pinecone/core-2020-05-10-deduplication huggingface dataset:
Association between essential trace and toxic elements in scalp hair samples of smokers rheumatoid arthritis subjects

The incidence of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has been\ud
increased among people who possess habit\ud
of tobacco smoking. In the present study, zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), manganese (Mn), lead (Pb) and\ud
cadmium (Cd) were determined in scalp hair samples of smokers and nonsmokers RA patients,\ud
residents of Dublin, Ireland.\ud
For comparison purposes scalp hair samples of age and sex matched\ud
healthy smokers and nonsmokers were also analyzed. The concentrations of understudied\ud
elements were measured by inductive coupled plasma atomic emission spectrophotometer, prior\ud
to microwav\ud
e assisted acid digestion. The validity and accuracy of methodology was checked\ud
using certified reference material (NCS ZC 81002b) and by the conventional wet acid digestion\ud
method on the same certified reference material and on real samples. The mean hair\ud
Zn, Cu and\ud
Mn contents were significantly lower in smokers and nonsmokers RA patients as compared to\ud
healthy individuals (p = 0.01\ud
-\ud
0.001). Whereas the concentrations of Cd and Pb were significantly higher in scalp hair samples of RA patients of both group (p <0.001). The referent smokers have high level of Cd and Pb in their scalp hair samples as compared to those had not smoking tobacco (p <0.01). The ratio of Cd and Pb to Zn, Cu and Mn in scalp hair samples was also calculated. The Cd/Zn ratio was higher in smoker RA patients with related to nonsmoker RA and referents. This study is compelling evidence in support of positive associations between toxic elements, cigarette smoking, deficiency of essential trace elements and risk of arthritis
Optimization of soft x-ray amplifiers by controlling plasma hydrodynamics.

Several coherent soft x-ray lasers are available for applications nowadays. Among them, plasma-based soft x-ray lasers promise to generate high-energy, highly coherent, short pulse beam. Solid target based amplifiers, due to the fact that his density is higher, should store a higher amount of energy. However, to-date output energy from seeded solid amplifiers remains as low as 60 nJ. We demonstrated that the extraction of the energy stored in the plasma is enhanced by carefully tailoring the plasma shape, to inhibit deleterious hydrodynamical effects. With 1 mm wide plasma, energy as high as 22 μJ in sub-ps pulse is achievable. Not only the energy extracted is higher in these tailored plasmas but also gain and pumping efficiency are increased by nearly a factor of ten as compared to the narrowest plasma amplifiers studied previously and here
Evaluation of the trading development in the Iberian Energy Derivatives Market

The efficiency of the Iberian Energy Derivatives Market in its first five and a half years is assessed in terms of volume, open interest and price. The continuous market shows steady liquidity growth. Its volume is strongly correlated to that of the Over The Counter (OTC) market, the amount of market makers, the enrolment of financial agents and generation companies belonging to the integrated group of last resort suppliers, and the OTC cleared volume in its clearing house. The hedging efficiency, measured through the ratio between the final open interest and the cleared volume, shows the lowest values for the Spanish base load futures as they are the most liquid contracts. The ex-post forward risk premium has diminished due to the learning curve and the effect of the fixed price retributing the indigenous coal fired generation. This market is quite less developed than the European leaders headquartered in Norway and Germany. Enrolment of more traders, mainly international energy companies, financial agents, energy intensive industries and renewable generation companies is desired. Market monitoring reports by the market operator providing post-trade transparency, OTC data access by the energy regulator, and assessment of the regulatory risk can contribute to efficiency gains
A panel method free-wake code for aeroelastic rotor predictions

A panel method free-wake model to analyse the rotor flapping is presented. The aerodynamic model consists of a panel method, which takes into account the three-dimensional rotor geometry, and a free-wake model, to determine the wake shape. The main features of the model are the wake division into a near-wake sheet and a far wake represented by a single tip vortex, and the modification of the panel method formulation to take into account this particular wake description. The blades are considered rigid with a flap degree of freedom. The problem solution is approached using a relaxation method, which enforces periodic boundary conditions. Finally, several code validations against helicopter and wind turbine experimental data are performed, showing good agreemen
Simulation of a model nanopore sensor: Ion competition underlies device behavior

