pinecone/core-2020-05-10-deduplication huggingface dataset:
Development and Comparison of Different Nanoparticulate Polyelectrolyte Complexes as Insulin Carriers

The overall objective of our research is to produce polyanion/chitosan nanoparticulate oral delivery systems for insulin. Specific objectives of the present study were to study dextran sulfate or alginate complexation with chitosan on mean particle size, insulin association efficiency, loading capacity and release profile. Nanoparticles were formed by ionotropic complexation and coacervation between polyanions (dextran sulfate and alginate) and chitosan. Diameter was evaluated with photon correlation spectroscopy, polymer interaction was confirmed by DSC and FTIR and particle morphology was assessed by SEM and TEM. Mean nanoparticle diameter ranged from 423 to 850 nm, insulin association efficiency from 63 to 94% and loading capacity from 5 to 13%. Dextran sulfate provided highest insulin association efficiency and retention of insulin in gastric simulated conditions. These nanoparticle systems show promise as insulin and potentially other therapeutic polypeptides carriers.http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10989-005-9010-
A comparative study of extraction apparatus in HPLC analysis of ochratoxin A in muscle

Abstract  Ochratoxin A (OTA) is a secondary fungal metabolite produced by several moulds, mainly by Aspergillus ochraceus and by Penicillium verrucosum, that occurs in meat products. The aim of this work was to optimize an efficient extraction procedure for the determination of OTA in muscle tissue in order to assess its occurrence in meat samples. Three different apparatus, a Waring blender, a switching apparatus, and an ultrasonic processor, were evaluated to verify the efficiency of extraction. The analytical methods proposed involve the extraction with chloroform-orthophosphoric acid, cleanup through an immunoaffinity column, high-performance liquid chromatography/fluorescence detection for separation and identification of OTA, and confirmation with liquid chromatography/FD after methylation of OTA in muscle tissue. The limit of quantification of the proposed method was 0.04 µg kg-1. Recoveries of OTA, using switching apparatus, ranged from 90.3 to 103.2% for chicken muscle spiked at 2.4 and 0.48 µg kg-1, respectively, with a within-day relative standard deviation of 17 and 15.3%. The proposed method was applied to 38 chicken, swine, and turkey muscle samples and the presence of OTA was confirmed in five samples. Finally, the estimated daily intake of OTA in this study was between 23 pg kg-1 body weight per day for swine samples and 18 pg kg-1 body weight per day for turkey samples.http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00216-005-0051-
Hybrid and interactive domain-specific translation for multilingual access to digital libraries

Accurate high-coverage translation is a vital component of\ud
reliable cross language information retrieval (CLIR) systems. This is particularly true for retrieval from archives such as Digital Libraries which are often specific to certain domains. While general machine translation (MT) has been shown to be effective for CLIR tasks in laboratory information retrieval evaluation tasks, it is generally not well suited to specialized situations where domain-specific translations are required. We demonstrate that effective query translation in the domain of cultural heritage (CH) can be achieved using a hybrid translation method which augments a standard MT system with domain-specific phrase dictionaries automatically mined from Wikipedia. We further describe the use of these components in a domain-specific interactive query translation service. The interactive system selects the hybrid translation by default, with other possible translations being offered to the user interactively to enable them to select alternative or additional translation(s). The objective of this interactive service is to provide user control of translation while maximising translation accuracy and minimizing the translation effort of the user. Experiments using our hybrid translation system with sample query logs from users of CH websites demonstrate a large improvement in the accuracy of domain-specific phrase detection and translation
User-Interface Modelling for Blind Users

The design of a user interface usable by blind people sets specific usability requirements that are unnecessary for sighted users. These requirements focus on task adequacy, dimensional trade-off, behaviour equivalence, semantic loss avoidance and device-independency. Consequently, the development of human-computer interfaces (HCI) that are based on task, domain, dialog, presentation, platform and user models has to be modified to take into account these requirements. This paper presents a user interface model for blind people, which incorporates these usability requirements into the above HCI models. A frame-work implementing the model has been developed and implemented in an electronic speaking bilingual software environment for blind or visually impaired people and in an educational system for children with special educational needs
Linear oscillations of weakly dissipative axisymmetric liquid bridges

