for the free cholesterol in myelin structure.",
"corpus_id": 9742443,
"score": 2,
"title": "Further observations on the structure of myelin."
} |
{
"abstract": "Electrical capacitance tomography (ECT) is a fast imaging technique that visualizes cross-sectional permittivity distribution and may be applied for dynamic process visualization. The design of fast single channel electrical capacitance tomograph is presented in the paper. The elaborated “single-shot” circuit enables higher speed of data acquisition then classical “charge-discharge” and provides similar quality of signal. The setup for 16 electrodes sensor was made. The results of measurements and image reconstruction for simple permittivity distributions are presented.",
"corpus_id": 2070414,
"title": "Single channel electrical capacitance tomograph for dynamic process visualization"
} | {
"abstract": "Miniaturized device is an approach by integrating the laboratory function into small platform. These miniaturized devices are equipped with sensors or actuators to perform sensing, sample preparation or analysis and is well known as lab-on-chip (LOC) since 1990. The conventional miniaturized device available in the market normally provides single dimensional (1D) data at a time in most micro analysis processes. In order to obtain images from the device, cameras and microscopes are normally used. However, the size and tubing intact on the device make it difficult for cameras or optical devices to be placed within the reaction chamber to capture images that are related to the process. Processes such as cell detection and environmental analysis sometimes require two dimensional (2D) images in order to enhance the quality of analysis and data accuracy. Therefore, this research proposes to integrate tomography technique within the miniaturized device for capturing images within the device chamber in order to replace bulky optical equipment. Tomography system has been widely used in medical and industrial processes for image reconstruction. This research integrates Electrical Capacitance Tomography (ECT) system within a miniaturized device for visualization of stagnant samples via planar electrodes. This miniaturized planar tomography system consists of electrode array for the measurement of dielectric property changes within the chamber. This miniaturized device consists of 8-planar electrodes circulating the detection chamber where the dimension of each of the electrodes are 4 mm × 2 mm (length × width) printed on the circuit board. A home-made polydimenthylsiloxane chamber is fabricated and adhered on top of the electrodes to position the sample for electrical measurement and image reconstruction. Fan beam projection technique is utilized for data measurement from the miniaturized planar capacitive tomography system. The obtained data are processed using Linear Back Projection (LBP) algorithm via Matlab package for image reconstruction. Three samples: liquid-liquid, liquid-gas and liquid-solid are studied. Electrical measurement using fan beam projection is carried out and images of the samples are successfully reconstructed via LBP. Based on the obtained results, the error percentage for multiphase sample of water and air is 25% while 14.77% for solid sample of yeast and glucose. The obtained results show that the qualities of acquired images are highly depending on the voltage differences between each measurement. The amount of volume between the two materials affects the measured voltage differences. The nearer the samples to the planar electrode, the voltage differences observed are more significant. The reconstructed images using miniaturized planar capacitive tomography system for all the samples show good similarity to the camera captured images.",
"corpus_id": 114540514,
"title": "Miniaturized planar capacitance tomography system using fan beam projection technique for stagnant samples visualization"
} | {
"abstract": "A low-power serializing transmitter is proposed by using a 2.5:1 multiplexer. Owing to its fractional multiplexing operation, only a single clock is needed to simplify the clock generator design as well as hardware cost. Fabricated in a 40 nm CMOS technology, the transmitter can generate 2-channel 25-Gbps signals. The transmitter consumes only 24 mW from a 0.9-V power supply.",
"corpus_id": 17149051,
"score": 1,
"title": "A 2×25Gb/s 20mW serializing transmitter with 2.5:1 multiplexers in 40nm technology"
} |
{
"abstract": "Given a quarter of petabyte click log data, how can we estimate the relevance of each URL for a given query? In this paper, we propose the Bayesian Browsing Model (BBM), a new modeling technique with following advantages: (a) it does exact inference; (b) it is single-pass and parallelizable; (c) it is effective. We present two sets of experiments to test model effectiveness and efficiency. On the first set of over 50 million search instances of 1.1 million distinct queries, BBM out-performs the state-of-the-art competitor by 29.2% in log-likelihood while being 57 times faster. On the second click-log set, spanning a quarter of petabyte data, we showcase the scalability of BBM: we implemented it on a commercial MapReduce cluster, and it took only 3 hours to compute the relevance for 1.15 billion distinct query-URL pairs.",
"corpus_id": 2315407,
"title": "BBM: bayesian browsing model from petabyte-scale data"
} | {
"abstract": "We propose a model that leverages the millions of clicks received by web search engines to predict document relevance. This allows the comparison of ranking functions when clicks are available but complete relevance judgments are not. After an initial training phase using a set of relevance judgments paired with click data, we show that our model can predict the relevance score of documents that have not been judged. These predictions can be used to evaluate the performance of a search engine, using our novel formalization of the confidence of the standard evaluation metric discounted cumulative gain (DCG), so comparisons can be made across time and datasets. This contrasts with previous methods which can provide only pair-wise relevance judgments between results shown for the same query. When no relevance judgments are available, we can identify the better of two ranked lists up to 82% of the time, and with only two relevance judgments for each query, we can identify the better ranking up to 94% of the time. While our experiments are on sponsored search results, which is the financial backbone of web search, our method is general enough to be applicable to algorithmic web search results as well. Furthermore, we give an algorithm to guide the selection of additional documents to judge to improve confidence.",
"corpus_id": 13823051,
"title": "Evaluating search engines by modeling the relationship between relevance and clicks"
} | {
"abstract": "Box-office performance of a movie is mainly determined by the amount the movie collects in the opening weekend and Pre-Release hype is an important factor as far as estimating the openings of the movie are concerned. This can be estimated through user opinions expressed online on sites such as Twitter which is an online micro-blogging site with a user base running into millions. Each user is entitled to his own opinion which he expresses through his tweets. This paper suggests a novel way to mine and analyze the opinions expressed in these tweets with respect to a movie prior to its release, estimate the hype surrounding it and also predict the box-office openings of the movie.",
"corpus_id": 15566465,
"score": -1,
"title": "Box-Office Opening Prediction of Movies based on Hype Analysis through Data Mining"
} |
{
"abstract": "This study evaluated hospital readiness and interprofessional clinical reasoning in speech-language pathology and dietetics students following a simulation-based teaching package. Thirty-one students participated in two half-day simulation workshops. The training included orientation to the hospital setting, part-task skill learning and immersive simulated cases. Students completed workshop evaluation forms. They filled in a 10-question survey regarding confidence, knowledge and preparedness for working in a hospital environment before and immediately after the workshops. Students completed written 15-min clinical vignettes at 1 month prior to training, immediately prior to training and immediately after training. A marking rubric was devised to evaluate the responses to the clinical vignettes within a framework of interprofessional education. The simulation workshops were well received by all students. There was a significant increase in students’ self-ratings of confidence, preparedness and knowledge following the study day (p < .001). There was a significant increase in student overall scores in clinical vignettes after training with the greatest increase in clinical reasoning (p < .001). Interprofessional simulation-based training has benefits in developing hospital readiness and clinical reasoning in allied health students.",
"corpus_id": 3240385,
"title": "Simulation-Based Dysphagia Training: Teaching Interprofessional Clinical Reasoning in a Hospital Environment"
} | {
"abstract": "Purpose\nThe purpose of this study was to evaluate the believability of standardized patients portraying individuals with communication disorders as part of a larger study in which standardized patients help train medical and allied health students about communication disorders.\n\n\nMethod\nTwo women portrayed persons with aphasia, and 2 men depicted persons with dysarthria associated with Parkinson's disease. Two stakeholder groups rated believability. Speech-language pathologists rated believability of videos online. Persons with aphasia rated aphasia videos during in-person sessions with the researchers.\n\n\nResults\nTargeted believability was 80 or higher (0-100 scale; 0 = not at all believable, 100 = very believable). For speech-language pathologist raters, average ratings met the target for the portrayals of the aphasia characteristics of word-finding problems, agrammaticism, nonverbal communication, and overall portrayal but not for auditory comprehension problems. Targets for the portrayals were met for the dysarthria characteristics of reduced speech movements, reduced loudness, reduced intonation, flat affect, and overall portrayal but not for speech rate. Ratings for different standardized patients portraying the same case were not significantly different from each other on most characteristics. Ratings from persons with aphasia were highly variable.\n\n\nConclusion\nStandardized patients who do not have communication disorders can portray disorder characteristics in a believable manner.",
"corpus_id": 4378260,
"title": "Assessing the Believability of Standardized Patients Trained to Portray Communication Disorders."
} | {
"abstract": "AbstractBackground and ObjectivesSudden unexplained/unexpected death (SUDEP) is related to high mortality in patients with epilepsy. The prolongation of QT interval, involved in cardiac arrhythmia-related SUDEP, may be precipitated by antiepileptic dru\ngs (AEDs). In this study, we evaluated the effects of phenobarbital and levetiracetam on PR–QTc intervals in patients with post-stroke seizures.MethodsWe performed an open-label, parallel group, prospective, multicenter study between June 2009 and December 2013 in patients older than 18 years of age with a clinical diagnosis of post-stroke seizure and\n treated with phenobarbital or levetiracetam. In order to exclude a role of cerebral post-stroke injury on modulation of PR and QTc intervals, patients with cerebral post-stroke injury and without seizures were also enrolled as controls.ResultsInterictal electrocardiography analysis revealed no significant difference in PR interval between patients treated with an AED (n = 49) and control patients (n = 50) (181.25 ± 12.05 vs. 182.4 ± 10.3 ms; p > 0.05). In contrast, a\n significantly longer QTc interval was recorded in patients treated with an AED compared with control patients (441.2 ± 56.6 vs. 396.8 ± 49.3 ms; p < 0.01). Patients treated with phenobarbital showed a significantly longer QTc interval than patients treated with levetiracetam (460.0 ± 57.2 vs. 421.5 ± 50.1 ms; p < 0.05).ConclusionsThe study reported that in patients with late post-stroke seizures, phenobarbital prolonged QTc interval more so than levetiracetam.",
"corpus_id": 2558486,
"score": 1,
"title": "Effects of Phenobarbital and Levetiracetam on PR and QTc Intervals in Patients with Post-Stroke Seizure"
} |
{
"abstract": "Two programs are described which use an IBM-AT compatible personal computer, equipped with an analog-to-digital converter, to collect and analyze electrophysiological data. The first program is used to determine neuron firing rates during intracellular experiments and to save these results on disk. The second program is used to perform off-line analysis of the frequency data. Both programs are written entirely in the well known BASIC language and the Microsoft QuickBASIC compiler is employed for their use. All of the necessary hardware can be purchased commercially. In this paper emphasis is placed on the strategies and limitations involved when this high-level language is applied to tasks often needed in data acquisition and analysis. Both on- and off-line collection schemes are considered. This software is available from the authors.",
"corpus_id": 1994548,
"title": "Application of compiled BASIC in developing software for collection and analysis of neuronal firing frequency data"
} | {
"abstract": "The described interface to a digital computer measures interspike interval durations with a resolution of 10 microseconds. A built-in first-in first-out (FIFO) memory relieves the host computer from frequent I/O intensive tasks. The internal FIFO buffer can store up to 512 data words (wordlength is 16 bit) and works on the dual-port principle. This way the acquisition of a neuronal spike train is completely independent of the computer's simultaneously ongoing data access. A simple handshake protocol between the interface and the computer prevents any overhead communication. The buffer architecture of the instrument releases the host computer from high speed I/O handling schemes like real-time, clock-controlled, polling or interrupt procedures, that would request assembly language support. The body of two software, driver routines in the BASIC and the PASCAL language is presented. A complete and detailed schematic diagram of the circuitry is included.",
"corpus_id": 24617228,
"title": "A device for spike train sampling with built-in memory"
} | {
"abstract": "Measurements of currents through individual receptor-gated ion channels using the patch clamp technique have shown that each open channel contributes a square pulse of current and has a constant conductance, and that transitions between open and closed states are rapid1. To increase the signal-to-noise ratio of patch clamp recordings of glutamate channels in locust muscle, the bandwidth of the patch clamp amplifier has usually been restricted by a low pass filter (3 dB point, nominally 1 kHz with an 18 dB per octave slope). With concentrations of L-glutamate ≤5 × 10−5 M, we previously found that frequency histograms of channel lifetimes, constructed from data recorded with a 1 kHz bandwidth, could be fitted by single exponentials using the least-squares method2,3. Mean channel lifetimes estimated from the exponentials agree reasonably well with values obtained by ‘noise’ analysis of locust neuromuscular junctions4 and with mean values calculated directly by averaging the open times of single channel events5. However, the histograms are deficient in the region 0–1 ms because of the limited high-frequency response of the recording system. We have now recorded glutamate-gated channels in locust muscle membrane with signal-to-noise ratios of 3:1 or better and a recording bandwidth of d.c. to 10 kHz, and report lifetimes as brief as 50 µs. Frequency distribution histograms constructed from data recorded at 10 kHz suggest that the lifetime of the glutamate channel in extrajunctional membrane of locust muscle is governed by at least two exponential time-dependent processes, one of which has the effect of delaying channel closure.",
"corpus_id": 4245549,
"score": 2,
"title": "Closure of membrane channels gated by glutamate receptors may be a two-step process"
} |
{
"abstract": "Background Methanobrevibacter smithii, Methanobrevibacter oralis, Methanosphaera stadtmanae, Methanomassilicoccus luminyensis and Methanobrevibacter arboriphilicus have been cultured from human digestive microbiota. Each one of these fastidious methanogenic archaea requires a specific medium for its growth, hampering their routine isolation and the culture. Methodology/Principal Findings A new culture medium here referred as SAB medium was optimized and tested to cultivate methanogens associated with human microbiota, as well as two mesophile methanogens Methanobacterium beijingense and Methanosaeta concilii. It was further tested for the isolation of archaea from 20 human stool specimens including 10 specimens testing positive for PCR detection of M. smithii. After inoculating 105 colony-forming-unit archaea/mL or 1 g stool specimen in parallel in SAB medium and reference DSMZ medium in the presence of negative controls, growth of archaea was determined by optical microscopy and the measurement of methane production by gas chromatography. While the negative controls remained sterile, all tested archaea grew significantly more rapidly in SAB medium than in reference medium in 1–3 days (P<0.05, Student test). Among PCR-positive stool specimens, 10/10 grew in the SAB medium, 6/10 in DSMZ 119 medium, 5/10 in DSMZ 322 medium and 3/10 in DSMZ 334 c medium. Four out of ten PCR-negative stool specimens grew after a 3-week incubation in the SAB-medium whereas no growth was detected in any of the reference media. 16S rRNA gene sequencing yielded 99–100% sequence similarity with reference M. smithii except for one specimen that yielded 99–100% sequence similarity with reference Methanobrevibacter millerae. Conclusions/Significance SAB medium allows for the versatile isolation and growth of methanogenic archaea associated with human gut microbiota including the archaea missed by inoculation of reference media. Implementation of the SAB medium in veterinary and medical microbiology laboratories will ease the routine culture-based detection of methanogenic archaea in clinical and environmental specimens.",
"corpus_id": 646289,
"title": "A Versatile Medium for Cultivating Methanogenic Archaea"
} | {
"abstract": "Methanobrevibacter oralis is the major methanogenic archaea found in the oral cavity. It has been implicated in periodontitis, including the severe form. It is unknown whether certain M. oralis genetic variants are associated with severe periodontitis. Here, we developed multispacer sequence typing (MST) as a sequencing-based genotyping method for the assessment of M. oralis. The sequencing of four intergenic spacers from a collection of 17 dental plaque M. oralis isolates obtained from seven individuals revealed 482 genetic polymorphisms, including 401 single nucleotide polymorphisms (83.2 %), 55 deletions (11.4 %) and 26 insertions (5.4 %). Concatenation of the four spacers yielded nine genotypes, which were clustered into six groups with an index of discrimination of 0.919. One periodontitis patient may have harboured up to three genetic variants of M. oralis, revealing the previously unknown diversity of this archaea. MST will allow for the study of the dynamics of M. oralis populations, including inter-individual transmission and any correlations with the severity of periodontitis.",
"corpus_id": 2698516,
"title": "Genetic variants of dental plaque Methanobrevibacter oralis"
} | {
"abstract": "A reliable voter list is a necessary precondition for free and fair elections. However, many developing countries have persistent difficulties in registering their electors and establishing their identity. Following polemics about the quality of existing voter rolls, these countries have recently introduced reforms to their voter registration systems, such as the adoption of voter IDs and of biometric technology. Looking at three West African countries – Benin, Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana – this paper argues that the impact of these reforms has been mixed, that economic costs have not always been justified and that sophisticated technology does not guarantee the success and acceptance of voter registration.",
"corpus_id": 54534180,
"score": 0,
"title": "Democracy by IDs and Fingerprints? The Politics of Voter Registration and Voter Registration Reform in West Africa"
} |
{
"abstract": "Groundwaters from the Quaternary and Continental Terminal Formations in the Nigeria sector of the Chad Sedimentary Basin (CSB) together with rain and surface waters have been chemically and isotopically analyzed in order to investigate sources and ages of waters, possible modern renewal and mixing of the deep groundwaters, and to infer palaeoclimate incidences. Most of the waters are slightly to moderately mineralized and are of Na-HCO(3) type induced mainly by Na-feldspar weathering and ion exchange reactions. The wide range of the delta(18)O and delta(2)H values and (3)H contents in the upper aquifer indicate replenishment with modern meteoric water. However, the deep system (middle and lower aquifers) with a narrow range of depleted stable isotope values and low (14)C activities indicates that these waters have a palaeometeoric origin. The period of infiltration was within the humid and cooler period (35 to 40 ka BP) prior to the Last Glacial Maximum. In addition, the isotope compositions of the deep system show no mixing with modern waters. These results are in agreement with other palaeorecord studies in the Sahel zone during this period.",
"corpus_id": 2924396,
"title": "Isotope evidence of palaeorecharge and palaeoclimate in the deep confined aquifers of the Chad Basin, NE Nigeria."
} | {
"abstract": "ABSTRACT Groundwater depletion and changes in isotopic and chemical contents constitute the main indicators of overexploitation, recharge, and flow paths in the Souss–Massa aquifer. These indicators highlight processes concerning sustainability of water resources in the aquifer (e.g. surface/groundwater interaction, recharge processes, and marine intrusion). The spatial variation of stable and radioactive isotopic contents indicates a mixing of modern and old water within the system. Recent recharge was observed mainly along the Souss River (the major surface-water drainage in the study area) and in the irrigated areas. Mapping of chemical and isotopic variation shows that the area is affected by abstraction, irrigation water return, and the evolution of modern recharge in time and space. The processes, distribution, and timing of groundwater flow are influenced by short- and long-term effects; long-term recharge is dependent on climatic conditions. This study can be used to make informed decisions about water-resource allocation and alternative management practices.",
"corpus_id": 36149736,
"title": "Isotopes to assess sustainability of overexploited groundwater in the Souss–Massa system (Morocco)"
} | {
"abstract": "SUMMARY Field experiments were carried out in Brittany (Western France) in 1993 to measure ammonia losses from surface-applied pig and cattle slurry. Experiments were conducted on grass, stubble (wheat and maize) and arable land using a wind tunnel system. Ammonia losses were followed during periods ranging from 20 to 96 h after slurry application. Rates of slurry applied varied from 40 to 200 m3/ha. In two experiments, losses from cattle slurry were respectively 75 and 54% of the ammoniacal nitrogen applied in the slurry. Ammonia emissions from pig slurry applied at a rate of 40 m3/ha, during spring and summer experiments, were higher on grass (45–63% of the total ammoniacal nitrogen applied) than on wheat stubble (37–45%). On average, 75% of the total loss in all experiments occurred within the first 15 h after spreading. Significant correlations were found between ammonia losses (kg N/ha) and mean soil temperature and slurry dry matter content (%) using simple linear regressions and stepwise procedures. The time of application was also found to influence the magnitude of ammonia loss: 83% of the total loss occurred within 6 h when the slurry was applied at midday compared with 42% when it was applied in the evening.",
"corpus_id": 86253946,
"score": 0,
"title": "Ammonia volatilization following surface-applied pig and cattle slurry in France"
} |
{
"abstract": "Abstract Background. This study retrospectively investigated the clinical significance of undiagnosed solitary lung nodules removed by surgical resection. Patients and methods. We retrospectively collected data on the age, smoking, cancer history, nodule size, location and spiculation of 241 patients who had nodules measuring 7 mm to 30 mm and a final diagnosis established by histopathology. We compared the final diagnosis of each patient with the probability of malignancy (POM) which was proposed by the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP) guidelines. Results. Of the 241 patients, 203 patients were diagnosed to have a malignant lung tumor, while 38 patients were diagnosed with benign disease. There were significant differences in the patients with malignant and benign disease in terms of their age, smoking history, nodule size and spiculation. The mean value and the standard deviation of the POM in patients with malignant tumors were 51.7 + 26.1%, and that of patients with benign lesions was 34.6 + 26.7%. The area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC) was 0.67. The best cut-off value provided from the ROC curve was 22.6. When the cut-off value was set at 22.6, the sensitivity was 83%, specificity 52%, positive predictive value 90%, negative predictive value 36% and accuracy 77%, respectively. Conclusions. The clinical prediction model proposed in the ACCP guidelines showed unsatisfactory results in terms of the differential diagnosis between malignant disease and benign disease of solitary lung nodules in our study, because the specificity, negative predictive value and AUC were relatively low.",
"corpus_id": 2452579,
"title": "Evaluation of undiagnosed solitary lung nodules according to the probability of malignancy in the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP) evidence-based clinical practice guidelines"
} | {
"abstract": "OBJECTIVE\nThe objective of this article is to describe potential complications of percutaneous needle biopsy of the chest, discuss the risk factors associated with the development of complications, and explain how to prevent complications and manage complications when they occur.\n\n\nCONCLUSION\nPneumothorax and pulmonary hemorrhage are the most common complications of percutaneous needle biopsy of the chest, whereas air embolism and tumor seeding are extremely rare. Attention to biopsy planning and technique and postprocedural care help to prevent or minimize most potential complications.",
"corpus_id": 207323296,
"title": "Complications of CT-guided percutaneous needle biopsy of the chest: prevention and management."
} | {
"abstract": "BACKGROUND\nA subset of individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) resemble descriptions of extreme/'pathological' demand avoidance, displaying obsessive avoidance of everyday demands and requests, strategic or 'socially manipulative' behaviour and sudden changes in mood. Investigating challenging presentations using dimensional description may prove preferable to identifying subgroups. However, there remains an imperative to explore which behavioural traits appear most problematic to inform quantitative investigation. This study provides an in-depth exploration of parent perspectives on maladaptive behaviour in children reported to have an autism spectrum diagnosis and features of extreme/'pathological' demand avoidance.\n\n\nMETHOD\nParents completed a tailored semistructured interview about their child's behaviour, focusing on difficulties relevant to descriptions of extreme/'pathological' demand avoidance. The 26 interviews rated as scoring above threshold for 'substantial' features of extreme/'pathological' demand avoidance on relevant indicators were analysed qualitatively using a general inductive approach.\n\n\nRESULTS\nNew themes that emerged from these data included attempts by the child to control situations and others' activities. Avoidance behaviours in this sample could be described as 'strategic' rather than 'manipulative'. A range of factors, including a negative emotional response to demands, but also phobias, novelty, and uncertainty, were perceived to play a role in triggering extreme behaviour.\n\n\nCONCLUSIONS\nThese descriptions highlight the importance of systematically measuring noncompliance, attempts to control situations and others' activities, and extreme mood variability in individuals with ASD. These dimensions represent important targets for intervention, given their considerable impact on daily life.",
"corpus_id": 52832862,
"score": 1,
"title": "Dimensions of difficulty in children reported to have an autism spectrum diagnosis and features of extreme/‘pathological’ demand avoidance"
} |
{
"abstract": "As an adjunct to the National Evaluation of On Track the Home Office Commissioned this qualitative research addressing the question of citizenship. The study included on children and young people from 7-15 years old, exploring their understandings of social and moral responsibility, community involvement, and political literacy. These works demonstrated the sophisticated reasoning and understanding of young children, the importance to them of perceived unfairness in the enforcement of rules, somewhere safe to play or ‘hang out’, and their cynicism about national and local politics. The results were published as a Home Office Development and Practice Report.",
"corpus_id": 153215870,
"title": "Children and citizenship"
} | {
"abstract": "Denna artikel presenterar ett delresultat ur en studie dar barns forestallningar om rattigheter och skyldigheter kring olycksrisker och sakerhet undersoks, som ett uttryck for barns levda medborgarskap. Studien bygger pa samtal i fokusgrupper med barn mellan 8 och 15 ar kring dessa fragor. Resultaten pekar pa att manga barn ar kritiska till regler i skolan och ifragasatter reglernas legitimitet. Barnen uppvisar dock radikalt annorlunda satt att forhalla sig till de regler som galler i idrottsforeningar och klubbar av olika slag. De som utovar organiserade aktiviteter har generellt en accepterande installning till reglerna, de kan forklara varfor reglerna finns, och de uppger att de sjalva och andra i klubben i huvudsak foljer reglerna. I denna artikel provar jag hur dessa skilda satt att forhalla sig till regler kan forstas med hjalp av medborgarskapselement. Slutsatser som dras i artikeln ar bland annat att elementen medlemskap och identitet ar av stor betydelse for lojaliteten till regler medan delaktighet inte tycks vara avgorande.",
"corpus_id": 126686260,
"title": "Barns förhållningssätt till regler som uttryck för levda medborgarskap"
} | {
"abstract": "Regardless of age, marital status, or social class, women confronted with an unwanted pxgnancy often seek to end it at enormous cost. In my experience. in my part of the world. the following factors contribute to unwanted pregnancy. . Adolescents do not know how IO avoid pregnancy. e Mm-ried adolescents CTZ expected to immediately conunencc and continue :eproduction. . Matte. married women who desire to space the births of their children are overridden by their husbands’ misguided desire to procreate. . Access to information and education on ways to regulate fertility is poor. in particular, counseling is inadequate “nd this results in inappropriate contraceptive decisions. . Where information is adequate, access to contraceptive iacilities and services may be poor due !O physical reasons (e.g. long distances or shortages of supplies) or cost.",
"corpus_id": 152497,
"score": 2,
"title": "Commentary on the causes and consequences of unwanted pregnancy from an African perspective"
} |
{
"abstract": "In a model of Staphylococcus aureus‐induced septic arthritis in C57Bl/6 mice we investigated the role of natural killer (NK) cells in the development of disease. Depletion of NK1.1+ cells was achieved by repeated injections of the PK136 antibody, whereas control mice received an irrelevant monoclonal antibody, O1C5.B2. Both groups of mice then received injections intravenously with 2 × 107 live S. aureus LS‐1 secreting toxic shock syndrome toxin‐1 (TSST‐1). The mice were evaluated for 16 days with regard to weight, mortality and arthritis. Nine days after bacterial injection, 9/19 mice depleted of NK cells had developed arthritis compared with 1/17 in the control group (P = 0.01). The experiment was repeated twice with the same outcome. NK cell‐depleted and control mice displayed the same degree of histopathological signs of arthritis at day 16. Depletion of NK cells did not affect uptake of bacteria by phagocytic cells in vitro, or bacterial clearance in vivo. In NK cell‐depleted mice there was a tendency to increased levels of antibodies to TSST‐1, whereas total immunoglobulin levels were similar to those in controls. NK cell depletion of non‐infected mice did not affect the magnitude of inflammatory response during the T cell‐dependent cutaneous DTH reaction to oxazolone, or during granulocyte‐mediated inflammation. However, specific antibody responses to oxazolone were greatly increased in depleted animals. In conclusion, our study demonstrates that NK cells protect against arthritis during S. aureus infection. This outcome does not seem to be due to an influence on bacterial clearance, but could be due to an interaction with the host anti‐inflammatory mechanisms.",
"corpus_id": 1544041,
"title": "Protective role of NK1.1+ cells in experimental Staphylococcus aureus arthritis"
} | {
"abstract": "Previous studies have shown that the chronic inflammation observed in the colon of IL-10-deficient (IL-10(-/-)) mice is mediated by CD4+ Th1 T cells and is dependent on the presence of IFN-gamma for its initial development. As CD4+ T cells from IL-10(-/-) mice will cause colitis when transferred into recombinase-activating gene (Rag)-deficient recipients, we considered the possibility that the recipients' NK cells could be an important source of IFN-gamma for the development of colitis. Therefore, the ability of IL-10(-/-) CD4+ T cells to cause colitis in Rag-deficient recipients that had been depleted of NK cells was tested. Contrary to our expectations, NK cell-depleted recipients of IL-10(-/-) CD4+ T cells developed accelerated disease compared with nondepleted recipients. Furthermore, CD4+ T cells from normal mice (IL-10(+/+)) also caused colitis in NK cell-depleted recipient mice, but not in nondepleted recipients. NK cells inhibited effector CD4+CD45RBhigh T cells, and subsequent experiments showed that this effect was dependent on perforin. Thus NK cells can play an important role in down-regulating Thl-mediated colitis by controlling the responses of effector T cells to gut bacteria.",
"corpus_id": 9141210,
"title": "A role for NK cells as regulators of CD4+ T cells in a transfer model of colitis."
} | {
"abstract": "Both humans and rats with liver cirrhosis have increased morbidity and mortality from pneumococcal pneumonia. By use of a rat model of carbon tetrachloride-induced liver cirrhosis, uptake of fluorochrome-labeled Streptococcus pneumoniae by polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNL) and alveolar macrophages (AM) was examined by flow cytometry. Peripheral blood PMNL from cirrhotic rats showed no defect in phagocytic or bactericidal capacity for type 10A S. pneumoniae in vitro. However, in vivo, fewer type 3 S. pneumoniae were engulfed by PMNL in the lungs of cirrhotic rats with a concomitant increase in the number of organisms taken up by their AM in comparison with controls. These studies indicate the importance of using more relevant in vivo methodologies for assessing bacterial phagocytosis. In addition, the reduction in uptake of type 3 pneumococci by PMNL within the microenvironment of the cirrhotic rat lung could help to explain the increased susceptibility of cirrhotic rats to pneumococcal pneumonia.",
"corpus_id": 2896973,
"score": 2,
"title": "Phagocytosis of Streptococcus pneumoniae measured in vitro and in vivo in a rat model of carbon tetrachloride-induced liver cirrhosis."
} |
{
"abstract": "Background and Objective: Neuromyelitis optica (NMO) shares certain features with multiple sclerosis (MS). Similar phenotypes, wide spectrum and the differential prevalence of NMO among ethnic backgrounds pose diagnostic challenges. NMO-IgG antibodies are specific biomarker for NMO and facilitate its differentiation from other demyelinating diseases. This study aimed to assess the frequency of NMO and NMO-IgG seropositivity in Saudi patients with demyelinating diseases of the central nervous system. Methods: One hundred and four patients from neurology database at King Abdulaziz Medical City, Riyadh underwent clinical and laboratory examination, neuroimaging and NMO-IgG antibodies screening. Results: The mean age at presentation was 32 (±9) years and there was an excess of females (female:male – 3:1). The mean duration of illness was 4.6 (±3.2) years. During the illness, 48.1% of patients had clinical evidence of spinal cord involvement, 29.8% had optic neuritis and 14.4% had both features. A large majority (75.8%) of brain lesions fulfilled MRI criteria for MS and 17% had lesions extending over ≥3 vertebral segments. NMO-IgG antibodies were present in only one patient – a frequency of 0.96% in our study cohort. Conclusion: Prevalence of NMO and NMO-IgG seropositivity is rare in Saudis with demyelinating diseases of the central nervous system. Hence, routine NMO-IgG testing is likely to have a low diagnostic yield.",
"corpus_id": 2526282,
"title": "Neuromyelitis optica and neuromyelitis optica-IgG seropositivity in Saudis with demyelinating diseases of the central nervous system"
} | {
"abstract": "Background Neuromyelitis optica (NMO) is a demyelinating disease primarily affecting the optic nerves and spinal cord. It is distinguished from other demyelinating conditions by the presence of AQP4-IgG and serum aquaporin 4 (AQP4), found mainly in the blood–brain barrier. This descriptive study was conducted from January 2015 to June 2018 at the National Center for Neurological Sciences (NCNS) in Khartoum, Sudan. All participants were Sudanese patients diagnosed with NMO. In our study the selection of cases was based on Dean Wingerchuk diagnostic criteria (2006), which states that the diagnosis of NMO should meet two absolute criteria and two supportive criteria. The absolute criteria are myelitis and optic neuritis, whereas supportive criteria include radiological findings obtained from brain and spinal cord MRI. Furthermore, AQP4-IgG levels were measured from cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and serum using immunofluorescence. Data were collected by a pre-designed questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS version 17. A p value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results A total of 31 patients were enrolled in this study [6 male (19.4%) and 25 female (80.6%)]. The mean age was 38 ± 12.8 years. Motor and visual difficulties were the initial symptoms and occurred in 21 (67.7%) and 10 (32.3%) patients, respectively. Fundoscopy confirmed optic atrophy in 22 (71.0%) patients. The course of the disease revealed one relapse in 21 patients (67.7%). Seropositive AQP4-IgG were seen in 23 patients (79.31%). There was a significant correlation between AQP4 and response to treatment (p ≤ 0.038). The correlation between serum AQP4-IgG, showed that, complete improvement was detected in 2 patients (6.9%) one of them was positive and the other was negative, 20 (69.0%) patients presented with some disability, among them 18 (62.1%) were positive and 2 (6.9%) were negative, while 7 patients showed no improvement (24.1%) 4 out of them were positive (13.8%) and 3 were negative (10.3%). Conclusion At the initial presentation of NMO, longitudinal myelitis was observed more frequently than optic neuritis. More than two third of the patients showed strong seropositivity for serum AQP4. Most seropositive patients showed a good response to treatment but with residual disabilities.",
"corpus_id": 211539993,
"title": "Neuromyelitis optica: a pilot study of clinical presentation and status of serological biomarker AQP4 among patients admitted to a tertiary centre in NCNS, Sudan"
} | {
"abstract": "BACKGROUND\nRecent studies demonstrated that calcification of arteries supplying the gastric tube is associated with anastomotic leakage after esophagectomy. However, it remains unclear whether this association only derives from local flow limitations, or generalized vascular disease as well. The purpose of this study was to determine whether calcification throughout the entire cardiovascular system is associated with anastomotic leakage.\n\n\nMETHODS\nConsecutive patients who underwent an esophagectomy with gastric tube reconstruction and cervical anastomosis for esophageal cancer were analyzed. Diagnostic CT images were scored for the presence of arterial calcification on 10 locations based on a visual grading system. The association with anastomotic leakage was studied using logistic regression analysis.\n\n\nRESULTS\nA total of 406 patients were included for analysis of whom 104 developed anastomotic leakage (25.6%). Presence of calcification in the coronary arteries (minor calcification: 36.5% leakage; no calcification: 18.1%, p = .001), supra-aortic arteries (minor calcification: 30.9% leakage; major calcification: 35.3%; no calcification: 16.1%, p = .007 and p < .001, respectively) and thoracic aorta (major calcification: 33.3% leakage; no calcification: 19.4%, p = .011) was associated with leakage. In multivariable analysis, minor calcification of the coronary arteries (OR 2.29, 95% CI: 1.28-4.12, p = .005) and calcification of the supra-aortic arteries (OR 2.48, 95% CI: 1.30-4.74, p = .006 for minor calcification and OR 2.72, 95% CI: 1.49-4.99, p = .001 for major calcification) remained independently associated with leakage.\n\n\nCONCLUSIONS\nCalcification of the coronary and supra-aortic arteries on routine CT are predictive of cervical anastomotic leakage after esophagectomy. These results suggest that generalized cardiovascular disease is a strong indicator for the risk of leakage.",
"corpus_id": 4857075,
"score": 1,
"title": "Generalized cardiovascular disease on a preoperative CT scan is predictive for anastomotic leakage after esophagectomy."
