Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Tissue reaction after subcutaneous implants of a new material composed of ethylene-vinyl acetate and starch for future use as a biomaterial.

This study aimed to evaluate the tissue reaction of ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) in 4 different compositions and processing: EVA foamed at high pressure with ultrasound (EVACU); EVA with 15% starch foamed at high pressure with ultrasound (EVAMCU); EVA with 15% starch foamed at high pressure without ultrasound and EVA foamed at high pressure without ultrasound as future use as a porous scaffold. Scanning electron microscopy images showed the influence of starch, reducing the diameter of pores. The number of open pores was also reduced with the addition of starch. The ultrasound applied during the manufacturing of composites does not affect these characteristics. Eighteen rats were used to test the tissue reaction of materials and PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene), proven biocompatible material. After 7, 15, and 60 days of surgery, the materials were removed and processed for microscopic evaluation and counting of the inflammatory infiltrate. The data shows inflammatory reaction similar to PTFE. However, in the quantitative analysis at 60 days, the EVACU and EVAMCU showed less quantity of mononuclear cells (p < 0.05). Thus, the results suggest that the use of ultrasound in the production method (EVA) seems to have improved cell behavior regarding the reduction of infiltration over the period, with tissue response equivalent to the PTFE. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part B: Appl Biomater, 107B: 400-407, 2019.
E-commerce Time Series Forecasting using LSTM Neural Network and Support Vector Regression

The purpose of this paper is to provide a robust forecasting model to predict phone prices on European markets using Long Short Term Memory neural network (LSTM) and Support Vector Regression (SVR). We propose a comparison study of time series forecasting models for these two techniques. The Long Short Term Memory, due to its architecture, is considered as a perfect solution to problems not solvable by classic Recurrent Neural Networks (RNN). On the other hand, Support Vector machines is a very powerful machine learning method for both classification and regression. After studying and comparing several univariate models, SVR and LSTM neural network appear to be the most accurate ones. In addition, we compared multivariate models for both techniques SVR and LSTM. Considering the multivariate approach, by introducing more variables, we obtain better performance for the prediction. In fact, SVR model is able to predict the next day price with RMSE 35.43 Euros with univariate model. However, using multivariate models, recurrent neural network LSTM gives the most accurate prediction for the next day's price with RMSE of 24.718 Euros.
Operant Conditioning of a Spinal Reflex Can Improve Locomotion after Spinal Cord Injury in Humans

Operant conditioning protocols can modify the activity of specific spinal cord pathways and can thereby affect behaviors that use these pathways. To explore the therapeutic application of these protocols, we studied the impact of down-conditioning the soleus H-reflex in people with impaired locomotion caused by chronic incomplete spinal cord injury. After a baseline period in which soleus H-reflex size was measured and locomotion was assessed, subjects completed either 30 H-reflex down-conditioning sessions (DC subjects) or 30 sessions in which the H-reflex was simply measured [unconditioned (UC) subjects], and locomotion was reassessed. Over the 30 sessions, the soleus H-reflex decreased in two-thirds of the DC subjects (a success rate similar to that in normal subjects) and remained smaller several months later. In these subjects, locomotion became faster and more symmetrical, and the modulation of EMG activity across the step cycle increased bilaterally. Furthermore, beginning about halfway through the conditioning sessions, all of these subjects commented spontaneously that they were walking faster and farther in their daily lives, and several noted less clonus, easier stepping, and/or other improvements. The H-reflex did not decrease in the other DC subjects or in any of the UC subjects; and their locomotion did not improve. These results suggest that reflex-conditioning protocols can enhance recovery of function after incomplete spinal cord injuries and possibly in other disorders as well. Because they are able to target specific spinal pathways, these protocols could be designed to address each individual's particular deficits, and might thereby complement other rehabilitation methods.
The Distribution and Population Density of Bornean Tarsier, “Tarsius Bancanus Borneanus (Elliot)” in Secondary and Rehabilitated Forests of Universiti Putra Malaysia, Bintulu Sarawak Campus, Sarawak, Malaysia

