Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Feasibility study of a slack enabling actuator for actuating tendon-driven soft wearable robot without pretension

A soft wearable robot with a tendon drive is a promising technology that enables a wearable robot to be compact and lightweight. A soft tendon routing system was previously proposed to apply a tendon drive to a soft wearable robot. In this study, a slack enabling mechanism was proposed to increase the efficiency and guarantee the safety of the soft tendon routing system. The proposed mechanism eliminates the pre-tension of the tendons and minimizes the friction induced by the pre-tension, which causes inefficiency and a lack of safety. Furthermore, the slack enabling mechanism mechanically prevents the derailing of the tendon from the spool. In order to verify the benefits of the proposed mechanism, a prototype was built and tested on the Exo-Glove, which is a soft wearable robot for the hand. The experiment results showed that the prototype could completely remove the pre-tension, whichproposed to apply a tendon drive to a soft wearable robot. In this study, a slack enabling mechanism was proposed to increase the efficiency and guarantee the safety of the soft tendon routing system. The proposed mechanism eliminates the pre-tension of the tendons and minimizes the friction induced by the pre-tension, which causes inefficiency and a lack of safety. Furthermore, the slack enabling mechanism mechanically prevents the derailing of the tendon from the spool. In order to verify the benefits of the proposed mechanism, a prototype was built and tested on the Exo-Glove, which is a soft wearable robot for the hand. The experiment results showed that the prototype could completely remove the pre-tension, which allowed the Exo-Glove to function well with the prototype.
Transfusion practices in trauma

Resuscitation of a severely traumatised patient with the administration of crystalloids, or colloids along with blood products is a common transfusion practice in trauma patients. The determination of this review article is to update on current transfusion practices in trauma. A search of PubMed, Google Scholar, and bibliographies of published studies were conducted using a combination of key-words. Recent articles addressing the transfusion practises in trauma from 2000 to 2014 were identified and reviewed. Trauma induced consumption and dilution of clotting factors, acidosis and hypothermia in a severely injured patient commonly causes trauma-induced coagulopathy. Early infusion of blood products and early control of bleeding decreases trauma-induced coagulopathy. Hypothermia and dilutional coagulopathy are associated with infusion of large volumes of crystalloids. Hence, the predominant focus is on damage control resuscitation, which is a combination of permissive hypotension, haemorrhage control and haemostatic resuscitation. Massive transfusion protocols improve survival in severely injured patients. Early recognition that the patient will need massive blood transfusion will limit the use of crystalloids. Initially during resuscitation, fresh frozen plasma, packed red blood cells (PRBCs) and platelets should be transfused in the ratio of 1:1:1 in severely injured patients. Fresh whole blood can be an alternative in patients who need a transfusion of 1:1:1 thawed plasma, PRBCs and platelets. Close monitoring of bleeding and point of care coagulation tests are employed, to allow goal-directed plasma, PRBCs and platelets transfusions, in order to decrease the risk of transfusion-related acute lung injury.
Rationale for the design of a novel tool for immunotherapy based on an emulsion of glycosaminoglycan

In this article, we describe the rationale behind the design of an innovative immunotherapeutic tool designated imunoTM that is an emulsion of microbial, lowmolecular-weight chondroitin sulfate non-covalently bound to pure phosphatidylcholine with vitamin D3 intercalated in the ensuing multi-molecular structure. The rationale for this design derives from the decade-old observation that chondroitin sulfate is the active principle responsible for the immune-stimulatory, anti-cancer properties of cartilage extracts and from the more recent observation that a known immunotherapeutic compound, the Gc protein-derived Macrophage Activating Factor (GcMAF), works as an adjuvant similar, in principle, to the incomplete Freund’s adjuvant. From these premises, we designed an innovative tool that uses an ultrapure, low-molecular-weight chondroitin sulfate, thus overcoming all limitations associated with blood-derived or animal-derived non-ultrapure extracts, at the same time guaranteeing constant sulfation profile and charge density. This novel form of chondroitin sulfate is non-covalently bound to pure phosphatidylcholine in a self-assembly manner that is coherent with the principles of negentropy. Vitamin D3 is then intercalated in this structure that resembles protocells made of a phosphatidylcholine bilayer. Such an association reduces the main side effect of vitamin D3 that is the induction of hypercalcemia, at the same time maximizing its immunotherapeutic potential. In addition, we describe the mechanism of action of this immunotherapeutic tool with particular reference to stimulation of innate immunity through a mechanism shared by adjuvants such as Freund’s adjuvant. Finally, we describe an example of a transdermal delivery system and we discuss possible applications. *Correspondence to: Marco Ruggiero, Silver Spring Sagl, Via Raimondo Rossi 24, Arzo-Mendrisio 6864, Switzerland, Tel: +41 79 230 9283, E-mail: marco.drruggiero@gmail.com
Unreal: hostile expectations from social gameplay

