Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Mechanical and degradation properties of natural fiber reinforced PLA composites: Jute, sisal, and elephant grass

An experimental study has been carried out to investigate and characterize the properties of elephant grass fiber reinforced fully biodegradable poly lactic acid (PLA) composites. The composites were prepared with various weight fractions of untreated and treated fibers in PLA matrix using injection moulding technique. The tensile strength of PLA composite with treated elephant grass at 20% fiber loading was 18.14% and 24% higher than that of treated jute/PLA composite and plain PLA, respectively. While the flexural strength of treated elephant grass/PLA composite at same fiber loading was 4% and 22% higher than that of treated sisal composite and plain PLA, respectively. The impact strength of composites with untreated elephant grass, sisal and jute fibers were 129.5%, 111.5% and 22.3%, respectively higher when compared with plain PLA. The water absorption rate increased in all the composites as the fiber content increased and the absorption rate reduced with successive alkali treatment on the fibers. The thermal stability of the composite had been reduced with successive alkali treatments as evident from the TGA analysis. The percentage weight loss in all the composites was linearly increasing with number of days of soil burial. The degradation was high in composite with untreated fibers at highest weight fraction. Using enzymatic environment, the degradation was much faster compared to soil burial. Significant effect of surface modification was evident during observing surface morphology of tensile fractured and soil degraded surfaces of the composites using SEM. POLYM. COMPOS. , 2016. © 2016 Society of Plastics Engineers
The Uganda version of the Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory (PEDI). Part I: Cross‐cultural adaptation

BACKGROUND The Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory (PEDI) was developed and standardized to measure functional performance in American children. So far, no published study has examined the use of the PEDI in sub-Saharan Africa. This study describes the adaptation, translation, and validation process undertaken to develop a culturally relevant PEDI for Uganda (PEDI-UG). METHOD The cross-cultural adaptation and translation of the PEDI was performed in a series of steps. A project manager and a technical advisory group were involved in all steps of adaptation, translation, cognitive debriefing, and revision. Translation and back-translation between English and Luganda were performed by professional translators. Cognitive debriefing of two subsequent adapted revisions was performed by a field-testing team on a total of 75 caregivers of children aged 6 months to 7.5 years. RESULTS The PEDI-UG was established in both English (the official language) and Luganda (a local language) and comprises 185 items. Revisions entailed deleting irrelevant items, modifying wording, inserting new items, and incorporating local examples while retaining the meaning of the original PEDI. Item statements were rephrased as questions. Seven new items were inserted and 19 items deleted. To accommodate major differences in living conditions between rural and urban areas, 10 alternative items were provided. CONCLUSIONS The PEDI-UG is to be used to measure functional limitations in both clinical practice and research, in order to assess and evaluate rehabilitative procedures in children with developmental delay and disability in Uganda. In this study, we take the first step by translating and adapting the original PEDI version to the culture and life conditions in both rural and urban Uganda. In subsequent studies, the tool's psychometric properties will be examined, and the tool will be tested in children with developmental delay and disability.
Screening for Biologically Annotated Drugs That Trigger Triacylglycerol Accumulation in the Diatom Phaeodactylum1

A phenotypic screen identifies drugs, including the endocrine disruptor ethynylestradiol that trigger oil accumulation in the diatom Phaeodactylum, as well as found genes and pathways for metabolic engineering. Microalgae are a promising feedstock for the production of triacylglycerol (TAG) for a variety of potential applications, ranging from food and human health to biofuels and green chemistry. However, obtaining high TAG yields is challenging. A phenotypic assay for the accumulation of oil droplets was developed to screen a library of 1,200 drugs, annotated with pharmacology information, to select compounds that trigger TAG accumulation in the diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum. Using this screen, we identified 34 molecules acting in a dose-dependent manner. Previously characterized targets of these compounds include cell division and cell signaling effectors, membrane receptors and transporters, and sterol metabolism. Among the five compounds possibly acting on sterol metabolism, we focused our study on ethynylestradiol, a synthetic form of estrogen that is used in contraceptive pills and known for its ecological impact as an endocrine disruptor. Ethynylestradiol impaired the production of very-long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids, destabilized the galactolipid versus phospholipid balance, and triggered the recycling of fatty acids from membrane lipids to TAG. The P. tricornutum transcriptomic response to treatment with ethynylestradiol was consistent with the reallocation of carbon from sterols to acetyl-coenzyme A and TAG. The mode of action and catabolism of ethynylestradiol are unknown but might involve several up-regulated cytochrome P450 proteins. A fatty acid elongase, Δ6-ELO-B1, might be involved in the impairment of very-long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids and fatty acid turnover. This phenotypic screen opens new perspectives for the exploration of novel bioactive molecules, potential target genes, and pathways controlling TAG biosynthesis. It also unraveled the sensitivity of diatoms to endocrine disruptors, highlighting an impact of anthropogenic pollution on phytoplankton.
The molecular epidemiology of Huntington disease is related to intermediate allele frequency and haplotype in the general population