Tarsius bancanus borneanus was first reported by Elliot in 1990 which an endemic species that can be found on the Island of Borneo consisting of Sabah and Sarawak of Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam and Kalimantan, Indonesia. This sub-species has been listed as a totally protected animal under the Sarawak Wild Life Protection Ordinance (1998) and vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The present study was conducted at Universiti Putra Malaysia Bintulu Campus (UPMKB), Sarawak from October 2014 till March 2015. Through mark and recapture sampling covering an area of 37 ha of secondary forest patches and 7.13 ha of rehabilitated forest, a total of 16 tarsiers were captured using mist nets while one tarsier was recapture. The population density was 38 individuals/km2 was captured using mist nets in the secondary forest while 28 individuals/km2 was recorded for the rehabilitated forest. Using the catch per unit effort (net hour) method, the average time for capturing tarsiers in the secondary forest patches was 26.6 net hour per animal and 30.0 net hour per animal in the rehabilitated forest. The presented results provides information on the presence of tarsiers in both the secondary and rehabilitated forests of UPMKB, Sarawak, Malaysia which underlines the conservation value of these forested areas.
Genomic analysis reveals different mechanisms of fusidic acid resistance in Staphylococcus aureus from Danish atopic dermatitis patients

Abstract Background Staphylococcus aureus skin colonization is common in patients with atopic dermatitis (AD) and is associated with risk of skin infections. AD patients therefore often receive antibiotic treatments, including topical treatment with fusidic acid, which have been associated with resistance development. Objectives To examine the prevalence of antibiotic resistance in S. aureus isolated from Danish AD patients, with a primary focus on fusidic acid resistance and the genetic mechanisms that underlie it. Methods One hundred and thirty-eight S. aureus isolates collected from lesional skin (n = 54), non-lesional skin (n = 27) and anterior nares (n = 57) from 71 adult AD patients were included in the study. Isolates were tested for susceptibility to 17 selected antibiotics. S. aureus whole-genome sequences were used to examine the genetic determinants of fusidic acid resistance (fusA or fusE mutations or carriage of fusB or fusC genes). Results One hundred and nine isolates (79%) were resistant to at least one of the tested antibiotics, with the most prevalent resistances being to penicillin (55%), fusidic acid (41%) and erythromycin (11%). The primary genetic mechanisms of fusidic acid resistance were carriage of fusC (57%) or mutations in fusA (38%). The most prevalent S. aureus lineage was ST1 (23%). All ST1 isolates carried fusC. Conclusions S. aureus fusidic acid resistance, caused by either fusA mutations or fusC gene carriage, is a major concern among AD patients. Resistant S. aureus might spread from the patients to the community, indicating the need to reduce the use of fusidic acid in the treatment of AD.
Age and gender as independent risk factors for malware victimisation

This paper presents the results of an empirical study we designed to investigate the independent effect of age and gender as potential risk factors for malware victimisation. Using data collected from Microsoft's Windows Defender on a sample of three million devices running Windows 10, we found that both age and gender are contributing factors for malware victimisation. Men, and young men in particular, were more likely to encounter malware than women, and younger users were more at risk of encountering malware than their older counterparts. However, our findings suggest that the effect of age and gender is not constant across different types of malware. We also discuss potential causes and implications of these age and gender differences in malware victimisation.
Fingerprinting Codes for Internet-Based Live Pay-TV System Using Balanced Incomplete Block Designs

In recent years, with the rapid growth of the Internet as well as the increasing demand for broadband services, live pay-television broadcasting via the Internet has become a promising business. To get this implemented, it is necessary to protect distributed contents from illegal copying and redistributing after they are accessed. Fingerprinting system is a useful tool for it. This paper shows that the anti-collusion code has advantages over other existing fingerprinting codes in terms of efficiency and effectivity for live pay-television broadcasting. Next, this paper presents how to achieve efficient and effective anti-collusion codes based on unital and affine plane, which are two known examples of balanced incomplete block design (BIBD). Meanwhile, performance evaluations of anti-collusion codes generated from unital and affine plane are conducted. Their practical explicit constructions are given last.
Clinical Impact of Cabin Altitude Restriction Following Aeromedical Evacuation.

