Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Nanoindentation of polymers: an overview

In this paper, the application of instrumented indentation devices to the measurement of the elastic modulus of polymeric materials is reviewed. This review includes a summary of traditional analyses of load-penetration data and a discussion of associated uncertainties. Also, the use of scanning probe microscopes to measure the nanoscale mechanical response of polymers is discussed, particularly with regard to the associated limitations. The application of these methods to polymers often leads to measurements of elastic modulus that are somewhat high relative to bulk measurements with potentially artificial trends in modulus as a function of penetration depth. Also, power law fits to indentation unloading curves are often a poor representation of the actual data, and the power law exponents tend to fall outside the theoretical range. These problems are likely caused by viscoelasticity, the effects of which have only been studied recently. Advancement of nanoindentation testing toward quantitative characterization of polymer properties will require materialindependent calibration procedures, polymer reference materials, advances in instrumentation, and new testing and analysis procedures that account for viscoelastic and viscoplastic polymer behavior.
The dominant role of impurities in the composition of high pressure noble gas plasmas

We present in this letter how a molecular gas such as nitrogen at different levels of impurity dominates the ionic composition of an atmospheric pressure noble gas plasma such as in helium. The positive charge in the discharge is only determined by helium ions if the discharge gas contains less than 1ppm of impurity. Above this impurity level, the positive charge is completely determined by the impurity nitrogen. The higher the relative nitrogen concentration, the more N4+ dominates over N2+. If the impurity level is between 1 and about 20ppm, N2+ is clearly the most abundant positive ion but for higher levels of impurity, N4+ almost completely determines the positive charge.
Attention-Based LSTM for Psychological Stress Detection from Spoken Language Using Distant Supervision

We propose a Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) with attention mechanism to classify psychological stress from self-conducted interview transcriptions. We apply distant supervision by automatically labeling tweets based on their hash-tag content, which complements and expands the size of our corpus. This additional data is used to initialize the model parameters, and which it is fine-tuned using the interview data. This improves the model's robustness, especially by expanding the vocabulary size. The bidirectional LSTM model with attention is found to be the best model in terms of accuracy (74.1%) and f-score (74.3%). Furthermore, we show that distant supervision fine-tuning enhances the model's performance by 1.6% accuracy and 2.1% f-score. The attention mechanism helps the model to select informative words.
The isothiocyanate sulforaphane modulates platelet function and protects against cerebral thrombotic dysfunction

Platelet activation provides a critical link between inflammation and thrombosis. Sulforaphane (SFN), a naturally occurring isothiocyanate, has been shown to display both anti‐inflammatory and anti‐thrombotic actions in the systemic microvasculature. As inflammation promotes thrombosis and vice versa, in this study we investigated whether SFN is able to reduce inflammatory potentiation of thrombotic events, suppress platelet activation and thrombus formation in the cerebral microvasculature.
Understanding Early Childhood Socialisation in Immigrant Families: Malaysian-Chinese Parents' Perceptions on the Importance of Ethnic Identity and Cultural Maintenance

This pilot study was designed to shed light on Malaysian-Chinese parents' beliefs about ethnic identity and cultural maintenance in children's socialisation following migration. Three Malaysian-Chinese families residing in Sydney, Australia, with at least one child within the early childhood age range of 4 - 8 years, participated in the study. Semi-structured interviews involved parents sharing information about their demographic and cultural backgrounds, expectations and hopes for their children, and the importance they attach to cultural beliefs and practices. The findings of this study indicate that parents' socialisation practices are inherently geared towards maintaining culture. However, whether or not this reflects a conscious emphasis on the importance of ethnic identity among parents is less clear because, as the findings presented here suggest, the concept is complex and often implied rather than overt. The paper concludes with suggestions for future research that seeks to reveal further insight into this important but complex area.
Immune checkpoints indoleamine 2,3‐dioxygenase 1 and programmed death‐ligand 1 in oral mucosal dysplasia