Linear oscillations of axisymmetric capillary bridges are analyzed for large values of the modified Reynolds number C−1. There are two kinds of oscillating modes. For nearly inviscid modes (the flow being potential, except in boundary layers), it is seen that the damping rate −ΩR and the frequency ΩI are of the form ΩR=ω1C1/2+ω2C+O(C3/2) and ΩI=ω0+ω1C1/2+O(C3/2), where the coefficients ω0≳0, ω1<0, and ω2<0 depend on the aspect ratio of the bridge and the mode being excited. This result compares well with numerical results if C≲0.01, while the leading term in the expansion of the damping rate (that was already known) gives a bad approximation, except for unrealistically large values of the modified Reynolds number (C≲10−6). Viscous modes (involving a nonvanishing vorticity distribution everywhere in the liquid bridge), providing damping rates of the order of C, are also considered
Evolutionary Daisyworld models: A new approach to studying complex adaptive systems

This paper presents a model of a population of error-prone self-replicative species (replicators) that interact with its environment. The population evolves by natural selection in an environment whose change is caused by the evolutionary process itself. For simplicity, the environment is described by a single scalar factor, i.e. its temperature. The formal formulation of the model extends two basic models of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, namely, Daisyworld and Quasispecies models. It is also assumed that the environment can also change due to external perturbations that are summed up as an external noise. Unlike previous models, the population size self-regulates, so no ad hoc population constraints are involved. When species replication is error-free, i.e. without mutation, the system dynamics can be described by an (n + 1)-dimensional system of differential equations, one for each of the species initially present in the system, and another for the evolution of the environment temperature. Analytical results can be obtained straightforwardly in low-dimensional cases. In these examples, we show the stabilizing effect of thermal white noise on the system behavior. The error-prone self-replication, i.e. with mutation, is studied computationally. We assume that species can mutate two independent parameters: its optimal growth temperature and its influence on the environment temperature. For different mutation rates the system exhibits a large variety of behaviors. In particular, we show that a quasispecies distribution with an internal sub-distribution appears, facilitating species adaptation to new environments. Finally, this ecologically inspired evolutionary model is applied to study the origin and evolution of public opinion
Mechanical characterization of the human thoracic descending aorta Experiments and modelling

This work presents experiments and modelling aimed at characterising the passive mechanical behaviour of the human thoracic descending aorta. To this end, uniaxial tension and pressurisation tests on healthy samples corresponding to newborn, young and adult arteries are performed. Then, the tensile measurements are used to calibrate the material parameters of the Holzapfel constitutive model. This model is found to adequately adjust the material behaviour in a wide deformation range; in particular, it captures the progressive stiffness increase and the anisotropy due to the stretching of the collagen fibres. Finally, the assessment of these material parameters in the modelling of the pressurisation test is addressed. The implication of this study is the possibility to predict the mechanical response of the human thoracic descending aorta under generalised loading states like those that can occur in physiological conditions and/or in medical device application
Polymeric fibers with tunable properties Lessons from spider silk

Making artificial fibers inspired in spider silks is considered as one of the milestones in the field of biomimetics. The interest is usually justified by the outstanding tensile properties of natural fibers, but it is usually overlooked that spider silk is endowed with a number of related properties – supercontraction, recovery and the existence of a ground state – that impart the material with additional desirable features, such as the possibility of tuning its mechanical behaviour. In this work we present a review on the experimental analysis and significance of these properties, stressing the contributions of our research group to the field. It is also demonstrated how the knowledge gained in the basic study of the natural material has been essential for the improvement of the properties exhibited by artificially processed bio-inspired silk fiber
Territory and the governmentalisation of social reproduction: parliamentary enclosure and spatial rationalities in the transition from feudalism to capitalism

Recent applications of Foucauldian categories in geography, spatial history and the history of town planning have opened up interesting new perspectives, with respect to both the evolution of spatial knowledge and the genealogy of territorial techniques and their relation to larger socio-political projects, that would be enriched if combined with other discursive traditions. This article proposes to conceptualise English parliamentary enclosureea favourite episode for Marxist historiography, frequently read in a strictly materialist fashioneas a precedent of a new form of sociospatial governmentality, a political technology that inaugurates a strategic manipulation of territory for social change on the threshold between feudal and capitalist spatial rationalities. I analyse the sociospatial dimensions of parliamentary enclosure’s technical and legal innovations and compare them to the forms of communal self-regulation of land use customs and everyday regionalisations that preceded it. Through a systematic, replicable mechanism of reterritorialisation, enclosure acts normalised spatial regulations, blurred regional differences in the social organisation of agriculture and erased the modes of autonomous social reproduction linked to common land. Their exercise of dispossession of material resources, social capital and community representations is interpreted therefore as an inaugural logic that would pervade the emergent spatial rationality later known as planning
Do the spatial characteristics of myocardial scar tissue determine the risk of ventricular arrhythmias?