} |
{
"abstract": "SUMMARY Home visitation (HV) is a promising service delivery model, despite a history of mixed documented results. Compiling results on the promising family and child development outcomes in the HV literature has utility for current programs and those under development. We review traditional outcomes (e.g., child maltreatment prevention) from the literature on HV, but we also present nontraditional outcomes (e.g., community connection) that may be relevant for future evaluations. Programs that document their implementation and study their outcomes through a thoughtful, planned process may capture important and much needed information on strengthening families through HV.",
"corpus_id": 1733042,
"title": "The Promise of Primary Prevention Home Visiting Programs"
} | {
"abstract": "Social support can have significant stress-preventive and stress-buffering benefits for troubled individuals in everyday circumstances. Consequently, it is not surprising that many therapeutic and preventive programs enlist social support to address problems of child and family psychopathology, especially in the context of “two-generation interventions” that seek to improve child well-being by strengthening parental functioning and parent–child relationships. Home visitation programs are the best known of these two-generation strategies and have become the focus of state-level and national efforts to support families and prevent harm to children. The conclusions of basic research studies on social support converge significantly with the findings of evaluation studies of the impact of home visitation programs to yield important new insights into the conditions in which formal social support is likely to be beneficial, or ineffective, in improving child and family well-being. Both basic and applied research literatures emphasize the importance of linking formal social support to informal social networks in extended families, neighborhoods, and communities, and attending to the complex reactions of the recipients of support and the needs of support providers. These studies are reviewed and evaluated to highlight the connections between social support, developmental psychopathology, and social policy.",
"corpus_id": 2902563,
"title": "Striving to do well what comes naturally: Social support, developmental psychopathology, and social policy"
} | {
"abstract": "In a recent paper we have shown how wave variables can be used to interconnect passive plants with passive controllers such that the system remains l2‐stable in spite of time‐varying delays and data dropouts. The present paper further enhances these results by providing a detailed model that captures time‐varying delays, data dropouts and network capacity for wireless ring token networks. It also provides a new theorem showing how an asynchronous controller can be implemented, which maintains an l2‐stable system. Simulations show that the asynchronous control of a passive motor reduces the overall distortion when compared with a synchronous controller which relies on lossy data reduction techniques. These two distinct results pave the way to study high‐performance rate‐adaptive control schemes that minimize their control rate in order to match the network capacity. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.",
"corpus_id": 12957855,
"score": 0,
"title": "Wireless digital control of continuous passive plants over token ring networks"
} |
{
"abstract": "Household recycling is conceptualized as a social dilemma in which households have a choice between cooperative and defective options. Promoting cooperative choice in the recycling dilemma has emerged as an important issue for social marketing in recent years. Most of the available insights that could guide policy makers in designing appropriate social marketing strategies are based on research conducted in the context of voluntary recycling programs. Increasingly social marketing action takes the form of mandatory programs, albeit suffering from a lack of transparency and imperfect coercion. On the basis of two explorative studies into the underlying values and consumer experiences with mandatory programs, we argue that the primary intrinsic motivational basis for cooperation includes not only environmental but also ‘civic duty’ related values. We describe how these values drive both individual experiences of recycling behavior and the reactions to non-cooperative behavior by others. Implications for public policy and social marketing are discussed.",
"corpus_id": 154492116,
"title": "Consumer Motivation to Recycle When Recycling is Mandatory. Two Exploratory Studies"
} | {
"abstract": "© 2012 Lopez-Mosquera et al., licensee InTech. This is an open access chapter distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Discrimination of the Decision Structure of Suburban Park Users by Environmental Attitudes",
"corpus_id": 45028658,
"title": "Discrimination of the Decision Structure of Suburban Park Users by Environmental Attitudes"
} | {
"abstract": "Personality can be defined from a social standpoint as a more or less consistent system of orientations that influences an individual's decisions and behaviors regarding the allocation of resources to self and others. One of the more robust models for the measurement of an individual's interpersonal utilities is McClintock's social value approach (McClintock, 1972). In the present study, we evaluate the construct of social value by testing the hypothesis that the cognitive processing time of subjects should vary systematically as a function of the type of social value being expressed. Towards this end, the Ring Measure of Social Values (Liebrand, 1984) was administered to 61 male and 124 female subjects. As predicted, cooperators and competitors were observed to have longer response latencies than altruists and individualists. In addition, a Social Value by Outcome Structure interaction was observed, and explained by assuming that cooperators are more hesitant in making decisions involving negative outcomes for others, whereas competitors are more reluctant to assign positive outcomes to others. These research findings add further evidence regarding the validity to the construct of social value.",
"corpus_id": 10591953,
"score": 2,
"title": "The ring measure of social values: A computerized procedure for assessing individual differences in information processing and social value orientation"
} |
{
"abstract": "ATP and MgADP regulate KATPchannel activity and hence potentially couple cellular metabolism to membrane electrical activity in various cell types. Using recombinant KATP channels that lack sensitivity to MgADP, expressed in COSm6 cells, we demonstrate that similar on-cell activity can be observed with widely varying apparent submembrane [ATP] ([ATP]sub). Metabolic inhibition leads to a biphasic change in the channel activity; activity first increases, presumably in response to a fast decrease in [ATP]sub, and then declines. The secondary decrease in channel activity reflects a marked increase in ATP sensitivity and is correlated with a fall in polyphosphoinositides (PPIs), including phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate, probed using equilibrium labeling of cells with [3H]myo-inositol. Both ATP sensitivity and PPIs rapidly recover following removal of metabolic inhibition, and in both cases recovery is blocked by wortmannin. These data are consistent with metabolism having a dual effect on KATP channel activity: rapid activation of channels because of relief of ATP inhibition and much slower reduction of channel activity mediated by a fall in PPIs. These two mechanisms constitute a feedback system that will tend to render KATP channel activity transiently responsive to a change in [ATP]subover a wide range of steady state concentrations.",
"corpus_id": 1555305,
"title": "Dynamic Sensitivity of ATP-sensitive K+Channels to ATP*"
} | {
"abstract": "ATP-sensitive potassium channels are under complex regulation by intracellular ATP and ADP. The potentiating effect of MgADP is conferred by the sulfonylurea receptor subunit of the channel, SUR, whereas the inhibitory effect of ATP appears to be mediated via the pore-forming subunit, Kir6.2. We determined whether ATP directly interacts with a binding site on the Kir6.2 subunit to mediate channel inhibition by analyzing binding of a photoaffinity analog of ATP (8-azido-[γ-32P]ATP) to membranes from COS-7 cells transiently expressing Kir6.2. We demonstrate that Kir6.2 can be directly labeled by 8-azido-[γ-32P]ATP but that the related subunit Kir4.1, which is not inhibited by ATP, is not labeled. Photoaffinity labeling of Kir6.2 is reduced by approximately 50% with 100 μm ATP. In addition, mutations in the NH2 terminus (R50G) and the COOH terminus (K185Q) of Kir6.2, which have both been shown to reduce the inhibitory effect of ATP upon Kir6.2 channel activity, reduced photoaffinity labeling by >50%. These results demonstrate that ATP binds directly to Kir6.2 and that both the NH2- and COOH-terminal intracellular domains may influence ATP binding.",
"corpus_id": 33522857,
"title": "Direct Photoaffinity Labeling of the Kir6.2 Subunit of the ATP-sensitive K+ Channel by 8-Azido-ATP*"
} | {
"abstract": "In the absence of adequate reference material, a problem often encountered in natural product chemistry, we investigated the use of surrogate standards in two-dimensional qNMR for the quantification of anthraquinones in the bark of alder buckthorn (Frangula alnus). Using the integrals of cross signals in the HSQC spectrum obtained from commercial standards rutin and duroquinone and adapting the delays for the 1JCH coupling, we quantified the total amount of anthraquinones and anthraquinone glucosides, as well as the content of the value-determining glucofrangulins and frangulins. Thereby, duroquinone was used as an external standard to establish the calibration curve for the methylated anthraquinone scaffold, whereas calibration curves for the glycosides were obtained using the anomeric proton signals of the rutinose disaccharide. The method was validated for accuracy, precision, specificity, linearity and limit of quantitation and shows clear advantages over the method of the European Pharmacopeia, especially in terms of specificity and meaningfulness of the results. Apart from being a useful alternative in the quality control of alder buckthorn, the presented approach demonstrates, moreover, the versatility of sophisticated 2D measurements in quantitative NMR.",
"corpus_id": 198325419,
"score": 1,
"title": "Two-dimensional qNMR of anthraquinones in Frangula alnus (Rhamnus frangula) using surrogate standards and delay time adaption."
} |
{
"abstract": "BackgroundSIRT1 and FOXO1 interact with each other in multiple pathways regulating aging, metabolism and resistance to oxidative stress and control different pathways involved in atherosclerotic process. It is not known, if genetic polymorphisms (SNPs) at the SIRT1 and FOXO1 have an influence on carotid atherosclerosis.MethodsIntima-media thickness (IMT) was measured on the common and internal carotid arteries. Morphological alterations of the carotid arteries and size of these alterations were included in the B-score grading on a five point scale. Eleven SNPs at SIRT1 and FOXO1 gene loci were genotyped in the SAPHIR cohort (n = 1742). The association of each SNP with common carotid IMT, internal carotid IMT and B-score was analyzed using linear regression models.ResultsA significant association was found between common carotid IMT and two SNPs at FOXO1 - rs10507486, rs2297627 (beta = -0.00168, p = 0.0007 and beta = -0.00144, p = 0.0008 respectively) and at least a trend for rs12413112 at SIRT1 (beta = 0.00177, p = 0.0157) using an additive model adjusting for age and sex. Additional adjustment for traditional cardiovascular risk factors and markers (BMI, smoking status, hypertension, total cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, hsCRP) even improved the strength of this association (p = 0.0037 for SIRT1 and p = 0.0002 for both SNPs at FOXO1). Analysis for internal carotis IMT and B-score did not reveal any significant association. One haplotype in FOXO1 showed a moderate effect on common carotid IMT and B-score in comparison to the reference haplotype of this gene. Several SNPs within SIRT1 showed differential effects for men and women with higher effect sizes for women: rs3740051 on all three investigated phenotypes (interaction p-value < 0.0069); rs2236319 on common and internal carotid IMT (interaction p-value < 0.0083), rs10823108, rs2273773 on common carotid IMT and rs1467568 on B-score (interaction p-value = 0.0007). The latter was significant in women only (betawomen = 0.111, pwomen = 0.00008; betamen = -0.009, pmen = 0.6464).ConclusionsThis study demonstrated associations of genetic variations at the SIRT1 and FOXO1 loci with carotid atherosclerosis and highlighted the need for further investigation by functional studies.",
"corpus_id": 110731,
"title": "Genetic polymorphisms at SIRT1 and FOXO1 are associated with carotid atherosclerosis in the SAPHIR cohort"
} | {
"abstract": "Background: Transcription factor FoxO1 is deacetylated in response to oxidative stress and hyperglycemia in diabetes. Results: Mice bearing constitutively deacetylated alleles of Foxo1 develop larger atherosclerotic lesions despite improved plasma lipid levels in a bone marrow transplantation-independent manner. Conclusion: FoxO1 deacetylation predisposes to atherosclerosis and vascular endothelial dysfunction. Significance: The data identify a mechanism whereby oxidative stress, acting through FoxO1 deacetylation, promotes atherosclerosis in diabetic patients. Complications of atherosclerosis are the leading cause of death of patients with type 2 (insulin-resistant) diabetes. Understanding the mechanisms by which insulin resistance and hyperglycemia contribute to atherogenesis in key target tissues (liver, vessel wall, hematopoietic cells) can assist in the design of therapeutic approaches. We have shown that hyperglycemia induces FoxO1 deacetylation and that targeted knock-in of alleles encoding constitutively deacetylated FoxO1 in mice (Foxo1KR/KR) improves hepatic lipid metabolism and decreases macrophage inflammation, setting the stage for a potential anti-atherogenic effect of this mutation. Surprisingly, we report here that when Foxo1KR/KR mice are intercrossed with low density lipoprotein receptor knock-out mice (Ldlr−/−), they develop larger aortic root atherosclerotic lesions than Ldlr−/− controls despite lower plasma cholesterol and triglyceride levels. The phenotype is unaffected by transplanting bone marrow from Ldlr−/− mice into Foxo1KR/KR mice, indicating that it is independent of hematopoietic cells and suggesting that the primary lesion in Foxo1KR/KR mice occurs in the vessel wall. Experiments in isolated endothelial cells from Foxo1KR/KR mice indicate that deacetylation favors FoxO1 nuclear accumulation and exerts target gene-specific effects, resulting in higher Icam1 and Tnfα expression and increased monocyte adhesion. The data indicate that FoxO1 deacetylation can promote vascular endothelial changes conducive to atherosclerotic plaque formation.",
"corpus_id": 7519365,
"title": "Increased Atherosclerosis and Endothelial Dysfunction in Mice Bearing Constitutively Deacetylated Alleles of Foxo1 Gene*"
} | {
"abstract": "Primary testicular tumors are the most common causes of cancer in male dogs. Overall, the majority of canine patients should be cured by testicular surgery. However, tumor markers are not well-known in veterinary medicine. We sought to determine using immunohistochemistry whether the combined human testicular tumor markers (placental alkaline phosphatase, OCT3/4, CD30, alpha-fetoprotein, inhibin-alpha, vimentin, c-KIT, and desmin) are expressed in canine seminomas and Sertoli cell tumors (SCTs). We examined 35 canine testicular tumors, 20 seminomas and 15 SCTs. c-KIT was expressed markedly in canine seminomas. Both inhibin-alpha and vimentin were expressed significantly in canine SCTs. The results of this study demonstrate differences and similarities between tumor marker expression of testicular tumors in dogs and humans. All the main markers in current routine use are discussed as well as potential useful markers for benign and malignant tumors, and tumor progression.",
"corpus_id": 17348642,
"score": 1,
"title": "Comparative immunohistochemical characterization of canine seminomas and Sertoli cell tumors"
} |
{
"abstract": "In this article, we would like to discuss some aspects of a theoretical framework for Artificial Life, focusing on the problem of an explicit definition of living systems useful for an effective artificial construction of them. The limits of a descriptive approach will be critically discussed, and a constructive (synthetic) approach will be proposed on the basis of the autopoietic theory of Maturana and Varela.",
"corpus_id": 7024137,
"title": "Question 9: Theoretical and Artificial Construction of the Living: Redefining the Approach from an Autopoietic Point of View"
} | {
"abstract": "Despite numerous and increasing attempts to define what life is, there is no consensus on necessary and sufficient conditions for life. Accordingly, some scholars have questioned the value of definitions of life and encouraged scientists and philosophers alike to discard the project. As an alternative to this pessimistic conclusion, we argue that critically rethinking the nature and uses of definitions can provide new insights into the epistemic roles of definitions of life for different research practices. This paper examines the possible contributions of definitions of life in scientific domains where such definitions are used most (e.g., Synthetic Biology, Origins of Life, Alife, and Astrobiology). Rather than as classificatory tools for demarcation of natural kinds, we highlight the pragmatic utility of what we call operational definitions that serve as theoretical and epistemic tools in scientific practice. In particular, we examine contexts where definitions integrate criteria for life into theoretical models that involve or enable observable operations. We show how these definitions of life play important roles in influencing research agendas and evaluating results, and we argue that to discard the project of defining life is neither sufficiently motivated, nor possible without dismissing important theoretical and practical research.",
"corpus_id": 8032780,
"title": "Is defining life pointless? Operational definitions at the frontiers of biology"
} | {
"abstract": "A radiation-hardened 16-bit CMOS pipeline Analog-to-Digital Converter operated at 10 MSamples per second (MSps) has been tested with 60Cobalt for Total Ionizing Dose (TID) in five different operating modes - static and dynamic. The built-in bandgap reference showed <;130 mV output voltage shifts, and the ADC as a whole incurred minimal performance variations versus TID, maintaining up to 74.1 dBFS Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) and 92 dBc Spurious-Free Dynamic Range (SFDR) up to 2 Mrad(Si). Selected converter blocks had previously exhibited Single Event Latch-up (SEL) immunity up to an LET level of 121 MeV·cm2/mg with Au ions. The SEL immunity of the whole ADC up to the same LET level was also confirmed after running a series of heavy-ion tests with the converter operating in all of its static and dynamic modes.",
"corpus_id": 15313265,
"score": 1,
"title": "Total Ionizing Dose and Single Event Latch-Up Characterization of a 16-Bit A-to-D Converter Fabricated in 0.18µm Triple-Well CMOS Process"
} |
{
"abstract": "Much consumer research on nutrition information-seeking has focused on prepurchase label reading. This study examines the search for nutrition information from a broader group of sources, because prepurchase label reading appears to be only a small part of consumers' total search. The use of different information sources was analyzed using 2 cost benefit model for search. Benefits are related to the importance of nutrition to the consumer, and to obtaining better food value. Although the model fits better for some sources than for others, support was obtained for the model. The results suggest the usefulness of a cost-benefit approach in understanding consumer information-seeking for nutrition; they emphasize the importance of examining consumers' use of a variety of information sources and support recent suggestions for segmentation of the audience for nutrition information. Policy makers may be able to encourage search for nutrition information by emphasizing the enduring importance of nutrition to consumers.",
"corpus_id": 155045832,
"title": "Search for Nutrition Information: A Probit Analysis of the Use of Different Information Sources"
} | {
"abstract": "Abstract This paper reports on a recent review of the literature of “information behaviour” as it is studied in a variety of disciplines, other than information science. As a result of the review, areas of research interest to information science are identified and a general model of information behaviour is proposed.",
"corpus_id": 8679609,
"title": "Information behaviour: an interdisciplinary perspective"
} | {
"abstract": "MR imaging experiments were conducted to investigate the feasibility of estimating vascular pulse pressure waveforms from measurements of blood flow rates and vessel cross‐sectional area. Blood flow waveforms were measured in the aorta's of three 25–30‐kg pigs at multiple imaging sections using phase‐contrast velocity imaging. Estimates of pulse pressure were derived from these data by evaluating a model characterizing the relationship between pressure, flow, and the cross‐sectional area of a vessel segment. Comparisons between the MR‐derived estimates of pressure and those obtained from a micromanometer pressure catheter indicate that accurate measurements (mean error ± SD = 8.2 ± 3.4, n = 6) can be obtained using conventional velocity imaging techniques. Optimization of the method will require the application of rapid imaging techniques and the development of strategies for obtaining a more localized measurement. With these improvements, our results suggest that MR‐based measurement of pulse pressure and related elastic parameters is feasible.",
"corpus_id": 21607854,
"score": 0,
"title": "In vivo validation of MR pulse pressure measurement in an aortic flow model: Preliminary results"
} |
{
"abstract": "Estradiol inhibits milk production in dairy cows. The present study evaluated the effect of 17β-estradiol (E2) injections on prolactin (PRL) secretion and the mammary gland response to this hormone. Eight mid-lactation cows were used in a crossover design. During each experimental period, the cows were injected daily with either E2 (2.5 mg) or soy oil (2.5 mL; control) for 7 d. For each period, blood and milk samples were collected from d -4 to 14 (relative to the first injection) to measure PRL, insulin-like growth factor-1, and cortisol concentrations. In addition, blood samples were collected during morning milking on d -4, 2, and 7 to determine the milking-induced PRL release. Mammary gland biopsies were collected on the last day of injections. Milk fat samples were collected from d 1 to 7 and on d 14. The mRNA levels of genes encoding proteins related to mammary activity (α-lactalbumin, β-casein, and acetyl-coenzyme A carboxylase), apoptosis (Bax, Bcl2, and caspase-3), PRL receptors (PRLR; long and short forms), signal transducer and activator of transcription 5 (STAT5A and STAT5B), and suppressors of cytokine signaling (SOCS2 and SOCS3) were evaluated by real-time reverse transcription PCR using RNA extracted from milk fat and mammary biopsies. Milk production was decreased moderately (about 9%) by E2 injections during the treatment period. Estradiol injections increased basal PRL levels in serum and milk but did not affect milking-induced PRL release. Estradiol injections increased the plasma concentration of insulin-like growth factor-1 but did not affect cortisol concentration during the treatment period. In mammary tissue, the expression of Bcl2 was downregulated, whereas that of STAT5A and B and the Bax:Bcl2 mRNA ratio was higher during E2 injections. The total STAT5 protein content in mammary tissue was elevated by E2 injections. We found no significant difference observed for the other genes in mammary tissue or milk fat. The present data do not support the contention that E2 injections inhibit milk production by interfering with PRL signaling, but enhanced basal PRL concentration and STAT5 gene expression in mammary tissue.",
"corpus_id": 3364509,
"title": "Effect of 17β-estradiol on milk production, hormone secretion, and mammary gland gene expression in dairy cows."
} | {
"abstract": "OF THESIS IMPACT OF ERGOT ALKALOID AND ESTRADIOL 17B ON WHOLE-BODY PROTEIN TURNOVER AND EXPRESSION OF MTOR PATHWAY PROTEINS IN MUSCLE OF CATTLE Beef cattle consuming endophyte infected tall fescue typically exhibit reduced performance in terms of both decreased dry matter intake (DMI) and growth rates. It has been suggested that lower concentrations of circulating IGF-1 (an important stimulator of the mTOR pathway and ultimately protein synthesis), as observed with consumption of ergot alkaloids, contribute to reduced growth rates. The objective of the current study was to determine if fescue-derived alkaloids decrease muscle protein synthesis though inhibitory action on the mTOR pathway via a direct effect on signal proteins, and if these negative effects can be alleviated by implantation with anabolic agents. Thirty-two Holstein steers were used in a 2x2 factorial design, and treatments consisted of intramuscular administration of bromocriptine (vehicle or 0.1 mg/kg BW) and a subdermal estradiol implant (with or without). Throughout the 35-day experiment, steers were fed a corn silage-based diet, with intake restricted to 1.5 times maintenance energy requirement. Bromocriptine injections were given every three days for 34 days. On days 27 through 32, steers were moved to metabolism stalls for urine collection and whole-body protein turnover was determined using a single pulse dose of [15N] glycine into the jugular vein on day 28. On day 35, muscle samples were collected from the musculus obliquus externus abdominis before (basal state) and 60 mins after (stimulated state) an i.v. glucose challenge (0.25 g glucose/kg). Blood samples were collected at regular intervals before and after glucose infusion for determination of circulating concentrations of glucose and insulin. Bromocriptine reduced insulin and glucose clearance following the glucose challenge, indicating decreased insulin sensitivity and possible disruption of glucose uptake and metabolism in the skeletal muscle. This suggests that fescue-derived alkaloids are detrimental to growing cattle in terms of overall glucose homeostasis and energy metabolism. Conversely, analysis of whole-body protein turnover demonstrated that bromocriptine does not appear to affect protein synthesis or N retention and western immunoblot analysis of skeletal muscle showed that it did not affect abundance of S6K1 or 4E-BP1, so does not appear to inhibit activation of the mTOR pathway or protein synthesis. Implantation improved N retention, decreased protein turnover, and had no effect on protein synthesis, suggesting that steroidal implants promote protein accretion through unchanged rates of synthesis and decreased degradation, even in the presence of bromocriptine, resulting in improved daily gains. Implanted steers likely experienced increased IGF-1 signaling, but downstream activation of mTOR, S6K and 4E-BP1, and thus increased protein synthesis did not occur as expected. Overall, this data suggests that fescue derived alkaloids do not have a negative impact on muscle protein synthetic pathways, independent of DMI.",
"corpus_id": 235046145,
"title": "Impact of Ergot Alkaloid and Estradiol 17B on Whole-Body Protein Turnover and Expression of mTOR Pathway Proteins in Muscle of Cattle"
} | {
"abstract": "This study aimed to examine the activity of Alphylax and Fish oil fertilizers on growth and production of Potato (Everest variety) in the central regions of Iraq. The experiment was conducted in two seasons of 2017 using randomized complete block design with eleven treatment with three replicates including: control (T0), Alphylax (1, 2, 3 ml L-1) symbolized T2, T3, T4, fish oil (1, 2, 3 ml L-1) symbolized T5, T6, T7 and an interaction between Alphylax and fish oil (1+1, 2+2, 3+3, 1.5+1.5 ml L-1) symbolized T8, T9, T10, T11, respectively. The statistical analysis revealed significant differences of T10 in producing the highest values of aerial stem number, leaf number and plant dry weight for two seasons of 2017. T7 and T9 increased nitrogen (N%) in leaf for two seasons, while T10 increased percentages of phosphorus (P), potassium (K), and calcium (Ca) for two seasons. T10 and T4 increased plant yield to 0.871g and 426g for two seasons, respectively. Plant tuber number increased at 5.90, 2.60 tuber plant-1 in T10 and T5 for two seasons, respectively. T10 and T6 increased tuber weight at 198.1g and 203.7 g tuber-1, respectively. It is concluded that plants fertilized by Alphylax and fish oil had higher growth rates in compared to control group. The organic materials can be considered as an applicable fertilizer in the growth and yield performance of organic potato.",
"corpus_id": 216349879,
"score": 1,
"title": "Growth and yield of potato in relation to application of Alphylax and fish oil as organic fertilizers"
} |
{
"abstract": "Since scripts were proposed in the 1970's as an inferencing mechanism for AI and natural language processing programs, there have been few attempts to build a database of scripts. This paper describes a database and lexicon of scripts that has been added to the ThoughtTreasure commonsense platform. The database provides the following information about scripts: sequence of events, roles, props, entry conditions, results, goals, emotions, places, duration, frequency, and cost. English and French words and phrases are linked to script concepts.",
"corpus_id": 15943237,
"title": "A database and lexicon of scripts for ThoughtTreasure"
} | {
"abstract": "Computational semantics is the art and science of computing meaning in natural language. The meaning of a sentence is derived from the meanings of the individual words in it, and this process can be made so precise that it can be implemented on a computer. Designed for students of linguistics, computer science, logic and philosophy, this comprehensive text shows how to compute meaning using the functional programming language Haskell. It deals with both denotational meaning (where meaning comes from knowing the conditions of truth in situations), and operational meaning (where meaning is an instruction for performing cognitive action). Including a discussion of recent developments in logic, it will be invaluable to linguistics students wanting to apply logic to their studies, logic students wishing to learn how their subject can be applied to linguistics, and functional programmers interested in natural language processing as a new application area.",
"corpus_id": 33769653,
"title": "Book Review: Computational Semantics with Functional Programming by Jan van Eijck and Christina Unger"
} | {
"abstract": null,
"corpus_id": 52236149,
"score": -1,
"title": "Annotating documents with relevant Wikipedia concepts"
} |
{
"abstract": "In forensics, investigations comprise diverse types of evidence. For example digital evidence in form of electronic documents and physical evidence, e.g. printed paper documents. One major challenge is to efficiently and accurately link digital evidence and physical evidence together. In particular, a computational method is needed to deal with the huge amount of data available in a forensic investigation and to reduce the time spent on linking and analyzing the different types of evidence. The thesis aims to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of this process by using computational methods such as plain text search (String search), approximate string matching and OCR (optical character recognition), and to incorporate these in a proof-of-concept tool. The tool is used for an experimental setup for testing of linking accuracy between similar and dissimilar documents. A dataset was created and used for testing, based on feedback from Økokrim1. The thesis seeks to answer how OCR affects evidence linking, characteristics of a forensics dataset, characteristics that enables linking and how it is possible to increase efficiency in evidence linking. The proof-of-concept tool, contains five methods for comparison, four text comparison methods; Levenshtein distance, Word frequency, Cosine similarity and W-shingles. And one image-to-image comparison; a pixel-to-pixel similarity. It uses Optical Character Recognition for text generation from scanned documents. Text extraction from digital documents are done through Java libraries. The results shows that W-shingles is the best performing algorithm for matching documents in this setting, and that text sanitation does not have any practical influence on W-shingles, whereas it does increase the matching accuracy for the remaining methods. Characteristics that enables evidence linking was found to be shingles and frequency of unique words used in Cosine similarity. Characteristics in a dataset consisting of DOCX documents are bold font style, and the combination of font size 11 and font type Calibri, which is the default combination for Microsoft Word R © 2007, 2010 and 2013. The efficiency and accuracy of OCR can be increased by using ensemble voting and decreasing runtime. As for OCR error rate in a forensics environment it is a nonissue since it is not used to recreate evidence, but for matching and locating evidence. 1The Norwegian National Authority for Investigation and Prosecution of Economic and Environmental Crime",
"corpus_id": 64050800,
"title": "Cross-comparison of Digital and Digitized Physical Evidence"
} | {
"abstract": "Virus writers are getting smarter by the day. They are coming up with new, innovative ways to evade signature detection by anti-virus software. One such evasion technique used by polymorphic and metamorphic viruses is their ability to morph code so that signature based detection techniques fail. These viruses change form such that every new infected file has different strings, rendering string based signature detection practically useless against such viruses. Our work is based on the premise that given a variant of morphed code, we can detect any obfuscated version of this code with high probability using some simple statistical techniques. We use the cosine similarity function to compare two files based on static analysis of the portable executable (PE) format. Our results show that for certain evasion techniques, it is possible to identify polymorphic/metamorphic versions of files based on cosine similarity",
"corpus_id": 17119515,
"title": "Detecting Obfuscated Viruses Using Cosine Similarity Analysis"
} | {
"abstract": "The OCRopus system is an open source OCR system developed for book capture and digital library applications. It is designed to be a multilingual system in which all components are easily pluggable and replaceable. In this paper, I describe recent progress, on-going work, and preliminary results in the development of the OCRopus system, including the new component model, a new line recognizer, a new set of decoders, and language modeling tools.",
"corpus_id": 16920122,
"score": -1,
"title": "Recent progress on the OCRopus OCR system"
} |
{
"abstract": "Abstract An appropriate appraisal of inventory policies, taking into account not only expected cost/profit effects but also impacts on the risk position of the firm, can be performed by assessing the policy-induced stochastic cash flows by means of financial valuation models like the CAPM. Up to now, in the context of inventory theory this has only been done for the ordinary one-period newsboy problem. In this paper an extension to a multi-period framework of a periodic order-up-to-S policy is presented resulting in a situation where an infinite annuity stream of cash flows has to be valued. Optimality conditions for the reorder level S are derived for both the back-order and the lost-sales case. It is analyzed how cost and price parameters as well as capital market data and demand risk (in terms of correlation between demand and market return) influence the reorder level. In addition, it is shown how risk adaption of the cost of capital has to be performed. At last, an extension of these considerations to a (S,T) policy with variable reorder cycle T is presented.",
"corpus_id": 154170287,
"title": "Analysis of order-up-to-S inventory policies under cash flow market value maximization"
} | {
"abstract": "The forward physical flow (purchase of materials, transformations of the raw materials into products, delivery of the products). The physical flow optimization aims to satisfy the final customers. The backward financial flow which circulates in a discontinuous way. The financial flow optimization is made in a local way, in each supply chain link, but seldom in a global way. The financial flow optimization (Badell et al., 2005) will make possible the shareholders satisfaction and the supply chain working improvement. The backward information flow which allows the coordination of financial and physical flow between each node, and the global supply chain coordination.",
"corpus_id": 51833383,
"title": "From Advanced Planning System to Advanced Budgeting System: The Next Step in Supply Chain Management Software"
} | {
"abstract": "The history of the SMILE (Strategic Model Integral Logistics and Evaluation) model dates back to the beginning of the 90'ies (last century), at that time the theoretical foundations of the SMILE model were laid. This resulted in the set-up of the first version of SMILE in 1997. The main innovation that SMILE brought was the explicit treatment of warehouse location and usage within supply chains. The last years we have seen innovative approaches similar to SMILE being investigates and, in part, adopted in the United Kingdom, Sweden and the United States. In the Netherlands, recently a programme of improvements of the SMILE model was set up by assignment of the Dutch Ministry of Transport, Waterways and Public Works, which was implemented in 2003 and 2004, leading to a new version of the model. This programme included: An improved presentation of the model output for policy making purposes; Model improvements such as: (a) stochastic assignment, (b) inclusion of transport in standard load units, (c) update of the base year to standard of 1998. Extended calibration of the model based on available statistics for the different modelling stages, notably in logistic processes. Application of a growth factor module (pivot point method) so that SMILE results can be aligned and integrated with other models and databases, such as TEM. In the paper we treat the above mentioned improvements in detail. A key subject of the paper is the calibration process, including the related data issues, which was implemented for each modelling stage in SMILE. The calibration stage is as usual a crucial element in modelling, the lessons we can learn from SMILE+ concern the data availability for such complex models and the related design of the calibration process. These lessons should be of value in the development of innovative freight models. For the covering abstract please see ITRD E135207.",
"corpus_id": 106555825,
"score": 1,
"title": "SMILE+: the new and improved Dutch national freight model system"
} |
{
"abstract": "AIMS AND OBJECTIVES\nTo explore the process of development of collaborative relationship between family caregivers of institutionalized elders with dementia and nursing home staff in Taiwan.\n\n\nBACKGROUND\nEvidence suggests that family members are continuously involved in the lives of loved ones and have not given up their roles as caregivers after the institutionalization of a family member. Little is known, however, about how family caregivers develop a collaborative relationship with nursing home staff, particularly in Asian countries.\n\n\nDESIGN AND METHODS\nGrounded theory methodology was used. Data were collected via interviews and observations from 11 family caregivers of patients who were suffering from dementia and living in an institution for persons with dementia in northern Taiwan. Data were analysed by constant comparative analysis.\n\n\nRESULTS\nFindings revealed that 'institutional social penetration' was the process most used by family caregivers to achieve an harmonious collaborative relationship with the nursing home staff. Institutional social penetration is a dynamic process, which includes three components: self-disclosure, evaluation of care and penetration strategies. Family caregivers, who had developed a 'socially penetrating' relationship with the nursing home staff, were more likely to disclose information in more breadth and depth, to receive positive care evaluations and to adopt multiple effective penetration strategies.\n\n\nCONCLUSIONS\nInstitutional social penetration between family caregivers and nursing home staff can sensitize healthcare providers to meet the family's needs during the placement of their loved one and provide a basis for developing intervention strategies.\n\n\nRELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE\nFindings of this study may help healthcare providers to understand the ways in which collaborative relationships develop between the families of elders with dementia and nursing home staff. Interventions can be developed to facilitate self-disclosure of both the family members and nursing home staff through timely feedback and familiarising family caregivers with different penetration strategies.",
"corpus_id": 636056,
"title": "Institutionalized elders with dementia: collaboration between family caregivers and nursing home staff in Taiwan."