BACKGROUND Oral mucosal dysplasia is a histologic feature of potentially malignant disorders that is associated with the risk of transformation to carcinoma. Dysplastic cells use many strategies during their transformation to cancer, including escape from the immune mediated destruction. We hypothesized that adaptive immunity is inhibited by activation of distinct immune checkpoint molecules, such as indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase 1 (IDO1) and programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1). METHODS We collected 63 oral dysplasia samples from 47 patients. Nine biopsies from alveolar mucosa were taken during wisdom teeth extractions were used as healthy controls. Tissue samples were stained and scored for IDO1 and PD-L1. Additionally, dysplasia grades and inflammatory cell infiltration were evaluated. Eight patients were followed up to 36 months to evaluate dysplasia progression, inflammation, and immune checkpoint molecules expression. RESULTS Dysplastic epithelium had significantly lower IDO1 expression than that of healthy controls. PD-L1 positive cells in the lamina propria were mainly in dysplastic samples and seldom in healthy controls. Dysplasia grade was associated negatively with epithelium IDO1 and positively with IDO1 and PD-L1 expression in the lamina propria. There was a positive association between dysplasia grade and level of inflammatory cell infiltration. During follow-up, dysplasia grade, inflammatory cell infiltration, and the immune checkpoint expression fluctuated over time. CONCLUSIONS Immune checkpoint molecules IDO1 and PD-L1 are modulated during oral epithelial dysplastic changes, and their expression is associated with inflammatory cell infiltration in the lamina propria. As immune checkpoint molecules expression fluctuates over time, these molecules are not useful as biomarkers for oral mucosal dysplasia progression.
Computing the Drivable Area of Autonomous Road Vehicles in Dynamic Road Scenes

This paper presents an algorithm for overapproximating the drivable area of road vehicles in the presence of time-varying obstacles. The drivable area can be used to detect whether a feasible trajectory exists and in which area one can limit the search of drivable trajectories. For this purpose, we abstract the considered road vehicle by a point mass with bounded velocity and acceleration. Our algorithm calculates the reachable occupancy at discrete time steps. At each time step, the set is represented by a union of finitely many sets, which are each the Cartesian product of two 2-D convex polytopes. We demonstrate our method with three examples: i) a traffic situation with identical dynamic constraints in the x- and y-directions; ii) a highway scenario with different lateral and longitudinal constraints of the dynamics; and iii) a highway scenario with different traffic predictions. The examples demonstrate that we can compute the drivable area quickly enough to deploy our approach in real vehicles.
Dexamethasone loaded multi-layer poly-l-lactic acid/pluronic P123 composite electrospun nanofiber scaffolds for bone tissue engineering and drug delivery

Abstract In tissue engineering, it is common to mix drugs that can control proliferation and differentiation of cells into polymeric solutions as part of composite to get bioactive scaffolds. However, direct incorporation of drugs might potentially result in undesired burst release. To overcome this problem, here we developed electrospun multilayer drug loaded poly-l-lactic acid/pluronic P123 (PLLA–P123) composite scaffolds. The drug was loaded into the middle layer. The surface, the mechanical and physiochemical properties of the scaffolds were evaluated. The drug release profiles were monitored. Finally, the osteogenic proliferation and differentiation potential were determined. The scaffolds fabricated here have appropriate surface properties, but with different mechanical strength and osteogenic proliferation and differentiation. Multi-layer scaffolds where the drug was in the middle layer and PLLA-plasma and PLLA–P123 with cover layer showed the best osteogenic proliferation and differentiation than the other groups of scaffolds. The drug release profiles of the scaffolds were completely different: single layer scaffolds showed burst release within the first day, while multilayer scaffolds showed controlled release. Therefore, the multilayer drug loaded scaffolds prepared have dual benefits can provide both better osteogenesis and controlled release of drugs and bioactive molecules at the implant site.
The feasibility of a group stress management Liver SMART intervention for patients with end-stage liver disease: A pilot study