Huntington disease (HD) is the most common monogenic neurodegenerative disorder in populations of European ancestry, but occurs at lower prevalence in populations of East Asian or black African descent. New mutations for HD result from CAG repeat expansions of intermediate alleles (IAs), usually of paternal origin. The differing prevalence of HD may be related to the rate of new mutations in a population, but no comparative estimates of IA frequency or the HD new mutation rate are available. In this study, we characterize IA frequency and the CAG repeat distribution in fifteen populations of diverse ethnic origin. We estimate the HD new mutation rate in a series of populations using molecular IA expansion rates. The frequency of IAs was highest in Hispanic Americans and Northern Europeans, and lowest in black Africans and East Asians. The prevalence of HD correlated with the frequency of IAs by population and with the proportion of IAs found on the HD‐associated A1 haplotype. The HD new mutation rate was estimated to be highest in populations with the highest frequency of IAs. In European ancestry populations, one in 5,372 individuals from the general population and 7.1% of individuals with an expanded CAG repeat in the HD range are estimated to have a molecular new mutation. Our data suggest that the new mutation rate for HD varies substantially between populations, and that IA frequency and haplotype are closely linked to observed epidemiological differences in the prevalence of HD across major ancestry groups in different countries.
An Experimental Study of the Effect of Test Speed on Yarn Hairiness

In this paper, we examine the hairiness of ring and rotor spun yarns at four different speeds of 20, 60, 100, and 140 m/min using the latest Shirley SDL096/98 hairiness/ friction meter. Contrary to previous results obtained for similar yarns using other com mercial hairiness meters, we observe a reduction in yarn hairiness with increased test speed. We also examine the effects of yarn guide, yarn angle, and rewinding on yarn hairiness. The results indicate that hair direction, air drag on hairs, and frictional rub bing of the yam being tested have a significant effect on yarn hairiness. We postulate that the different trends of speed effects on yarn hairiness from different hairiness meters may stem from differing contact conditions between the yarns and the various yam guides on the respective hairiness meters. Such different trends also suggest that reconciling hairiness results from different hairiness meters may be difficult.
Chlorambucil for the treatment of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) – a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized trials

Abstract Randomized clinical trials that compared chlorambucil to different regimens, for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma (CLL/SLL) do not support an overall survival (OS) benefit. To assess the efficacy and safety of chlorambucil as frontline treatment, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. OS was the primary outcome. Meta-analysis of 18 trials that compared purine analogs, alkylators, alemtuzumab and ibrutinib to chlorambucil demonstrated no OS benefit for therapy without chlorambucil over chlorambucil (pooled HR 0.99, 95% CI 0.91–1.08; 4133 patients). PFS was longer with purine analogs compared with chlorambucil with an increased risk of infection. The risk of secondary malignancies was not increased with chlorambucil. In conclusion, our study showed that chlorambucil is an acceptable chemotherapy backbone for unfit patients with CLL. Purine analogs should be preferred in fit younger patients because of longer PFS. Future trials should focus on unfit patients who are underrepresented in clinical trials.
Citation: Shaw, Keith (2012) Interface: Applying the Resilience Perspective to Planning: Critical Thoughts from Theory and Practice - “Reframing” Resilience: Challenges for Planning Theory and Practice. Planning Theory

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Model-Driven Design, Development, Execution and Management of Service-Based Applications