} | {
"abstract": "The consequences of institutionalization were examined for a sample of caregivers of dementia patients. Consistent with the stress process model, institutionalization was hypothesized to have a large impact on the primary effects of caregiving and lesser influence on secondary effects and well-being. Following placement, relatives experienced relief from primary effects of caregiving (e.g., feelings of overload and tension) and improved well-being, whereas other indicators of stress remained unchanged.",
"corpus_id": 21200731,
"title": "Institutional placement: phases of the transition."
} | {
"abstract": "The performance of four X-ray qualities generated in a Pantak X-ray machine operating at 30-100 kV was determined with a parallel-plate ionization chamber and a Fricke dosimeter. X-ray qualities used were those recommended by Deutsch Internationale Normung DIN 6809 and dose measurements were carried out with Plexiglas® simulators. Results have shown that the Fricke dosimeter can be used not only for soft X-ray dosimetry, but also for the maintenance of low-energy measuring systems' calibration factor.",
"corpus_id": 8979224,
"score": 1,
"title": "The use of fricke dosimetry for low energy x-rays"
} |
{
"abstract": "The ratios of E/Z isomers of sixteen synthesized 1,3-dihydro-3-(substituted phenylimino)-2H-indol-2-one were studied using experimental and theoretical methodology. Linear solvation energy relationships (LSER) rationalized solvent influence of the solvent-solute interactions on the UV-Vis absorption maxima shifts (νmax) of both geometrical isomers using the Kamlet-Taft equation. Linear free energy relationships (LFER) in the form of single substituent parameter equation (SSP) was used to analyze substituent effect on pKa, NMR chemical shifts and νmax values. Electron charge density was obtained by the use of Quantum Theory of Atoms in Molecules, i.e. Bader's analysis. The substituent and solvent effect on intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) were interpreted with the aid of time-dependent density functional (TD-DFT) method. Additionally, the results of TD-DFT calculations quantified the efficiency of ICT from the calculated charge-transfer distance (DCT) and amount of transferred charge (QCT). The antimicrobial activity was evaluated using broth microdilution method. 3D QSAR modeling was used to demonstrate the influence of substituents effect as well as molecule geometry on antimicrobial activity.",
"corpus_id": 3874152,
"title": "Detailed solvent, structural, quantum chemical study and antimicrobial activity of isatin Schiff base."
} | {
"abstract": "Isatin as an alkaloidal framework have consistently attracted attention of medicinal chemist towards development of wide range of novel therapeutic agents. This review report has discussed significant isatin lead molecules and their derivatives which have shown promising biological potential in recent times. The substituted isatins showing a potent pharmacological activities such as antimicrobial, antitubercular, anticancer, antioxidant, anti-histaminic, anti-HIV, antiviral, anti-inflammatory, anti-Parkinson's and antidiabetic have been described in this review. The mechanism of action leading to therapeutic activity of the respective isatin derivation has also been recorded. This review reveals that the systematic and rational modifications on isatin motif exhibited significant bio-activities which can be exploited for the development of potent novel therapeutic agents in the future studies. Hence the quest to investigate more structural alterations on isatin scaffold should be continued.",
"corpus_id": 19286441,
"title": "A Recent Perspective on Discovery and Development of Diverse Therapeutic Agents Inspired from Isatin Alkaloids."
} | {
"abstract": "The mesomorphic behavior and phase structure were examined in the mixture of two kinds of dimeric compounds, alpha,omega-bis(4-alkoxyanilinebenzylidene-4'-carbonyloxy)pentane (mOAM5AMOm), by optical microscopy, X-ray diffraction, polarization switching, and second-harmonic generation measurements. One compound is 4OAM5AMO4 with a short terminal alkyl chain that forms a single-layer smectic phase (SmCAs) with a random mixing of spacer and tail groups. Another compound is 16OAM5AMO16 with a long terminal alkyl chain that forms a chiral, anticlinic, and antiferroelectric bilayer phase (SmCAb) with the bent molecules tilted to the bilayer. By mixing these two compounds, the SmCAs phase of 4OAM5AMO4 is easily destabilized, leading to the wide content region of the bilayer phases. In the bilayer regime, three other smectic phases are newly induced. Two of them are antiferroelectric and ferroelectric phases in which the molecules lie perpendicularly with respect to the layer. The other shows no polar response to an external electric field and behaves like a smectic A. The new appearance of these bilayer phases is discussed as a mixing effect of long and short tail groups.",
"corpus_id": 30456697,
"score": 2,
"title": "Several types of bilayer smectic liquid crystals with ferroelectric and antiferroelectric properties in binary mixture of dimeric compounds."
} |
{
"abstract": "Results of monitoring of the population of Blumeria graminis f.sp. hordei in Latvia in 2009-2010 In 2009-2010, random samples of the causal agent of barley powdery mildew were collected in Daugavpils (south-eastern Latvia, Latgale region), Stende (north-western Latvia, Kurzeme region) and Priekuļi (north-eastern Latvia, Vidzeme region). Virulence frequency, complexity and pathotypes were calculated in the pathogen populations. Significant differences of virulence detected by the genes Va1, Va3 and Va13 occurred among samples of the pathogen population collected in different parts of Latvia. Nei index, Müller's index, Kosman index, Shannon index and Simpson index showed considerably higher diversity in Daugavpils and Stende during 2009-2010. In Daugavpils, the population of Blumeria graminis f.sp. hordei was particularly characterised by high diversity. Miežu miltrasas izsraisītāja Blumeria graminis f.sp. hordei populācijas monitorings Latvijā, 2009-2010 Miežu miltrasas izraisītāja paraugi tika ievākti 2009.-2010. gadā. Daugavpils apkārtnē (Latgale), Stendē (Kurzeme) un Priekuļos (Vidzeme). Katrā populācijā noteiktas patogēna virulences gēnu frekvences, virulences gēnu skaits katram individuālajam izolātam un patotipi. Ievērojamas frekvenču atšķirības starp populācijām konstatētas virulences gēniem Va1, Va3 un Va13. Populāciju raksturojošie rādītāji (Neja, Millera, Kosmana, Šenona un Simpsona indeksi) liecina par ievērojamu daudzveidības palielināšanos Latgalē un Kurzemē pētījuma laikā. Daugavpils apkārtnē ievāktajiem paraugiem tika konstatēta īpaši liela patotipu daudzveidība.",
"corpus_id": 156053902,
"title": "Results of monitoring of the population of Blumeria graminis f.sp. hordei in Latvia in 2009-2010"
} | {
"abstract": "In 2010, samples of Blumeria graminis f. sp. hordei both in sporulation and cleistothecia were collected in Lithuania from spring barley variety ‘Dina’. Eighty monopustule isolates were tested on differentials with well-known resistance genes. Frequencies of virulence genes, virulence complexity and pathotypes were detected. Virulence frequencies showed a wide range from 0 to 90%. The clear tendency of virulence increasing for Vla in cleistothecia was observed during the growing season of the pathogen. No virulences were found against resistances, which were present in the line SI1, as well as no matching virulence was found for the resistance gene mlo in Lithuania in 2010. Wide diversity of the population is confirmed by the present of high number of detected pathotypes. In the samples in sporulation, the pathotype a6 a7 a9 a12 k la was the most abundant and the dominant pathotype in cleistothecia was a7 a9 a12 k la. In comparison with 2000, significant changes in virulence genes frequencies, complexity and pathotypes were detected in 2010.",
"corpus_id": 55770231,
"title": "The peculiarities of genetic structure of the Blumeria graminis f. sp. hordei population in Lithuania"
} | {
"abstract": "Gene frequencies in samples of aerial populations of barley powdery mildew (Erysiphe graminis f.sp. hordei), which were collected in adjacent barley areas and in successive periods of time, were compared using mobile and stationary sampling techniques. Stationary samples were collected from trap plants in three periods within 1 week at a distance of more than 1000 m from the nearest barley field. At four dates within the same 8-day period, other samples were collected by a mobile spore trap along four sampling routes of a total distance of 130 km around the stationary stand of exposure. The samples were characterized by virulence genotypes defined according to infection types on 12 near-isogenic barley lines, and frequencies of single virulence genes were subsequently calculated. The three samples collected at the stationary site differed significantly with respect to allele frequencies at three loci. The main wind direction was different in the three sampling periods, implying different powdery mildew sources. For the mobile exposure, the differences between routes were not significant for any locus. However, the routes differed most for the loci under direct selection by host resistances genes, indicating a different distribution of source varieties along routes. There was no difference between allele frequencies at different dates, indicating that the proportions of spores from different source varieties were similar at these dates. In conclusion, samples collected by the stationary technique will mainly reflect the source varieties present in the local area, whereas samples collected by the mobile spore trap will mainly reflect sources close to the sampling route. Therefore, sampling sites as well as sampling routes should be defined such that source varieties are representative for the overall varietal distribution in the survey region considered.",
"corpus_id": 84093083,
"score": 2,
"title": "Comparison of mobile and stationary spore‐sampling techniques for estimating virulence frequencies in aerial barley powdery mildew populations"
} |
{
"abstract": "Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is a condition intimately related to ageing. Currently available treatment options for the management of BPH have various limitations and associated adverse effects. A polyherbal formulation is claimed to be beneficial in patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia. This single blind, placebo-controlled study evaluated the clinical efficacy and safety of polyherbal formulation in BPH. Material and Methods: A total of 60 patients who were diagnosed as BPH and who were willing to give informed consent were included in the study. At the randomization visit, a detailed medical history was obtained and the patients underwent a thorough systemic examination and digital rectal examination. Routine blood analysis, urinalysis and serum levels of prostate specific antigen were carried out. Abdominal pelvic ultrasonography was done at entry and after completing the study. The severity of the urinary parameters was evaluated using American Urological Association symptom score. All the patients were randomized using random table into either polyherbal group (n = 30) or placebo (n = 30). Each patient received either polyherbal formulation or placebo in a dose of 2 capsules twice a day with meals for two months. All adverse events reported by the patients or observed by investigators were recorded. Statistical analysis was done according to the intention-to-treat principles. Analysis was performed between the groups using Fisher's exact test or unpaired \"t\" test (Independent t-test). Results: Fifty-six patients completed the study. There was a significant improvement in the mean AUA symptom score, PVR urine volume urinary hesitancy, intermittent flow, straining during urination, sense of incomplete micturition and frequency of night-time urination, in the polyherbal formulation group. Four patients from the placebo group withdrew from the study due to lack of benefit to the treatment. Conclusion: The beneficial clinical efficacy of polyherbal formulation observed in this study in the management of BPH could be due to the synergistic actions of its potent herbs. This polyherbal formulation was well tolerated and safe.",
"corpus_id": 1451437,
"title": "Clinical Evaluation of Efficacy and Safety of a Herbal Formulation in Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia: A Single Blind, Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Study *"
} | {
"abstract": "Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is one of the most common urological diseases in aging men. Because of its long latency, BPH is a good target for prevention. The aim of the study has been to review the various options of treatment, currently available, in the field of phytotherapy. Watchful waiting, pharmacological therapy, and surgery are also helpful, depending on the severity of the disease. Although drug therapy (alpha1-blockers, 5alpha-reductase inhibitors) and surgery (prostatectomy, transurethral resection, etc.) seem to be most effective for patients with moderate-severe BPH, herbal medicines (i.e., Serenoa repens, Pygeum africanum, Urtica dioica) are also commonly used in patients with mild-moderate symptoms. On the basis of preclinical studies several mechanisms of action have been postulated, including 5alpha-reductase inhibition, alpha-adrenergic antagonism, dihydrotestosterone and estrogen receptor inhibition. Randomized clinical trials indicate significant efficacy in improving urinary symptoms and mild adverse effects for some phytotherapeutic agents, while further clinical evidence is needed for others (e.g., Epilobium spp., Secale cereale, Roystonea regia). Healthcare professionals should be constantly informed about BPH phytotherapy, taking into account the risk/benefit profile of the use of medicinal plants in the management of BPH.",
"corpus_id": 20822877,
"title": "What do we know about phytotherapy of benign prostatic hyperplasia?"
} | {
"abstract": "OBJECTIVE\nBipolar disorder is frequently misdiagnosed as major depressive disorder (MDD). We aim to quantify the prevalence of misdiagnosed bipolar disorder among the depression population and evaluate the quality-of-life (QOL) impact of misdiagnoses.\n\n\nMETHOD\nData were collected from 2 self-administered, cross-sectional studies in 2003. Patients participating in The Bipolar Disorder Misdiagnosis Study (N = 1156) were previously diagnosed with depression, experienced a depressive episode within the past year, and had no previous diagnosis of bipolar disorder or schizophrenia. Patients who experienced a manic episode in the past year, based on DSM-IV criteria, were classified as misdiagnosed. Patients participating in The Bipolar Disorder Project (N = 1214) self-reported a diagnosis of bipolar disorder and were recruited through community mental health centers and support groups. Quality of life was assessed via the Psychological General Well-Being (PGWB) Index and Medical Outcomes Study 8-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-8). Demographic differences between groups were controlled using linear regression models.\n\n\nRESULTS\nOf the diagnosed MDD sample, 14.3% met criteria for misdiagnosed bipolar disorder. When controlling for demographic differences, the PGWB overall score for the misdiag-nosed averaged 12.77 (p < .001) points lower than that of MDD patients and 9.55 (p < .001) points lower than that of diagnosed bipolar disorder patients. The average SF-8 mental component summary score for the misdiagnosed was 5.85 (p < .001) points lower than that of MDD patients and 3.18 (p = .002) points lower than that of diagnosed bipolar disorder patients.\n\n\nCONCLUSION\nMisdiagnosis is associated with poorer QOL than MDD or diagnosed bipolar disorder, which are recognized as having a considerable impact on QOL.",
"corpus_id": 1820088,
"score": 1,
"title": "Quality of life among bipolar disorder patients misdiagnosed with major depressive disorder."
} |
{
"abstract": "To define the molecular processes underlying toxicological manifestations experimentally measured on the cellular level, it is essential to have available a molecular model of the living cell itself. The Bhopalator is a molecular model of the living cell formulated by integrating the three major branches of biology within a coherent theoretical framework — the Watson-Crick molecular genetics, the conformon theory of enzymic catalysis, and the theory of dissipative structures developed by I. Prigogine. According to this model, the living cell is a self-moving, self-thinking and self-reproducing machine (automaton) that receives information and energy from its environment, processes them according to the genetic programs stored in DNA, and generates output signals to environment in order to realize teleonomically designed functions. The Bhopalator suggests a set of general statements useful in toxicological research, and these statements have been utilized to provide possible answers to several fundamental questions raised by recent experimental findings on chemically-induced cell injury and death.",
"corpus_id": 2925730,
"title": "A general theory of chemical cytotoxicity based on a molecular model of the living cell, the Bhopalator"
} | {
"abstract": "The behavior of a model for an allosteric enzyme oscillator activated by the reaction product is analyzed in the presence of diffusion. When the concentrations of the chemicals are fixed at the boundaries, dynamic dissipative structures are shown to arise in the form of propagating concentration waves. The model is applied to the phosphofructokinase reaction and suggests that a spatiotemporal organization may originate at a macroscopic (supracellular) level from the glycolytic system.",
"corpus_id": 5792027,
"title": "Patterns of spatiotemporal organization in an allosteric enzyme model."
} | {
"abstract": "A new method is described to determine the cytosolic free Ca”-concentration in isolated hepatocytes. Calcium concentrations in the medium were monitored spectrophotometrically using arsenazo 111. Digitonin ( 5 pg/mg dry weight of cells) was added to make the plasma membrane permeable to Ca”, and the magnitude of the Ca“ change was measured for different initial external Ca2+ concentrations. The cytosolic free Ca2+ concentration was estimated by determining the Ca2+ null point when no net Ca2+ changes were observed upon addition of digitonin. Values for the Caz+ null point between 100 and 200 nm were obtained for normal hepatocytes from fed or fasted rats, depending upon the pH and Mg2+ concentration of the incubation medium. Rapid cell fractionation of calcium-loaded cells permitted determination of the intracellular calcium distribution under these conditions. In normal cells, the mitochondrial calcium content accounted for 60 to 70% of the total cell calcium content, with the remainder located mainly in the microsomes. This proportion was approximately constant over a 10-fold range of total cell calcium. Glucagon had no effect on the cytosolic free Ca2+. On the other hand, a-adrenergic stimulation increased the cytosolic free Ca2+ concentration 2to %fold; phenylephrine M) increased mean values from 0.19 ? 0.01 to 0.46 f 0.04 p~ within 2 min. The time course and dose-response relationship of cytosolic free Caz+ changes closely followed the increase of phosphorylase a. Rapid cell-fractionation studies showed that the calcium content of the mitochondrial fraction was decreased after norepinephrine addition to the intact cells, while that of the microsomal fraction was increased. The above effects were abolished by a-adrenergic antagonists but were little affected by /3-adrenergic antagonists. These data indicate that the mitochondrial calcium pool is highly labile and is influenced by an as yet unknown transducing signal which is regulated by interaction of a-adrenergic hormones with the plasma membrane receptor. Increased efflux of calcium from the mitochondria causes a rise of cytosolic free Ca2+ and regulates enzymes of carbohydrate metabolism possibly by enhanced binding of calcium to calmodulin.",
"corpus_id": 13464461,
"score": 2,
"title": "Hormonal effects on calcium homeostasis in isolated hepatocytes."
} |
{
"abstract": "Golden color imparted by carotenoid pigments is the eponymous feature of the human pathogen Staphylococcus aureus. Here we demonstrate a role of this hallmark phenotype in virulence. Compared with the wild-type (WT) bacterium, a S. aureus mutant with disrupted carotenoid biosynthesis is more susceptible to oxidant killing, has impaired neutrophil survival, and is less pathogenic in a mouse subcutaneous abscess model. The survival advantage of WT S. aureus over the carotenoid-deficient mutant is lost upon inhibition of neutrophil oxidative burst or in human or murine nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate oxidase–deficient hosts. Conversely, heterologous expression of the S. aureus carotenoid in the nonpigmented Streptococcus pyogenes confers enhanced oxidant and neutrophil resistance and increased animal virulence. Blocking S. aureus carotenogenesis increases oxidant sensitivity and decreases whole-blood survival, suggesting a novel target for antibiotic therapy.",
"corpus_id": 2153229,
"title": "Staphylococcus aureus golden pigment impairs neutrophil killing and promotes virulence through its antioxidant activity"
} | {
"abstract": "Staphylococcus aureus is a fatal Gram-positive pathogen threatening numerous cases of hospital-admitted patients worldwide. The emerging resistance of the pathogen to several antimicrobial agents has pressurized research to propose new strategies for combating antimicrobial resistance. Novel strategies include targeting the virulence factors of S. aureus. One of the most prominent virulence factors of S. aureus is its eponymous antioxidant pigment staphyloxanthin (STX), which is an auspicious target for anti-virulence therapy. This review provides an updated outline on STX and multiple strategies to attenuate this virulence factor. The approaches discussed in this article focus on bioprospective and chemically synthesized inhibitors of STX, inter-species communication and genetic manipulation. Various inhibitor molecules were found to exhibit appreciable inhibitory effect against STX and hence would be able to serve as potential anti-virulence agents for clinical use.",
"corpus_id": 247099625,
"title": "Staphyloxanthin as a Potential Novel Target for Deciphering Promising Anti-Staphylococcus aureus Agents"
} | {
"abstract": "Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) has been notifiable in Western Australia since 1985. This article reviews the notification data from 1994 to 1997, focusing on increases in MRSA notifications and the proportion that are local strains; changes in the geographical distribution of MRSA; and changes in antibiotic-resistance patterns.",
"corpus_id": 44566206,
"score": 2,
"title": "The continuing evolution of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in Western Australia."
} |
{
"abstract": "Conventional two-dimensional (2-D) autofocus algorithms blindly estimate the phase error in the sense that they do not exploit any a priori information on the structure of the 2-D phase error. As such, they often suffer from the low computational efficiency and the lack of data redundancy to accurately estimate the 2-D phase error. In this paper, an efficient semi-blind 2-D autofocus algorithm which is based on exploiting the a priori knowledge about the 2-D phase error structure, is presented. First, as a prerequisite of the proposed method, the analytical structure of the residual 2-D phase error in SAR imagery is investigated in the polar format algorithm framework. Then, by incorporating this a priori information, a novel 2-D autofocus approach is proposed. The new method only requires an estimate of the azimuth phase error and/or residual range cell migration, while the 2-D phase error can then be computed directly from the estimated azimuth phase error or residual range cell migration. Experimental results clearly demonstrate the effectiveness and the robustness of the proposed method.",
"corpus_id": 9523459,
"title": "Knowledge-aided Two-dimensional Autofocus for Spotlight SAR Polar Format Imagery"
} | {
"abstract": "This paper describes the sliding spotlight algorithm and the processing strategy to be applied for TerraSAR-X. The steering spotlight geometry is analysed. Analysis of scene size and resolution demonstrates the particularities of this mode. The Doppler frequencies for individual targets and for a whole sliding spotlight scene are analyzed and the result shows the applicabil- ity of azimuth subaperture processing to sliding spotlight data. A description of the Extended Chirp Scaling Algorithm for sliding spotlight is presented.",
"corpus_id": 17165372,
"title": "Sliding spotlight SAR processing for TerraSAR-X using a new formulation of the extended chirp scaling algorithm"
} | {
"abstract": "Information plays a key role in natural disaster crisis management and relief. A new generation of lightweight UAVs may help improve the situational awareness and assessment. They may first of all relieve rescue teams from time-consuming data collection tasks. At the same time, those UAVs may assist research operations through a more insightful and automated guidance thanks to advanced sensing capabilities. In order to achieve this vision, two challenges must be addressed though. The first one is to achieve a sufficient autonomy for such vehicles, both in terms of navigation and of interpretation of the data sensed. The second one relates to the reliability of the UAV with respect to accidental (safety) or malicious (security) risks. This paper first discusses the potential of UAV assistance in several humanitarian scenarios, as well as potential problems in such situations. The question of autonomy is then addressed. Finally, a secure embedded UAV architecture that relies on cryptographic protocols and on specific hardware capabilities is sketched. Keywords—UAV; drones; 3D perception; security; safety",
"corpus_id": 206677029,
"score": -1,
"title": "UAVs for humanitarian missions: Autonomy and reliability"
} |
{
"abstract": "Capacitive biosensors are an emerging technology revolutionizing wearable sensing systems and personal healthcare devices. They are capable of continuously measuring bioelectrical signals from the human body while utilizing textiles as an insulator. Different textile types have their own unique properties that alter skin-electrode capacitance and the performance of capacitive biosensors. This paper aims to identify the best textile insulator to be used with capacitive biosensors by analysing the characteristics of 6 types of common textile materials (cotton, linen, rayon, nylon, polyester, and PVC-textile) while evaluating their impact on the performance of a capacitive biosensor. A textile-insulated capacitive (TEX-C) biosensor was developed and validated on 3 subjects. Experimental results revealed that higher skin-electrode capacitance of a TEX-C biosensor yields a lower noise floor and better signal quality. Natural fabric such as cotton and linen were the two best insulating materials to integrate with a capacitive biosensor. They yielded the lowest noise floor of 2 mV and achieved consistent electromyography (EMG) signals measurements throughout the performance test.",
"corpus_id": 3346875,
"title": "Characterization of Textile-Insulated Capacitive Biosensors"
} | {
"abstract": "A simple and highly sensitive aptamer-based single walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) biosensor for fast and specific oxytetracycline detection in environmental water samples.",
"corpus_id": 181889895,
"title": "A SWCNT based aptasensor system for antibiotic oxytetracycline detection in water samples"
} | {
"abstract": "Both particle and rigid body planar collisions are covered in this paper. For particles, the classical equations for oblique impacts are derived using Newton’s laws along with definitions of the coefficient of restitution and equivalent coefficient of friction. A general expression is obtained for the kinetic energy loss explicity containing the two coefficients. This expression for energy loss as a function of the friction coefficient possesses a maximum. The value of the friction coefficient at the maximum is a limiting value which can be used to determine whether or not sliding exists at separation. The maximum energy loss is independent of the physical mechanism of generation of tangential forces (friction) and serves as an upper bound for two-particle collisions. It is shown that to properly formulate and solve the rigid body problem, a moment must be considered at the common “point” of impact. A moment coefficient of restitution must be defined. This leads to six linear algebraic equations from which the six final velocity components can be calculated. An analytical solution is obtained for the general rigid body problem. In a reduced form, it is used to solve the problem of a single rigid body impacting a rigid barrier. This solution is then applied to a classical textbook problem. As shown for particle impacts, the concepts of limiting friction coefficient and maximum energy loss apply to rigid body impacts.",
"corpus_id": 122984141,
"score": 1,
"title": "Friction, Restitution, and Energy Loss in Planar Collisions"
} |
{
"abstract": "A new end tab fabricated using a fiberglass knit in a silicon rubber matrix was used for off-axis tension tests on unidirectional composites. It was shown experimentally that this new tab allowed shear deformation of the specimen to occur in the hydraulic grips and, thus, produce a uniform state of strain in the specimen. Consequently, the shear modulus could be determined accurately using this new tab. Furthermore, due to the absence of stress concentrations, this procedure could also be used to determine shear strength.",
"corpus_id": 20040466,
"title": "A New End Tab Design for Off-Axis Tension Test of Composite Materials"
} | {
"abstract": "Abstract An experimental investigation was carried out to determine the failure properties of quasi-isotropic AS4/3501-6 carbon/epoxy laminates under conditions where the loading axis did not coincide with the fiber axis. A tubular specimen subjected to combinations of pressure and axial tension was used to determine the response under various tension-tension biaxial stress states. The results showed no loss of strength with rotation of the laminate orientation with respect to the loading axes at angles including 22·5°,the maximum possible for the laminate used. Maximum fiber direction strains at failure were essentially independent of the rotation of the laminate as well as the biaxial stress state.",
"corpus_id": 135651816,
"title": "Strength of quasi-isotropic laminates under off-axis loading"
} | {
"abstract": "Abstract : An experimental investigation was conducted to determine the strain rate effects in fiber composites. Unidirectional composite specimens of boron/epoxy, graphite/ epoxy, S-glass/epoxy and Kevlar/epoxy were tested at strain rates of up to 27 epsilon/sec to determine longitudinal, transverse and intralaminar (in-plane) shear properties. Ir the longitudinal direction the Kevlar/epoxy shows a definite increase in both modulus and strength with strain rate. In the transverse direction, a general trend toward higher strength with strain rate is noticed. The intralaminar shear moduli and strengths of boron/epoxy and graphite/epoxy show a definite rise with strain rate. (MM)",
"corpus_id": 134918512,
"score": 2,
"title": "Strain Rate Effects on Mechanical Properties of Fiber Composites. Part 3."
} |
{
"abstract": "Energy consumption baselines are essential in promoting energy efficiency programs in an effort to mitigate the environmental impacts of increasing consumption and increasing home sizes. This study calculates baselines, using site and source energy index (EI), of approximately 348,000 detached single-family homes in San Antonio, Texas to facilitate energy efficiency programs. The data analysis pairs building characteristics of individual houses with their energy consumption, allowing researchers to categorically study houses based on EI, vintage (year built), conditioned space (size), and type of fuel and energy utilized. This study found that the size of single-family detached houses has increased over time, while average site and source energy index values have decreased. The majority of single-family detached houses (45.8 % of total or 159,147 houses) have an energy index of 25–50 kBtu/sf/year (78.8–157.7 kWh/m2/year). The majority of all-electric single-family detached houses have been built since 1980, resulting in better performance than anticipated when compared with houses having access to natural gas. Most homes built after 1990 are distributed in the lower (more efficient) energy index categories, indicating that energy efficiency programs for newer, larger houses should be behavioral or educational in nature while programs for older houses should improve the infrastructure.",
"corpus_id": 154518783,
"title": "Analysis of the energy index as a benchmarking indicator of potential energy savings in the San Antonio, Texas single-family residential sector"
} | {
"abstract": "Across the United States, the energy used to power commercial buildings represents a sizeable portion of overall energy consumption and resulting greenhouse gas emissions. Until recently, building owners and managers did not have an easy way to compare the efficiency of their buildings. Through the ENERGY STAR program, the Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Energy created a tool to evaluate a building’s relative efficiency, a process called benchmarking. Recently, a growing number of cities have passed legislation requiring commercial building owners to track energy performance, as a way to help the cities meet their own climate goals. This Note examines three cities’ benchmarking legislation amidst the complex web of energy regulatory authority at the local, state, and federal levels and suggests that a successful energy benchmarking program must carefully coordinate with state regulators and local utility companies.",
"corpus_id": 166762224,
"title": "Municipal Energy Benchmarking Legislation for Commercial Buildings: You Can't Manage What You Don't Measure"
} | {
"abstract": "Linolenic acid (C18:3) is the main endogenous unsaturated fatty acid of thylakoid membrane lipids, and seems in its free form to exert significant effects on the structure and function of photosynthetic membranes. In this investigation the effect of linolenic acid was studied at various pH values on the electron flow rate in isolated spinach chloroplasts and related to ΔpH, the proton pump and the pH of the inner thylakoid space (pHi). The ΔpH and pHi were estimated from the extent of the fluorescence quenching of 9-aminoacridine. \n \n \n \nLinolenic acid caused a shift (approximately one unit) of the pH optimum for electron flow toward acidity in the following systems: (a) photosystems II + I (from H2O to NADP+ or to 2,6-dichlorophenolindophenol) coupled or non-coupled; (b) photosystem II (from H20 to 2,6-dichloro-phenolindophenol in the presence of dibromothymoquinone). \n \n \n \nIn photosystem I conditions (phenazine methosulphate), the ΔpH of the control increased as a function of external pHo with a maximum around pH 8.8. When linolenic acid was added, the ΔpH dropped, but its optimum was shifted toward more acidic pHo. The same phenomena were also observed in photosystems II + I (from H2O to ferricyanide) and in photosystem II conditions (from H2O to ferricyanide in the presence of dibromothymoquinone). However, the ΔpH was smaller and the sensitivity of the proton gradient toward linolenic acid was eventually higher than for photosystem I electron flow activity. The proton pump which might be considered as a measure of the internal buffering capacity of thylakoids was optimum at pHo 6.7 in the controls. An addition of linolenic acid diminished the proton pump and shifted its optimum toward higher pHo. \n \n \n \nAs a consequence, pHi increased when pHo was raised. At the optimal pHo 8.6 to 9, pHi were 5 to 5.5. Additions of increasing concentrations of linolenic acid displaced the curves toward higher pHi. A decrease of pHo was therefore required to maintain the pHi in the range of 5 - 5.5 for maximum electron flow. \n \n \n \nIn conclusion, the electron flow activity seems to be delicately controlled by the proton pump (buffer capacity), ΔpH, pHi and pHo. Fatty acids damage the membrane integrity in such a way that the subtle equilibrium between the factors is disturbed.",
"corpus_id": 82530950,
"score": 0,
"title": "Influence of Unsaturated Fatty Acids in Chloroplasts"
} |
{
"abstract": "1. Accessibility must be designed in, not bolted on. Universal design benefits all users, not merely those with disabilities. The government’s role has yet to be defined in encouraging (perhaps mandating) universal design and setting standards. 2. Technological accessibility is critical in today’s society. The international information infrastructure must not be off limits to people with disabilities. 3. Technology enhances educational and workplace inclusivity through individualized curricula, supported communication, schools and jobs without walls, and other innovations. 4. Accessible technology offers opportunities for health care reform, and telemedicine brings doctors to geographically isolated people; for welfare reform, telecommuting helps reduce chronic unemployment and underemployment among people with severe disabilities. 5. Technological accessibility problems exist not only for people with disabilities but also for all underrepresented individuals in society: the poor, the isolated, and the vulnerable.",
"corpus_id": 1628646,
"title": "Flattening the (Inaccessible) Cyberworld for People With Disabilities"
} | {
"abstract": "www.pjonline.com For personal use only. Not to be reproduced without permission of the editor (permissions@pharmj.org.uk) Coinuing prossional deelopm nt Identify knowledge gaps 1. How would you determine if someone is disabled and covered by the Disability Discrimination Act 1995? 2. What do pharmacists have to do to comply with the Disability Discrimination Act? 3. What reasonable adjustments can pharmacists make to the supply of medicines to support people with disabilities?",
"corpus_id": 77670467,
"title": "Disability discrimination act"
} | {
"abstract": "Abstract This study attempts to overcome some of the reported discrepancies in alanine-EPR reproducibility that may be related to alanine dosimeter preparation and/or EPR spectrometer settings. The dosimeters were prepared by packing pure polycrystalline L - α - alanine directly as supplied by the manufacturer in glass tubes. This dosimeter production scheme avoids any possible contribution to the EPR signal from a binding material. The dosimeters were irradiated with gamma ray to low-dose ranges typical for medical therapy (0–20 Gy). Special attention has been paid to the study of minimum detectable dose, measurement repeatability and reproducibility, and post-irradiation stability. The dosimeter exhibited a linear dose response in the dose range from 0.1 to 20 Gy. These positive properties favor the polycrystalline alanine-in-glass tube as a radiation dosimeter.",
"corpus_id": 95686202,
"score": 1,
"title": "EPR of gamma-irradiated polycrystalline alanine-in-glass dosimeter"
} |
{
"abstract": "(1) Background: Alzheimer’s disease (AD), an age-progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects cognitive function, causes changes in the functional connectivity of the default-mode network (DMN). However, the question of whether AD-related changes occur in the functional connectivity of the basal ganglia has rarely been specifically analyzed. This study aimed to measure the changes in basal ganglia functional connectivity among patients with AD and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in their resting state using the functional connectivity density (FCD) value, the functional connectivity (FC) intensity, and the graph theory index, and to confirm their influence on clinical manifestations. (2) Methods: Resting-state functional MRI (rs-fMRI) and neuropsychological data from 48 participants in the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) were used for analyses. The 48 ADNI participants comprised 16 patients with AD, 16 patients with MCI, and 16 normal controls (NCs). The functional connectivity of basal ganglia was evaluated by FCDs, FC strength, and graph theory index. We compared voxel-based FCD values between groups to show specific regions with significant variation and significant connectivity from ROI conduction to ROI analysis. Pearson’s correlation analyses between functional connectivity and several simultaneous clinical variables were also conducted. Additionally, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses associated with classification were conducted for both FCD values and graph theory indices. (3) Results: The level of FCD in patients with cognitive impairment showed obvious abnormalities (including short-range and long-range FCD). In addition to DMN-related regions, aberrant functional connectivity was also found to be present in the basal ganglia, especially in the caudate and amygdala. The FCD values of the basal ganglia (involving the caudate and amygdala) were closely related to scores from the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and the Functional Activities Questionnaire (FAQ); meanwhile, the graph theory indices (involving global efficiency and degree) of the basal ganglia (involving the caudate, amygdala, and putamen) were also found to be closely correlated with MMSE scores. In ROC analyses of both FCD and graph theory, the amygdala was of the utmost importance in the early-stage detection of MCI; additionally, the caudate nucleus was found to be crucial in the progression of cognitive decline and AD diagnosis. (4) Conclusions: It was systematically confirmed that there is a phenomenon of change in the functional connections in the basal ganglia during cognitive decline. The findings of this study could improve our understanding of AD and MCI pathology in the basal ganglia and make it possible to propose new targets for AD treatment in further studies.",
"corpus_id": 253617331,
"title": "Altered Functional Connectivity of Basal Ganglia in Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer’s Disease"
} | {
"abstract": "Growing evidence suggests that the prefrontal cortex (PFC) is organized hierarchically, with more anterior regions having increasingly abstract representations. How does this organization support hierarchical cognitive control and the rapid discovery of abstract action rules? We present computational models at different levels of description. A neural circuit model simulates interacting corticostriatal circuits organized hierarchically. In each circuit, the basal ganglia gate frontal actions, with some striatal units gating the inputs to PFC and others gating the outputs to influence response selection. Learning at all of these levels is accomplished via dopaminergic reward prediction error signals in each corticostriatal circuit. This functionality allows the system to exhibit conditional if-then hypothesis testing and to learn rapidly in environments with hierarchical structure. We also develop a hybrid Bayesian-reinforcement learning mixture of experts (MoE) model, which can estimate the most likely hypothesis state of individual participants based on their observed sequence of choices and rewards. This model yields accurate probabilistic estimates about which hypotheses are attended by manipulating attentional states in the generative neural model and recovering them with the MoE model. This 2-pronged modeling approach leads to multiple quantitative predictions that are tested with functional magnetic resonance imaging in the companion paper.",
"corpus_id": 1161682,
"title": "Mechanisms of hierarchical reinforcement learning in corticostriatal circuits 1: computational analysis."
