1,354,702 research outputs found
Three fruit trays for Pattini
No full textOfferings to gods are often done in fulfilment of a vow. Pattini, the only goddess in the Sinhalese pantheon, is particularly popular with women. The goddess is venerated by Sinhalese Buddhists as Pattini and by Tamil Hindus as Kannaki. The video is part of a set of documentaries that looks at the cosmology that emerges from the kitchens of Sri Lanka
MassUntangler: A novel alignment tool for label-free liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry proteomic data
No full textLiquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) has become an important analytical tool for quantitative proteomics and biomarker discovery. In the label-free differential LC-MS approach computational methods are required for an accurate alignment of peaks extrapolated from the experimental raw data accounting for retention time and m/z signals intensity, which are strongly affected by sample matrix and instrumental performance. A novel procedure "MassUntangler" for pairwise alignment has been developed, relying on a pattern-based matching algorithm integrated with filtering algorithms in a multi-step approach. The procedure has been optimized employing a two-step approach. Firstly, low-complexity LC-MS data derived from the enzymatic digestion of two standard proteins have been analyzed. Then, the algorithm's performance has been evaluated by comparing the results with other achieved using state-of-the-art alignment tools. In the second step, our algorithm has been used for the alignment of high-complexity LC-MS data consisting of peptides obtained by an Escherichia coli lysate available from a public repository previously used for the comparison of other alignment tools. MassUntangler gave excellent results in terms of precision scores (from 80% to 93%) and recall scores (from 68% to 89%), showing performances similar and even better than the previous developed tools. Considering the mass spectrometry sensitivity and accuracy, this approach allows the identification and quantification of peptides present in a biological sample at femtomole level with high confidence. The procedure's capability of aligning LC-MS data previously corrected for distortion in retention time has been studied through a hybrid approach, in which MassUntangler was interfaced with the OpenMS TOPP tool MapAligner. The hybrid aligner yielded better results, showing that an integration of different bioinformatic approaches for accurate label-free LC-MS data alignment should be used
Modellazione termoidrodinamica di cuscinetti a pattini oscillanti per turbomacchine
No full textIl presente lavoro di tesi si pone l'obiettivo di analizzare cuscinetti a pattini oscillanti utilizzando un software commerciale general purpose
Protein classification combining surface analysis and primary structure
No full textIn this work, we propose a method for protein classification that combines the features extracted from both the primary structure and the surface analysis of a given protein. The surface analysis is used to find the amino acids that belong to the surface of the proteins. The most important finding of this work is to show that the features extracted from the amino acids that belong to the surface are useful in the classification process, since their contribution is partially independent from that of the features extracted from the whole primary structure; this property is used to build an ensemble of classifiers. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed system. The idea is validated using three different data sets and three different feature extraction methods: 2-gram; residue couple; pseudo amino acid composition
Ritual games for the goddess Pattini
No full textThe Sri Lankan deity, Pattini, has a number of games (or keliya) held on her behalf. They include the horn game (ankeliya), the stick game (likeliya) and the coconut game (polkeliya). These games share the feature of a competition between two teams, with most commonly one team representing Pattini and the other team representing either her spouse or another male deity. A common but not universal aetiology for the games develops on the main story of Pattini, to be found written in the Silappadikaram or "The Anklet". Specifically it develops on the episode at the climax of the story when Pattini, enraged at the wrongful execution of her husband at the hands of the king of Madurai, causes a terrible conflagration that destroys the city. The fire, which she starts by tearing off her left breast and casting it at the city she curses, threatens the whole world with an associated pestilence until the goddess is appeased by people performing games for her (Wirz 1954: 175)
Effects of prefrontal transcranial direct current stimulation on autonomic and neuroendocrine responses to psychosocial stress in healthy humans
No full textProlonged or repeated activation of the stress response can have negative psychological and physical consequences. The prefrontal cortex (PFC) is thought to exert an inhibitory influence on the activity of autonomic and neuroendocrine stress response systems. In this study, we further investigated this hypothesis by increasing PFC excitability using transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). Healthy male participants were randomized to receive either anodal (excitatory) tDCS (n1⁄415) or sham stimulation (n1⁄415) over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) immediately before and during the exposure to a psychosocial stress test. Autonomic (heart rate (HR) and its variability) and neuroendocrine (salivary cortisol) parameters were assessed. One single session of excitatory tDCS over the left DLPFC (i) reduced HR and favored a larger vagal prevalence prior to stress exposure, (ii) moderated stress-induced HR acceleration and sympathetic activation/vagal withdrawal, but (iii) had no effect on stress-induced cortisol release. However, anodal tDCS over the left DLPFC prevented stress-induced changes in the cortisol awakening response. Finally, participants receiving excitatory tDCS reported a reduction in their levels of state anxiety upon completion of the psychosocial stress test. In conclusion, this study provides first insights into the efficacy of one single session of excitatory tDCS over the left DLPFC in attenuating autonomic and neuroendocrine effects of psychosocial stress exposure. These findings might be indicative of the important role of the left DLPFC, which is a cortical target for noninvasive brain stimulation treatment of depression, for successful coping with stressful stimuli
Analisi teorica e sperimentale dell’effetto della direzione del carico in cuscinetti a pattini oscillanti reali
No full textI cuscinetti portanti a pattini oscillanti sono ampiamente utilizzati nelle macchine rotanti per velocità elevate e carichi sia bassi sia elevati. Data l’importanza di questo componente delle macchine rotanti, molti autori hanno pubblicato diversi studi, teorici e sperimentali, per valutare l’effetto dei giochi, della temperatura del lubrificante, della portata dell’olio e di diversi effetti termici sul comportamento di questo tipo di cuscinetto. Tuttavia, le indagini sull’influenza della direzione di carico sulle proprietà dei cuscinetti a pattini oscillanti sono spesso molto limitate e non considerano le geometria reale del cuscinetto. In questo articolo verrà presentata un’analisi teorica e sperimentale degli effetti delle direzione del carico nei cuscinetti reali a pattini oscillanti
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