This article situates the general aggression model within the social structure of gameplay. Testing a mediated model of play, group gaming is examined in order to demonstrate how certain gameplay situations can promote hostile expectation bias or the tendency to predict how others would think, feel and act aggressively during social conflict. Demonstrating the casual structure inherent within complex gameplay, this study presents a needed step forward in the gaming literature. The mediated model presented departs from the typically examined direct effect model. Further, completing the model, this study suggests that when state hostility is heightened, hostile expectation bias increases.
A precipitate evolution-based continuum damage mechanics model of creep behaviour in welded 9Cr steel at high temperature

A multiaxial, physically based, continuum damage mechanics methodology for creep of welded 9Cr steels is presented, incorporating a multiple precipitate-type state variable, which simulates the effects of strain- and temperature-induced coarsening kinematics. Precipitate volume fraction and initial diameter for carbide and carbo-nitride precipitate types are key microstructural variables controlling time to failure in the model. The heat-affected zone material is simulated explicitly utilising measured microstructural data, allowing detailed investigation of failure mechanisms. Failure is shown to be controlled by a combination of microstructural degradation and Kachanov-type damage for the formation and growth of creep cavities. Comparisons with experimental data demonstrate the accuracy of this model for P91 material.
Stochastic trailing string and Langevin dynamics from AdS/CFT

Using the gauge/string duality, we derive a set of Langevin equations describing the dynamics of a relativistic heavy quark moving with constant average speed through the strongly-coupled = 4 SYM plasma at finite temperature. We show that the stochasticity arises at the string world-sheet horizon, and thus is causally disconnected from the black hole horizon in the space-time metric. This hints at the non-thermal nature of the fluctuations, as further supported by the fact that the noise term and the drag force in the Langevin equations do not obey the Einstein relation. We propose a physical picture for the dynamics of the heavy quark in which dissipation and fluctuations are interpreted as medium-induced radiation and the associated quantum-mechanical fluctuations. This picture provides the right parametric estimates for the drag force and the (longitudinal and transverse) momentum broadening coefficients.
Dynamics of gene expression in an artificial genome

Complex systems techniques provide a powerful tool to study the emergent properties of networks of interacting genes. In this study we extract models of genetic regulatory networks from an artificial genome, represented by a sequence of nucleotides, and analyse how variations in the connectivity and degree of inhibition of the extracted networks affects the resulting classes of behaviours. For low connectivity systems were found to be very stable. Only with higher connectivity was a significant occurrence of chaos found. Most interestingly, the peak in occurrence of chaos occurs perched on the edge of a phase transition in the occurrence of null attractors.
Mice lacking the glutamate-cysteine ligase modifier subunit are susceptible to myocardial ischaemia-reperfusion injury.

AIMS Glutamate-cysteine ligase (GCL), a rate-limiting enzyme for glutathione (GSH) synthesis, is composed of catalytic and modifier subunits. This study examined the pathogenic role of GCL modifier subunits (GCLM) in myocardial ischaemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury using mice lacking the GCLM (GCLM(-/-)). METHODS AND RESULTS The GCLM(-/-)mice had an increase in myocardial I/R injury and apoptosis in ischaemic myocardium compared with GCLM(+/+) mice. There was a decrease in mitochondrial glutathione (GSH) levels in ischaemic myocardium that was more pronounced in GCLM(-/-) mice than in GCLM(+/+) mice (12 vs. 55% of baseline GCLM(+/+), respectively). The ESR signal intensity of the dimethyl-1-pyrroline-N-oxide-hydroxyl radical adducts in ischaemic myocardium was higher in GCLM(-/-) mice than in GCLM(+/+) mice. Hypoxia-reoxygenation induced greater mitochondrial damage in cultured cardiomyocytes from GCLM(-/-) mice than from GCLM(+/+) mice, as evidenced by a reduced membrane potential and increased protein carbonyl content in isolated mitochondria, together with enhanced cytochrome c translocation into the cytosol. Administration of GSH ethyl-ester attenuated myocardial I/R injury and reversed the mitochondrial damage in parallel with the mitochondrial GSH restoration in the myocardium or the cardiomyocytes of GCLM(-/-) mice. CONCLUSION GCLM(-/-) mice were susceptible to myocardial I/R injury partly through an increased vulnerability of mitochondria to oxidative damage owing to mitochondrial GSH reduction.
Viscous dissipation by tidally forced inertial modes in a rotating spherical shell