} | {
"abstract": "The brain has an impressive ability to withstand neural damage. Diseases that kill neurons can go unnoticed for years, and incomplete brain lesions or silencing of neurons often fail to produce any behavioral effect. How does the brain compensate for such damage, and what are the limits of this compensation? We propose that neural circuits instantly compensate for neuron loss, thereby preserving their function as much as possible. We show that this compensation can explain changes in tuning curves induced by neuron silencing across a variety of systems, including the primary visual cortex. We find that compensatory mechanisms can be implemented through the dynamics of networks with a tight balance of excitation and inhibition, without requiring synaptic plasticity. The limits of this compensatory mechanism are reached when excitation and inhibition become unbalanced, thereby demarcating a recovery boundary, where signal representation fails and where diseases may become symptomatic. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.12454.001",
"corpus_id": 4777991,
"score": -1,
"title": "Optimal compensation for neuron loss"
} |
{
"abstract": "The register file is one of the critical components of current processors in terms of access time and power consumption. Among other things, the potential to exploit instruction-level parallelism is closely related to the size and number of ports of the register file. In conventional register renaming schemes, both register allocation and releasing are conservatively done, the former at the rename stage, before registers are loaded with values, and the latter at the commit stage of the instruction redefining the same register, once registers are not used any more. We introduce VP-LAER, a renaming scheme that allocates registers later and releases them earlier than conventional schemes. Specifically, physical registers are allocated at the end of the execution stage and released as soon as the processor realizes that there will be no further use of them. VP-LAER enhances register utilization, that is, the fraction of allocated registers having a value to be read in the future. Detailed cycle-level simulations show either a significant speedup for a given register file size or a reduction in the register file size for a given performance level, especially for floating-point codes, where the register file pressure is usually high.",
"corpus_id": 2173881,
"title": "Late allocation and early release of physical registers"
} | {
"abstract": "Modern portable or embedded systems support more and more complex applications. These applications make embedded devices require not only low power-consumption, but also high computing performance. To enhance performance while hold energy constraints, some high-end embedded processors, therefore, adopt conventional features to exploit instruction-level parallelism and increase clock rates. The reorder buffer (ROB) and the register file are the two most critical components to implement these features. The cooperation of them, however, causes serious leakage power, especially for a large register file. In this paper, we propose a pure hardware approach to reduce the leakage power for the register file, such that more complex features (e.g., out-of-order execution, speculation execution, etc) can be applied to high-end embedded processors. In the proposed approach, we design a monitoring scheme in the pipeline datapath to identify the timing of powering up or powering down a register. Simulation results show that our approach saves at least 50% power consumption of the register file, with almost negligible performance lost.",
"corpus_id": 5387592,
"title": "Saving Register-file Leakage Power by Monitoring Instruction Sequence in ROB"
} | {
"abstract": "Hydrophobic thermoplastic elastomers, e.g., poly(styrene-b-isobutylene-b-styrene) (SIBS), have found various in vivo biomedical applications. It has long been recognized that biomaterials can be adversely affected by bacterial contamination and clinical infection. However, inhibiting bacterial colonization while simultaneously preserving or enhancing tissue-cell/material interactions is a great challenge. Herein, SIBS substrates were functionalized with nucleases under mild conditions, through polycarboxylate grafts as intermediate. It was demonstrated that the nuclease-modified SIBS could effectively prevent bacterial adhesion and biofilm formation. Cell adhesion assays confirmed that nuclease coatings generally had no negative effects on L929 cell adhesion, compared with the virgin SIBS reference. Therefore, the as-reported nuclease coating may present a promising approach to inhibit bacterial infection, while preserving tissue-cell integration on polymeric biomaterials.",
"corpus_id": 13249831,
"score": 0,
"title": "Nuclease-functionalized poly(styrene-b-isobutylene-b-styrene) surface with anti-infection and tissue integration bifunctions."
} |
{
"abstract": "Transgenic Bt insect-resistant cotton plants have high insect resistance in the early stage of development, but relatively low resistance in the late stage. Substituting a reproductive organ-specific promoter for the CaMV35S promoter presently being used could be an ideal solution. For the first time, the promoter sequence of ADP-ribosylation factor 1 (arf1) gene was isolated from Gossypium hirsutumY18 by means of inverse PCR. The sequencing result discovered the unique structure of the arf1 promoter, including four promoter-specific elements, the initiator, TATA box, CAAT box and GC box, and also an intron in 5′-untranslation region. Four plant expression vectors were constructed for functional analysis of the promoter. Based on the pBI121 plant expression vector, four truncated arf1 promoters took the place of the CaMV35S promoter. These vectors were different only in their promoter regions. They were introduced into cotton plants via pollen tube pathway. Histochemical GUS staining and fluorescence quantitative analyses were performed to examine the expression patterns of the GUS gene driven by the 4 arf1 truncated promoters in transgenic cotton plants respectively. The results showed that the arf1 promoter was a typical reproductive organ-specific promoter. Hopefully, the arf1 promoter can be a regulatory element for designing cotton reproductive organs with desired characteristics.",
"corpus_id": 1549868,
"title": "Functional analysis of a reproductive organ predominant expressing promoter in cotton plants"
} | {
"abstract": "Plant growth and development involve temporal and spatial expression of the specific genes subsets in response to various physiological and environmental factors mediated by complex signal transduction pathways. A minimal gene regulatory network typically consists of an input signal receptor and a transduction pathway linking the extracellular environment with intracellular targets, a core complex of transacting regulatory proteins and relevant cis-acting DNA sequences, and a subsequent molecular output (RNA and protein) from the target genes. Generally, the result of the activation of such a regulatory pathway is stimulation or repression of expression of the genes coding for structural, metabolic and behavioral capacities of the plant cell. In addition, such networks often include dynamic feedback loops that provide for further regulation of the network architecture and output.",
"corpus_id": 5256779,
"title": "Functional analysis of promoter elements in plants."
} | {
"abstract": "Control of Salmonella Typhimurium on sprouts is crucial for food and consumer safety. In this study, natural microflora on soybean seed was assessed and effects of gaseous chlorine dioxide (ClO2) and biocontrol Pseudomonas on the survival of S. Typhimurium on soybean sprouts were evaluated. Sprouts were dip-inoculated with S. Typhimurium prior to the application of the biocontrol (P. chlororaphis and P. fluorescens). After inoculation with S. Typhimurium, the sprouts were treated with ClO2 at 0.4 mg/L for 1 h (90% R.H., 13°C). Pseudomonas strains and Salmonella were recovered on Pseudomonas Agar F (PAF) and xylose lysine tergitol-4 (XLT-4) media, respectively. Pseudomonas strains reduced Salmonella by <1 log colony forming units (CFU)/g of sprouts, whereas S. Typhimurium on soybean sprouts was reduced from 2.55 to 5.35 logs CFU/g by ClO2. Gaseous ClO2 treatment reduced S. Typhimurium by 3.90 (0 h), 4.47 (24 h), and 3.61 log CFU/g (168 h). It was concluded that ClO2 and biocontrol treatment can enhance sprout safety.",
"corpus_id": 52880473,
"score": 1,
"title": "Survival of Salmonella Typhimurium on soybean sprouts following treatments with gaseous chlorine dioxide and biocontrol Pseudomonas bacteria"
} |
{
"abstract": "Introduction In estimating the expected losses underlying an insurance premium, the insurer must consider both actuarial issues, such as the accuracy of prior information and historical data, and market effects, such as the impact of adverse selection. To analyze these types of issues, Gogol (1993) proposes a sequential model of the estimation of expected losses. Gogol's analysis is based largely upon two mathematical propositions, which he uses to provide insights into various aspects of insurance pricing. In this note it is shown that Gogol's Proposition 2 is incorrect. After providing a corrected version of this result, it is further demonstrated that two general statements made by the author are also not true. The Basic Model and Results To summarize Gogol's basic model of the estimation process, let [Lambda] = expected losses (the unknown quantity to be estimated),(1) m = the prior estimate of [Lambda], X = a subsequent estimator of [Lambda], [X.sub.1] = ln([Lambda]/m), [X.sub.2] = ln([Lambda]/X), [X.sub.1], [X.sub.2] [similar to] Bivariate Normal with E[[X.sub.1]] = E[[X.sub.2]] = 0, Var[[X.sub.1]] = [[[Sigma].sub.1].sup.2], Var[[X.sub.2]] = [[[Sigma].sub.3].sup.2] and Corr[[X.sub.1], [X.sub.2]] = [Rho]. Using this framework, and the notation [v.sup.2] = [[[Sigma].sub.1].sup.2] + [[[Sigma].sub.2].sup.2] - 2[Rho][[Sigma].sub.1][[Sigma].sub.2], the author's two propositions may be stated as follows. Proposition 1 Given that X = x, the posterior probability distribution of [Lambda] has mean E[[Lambda][where]X = x] = m exp([Mu] + [[Sigma].sub.2]/2) and variance Var[[Lambda][where]X = x] = [m.sup.2] exp(2[Mu] + [[Sigma].sup.2]) [exp([[Sigma].sup.2]) - 1], where [Mu] = [([[[Sigma].sub.1].sup.2] - [Rho][[Sigma].sub.1][[Sigma].sub.2])ln(x/m)]/[v.sup.2] and [[Sigma].sub.2] and [[Sigma].sup.2] = (1-[[Rho].sup.2])[[[Sigma].sub.1].sup.2][[[Sigma].sub.2].sup.2]/[v.sub.2] Proposition 2 Given that X [is less than or equal to] E, where E is a positive constant, the posterior distribution of [Lambda] has mean E[[Lambda][where]X [is less than or equal to] E] = m exp[([[Sigma].sup.2]+[a.sup.2])/2] [Phi][(1/v)ln(E/m) - a]/[Phi][(1/v)ln(E/m)], where a = [([[Sigma].sub.1] - [Rho][[Sigma].sub.2]).sup.2]/v. Also, Pr{X [is less than or equal to] E} = [Phi]{(1/v)ln(E/m)]. As noted above, Proposition 2 is incorrect. The following is a corrected version of this result. Proposition 2' Given that X [is less than or equal to] E, where E is a positive constant, the posterior distribution of [Lambda] has mean E[[Lambda][where]X [is less than or equal to] E] = m exp([[[Sigma].sub.1].sup.2]/2) [Phi][(1/v)ln(E/m) - [Alpha]]/[Phi][(1/v)ln(E/m)], where [Alpha] = ([[[Sigma].sub.1].sup.2] - [Rho][[Sigma].sub.1][[Sigma].sub.2]) Also, Pr{X [is less than or equal to] E} = [Phi][(1/v)ln(E/m)]. The source of error in Proposition 2 is found in its proof, offered in the Appendix to Gogol's article. In this proof, he makes the substitution t = (1/v)ln(x/m) in the expression for E[[Lambda][where]X = x] given by Proposition 1 and finds that [Mu] = vt [([[Sigma].sub.1] - [Rho][[Sigma].sub.2]).sup.2]/[v.sup.2], when in fact [Mu] = vt ([[[Sigma].sub.1].sup.2] - [Phi][[Sigma].sub.1][[Sigma].sub.2])/[v.sup.2]. By correcting this error, and following all of the remaining steps of the author's proof, one easily obtains the result stated in Proposition 2'.(2) New Insights Following his presentation of Propositions 1 and 2, Gogol provides examples in which he applies these mathematical results to the analysis of pricing problems. In the course of these examples, he makes two general statements that may be disproved by counterexamples. In Example 1, Gogol considers the effect of the accuracy of the estimator X on an insurer's pricing. …",
"corpus_id": 153524590,
"title": "The Value of Information in Insurance Pricing: Comment"
} | {
"abstract": "Introduction If an insurer charges too much for a risk, it is likely to lose that business, and if it charges too little, it is likely to lose money. Little research has been conducted, however, on the value of increasing the accuracy of pricing, on commonly used methods of increasing accuracy, or on the effects of raising or lowering prices. There have been many articles on improving accuracy through better classification and experience rating systems, and some insurers have used the systems set forth in these articles with great success. Insurance company managers are interested in the speed with which pricing is done, but it seems that they often underestimate the value of accuracy as well as the effects of various methods that can be used to improve accuracy. Methods of quantifying both of these things are discussed in this article. I address questions of how much money should be spent on data, classification and experience rating systems, and underwriters' and actuaries' salaries. The effect of adverse selection on pricing adequacy and the effect on profitability of raising or lowering prices also are examined. The Value of Accuracy Considerations in Risk Selection The expected profitability of a risk depends on the relation between the risk's expected losses and its experience-modified premium (if there is any experience modification). Another consideration in the selection process is whether the risk is better than average for its classification. Future experience rating credits and debits will not fully reflect experience unless the risk has 100 percent credibility. Therefore, in the long run, a risk with lower expected losses than the provision for losses in its unmodified premium will also tend to have expected losses that are less than the provision for losses in the modified premium. The reverse is true for risks with higher than average expected losses. This long term consideration involves an estimate of how long the risk will continue renewing its coverage with the company if it is selected. Competitive strategy should be considered in deciding whether to insure a risk for a given premium or in deciding the level of premium to charge. The prices demanded by the competition, and the prices that buyers are willing to pay, clearly influence and affect the insurer. For example, at a low point in the insurance profitability cycle, an insurer may not even expect to make a profit. It may merely try not to lose too much money or too many customers who will be valuable in the profitable part of the cycle. The Process of Risk Selection During the process of risk selection, an insurer sometimes offers to insure a risk for some price. It then wins or does not win the contract depending upon what prices are quoted by other insurers. In other cases, the insurer receives an offer of a price from the buyer or the buyer's representative. If the insurer makes an offer, it is possible to estimate in advance the average expected loss ratio for those cases in which the insurer will win the contract. The estimating method uses the insurer's estimate of the expected loss ratio, the accuracy of such estimates, and the probability, given each possible expected loss ratio of the risk, that the insurer will win the contract. If the insurer receives an offer, the average expected loss ratio of those risks accepted depends on the probability distribution of possible expected loss ratios of the risk and on the accuracy and selectivity of the insurer. In both cases, the situation can be analyzed through the mathematics of prior and posterior distributions. One must exercise judgment in estimating the probability distributions to be used in particular cases. No matter what other considerations are present when negotiating premiums or selecting risks, the expected losses are an extremely important consideration. Other considerations may affect the expected loss ratio that an insurer is willing to accept for a given risk at a given time. …",
"corpus_id": 153993324,
"title": "The Value of Information in Insurance Pricing"
} | {
"abstract": "The research with respect to Particle Swarm Optimization is concentrated in improving their performance on avoiding local maxima. Since standard Particle Swarm Optimization does not perform well in many cases, we propose double chaotic particle swarm optimization algorithm based on logistic map. This chaotic movement has good randomness and ergodic statistics property of chaos sequence. We propose to use chaotic sequence to initialize the particle positions, laying a solid foundation for the diversity of search particle swarm. The improved strategies in the algorithm increase the premature stagnation judgment that the new particles are added into a new region making changes in the trajectory of particles, which help algorithm escaping from local optima effectively and reduce invalid iterations. This strategies result in greatly improving the convergence of the algorithm, accuracy and speed optimization. On the other hand, the proposed algorithm requires very little number of particles and few iterations to fully meet the theory test function optimization. The results of the simulation show the good performance of the optimization algorithm.",
"corpus_id": 17055118,
"score": 1,
"title": "The double chaotic particle swarm optimization with the performance avoiding local optimum"
} |
{
"abstract": "We review the Pohlmeyer reduction procedure of the superstr ing sigma model onAdSn S leading to a gauged WZW model with an integrable potential co upled to 2d fermions. In particular, we consider the case of the Green-Schwarz super tring onAdS3 S supported by RR flux. The bosonic part of the reduced model is given by the su m of the complex sine-Gordon Lagrangian and its sinh-Gordon counterpart. We determine t he corresponding fermionic part and discuss possible existence of hidden 2d supersymmetry in th e reduced action. We also elaborate on some general aspects of the Pohlmeyer reduction applied t o theAdS5 S superstring.",
"corpus_id": 251624772,
"title": "On reduced models for superstrings on AdS"
} | {
"abstract": null,
"corpus_id": 2450039,
"title": "Pohlmeyer reduction of AdS5×S5 superstring sigma model"
} | {
"abstract": "We describe the type IIB supergravity background on AdS3⊗S3⊗T4 using the potentials of AdS3|4⊗S3⊗T4 and we use the supersolvable algebra associated to AdS3|4 to compute the κ gauge fixed type IIB string action. From the explicit form of the action we can clearly see how passing from pure NSNS backgrounds to pure RR backgrounds the WZW term disappears.",
"corpus_id": 118908656,
"score": -1,
"title": "The GS type IIB superstring action on AdS(3) X S(3) X T**4"
} |
{
"abstract": "1. Introduction Resonators are the basic building blocks of rf filters and oscillators. Like any other circuit component, a resonator must be experimentally tested to determine its properties. The three fundamental characteristics of an rf resonator that have to be determined by measurement are: (1) resonant frequency, (2) coupling coefficient, and (3) unloaded Q factor.",
"corpus_id": 1929698,
"title": "Q factor measurements , analog and digital"
} | {
"abstract": "The unloaded quality factor of a dielectric resonator, in the MIC environment, and magnetically coupled to a terminated microstrip line, is estimated by using a network analyser. It is sufficient to compute the relative bandwidth of the interception between the reflection coefficient locus and the R − 1 = ±jX arcs.",
"corpus_id": 108826883,
"title": "Unloaded quality factor measurement for MIC dielectric resonator applications"
} | {
"abstract": "Measurement procedures based upon Weissfloch's separation of a dissipative network into lossy and lossless portions are presented for the determination of the equivalent circuit parameters of dissipative four-terminal structures. The methods are developed around \"distance invariant\" equivalent networks which possess a number of desirable features in addition to permitting a simplification in the necessary calculations. They are particularly suited to such applications as the junction between surface wave or microstrip lines and their respective feed lines. Rapid and convenient semi-precision procedures are treated in some detail and sample calculations are presented.",
"corpus_id": 51669065,
"score": 2,
"title": "Determination of Equivalent Circuit Parameters for Dissipative Microwave Structures"
} |
{
"abstract": "Learning Management Systems (LMS) have been the main vehicle for delivering and managing e-learning courses in educational, business, governmental and vocational learning settings. Since the mid-nineties there is a plethora of LMS in the market with a vast array of features. The increasing complexity of these platforms makes LMS evaluation a hard and demanding process that requires a lot of knowledge, time, and effort. Nearly 50% of respondents in recent surveys have indicated they seek to change their existing LMS primarily due to user experience issues. Yet the vast majority of the extant literature focuses only on LMS capabilities in relation to administration and management of teaching and learning processes. In this study the authors try to build a conceptual framework and evaluation model of LMS through the lens of User Experience (UX) research and practice, an epistemology that is quite important but currently neglected in the elearning domain. They conducted an online survey with 446 learning professionals, and from the results, developed a new UX-oriented evaluation model with four dimensions: pragmatic quality, authentic learning, motivation and engagement, and autonomy and relatedness. Their discussion on findings includes some ideas for future research.",
"corpus_id": 41022568,
"title": "Quality Management of Learning Management Systems: A User Experience Perspective"
} | {
"abstract": "This research advances the understanding of how to define, evaluate, and promote e-learning success from an information systems perspective. It introduces the E-Learning Success Model, which posits that the overall success of an e-learning initiative depends on the attainment of success at each of the three stages of e-learning systems development: system design, system delivery, and system outcome. To study this model, an online version of an undergraduate quantitative methods core course for business students is developed using a prototyping strategy. Four cycles of development are traced, each comprised analysis, design, implementation, testing, and enhancement. Findings from the study confirm the validity of using the proposed success model for e-learning success assessment. In addition, an action research methodology is also found to be a valuable impetus for promoting e-learning success through an iterative process of diagnosing, action planning, action taking, evaluating, and learning.",
"corpus_id": 18670427,
"title": "Defining, Assessing, and Promoting E‐Learning Success: An Information Systems Perspective*"
} | {
"abstract": "Many years have passed since Baesens et al. published their benchmarking study of classification algorithms in credit scoring [Baesens, B., Van Gestel, T., Viaene, S., Stepanova, M., Suykens, J., & Vanthienen, J. (2003). Benchmarking state-of-the-art classification algorithms for credit scoring. Journal of the Operational Research Society, 54(6), 627–635.]. The interest in prediction methods for scorecard development is unbroken. However, there have been several advancements including novel learning methods, performance measures and techniques to reliably compare different classifiers, which the credit scoring literature does not reflect. To close these research gaps, we update the study of Baesens et al. and compare several novel classification algorithms to the state-of-the-art in credit scoring. In addition, we examine the extent to which the assessment of alternative scorecards differs across established and novel indicators of predictive accuracy. Finally, we explore whether more accurate classifiers are managerial meaningful. Our study provides valuable insight for professionals and academics in credit scoring. It helps practitioners to stay abreast of technical advancements in predictive modeling. From an academic point of view, the study provides an independent assessment of recent scoring methods and offers a new baseline to which future approaches can be compared.",
"corpus_id": 2,
"score": -1,
"title": "Benchmarking state-of-the-art classification algorithms for credit scoring: An update of research"
} |
{
"abstract": "The Brassicaceae are widely represented in Sicily: some of them have an ethnobotanical interest. In this frame, through interviews to representatives of small rural communities, we aimed to carry out an ethnobotanical survey on wild Brassica species in order to identify their traditional uses and compare the overall data with ethnobotanical literature about Sicily. The results showed that in the island sixty-four species, often linked only to dialect names, are used mainly for food. For example, the bitter back-taste given by some species (Brassica fruticulosa Cyr., B. nigra (L.) Koch, Bunias erucago L., Diplotaxis erucoides DC., D. tenuifolia (L.) DC., Nasturtium officinale (R.) Br., Raphanus raphanistrum L., Sinapis alba L., S. arvensis L., etc.) typifies many traditional dishes. Some others (Brassica rupestris Raf., B. oleracea L., Nasturtium officinale L., Raphanus raphanistrum L.) are used in popular medicine. Characteristic is the use of Matthiola incana L. in folklore manifestations during St. Joseph Day, when flowers are used to decorate horses and cover the unpleasant smell.",
"corpus_id": 89630183,
"title": "Ethnobotanical uses of Brassicaceae in Sicily"
} | {
"abstract": "Molecular dynamics simulations are being applied to increasingly complex systems, including those involving small endogenous compounds and drug molecules. In order to obtain meaningful and accurate data from these simulations, high-quality topologies for small molecules must be generated in a manner that is consistent with the derivation of the force field applied to the system. Often, force fields are designed for use with macromolecules such as proteins, making their transferability to other species challenging. Investigators are increasingly attracted to automated topology generation programs, although the quality of the resulting topologies remains unknown. Here we assess the applicability of the popular PRODRG server that generates small-molecule topologies for use with the GROMOS family of force fields. We find that PRODRG does not reproduce topologies for even the most well-characterized species in the force field due to inconsistent charges and charge groups. We assessed the effects of PRODRG-derived charges on several systems: pure liquids, amino acids at a hydrophobic-hydrophilic interface, and an enzyme-cofactor complex. We found that partial atomic charges generated by PRODRG are largely incompatible with GROMOS force fields, and the behavior of these systems deviates substantially from that of simulations using GROMOS parameters. We conclude by proposing several points as \"best practices\" for parametrization of small molecules under the GROMOS force fields.",
"corpus_id": 1473038,
"title": "Practical Considerations for Building GROMOS-Compatible Small-Molecule Topologies"
} | {
"abstract": "Diabetic wounds are unlike typical wounds in that they are slower to heal, making treatment with conventional topical medications an uphill process. Among several different alternative therapies, honey is an effective choice because it provides comparatively rapid wound healing. Although honey has been used as an alternative medicine for wound healing since ancient times, the application of honey to diabetic wounds has only recently been revived. Because honey has some unique natural features as a wound healer, it works even more effectively on diabetic wounds than on normal wounds. In addition, honey is known as an \"all in one\" remedy for diabetic wound healing because it can combat many microorganisms that are involved in the wound process and because it possesses antioxidant activity and controls inflammation. In this review, the potential role of honey's antibacterial activity on diabetic wound-related microorganisms and honey's clinical effectiveness in treating diabetic wounds based on the most recent studies is described. Additionally, ways in which honey can be used as a safer, faster, and effective healing agent for diabetic wounds in comparison with other synthetic medications in terms of microbial resistance and treatment costs are also described to support its traditional claims.",
"corpus_id": 8023314,
"score": -1,
"title": "Honey: A Potential Therapeutic Agent for Managing Diabetic Wounds"
} |
{
"abstract": "We outline an approach to abstract data types (ADTs) that allows an object of the type specified by the ADT to take on one of many possible representations. A dynamic abstract data type (DADT) is dual to dynamic algorithm selection and facilitates profiling of data in conjunction with the profiling of code. It also permits a programmer to delay or ignore details pertaining to data representation and enhance the efficiency of some algorithms by changing representations at run time without writing code extraneous to the algorithm itself. Additionally, we demonstrate that run time optimization of data objects is possible and allows for acceptable performance compared to traditional ADTs. An implementation is presented in Common Lisp.",
"corpus_id": 1819652,
"title": "Dynamic ADTs: a \"don't ask, don't tell\" policy for data abstraction"
} | {
"abstract": "Much of the software in everyday operation is not making optimal use of the hardware on which it actually runs. Among the reasons for this discrepancy are hardware/software mismatches, modularization overheads introduced by software engineering considerations, and the inability of systems to adapt to users' behaviors.A solution to these problems is to delay code generation until load time. This is the earliest point at which a piece of software can be fine-tuned to the actual capabilities of the hardware on which it is about to be executed, and also the earliest point at wich modularization overheads can be overcome by global optimization.A still better match between software and hardware can be achieved by replacing the already executing software at regular intervals by new versions constructed on-the-fly using a background code re-optimizer. This not only enables the use of live profiling data to guide optimization decisions, but also facilitates adaptation to changing usage patterns and the late addition of dynamic link libraries.This paper presents a system that provides code generation at load-time and continuous program optimization at run-time. First, the architecture of the system is presented. Then, two optimization techniques are discussed that were developed specifically in the context of continuous optimization. The first of these optimizations continually adjusts the storage layouts of dynamic data structures to maximize data cache locality, while the second performs profile-driven instruction re-scheduling to increase instruction-level parallelism. These two optimizations have very different cost/benefit ratios, presented in a series of benchmarks. The paper concludes with an outlook to future research directions and an enumeration of some remaining research problems.The empirical results presented in this paper make a case in favor of continuous optimization, but indicate that it needs to be applied judiciously. In many situations, the costs of dynamic optimizations outweigh their benefit, so that no break-even point is ever reached. In favorable circumstances, on the other hand, speed-ups of over 120% have been observed. It appears as if the main beneficiaries of continuous optimization are shared libraries, which at different times can be optimized in the context of the currently dominant client application.",
"corpus_id": 6046607,
"title": "Continuous program optimization: A case study"
} | {
"abstract": "Abstract The aim of this paper is to introduce the notion of a fuzzy subnear-ring, to study fuzzy ideals of a near-ring and to give some properties of fuzzy prime ideals of a near-ring.",
"corpus_id": 120757452,
"score": 1,
"title": "On fuzzy subnear-rings and ideals"
} |
{
"abstract": "Starting from the general modal solutions for a homogeneous layer of arbitrary material and crystalline symmetry, a matrix formalism is developed to establish the semianalytical expressions of the surface impedance matrices (SIM) for a single piezoelectric layer. By applying the electrical boundary conditions, the layer impedance matrix is reduced to a unified elastic form whether the material is piezoelectric or not. The characteristic equation for the dispersion curves is derived in both forms of a three-dimensional acoustic SIM and of an electrical scalar function. The same approach is extended to multilayered structures such as a piezoelectric layer sandwiched in between two metallic electrodes, a Bragg coupler, and a semi-infinite substrate as well. The effectiveness of the approach is numerically demonstrated by its ability to determine the full spectra of guided modes, even at extremely high frequencies, in layered plates comprising up to four layers and three materials. Negative slope in f-k curve for some modes, asymptotic behavior at short wavelength regime, as well as wave confinement phenomena made evident by the numerical results are analyzed and interpreted in terms of the surface acoustic waves and of the interfacial waves in connection with the bulk waves in massive materials.",
"corpus_id": 2895166,
"title": "Piezoacoustic wave spectra using improved surface impedance matrix: application to high impedance-contrast layered plates."
} | {
"abstract": "Abstract The liquid loading effect on microacoustic sensors can be modeled using an acoustic impedance boundary condition. A rigorous expression for the acoustic impedance matrix in the spectral domain is derived for isotropic linear elastic layers backed by a defined impedance, which allows to model the loading effect resulting from non-uniform excitation. A wavenumber dependent matrix (3 × 3) is obtained, rather than the scalar shear and pressure impedances obtained by one-dimensional models (plane wave). This formulation is generalized to enclose linear viscous fluids. Furthermore, the impedance matrix is also calculated for problems with different boundary conditions such as half-space, free surface, rigid backing, and defined impedance boundary conditions. The latter enables the formulation to be applied to systems of layers of any number and composition. The results are compared to the 1D expressions of bulk impedance for the half-space and the transmission line equations for layers of finite thickness. In contrast to these 1D expressions, the coupling of pressure- and shear-wave propagation is considered which yields modified results. Furthermore, from the acoustic impedance matrices, Green's function matrices can be derived, which allow to model complex layered structure problems as will be outlined.",
"corpus_id": 110881542,
"title": "Efficient spectral domain formulation of loading effects in acoustic sensors"
} | {
"abstract": "ObjectiveTo synthesize the recent qualitative literature and identify the integrative themes describing the parenthood experiences of refugees, asylum-seekers and undocumented migrants.MethodsWe searched seven online databases for the period January 2006 to February 2017. We included English and French published peer-reviewed articles and graduate-level dissertations, which qualitatively examined the parenthood experiences of refugees, asylum-seekers and undocumented migrants. We summarized study characteristics and performed a thematic analysis across the studies.ResultsOne hundred thirty eight studies met inclusion criteria. All but three were conducted in high-income countries, mainly in the US. Migrants studied were mostly undocumented from Latin America and refugees from Sub-Saharan Africa. Almost all studies (93%) included mothers; about half (47%) included fathers; very few (5%) included extended family members. We identified three integrative themes: 1) experiencing hardship and/or loss in the context of precarious migration and past traumas; 2) building resilience and strength by bridging language, norms and expectations; and 3) living transnationally: obligations, challenges and resources. Each theme contributed to shaping the parenthood experience; the transnationalism theme intersected with the themes on hardship and loss and resilience and strength.ConclusionMore research is needed with fathers, extended family members, asylum-seekers and in the LMIC context. A transnational lens needs to be applied to programs, policies and future research for refugee, asylum-seeker and undocumented migrant parents. Addressing transnational concerns (family separation and reunification), acknowledging transnational resources, fostering a transnational family identity and conducting transnational and longitudinal studies are potentially pivotal approaches for this sub-population of parents.",
"corpus_id": 1455297,
"score": 0,
"title": "Refugees, asylum-seekers and undocumented migrants and the experience of parenthood: a synthesis of the qualitative literature"
} |
{
"abstract": "In their 1990 article, DeRose et al. stated that there are now clear signs that OHCO-based text processing will soon be reaching the general text processing markets (DeRose et al., p. 18). The authors did not mean that millions of office workers and school children would be learning to type tags into their documents. Rather, they were predicting that new WYSIWYG editors would make content-based markup languages transparent and easy to implement. Once these editors made content-based coding as simple as using a word processor, the text-producing world would give up word processing, which treats text as a stream of characters, and come to see text as it really is-an Ordered Hierarchy of Content Objects.",
"corpus_id": 858307,
"title": "Markup meets the mainstream: the future of content-based processing"
} | {
"abstract": "Most of us are very comfortable acknowledging that reading and writing electronic texts is now firmly a well-established part of our everyday life, but we only occasionally examine the generational differences between our grandptuents’ notions of text and our children’s. This is largely because our demographic is a transitional one, caught between a well-learned familiarity with hardcopy texts and the challenge of intense movements to online environments. This paper traces our movement from hardcopy texts to digital texts, and speculates about how readers’ and writers’ expectations of texts are being transformed by emerging technologies. Specifically, digital texts are erasing traditional distinctions between written and spoken discourse, increasing the interconnectedness of texts, increasing the demand for user control over texts, integrating various modes of communication and intensifying the relationship ketween readers and writers.",
"corpus_id": 19899569,
"title": "Readers' expectations and writers' goals in the late age of print"
} | {
"abstract": "In the context of a person-environment fit framework, organizational level and the Type A behavior pattern of managers were found to moderate the stressor, satisfaction, and physiology associations. For nurses, Type A behavior pattern was a much more significant moderator of the person-environment fit than were the nurses' specialty work activities.",
"corpus_id": 3239552,
"score": 1,
"title": "Occupational stress, Type A behavior, and physical well being."