Combat medical care relies on aeromedical evacuation (AE). Vital to AE is the validating flight surgeon (VFS) who warrants a patient is "fit to fly. " To do this, the VFS considers clinical characteristics and inflight physiological stressors, often prescribing specific interventions such as a cabin altitude restriction (CAR). Unfortunately, limited information is available regarding the clinical consequences of a CAR. Consequently, a dual case-control study (CAR patients versus non-CAR patients and non-CAR patients flown with a CAR versus non-CAR patients) was executed. Data on 1,114 patients were obtained from TRANSCOM Regulating and Command and Control Evacuation System and Landstuhl Regional Medical Center trauma database (January 2007 to February 2008). Demographic and clinical factors essentially showed no difference between groups; however, CAR patients appeared more severely injured than non-CAR patients. Despite being sicker, CAR patients had similar clinical outcomes when compared with non-CAR patients. In contrast, despite an equivocal severity picture, the non-CAR patients flown with a CAR had superior clinical outcomes when compared with non-CAR patients. It appeared that the CAR prescription normalized severely injured to moderately injured and brought moderately injured into a less morbid state. These results suggest that CAR should be seriously considered when evacuating seriously ill/injured patients.
The Adolescent Sexual Abuser Project (ASAP) Assessment Measures—Dutch Revised Version: A comparison of personality characteristics between juvenile sex offenders, juvenile perpetrators of non-sexual violent offences and non-delinquent youth in the Netherlands

Abstract In this paper, the Adolescent Sexual Abuser Project (ASAP) assessment pack—Dutch Revised Version (ASAP-D) is presented. The ASAP-D is an assessment instrument which measures the personality characteristics that are generally considered relevant in the literature for the development and perpetuation of sexually abusive behaviour in juveniles. After a description of the measures that comprise the instrument, its basic psychometric qualities are presented. In addition, the personality characteristics as measured by the ASAP-D are compared between a group of juvenile sex offenders, a group of juvenile perpetrators of non-sexual violent offences and a representative sample of non-delinquent youth. The results of this comparison are discussed.
Climate modulation of the Tibetan Plateau on haze in China

Abstract. Rapid increases in pollutant emissions in conjunction with stagnant meteorological conditions result in haze pollution in China. Recent frequent haze in China has attracted worldwide attention. Here we show a relationship between the haze events and Tibetan Plateau (TP)'s environment and climate changes. Based on observational data taken over recent decades, we identify central-eastern China (CEC) as a climatological large-scale “susceptible region” of frequent haze, which is harbored by the TP with its impact on midlatitude westerly winds. The observational and modeling studies demonstrate that the interannual variations in the thermal forcing of TP are positively correlated with the incidences of wintertime haze over CEC. Further analysis indicates that the climate warming of the TP induced changes in atmospheric circulation, driving frequent haze events in CEC. The frequent haze occurrences in CEC are consistent with decreasing winter monsoon winds, intensifying downward air flows and increasing atmospheric stability in the lower troposphere over the CEC in association with upstream plateau's thermal anomalies. Therefore, variations of haze in China are related to mechanical and thermal forcing by the TP. Our results also suggest that implications of the large TP topography for environment and climate changes should be taken into account for air pollution mitigation policies in China.
Use of Pleurotus eous Strain P-31 Spent Mushroom Compost (SMC) as Soil Conditioner on the Growth and Yield Performance of Capsicum annuum L. and Solanum lycopersicon L. Seedlings under Greenhouse Conditions in Ghana