We investigate the properties of forced inertial modes of a rotating fluid inside a spherical shell. Our forcing is tidal like, but its main property is that it is on the large scales. By numerically solving the linear equations of this problem, including viscosity, we first confirm some analytical results obtained on a two-dimensional model by Ogilvie (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 543, 2005, p. 19); some additional properties of this model are uncovered like the existence of narrow resonances associated with periodic orbits of characteristics. We also note that as the frequency of the forcing varies, the dissipation varies drastically if the Ekman number E is low (as is usually the case). We then investigate the three-dimensional case and compare the results to the foregoing model. The three-dimensional solutions show, like their two-dimensional counterpart, a spiky dissipation curve when the frequency of the forcing is varied; they also display small frequency intervals where the viscous dissipation is independent of viscosity. However, we show that the response of the fluid in these frequency intervals is crucially dominated by the shear layer that is emitted at the critical latitude on the inner sphere. The asymptotic regime, where the dissipation is independent of the viscosity, is reached when an attractor has been excited by this shear layer. This property is not shared by the two-dimensional model where shear layers around attractors are independent of those emitted at the critical latitude. Finally, resonances of the three-dimensional model correspond to some selected least damped eigenmodes. Unlike their two-dimensional counter parts these modes are not associated with simple attractors; instead, they show up in frequency intervals with weakly contracting webs of characteristics. Besides, we show that the inner core is negligible when its relative radius is less than the critical value 0.4E1/5. For these spherical shells, the full sphere solutions give a good approximation of the flows.
Regulation and function of foxe3 during early zebrafish development

In this article, we investigate the expression, regulation, and function of the zebrafish forkhead gene foxe3. In wild type embryos, foxe3 is first expressed in a crescent‐shaped area at the anterior end of the prechordal plate, corresponding to the polster. At later stages, the hatching gland, the lens, and the anterior pituitary express this gene. Using morpholinos against the zinc finger Kruppel‐like factor 4 (KLF4) we show that foxe3 is regulated differently in the polster and in the lens. In the absence of KLF4, expression of foxe3 in the polster is not activated, whereas in the lens placode the expression of KLF4 is not required for the transcription of foxe3. The expression of foxe3 is also regulated by the hedgehog and nodal signaling pathways. foxe3 expression is altered in the hedgehog pathway mutants iguana and you‐too and the nodal pathway mutant cyclops. foxe3 function is necessary for the execution of lens‐specific gene expression and lens morphogenesis, as the knockdown of foxe3 results in a loss of platelet‐derived growth factor receptor alpha (pdgfrα) expression and in the vacuolization of the lens. 46:177–183, 2008. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Structural Sampling of Glycan Interaction Profiles Reveals Mucosal Receptors for Fimbrial Adhesins of Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli

Fimbriae are long, proteinaceous adhesion organelles expressed on the bacterial envelope, evolutionarily adapted by Escherichia coli strains for the colonization of epithelial linings. Using glycan arrays of the Consortium for Functional Glycomics (CFG), the lectin domains were screened of the fimbrial adhesins F17G and FedF from enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC) and of the FimH adhesin from uropathogenic E. coli. This has led to the discovery of a more specific receptor for F17G, GlcNAcβ1,3Gal. No significant differences emerged from the glycan binding profiles of the F17G lectin domains from five different E. coli strains. However, strain-dependent amino acid variations, predominantly towards the positively charged arginine, were indicated by sulfate binding in FedF and F17G crystal structures. For FedF, no significant binders could be observed on the CFG glycan array. Hence, a shotgun array was generated from microvilli scrapings of the distal jejunum of a 3-week old piglet about to be weaned. On this array, the blood group A type 1 hexasaccharide emerged as a receptor for the FedF lectin domain and remarkably also for F18-fimbriated E. coli. F17G was found to selectively recognize glycan species with a terminal GlcNAc, typifying intestinal mucins. In conclusion, F17G and FedF recognize long glycan sequences that could only be identified using the shotgun approach. Interestingly, ETEC strains display a large capacity to adapt their fimbrial adhesins to ecological niches via charge-driven interactions, congruent with binding to thick mucosal surfaces displaying an acidic gradient along the intestinal tract.
Approximating the selection process.