Abstract Objective Structured, empirically supported psychological interventions are lacking for patients who require organ transplantation. This stage IA psychotherapy development project developed and tested the feasibility, acceptability, tolerability, and preliminary efficacy of an 8-week group cognitive behavioral stress management intervention adapted for patients with end-stage liver disease awaiting liver transplantation. Method Twenty-nine English-speaking United Network for Organ Sharing–registered patients with end-stage liver disease from a single transplantation center enrolled in 8-week, group cognitive-behavioral liver stress management and relaxation training intervention adapted for patients with end-stage liver disease. Patients completed pre- and postintervention surveys that included the Beck Depression Inventory II and the Beck Anxiety Inventory. Feasibility, acceptability, tolerability, and preliminary efficacy were assessed. Result Attendance rate was 69.40%. The intervention was rated as “good” to “excellent” by 100% of participants who completed the postintervention survey in teaching them new skills to relax and to cope with stress, and by 94.12% of participants in helping them feel supported while waiting for a liver transplant. No adverse events were recorded over the course of treatment. Attrition was 13.79%. Anxious and depressive symptoms were not statistically different after the intervention. Significance of results The liver stress management and relaxation training intervention is feasible, acceptable, and tolerable to end-stage liver disease patients within a transplant clinic setting. Anxious and depressive symptoms remained stable postintervention. Randomized controlled trials are needed to study the intervention's effectiveness in this population.
Autophagy contributes to hypoxia-induced epithelial to mesenchymal transition of endometrial epithelial cells in endometriosis†

Abstract Endometriosis is a benign gynecologic disorder, and presents with malignant characteristics, such as migration and invasion. Hypoxia has been implicated in triggering epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT). Hypoxia is also known to induce autophagy. However, the relationship between autophagy and EMT under hypoxia conditions in endometriosis remains unknown. In the present study, we found that the expression of hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α), microtubule associated protein light chain 3 (LC3), and mesenchymal cell marker vimentin was significantly higher in ectopic endometrium from patients with endometriosis, along with decreased expression of epithelial cell marker E-cadherin. After hypoxia treatment, endometrial epithelial cells exhibited enhanced migration and invasion abilities, as well as promoted autophagy and the EMT phenotype. Our analyses also show that HIF-1α was responsible for induction of autophagy. Moreover, inhibition of autophagy by chemical or genetic approaches suppressed hypoxia triggered EMT and reduced cell migration and invasion. Collectively, our findings identify that autophagy is critical for the migration and invasion of endometrial cells through the induction of EMT and indicate that inhibition of autophagy may be a novel useful strategy in the treatment of endometriosis. Summary Sentence The autophagy, which is induced by peritoneal hypoxia, is essential for EMT initiation in endometriosis.
Measuring Listening Effort: Convergent Validity, Sensitivity, and Links With Cognitive and Personality Measures.

Purpose Listening effort (LE) describes the attentional or cognitive requirements for successful listening. Despite substantial theoretical and clinical interest in LE, inconsistent operationalization makes it difficult to make generalizations across studies. The aims of this large-scale validation study were to evaluate the convergent validity and sensitivity of commonly used measures of LE and assess how scores on those tasks relate to cognitive and personality variables. Method Young adults with normal hearing (N = 111) completed 7 tasks designed to measure LE, 5 tests of cognitive ability, and 2 personality measures. Results Scores on some behavioral LE tasks were moderately intercorrelated but were generally not correlated with subjective and physiological measures of LE, suggesting that these tasks may not be tapping into the same underlying construct. LE measures differed in their sensitivity to changes in signal-to-noise ratio and the extent to which they correlated with cognitive and personality variables. Conclusions Given that LE measures do not show consistent, strong intercorrelations and differ in their relationships with cognitive and personality predictors, these findings suggest caution in generalizing across studies that use different measures of LE. The results also indicate that people with greater cognitive ability appear to use their resources more efficiently, thereby diminishing the detrimental effects associated with increased background noise during language processing.
Predicting Quitting in Students Playing a Learning Game