We study a model nanopore sensor with which a very low concentration of analyte molecules can be detected on the basis of the selective binding of the analyte molecules to the binding sites on the pore wall. The bound analyte ions partially replace the current-carrier cations in a thermodynamic competition. This competition depends both on the properties of the nanopore and the concentrations of the competing ions (through their chemical potentials). The output signal given by the device is the current reduction caused by the presence of the analyte ions. The concentration of the analyte ions can be determined through calibration curves. We model the binding site with the square-well potential and the electrolyte as charged hard spheres in an implicit background solvent. We study the system with a hybrid method in which we compute the ion flux with the Nernst-Planck (NP) equation coupled with the Local Equilibrium Monte Carlo (LEMC) simulation technique. The resulting NP+LEMC method is able to handle both strong ionic correlations inside the pore (including finite size of ions) and bulk concentrations as low as micromolar. We analyze the effect of bulk ion concentrations, pore parameters, binding site parameters, electrolyte properties, and voltage on the behavior of the device
The intrinsically disordered Tarp protein from chlamydia binds actin with a partially preformed helix

Tarp (translocated actin recruiting phosphoprotein) is an effector protein common to all chlamydial species that functions to remodel the host-actin cytoskeleton during the initial stage of infection. In C. trachomatis, direct binding to actin monomers has been broadly mapped to a 100-residue region (726-825) which is predicted to be predominantly disordered, with the exception of a ~10-residue α-helical patch homologous to other WH2 actin-binding motifs. Biophysical investigations demonstrate that a Tarp726-825 construct behaves as a typical intrinsically disordered protein; within it, NMR relaxation measurements and chemical shift analysis identify the ten residue WH2-homologous region to exhibit partial α-helix formation. Isothermal titration calorimetry experiments on the same construct in the presence of monomeric G-actin show a well defined binding event with a 1:1 stoichiometry and Kd of 102 nM, whilst synchrotron radiation circular dichroism spectroscopy suggests the binding is concomitant with an increase in helical secondary structure. Furthermore, NMR experiments in the presence of G-actin indicate this interaction affects the proposed WH2-like α-helical region, supporting results from in silico docking calculations which suggest that, when folded, this α-helix binds within the actin hydrophobic cleft as seen for other actin-associated proteins
Neutrino and antineutrino quasielastic interactions with nuclei

We investigate the interaction of neutrinos and antineutrinos with nuclei. We
explore in particular the role played by the multinucleon excitations which can
contaminate the quasielastic cross section. For neutrinos the multinucleon term
produces a sizable increase of the quasielastic cross section. Part of the
effect arises from tensor correlations. For antineutrinos this influence is
smaller owing to the axial-vector interference which increases the relative
importance of the terms which are not affected by these multinucleon
excitations
Performance of the ATLAS Detector using First Collision Data

More than half a million minimum-bias events of LHC collision data were
collected by the ATLAS experiment in December 2009 at centre-of-mass energies
of 0.9 TeV and 2.36 TeV. This paper reports on studies of the initial
performance of the ATLAS detector from these data. Comparisons between data and
Monte Carlo predictions are shown for distributions of several track- and
calorimeter-based quantities. The good performance of the ATLAS detector in
these first data gives confidence for successful running at higher energies
Differential influence of instruments in nuclear core activity
  evaluation by data assimilation

The global activity fields of a nuclear core can be reconstructed using data
assimilation. Data assimilation allows to combine measurements from
instruments, and information from a model, to evaluate the best possible
activity within the core. We present and apply a specific procedure which
evaluates this influence by adding or removing instruments in a given
measurement network (possibly empty). The study of various network
configurations of instruments in the nuclear core establishes that influence of
the instruments depends both on the independant instrumentation location and on
the chosen network
Effect of a combined machining/burnishing tool on the roughness and mechanical properties

Burnishing is a cold working surface treatment process in which plastic deformation of surface irregularities occurs by exerting pressure through a very hard and a very smooth roller or ball on a surface to generate a uniform and work-hardened surface. This treatment occurs generally after the machining process. In this study, a new combined machining/burnishing tool is designed and is fabricated. This tool allows for generating simultaneously the machining (turning) and the burnishing of the cylindrical surface using a turning machine.
First, turned surfaces at different conditions, sketches, finishing and half finishing were performed using only the cutting tool. The evolutions of a surface roughness parameter and the technological time relative to every test condition have been investigated. Second, using the combined machining/burnishing tool at coarse conditions, the evolutions of the surface roughness and the technological time have been also investigated. A comparison among the parameters obtained under different machining conditions and those obtained using the combined machining/burnishing tool has been carried out. Moreover, the analyses of the layers obtained on the combined machined/burnished surface have shown that the burnishing process induces compressive residual stresses on the subsurface treated specimens
Large bipartite Bell violations with dichotomic measurements