Sudden cardiac death is one of the main causes of mortality in patients with structural heart disease. Although an implantable cardioverter de?brillator signi?cantly reduces the mortality rate, many patients never receive a shock. Identi?cation of high-risk patients would reduce the costs associated with this therapy and prevent the deleterious effect of inappropriate discharges. As scar tissue is the substrate of ventricular arrhythmias in patients with structural heart disease, scar characterization could allow strati?cation of the risk. The objective of this article is to review the role of scar characteristics in the pathogenesis of ventricular arrhythmias in patients with structural heart disease
Effect of the oxygen isoelectronic substitution in Cu2ZnSnS4 and its photovoltaic application

The optoelectronic properties of Cu2ZnSnS4 and environmental considerations have attracted significant interest for photovoltaics. Using first-principles, we analyze the possible improvement of this material as a photovoltaic absorber via the isoelectronic substitution of S with O atoms. The evolution of the acceptor level is analyzed with respect to the atomic position of the nearest neighbors of the O atom. We estimate the maximum efficiency of this compound when used as a light absorber. The presence of the sub-band gap level below the conduction band could increases the solar-energy conversion with respect to the host
Enhanced external radiative efficiency for 20.8 efficient single-junction GaInP solar cells

We demonstrate 1.81 eV GaInP solar cells approaching the Shockley-Queisser limit with 20.8% solar conversion efficiency, 8% external radiative efficiency, and 80–90% internal radiative efficiency at one-sun AM1.5 global conditions. Optically enhanced voltage through photon recycling that improves light extraction was achieved using a back metal reflector. This optical enhancement was realized at one-sun currents when the non-radiative Sah-Noyce-Shockley junction recombination current was reduced by placing the junction at the back of the cell in a higher band gap AlGaInP layer. Electroluminescence and dark current-voltage measurements show the separate effects of optical management and non-radiative dark current reduction
Comparison of linear and non-linear 2D+T registration methods for DE-MRI cardiac perfusion studies

A series of motion compensation algorithms is run on the challenge data including methods that optimize only a linear transformation, or a non-linear transformation, or both – first a linear and then a non-linear transformation. Methods that optimize a linear transformation run an initial segmentation of the area of interest around the left myocardium by means of an independent component analysis (ICA) (ICA-*). Methods that optimize non-linear transformations may run directly on the full images, or after linear registration. Non-linear motion compensation approaches applied include one method that only registers pairs of images in temporal succession (SERIAL), one method that registers all image to one common reference (AllToOne), one method that was designed to exploit quasi-periodicity in free breathing acquired image data and was adapted to also be usable to image data acquired with initial breath-hold (QUASI-P), a method that uses ICA to identify the motion and eliminate it (ICA-SP), and a method that relies on the estimation of a pseudo ground truth (PG) to guide the motion compensation
Impact of metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy environment on silicon bulk lifetime for III–V-on-Si multijunction solar cells

With the final goal of integrating III-V materials on silicon substrates for tandem solar cells, the influence of the Metal-Organic Vapor Phase Epitaxy (MOVPE) environment on the minority carrier properties of silicon wafers has been evaluated. These properties will essentially determine the photovoltaic performance of the bottom cell in a III-V-on-Si tandem solar cell. A comparison of the base minority carrier lifetimes obtained for different thermal processes carried out in a MOVPE reactor on Czochralski silicon wafers has been carried out. An important degradation of minority carrier lifetime during the surface preparation (i.e. H2 anneal) has been observed. Three different mechanisms have been proposed for explaining this behavior: 1) the introduction of extrinsic impurities coming from the reactor; 2) the activation of intrinsic lifetime killing impurities coming from the wafer itself; and finally, 3) the formation of crystal defects, which eventually become recombination centers. The effect of the emitter formation by phosphorus diffusion has also been evaluated. In this sense, it has been reported that lifetime can be recovered during the emitter formation either by the effect of the P on extracting impurities, or by the role of the atomic hydrogen on passivating the defects
Modulation spectroscopy with ultracold fermions in an optical lattice

We propose an experimental setup of ultracold fermions in an optical lattice to determine the pairing gap in a superfluid state and the spin ordering in a Mott-insulating state. The idea is to apply a periodic modulation of the lattice potential and to use the thereby induced double occupancy to probe the system. We show by full time-dependent calculation using the adaptive time-dependent density-matrix renormalization-group method that the position of the peak in the spectrum of the induced double occupancy gives the pairing energy in a superfluid and the interaction energy in a Mott insulator, respectively. In the Mott insulator we relate the spectral weight of the peak to the spin ordering at finite temperature using perturbative calculations
New digital techniques applied to A and Z identification using pulse shape discrimination of silicon detector current signals