Identifying struggling students in real-time provides a virtual learning environment with an opportunity to intervene meaningfully with supports aimed at improving student learning and engagement. In this paper, we present a detailed analysis of quit prediction modeling in students playing a learning game called Physics Playground. From the interaction log data of the game, we engineered a comprehensive set of aggregated features of varying levels of granularity and trained individualized level-specific models and a single level-agnostic model. Contrary to our initial expectation, our results suggest that a level-agnostic model achieves superior predictive performance. We enhanced this model further with level-related and student-related features, leading to a moderate increase in AUC. Visualizing this model, we observe that it is based on high-level intuitive features that are generalizable across levels. This model can now be used in future work to automatically trigger cognitive and affective supports to motivate students to pursue a game level until completion.
Watershed Science Title Macroinvertebrate Prey Availability and Fish Diet Selectivity in Relation to Environmental Variables in Natural and Restoring North San Francisco Bay Tidal Marsh Channels Permalink

Tidal marsh wetlands provide important foraging habitat for a variety of estuarine fishes. Prey organisms include benthic/epibenthic macroinvertebrates, neustonic arthropods, and zooplankton. Little is known about the abundance and distribution of interior marsh macroinvertebrate communities in the San Francisco Estuary (estuary). We describe seasonal, regional, and site variation in the composition and abundance of neuston and benthic/epibenthic macroinvertebrates that inhabit tidal marsh channels, and relate these patterns to environmental conditions. We also describe spatial and temporal variation in diets of marsh-associated inland silverside, yellowfin goby, and western mosquitofish. Fish and invertebrates were sampled quarterly from October 2003 to June 2005 at six marsh sites located in three river systems of the northern estuary: Petaluma River, Napa River, and the west Delta. Benthic/epibenthic macroinvertebrates and neuston responded to environmental variables related to seasonal changes (i.e., temperature, salinity), as well as those related to marsh structure (i.e., vegetation, channel edge). The greatest variation in abundance occurred seasonally for neuston and spatially for benthic/epibenthic organisms, suggesting that each community responds to different environmental drivers. Benthic/epibenthic invertebrate abundance and diversity was lowest in the west Delta, and increased with increasing salinity. Insect abundance increased during the spring and summer, while Collembolan (springtail) abundance increased during the winter. Benthic/epibenthic macroinvertebrates dominated fish diets, supplemented by insects, with zooplankton playing a minor role. Diet compositions of the three fish species overlapped considerably, with strong selection indicated for epibenthic crustaceans—a surprising result given the typical classification of Menidia beryllina as a planktivore, Acanthogobius flavimanus as a benthic predator, and Gambusia affinis as a larvivorous surface-feeder. Fish diets were influenced by position along the estuarine gradient and season. Overall, our data show that local-scale site effects and marsh position within the estuary influence invertebrate community composition and abundance. Additionally, we show that restoring marsh ecosystems can subsidize fishes similarly to reference marshes. We thus recommend that managers focus on the ability of restoring marshes to produce food subsidies for target species when planning and designing tidal marsh restoration projects, especially those targeted for food web support. * Corresponding author: ehowe2@uw.edu 1 University of Washington, School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, Seattle, WA USA 2 Washington State University, WSU System-wide School of the Environment, Vancouver, WA USA SAN FRANCISCO ESTUARY & WATERSHED SCIENCE
Prognostic Factors of Functional Recovery from Left Hemispheric Stroke