In this paper we introduce a simple and natural bipartite Bell scenario, by
considering the correlations between two parties defined by general
measurements in one party and dichotomic ones in the other. We show that
unbounded Bell violations can be obtained in this context. Since such
violations cannot occur when both parties use dichotomic measurements, our
setting can be considered as the simplest one where this phenomenon can be
observed. Our example is essentially optimal in terms of the outputs and the
Hilbert space dimension
On the analytical approach for modeling photovoltaic systems behavior

The 1-diode/2-resistors electric circuit equivalent to a photovoltaic system is analyzed. The equations at particular points of the I–V curve are studied considering the maximum number of terms. The maximum power point as a boundary condition is given special attention. A new analytical method is developed based on a reduced amount of information, consisting in the normal manufacturer data. Results indicate that this new method is faster than numerical methods and has similar (or better) accuracy than other existing methods, numerical or analytical
Photovoltaic application of the V, Cr and Mn-doped cadmium thioindate

The CdIn2S4 spinel semiconductor is a potential photovoltaic material due to its energy band gap and absorption properties. These optoelectronic properties can be potentiality improved by the insertion of intermediate states into the energy bandgap. We explore this possibility using M = Cr, V and Mn as an impurity. We analyze with first-principles almost all substitutions of the host atoms by M at the octahedral and tetrahedral sites in the normal and inverse spinel structures. In almost all cases, the impurities introduce deeper bands into the host energy bandgap. Depending on the site substitution, these bands are full, empty or partially-full. It increases the number of possible inter-band transitions and the possible applications in optoelectronic devices. The contribution of the impurity states to these bands and the substitutional energies indicate that these impurities are energetically favorable for some sites in the host spinel. The absorption coefficients in the independent-particle approximation show that these deeper bands open additional photon absorption channels. It could therefore increase the solar-light absorption with respect to the host
Temperature increase of 21st century mitigation scenarios

Estimates of 21st Century global-mean surface temperature increase have generally been based on scenarios that do not include climate policies. Newly developed multigas mitigation scenarios, based on a wide range of modeling approaches and socioeconomic assumptions, now allow the assessment of possible impacts of climate policies on projected warming ranges. This article assesses the atmospheric CO2 concentrations, radiative forcing, and temperature increase for these new scenarios using two reduced-complexity climate models. These scenarios result in temperature increase of 0.5-4.4 degrees C over 1990 levels or 0.3-3.4 degrees C  less than the  no-policy cases. The range results from differences in the assumed stringency of climate policy and uncertainty in our understanding of the climate system. Notably, an average minimum warming of ~1.40C (with a full range of 0.5-2.8 degrees C) remains for even the most stringent stabilization scenarios analyzed here. This value is substantially above previously estimated committed warming based on climate system inertia alone. The results show that, although ambitious mitigation efforts can significantly reduce global warming, adaptation measures will be needed in addition to mitigation to reduce the impact of the residual warming
Form factors of descendant operators: reduction to perturbed M (2 , 2 s + 1) models

In the framework of the algebraic approach to form factors in two-dimensional integrable models of quantum field theory we consider the reduction of the sine-Gordon model to the Φ 13 -perturbation of minimal conformal models of the M (2 , 2 s + 1) series. We find in an algebraic form the condition of compatibility of local operators with the reduction. We propose a construction that make it possible to obtain reduction compatible local operators in terms of screening currents. As an application we obtain exact multiparticle form factors for the compatible with the reduction conserved currents T ±2 k , Θ ±(2 k −2) , which correspond to the spin ±(2 k − 1) integrals of motion, for any positive integer k . Furthermore, we obtain all form factors of the operators T 2 k T −2 l , which generalize the famous T T ¯ $$ T\overline{T} $$ operator. The construction is analytic in the s parameter and, therefore, makes sense in the sine-Gordon theory
Vibrational dynamics of confined granular material

By means of two-dimensional contact dynamics simulations, we analyze the vibrational dynamics of a confined granular layer in response to harmonic forcing. We use irregular polygonal grains allowing for strong variability of solid fraction. The system involves a jammed state separating passive (loading) and active (unloading) states. We show that an approximate expression of the packing resistance force as a function of the displacement of the free retaining wall from the jamming position provides a good description of the dynamics. We study in detail the scaling of displacements and velocities with loading parameters. In particular, we find that, for a wide range of frequencies, the data collapse by scaling the displacements with the inverse square of frequency, the inverse of the force amplitude and the square of gravity. Interestingly, compaction occurs during the extension of the packing, followed by decompaction in the contraction phase. We show that the mean compaction rate increases linearly with frequency up to a characteristic frequency and then it declines in inverse proportion to frequency. The characteristic frequency is interpreted in terms of the time required for the relaxation of the packing through collective grain rearrangements between two equilibrium states
DZero data-intensive computing on the Open Science Grid

