University of Rijeka

About: University of Rijeka is a education organization based out in Rijeka, Croatia. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Tourism. The organization has 3471 authors who have published 7993 publications receiving 110386 citations. The organization is also known as: Rijeka University & Sveučilište u Rijeci.

Difference imaging photometry of blended gravitational microlensing events with a numerical kernel

Abstract: The numerical kernel approach to difference imaging has been implemented and applied to gravitational microlensing events observed by the PLANET collaboration. The effect of an error in the source-star coordinates is explored and a new algorithm is presented for determining the precise coordinates of the microlens in blended events, essential for accurate photometry of difference images. It is shown how the photometric reference flux need not be measured directly from the reference image but can be obtained from measurements of the difference images combined with the knowledge of the statistical flux uncertainties. The improved performance of the new algorithm, relative to ISIS2, is demonstrated.

Maximum voluntary molar bite force in subjects with normal occlusion

Abstract: The aims of this investigation were to determine whether stabilization of maximum voluntary bite force (MVBF) occurs between 15 and 18 years of age in subjects with a normal occlusion, and to assess the influence of gender, body mass index (BMI), morphological occlusion, and jaw function measured by the number of occlusal contacts, overjet, overbite, maximal mouth opening, mandibular deflection during opening, sagittal slide between the retruded contact position and the intercuspal position, and number of dental restorations. The sample comprised 60 Caucasian subjects aged 15 (15 males and 15 females) and 18 (14 males and 16 females) years with a neutral occlusion, balanced facial profile, and absence of a previous orthodontic history. Bite force measurements were undertaken using a portable occlusal force gauge on both the left and the right sides of the jaw in the first molar region during maximal clenching. Two independent samples t -tests and multiple regression were used for statistical analysis. MVBFs were age and gender related ( P < 0.05). Males showed a significant increase in bite force between 15 and 18 years of age ( P = 0.002), but gender differences were significant only in the 18-year-olds ( P = 0.003). In subjects with a neutral occlusion, MVBF could best be predicted using multiple regression from age and gender. The regression model accounted for 31.3 per cent of the variance in MVBF ( P = 0.031), with gender contributing 17.9 per cent and age 7.9 per cent. Morphological occlusion, jaw function, and BMI explained the remaining 5.5 per cent of variance. While controlling for all other parameters, the independent contribution of gender to the prediction of MVBF was 16.2 per cent, age 6 per cent, number of occlusal contacts 3.2 per cent, and BMI 1.3 per cent.

MCMV glycoprotein gp40 confers virus resistance to CD8+ T cells and NK cells in vivo

Abstract: The susceptibility of certain inbred mouse strains to MCMV is related to their inability to generate a strong NK cell response. We addressed here whether the MCMV susceptibility of the BALB/c strain is due to viral functions that control NK cell activation in a strains-specific manner. MCMV expresses two proteins, gp48, and gp40, that are encoded by the genes m06 and m152, respectively ; they down-regulate MHC class-I expression at the plasma membrane. Using MCMV deletion mutants and revertants we found that gp40 but nor gp48 controls NK cell activation. Absence of gp40 improved antiviral NK cell control in BALB/c but not C57BL/6 mice. Down-regulation of H60, the high affinity ligand for the NKG2D recepotr, was the mechanism by which gp40 modulates NK cell activation. Thus, a single herpesvirus protein has a dual function in inhibiting both, the adaptive as well as the innate immune response.

Time-lag cross-correlations in collective phenomena

Abstract: We study long-range magnitude cross-correlations in collective modes of real-world data from finance, physiology, and genomics using time-lag random matrix theory. We find long-range magnitude cross-correlations i) in time series of price fluctuations, ii) in physiological time series, both healthy and pathological, indicating scale-invariant interactions between different physiological time series, and iii) in ChIP-seq data of the mouse genome, where we uncover a complex interplay of different DNA-binding proteins, resulting in power-law cross-correlations in xij, the probability that protein i binds to gene j, ranging up to 10 million base pairs. In finance, we find that the changes in singular vectors and singular values are largest in times of crisis. We find that the largest 500 singular values of the NYSE Composite members follow a Zipf distribution with exponent ≈2. In physiology, we find statistically significant differences between alcoholic and control subjects.