} |
{
"abstract": "Abstract We extend the level-set method for shape and topology optimization to new objective functions such as eigenfrequencies and multiple loads. This method is based on a combination of the classical shape derivative and of the Osher–Sethian level-set algorithm for front propagation. In two and three space dimensions we maximize the first eigenfrequency or we minimize a weighted sum of compliances associated to different loading configurations. The shape derivative is used as an advection velocity in a Hamilton–Jacobi equation for changing the shape. This level-set method is a low-cost shape capturing algorithm working on a fixed Eulerian mesh and it can easily handle topology changes.",
"corpus_id": 2879639,
"title": "A level-set method for vibration and multiple loads structural optimization"
} | {
"abstract": "We show that in a two-dimensional bounded open set whose complement has a finite number of connected components, the vector fields uH1(Ωℝ2) are dense in the space of fields whose symmetrized gradient e(u) is in L2(Ωℝ4). This allows us to show the continuity of some linearized elasticity problems with respect to variations of the set, with applications to shape optimization or the study of crack evolution.",
"corpus_id": 119362628,
"title": "A Density Result in Two-Dimensional Linearized Elasticity, and Applications"
} | {
"abstract": "The maximum optical-absorption cross section of Cr2+ ions was evaluated from near-infrared (NIR) absorption spectroscopy and direct measurements of the chromium concentration in Cr2+:CdSe crystals. The emission lifetime of the excited state, 5E, of Cr2+ was measured as a function of Cr2+ concentration in the 2×1017 −2×1018 ions/cm3 range and as a function of temperature from 77–300 K. Lifetime values were as high as ∼6 µs in the 77–250 K range and decreased to ∼4 µs at 300 K because of nonradiative decays. Assuming that most of the Cr dopant is in the Cr2+ state, an optical-absorption cross section σa of (1.94±0.56) × 10−18 cm2 was calculated. Implications for laser performance are discussed.",
"corpus_id": 98330842,
"score": 1,
"title": "Infrared spectroscopy of chromium-doped cadmium selenide"
} |
{
"abstract": "Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) that act as cyclo-oxygenase (COX) inhibitors are commonly used in the treatment of a range of headache disorders, although their mechanism of action is unclear. Indomethacin is of particular interest given its very special effect in some primary headaches. Here the in vivo technique of intravital microscopy in rats has been utilised as a model of trigeminovascular nociception to study the potential mechanism of action of indomethacin. Dural vascular changes were produced using electrical (neurogenic) dural vasodilation (NDV), calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) induced dural vasodilation and nitric oxide (NO) induced dural vasodilation using NO donors. In each of these settings the effect of intravenously administered indomethacin (5 mg kg−1), naproxen (30 mg kg−1) and ibuprofen (30 mg kg−1) was tested. All of the tested drugs significantly inhibited NDV (between 30 and 52%). Whilst none of them was able to inhibit CGRP-induced dural vasodilation, only indomethacin reduced NO induced dural vasodilation (35 ± 7%, 10 min post administration). We conclude NSAIDs inhibit release of CGRP after NDV without an effect on CGRP directly. Further we describe a differentiating effect of indomethacin inhibiting nitric oxide induced dural vasodilation that is potentially relevant to understanding its unique action in disorders such as paroxysmal hemicrania and hemicrania continua.",
"corpus_id": 661294,
"title": "A potential nitrergic mechanism of action for indomethacin, but not of other COX inhibitors: relevance to indomethacin-sensitive headaches"
} | {
"abstract": "Migraine abortives likely target both peripheral-dural and central trigeminovascular mechanisms in mediating their therapeutic effects. However, in preclinical assays, many migraine preventives have little success at inhibiting similar trigeminovascular-mediated peripheral changes within the dural microenvironment. In addition, their effects on central trigeminovascular neuronal responses are largely unknown. Using a validated preclinical model of acute dural-intracranial (migraine-like) head pain, using Sprague Dawley rats, we tested whether migraine preventives suppress ongoing firing of central trigeminocervical neurons, and evoked responses to cranial neurovascular activation. Flunarizine, sodium valproate, propranolol, and amitriptyline, all dose-dependently inhibited ongoing spontaneous firing of dural trigeminovascular neurons, and differentially affected neuronal responses to intracranial-dural and extracranial-cutaneous somatosensory stimulation. Lamotrigine, only effective in the treatment of migraine aura, did not affect responses. These data provide a mechanistic rationale for the clinical effects of migraine preventives in the treatment of migraine, via the modulation of dural-responsive central trigeminovascular neurons. Also, given their limited effect on peripheral dural vasdilatory responses, these data also suggest that migraine preventives specifically target central, rather than peripheral, components of trigeminal neurovascular mechanisms involved in migraine pathophysiology, to mediate their preventive action. Finally, these data further validate this preclinical model of central trigeminovascular activation to screen migraine preventives.",
"corpus_id": 1740573,
"title": "Targeting the central projection of the dural trigeminovascular system for migraine prophylaxis"
} | {
"abstract": "Vasoconstriction to agonists at serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine; 5-HT) receptors and α-adrenoceptors, as well as vasodilatation induced by α-CGRP, have been well described in the porcine carotid circulation in vivo. The present study sets out to investigate the effects of current and prospective antimigraine drugs on porcine meningeal artery segments in vitro. Sumatriptan, ergotamine, dihydroergotamine, isometheptene and clonidine failed to contract the meningeal artery, but 5-HT, noradrenaline and phenylephrine induced concentration-dependent contractions. The contractions to 5-HT were competitively antagonized by the 5-HT2A receptor antagonist ketanserin, whilst those to noradrenaline were antagonized by α1-(prazosin), α2-(rauwolscine and yohimbine) and α2C/2B-(OPC-28326) adrenoceptor antagonists. Whilst dobutamine and salbutamol were ineffective, α-CGRP produced concentration-dependent relaxations that were antagonized by the CGRP1 receptor antagonist olcegepant. In agreement with their lack of contractile effect, sumatriptan and ergotamine failed to influence forskolin-stimulated cyclic AMP accumulation in the porcine meningeal artery; in contrast, both compounds decreased forskolin-stimulated cyclic AMP accumulation in the human isolated saphenous vein, where they induced contractions. Finally, using RT-PCR, we could demonstrate the presence of mRNAs encoding for several 5-HT receptors (5-HT1B, 5-HT1D, 5-HT1F, 5-HT2A and 5-HT7) and adrenoceptors (α1A, α1B, α1D, α2A, α2B, α2C, β1 and β2), as well as that for the calcitonin receptor like receptor, a component of the CGRP1 receptor. These results suggest that: (i) the porcine meningeal artery may not be involved in the vasoconstriction of the carotid vascular bed elicited by antimigraine drugs in anaesthetized pigs, and (ii) the mismatch between the presence of receptor mRNA and the lack of response to sumatriptan, dobutamine and salbutamol implies that mRNAs for the 5-HT1B receptor and β1- and β2-adrenoceptors are probably unstable, or that their density is too low for being translated as receptor protein in sufficient quantities.",
"corpus_id": 25567770,
"score": 2,
"title": "Effects of current and prospective antimigraine drugs on the porcine isolated meningeal artery"
} |
{
"abstract": "Bimagnetic monodisperse CoFe2O4/Fe3O4 core/shell nanoparticles have been prepared by solution evaporation route. To demonstrate preferential coating of iron oxide onto the surface of ferrite nanoparticles X-ray diffraction (XRD), High resolution transmission electron microscope (HR-TEM) and Raman spectroscopy have been performed. XRD analysis using Rietveld refinement technique confirms single phase nanoparticles with average seed size of about 18 nm and thickness of shell is 3 nm, which corroborates with transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis. Low temperature magnetic hysteresis loops showed interesting behavior. We have observed large coercivity 15.8 kOe at T = 5 K, whereas maximum saturation magnetization (125 emu/g) is attained at T = 100 K for CoFe2O4/Fe3O4 core/shell nanoparticles. Saturation magnetization decreases due to structural distortions at the surface of shell below 100 K. Zero field cooled (ZFC) and Field cooled (FC) plots show that synthesized nanoparticles are ferromagnetic till room temperature and it has been noticed that core/shell sample possess high blocking temperature than Cobalt Ferrite. Results indicate that presence of iron oxide shell significantly increases magnetic parameters as compared to the simple cobalt ferrite.",
"corpus_id": 271174,
"title": "Structural and Magnetic Response in Bimetallic Core/Shell Magnetic Nanoparticles"
} | {
"abstract": "Abstract Understanding how thermal decomposition of Iron penta carbonyl transformed from spherical shaped Iron/Iron oxide Coe/Shell nanoparticles into flower shaped hollow nanoparticles followed by spherical shaped hollow nanoparticles is crucial scientifically as well as technologically. Presently, it is mentioned that how shape and size distribution of nanoparticles can be tuned by post annealed treatment in air environment. Crystal structure and phase of as synthesized and post annealed samples were confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman spectroscopy. Morphological transformations were estimated with transmission electron microscope (TEM). Particle size and distribution was attained by using free software ImageJ and it has been observed that as synthesized and heat treated samples at 1000 °C have particle size of ∼9 nm and ∼18 nm, respectively by XRD calculations which is in good agreement with TEM. The measurements taken by vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) show interesting change in magnetic phase from superparamagnetic phase of as synthesized nanoparticles to strong ferromagnetic phase after heat treatment. Low temperature magnetic characterizations of Core/Shell nanoparticles are explained in detail in some extent by physical property measurement system (PPMS).",
"corpus_id": 137891197,
"title": "Temperature mediated morphological and magnetic phase transitions of iron/iron oxide Core/Shell nanostructures"
} | {
"abstract": "Cleaning validation is the process of assuring that cleaning procedures effectively remove the residue from manufacturing equipment/facilities below a predetermined level. This is necessary to assure the quality of future products using the equipment, to prevent cross-contamination, and as a World Health Organization Good Manufacturing Practices requirement. We have applied the Total Organic Carbon (TOC) analysis method to a number of pharmaceutical products. In this article we discuss the TOC method that we developed for measuring residual aspirin on aluminum, stainless steel, painted carbon steel, and plexiglass. These are all surfaces that are commonly found as part of pharmaceutical production equipment. The method offers low detection capability (parts per million levels) and rapid sample analysis time. The recovery values ranged from 25% for aluminum to about 75% for plexiglass with a precision of 13% or less. The results for the plexiglass tended to vary with the age of the surface making the determination of an accurate recovery value difficult for this type of surface. We found that the TOC method is applicable for determining residual aspirin on pharmaceutical surfaces and will be useful for cleaning validation.",
"corpus_id": 21818709,
"score": 1,
"title": "Total organic carbon method for aspirin cleaning validation."
} |
{
"abstract": "There are species of carbon steel in the industry suffering from corrosion phenomena under seawater environment. In this paper, for purposes of the prediction of 3C steel corrosion rate, the proposed methodology here adopts a hybrid model based on neural network (NN) and imperialist competitive algorithm (ICA). Additionally, to validate the suggested method, we have managed to apply a procedure, namely leaving-one-out cross-validation (LOOCV). Thus, the model in this paper is abbreviated as NN–ICA_LOOCV. In the case study, the model is implemented on 46 experimental samples. This dataset is included within five parameters, namely temperature, dissolved oxygen, salinity, PH value and oxidation–reduction potential as inputs and corrosion rate(s) as an output parameter. The dataset was divided into two parts: one for training and the other for testing with 42 and 4 data number, respectively. For an evaluation purpose, the performance of NN–ICA_LOOCV is compared with other models on the basis of indicators such as the coefficient of determination (R2), root-mean-square error (RMSE) and mean absolute error (MAE). The model was successfully tested, yielding a prediction of corrosion rate with a RMSE of around 0.01, MAE of 0.011 and a correlation factor of 0.99 to the test data. The results demonstrate that the carefully designed hybrid model further succeeded to denote lower modeling error and higher accuracy. Hence, this model is an applicable and reliable offer to engineers in order to online and safe prediction of corrosion rate in 3C steel under seawater environment.",
"corpus_id": 1001735,
"title": "A hybrid intelligent model combining ANN and imperialist competitive algorithm for prediction of corrosion rate in 3C steel under seawater environment"
} | {
"abstract": "Mild steel and 304 stainless steel are the versatile materials of construction for various structures in ocean water, whose composition varies widely in the vast global marine environment. The major parameters influencing the rate are salinity, sulfate, bicarbonates, pH, and temperature and dissolved oxygen. Prediction of the rate of degradation is a challenging task for design and corrosion engineers for existing as well as new structures to be constructed. Endeavors have been made to model the corrosion rate of mild steel and 304 stainless steel as function of five parameters, namely chloride, sulfate, dissolved oxygen, pH, and temperature, based on laboratory experimental data. The number of experimentations and compositions of experimental artificial seawater were based on 2k factorial design of experiment. The model was validated with additional generated experimental data as well as real field study from the literature. Three-dimensional mappings of corrosion behavior of mild steel and stainless steel reveal that the effects of these parameters are interrelated and influenced by one another.",
"corpus_id": 135897113,
"title": "Model to Study the Effect of Composition of Seawater on the Corrosion Rate of Mild Steel and Stainless Steel"
} | {
"abstract": "We present single-step in situ syntheses of polystyrene-grafted multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) under 60Co γ-ray irradiation. Pristine MWNTs were first dispersed in pure styrene under sonicat...",
"corpus_id": 98814107,
"score": 1,
"title": "Single-Step in Situ Preparation of Polymer-Grafted Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotube Composites under 60Co γ-Ray Irradiation"
} |
{
"abstract": "In this study, the nitrogen removal performance and microbial community structure were investigated during the start-up, instability, and recovery stages of an anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) reactor loaded with compound carriers (shale ceramsite and suspended ball carrier). The results indicated that the anammox reactor successfully started up on 116th d when the nitrogen loading rate (NLR) reached 0.72 ± 0.05 kg N m-3 d-1. The anammox reactor ran well with free ammonia (FA) at 13.65 ± 2.69 mg/L and free nitrous acid (FNA) at 39.49 ± 10.95 μg/L, indicating that its tolerance for FA and FNA was higher than that of granular sludge anammox reactors. The anammox system was inhibited when FA and FNA reached 29.65 mg/L and 77.02 μg/L, respectively. The tolerance of anammox bacteria towards FA and FNA decreased after this inhibition. The nitrogen removal performance could be efficiently recovered by decreasing the influent substrate concentration and increasing the hydraulic retention time (HRT). Candidatus Brocadia and Candidatus Jettenia, two genus-level anammox bacteria, were detected in this reactor using a high-throughput sequencing technique. After high substrate shock, the abundance of Candidatus Brocadia decreased while that of Candidatus Jettenia increased, which might be due to the competition between Candidatus Jettenia and Candidatus Brocadia. The relationships between anammox communities and operational factors were investigated via redundancy analysis (RDA), which showed that FA was the principal factor affecting the microbial community structure during the operation stage.",
"corpus_id": 3843355,
"title": "Nitrogen removal performance and microbial community structure in the start-up and substrate inhibition stages of an anammox reactor."
} | {
"abstract": "For municipal wastewater with low temperature and ammonium, conventional oxygen-limited have difficulty achieving long-term stable inhibition of nitrite oxidizing bacteria (NOB) and stable nitritation. So a partial nitrification-anaerobic ammonium oxidation integrated reactor with independent partitions was used to investigate the feasibility of adding an auto-recycling system to promote low exposure of nitrite in the aerobic zone and to inhibit the NOB activity. The results showed that nitrite produced in the aerobic zone could be timely transported to the anaerobic zone for Anammox utilization, and the nitrite nitrogen concentration was diluted to keep within 1 mg/L in the aerobic zone by the effluent recycling. NOB growth was inhibited by nitrite deficiency. The maximum nitrogen removal rate of the reactor was 0.29 kg/(m3·d), and the nitrate nitrogen production rate of NOB was controlled within 0.04 kg/(m3·d). Nitrosomonas and Candidatus Kuenenia were found as functional species of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria and Anammox bacteria, respectively.",
"corpus_id": 73479452,
"title": "Inhibition of nitrite oxidizing bacterial activity based on low nitrite concentration exposure in an auto-recycling PN-Anammox process under mainstream conditions."
} | {
"abstract": "OBJECTIVE\nTo incorporate indomethacin and triclosan-loaded nanocapsules into primer and adhesive, and evaluate its properties.\n\n\nMETHODS\nIndomethacin and triclosan were encapsulated by deposition of preformed polymer and subsequently characterized regarding morphology, particle size, drug content and cytotoxicity. Nanocapsules (NCs) were incorporated into primer at 2% and into adhesive at 1, 2, 5, and 10% concentrations. Degree of conversion (DC) and softening in ethanol of the adhesive were evaluated. Drug release and drug diffusion through dentin was quantified by high performance liquid chromatography. Antimicrobial test was performed until 96h.\n\n\nRESULTS\nSpherical and biocompatible NCs presented mean size of 159nm. Drugs content was 3mg indomethacin/g powder and 2mg triclosan/g powder. Incorporating NCs in adhesive showed no influence in DC (p=0.335). The addition of 2% of NCs showed no influence in softening in ethanol (p>0.05). After 120h, 93% of indomethacin and 80% of triclosan were released from primer, 20% of indomethacin and 17% of triclosan were released from adhesive with 10% of NCs. Indomethacin showed diffusion through dentin. In 24h, adhesive containing 2 and 5% of NCs using primer with NCs showed antimicrobial effect. In 96h, adhesives containing different concentration of NCs promoted antimicrobial effect.\n\n\nCONCLUSIONS\nIndomethacin and triclosan-loaded nanocapsules were successfully incorporated into primer and adhesive, promoting controlled drugs release, indomethacin diffusion through dentin and antimicrobial effect without compromising its physicochemical properties.\n\n\nSIGNIFICANCE\nIndomethacin and triclosan-loaded nanocapsules have potential to prevent recurrent caries and to be used in deep cavities controlling pulpar inflammatory process.",
"corpus_id": 5580974,
"score": 0,
"title": "Antimicrobial effect and physicochemical properties of an adhesive system containing nanocapsules."
} |
{
"abstract": "Acute lung injury (ALI) is a life-threatening syndrome that causes high morbidity and mortality worldwide. ALI is characterized by increased permeability of the alveolar-capillary membrane, edema, uncontrolled neutrophils migration to the lung, and diffuse alveolar damage, leading to acute hypoxemic respiratory failure. Although corticosteroids remain the mainstay of ALI treatment, they cause significant side effects. Agents of natural origin, such as medicinal plants and their secondary metabolites, mainly those with very few side effects, could be excellent alternatives for ALI treatment. Several studies, including our own, have demonstrated that plant extracts and/or secondary metabolites isolated from them reduce most ALI phenotypes in experimental animal models, including neutrophil recruitment to the lung, the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines, edema, and vascular permeability. In this review, we summarized these studies and described the anti-inflammatory activity of various plant extracts, such as Ginkgo biloba and Punica granatum, and such secondary metabolites as epigallocatechin-3-gallate and ellagic acid. In addition, we highlight the medical potential of these extracts and plant-derived compounds for treating of ALI.",
"corpus_id": 1869765,
"title": "Potential Effects of Medicinal Plants and Secondary Metabolites on Acute Lung Injury"
} | {
"abstract": "Characterized by its acute onset, critical condition, poor prognosis, and high mortality rate, severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) can cause multiple organ failure at its early stage, particularly acute lung injury (ALI). The pathogenesis of ALI is diffuse alveolar damage, including an increase in pulmonary microvascular permeability, a decrease in compliance, and invasion of many inflammatory cells. Corticosteroids are the main treatment method for ALI; however, the associated high toxicity and side effects induce pain in patients. Recent studies show that the effective components in many traditional Chinese medicines can effectively inhibit inflammation with few side effects, which can decrease the complications caused by steroid consumption. Based on these observations, the main objective of the current study is to investigate the effect of alpinetin, which is a flavonoid extracted from Alpinia katsumadai Hayata, on treating lung injury induced by SAP and to explore the mechanism underlying the alpinetin-mediated decrease in the extent of ALI. In this study, we have shown through in vitro experiments that a therapeutic dose of alpinetin can promote human pulmonary microvascular endothelial cell proliferation. We have also shown via in vitro and in vivo experiments that alpinetin upregulates aquaporin-1 and, thereby, inhibits tumor necrosis factor-α expression as well as reduces the degree of lung injury. Overall, our study shows that alpinetin alleviates SAP-induced ALI. The likely molecular mechanism includes upregulated aquaporin expression, which inhibits tumor necrosis factor-α and, thus, alleviates SAP-induced ALI.",
"corpus_id": 14682224,
"title": "The mechanism underlying alpinetin-mediated alleviation of pancreatitis-associated lung injury through upregulating aquaporin-1"
} | {
"abstract": "Abstract Ford-Mexico is pursuing a single philosophy of flexible production in its Mexican plants, but with markedly different results. An analysis of three plants, one a new assembly plant in the North, another an established manufacturing plant in Central Mexico, and the third a labor-intensive maquiladora plant in the Northern border region shows how the factors of labor relations, local labor markets, complexity of production, and whether the plants are new or established affect the implantation of flexible production. The resulting systems implanted do not correspond to the ideal lean production model.",
"corpus_id": 154661140,
"score": 0,
"title": "Flexible production in the auto sector: Industrial reorganization at Ford-Mexico"
} |
{
"abstract": "Compensating the grid background harmonics in a grid-interfacing converter system, such as a drive system's active-front-end rectifier or a grid-connected inverter in a distributed generation system, is an effective method of reducing line side current harmonics. However, this harmonic compensation is particularly challenging in medium-voltage high-power applications (>1 MVA). This is mainly due to the low-switching frequency operation of high-power converters (300-800 Hz) to maintain low power loss. Therefore, the traditional tasks of active power filters with relatively high-switching frequency cannot be easily realized here. This paper proposes a new pulse width modulation technique, named selective harmonic compensation (SHC), which actively compensates the power system background harmonics, but still operates at very low-switching frequencies. Details of the proposed SHC are presented. An SHC application example on a high-power current-source rectifier is provided in this paper. The simulations and experiments show that the proposed SHC scheme can effectively compensate the system background harmonics and improve the line current harmonic performance.",
"corpus_id": 1243131,
"title": "Selective Harmonic Compensation (SHC) PWM for Grid-Interfacing High-Power Converters"
} | {
"abstract": "The performances of various 1200 V insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) structures for hard- and soft-switching (both the zero-voltage and the zero-current switching) at high temperature and under various test conditions are investigated in detail. A comparison is made between a conventional planar punchthrough IGBT (P-IGBT) using global lifetime control, a trench punchthrough IGBT (T-IGBT) using local lifetime control and a enhanced planar punchthrough IGBT (N-IGBT) also using the local lifetime control process. A simple and effective specific test circuit allows hard- and soft-switching operating modes, and provides also an independent control on the test parameters (load current, clamping voltage, gate resistance, temperature, dead times). It is highlighted that the local lifetime control is very efficient at high temperature reducing especially the turn-off losses. Furthermore, the T-IGBT exhibits very good performances during hard- and soft-switching turn-off, but this is not the case during hard-switching and zero-voltage switching turn-on. Due to its high input capacitance, the hard-switching turn-on losses are relatively high. Regarding the N-IGBT, it presents good performances under hard-switching and also zero-voltage switching. However, like the T-IGBT, its structure has a strong \"inductance behavior\" during zero-voltage turn-on increasing the conductivity modulation lag and also the voltage spike leading to high losses. All these data allow to provide useful information for the devices modeling, design, and optimization.",
"corpus_id": 26030415,
"title": "A systematic hard- and soft-switching performances evaluation of 1200 V punchthrough IGBT structures"
} | {
"abstract": "Current study aimed to investigate modified natural clinoptilolite for removal of calcium and magnesium from the groundwater. Feasibility of clinoptilolite for groundwater hardness removal in production and operation was verified by static adsorption experiment and the experiment of fixed bed and degasification column. Subsequently, the main parameters for groundwater treatment using clinoptilolite were also explored. Results show that in the process of clinoptilolite in adsorption is dominant reaction process. The adsorption equilibrium time was unchanged when the hardness of raw water changes from 450 to 550 mg/L. With respect to comparative analysis of price and performance, NaCl found to be the most suitable clinoptilolite regenerated agent. The adsorption efficiency was high when the residence time was 20–25 min in the pilot experiments. The reaction mechanism was mainly substitution reaction according to ion equilibrium, and the treatment capacity of the degasifier combined with the fixed bed was 20% higher than that of with only fixed bed.",
"corpus_id": 201815118,
"score": 1,
"title": "Evaluation of groundwater hardness removal using activated clinoptilolite"
} |
{
"abstract": "The development of z-pinch instabilities in the presence of the Hall term, finite Larmor radius effects (FLR), and axial magnetic field is being investigated. The linear stage of instability development is studied with linearized magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) equations based on the Hall fluid model. Results for linear growth rates as a function of axial sheared flow, axial magnetic field, and the Hall term, with an emphasis on the sausage and kink instabilities, are reported. We also present simulations performed with the 3D version of the hybrid code based on the CAM-CL algorithm Matthews, AP (1994) These simulations serve the dual purpose of comparing with the linear Hall MHD analysis and of investigating the nonlinear stage of instability development with a kinetic model. The overall aim is to characterize the combined influence of sheared axial flow, the Hall term, axial magnetic field, and finite Larmor radius (FLR) effects on the development of sausage and kink modes. Calculations have been carried out in several regimes with respect to the Hall parameter /spl epsiv/=c//spl omega//sub pi/r/sub 0/ (c is the speed of light, Opi is the ion plasma frequency and r/sub 0/ is the plasma radius), with and without axial magnetic field. The axial magnetic field used in the calculations has been varied from Br/sub 0z/=0 to Br/sub 0z/=0.5, where the amplitude of the axial magnetic field is measured relative to the azimuthal magnetic field created by the axial current in the z-pinch. We have also initiated 3D hybrid simulations to study the time development of density and magnetic field profiles produced in the process of long pulse Z-pinch implosions in Saturn. Apruzese, JP et al. (2001). The 3D hybrid code allows for multiple ion species with multiple charges. This code also contains term with finite resistivity in the magnetic field equation. We can thus model realistic wire array loads with wires composed of different materials, for example Al (95%) and Mg (5%), like in Saturn.",
"corpus_id": 7592814,
"title": "Linear analysis and 3D hybrid simulation study of z-pinch instabilities in the presence of nonideal MHD effects"
} | {
"abstract": "The Hall fluid model (a quasineutral two‐fluid model with Te=0) is used to investigate the effect of the Hall term on the m=0 instability in a pure Z pinch. The problem is treated numerically by a linearized initial value code. Two different equilibria are investigated. The growth rate of the fastest growing magnetohydrodynamic mode is increased for one equilibrium and reduced for the other by the inclusion of the Hall term, and in the second case new modes with high growth rates are found. The possibility of Hall term destabilization of MHD stable equilibria is suggested.",
"corpus_id": 122979596,
"title": "A study of the stability of the Z pinch under fusion conditions using the Hall fluid model"
} | {
"abstract": "Peak x-ray powers as high as 280±40 TW have been generated from the implosion of tungsten wire arrays on the Z Accelerator at Sandia National Laboratories. The high x-ray powers radiated by these z-pinches provide an attractive new driver option for high yield inertial confinement fusion (ICF). The high x-ray powers appear to be a result of using a large number of wires in the array which decreases the perturbation seed to the magnetic Rayleigh-Taylor (MRT) instability and diminishes other 3-D effects. Simulations to confirm this hypothesis require a 3-D MHD code capability, and associated databases, to follow the evolution of the wires from cold solid through melt, vaporization, ionization, and finally to dense imploded plasma. Strong coupling plays a role in this process, the importance of which depends on the wire material and the current time history of the pulsed power driver. Strong coupling regimes are involved in the plasmas in the convolute and transmission line of the powerflow system. Strong coupling can also play a role in the physics of the z-pinch-driven high yield ICF targeL Finally, strong coupling can occur in certain z-pinch-driven application experiments.",
"corpus_id": 96617531,
"score": 2,
"title": "The role of strong coupling in z-pinch-driven approaches to high yield inertial confinement fusion"
} |
{
"abstract": "Accurate classification of eye state is a prerequisite for preventing automobile accidents due to driver drowsiness. Previous methods of classification, based on features extracted for a single eye, are vulnerable to eye localization errors and visual obstructions, and most use a fixed threshold for classification, irrespective of variations in the driver's eye shape and texture. To address these deficiencies, we propose a new method for eye state classification that combines three innovations: (1) extraction and fusion of features from both eyes, (2) initialization of driver-specific thresholds to account for differences in eye shape and texture, and (3) modeling of driver-specific blinking patterns for normal (non-drowsy) driving. Experimental results show that the proposed method achieves significant improvements in detection accuracy.",
"corpus_id": 14433690,
"title": "Detecting driver drowsiness using feature-level fusion and user-specific classification"
} | {
"abstract": "On board monitoring of the alertness level of an automotive driver has been a challenging research in transportation safety and management. In this paper, we propose a robust real time embedded platform to monitor the loss of attention of the driver during day as well as night driving conditions. The PERcentage of eye CLOSure (PERCLOS) has been used as the indicator of the alertness level. In this approach, the face is detected using Haar like features and tracked using a Kalman Filter. The Eyes are detected using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) during day time and the block Local Binary Pattern (LBP) features during night. Finally the eye state is classified as open or closed using Support Vector Machines(SVM). In plane and off plane rotations of the drivers face have been compensated using Affine and Perspective Transformation respectively. Compensation in illumination variation is carried out using Bi Histogram Equalization (BHE). The algorithm has been cross validated using brain signals and finally been implemented on a Single Board Computer (SBC) having Intel Atom processor, 1 GB RAM, 1.66 GHz clock, x86 architecture, Windows Embedded XP operating system. The system is found to be robust under actual driving conditions.",
"corpus_id": 10050401,
"title": "A Vision Based System for Monitoring the Loss of Attention in Automotive Drivers"
} | {
"abstract": "Abstract : This paper surveys the application of artificial intelligence approaches to the software engineering processes. These approaches can have a major impact on reducing the time to market and improving the quality of software systems in general. Existing survey papers are driven by the AI techniques used, or are focused on specific software engineering processes. This paper relates AI techniques to software engineering processes specified by the IEEE 12207 standard of software engineering. The paper is driven by the activities and tasks specified in the standard for each software engineering process. The paper brings the state of the art of AI techniques closer to the software engineer, and highlights the open research problems for the research community. Keywords: Automated Software Engineering, Artificial Intelligence Techniques. 1. Introduction 2. The software intensive systems we develop these days are becoming much more complex in terms of the number of functional and nonfunctional requirements they need to support. The impact of low quality can also have a catastrophic impact on the mission of these systems in many critical applications. Moreover, the cost of software development dominates the total cost of such systems. Research in applying artificial intelligence techniques to software Engineering have grown tremendously in the last two decades producing a large number of projects and publications. A number of conferences and journals are dedicated to publish the research in this field. The AI techniques are proposed in order to reduce the time to market and enhance the quality of software systems. Yet many of these AI techniques remain largely used by the research community and with little impact on the processes and tools used by the practicing software engineer. The recent survey papers published in this field are mainly targeted to the research community. They are driven by the specific AI techniques used rather than the software engineering activities supported. They are also focused on a specific software engineering process such as software design [28] This survey paper attempts to close the gap between the research and practice of applying AI techniques to the software engineering processes. It also highlights open practical problems to the research community in applying such techniques by surveying the recently proposed work in this area. We use the terminology and the processes defined by the IEEE 12207 standard of software engineering. We then map the current state art of AI art techniques proposed in the literature to specific tasks and activities of some of the software processes define by the 12207 standard. These AI techniques attempt to automate or semi-automate these tasks and produce optimal or semi-optimal solutions in much less time. . The paper is organized as follows. In section 2, we give an overview of the IEEE 12207 standard of software engineering, and describe the most important AI techniques. We survey the current AI techniques proposed for the primary processes of development in sections 3. We highlight the open problems in section 4.",
"corpus_id": 16462898,
"score": -1,
"title": "Software Engineering Using Artificial Intelligence Techniques: Current State and Open Problems"
} |
{
"abstract": "We relate vertex decompositions of simplicial complexes to Gröbner degeneration, in stages, of affine varieties. v cone on the link deletion",
"corpus_id": 1786765,
"title": "Interlude : Why care whether it ’ s a ball ?"