International audienceHigh energy physics experiments periodically reprocess data, in order to take advantage of improved understanding of the detector and the data processing code. Between February and May 2007, the DZero experiment has reprocessed a substantial fraction of its dataset. This consists of half a billion events, corresponding to about 100 TB of data, organized in 300,000 files. The activity utilized resources from sites around the world, including a dozen sites participating to the Open Science Grid consortium (OSG). About 1,500 jobs were run every day across the OSG, consuming and producing hundreds of Gigabytes of data. Access to OSG computing and storage resources was coordinated by the SAM-Grid system. This system organized job access to a complex topology of data queues and job scheduling to clusters, using a SAM-Grid to OSG job forwarding infrastructure. For the first time in the lifetime of the experiment, a data intensive production activity was managed on a general purpose grid, such as OSG. This paper describes the implications of using OSG, where all resources are granted following an opportunistic model, the challenges of operating a data intensive activity over such large computing infrastructure, and the lessons learned throughout the project
Kinetic Description of Random Optical Waves and Anomalous Thermalization of a Nearly Integrable Wave System

International audienceThis article is composed of two parts. The first part is aimed at providing an overview on the kinetic description of random nonlinear waves considering the one-dimensional nonlinear Schrödinger (NLS) equation as a representative model of optical wave propagation. We expose, in particular, the key problem of achieving a closure of the infinite hierarchy of moment equations for the random field. The hierarchy is closed at the first order when the statistics of the random wave is non-stationary or when the response time of the nonlinearity is non-instantaneous, which, respectively, leads to the Vlasov kinetic equation and the weak-Langmuir turbulence equation. When the amount of non-stationary statistics is comparable to the amount of non-instantaneous nonlinearity, we derive a generalized Vlasov-Langmuir equation that provides a unified formulation of the Vlasov and Langmuir approaches. On the other hand, when the statistics of the random wave is stationary and the nonlinear response instantaneous, the closure of the hierarchy of moment equations requires a second-order perturbation expansion procedure, which leads to the Hasselmann (or wave turbulence) kinetic equation. Contrarily to the Vlasov and Langmuir equations, the Hasselmann equation is irreversible, a feature which is expressed by a H-theorem of entropy growth that describes wave thermalization toward the thermodynamic equilibrium distribution, i.e. the Rayleigh-Jeans (RJ) spectrum. In the second part of the paper, we discuss a process of anomalous thermalization by considering the example of the scalar NLS equation whose integrability is broken by the presence of third-order dispersion. The anomalous thermalization is characterized by an irreversible evolution of the wave toward an equilibrium state of a fundamental different nature than the conventional RJ equilibrium state. The wave turbulence kinetic equation reveals that the anomalous thermalization is due to the existence of a local invariant in frequency space J ω, which originates in degenerate resonances of the system. In contrast to integral invariants that lead to a generalized RJ distribution, here, it is the local nature of the invariant J ω that makes the new equilibrium states fundamentally different than the usual RJ equilibrium states. We study in detail the anomalous thermalization by means of numerical simulations of the NLS equation and of the wave turbulence equation by using an improved criterion of applicability of the kinetic theory. The spectrum of the field is shown to exhibit an intriguing asymmetric deformation, which is characterized by the unexpected emergence of a constant spectral pedestal in the long-term evolution of the field. It turns out that the local invariant J ω explains all the essential properties of the anomalous thermalization of the wave
The left inferior frontal gyrus under focus: an fMRI study of the production of deixis via syntactic extraction and prosodic focus : An fMRI study of the production of deixis

International audienceThe left inferior frontal gyrus (LIFG, BA 44, 45, 47) has been associated with linguistic processing (from sentence- to syllable- parsing) as well as action analysis. We hypothesize that the function of the LIFG may be the monitoring of action, a function well adapted to agent deixis (verbal pointing at the agent of an action). The aim of this fMRI study was therefore to test the hypothesis that the LIFG is involved during the production of agent deixis. We performed an experiment whereby three kinds of deictic sentences were pronounced, involving prosodic focus, syntactic extraction and prosodic focus with syntactic extraction. A common pattern of activation was found for the three deixis conditions in the LIFG (BA 45 and/or 47), the left insula and the bilateral premotor (BA 6) cortex. Prosodic deixis additionally activated the left anterior cingulate gyrus (BA 24, 32), the left supramarginal gyrus (LSMG, BA 40) and Wernicke's area (BA 22). Our results suggest that the LIFG is involved during agent deixis, through either prosody or syntax, and that the LSMG and Wernicke's area are additionally required in prosody-driven deixis. Once grammaticalized, deixis would be handled solely by the LIFG, without the LSMG and Wernicke's area