The objective of this study was to investigate the influence of spent mushroom compost of Pleurotus eous strain P-31 on the growth and yield performance of pepper and tomato seedlings under greenhouse conditions. Sandy loam soil was combined with different percentages of SMC to obtain the following combinations (0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30) %. Lower concentrations SMC5, SMC10 and SMC15 promoted vegetative growth (plant height, leaf area, chlorophyll content, number of leaves and axillary branches) of the two test plants. Tomato seedlings grown in SMC10 recorded the highest plant height (50.3 ± 7.2cm); leaf area (378.8 ± 1.2cm2); number of floral buds (51) and flowers (28) whereas SMC5 recorded the highest chlorophyll content 34.1 ± 0.9CCI though SMC15 recorded the highest number of leaves (8). Tomato seedlings grown in SMC30 produced both the maximum number of fruits (8) with corresponding high weight (34.2 ± 7.7g). Pepper seedlings grown in lower concentrations (SMC5–15) recorded the highest plant heights (29.8–30.8cm), chlorophyll content (20.3CCI) and leaf area (53.5–66.2 cm2). Although the different combinations of sandy loam soil and SMC did not significantly (p ≥ 0.05) affect the number of axillary branches developed; different combinations significantly (p ≤ 0.05) affected the number of floral bud, flower and fruit, weight of fruits formed and value of each of these increased with increasing percentage of SMC. Pepper seedlings grown on SMC30 recorded the maximum number of floral buds (32.0 ± 3.6), number of flowers (19.4 ± 1.3), number of fruits (10.8 ± 1.2) and weight of fruits (31.9 ± 3.4g). Tomato seedlings raised on SMC100 (spent mushroom compost only) and soil only did not significantly (p ≥ 0.05) differ from each other however, was statistically significant (p ≤ 0.05) from amended sandy loam soil by all criteria investigated. The study shows that SMC provide favourable soil conditioners for the cultivation of fruits, vegetables and foliage crops as it improved growth and yield of tomato and pepper seedlings.
Multi-scale context-aware networks for quantitative assessment of colorectal liver metastases

Colorectal Liver Metastases is the main cause of death in patients with colorectal cancer. Accurate histopathological assessment of the tumour regression — pathological response — in surgically resected liver matastases after preoperative chemotherapy is of paramount importance for prognostic stratification and subsequent planning of treatment. In this paper, we propose two multi-scale deep neural networks to address the absence of contextual information when using the patch-based methods for segmentation tasks in histopathological image analysis. The proposed networks are capable of integrating the texture features from a high magnification level and the contextual information from a low magnification level to achieve more accurate results. Extensive experiments have been performed on a dataset of whole slide scans of resected colorectal liver metastases annotated by experts. Our results demonstrate that the proposed multi-scale networks outperform the networks trained on any single magnification level alone.
Influence of PZT Coating Thickness and Electrical Pole Alignment on Microresonator Properties

With increasing technical requirements in the design of microresonators, the development of new techniques for lightweight, simple, and inexpensive components becomes relevant. Lead zirconate titanate (PZT) is a powerful tool in the formation of these components, allowing a self-actuation or self-sensing capability. Different fabrication methods lead to the variation of the properties of the device itself. This research paper covers the fabrication of a novel PZT film and the investigations of its chemical, surface, and dynamic properties when film thickness is varied. A screen-printing technique was used for the formation of smooth films of 60 µm, 68 µm, and 25 µm thickness. A custom-made poling technique was applied to enhance the piezoelectric properties of the designed films. However, poling did not change any compositional or surface characteristics of the films; changes were only seen in the electrical ones. The results showed that a thinner poled PZT film having a chemical composition with the highest amount of copper and zirconium led to better electrical characteristics (generated voltage of 3.5 mV).
Swelling Behavior of Hydrogels within Auxetic Polytetrafluoroethylene Jacket

An acrylamide type hydrogel consisting of 2-acrylamido-2-methyl-1-propanesulfonic acid was synthesized using free radical suspension polymerization. Hydrogel particles were then loaded within an auxetic polytetrafluoroethylene jacket. It was found that the swelling ratio of the hydrogels within the jacket can be controlled by changing the loaded particle’s amount and size without the wear and tear of jacket due to the auxetic effect. Increasing swelling ratio with finer hydrogel particles was observed due to higher surface area. On the other hand, increasing hydrogel particle amount resulted in a decrease in water absorption due to diminished free volume for swelling within the jacket. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT
Epsilon-Coresets for Clustering (with Outliers) in Doubling Metrics