} | {
"abstract": "Abstract We present a new effective Nullstellensatz with bounds for the degrees which depend not only on the number of variables and on the degrees of the input polynomials but also on an additional parameter called the geometric degree of the system of equations . The obtained bound is polynomial in these parameters. It is essentially optimal in the general case, and it substantially improves the existent bounds in some special cases. The proof of this result is combinatorial, and relies on global estimates for the Hilbert function of homogeneous polynomial ideals. In this direction, we obtain a lower bound for the Hilbert function of an arbitrary homogeneous polynomial ideal, and an upper bound for the Hilbert function of a generic hypersurface section of an unmixed radical polynomial ideal.",
"corpus_id": 13338790,
"title": "Bounds for the Hubert function of polynomial ideals and for the degrees in the Nullstellensatz"
} | {
"abstract": "Using a local Radon transform helps improve the performance of the Radon transform-based linear feature detection. In this paper, three different approaches to localize the Radon transform are implemented and compared in the context of road centerline extraction from classified satellite imagery",
"corpus_id": 946503,
"score": 1,
"title": "Comparing Different Localization Approaches of the Radon Transform for Road Centerline Extraction from Classified Satellite Imagery"
} |
{
"abstract": "Motivation ::: Barcode sequencing (bar-seq) is a high-throughput, and cost effective method to assay large numbers of cell lineages or genotypes in complex cell pools. Because of its advantages, applications for bar-seq are quickly growing-from using neutral random barcodes to study the evolution of microbes or cancer, to using pseudo-barcodes, such as shRNAs or sgRNAs to simultaneously screen large numbers of cell perturbations. However, the computational pipelines for bar-seq clustering are not well developed. Available methods often yield a high frequency of under-clustering artifacts that result in spurious barcodes, or over-clustering artifacts that group distinct barcodes together. Here, we developed Bartender, an accurate clustering algorithm to detect barcodes and their abundances from raw next-generation sequencing data. ::: ::: ::: Results ::: In contrast with existing methods that cluster based on sequence similarity alone, Bartender uses a modified two-sample proportion test that also considers cluster size. This modification results in higher accuracy and lower rates of under- and over-clustering artifacts. Additionally, Bartender includes unique molecular identifier handling and a 'multiple time point' mode that matches barcode clusters between different clustering runs for seamless handling of time course data. Bartender is a set of simple-to-use command line tools that can be performed on a laptop at comparable run times to existing methods. ::: ::: ::: Availability and implementation ::: Bartender is available at no charge for non-commercial use at https://github.com/LaoZZZZZ/bartender-1.1. ::: ::: ::: Contact ::: sasha.levy@stonybrook.edu or song.wu@stonybrook.edu. ::: ::: ::: Supplementary information ::: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.",
"corpus_id": 3784089,
"title": "Bartender: a fast and accurate clustering algorithm to count barcode reads"
} | {
"abstract": "We present strand and codeword design schemes for a DNA database capable of approximate similarity search over a multidimensional dataset of content-rich media. Our strand designs address cross-talk in associative DNA databases, and we demonstrate a novel method for learning DNA sequence encodings from data, applying it to a dataset of tens of thousands of images. We test our design in the wetlab using one hundred target images and ten query images, and show that our database is capable of performing similarity-based enrichment: on average, visually similar images account for 30% of the sequencing reads for each query, despite making up only 10% of the database.",
"corpus_id": 52060401,
"title": "A Content-Addressable DNA Database with Learned Sequence Encodings"
} | {
"abstract": "This article presents a local LR error repair method that repairs syntax errors quickly by adoption of the A* algorithm that helps remove unproductive configurations. The new method also enhances the repair quality by adoption of a flexible edit strategy to support shifting symbols unrestrictedly, as well as inserting and deleting symbols, in order to repair invalid input strings. Experimental results show that the new method excels existing works in repair quality and efficiency.",
"corpus_id": 13511682,
"score": -1,
"title": "LR error repair using the A* algorithm"
} |
{
"abstract": "The aim of this study was to determine the effects of nimesulide and pentoxifylline on the contractile effects of KCl, carbachol and substance P in the longitudinal muscle of rat ileum during peritonitis. Peritonitis was induced in rat ileum by cecal ligation and puncture. Thirty rats were operated on to induce peritonitis, 10 of which received nimesulide (5 mg/kg, subcutaneously) and 10 of which received pentoxifylline (25 mg/kg, subcutaneously) before the operation; 10 other rats underwent a sham operation and acted as controls. Twenty-four hours after the operation, ileum segments were transferred to isolated organ baths and responses to KCl, carbachol and substance P were recorded. Emax values of KCl, carbachol and substance P were markedly lower (P<0.05), with no change in the pD2 values, in the peritonitis group than in the controls. Peritonitis-induced changes in the KCl, carbachol and substance P responses of ileum were significantly restored by nimesulide (P<0.05), but not by pentoxifylline. The improved contractile responses following nimesulide treatment indicate that products of cyclooxygenase-II may be, at least in part, responsible for the decreased contractile responses to KCl, carbachol and substance P in peritonitis.",
"corpus_id": 335411,
"title": "Effects of nimesulide and pentoxifylline on decreased contractile responses in rat ileum with peritonitis."
} | {
"abstract": "This study examines the changes in pulmonary leucostasis and capillary ultrastructure in 18 rabbits divided into three groups. Those in the first group were sham operated, and those in the second and third groups underwent peritonitis induction; those in the latter group were treated with pentoxifylline (PTF). White blood cells (WBC) were counted, and tissue area, total capillary area, and capillary patency were measured from electron micrographs of lung tissue. Pulmonary WBCs were 1.2 per unit field in the sham group, 9.7 in the test group (P less than 0.001 compared with sham), and 2.5 in the PTF group (P less than 0.001 compared with sham). Capillary patency was 53 +/- 5% in the sham group, 12 +/- 4% (P less than 0.001 compared with sham) in the test group, and 24 +/- 2% (P less than 0.001 compared with sham) in the PTF group. Pentoxifylline treatment attenuates pulmonary leucostasis, pulmonary capillary occlusion, and endothelial and epithelial damage associated with peritonitis in rabbits. This study shows that PTF warrants investigation into its potential protective effects on the lungs in clinical sepsis.",
"corpus_id": 2486685,
"title": "Pentoxifylline reduces pulmonary leucostasis and improves capillary patency in a rabbit peritonitis model."
} | {
"abstract": "I conducted a randomized field experiment in traditional public elementary schools in Houston , Texas designed to test the potential productivity benefits of teacher specialization. The average impact of encouraging schools to specialize their teachers on student achievement is − 0.11 standard deviations per year on a combined index of math and reading test scores. I argue that the results are consistent with a model in which the benefits of specialization driven by sorting teachers into a subset of subjects based on comparative advantage is outweighed by inefficient pedagogy due to having fewer interactions with each student , though other mechanisms are possible. ( JEL D31,",
"corpus_id": 251215160,
"score": 0,
"title": "The “Pupil” Factory: Specialization and the Production of Human Capital in Schools †"
} |
{
"abstract": "A case of ameloblastic fibroma, and one of its more aggressive variety, the ameloblastic \"fibrosarcoma\", are presented. The clinical and morphologic differences are discussed. In our opinion, ameloblastic \"fibrosarcoma\" is a semimalignant tumor. Therefore we propose \"proliferating ameloblastic fibroma\" as a more appropriate designation.",
"corpus_id": 1291246,
"title": "Ameloblastic fibroma and its sarcomatous transformation."
} | {
"abstract": "Ameloblastoma is an uncommon odontogenic tumor usually occurring in the mandible. Rarely do other primary tumors occur with or arise from ameloblastoma. We describe a patient with simultaneous osteogenic sarcoma of the maxilla and recurrent ameloblastoma.",
"corpus_id": 23856610,
"title": "Osteogenic sarcoma arising adjacent to a long-standing ameloblastoma. A case report."
} | {
"abstract": "BACKGROUND\nThe loss of all, or part of an X chromosome, in Turner syndrome (TS, 45,XO) results in deficits in attentional functioning.\n\n\nMETHODS\nUsing a 39,XO mouse model, we tested the hypothesis that X-monosomy and/or parental origin of the single X chromosome may influence visuospatial attentional functioning in a 5-choice serial reaction time task (5-CSRTT).\n\n\nRESULTS\nUnder attentionally demanding conditions 39,XO mice displayed impaired discriminative response accuracy and slowed correct reaction times relative to 40,XX mice; these deficits were alleviated in a version of the task with reduced attentional demands. Parental origin of the X did not affect performance of the 5-CSRTT. In contrast, the attentional phenotype was rescued in 40,XY*X mice possessing a single maternally inherited X chromosome and a small Y*X chromosome that comprises a complete pseudoautosomal region (PAR), and a small X-specific segment.\n\n\nCONCLUSIONS\nOur findings are consistent with an X-monosomy effect on attention and suggest the existence of X-linked gene(s) that escape X-inactivation, are present on the small Y*X chromosome and impact on attentional functioning; the strongest candidate gene is Sts, encoding steroid sulfatase. The data inform the TS literature and indicate novel genetic mechanisms that may be of general significance to the neurobiology of attention.",
"corpus_id": 2468302,
"score": 1,
"title": "X-Monosomy Effects on Visuospatial Attention in Mice: A Candidate Gene and Implications for Turner Syndrome and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder"
} |
{
"abstract": "This pilot study explored the effectiveness of the Reading Adventure Pack (RAP) with students from classes K to 3. The RAP contained books and a variety of activities that promote the skills of literacy. It involved a pre-RAP and post-RAP student and carer questionnaire. The children’s questionnaires revealed positive attitudes towards the RAP while the carer’s reports were ambivalent. The study found that the mother was the carer most involved in the literacy development of the children in the home. Introduction Research shows that literacy development commences well before children start school (Neuman et al. 2003). Family literacy involves the extended family and encompasses the ways that reading materials are used in the home (Mayfield 1999). The early literacy skills that are learnt by a child in the home environment are carried with him/her to school and may partially predict the success that he/she will have in learning to read (Rush 1999). In general it has been found that class and family may be a stronger predictor of general school achievement than measures of differences of the school environment (Cairney 1998). Specifically, children from low-income families tend to achieve lower scores on tests of reading comprehension than do the children from higher socio-economic families (Nixon & Comber cited in Carrington 2001) and children from lower socio-economic homes tend to fall into lower reading age-levels than do the children from upper socio-economic homes (Rush 1999). Australian Literacy Educators’ Association & The University of New England Multiliteracies & English Teaching K-12 in the Age of Information & Communication Technologies 2004 Multiliteracies & English Teaching K-12 in the Age of Information & Communication Technologies Reading Adventure Packs Page 2 of 19 These findings suggest that the economic conditions of the home could influence the kind of reading materials in the home and the manner of usage of that material. In other words, the economic conditions of the home could influence the nature of the reading environment that shapes both the development of children’s early attitudes toward reading and the early prereading literacy skills that children carry with them to their first years of schooling. This suggestion is reinforced by a recent study from New Zealand which suggests that children’s reading achievements are strongly influenced by a combination of home factors that include the reading resources of the home, parental education level and parental involvement (or non-involvement) in the children’s home reading (Gerritsen 2003). It could be argued that all three factors involve an economic component. A number of research studies suggest that it is extremely difficult for some low-income families to resource their children’s early literacy needs (Comber et al. 2002). While it appears that most families are aware of the importance of the home literacy environment (Makin & McNaught 2001) and the need for reading resources, too many homes with children are without books and in too many homes adults do not read to children (Minkel 2002). With the realisation that family members can positively contribute to early literacy development there has been a plethora of programs and initiatives in recent years designed to support and encourage family participation in children’s literacy education (Cairney & Ruge 1998). There are many pamphlets, booklets, and family information programs, both charitable and commercial, which are readily available to inform parents of the necessity of a print rich environment (see for example Cairney 1998, Mcfann 2001, Minkel 2002, Rolton 2001, Neuman & Celano 2001). Australian government agencies also have policies and programs to educate and inform parents about early literacy development. However it would appear that all these initiatives, including the government programs, are largely dependent upon homes having their own access to reading resources (NSW Dept of Education and Training 2003). Unfortunately it would also appear that, for a variety of reasons, sections of the community lack access to home literary resources (Comber et al. 2002). In part, this pilot study is an attempt to explore what happens in the home when resource materials are supplied. Multiliteracies & English Teaching K-12 in the Age of Information & Communication Technologies Reading Adventure Packs Page 3 of 19 In the USA some early literacy initiatives and programs failed because of the lack of available support services that provided take-home books or home educational resources (Cairney et al. 1995). However there were some programs that did provide a range of literacy materials such as tote bags, books and story tapes (Mayfield 1999, Farris 1987) and anecdotal evidence seemed to indicate that these programs were effective (Barbour 1999). Currently within Australia, at least one program has provided take home educational literacy resources for kindergarten children (Victoria Teachers Credit Union 2002). Developed at the Allansford and District Kindergarten it included a plastic box containing a storybook, a taped version of that book and other activities related to the theme of the story. While there is anecdotal evidence about the effectiveness of reading packs (Barbour 1999), research examining the effectiveness of the reading backpacks could not be found. Since reading attitudes can affect reading performance (Garrett 2002), one means by which reading packs could influence reading development is to enhance their enjoyment of reading and the sense of achievement in reading. However, it has been suggested that the study of children’s attitudes to reading in their early years has received little attention (Wang 2000). Wang (2000) found that a child ’s personal experience, confidence and success (or otherwise) with books and reading, particularly at the initial stages, were directly related to his/her attitude towards reading. The present pilot study (described below) is an attempt to support and improve children’s attitudes to reading and involve members of the family in the children’s reading by supplying reading resource material. It was developed after a visit by one of the authors, Gill, to the USA where she saw an early literacy program in action. On her return, and with the assistance of Fisher, they set up a literacy program, similar to that of Barbour (1999), using packs of stimulus material that they entitled Reading Adventure Packs (RAP). As there was only anecdotal evidence available outlining the results of the Barbour program (1999), this pilot study was set up to ascertain the effectiveness of the literacy pack approach within the Australian environment. The RAP program involved the collection and organisation of literacy and educational resources for the children. Students borrowed the resources from the school to take home on a rotational basis. Before the system was set in place, parents were invited to participate and given information about how they might assist their children with the program. The resources within the packs (listed below) were meant to provide a positive literacy experience for the children and to contribute positively toward them developing attitudes towards reading. The RAP was designed to involve family members in the child’s home reading experience as well as to provide Multiliteracies & English Teaching K-12 in the Age of Information & Communication Technologies Reading Adventure Packs Page 4 of 19 enrichment for the classroom literacy program. It was not meant to replace teacher organised homework reading. The following research questions guided the study. Research Questions: 1. Who within the family is involved in the children’s home reading? 2. What is the children’s attitude to reading before the implementation of RAP? 3. What is the children’s attitude to RAP? 4. What is the carers’ attitude to RAP? 5. What is the carers’ perception of the children’s response to RAP? Research Method Subjects The subjects in this study constituted a cohort of thirty-three students from two primary classrooms, a K-3 class of thirteen students from a NSW School and a Grade One class of twenty students from a Victorian School. The first school is small and located in a semi-rural area, though a variety of socioeconomic levels were represented within the student body and most students came from middle-class homes. Almost a quarter of the second school’s population received the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) and approximately the same proportion were English as Second Language (ESL) students. Reading Adventure Packs A total of six Reading Adventure Packs were made, each pack based on a particular but different theme. Following is a list of contents for each Reading Adventure Pack: • a soft toy indicating the theme of the Reading Adventure Pack • a ‘Note of Explanation to Carers’ about the Reading Adventure Pack • a ‘",
"corpus_id": 153867990,
"title": "Reading Adventure Packs: A Pilot Program Promoting Family Involvement in Children's Literacy Attitudinal Development"
} | {
"abstract": "This research study investigated how principals in a national, Christian independent school system cope with stress. Using a doublephased, mixed-methods approach combining questionnaires and in-depth interviews, school principals’ stressors and their reactions to these stressors were examined. Coping strategies used by principals to reduce or manage their stress were also explored. Fortyseven principals participated in the study and of these, 23 indicated a serious level of stress. The study highlighted a preference for using stress managers (a secondary approach), rather than stress reducers (a primary approach). Specifi c grouping of stressors into ten clusters suggested particular areas to be targeted for professional development and systemic reform.",
"corpus_id": 142769099,
"title": "Can Reading Adventure Packs (RAPS) Complement and Enrich the Literacy Program in Your Classroom?"
} | {
"abstract": "Energy storage plants utilizing batteries and thyristor power converters can be operated like pumped hydro storage units. Under the conditions actually prevailing in Europe, load leveling operation of such plants is not economical. Nevertheless, a battery energy storage plant promises both operational and economical advantages for load-frequency-control and instantaneous reserve operation. Queries according to this unconventional operation of batteries have been settled in a test facility in Berlin (West). After two years of test operation a decision was made to build up a full-scale demonstration plant, which will be commissioned in early 1987.",
"corpus_id": 545129,
"score": 0,
"title": "Battery Energy Storage Another Option for Load-Frequency-Control and Instantaneous Reserve"
} |
{
"abstract": "Cerebral hypoxia results in generation of nitric oxide (NO) free radicals by Ca++-dependent activation of neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS). The present study tests the hypothesis that the hypoxia-induced increased expression of nNOS in cortical neurons is mediated by NO. To test this hypothesis the cellular distribution of nNOS was determined immunohistochemically in the cerebral cortex of hypoxic newborn piglets with and without prior exposure to the selective nNOS inhibitor 7-nitroindazole sodium (7-NINA). Studies were conducted in newborn piglets, divided into normoxic (n = 6), normoxic treated with 7-NINA (n = 6), hypoxic (n = 6) and hypoxic pretreated with 7-NINA (n = 6). Hypoxia was induced by lowering the FiO2 to 0.05–0.07 for 1 h. Cerebral tissue hypoxia was documented by decrease of ATP and phosphocreatine levels in both the hypoxic and 7-NINA pretreated hypoxic groups (P < 0.01). An increase in the number of nNOS immunoreactive neurons was observed in the frontal and parietal cortex of the hypoxic as compared to the normoxic groups (P < 0.05) which was attenuated by pretreatment with 7-NINA (P < 0.05 versus hypoxic). 7-NINA affected neither the cerebral energy metabolism nor the cellular distribution of nNOS in the cerebral cortex of normoxic animals. We conclude that nNOS expression in cortical neurons of hypoxic newborn piglets is NO-mediated. We speculate that nNOS inhibition by 7-NINA will protect against hypoxia-induced NO-mediated neuronal death.",
"corpus_id": 2881167,
"title": "Effect of 7-Nitroindazole Sodium on the Cellular Distribution of Neuronal Nitric Oxide Synthase in the Cerebral Cortex of Hypoxic Newborn Piglets"
} | {
"abstract": "Abstract: Nitric oxide (NO) is reported to cause neuronal damage through various mechanisms. The present study tests the hypothesis that NO synthase inhibition by Nω‐nitro‐l‐arginine (NNLA) will result in decreased oxygen‐derived free radical production leading to the preservation of cell membrane structure and function during cerebral hypoxia. Ten newborn piglets were pretreated with NNLA (40 mg/kg); five were subjected to hypoxia, whereas the other five were maintained with normoxia. An additional 10 piglets without NNLA treatment underwent the same conditions. Hypoxia was induced with a lowered FiO2 and documented biochemically by decreased cerebral ATP and phosphocreatine levels. Free radicals were detected by using electron spin resonance spectroscopy with a spin trapping technique. Results demonstrated that free radicals, corresponding to alkoxyl radicals, were induced by hypoxia but were inhibited by pretreatment with NNLA before inducing hypoxia. NNLA also inhibited hypoxia‐induced generation of conjugated dienes, products of lipid peroxidation. Na+,K+‐ATPase activity, an index of cellular membrane function, decreased following hypoxia but was preserved by pretreatment with NNLA. These data demonstrate that during hypoxia NO generates free radicals via peroxynitrite production, presumably causing lipid peroxidation and membrane dysfunction. These results suggest that NO is a potentially limiting factor in the peroxynitrite‐mediated lipid peroxidation resulting in membrane injury.",
"corpus_id": 30502922,
"title": "Lipid Free Radical Generation and Brain Cell Membrane Alteration Following Nitric Oxide Synthase Inhibition During Cerebral Hypoxia in the Newborn Piglet"
} | {
"abstract": "Abstract Layers II/III of the primary visual cortex contain a regular pattern of histochemically detectable cytochrome oxidase (CO)-rich “puffs,” which differ from the interpuff regions in their thalamo-cortical and cortico-cortical connectivity, receptive-field properties, and the density of inhibitory GABA-containing synaptic terminals. We used an immunocytochemical method, in combination with cytochrome oxidase histochemistry, to analyze the spatial relationship between neurons that contain neuropeptide Y (NPY) and the CO puffs. Of a total of 606 neurons, only 2.6% of the NPY-containing cells are located in the puffs, whereas the rest are situated in the interpuffs, or at the interface between puffs and interpuffs. The number of NPY-containing neurons in the puffs is substantially less than that expected in an equal volume of the interpuffs (X2 = 13.86; df = 1; P < 0.001). These observations indicate that columns containing the puffs may differ also from those in the interpuff regions in that they contain a unique array of chemically and morphologically distinct local circuit neurons.",
"corpus_id": 12032763,
"score": 2,
"title": "Neuropeptide Y-Containing Neurons are Situated Predominantly Outside Cytochrome Oxidase Puffs in Macaque Visual Cortex"
} |
{
"abstract": null,
"corpus_id": 20221107,
"title": "Generating Regular Expressions from Natural Language Specifications: Are We There Yet?"
} | {
"abstract": "Progress in natural language interfaces to databases (NLIDB) has been slow mainly due to linguistic issues (such as language ambiguity) and domain portability. Moreover, the lack of a large corpus to be used as a standard benchmark has made data-driven approaches difficult to develop and compare. In this paper, we revisit the problem of NLIDBs and recast it as a sequence translation problem. To this end, we introduce a large dataset extracted from the Stack Exchange Data Explorer website, which can be used for training neural natural language interfaces for databases. We also report encouraging baseline results on a smaller manually annotated test corpus, obtained using an attention-based sequence-to-sequence neural network.",
"corpus_id": 29622196,
"title": "Dataset for a Neural Natural Language Interface for Databases (NNLIDB)"
} | {
"abstract": null,
"corpus_id": 51917044,
"score": -1,
"title": "Recent works on Parallel Sentence Extraction from Comparable Corpora"
} |
{
"abstract": "AbstractThe presentation, pathology, and prognosis of pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (PNETs) in Asian patients have not been studied in large cohorts. We hypothesized that the clinicopathological features of PNETs of Chinese patients might be different from those of US patients. The objectives of this study were to address whether PNETs in Chinese patients exhibit unique clinicopathological features and natural history, and can be graded and staged using the WHO/ENETS criteria.This is a retrospective review of medical records of patients with PNETs in multiple academic medical centers in China (7) and the United States (2). Tumor grading and staging were based on WHO/ENETS criteria. The clinicopathological features of PNETs of Chinese and US patients were compared. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to find associations between survival and patient demographics, tumor grade and stage, and other clinicopathological characteristics.A total of 977 (527 Chinese and 450 US) patients with PNETs were studied. In general, Chinese patients were younger than US patients (median age 46 vs 56 years). In Chinese patients, insulinomas were the most common (52.2%), followed by nonfunctional tumors (39.7%), whereas the order was reversed in US patients. Tumor grade distribution was similar in the 2 countries (G1: 57.5% vs 55.0%; G2: 38.5% vs 41.3%; and G3: 4.0% vs 3.7%). However, age, primary tumor size, primary tumor location, grade, and stage of subtypes of PNETs were significantly different between the 2 countries. The Chinese nonfunctional tumors were significantly larger than US ones (median size 4 vs 3 cm) and more frequently located in the head/neck region (54.9% vs 34.8%). The Chinese and US insulinomas were similar in size (median 1.5 cm) but the Chinese insulinomas relatively more frequently located in the head/neck region (48.3% vs 26.1%). Higher grade, advanced stage, metastasis, and larger primary tumor size were significantly associated with unfavorable survival in both countries.Several clinicopathological differences are found between Chinese and US PNETs but the PNETs of both countries follow a similar natural history. The WHO tumor grading and ENETS staging criteria are applicable to both Chinese and US patients.",
"corpus_id": 2821129,
"title": "Differences and Similarities in the Clinicopathological Features of Pancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumors in China and the United States"
} | {
"abstract": "BackgroundThe dimensions and shape of the forehead determine the esthetics of the upper third of the face. Korean young people consider a broad and smooth, rounded forehead more attractive. As a result, frontal augmentation becomes more popular in patients with dentofacial deformities. Various surgical procedures and materials have been used in frontal augmentation surgery, with associated advantages and disadvantages. Silicone is a good candidate for frontal augmentation. The author presents two cases of esthetic frontal augmentation with a prefabricated silicone implant in female patients with dentofacial deformities.Case presentationIn case 1, a 24-year-old female patient underwent frontal augmentation surgery with simultaneous maxillomandibular and zygomatic osteotomies to correct facial asymmetry. A silicone implant was fabricated preoperatively using a positive template stone mold of her forehead. In case 2, a 23-year-old female patient underwent total facial contouring surgery including frontal augmentation for improved facial esthetics. A computed tomography (CT)-guided rapid prototype (RP) model was used to make the silicone implants. The operative procedure was safe and simple, and the silicone implants were reliable for a larger degree of frontal augmentation. Six months later, both patients had recovered from the surgery and were satisfied with their frontal shape and projection.ConclusionsFrontal augmentation with silicone implants can be an effective adjuvant strategy to improve facial esthetics in patients with a flat and narrow forehead who undergo orthognathic reconstruction or total facial contouring surgery.",
"corpus_id": 12481851,
"title": "Frontal augmentation as an adjunct to orthognathic or facial contouring surgery"
} | {
"abstract": "A ten year experience with immediate cervical flap repair of the Commando defect is reported in a selected series of more than seventy patients with clinically negative neck-nodes. Preoperative radiotherapy of 2\"000 and 3,000 r to the neck and primary tumor has not interfered with wound healing. The cosmetic and functional result is highly commendable.",
"corpus_id": 35191057,
"score": 1,
"title": "Immediate repair of the Commando defect by cervical and pectoral flaps."
} |
{
"abstract": "We have observed the photoluminescence (PL) spectra of InGaAsP/InP quantum well structures. PL spectra peak movements for TE or TM mode excitation are observed by changing the incident angle of the excitation light. The PL spectra peak for TM mode excitation moves toward the longer wavelength as compared with that estimated by the heat dissipation.",
"corpus_id": 1623046,
"title": "Polarization Effects of Ecitation Light Source on Photoluminescence Spectra of INGAASP/INP Quantum Well Structures"
} | {
"abstract": "We studied small-signal modulation characteristics of 1.3μm InAs∕GaAs self-assembled quantum-dot lasers in terms of the modulation efficiency and the K factor as a function of the photon lifetime. We could explain the measured photon-lifetime dependence based on the rate equation model considering explicitly the carrier-capture process and Pauli blocking in quantum dots. Our model shows how the modulation bandwidth of quantum-dot lasers is limited by the carrier-capture time and by the maximum modal gain via the K factor. We present prerequisite designs of quantum-dot active regions for over 10GHz modulation.",
"corpus_id": 119465296,
"title": "Photon lifetime dependence of modulation efficiency and K factor in 1.3μm self-assembled InAs∕GaAs quantum-dot lasers: Impact of capture time and maximum modal gain on modulation bandwidth"
} | {
"abstract": "Spectral line shapes of the radiation produced by band-to-band recombination of excess carriers in semi-conductors are calculated under the assumption that the momentum matrix element is the same for all initial and final states, i.e., that there is no momentum selection rule. The peak of the stimulated radiation falls at a lower photon energy than does the peak of the spontaneous radiation, except when $T=0$\\ifmmode^\\circ\\else\\textdegree\\fi{}K. Some numerical results are given for simple parabolic bands, specifically for the case of electron injection into $p$-type GaAs, and are used to deduce the temperature dependence of the forward current which is necessary to maintain a fixed gain in the active region of a diode. The result is closely related to the temperature dependence of the threshold current in an injection laser, and gives reasonable agreement with experiment. The effect of a conduction band tail is briefly considered.",
"corpus_id": 120987119,
"score": 2,
"title": "Spontaneous and Stimulated Recombination Radiation in Semiconductors"
} |
{
"abstract": "We report on the growth, fabrication, and device characterization of AlGaN-based thin-film ultraviolet (UV) (λ ∼ 359 nm) light emitting diodes (LEDs). First, AlN/Si(111) template is patterned. Then, a fully coalesced 7-μm-thick lateral epitaxial overgrowth (LEO) of AlN layer is realized on patterned AlN/Si(111) template followed by UV LED epi-regrowth. Metalorganic chemical vapor deposition is employed to optimize LEO AlN and UV LED epitaxy. Back-emission UV LEDs are fabricated and flip-chip bonded to AlN heat sinks followed by Si(111) substrate removal. A peak pulsed power and slope efficiency of ∼0.6 mW and ∼1.3 μW/mA are demonstrated from these thin-film UV LEDs, respectively. For comparison, top-emission UV LEDs are fabricated and back-emission LEDs are shown to extract 50% more light than top-emission ones.",
"corpus_id": 16634626,
"title": "Near milliwatt power AlGaN-based ultraviolet light emitting diodes based on lateral epitaxial overgrowth of AlN on Si(111)"
} | {
"abstract": "High-density micro-circle patterned Si substrates were successfully fabricated for the direct overgrowth of thick AlN templates by using NH3 pulsed-flow multilayer AlN growth and epitaxial lateral overgrowth techniques. The experimental results show that an 8-μm-thick AlN template was grown at a very high growth rate on the substrates. The AlN template had full widths at half maximum of 0.23° and 0.37° for the (002) and (102) reflection planes in X-ray diffraction rocking curves. Atomic force microscopy and transmission electron microscopy confirmed that the roughness of the surface was low (3.5 nm) and the dislocation density was very low (1.5 × 108 cm−2 (screw), 3.7 × 108 (edge) cm−2).",
"corpus_id": 18428417,
"title": "Direct Growth and Controlled Coalescence of Thick AlN Template on Micro-circle Patterned Si Substrate"
} | {
"abstract": "Completely coalesced epitaxial lateral overgrowth (ELO) of GaN on silicon (111) is presented for ELO layer thicknesses below 3 μm. Fast lateral expansion of the ELO-GaN was achieved by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy at high growth temperature (1120 °C), low pressure (100 mbar), and a high V/III ratio of 8000. Thus full coalescence and a smooth surface (roughness of 5 nm across 100 μm2) are accomplished for wide SixNy masks along 〈11_00〉GaN with a 10 μm period and 3 μm openings. Atomic force microscopy and transmission electron microscopy are used to assess the quality of the layers. The density of dislocations is reduced from 8×109 cm−2 in the GaN template down to 8×108 cm−2 above the mask openings, and finally to 5×107 cm−2 in the laterally overgrown regions. The corresponding strong improvement of the optical properties and the stress present within the epilayer are evidenced by scanning cathodoluminescence microscopy.",
"corpus_id": 122059049,
"score": 2,
"title": "Epitaxial lateral overgrowth of GaN on Si (111)"
} |
{
"abstract": "I show that the social stratification of academic science can arise as a result of academics’ preference for reading work of high epistemic value. This is consistent with a view on which academic superstars are highly competent academics, but also with a view on which superstars arise primarily due to luck. I argue that stratification is beneficial if most superstars are competent, but not if most superstars are lucky. I also argue that it is impossible to tell whether most superstars are in fact competent or lucky, or which group a given superstar belongs to, and hence whether stratification is overall beneficial.",
"corpus_id": 4884820,
"title": "Academic superstars: competent or lucky?"
} | {
"abstract": "Citation metrics are statistical measures of scientific outputs that draw on citation indexes. They purport to capture the impact of scientific articles and the journals in which they appear. As evaluative tools, citation metrics are mostly used in the natural sciences, but they are also acquiring an important role in the humanities, thereby affecting the development of research programs and institutions. While the strengths and weaknesses of citation metrics are extensively debated in a variety of fields, they have only recently started attracting attention in the philosophy of science. This paper takes a further step in this direction and presents an analysis of citation metrics from the perspective of a Kuhnian model for the development of science. To do that, it starts with an overview of citation metrics both at the general level and at the level of specific metrics, such as Impact Factor, h -index, and field-specific indicators. After that, it engages with Gillies’ argument against the use of citation metrics for scientific research. According to Gillies (2008), citation metrics tend to over-protect normal science at the expenses of revolutionary science . This paper shows that, under certain conditions, citation metrics can in fact arbitrarily hinder the development of normal science and, in light of this, it cautions against using them for evaluative purposes.",
"corpus_id": 254236658,
"title": "Are Citation Metrics a Good Thing?"
} | {
"abstract": "Abstract : Properties of the Zeiss universal birefringent filter and its optical and electronic interface with the Sacramento Peak Observatory's vacuum telescope are described. The instrument permits observations of solar intensities, velocities and/or magnetic fields in rapid succession in any Fraunhofer line in the 410 to 700 nm wavelength region with high spectral (0.004 to 9.013 nm) and high spatial (approximately 1/3 arc second) resolution.",
"corpus_id": 117984523,
"score": 1,
"title": "A Fully Tunable Lyot-Ohman Filter."
} |
{
"abstract": "Patients with diabetic nephropathy have a high rate of cardiovascular events and mortality. Nontraditional cardiovascular risk factors such as oxidative stress and inflammation are thought to be particularly important in mediating these events. Studies suggest that thiazolidinediones (TZDs) can reduce the level of nontraditional cardiovascular risk in people with or without diabetes mellitus. Whether this benefit occurs in patients with diabetic nephropathy is unknown. I hypothesized that the TZD pioglitazone will mitigate oxidative stress and inflammation compared with glipizide in patients with overt diabetic nephropathy. Markers of oxidative stress (plasma and urine albumin carbonyl and total protein carbonyls and malondialdehyde), inflammation [white blood cell (WBC) count, C-reactive protein (CRP), plasma IL-6, TNF-alpha], and plaque stability [matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP-9)] were measured in frozen samples obtained from patients with overt diabetic nephropathy participating in a randomized, open-label, blinded end-point, 16-wk trial with glipizide (n = 22) or pioglitazone (n = 22). Pioglitazone therapy in men with advanced diabetic nephropathy reduced WBC count by 1,125/mul (P < 0.001), CRP by 41% (P = 0.042), IL-6 by 38% (P = 0.009), and MMP-9 by 29% (P = 0.016). Specific differential reductions in WBC count of 1,251/mul (P = 0.009) and reduction in IL-6 of 58% with pioglitazone (P = 0.001) were seen compared with glipizide. There were no statistically significant changes observed with plasma TNF-alpha concentrations or markers of oxidative stress with either hypoglycemic agent. In conclusion, pioglitazone reduces proinflammatory markers in patients with overt diabetic nephropathy, which indicates potentially beneficial effects on overall cardiovascular risk. This surrogate end point needs to be confirmed in trials designed to demonstrate cardiovascular protection.",
"corpus_id": 131445,
"title": "Anti-inflammatory effects of short-term pioglitazone therapy in men with advanced diabetic nephropathy."