Service-based software applications, such as pervasive and ubiquitous ones, are increasingly embedded in our daily lives integrating smart communicating devices. Usually, changes in the execution context of these applications occur unpredictably over time, such as dynamic variations in the availability of the used services and devices, or of the user location and needs. This unpredictable variability in the execution contexts makes impossible to know at design-time the exact conditions under which these applications will be used and the services that will be most suited at a given time. Therefore, the architecture of such applications cannot be fully defined at design-time. These applications must be defined in abstract and flexible ways, allowing incremental composition and dynamic adaptation to their execution context at runtime. In this paper, we present a model-driven approach for designing, developing, executing and managing service-based applications. At design-time, an application is mainly defined by its requirements and goals. The application definition can be extended to add specific functional or non-functional concerns, such as dynamic adaptation, deployment or distribution. At development-time, the application can be automatically and incrementally composed, ensuring its consistency with respect to its definition. At runtime, the application execution is supported and controlled by our runtime environment.
Application of Generative Autoencoder in De Novo Molecular Design

A major challenge in computational chemistry is the generation of novel molecular structures with desirable pharmacological and physiochemical properties. In this work, we investigate the potential use of autoencoder, a deep learning methodology, for de novo molecular design. Various generative autoencoders were used to map molecule structures into a continuous latent space and vice versa and their performance as structure generator was assessed. Our results show that the latent space preserves chemical similarity principle and thus can be used for the generation of analogue structures. Furthermore, the latent space created by autoencoders were searched systematically to generate novel compounds with predicted activity against dopamine receptor type 2 and compounds similar to known active compounds not included in the trainings set were identified.
Grape seed extract attenuates dexamethasone‐induced testicular and thyroid dysfunction in male albino rats

This study scrutinised the ameliorative properties of grape seed extract (GSE) in dexamethasone (DEX)‐induced testicular and thyroid dysfunction associated with oxidative stress in male albino rats. Thirty‐two healthy adult male albino rats were divided into four groups of eight animals each: normal, DEX control, DEX + GSE (200 mg/kg body weight) group and DEX + GSE (400 mg/kg body weight) group. The body weight gain and testes weight were assessed. Plasma testosterone and thyroid profile were determined. Testicular glucose‐6‐phosphate dehydrogenase (G‐6‐PDH), acid phosphatase (ACP), total protein and glutathione (GSH) levels, as well as catalase (CAT) activity also histopathological changes of the testis were evaluated. DEX treatment caused a significant decrease in body weight gain and weight of testes. Significant alterations in enzymatic and nonenzymatic antioxidants were observed. Moreover, a marked reduction in plasma testosterone levels and thyroid profile was observed. The administration of GSE significantly attenuated the deleterious effects of oxidative stress induced by DEX, as well as attenuated DEX‐induced testicular and thyroid damage. Furthermore, DEX induced histological alterations in the testis. GSE ameliorated the injurious effects of DEX and improved the histological alterations in the testis.
Scalable Private Set Intersection Based on OT Extension

Private set intersection (PSI) allows two parties to compute the intersection of their sets without revealing any information about items that are not in the intersection. It is one of the best studied applications of secure computation and many PSI protocols have been proposed. However, the variety of existing PSI protocols makes it difficult to identify the solution that performs best in a respective scenario, especially since they were not compared in the same setting. In addition, existing PSI protocols are several orders of magnitude slower than an insecure naïve hashing solution, which is used in practice. In this article, we review the progress made on PSI protocols and give an overview of existing protocols in various security models. We then focus on PSI protocols that are secure against semi-honest adversaries and take advantage of the most recent efficiency improvements in Oblivious Transfer (OT) extension, propose significant optimizations to previous PSI protocols, and suggest a new PSI protocol whose runtime is superior to that of existing protocols. We compare the performance of the protocols, both theoretically and experimentally, by implementing all protocols on the same platform, give recommendations on which protocol to use in a particular setting, and evaluate the progress on PSI protocols by comparing them to the currently employed insecure naïve hashing protocol. We demonstrate the feasibility of our new PSI protocol by processing two sets with a billion elements each.
DNA Barcoding for Identification of ‘Candidatus Phytoplasmas’ Using a Fragment of the Elongation Factor Tu Gene