SUMMARY Two approaches are given to the problem of approximating the consequences of the types of artificial selection to which domestic animals are subjected. Type and intensity of selection are taken to differ by sex, and it is assumed that selection is imposed over a number of generations. The first approach makes use of a basic recursion formnula and requires that the loci affecting the trait of interest can be partitioned into a few slbgroups, on the basis of similarity in additive gene effects and initial gene frequencies. The second approach is only applicable to the study of selectioni on those traits affected by mainy loci and makes use of mtultivariate-normal theory. The use of the results to explain recently noted differences in estimates of the heritability of dairy-cattle milk production is briefly discussed. The objective in this study is to present mathematical techniques for approximating the consequences of the kinds of artificial selection prevalent among populations of domestic animals, particularly dairy cattle. In these populations it is characteristic that the type and intensity of selection differ for males and females. These differences are a consequence of at least two factors: (i) a male is physically capable of becoming a parent a greater number of times than a female (the importance of this factor has been accentuated by the advent of artificial insemination); and (ii) the trait of ecolomical interest may be expressed in only one sex (e.g. milk production in dairy cattle) and consequently most of the members of the other sex are killed shortly after birth or are otherwise eliminated from the population of potential parents. The need for techniques to determine the effects of these kinds of selection is clear in light of the recent studies of dairy-cattle milk production records conducted by Bradford and Van Vleck [1964] and by Van Vleck [1968]. Using large amounts of data, they found the intraherd heritability of milk production to be approximately 0.4 when estimated by daughter-dam regression, but only 0.25 when estimated by paternal half-sib correlation. Since it is ordinarily held that these two estimates have similar expectations, the difference between them is of considerable interest. Furthermore, the above workers have eliminated many of the possible non-genetic explanations of the discrepancy. A yet largely unexplored explanation of the seeming paradox would be that the difference between the two estimates is due to difTerences between males and females in the intensity and type of selection applied. If culling differs by sex, then it follows from elementary considerations that the two estimates would not have the same expectation. Roughly speaking.
Self-assembled DNA nanomaterials with highly programmed structures and functions

Long admired as the repository of genetic information, DNA has more recently been exploited as a powerful material for self-assembly. Taking advantage of the specificity and programmability of the Watson–Crick base-pairing principle, DNA is able to form diversiform nanostructures and nanomaterials. More importantly, the assembled DNA nanomaterials can be modulated at nanometer spatial resolution with designable structures and functions. Such nanoscale precision endows DNA nanomaterials with well-defined orientations, spacings, stereo-relationships, and even optimized interactions with biomolecules, contributing to a revolution in the development of materials sophistication. Benefiting from these structural and functional properties, DNA nanomaterials have found a wide range of applications in materials science, analytical science, and biomedicine. Here, we summarize the recent progress in the design and applications of DNA nanomaterials which possess intriguing structures and functions, with a highlight on three kinds of important DNA nanomaterials including DNA tetrahedrons, DNA hydrogels and functional DNA nanomaterials. Finally, some of the current challenges are proposed in the design and applications of DNA nanomaterials, and we also provide our understandings of the prospects of several DNA nanomaterials, aiming to motivate future multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary research.
Self‐healing imidazolium‐based ionene‐polyamide membranes: an experimental study on physical and gas transport properties

A new series of six imidazolium-based ionenes containing aromatic amide linkages has been developed. These ionene-polyamides are all constitutional isomers varying in the regiochemistry of the amide linkages (para, meta) and xylyl linkages (ortho, meta, para) along the polymer backbone. The physical properties as well as the gas separation behaviors of the corresponding membranes have been extensively studied. These ionene-polyamide membranes show excellent thermal and mechanical stabilities, together with self-healing and shape memory characteristics. Most importantly, [TC-API(p)-Xy][Tf2N] and [IC-API(m)-Xy][Tf2N] membranes (TC, terephthaloyl chloride; API, 1-(3-aminopropyl)imidazole; Xy, xylyl; Tf2N, bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl) imide; IC, isophthaloyl chloride), where the amide and xylyl linkages are attached at para and meta positions, exhibit superior selectivity for CO2/CH4 and CO2/N2 gas pairs. We also demonstrate the transport properties and diverse applicability of our newly developed ionene-polyamides, particularly [TC-API(p)-Xy][Tf2N], for various industrial applications. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry Supporting informationmay be found in the online version of this article.
Astaxanthin Induction in Microalga H. pluvialis With Flat Panel Airlift Photobioreactors Under Indoor and Outdoor Conditions

Astaxanthin was induced from Haematococcus pluvialis (NIES-144) under indoor and outdoor conditions using 17-, 50-, and 90-L flat-panel airlift photobioreactors (FP-APBRs). Preliminary experiments in 1.5-L bubble column photobioreactors (BC-PBRs) revealed that sterilized clean water with 3% CO2 aeration (1.47 cm3 s−1 CO2 loading) could best encourage astaxanthin accumulation at 18.21 g m−3 (3.63% by weight). Operating 17-L FP-APBRs with these bubble column parameters under indoor conditions could further enhance astaxanthin to 26.63 g m−3 (5.34% by weight). This was potentially due to the inherited up-lift force from the reactor that helped avoid cell precipitation by allowing the cells to be circulated within the reactor. In addition, the various sizes of FP-APBRs exhibited similar performance, implying a potential scale-up opportunity. However, similar operation under outdoor condition exhibited slightly poorer performance due to the light inhibition effect. The best outdoor performance was obtained with the FP-APBR covered with one layer of shading net, where 20.11 g m−3 (4.47% by weight) of astaxanthin was resulted.