} | {
"abstract": "Background—Markers of systemic inflammation (eg, C-reactive protein [CRP] and interleukin-6 [IL-6]) have been proposed to be “nontraditional” risk factors for cardiovascular disease in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) has been implicated in the pathogenesis of atherosclerotic plaque rupture, which raises the possibility of the use of MMP-9 levels as a marker for future myocardial infarction or unstable angina. In vitro and animal studies suggest that thiazolidinediones can reduce the expression of these markers. The purpose of this analysis was to determine whether rosiglitazone alters serum concentrations of CRP, IL-6, MMP-9, and white blood cell count (WBC) and to examine the relationship of these effects with demographic and disease variables. Methods and Results—CRP, IL-6, MMP-9, and WBC were analyzed from stored frozen serum samples obtained from patients with type 2 diabetes who completed a 26-week randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study. After 26 weeks of rosiglitazone treatment, the percentage reductions in mean CRP, MMP-9, and WBC levels were statistically significant compared with baseline and placebo (P <0.01). The percentage reduction in mean IL-6 was small and similar in the rosiglitazone and placebo groups. The change in each inflammatory marker from baseline to week 26 was significantly correlated (P <0.05) with each of the other markers, as well as with the homeostasis model assessment estimate of insulin resistance. Conclusions—Rosiglitazone reduces serum levels of MMP-9 and the proinflammatory marker CRP in patients with type 2 diabetes, which indicates potentially beneficial effects on overall cardiovascular risk.",
"corpus_id": 7746864,
"title": "Effect of Rosiglitazone Treatment on Nontraditional Markers of Cardiovascular Disease in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus"
} | {
"abstract": "Skin tests are mainly used for two different purposes in the standardization procedure of allergens. Biological standardization, i.e. estimation ofthe biological activity of a standard of allergens intended for diagnosis (and treatment) of atopic allergy. This procedure should not be repeated, but for scientific purposes. Furthermore, ST are used for calibration of the potency of a batch/ substandard against a standard preparation (inhouse standard preparations (IHS)(17,23), national (FDA Standards)(2,35) and International Standard Preparations(ISP)(30).",
"corpus_id": 221430651,
"score": 1,
"title": "4. Skin tests used for standardization of allergenic preparations"
} |
{
"abstract": "Millions of learners today use how-to videos to master new skills in a variety of domains. But browsing such videos is often tedious and inefficient because video player interfaces are not optimized for the unique step-by-step structure of such videos. This research aims to improve the learning experience of existing how-to videos with step-by-step annotations. We first performed a formative study to verify that annotations are actually useful to learners. We created ToolScape, an interactive video player that displays step descriptions and intermediate result thumbnails in the video timeline. Learners in our study performed better and gained more self-efficacy using ToolScape versus a traditional video player. To add the needed step annotations to existing how-to videos at scale, we introduce a novel crowdsourcing workflow. It extracts step-by-step structure from an existing video, including step times, descriptions, and before and after images. We introduce the Find-Verify-Expand design pattern for temporal and visual annotation, which applies clustering, text processing, and visual analysis algorithms to merge crowd output. The workflow does not rely on domain-specific customization, works on top of existing videos, and recruits untrained crowd workers. We evaluated the workflow with Mechanical Turk, using 75 cooking, makeup, and Photoshop videos on YouTube. Results show that our workflow can extract steps with a quality comparable to that of trained annotators across all three domains with 77% precision and 81% recall.",
"corpus_id": 1470846,
"title": "Crowdsourcing step-by-step information extraction to enhance existing how-to videos"
} | {
"abstract": "Research that involves human behavior analysis usually requires laborious and costly efforts for obtaining micro-level behavior annotations on a large video corpus. With the emerging paradigm of crowdsourcing however, these efforts can be considerably reduced. We first present OCTAB (Online Crowdsourcing Tool for Annotations of Behaviors), a web-based annotation tool that allows precise and convenient behavior annotations in videos, directly portable to popular crowdsourcing platforms. As part of OCTAB, we introduce a training module with specialized visualizations. The training module's design was inspired by an observational study of local experienced coders, and it enables an iterative procedure for effectively training crowd workers online. Finally, we present an extensive set of experiments that evaluates the feasibility of our crowdsourcing approach for obtaining micro-level behavior annotations in videos, showing the reliability improvement in annotation accuracy when properly training online crowd workers. We also show the generalization of our training approach to a new independent video corpus.",
"corpus_id": 7468762,
"title": "Toward crowdsourcing micro-level behavior annotations: the challenges of interface, training, and generalization"
} | {
"abstract": "Human large-scale functional brain networks are hypothesized to undergo significant changes over development. Little is known about these functional architectural changes, particularly during the second half of the first year of life. We used multivariate pattern classification of resting-state functional connectivity magnetic resonance imaging (fcMRI) data obtained in an on-going, multi-site, longitudinal study of brain and behavioral development to explore whether fcMRI data contained information sufficient to classify infant age. Analyses carefully account for the effects of fcMRI motion artifact. Support vector machines (SVMs) classified 6 versus 12 month-old infants (128 datasets) above chance based on fcMRI data alone. Results demonstrate significant changes in measures of brain functional organization that coincide with a special period of dramatic change in infant motor, cognitive, and social development. Explorations of the most different correlations used for SVM lead to two different interpretations about functional connections that support 6 versus 12-month age categorization.",
"corpus_id": 2806725,
"score": -1,
"title": "Accurate age classification of 6 and 12 month-old infants based on resting-state functional connectivity magnetic resonance imaging data"
} |
{
"abstract": "The effects of physical size and complexity of metric figures on tactual discrimination performance was investigated with 36 blind children in grades 1 and 2. Metric figures from three levels of complexity (3 × 3, 4 × 4, and 5 × 5) were combined factorially with three physical sizes (1, 2, and 4 inches) in a same-different pair-comparison discrimination task. Increasing levels of physical size and complexity had no effect on discrimination accuracy, but increasing levels of either physical size or complexity significantly increased task time. Overall accuracy of performance was low (62 percent correct discriminations), and it appeared that unsystematic and inappropriate hand and finger motions were responsible for the low level of performance.",
"corpus_id": 123626,
"title": "Effects of Physical Size and Complexity on Tactual Discrimination of Blind Children"
} | {
"abstract": "3. Whan a map, drawing or chart, etc., was part of tha material being photographed the photographer followed a definite method in \"sectioning\" the material. It is customary to begin photoing at tha upper left hand comer of a large sheet and to continue photoing from left to right in equal sections with a small overlap. If necessary, sectioning is continued again beginning below the first row and continuing on until complete.",
"corpus_id": 149535605,
"title": "The use of dimension-highlighting procedures to facilitate tactile discrimination learning in visually handicapped and mentally retarded adolescents."
} | {
"abstract": "Let's read! We will often find out this sentence everywhere. When still being a kid, mom used to order us to always read, so did the teacher. Some books are fully read in a week and we need the obligation to support reading. What about now? Do you still love reading? Is reading only for you who have obligation? Absolutely not! We here offer you a new book enPDFd the perception of the visual world to read.",
"corpus_id": 140748236,
"score": 2,
"title": "The Perception of the Visual World"
} |
{
"abstract": "This paper proposes a technique aimed at accurate measurement of electrical permittivity (EP) of small tissue specimens at low frequencies. Accurate measurement of EP of healthy and pathological tissues can facilitate the establishment of many medical applications such as electrical impedance imaging. The proposed novel technique employs hardware with high precision for impedance measurement of capacitive structures formed by the tissue specimen as its dielectric combined with two conductive plates placed at two ends of the specimen. To determine the EP of the tissue specimen, the capacitance part of the measured impedance is processed using an inverse finite-element framework. In this framework, accurate geometry and boundary conditions of the specimen are considered. The proposed technique was validated before it was employed to measure EP of several tissue specimens including bovine heart, liver, and bone. Results obtained in this investigation indicate that the proposed technique is reliable as it provides improved EP measurement accuracy and repeatability of homogeneous or multilayered tissue specimens, especially at low-frequency range.",
"corpus_id": 155172322,
"title": "Accurate Technique for Electrical Permittivity Measurement of Biological Tissue Specimens at Low Frequencies"
} | {
"abstract": "We have performed a series of experiments, which demonstrate the effect of open-ended coaxial diameter on the depth of penetration. We used a two-layer configuration of a liquid and movable cylindrical piece of either Teflon or acrylic. The technique accurately demonstrates the depth in a sample for which a given probe diameter provides a reasonable measure of the bulk dielectric properties for a heterogeneous volume. In addition, we have developed a technique for determining the effective depth for a given probe diameter size. Using a set of simulations mimicking four 50- Ω coaxial cable diameters, we demonstrate that the penetration depth in both water and saline has a clear dependence on the probe diameter, but is remarkably uniform over frequency and with respect to the intervening liquid permittivity. Two different 50- Ω commercial probes were similarly tested and confirm these observations. This result has significant implications to a range of dielectric measurements, most notably in the area of tissue property studies.",
"corpus_id": 2960416,
"title": "Open-Ended Coaxial Dielectric Probe Effective Penetration Depth Determination"
} | {
"abstract": "INTRODUCTION 1. Restorying the Self PART I: ENVISIONING A SOCIAL SELF 2. Formulating a Social Self 3. The Dark Side 4. Two Options for the Postmodern Self 5. Ending the Story in Interpretive Practice PART II: THE EVERYDAY TECHNOLOGY OF SELF CONSTRUCTION 6. Narrating the Self 7. Producing Self in Talk and Interaction 8. Conditions of Self Construction 9. Material Mediations CONCLUSION 10. The Moral Climate of the Self We Live By",
"corpus_id": 144540399,
"score": 0,
"title": "The Self We Live By: Narrative Identity in a Postmodern World"
} |
{
"abstract": "Near-field electrospinning has been demonstrated to be able to achieve direct-write and highly aligned chitosan nanofibers (CNF) with prescribed positioning density. Cell spreading in preferential direction could be observed on parallel-aligned nanofibers, and the CNF patterns were capable of guiding cell extension when the distances between them are 20 and 100 μm, respectively. Alignment of the cells was characterized according to their elongation and orientation using the fast Fourier transform data and binary image analysis. Parallel CNF indicates that the alignment values sequentially increased as a function of positioning density such that incrementally more aligned cells were closely related to the increasing CNF positioning density. These maskless, low-cost, and direct-write patterns can be facily fabricated and will be a promising tool to study cell-based research such as cell adhesion, spreading, and tissue architecture.",
"corpus_id": 1079009,
"title": "Direct-write, highly aligned chitosan-poly(ethylene oxide) nanofiber patterns for cell morphology and spreading control"
} | {
"abstract": "The superior performance of lithium metal oxide cathode materials is a key aspect for the advanced development of lithium-ion battery (LIB) technology in portable electronics and high-end applications such as renewable energy units, electric vehicles (EVs) and hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) etc. However, this battery technology suffers from some critical problems related to electrochemical performance, storage efficiency, safety and cost. Tremendous research is performed globally to solve these problems associated with battery performance. One of the potential ways to improve battery electrochemical performance and safety is by developing hybrid lithium metal oxide based one-dimensional (1D) nanostructures by simple and advanced electrospinning processes. These electrospun nanostructures of continuous fibrous morphology are attractive as new cathode materials due to their shorter Li ion diffusion pathways, high surface area and porous network. Since lithium-ion battery technology growth is tremendous and grabbing the attention of the world-wide scientific community, an update on recent progress in such fields is required. In this review, we discuss an in-depth summary about the significant role of electrospun lithium metal oxide based cathode materials in improving ionic conductivity, electrochemical stability, rate capability and safety; as well as possible future research challenges and prospects. In addition, we briefly describe the very recent progress of electrospun materials in anode and separator/electrolyte applications of LIBs.",
"corpus_id": 98711128,
"title": "Electrospun lithium metal oxide cathode materials for lithium-ion batteries"
} | {
"abstract": "Electrospinning permits fabrication of biodegradable elastomers into matrices that can resemble the scale and mechanical behavior of the native extracellular matrix. However, achieving high-cellular density and infiltration with this technique remains challenging and time consuming. We have overcome this limitation by electrospraying vascular smooth muscle cells (SMCs) concurrently with electrospinning a biodegradable, elastomeric poly(ester urethane)urea (PEUU). Trypan blue staining revealed no significant decrease in cell viability from the fabrication process and electrosprayed SMCs spread and proliferated similar to control unprocessed SMCs. The resulting SMC microintegrated PEUU constructs were cultured under static conditions or transmural perfusion. Higher cell numbers resulted with perfusion culture with 131% and 98% more viable cells versus static culture at days 4 and 7 (p<0.05). Fluorescent imaging and hematoxylin and eosin staining further illustrated high cell densities integrated between the elastomeric fibers after perfusion culture. SMC microintegrated PEUU was strong, flexible and anisotropic with tensile strengths ranging from 2.0 to 6.5 MPa and breaking strains from 850 to 1,700% dependent on the material axis. The ability to microintegrate smooth muscle or other cell types into a biodegradable elastomer fiber matrix embodies a novel tissue engineering approach that could be applied to fabricate high cell density elastic tissue mimetics, blood vessels or other cardiovascular tissues.",
"corpus_id": 20298276,
"score": 2,
"title": "Microintegrating smooth muscle cells into a biodegradable, elastomeric fiber matrix."
} |
{
"abstract": "OBJECTIVE\nTo extend our previous observations of granulosa cell conditioned medium inhibition on basal and FSH-stimulated progesterone secretion by granulosa cells from large porcine antral follicles.\n\n\nMETHODS\nGranulosa cell conditioned media (SGCCM) were obtained from cultures of granulosa cells which were harvested from small porcine antral follicles. SGCCM were fractionated by filtration through an Amicon XM-50 and an PM-10 membrane.\n\n\nRESULTS\nTwo fractions - XM-50 filtrate (<50 kDa) and PM-10 retentate (10-50 kDa) - exhibited well expressed inhibitory effect on the progesterone secretion from large follicle granulosa cells in vitro. Such inhibitory effect was fully prevented by heat treatment, partially inactivated by trypsin digestion (P<0.05), but was resistant to several freeze-thaw cycles and storage at -20 or -70 degrees C for up to one year.\n\n\nCONCLUSIONS\nIt is suggested that SGCCM contains some regulatory substance(s) capable of inhibiting progesterone secretion by cultured granulosa cells and that the molecular weight of such substance is presumably between 10-50 kDa.",
"corpus_id": 1335883,
"title": "Porcine granulosa cells produce a progesterone secretion inhibitory activity."
} | {
"abstract": "The effect of porcine follicular fluid on estradiol and progesterone secretion was examined using a rat granulosa cell culture with FSH and testosterone in the medium. Follicular fluids from small (less than 5 mm) and large (greater than 6 mm) follicles (SFFI, LFF1) were treated with charcoal, and then fractionated by filtration through an Amicon XM-50 and an PM-10 membrane. The addition of 25% SFF1 and LFF1 into the culture system significantly inhibited estradiol and progesterone secretion (P less than 0.005). These inhibitory activities were observed in PM-10 retentates (10,000-50,000 MW) and filtrates (less than 10,000 MW) of SFF1 and LFF1. The addition of XM-50 filtrates (less than 50,000 MW) of SFF1 and LFF1 caused a dose-dependent inhibition of estradiol and progesterone secretion. The dose-response relationship between the filtrates and estradiol secretion was linear with a significant correlation coefficient. The addition of the filtrates exerted no inhibitory effect on the growth of the cells cultured. XM-50 filtrate of LFF1 from a batch with a low ratio of small/large follicles showed a lower inhibitory activity on estradiol secretion than that of LFF1, while the inhibitory activities in both filtrates on progesterone secretion were almost equivalent. These results suggest that the follicular fluid of small porcine follicle contains nonsteroidal regulators capable of inhibiting estradiol and progesterone secretion by cultured rat granulosa cells, and that the estradiol secretion inhibitor activity decreases in the fluid of large follicle while the progesterone secretion inhibitor activity does not decrease in it.",
"corpus_id": 21867015,
"title": "Inhibitory effects of the porcine follicular fluid on estradiol and progesterone secretion by cultured rat granulosa cells."
} | {
"abstract": "Nontyphoidal Salmonella (NTS) is a major cause of bacteraemia in Africa. The disease typically affects HIV-infected individuals and young children, causing substantial morbidity and mortality. Here we present a genome-wide association study (180 cases, 2677 controls) and replication analysis of NTS bacteraemia in Kenyan and Malawian children. We identify a locus in STAT4, rs13390936, associated with NTS bacteraemia. rs13390936 is a context-specific expression quantitative trait locus for STAT4 RNA expression, and individuals carrying the NTS-risk genotype demonstrate decreased interferon-γ (IFNγ) production in stimulated natural killer cells, and decreased circulating IFNγ concentrations during acute NTS bacteraemia. The NTS-risk allele at rs13390936 is associated with protection against a range of autoimmune diseases. These data implicate interleukin-12-dependent IFNγ-mediated immunity as a determinant of invasive NTS disease in African children, and highlight the shared genetic architecture of infectious and autoimmune disease.Nontyphoidal Salmonella (NTS) is a major cause of bacteraemia in children and HIV-infected adults in Africa. Here, Gilchrist et al. conduct a genome-wide association study and show that genetic variation in STAT4 is a determinant of NTS in Kenyan and Malawian children.",
"corpus_id": 3857636,
"score": 1,
"title": "Risk of nontyphoidal Salmonella bacteraemia in African children is modified by STAT4"
} |
{
"abstract": "The problem of peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) of high-order orthogonal frequency-division modulation (OFDM) is considered. Using results on level crossing of random processes, an upper bound on the probability that the PAPR of an OFDM signal will exceed a given value is derived. Numerical computations are used to show that this bound is tight for low-pass OFDM systems. The central limit theorem is used to find an asymptotic expression for the bound when the number of carriers N grows to infinity. The central limit theorem is also used to find an asymptotic expression for another bound that is based on the envelope of the OFDM signal, and is tighter for bandpass systems. It is shown that, effectively, the PAPR grows as 2lnN and not linearly with N, and by developing a lower bound on the probability that the PAPR of an OFDM signal will exceed a given value, it is shown that asymptotically most OFDM symbols have a PAPR close to 2lnN. Some approaches to coping with the PAPR problem are discussed in light of the obtained results.",
"corpus_id": 2547838,
"title": "Peak-to-average power ratio in high-order OFDM"
} | {
"abstract": "In this paper, the peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) is evaluated for the uncoded orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) signals generated by using the IDFT procedure. The power spectral density of the transmitted OFDM signal is derived, taking into account the effects of cyclic prefix, windowing, digital-to-analog converter, null-subcarriers, and analog transmit filter. The PAPR distribution is then analyzed based on the extreme value theory. It is shown that the PAPR distribution is parameterized only by the length of the observation interval and the root mean square bandwidth of the signal, whose computation requires the PSD of the transmitted signal. Numerical results confirm that the proposed analysis accurately predicts the PAPR distribution of practical OFDM signals.",
"corpus_id": 5455306,
"title": "PAPR Performance of IDFT-Based Uncoded OFDM Signals with Null Subcarriers and Transmit Filtering"
} | {
"abstract": "Ecosystem water-use efficiency (WUE) plays an important role in carbon and water cycles. Currently, the response of WUE to drought disturbance remains controversial. Based on the global ecosystem gross primary productivity (GPP) product and the evapotranspiration product (ET), both of which were retrieved from the moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS), as well as the drought index, this study comprehensively examined the relationship between ecosystem WUE (WUE=GPP/ET) and drought at the global scale. The response of WUE to drought showed large differences in various regions and biomes. WUE for arid ecosystems typically showed a negative response to drought, whereas WUE for humid ecosystems showed both positive and negative response to drought. Legacy effects of drought on ecosystem WUE were observed. Furthermore, ecosystems showed a sensitive response to abrupt changes in hydrological climatic conditions. The transition from wet to dry years should increase ecosystem WUE, and the opposite change in WUE should occur when an ecosystem experiences a transition from dry to wet years. This indicates the resilience of ecosystems to drought disturbance. Knowledge from this study should provide an in-depth understanding of ecosystem strategies for coping with drought.",
"corpus_id": 3779663,
"score": 0,
"title": "A global examination of the response of ecosystem water-use efficiency to drought based on MODIS data."
} |
{
"abstract": "We report the discovery and characterisation of a novel nucleolar protein of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. We identified this protein encoded by ORF YIL019w, designated in SGD base as Faf1p, in a two hybrid interaction screen using the known nucleolar protein Krr1 as bait. The presented data indicate that depletion of the Faf1 protein has an impact on the 40S ribosomal subunit biogenesis resulting from a decrease in the production of 18S rRNA. The primary defect is apparently due to inefficient processing of 35S rRNA at the A(0), A(1), and A(2) cleavage sites.",
"corpus_id": 1875335,
"title": "Functional and physical interactions of Faf1p, a Saccharomyces cerevisiae nucleolar protein."
} | {
"abstract": "Eukaryotic small ribosomal subunits are first assembled into 90S pre-ribosomes. The complete 90S is a gigantic complex with a molecular mass of approximately five megadaltons. Here, we report the nearly complete architecture of Saccharomyces cerevisiae 90S determined from three cryo-electron microscopy single particle reconstructions at 4.5 to 8.7 angstrom resolution. The majority of the density maps were modeled and assigned to specific RNA and protein components. The nascent ribosome is assembled into isolated native-like substructures that are stabilized by abundant assembly factors. The 5' external transcribed spacer and U3 snoRNA nucleate a large subcomplex that scaffolds the nascent ribosome. U3 binds four sites of pre-rRNA, including a novel site on helix 27 but not the 3' side of the central pseudoknot, and crucially organizes the 90S structure. The 90S model provides significant insight into the principle of small subunit assembly and the function of assembly factors. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.22086.001",
"corpus_id": 5427053,
"title": "Molecular architecture of the 90S small subunit pre-ribosome"
} | {
"abstract": "Abstract This paper proposes a model predictive approach for H ∞ control of switched systems in discrete-time. A finite horizon dynamic game is set up for the computation of the control input and a switching strategy guaranteeing robustness at the face of bounded disturbances. A main point investigated in the paper is the existence of an auxiliary law useful to activate the predictive algorithm.",
"corpus_id": 207725776,
"score": 0,
"title": "Robust model predictive control of discrete-time switched systems"
} |
{
"abstract": "In knowledge society, knowledge management KM is considered the best strategy for improving the labor productivity of an enterprise. However, the effectiveness of KM on labor productivity is not known exactly, especially since it depends on the development level of a country. To find a solution based on KM approach for improving the labor productivity of Vietnamese enterprise, a new model is proposed, which includes knowledge capability, technology capability, KM, employee satisfaction, and labor productivity. By analyzing data from Vietnamese enterprises, the model is tested and suggestions for improving the labor productivity of Vietnamese enterprises are made. Some results of data analysis are: employee satisfaction positively affects the labor productivity and that KM has a strong effect on employee satisfaction. Further, some suggestions for improving the labor productivity of Vietnamese enterprises are: organizing frequent meetings for shortening cultural gap between managers and employees, replacing old machines combined with improving employees' self learning skill, improving innovation capability by creating an open culture for encouraging employees to voice their opinions.",
"corpus_id": 1528191,
"title": "KM Approach for Improving the Labor Productivity of Vietnamese Enterprise"
} | {
"abstract": "IntroductIon A large portion of the knowledge of most organizations is contained in electronic documents. For users to get pertinent information from the accumulation of stored documents, they need effective document retrieval systems. Unfortunately, electronic document management has fallen into the same trap that electronic data processing fell into: simply automating what previously was done manually. Paper documents were stored in folders in drawers in file cabinets. Electronic documents are stored in folders in directories on disk drives. The ability to find a document depends on the logic of the filing system, how familiar the individual is with the filing system, and how familiar the individual is with the problem domain of the item being sought. Some persons (e.g., research librarians) are much better than others at organizing and retrieving documents. Rarely, however, is a manager an expert at either storing or retrieving documents. Unfortunately, many electronic filing systems are set up by managers with little or no training on how to organize a filing system, and few tools, other than the Windows Search command, are available to help managers find documents that have been filed. The filing systems for libraries and knowledge management systems are more sophisticated than the filing systems of most small offices or individual managers. But even libraries and knowledge management systems predominately rely on keyword searching for retrieval. For example, if one visits the Web site for the Journal of Management Information Systems at http://jmis.bentley. edu/keywords/, one notes that the only option available for searching (other than browsing the entire collection) is a keyword search. Keyword searching has improved over the years. Knowledge seekers have benefited enormously from the ability to search remotely, the increased speed with which searches are conducted, and the ability of the search mechanism to identify variations of the keywords. Nevertheless, keyword searches have significant limitations. In particular , keyword searches cannot return all relevant documents nor can they filter out irrelevant documents. This article briefly reviews the difficulties associated with keyword searches, especially as the number of documents increases, and proposes a way to overcome those limitations.",
"corpus_id": 9004495,
"title": "Document Search Practices"
} | {
"abstract": "Shaped by structural forces of change, banking in emerging markets has recently experienced a decline in its traditional activities, leading banks to diversify into new business strategies. This paper examines whether the observed shift into non-interest based activities improves financial performance. Using a sample of 714 banks across 14 East-Asian and Latin-American countries over the post 1997-crisis changing structure, we find that diversification gains are more than offset by the cost of increased exposure to the non-interest income, specifically by the trading income volatility. But this diversification performance's effect is found to be no linear with risk, and significantly not uniform among banks and across business lines. An implication of these findings is that banking institutions can reap diversification benefits as long as they well-studied it depending on their specific characteristics, competences and risk levels, and as they choose the right niche.",
"corpus_id": 15854910,
"score": 1,
"title": "Revenue diversification in emerging market banks: implications for financial performance"
} |
{
"abstract": "A 65-year-old man with end-stage renal disease secondary to nephroangiosclerosis on hemodialysis was admitted to undergo a cadaveric kidney transplant. He had a previous history of moderate-to-severe aortic stenosis. Twenty-four hours after surgery, the patient developed an acute pulmonary oedema followed by cardiac arrest. Advanced cardiopulmonary resuscitation and aggressive fluid removal through extracorporeal ultrafiltration were performed, resulting in a successful recovery and no apparent neurological consequences. A transesophageal echocardiography revealed the progression of the aortic stenosis to a critical stage. Balloon aortic valvuloplasty was performed as a bridge therapy to a transcatheter aortic valve replacement.",
"corpus_id": 2546289,
"title": "Black esophagus in the early kidney post-transplant period"
} | {
"abstract": "Abstract: We report a severe case of cytomegalovirus (CMV) esophagitis in a renal transplant recipient presenting as acute esophageal necrosis (AEN, ‘black esophagus’). AEN is an uncommon entity that is a result of mucosal necrosis and has been described only a few times previously. To our knowledge, this is the first report of AEN due to a CMV infection. The disease was manifested by abdominal and epigastric pain, thrombocytopenia, leukopenia, and elevated liver enzymes. Upper endoscopy showed acute esophageal necrosis. Ganciclovir therapy was initiated immediately and resulted in a complete remission of symptoms. We conclude that the possibility of CMV infection should be suspected in any patient presenting with cytopenia, elevated liver enzymes, and epithelial gastrointestinal lesions in the first 6 months after transplantation, and that early viral detection and antiviral therapy can be lifesaving.",
"corpus_id": 1857761,
"title": "Acute esophageal necrosis (black esophagus) in the renal transplant recipient: manifestation of primary cytomegalovirus infection"
} | {
"abstract": "Acoustic cameras visualize the origin and intensity of sound waves using an array of microphones and sophisticated signal-processing algorithms. Due to the high memory-bandwidth and signal-processing complexity required by such algorithms, current available devices either compute the corresponding intensity-images off-line or require large and expensive hardware equipment. In this paper, we describe a low-complexity field-programmable gate array (FPGA)-based prototype, which computes and visualizes acoustic intensity-images in real-time. The system consists of 32 microphones and performs all signal processing tasks on a low-cost Xilinx Spartan 3E FPGA. The prototype computes intensity-images with a resolution of 320×240 pixels at 10 frames-per-second.",
"corpus_id": 16211186,
"score": 0,
"title": "FPGA-based real-time acoustic camera prototype"
} |
{
"abstract": "A lead system was constructed to extract dipole and quadrupole components of cardiac sources from surface electrocardiograms (ECGs) recorded at 16 sites. The lead system was based on an analysis of a computerized model of a multipole equivalent cardiac generator in a homogeneous torso. The model was previously determined from extensive geometric and electrocardiographic data obtained from one subject. Dipole components estimated with the lead system were 89% accurate for the original subject. Evaluation of the lead system on this subject and in 59 other subjects included calculation of the effect of non-dipolar sources on the values of the estimated dipole components, comparison of the consistency of equivalent sources found independently at two origins in the heart region, and reconstruction of ECGs from lead system components. Dipole consistency at the origins was maintained over the wide range of age, weight, and body shape which characterized the subject population. Whereas quadrupole terms did not agree as well as the dipole terms, inclusion of the quadrupole reduced ECG reconstruction errors by a factor of about three compared to errors for the dipole alone. Together, the dipole and quadrupole accounted for almost 90% of the electrocardiographic information measured on the body surface with the D/Q lead system.",
"corpus_id": 5636701,
"title": "A dipole plus quadrupole lead system for human electrocardiography."
} | {
"abstract": "Abstract The image surface is a geometric representation of the relationship between a fixed-position current dipole inside a volume conductor and the electric potential it produces on the boundary of the conductor. It is a powerful means of conveying a wealth of information concerning some basic problems in electrocardiography, in terms of familiar heart-vector projection ideas. It gives deep insight into the nature of the relationship between torso surface voltages and the internal heart generator. A detailed image surface is presented in quantitative terms for a specific human torso shape and dipole position in order to illustrate its remarkable properties. Applications to the frontal-plane, Wilson central-terminal voltage and spatial vectorcardiography systems reveal shortcomings of current practices. Examples of possible research investigations suggested by the image surface are presented.",
"corpus_id": 26820756,
"title": "The image surface of a homogeneous torso."
} | {
"abstract": "GSK-3 b is a versatile protein kinase participating in many reactions. Currently, there is insufficient understanding of its influence on breast cancer (BC). In order to explore its influence on migration and invasion in BC, we investigated its expression in BC cell lines using qRT-PCR and Western blot (WB). Immunohistochemistry (IHC) was used to examine the potential of GSK-3 b to predict clinical outcome in BC patients. GSK-3 b knockdown was achieved using an shRNA plasmid vector in T47D cells. Our research explored the biological reactions and downstream pathways involved. We found excessive GSK-3 b expression in BC tissues, which was correlated with worse clinicopathological parameters and clinical outcome. Progression of BC was suppressed by GSK-3 b knockdown. Furthermore, suppression of GSK-3 b function led to a noticeable decrease in ATP generation, and this was associated with stimulation of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) in T47D cells. Activation of AMPK, a typical sign of autophagy stimulation, was triggered after suppression of GSK-3 b function, in parallel with increased generation of LC3 II. Our findings therefore indicate that GSK-3 b participates in regulation of migration as well as stimulation of autophagy via mediating activation of the AMPK pathway. This suggests that GSK-3 b has potential as a predictor of clinical outcome and as a target for BC therapy.",
"corpus_id": 251736888,
"score": 0,
"title": "GSK-3 b Promotes Cell Migration and Inhibits Autophagy by Mediating the AMPK Pathway in Breast Cancer"
} |
{
"abstract": "Relation extraction is the task of finding semantic relations between two entities from text. In this paper, we propose a novel feature-based Chinese relation extraction approach that explicitly defines and explores nine positional structures between two entities. We also suggest some correction and inference mechanisms based on relation hierarchy and co-reference information etc. The approach is effective when evaluated on the ACE 2005 Chinese data set.",
"corpus_id": 7343474,
"title": "A Novel Feature-based Approach to Chinese Entity Relation Extraction"
} | {
"abstract": "Joint extraction of entities and relations is an important task in information extraction. To tackle this problem, we firstly propose a novel tagging scheme that can convert the joint extraction task to a tagging problem. Then, based on our tagging scheme, we study different end-to-end models to extract entities and their relations directly, without identifying entities and relations separately. We conduct experiments on a public dataset produced by distant supervision method and the experimental results show that the tagging based methods are better than most of the existing pipelined and joint learning methods. What's more, the end-to-end model proposed in this paper, achieves the best results on the public dataset.",
"corpus_id": 11751039,
"title": "Joint Extraction of Entities and Relations Based on a Novel Tagging Scheme"
} | {
"abstract": "This paper proposes a design for a gamified crowdsourcing workflow to extract annotation from medical text. Developed in the context of a general crowdsourcing platform, Dr. Detective is a game with a purpose that engages medical experts into solving annotation tasks on medical case reports, tailored to capture disagreement between annotators. It incorporates incentives such as learning features, to motivate a continuous involvement of the expert crowd. The game was designed to identify expressions valuable for training NLP tools, and interpret their relation in the context of medical diagnosing. In this way, we can resolve the main problem in gathering ground truth from experts - that the low inter-annotator agreement is typically caused by different interpretations of the text. We report on the results of a pilot study assessing the usefulness of this game. The results show that the quality of the annotations by the expert crowd are comparable to those of an NLP parser. Furthermore, we observed that allowing game users to access each others' answers increases agreement between annotators.",
"corpus_id": 11673386,
"score": -1,
"title": "\"Dr. Detective\": combining gamification techniques and crowdsourcing to create a gold standard in medical text"
} |
{
"abstract": "Colour is a key component in the successful dissemination of information. Since many real-world concepts are associated with colour, for example danger with red, linguistic information is often complemented with the use of appropriate colours in information visualization and product marketing. Yet, there is no comprehensive resource that captures concept--colour associations. We present a method to create a large word--colour association lexicon by crowdsourcing. A word-choice question was used to obtain sense-level annotations and to ensure data quality. We focus especially on abstract concepts and emotions to show that even they tend to have strong colour associations. Thus, using the right colours can not only improve semantic coherence, but also inspire the desired emotional response.",
"corpus_id": 381439,
"title": "Even the Abstract have Color: Consensus in Word-Colour Associations"
} | {
"abstract": "Existing concept-color-emotion lexicons limit themselves to small sets of basic emotions and colors, which cannot capture the rich pallet of color terms that humans use in communication. In this paper we begin to address this problem by building a novel, color-emotion-concept association lexicon via crowdsourcing. This lexicon, which we call CLEX, has over 2,300 color terms, over 3,000 affect terms and almost 2,000 concepts. We investigate the relation between color and concept, and color and emotion, reinforcing results from previous studies, as well as discovering new associations. We also investigate cross-cultural differences in color-emotion associations between US and India-based annotators.",
"corpus_id": 10455441,
"title": "CLex: A Lexicon for Exploring Color, Concept and Emotion Associations in Language"
} | {
"abstract": "This paper presents a new method for computing a thesaurus from a text corpus. Each word is represented as a vector in a multi-dimensional space that captures cooccurrence information. Words are defined to be similar if they have similar cooccurrence patterns. Two different methods for using these thesaurus vectors in information retrieval are shown to significantly improve performance over the ARPA Tipster evaluation corpus as compared to a tf.idf baseline.",
"corpus_id": 29249810,
"score": 2,
"title": "A Cooccurrence-Based Thesaurus and Two Applications to Information Retrieval"
} |
{
"abstract": "ABSTRACT Here, we report the draft genome sequence of Thermogemmatispora onikobensis NBRC 111776T, an aerial mycelium- and spore-forming thermophilic bacterium belonging to the class Ktedonobacteria. The genome contains five biosynthetic gene clusters coding for secondary metabolites, such as terpene, thiopeptide, lantipeptide, nonribosomal peptide, and lassopeptide, suggesting the potential to produce secondary metabolites.",
"corpus_id": 1478266,
"title": "Draft Genome Sequence of Thermogemmatispora onikobensis NBRC 111776T, an Aerial Mycelium- and Spore-Forming Thermophilic Bacterium Belonging to the Class Ktedonobacteria"
} | {
"abstract": "The ability to grow safe, fresh food to supplement packaged foods of astronauts in space has been an important goal for NASA. Food crops grown in space experience different environmental conditions than plants grown on Earth (e.g., reduced gravity, elevated radiation levels). To study the effects of space conditions, red romaine lettuce, Lactuca sativa cv ‘Outredgeous,’ plants were grown in Veggie plant growth chambers on the International Space Station (ISS) and compared with ground-grown plants. Multiple plantings were grown on ISS and harvested using either a single, final harvest, or sequential harvests in which several mature leaves were removed from the plants at weekly intervals. Ground controls were grown simultaneously with a 24–72 h delay using ISS environmental data. Food safety of the plants was determined by heterotrophic plate counts for bacteria and fungi, as well as isolate identification using samples taken from the leaves and roots. Molecular characterization was conducted using Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) to provide taxonomic composition and phylogenetic structure of the community. Leaves were also analyzed for elemental composition, as well as levels of phenolics, anthocyanins, and Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC). Comparison of flight and ground tissues showed some differences in total counts for bacteria and yeast/molds (2.14 – 4.86 log10 CFU/g), while screening for select human pathogens yielded negative results. Bacterial and fungal isolate identification and community characterization indicated variation in the diversity of genera between leaf and root tissue with diversity being higher in root tissue, and included differences in the dominant genera. The only difference between ground and flight experiments was seen in the third experiment, VEG-03A, with significant differences in the genera from leaf tissue. Flight and ground tissue showed differences in Fe, K, Na, P, S, and Zn content and total phenolic levels, but no differences in anthocyanin and ORAC levels. This study indicated that leafy vegetable crops can produce safe, edible, fresh food to supplement to the astronauts’ diet, and provide baseline data for continual operation of the Veggie plant growth units on ISS.",
"corpus_id": 212415858,
"title": "Microbiological and Nutritional Analysis of Lettuce Crops Grown on the International Space Station"
} | {
"abstract": "Abstract The tissue interaction between the notochord and the somites of the vertebrate embryo establishes the proper shape and constitution of the vertebral cartilage. Soon after somite formation, the somite differentiates into a cartilage-forming part, the sclerotome, and a muscle and skin-forming part, the dermamyotome. These components of the somite were dissected from 3 1 2 - day-old chick embryos (stage 18 1 2 –19 and cultured in vitro in the presence or absence of notochord. It was found that the sclerotome cells respond to the notochord by an increased incidence of hyaline cartilage nodules, greater accumulation of sulfated glycosaminoglycans, synthesis of larger aggregates of proteoglycans, increased DNA accumulation, and accelerated DNA synthesis. The dermamyotome did not show these changes. These results indicate that the notochord enhances cartilage differentiation in the sclerotome. Under these conditions, the notochord did not elicit cartilage formation in the dermamyotome.",
"corpus_id": 11038914,
"score": 1,
"title": "Diversification within embryonic chick somites: differential response to notochord."