Although lateralization of the brain affects some specialized cortical functions, there are still limited data to address its influence on clinically important outcomes. This study aimed to reveal the prognostic variables that relate to functional recovery in stroke patients with a left-sided hemispheric lesion during 6 months of follow-up. Data from 167 left-sided and 183 right-sided hemispheric strokes were reviewed retrospectively. Outcomes in this study included walking capacity and functional recovery, assessed by the modified Rankin Scale (mRS). In order to obtain independent predictive variables, this study used the step-backward method of multivariable regression analysis of parameters. The final model demonstrated that motor function of the hemiparetic leg was the strongest independent predictor for both walking ability and functional recovery (risk ratio (RR) of 2.41, 95% CI: 1.61–3.60, and p < 0.001 and RR of 1.83, 95% CI: 1.03–3.26, and p = 0.04, resp. ). Therefore, lateralization did not seem to be involved. Understanding predictable variables that are associated with recovery can guide the rehabilitation team in setting priority and appropriate treatment for stroke patients.
Intraindividual Variability across Neuropsychological Tests: Dispersion and Disengaged Lifestyle Increase Risk for Alzheimer’s Disease

Objective: Increased intraindividual variability (IIV) in function has been linked to various age-related outcomes including cognitive decline and dementia. Most studies have operationalized IIV as fluctuations across trials (e.g., response latencies) for a single task, with comparatively few studies examining variability across multiple tasks for a given individual. In the present study, we derive a multivariable operationalization of dispersion across a broad profile of neuropsychological measures and use this index along with degree of engaged lifestyle to predict risk of cognitive impairment. Participants and Methods: Participants (n = 60) were community-dwelling older adults aged 65+ years (M = 74.1, SD = 6.5) participating in a cross-sectional investigation of risk factors for amnestic mild cognitive impairment (a-MCI) and probable Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). Participants were classified into three subgroups based on test performance and clinical judgement. Healthy controls (n = 30) scored better than −1 SD relative to existing norms on all classification measures, in the absence of memory complaints or functional impairments. The a-MCI group (n = 23) had self- or informant-reported memory complaints and scored 1 SD or more below the mean for at least one memory task while scoring better than 1 SD below the mean for all other cognitive domains, in the absence of functional impairments. The AD group (n = 7) scored at least 2 SD below the mean for two cognitive domains (including memory) with impairments in functioning. Measures spanned a range of cognitive domains (episodic memory, executive function, language), with the derived dispersion estimates reflecting variability across an individual’s neuropsychological profile relative to the group average. Further, an Activities Lifestyle Questionnaire, indexing social, cognitive, and physical behaviors, was administered to assess the protective benefits of engaged lifestyle. Results: Multinomial logistic regression models examined the risk of being classified as a-MCI or AD as a function of increased dispersion, (dis)engaged lifestyle, and their interaction. Greater dispersion was associated with an increased likelihood of being classified with AD, with protective engaged-lifestyle benefits apparent for a-MCI individuals only. Conclusion: As a measure of IIV, dispersion across neuropsychological profiles holds promise for the detection of cognitive impairment.
Pathogenesis of Skin Carcinomas and a Stem Cell as Focal Origin

UV radiation in sunlight has long been recognized as the main exogenous cause of skin carcinomas. We present a brief historical perspective on the progress in understanding the pathogenesis of skin carcinomas, and recent advances. Sun-exposed skin carries numerous UV-related mutations, and skin carcinomas rank among the tumors with the highest mutational loads. In this multitude of mutations only a few are crucial in driving the tumor. Some are known from hereditary (skin) cancer syndromes and other recurrent ones have been validated in transgenic mice. Considering the continuous renewal of the epidermis, the question arises whether the lifelong residing stem cells are the main targets in skin carcinogenesis, a multistep process that would require ample time to evolve. Therefore, classic quiescent stem cells have been studied as potential tumor-initiating cells, as well as more recently discovered actively dividing stem cells (either Lgr5+ or Lgr6+). Interesting differences have emerged between experimental UV and two-stage chemical carcinogenesis, e.g., the latter appears to originate from follicular stem cells, in contrast to the former.