Extending pulse shape discrimination (PSD) to digitized signals is one of the most promising methods to identify particles stopped in a detector. Using the CIME accelerator in the GANIL laboratory, a measurement campaign was done to collect data corresponding to different charges, masses and energies of implanted ions. These data are used to develop an algorithm capable to discriminate the different particles both in mass and charge. In this experiment, a View the MathML source n-TD reverse mounted Si detector was used. These studies on PSD are part of the FAZIA R&D, a research and development project aiming at building a new 4π array for isospin nuclear physics
The design and performance of CW and pulsed power couplers - A review

SERA 06The design of input power couplers represents one of the most important challenges of accelerators that use super-conducting RF technology. These devices must fulfil several functions while being subject to mechanical, electromagnetic, vacuum and cryogenic constraints. The rapidly increasing number of projects, planned or under construction, which propose to use super-conducting cavities has prompted developments in power couplers for both CW and pulsed applications. Amongst the projects for which couplers have, or are being, developed one finds VUV and X-ray free electron lasers (based on self-amplified spontaneous emission), spallation neutron sources (SNS), energy recovery linacs, and high energy colliders. We will review the design requirements and performances obtained for several of these couplers. Particular attention will be paid to the couplers which have been used on the TESLA Test Facility at DESY, the variations of this coupler which are under consideration for future synchrotron light sources and the coupler chosen for use on the SNS
The powerful in vitro bioactivity of Euterpe oleracea Mart. seeds and related phenolic compounds

The Euterpe oleracea Mart. (açaí) is a plant from the Amazon region, classified as "super fruit" because of its various functional properties. However, limited investigation has been performed on açaí by-products, such as seeds. Therefore, the aim of this work was to characterized the phenolic compounds of the aqueous extract of açaí seeds and further evaluate its bioactivity (antioxidant and cytotoxic activities. Only proanthocyanidins were detected, being a B-type (epi)catechin tetramer the most abundant; however, procyanidin trimmers were the most predominant form. Açaí seeds extract revealed a high antioxidant (EC50 ranging from 3.6 to 19.4 μg/mL) and cytotoxic activity, being more effective in the cervical carcinoma cell line (HeLa; GI50 = 18 μg/mL); it did not show toxicity for non-tumor cells. Açaí seeds are considered a waste and could have an added economic benefit, through the extraction of natural antioxidants, particularly proanthocyanidins, that could find applications in food and pharmaceutical industries.The authors are grateful to Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, Portugal) for financial support to the research centre CIMO (strategic project PEst-OE/AGR/UI0690/2011) and L. Barros researcher contract under “Programa Compromisso com Ciência - 2008”. The authors are also grateful to Jamil S. Oliveira by the initial discussions on the preparation of samples
Modeling BSM effects on the Higgs transverse-momentum spectrum in an EFT approach

We consider the transverse-momentum distribution of a Higgs boson produced through gluon fusion in hadron collisions. At small transverse momenta, the large logarithmic terms are resummed up to next-to-leading-logarithmic (NLL) accuracy. The resummed computation is consistently matched to the next-to-leading-order (NLO) result valid at large transverse momenta. The ensuing Standard Model prediction is supplemented by possible new-physics effects parametrised through three dimension-six operators related to the modification of the top and bottom Yukawa couplings, and to the inclusion of a point-like Higgs-gluon coupling, respectively. We present resummed transverse-momentum spectra including the effect of these operators at NLL+NLO accuracy and study their impact on the shape of the distribution. We find that such modifications, while affecting the total rate within the current uncertainties, can lead to significant distortions of the spectrum. The proper parametrization of such effects becomes increasingly important for experimental analyses in Run II of the LHC
Study of steam explosion pretreatment and preservation methods of commercial cellulose

Steam explosion (150 – 200 ºC, 5 – 30 min) was performed on a commercial cellulose presented in two configurations (fiberized and compact sheet) and its effect on their chemical and physical properties was studied, along with the influence of two different preservation methods (acetone drying and freezing) after pretreatment. No degradation compounds were produced during pretreatment, although solid recovery (RS) decreased with temperature from 90% to 62%. Similar particle size and surface conditions (increased porosity) were found for both types of pretreated samples despite the extremely different initial configuration. Crystallinity diminished for 150 ºC samples, but 200 ºC pretreatment promoted recrystallization. Pretreatment also reduced polymerization degree, although enzymatic accessibility did not improve. Both acetone and freezing processes extremely affected cellulose properties. Acetone drying counterbalanced crystallinity and enzymatic accessibility variations of pretreated samples, while decreasing polymerization degree to 302. Freezing dramatically decreased enzymatic accessibility of pretreated samples down to 15.8%.UIC-Consejería de Educación Junta de Castilla y León, University of Valladoli