} |
{
"abstract": "ABSTRACT One important limitation of prior studies examining functional decline in Huntington’s disease (HD) has been the reliance on self-reported measures of ability. Since report-based methods can be biased by lack of insight, depression, and cognitive impairment, contrasting self-reported ability with measures that assess capacity may lead to a more comprehensive estimation of real-world functioning. The present study examined self-reported ability to perform instrumental activities of daily living (iADLs) and performance-based financial management capacity in 20 patients diagnosed with mild-moderate Huntington’s disease (HD) and 20 demographically similar healthy adults. HD patients reported significantly greater declines in their ability to manage finances. On the capacity measure of financial management, HD patients performed significantly below healthy adults. Additionally, in the HD group there were no significant correlations between self-reported ability and capacity measures of financial management. HD patients endorsed declines in global iADL ability and exhibited deficits in functional capacity when performing a financial management task. Capacity measures may aid in assessing the extent to which HD patients accurately estimate real-world iADL performance, and the present findings suggest that such measures of capacity may be related to the cognitive, but not motor or affective, symptoms of HD.",
"corpus_id": 1345878,
"title": "Everyday Functioning in Huntington’s Disease: A Laboratory-Based Study of Financial Management Capacity"
} | {
"abstract": "The widespread application of big data and artificial intelligence technology is having a huge impact on the business activities of group companies. Based on the research of financial sharing model, internal audit, audit early warning, and blockchain technology, this article builds a data bridge based on the data of the financial sharing center to achieve off-site audits, comprehensive audits, and prior affairs. audit. This paper constructs expense reimbursement audit data center, and realizes real-time data transmission between the financial sharing center and expense reimbursement audit early warning system through blockchain technology, including expense reimbursement audit data collection, cleaning and desensitization, and storage. Based on the expense reimbursement audit knowledge base, build an expense reimbursement audit expert system. This article uses MECE analysis method to determine the key points of the expense reimbursement audit, and realizes the follow-up feedback of the doubtful points in the expense reimbursement audit. It takes nearly a week for an original payment to be booked, but it has been shortened to about 1 day. Through the research on the audit early warning of the financial sharing center expense reimbursement, it is helpful to improve the utilization efficiency of the financial sharing center's data, and timely early warning of risks.",
"corpus_id": 247439154,
"title": "Intelligent Early Warning Method for Financial Sharing Center Expense Reimbursement Audit"
} | {
"abstract": "With prospects improving for experimental therapeutics aimed at postponing the onset of illness in preclinical carriers of the Huntington's disease (HD) gene, we assessed agreement among experienced clinicians with respect to the motor manifestations of HD, a relevant outcome measure for preventive trials in this population. Seventy‐five clinicians experienced in the evaluation of patients with early HD and six non‐clinicians were shown a videotape compiled from the film archives of the United States–Venezuela Collaborative HD Research Project. Observers were asked to rate a 2–3‐minute segment of the motor examination for each of 17 at‐risk subjects. The rating scale ranged from 0 (normal) to 4 (unequivocal extrapyramidal movement disorder characteristic of HD). As measured by a weighted κ statistic, there was substantial agreement among the 75 clinicians in the judgment of unequivocal motor abnormalities comparing scale ratings of 4 with ratings that were not 4 (weighted κ = 0.67; standard error (SE) = 0.09). Agreement among the non‐clinicians was only fair (weighted κ = 0.28; SE = 0.10). Even under the artificial conditions of a videotape study, experienced clinicians show substantial agreement about the signs that constitute the motor manifestations of illness in subjects at risk for HD. We expect these findings to translate to a similar level of interobserver agreement in the clinical trial setting involving experienced investigators examining live patients. © 2005 Movement Disorder Society",
"corpus_id": 16465155,
"score": 2,
"title": "Interrater agreement in the assessment of motor manifestations of Huntington's disease"
} |
{
"abstract": "OBJECTIVE\nThis paper reviews recent articles examining medication misadventures that can be defined as medication errors and adverse drug events in the elderly.\n\n\nMETHODS\nMEDLINE and International Pharmaceutical Abstracts were searched for articles published in English in 2009 using a combination of the terms medication errors, medication adherence, suboptimal prescribing, monitoring, adverse drug events, adverse drug withdrawal events, therapeutic failure, and aged. A manual search of the reference lists of the identified articles and the authors' article files, book chapters, and recent reviews was conducted to identify additional publications. Those studies that described unique approaches to evaluating medication misadventures in the elderly were included in the review.\n\n\nRESULTS\nThe search identified 5 unique studies relating to medication misadventures in the elderly. A cross-sectional study found that a new 8-item paper-and-pencil adherence survey-the Morisky Medication Adherence Scale-was significantly associated with antihypertensive drug pharmacy refill adherence (P < 0.05). A cross-sectional study of medication discrepancies that occurred during transition from the hospital to a nursing home found discrepancies in almost 75% of patients. A randomized controlled trial of a computer-generated decision support intervention to reduce potentially inappropriate prescribing in an emergency department found that the intervention was associated with a significant reduction in prescriptions for such medications (P = 0.02). One study found that patients who were taking digoxin and had been hospitalized during the previous 2 months were at significantly increased risk for additional hospitalizations due to digoxin toxicity. A survey study of Medicare beneficiaries found that use of multiple types of inappropriate medications was a risk factor for self-reported adverse drug events, independent of the number of medications taken.\n\n\nCONCLUSION\nData from these recently published studies could be used to guide the development and evaluation of quality improvement, research, or clinical practice initiatives.",
"corpus_id": 2051015,
"title": "Medication misadventures in the elderly: a year in review."
} | {
"abstract": "There are approximately 1.4 million cases of traumatic brain injury (TBI) per year in the United States, with about 23 000 survivors requiring hospitalization. The incidence of TBI has increased in the patient population of the Department of Defense and Veterans Healthcare Administration as a result of injuries suffered during recent military and combat operations. Within the past few years, TBI has emerged as a common form of injury in service members with a subset of patients experiencing postinjury symptoms that greatly affect their quality of life. Traumatic brain injury can occur when sudden trauma (ie, penetration blast or blunt) causes damage to the brain. Traumatic brain injury produces a cascade of potentially injurious processes that include focal contusions and cytotoxic damage. The results of TBI can include impaired physical, cognitive, emotional, and behavioral functioning, which may or may not require the initiation of pharmacological and nonpharmacological interventions when deemed appropriate. Associated outcomes of TBI include alterations in mental state at the time of injury (confusion, disorientation, slowed thinking, and alteration of consciousness). Neurological deficits include loss of balance, praxis, aphasia, change in vision that may or may not be transient. Individuals who sustain a TBI are more likely to have or developed co-occurring conditions (ie, sleep problems, headaches, depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder) that may require the administration of multiple medications. It has been identified that veterans being discharged on central nervous system and muscular skeletal drug classes can develop addiction and experience medication misadventures. With the severity of TBI being highly variable but typically categorized as either mild, moderate, or severe, it can assist health care providers in determining which patients are more susceptible to medication misadventures compared with others. The unique development of cognitive and emotional symptoms of TBI can lead to significant impairments, so it is important for all health care providers, including pharmacists, to promote proper use of high-risk psychotropic medications among this patient population by providing effective medication education.",
"corpus_id": 13400214,
"title": "An Examination of Co-Occurring Conditions and Management of Psychotropic Medication Use in Soldiers With Traumatic Brain Injury"
} | {
"abstract": "BackgroundIn the last decade, Makerere University College of Health Sciences (MakCHS) has taken strides in research and training to improve healthcare through collaborative training and research programs. However, there is limited data on the trends of MakCHS faculty contributions to research and on faculty growth to take leading roles in health research. This paper reviews MakCHS faculty research publications over 15.5 years and outlines possible strategies to enhance faculty research outputs.MethodsWe used a mixed methods approach. A systematic review of research publications by faculty at MakCHS (PubMed and Google Scholar from January 1, 2000, to June 30, 2015) to quantify the number of research articles, areas researched, authorship contribution by MakCHS faculty, source of funding, as well as affiliated local and international collaborations. Graphs were used to shown trends in publications and leadership of authorship by faculty. Annual individual faculty research productivity was presented as publication per capita. Qualitative data on high priority needs to improve research outputs was collected through focus group discussions (FGDs) with faculty members, and analysed manually into emerging themes.ResultsOf 298 faculty at MakCHS at 2015, 89 (30%) were female and 229 (77%) were junior and mid-level faculty (senior lecturer and below). The PubMed and Google Scholar searches yielded 6927 published articles, of which 3399 (49%) full-text articles were downloaded for analysis, 426/3825 (11%) available as titles/abstracts only, and 598/4423 (14%) were excluded. Only 614 articles were published in 2014, giving a publication per capita of 2.1 for any authorship, and 0.3 for first and last authorship positions. MakCHS faculty increasingly contributed as first, second, third, and last authors. Up to 57% of research was in infectious diseases, followed by non-communicable diseases (20%) and non-communicable maternal child health (11%). Priority needs to improve research outputs, as expressed by faculty, were (1) an institutionally led faculty career development program, (2) skills building in research methods and scientific writing, (3) protected time for research related activities, (4) opportunities for collaborative research, and (5) use of individual development plans.ConclusionFaculty research productivity was low and dominated by infectious diseases and non-communicable disease research. There is a need for structured institutional support to optimise faculty research outputs. Only with increased research productivity will MakCHS and other academic institutions be able to make a significant contribution in addressing national health challenges.",
"corpus_id": 4638941,
"score": 1,
"title": "A need to accelerate health research productivity in an African University: the case of Makerere University College of Health Sciences"
} |
{
"abstract": "The reproductive performance of dairy animals is influenced by several factors, and accumulating lines of evidence indicate that mastitis is one of the determinants. Most of the published information relating mastitis with reproduction has evolved based on retrospective approach rather than controlled clinical studies. The complex nature of both mastitis and reproduction could be a limiting factor for understanding their relationship in detail. In this review, we analyzed the available retrospective studies on the effects of clinical mastitis on reproductive function and explained the possible mechanisms by which mastitis affects reproduction in dairy animals.",
"corpus_id": 7142246,
"title": "Mastitis effects on reproductive performance in dairy cattle: a review"
} | {
"abstract": "Bulk tank somatic cell count (BTSCC) is a gold standard test for identification of milk quality, but its results are influenced by several interventional factors. Recently, application of acute phase proteins and especially milk amyloid A (MMA) has been considered as accurate parameters for milk quality study. The current research was done to evaluate the accuracy of MMA, BTSCC, fat, protein and lactose for identification of milk quality. Ninety bulk tank milk samples were collected from 30 randomly selected dairy herds and classified into two groups of samples with BTSSC > 200000 cells per mL and those with BTSSC < 200000 cells per mL. Protein, fat, lactose and MAA contents of samples were analyzed. Average amount of the MAA in healthy and mastitic milk samples were 5.15 and 504.35 ng mL-1, respectively. Statistically significant difference was seen for MAA and total protein contents between two groups. Clinical accuracy of MAA-, total protein-, fat- and lactose–based methods was 0.937, 0.757, 0.665 and 0.547, respectively. The MAA method at concentration of 20.78 ng mL-1 had the highest sensitivity (97.30%) and specificity (46.70%). Evaluation of MAA is recommended as a rapid and accurate method for determination of the unfavorable changes in milk quality and early subclinical mastitis diagnosis.",
"corpus_id": 51889358,
"title": "Study on the accuracy of milk amyloid A test and other diagnostic methods for identification of milk quality"
} | {
"abstract": "ABSCISIC acid (“abscisin II”, “dormin”) is a recently discovered plant hormone originally known to accelerate leaf abscission and inhibit plant growth1. It has been isolated from various tissues of a variety of plants2,3. Its chemical structure was determined by Okhuma et al.1 and confirmed by synthesis by Cornforth et al.4. Besides the hastening of abscission of leaves and flowers, abscisic acid (ABA) affects a number of physiological processes such as seed germination, bud dormancy, leaf senescence, flowering (stimulation in short day plants, inhibition in long day plants) and tuberization5. Most of these reactions are usually achieved or controlled by short photoperiods and the level of ABA in the plant invariably increases in response to short days6. In general, the effects of ABA oppose those of auxins and gibberellins2,7.",
"corpus_id": 4222613,
"score": 1,
"title": "Stimulation of Adventitious Bud Formation in Begonia Leaves by Abscisic Acid"
} |
{
"abstract": "G protein-coupled receptor 55 (GPR55) is a putative cannabinoid receptor that is expressed in several tissues involved in regulating energy homeostasis, including the hypothalamus, gastrointestinal tract, pancreas, liver, white adipose and skeletal muscle. GPR55 has been shown to have a role in cancer and gastrointestinal inflammation, as well as in obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Despite this, the (patho)physiological role of GPR55 in cell dysfunction is still poorly understood, largely because of the limited identification of downstream signalling targets. Nonetheless, research has suggested that GPR55 modulation would be a useful pharmacological target in metabolically active tissues to improve treatment of diseases such as obesity and T2DM. Further research is essential to gain a better understanding of the role that this receptor might have in these and other pathophysiological conditions.",
"corpus_id": 766918,
"title": "A potential role for GPR55 in the regulation of energy homeostasis."
} | {
"abstract": "Background and purpose: Increased circulating levels of L‐α‐lysophosphatidylinositol (LPI) are associated with cancer and LPI is a potent, ligand for the G‐protein‐coupled receptor GPR55. Here we have assessed the modulation of breast cancer cell migration, orientation and polarization by LPI and GPR55.",
"corpus_id": 8273116,
"title": "A role for L‐α‐lysophosphatidylinositol and GPR55 in the modulation of migration, orientation and polarization of human breast cancer cells"
} | {
"abstract": "Abstract Batching problems are combinations of sequencing and partitioning problems. For each job sequence JS there is a partition of JS into batches with optimal value opt(JS) and one has to find a job sequence which minimizes this optimal value. We show that in many situations opt(JS) is the solution of a shortest path problem in some network. An algorithm solving this special shortest path problem in linear time with respect to the number of vertices is presented. Using this algorithm some new batching results are derived. Furthermore, it is shown that most of the batching problems which are known to be polynomially solvable turn into NP-hard problems when modified slightly.",
"corpus_id": 36085833,
"score": 0,
"title": "The Complexity of One-Machine Batching Problems"
} |
{
"abstract": "In the shadow of bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), the other wheat crop, hard or durum wheat (Triticum durum Desf.) plays a secondary role as the source of semolina, the raw material of pasta products (see Bennici 1986). However, in contrast to the slowly diminishing bread consumption, there is a gradually growing demand for the durum-based foods (macaroni, spaghetti etc.). This trend is also clearly demonstrated by the relatively high market price (in 1988/ 1989: US $ 310.71 per metric ton) of durum wheat (source: Le Nouvelle Agriculteur, 1988, No. 102, p. 24). In Western Europe, great bread wheat grain reserves have accumulated during the last few years due to successive peak yields, while overproduction of durum wheat could not be observed.",
"corpus_id": 154044252,
"title": "Somaclonal Variation in Durum Wheat (Triticum durum Desf.)"
} | {
"abstract": "Immature embryos and inflorescences of wheat (Triticum aestivum) were cultured on agar media. The presence of the auxin 2,4-D induced the formation of multiple shoots in a proportion of cultures. In some cases the shoots developed from organized, embryoid-like structures. The morphogenetic capacities of 25 different cultivars of spring and winter wheat were compared, and clear differences were found between genotypes. Shoots were cultured separately, and the resulting plants grown to maturity in the glasshouse. Over a thousand plants were regenerated in this way, and phenotypic variation was observed amongst the regenerants.",
"corpus_id": 86360924,
"title": "Plant Regeneration from Cultured Immature Embryos and Inflorescences of 25 Cultivars of Wheat (Triticum aestivum)"
} | {
"abstract": "SummaryEmbryogenesis occurs in cells from brome grass grown in suspension culture in defined medium. Exogenous hormones are not required. The embryos develop into plants which lack chlorophyll.",
"corpus_id": 38872398,
"score": 2,
"title": "Embryogenesis and production of albino plants from cell cultures of Bromus inermis"
} |
{
"abstract": "Abstract—End-stage renal disease patients experience a high incidence of sudden cardiac death. We performed a 5-year prospective study in 230 end-stage renal disease patients, aiming to determine the role of echocardiography and the additional value of serum biomarkers in predicting sudden cardiac death. During follow-up, 24% of all deaths were attributed to sudden cardiac death. In the multivariable Cox regression analysis considering clinical, biochemical, dialysis, and echocardiographic parameters, left ventricular systolic dysfunction emerged as the most significant predictor of sudden cardiac death, followed by a high systolic and a low diastolic blood pressure. An ejection fraction cutoff ≤48.0% is associated with a specificity of 78.6% and a sensitivity of 57.7% in predicting sudden cardiac death. In biomarker-based multivariable Cox regression analysis, N-terminal probrain natriuretic peptide displays an independent association with sudden cardiac death and is more significantly associated with sudden cardiac death than cardiac troponin T. In the combined echocardiography and biomarker-based multivariable Cox regression model, N-terminal probrain natriuretic peptide loses significance to left ventricular ejection fraction, whereas cardiac troponin T retains a significant association with sudden cardiac death independent of echocardiographic parameters. In conclusion, systolic dysfunction is the most significant predictor of sudden cardiac death followed by a high systolic and a low diastolic blood pressure. Our data suggest additional value in measuring cardiac troponin T for sudden cardiac death risk stratification. N-terminal probrain natriuretic peptide may be used in place of echocardiography to identify patients at risk of sudden cardiac death but had no added value over echocardiography in predicting sudden cardiac death.",
"corpus_id": 177042,
"title": "Sudden Cardiac Death in End-Stage Renal Disease Patients: A 5-Year Prospective Analysis"
} | {
"abstract": "Summary Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD). The risk of CVD disease in these patients appears to be far greater than in the general population and even after the stratification for age, gender, race and the presence or absence of diabetes, cardiovascular mortality in dialysis patients is about 10 to 20 times higher than in the general population. As a diagnostic categorie, CVD includes two principal conditions, i.e., cardiac complications stricto sensu, and vascular complications. These two complications are interrelated and arterial alterations can be the primary reason for the development of cardiac complications. Macrovascular disease develops rapidly in ESRD patients and is responsible for the high incidence of congestive heart failure, left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH), ischemic heart disease, sudden death, cerebrovascular accidents and peripheral artery diseases. Although the most frequent cause of these complications is occlusive lesions due to atheromatous plaques, many complications arise in ESRD patients in the absence of clinically significant atherosclerotic disease. Atherosclerosis, disease characterized by the presence of plaques, represents only one form of structural response to metabolic and hemodynamic alterations which interfere with the “natural” process of aging. The spectrum of arterial alterations in ESRD is broader, including large artery remodeling and changes in viscoelastic properties of arterial walls. The consequences of these alterations are different from those attibuted to plaques. While atheromatous lesions alter principally the conduit function of arteries and perfusion of tissue and organs downstream the lesions, non-atheromatous remodelling result principally in changes in dampening function of arteries, characterized by stiffening of arterial walls and with deleterious effects on the left ventricle and coronary perfusion. Arterial stiffening in ESRD patients is multifactorial at origin with extensive arterial calcifications as an important covariate.",
"corpus_id": 20892825,
"title": "Arterial structure and function in end-stage renal disease."
} | {
"abstract": "Background The relationship between competitive sports and atrial fibrillation (AF) is controversial. We aimed to systematically evaluate and summarize all published observational data on the association between competitive sports and AF. Methods and results We searched PubMed, EMBASE, Scopus and SportDiskus for all observational studies that assessed the risk of AF among athletes involved in competitive sports. Data were extracted and pooled odds ratios (OR) were calculated using random effects models. Six cohort studies and 2 case-control studies with a total of 9113 subjects were included in our meta-analysis. Pooled analyses showed an increased risk of incident and prevalent AF among athletes compared to the general population (OR = 1.64 [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.10–2.43]). Age-stratified analysis revealed an effect modification with age. Studies enrolling younger adults (<54 years) had an increased risk of AF among athletes compared to controls (OR = 1.96 [95% CI: 1.06–3.65]), but this association was not seen among older adults ≥54 years (OR = 1.41 [95% CI: 0.81–2.44], p = 0.23). Conclusion Athletes have an increased risk of AF compared to the general population. Age appears to modify the risk of AF in athletes.",
"corpus_id": 4077691,
"score": 1,
"title": "Age modifies the risk of atrial fibrillation among athletes: A systematic literature review and meta-analysis"
} |
{
"abstract": "In order to clarify the peripheral mechanisms of ectopic persistent pain in a tooth pulp following pulpal inflammation of an adjacent tooth, masseter muscle activity, phosphorylated extracellular signal-regulated protein kinase (pERK) and TRPV1 immunohistochemistries and satellite cell activation using glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) immunohistochemistry in the trigeminal ganglion (TG) were studied in the rats with molar tooth-pulp inflammation. And, Fluorogold (FG) and DiI were also used in a neuronal tracing study to analyze if some TG neurons innervate more than one tooth pulp. Complete Freund’s adjuvant (CFA) or saline was applied into the upper first molar tooth pulp (M1) in pentobarbital-anesthetized rats, and capsaicin was applied into the upper second molar tooth pulp (M2) on day 3 after the CFA or saline application. Mean EMG activity elicited in the masseter muscle by capsaicin application to M2 was significantly larger in M1 CFA-applied rats compared with M1 vehicle-applied rats. The mean number of pERK-immunoreactive (IR) TG cells was significantly larger in M1 CFA-applied rats compared with M1 vehicle-applied rats. Application of the satellite cell inhibitor fluorocitrate (FC) into TG caused a significant depression of capsaicin-induced masseter muscle activity and a significant reduction of satellite cell activation. The number of TRPV1-IR TG cells innervating M2 was significantly larger in M1 CFA-applied rats compared with M1 vehicle-applied rats, and that was decreased following FC injection into TG. Furthermore, 6% of TG neurons innervating M1 and/or M2 innervated both M1 and M2. These findings suggest that satellite cell activation following tooth pulp inflammation and innervation of multiple tooth pulps by single TG neurons may be involved in the enhancement of the activity of TG neurons innervating adjacent non-inflamed teeth that also show enhancement of TRPV1 expression in TG neurons, resulting in the ectopic persistent tooth-pulp pain following pulpal inflammation of adjacent teeth.",
"corpus_id": 1775590,
"title": "Mechanisms Underlying Ectopic Persistent Tooth-Pulp Pain following Pulpal Inflammation"
} | {
"abstract": "Somatosensation is topographically organized in the primary (S1) and secondary somatosensory cortex (S2), which contributes to identify the region receiving sensory inputs. However, it is still unknown how somatosensory inputs from the oral region, especially nociceptive inputs from the teeth, are processed in the somatosensory cortex. We performed in vivo optical imaging and identified the precise cortical regions responding to electrical stimulation of the maxillary and mandibular dental pulp in rats. Electrical stimulation of the mandibular incisor pulp evoked neural excitation in two areas: the most rostroventral part of S1, and the ventral part of S2 caudal to the middle cerebral artery. Maxillary incisor pulp stimulation initially evoked responses only in the ventral part of S2, although later maximum responses were also observed in S1 similar to mandibular incisor stimulation responses. The maxillary and mandibular molar pulp‐responding regions were located in the most ventral S2, a part of which was histologically classified as the insular oral region (IOR). In terms of the initial responses, maxillary incisor and molar stimulation induced excitation in the S2/IOR rostral to the mandibular dental pulp‐responding region. Contrary to the spatially segregated initial responses, the maximum excitatory areas responding to both incisors and molars in the mandible and maxilla overlapped in S1 and the S2/IOR. Multielectrode extracellular recording supported the characteristic localization of S2/IOR neurons responding to mandibular and maxillary molar pulp stimulation. The discrete and overlapped spatial profiles of initial and maximum responses, respectively, may characterize nociceptive information processing of dental pain in the cortex. J. Comp. Neurol. 523:1162–1174, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.",
"corpus_id": 2844260,
"title": "Spatiotemporal profiles of dental pulp nociception in rat cerebral cortex: An optical imaging study"
} | {
"abstract": "Transganglionic transport of horseradish peroxidase-wheat germ agglutinin conjugate was used to study the central projection of primary afferent neurons innervating facial and intraoral structures. The examined primary neurons innervating the facial structures were those comprising the frontal and zygomaticofacial nerves and those innervating the cornea, while the primary neurons innervating the intraoral structures included those innervating the mandibular incisor and molar tooth pulps and those comprising the palatine nerve. The primary afferents innervating the facial structures project to the lateral or ventral parts of the trigeminal principal, oral and interpolar subnuclei, and to the rostral cervical spinal dorsal horn across laminae I through V, with a greater proportion being directed to the spinal dorsal horn. The primary afferents innervating the intraoral structures terminate in the dorsomedial subdivisions of the trigeminal principal, oral and interpolar subnuclei, and in laminae I, II, and V of the medial medullary dorsal horn, with a much denser projection being distributed to the rostral subnuclei. In addition to the above brain stem trigeminal sensory nuclear complex, they project to the supratrigeminal nucleus, caudal solitary tract nucleus, and paratrigeminal nucleus. These observations agree with previously reported data that the central projection of trigeminal nerve is organized in different manners for the facial and intraoral structures. Furthermore, the present findings in conjunction with our previous studies clarify that the central projection of primary afferents from the facial skin is organized in a clear somatotopic fashion and that the terminal fields of primary afferents from the intraoral structures extensively overlap in the brain stem trigeminal nuclear complex particularly in its rostral subdivisions. The central mechanism of trigeminal nociception is discussed with particular respect to its difference between the facial and intraoral structures.",
"corpus_id": 8486660,
"score": 2,
"title": "Difference in central projection of primary afferents innervating facial and intraoral structures in the rat"
} |
{
"abstract": "The accurate measurement of arterial blood oxygen partial pressure often plays an important role in the clinical assessment of patients with respiratory conditions such as an acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and acute lung injury/adult respiratory distress syndrome. An oxygen-sensitive fluorescence indicator with high biocompatibility was synthesized and then fabricated to the end of an optical fiber. The properties and accuracy of this oxygen sensor were investigated in vitro using physiologic solutions under varying conditions or human blood, and in vivo by obtaining measurements after inserting this optical sensor into the collateral circulation system of rabbits. The sensitivity of the oxygen sensor was relatively stable during altered conditions of pH, P(CO2), osmolality, and protein concentration in solutions and during alterations of oxygen and nitrogen content in human blood. There was a linear correlation between the reciprocal value of the fluorescence intensity and Pa(O2) in both in vivo and in vitro experiments (animal arterial circulation and human blood). Our results suggest that this oxygen-sensitive fluorescence indicator, which has a high biocompatibility, may have the potential for use in real-time monitoring of blood oxygen partial pressure in various clinical settings.",
"corpus_id": 305305,
"title": "Development of fiber optic fluorescence oxygen sensor in both in vitro and in vivo systems"
} | {
"abstract": "Random and block copolymers containing a phospholipid polar group in their side chain were synthesized by the copolymerization between 2-methacryloyloxyethyl phosphorylcholine and styrene. These copolymers showed amphiphilic character, especially poly(methacryloyloxyethyl phosphorylcholine-block-styrene) formed stable polymer micelles in water. The interaction between natural phospholipid, dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine and methacryloyloxyethyl phosphorylcholine copolymers was investigated. The amount absorbed of dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine from its liposomal solution on to the poly(methacryloyloxyethyl phosphorylcholine-co-styrene) surface increased with increase of methacryloyloxyethyl phosphorylcholine composition. Moreover, when poly(methacryloyloxyethyl phosphorylcholine-block-styrene) was added to dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine solution, organization of dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine molecules and stabilization of bilayer structure of dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine liposome were found. This means that methacryloyloxyethyl phosphorylcholine moieties in the copolymer have a strong affinity to dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine molecules. The blood compatibility of methacryloyloxyethyl phosphorylcholine copolymers was also investigated with particular attention to the aggregation ability of platelets after contacting methacryloyloxyethyl phosphorylcholine copolymers; this ability decreased when platelets were put in contact with polymers without a methacryloyloxyethyl phosphorylcholine moiety. On the other hand, aggregation ability remained at almost the same level to that of original platelets after contact with methacryloyloxyethyl phosphorylcholine copolymers. From these findings, we concluded that methacryloyloxyethyl phosphorylcholine copolymers show excellent blood compatibility due to adsorption of lipids from plasma and the formation of an organized adsorption layer of lipids on the surface of the methacryloyloxyethyl phosphorylcholine copolymers.",
"corpus_id": 13729256,
"title": "Interaction between phospholipids and biocompatible polymers containing a phosphorylcholine moiety."
} | {
"abstract": "BACKGROUND\nThe natural history of follicular lymphoma is believed not to have changed over the last 30 years. Median survivals have ranged from 7 to 10 years, and the disease is considered incurable. However, multiple new treatment options have been developed in the last decade, and their impact on survival of follicular lymphoma remains unknown.\n\n\nPATIENTS AND METHODS\nIn the current analysis, we identified all previously untreated, advanced-stage, follicular lymphoma patients treated with the following three sequential treatment approaches: cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone (CHOP) chemotherapy +/- nonspecific immunostimulants (Southwest Oncology Group [SWOG] 7426 and 7713: 1974 to 1983); prednisone, methotrexate, doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide, and etoposide (ProMACE) plus mechlorethamine, vincristine, procarbazine, and prednisone (MOPP) +/- interferon (SWOG 8809: 1988 to 1994); and CHOP followed by monoclonal antibody (MoAb) therapy (SWOG 9800 and 9911: 1998 to 2000). We assessed the patients' progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS). The MoAb trials included CHOP followed by rituximab (SWOG 9800) and CHOP followed by (131)I-tositumomab (SWOG 9911).\n\n\nRESULTS\nThe PFS curves for the CHOP and ProMACE-MOPP studies are overlapping, with 4-year PFS estimates of 46% and 48%, respectively. However, the PFS rate of the CHOP + MoAb studies is significantly improved at 61% (P = .005). The OS curves show improvement with each succeeding study. The 4-year estimate of OS is 69% for the CHOP regimens, 79% for the ProMACE-MOPP study, and 91% for the CHOP + MoAb regimens (P < .001). These conclusions were retained after adjusting for differences in prognostic factors between the study groups.\n\n\nCONCLUSION\nThe results of this study suggest that OS for patients with follicular lymphoma has improved over time and that the choice of initial therapy may matter.",
"corpus_id": 26000418,
"score": 1,
"title": "New treatment options have changed the survival of patients with follicular lymphoma."
} |
{
"abstract": "Measurements of the average thermal contractions (294→72 K) of 26 different cryosolutions are presented and discussed in conjunction with other recent advances in the rational design of protocols for cryogenic cooling in macromolecular crystallography.",
"corpus_id": 7535937,
"title": "Progress in rational methods of cryoprotection in macromolecular crystallography"
} | {
"abstract": "High-pressure cryocooling has been developed as an alternative method for cryopreservation of macromolecular crystals and successfully applied for various technical and scientific studies. The method requires the preservation of crystal hydration as the crystal is pressurized with dry helium gas. Previously, crystal hydration was maintained either by coating crystals with a mineral oil or by enclosing crystals in a capillary which was filled with crystallization mother liquor. These methods are not well suited to weakly diffracting crystals because of the relatively high background scattering from the hydrating materials. Here, an alternative method of crystal hydration, called capillary shielding, is described. The specimen is kept hydrated via vapor diffusion in a shielding capillary while it is being pressure cryocooled. After cryocooling, the shielding capillary is removed to reduce background X-ray scattering. It is shown that, compared to previous crystal-hydration methods, the new hydration method produces superior crystal diffraction with little sign of crystal damage. Using the new method, a weakly diffracting protein crystal may be properly pressure cryo-cooled with little or no addition of external cryoprotectants, and significantly reduced background scattering can be observed from the resulting sample. Beyond the applications for macromolecular crystallography, it is shown that the method has great potential for the preparation of noncrystalline hydrated biological samples for coherent diffraction imaging with future X-ray sources.",
"corpus_id": 790474,
"title": "A high-pressure cryocooling method for protein crystals and biological samples with reduced background X-ray scatter."
} | {
"abstract": "An air-stable phosphinito palladium(II) complex (Ph1-Phoxide) has been found to be an efficient catalyst in the formation of C–C bonds. The coupling of terminal alkynes formed gem-1,3-enynes as the only reaction products. Aromatic alkynes can be synthesized from the coupling of terminal alkynes and haloaromatic compounds (Sonogashira coupling). The phosphinito palladium(II) complex also catalyses the coupling between acyl chlorides and terminal alkynes (Sonogashira coupling), furnishing ynones in excellent yields.",
"corpus_id": 36665798,
"score": 1,
"title": "Phosphinito palladium(II) complexes as catalysts for the synthesis of 1,3-enynes, aromatic alkynes and ynones"
} |
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