Background Phytoplasmas are bacterial phytopathogens responsible for significant losses in agricultural production worldwide. Several molecular markers are available for identification of groups or strains of phytoplasmas. However, they often cannot be used for identification of phytoplasmas from different groups simultaneously or are too long for routine diagnostics. DNA barcoding recently emerged as a convenient tool for species identification. Here, the development of a universal DNA barcode based on the elongation factor Tu (tuf) gene for phytoplasma identification is reported. Methodology/Principal Findings We designed a new set of primers and amplified a 420–444 bp fragment of tuf from all 91 phytoplasmas strains tested (16S rRNA groups -I through -VII, -IX through -XII, -XV, and -XX). Comparison of NJ trees constructed from the tuf barcode and a 1.2 kbp fragment of the 16S ribosomal gene revealed that the tuf tree is highly congruent with the 16S rRNA tree and had higher inter- and intra- group sequence divergence. Mean K2P inter−/intra- group divergences of the tuf barcode did not overlap and had approximately one order of magnitude difference for most groups, suggesting the presence of a DNA barcoding gap. The use of the tuf barcode allowed separation of main ribosomal groups and most of their subgroups. Phytoplasma tuf barcodes were deposited in the NCBI GenBank and Q-bank databases. Conclusions/Significance This study demonstrates that DNA barcoding principles can be applied for identification of phytoplasmas. Our findings suggest that the tuf barcode performs as well or better than a 1.2 kbp fragment of the 16S rRNA gene and thus provides an easy procedure for phytoplasma identification. The obtained sequences were used to create a publicly available reference database that can be used by plant health services and researchers for online phytoplasma identification.
A Practical Modeling Framework for Non‐Fickian Transport and Multi‐Species Sequential First‐Order Reaction

Many studies indicate that small‐scale heterogeneity and/or mobile–immobile mass exchange produce transient non‐Fickian plume behavior that is not well captured by the use of the standard, deterministic advection‐dispersion equation (ADE). An extended ADE modeling framework is presented here that is based on continuous time random walk theory. It can be used to characterize non‐Fickian transport coupled with simultaneous sequential first‐order reactions (e.g., biodegradation or radioactive decay) for multiple degrading contaminants such as chlorinated solvents, royal demolition explosive, pesticides, and radionuclides. To demonstrate this modeling framework, new transient analytical solutions are derived and are inverted in Laplace space. Closed‐form, steady‐state, multi‐species analytical solutions are also derived for non‐Fickian transport in highly heterogeneous aquifers with linear sorption–desorption and matrix diffusion for use in spreadsheets. The solutions are general enough to allow different degradation rates for the mobile and immobile zones. The transient solutions for multi‐species transport are applied to examine the effects of source remediation on the natural attenuation of downgradient plumes of both parent and degradation products in highly heterogeneous aquifers. Results for representative settings show that the use of the standard, deterministic ADE can over‐estimate cleanup rates and under‐predict the cleanup timeframe in comparison to the extended ADE analytical model. The modeling framework and calculations introduced here are also applied for a 30 year groundwater cleanup program at a site in Palm Bay, Florida. The simulated plume concentrations using the extended ADE exhibited agreement with observed long concentration tails of trichloroethene, cis 1,2 DCE, and VC that remained above cleanup goals.
A New Class of Private Chi-Square Tests

In this paper, we develop new test statistics for private hypothesis testing. These statistics are designed specifically so that their asymptotic distributions, after accounting for noise added for privacy concerns, match the asymptotics of the classical (non-private) chi-square tests for testing if the multinomial data parameters lie in lower dimensional manifolds (examples include goodness of fit and independence testing). Empirically, these new test statistics outperform prior work, which focused on noisy versions of existing statistics.
Machining of Fiber-reinforced Thermoplastics: Influence of Feed and Drill Size on Thrust Force and Torque during Drilling

Polymer-based composite materials possess superior properties such as high strength-to-weight ratio, stiffness-to-weight ratio, and good corrosive resistance and therefore, are preferred for high-performance applications such as in the aerospace, defense, and sport goods industries. Drilling is one of the indispensable methods for building products with composite panels. Drilling tests have been conducted on glass fiber-reinforced plastic composite GFRP laminates using an instrumented CNC milling center. Machining parameters such as drill size, feed rate, and cutting speed have been observed for damage-free drilling of GFRP materials. A series of drilling experiments have been conducted on glass fiber-reinforced polyester laminates and the responses experienced such as thrust force and torque as functions of feed rate and drill size have been characterized to develop a semiempirical relationship which correlated well with an established model in terms of cutting parameters. Results indicated that experimental values correlated better with the model of thrust for 6 mm drill size than for 10 mm and torque correlated better for lower feed ranges than for the higher feed ranges.