We study the problem of constructing ε-coresets for the (k, z)-clustering problem in a doubling metric M(X, d). An ε-coreset is a weighted subset S ⊆ X with weight function w: S → R_≥ 0, such that for any k-subset C ε [X]^k, it holds that Σ_xεS w(x) ⋅ d^z(x, C)ε (1±ε) ⋅ Σ_xεX d^z(x, C). We present an efficient algorithm that constructs an ε-coreset for the (k, z)-clustering problem in M(X, d), where the size of the coreset only depends on the parameters k, z, ε and the doubling dimension ddim(M). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first efficient ε-coreset construction of size independent of |X| for general clustering problems in doubling metrics. To this end, we establish the first relation between the doubling dimension of M(X, d) and the shattering dimension (or VC-dimension) of the range space induced by the distance d. Such a relation was not known before, since one can easily construct instances in which neither one can be bounded by (some function of) the other. Surprisingly, we show that if we allow a small (1 ± ε)-distortion of the distance function d, and consider the notion of τ-error probabilistic shattering dimension, we can prove an upper bound of O(ddim(M)⋅ log(1/ε) +log log 1/τ) for the probabilistic shattering dimension for even weighted doubling metrics. We believe this new relation is of independent interest and may find other applications. We also study the robust coresets and centroid sets in doubling metrics. Our robust coreset construction leads to new results in clustering and property testing, and the centroid sets can be used to accelerate the local search algorithms for clustering problems were only known for Euclidean spaces. We can apply our centroid set to accelerate the local search algorithm (studied in [Friggstad et al., FOCS 2016]) for the (k, z)-clustering problem in doubling metrics.
Aerosol chemical and optical properties over the Paris area within ESQUIF project

Aerosol chemical and optical properties are ex- tensively investigated for the first time over the Paris Basin in July 2000 within the ESQUIF project. The measurement campaign offers an exceptional framework to evaluate the performances of the chemistry-transport model CHIMERE in simulating concentrations of gaseous and aerosol pollu- tants, as well as the aerosol-size distribution and composition in polluted urban environments against ground-based and air- borne measurements. A detailed comparison of measured and simulated variables during the second half of July with particular focus on 19 and 31 pollution episodes reveals an overall good agreement for gas-species and aerosol compo- nents both at the ground level and along flight trajectories, and the absence of systematic biases in simulated meteoro- logical variables such as wind speed, relative humidity and boundary layer height as computed by the MM5 model. A good consistency in ozone and NO concentrations demon- strates the ability of the model to reproduce the plume struc- ture and location fairly well both on 19 and 31 July, despite an underestimation of the amplitude of ozone concentrations on 31 July. The spatial and vertical aerosol distributions are also examined by comparing simulated and observed lidar vertical profiles along flight trajectories on 31 July and con- firm the model capacity to simulate the plume characteris- tics. The comparison of observed and modeled aerosol com- ponents in the southwest suburb of Paris during the second half of July indicates that the aerosol composition is rather correctly reproduced, although the total aerosol mass is un- derestimated by about 20%. The simulated Parisian aerosol is dominated by primary particulate matter that accounts for anthropogenic and biogenic primary particles (40%), and in- organic aerosol fraction (40%) including nitrate (8%), sul- fate (22%) and ammonium (10%). The secondary organic aerosols (SOA) represent 12% of the total aerosol mass, while the mineral dust accounts for 8%. The comparison demonstrates the absence of systematic errors in the sim- ulated sulfate, ammonium and nitrates total concentrations. However, for nitrates the observed partition between fine and coarse mode is not reproduced. In CHIMERE there is a clear lack of coarse-mode nitrates. This calls for additional param- eterizations in order to account for the heterogeneous forma- tion of nitrate onto dust particles. Larger discrepancies are obtained for the secondary organic aerosols due to both in- consistencies in the SOA formation processes in the model leading to an underestimation of their mass and large uncer- tainties in the determination of the measured aerosol organic fraction. The observed mass distribution of aerosols is not well reproduced, although no clear explanation can be given.