Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Acceleration of chronic wound healing by bio-inorganic polyphosphate: In vitro studies and first clinical applications

The healing of chronic wounds is impaired by a lack of metabolic energy. In previous studies, we showed that physiological inorganic polyphosphate (polyP) is a generator of metabolic energy by forming ATP as a result of the enzymatic cleavage of the high-energy phosphoanhydride bonds of this polymer. Therefore, in the present study, we investigated whether the administration of polyP can substitute for the energy deficiency in chronic wound healing. Methods: PolyP was incorporated into collagen mats and applied in vitro and to patients in vivo. Results: (i) In vitro studies: Keratinocytes grown in vitro onto the polyP/collagen mats formed long microvilli to guide them to a favorable environment. HUVEC cells responded to polyP/collagen mats with an increased adhesion and migration propensity as well as penetration into the mats. (ii) In vivo - human clinical studies: In a “bench to bedside” process these promising in vitro results were translated from the laboratory into the clinic. In the proof-of-concept application, the engineered polyP/collagen mats were applied to chronic wounds in patients. Those mats impressively accelerated the re-epithelialization rate, with a reduction of the wound area to 65% after 3 weeks and to 36.6% and 22.5% after 6 and 9 weeks, respectively. Complete healing was achieved and no further treatment was necessary. Biopsy samples from the regenerating wound area showed predominantly myofibroblasts. The wound healing process was supported by the use of a polyP containing moisturizing solution. Conclusion: The results strongly recommend polyP as a beneficial component in mats for a substantial healing of chronic wounds.
Ultra‐strong phosphorescence with 48% quantum yield from grinding treated thermal annealed carbon dots and boric acid composite

Metal‐free room‐temperature phosphorescence (RTP) materials are of great significance for many applications; however, they usually exhibit low efficiency and weak intensity. This article reports a new strategy for the preparation of a high‐efficiency and strong RTP materials from crystalline thermal‐annealed carbon dots (CDs) and boric acid (BA) composite (g‐t‐CD@BA) through grinding‐induced amorphous to crystallization transition. Amorphous thermal‐annealed CDs and BA composite (t‐CD@BA) is prepared following a thermal melting and super‐cooling route, where the CDs are fully dispersed in molten BA liquid and uniformly frozen in an amorphous thermal annealed BA matrix after super‐cooling to room temperature. Upon grinding treatment, the fracture and fragmentation caused by grinding promote the transformation of the high‐energy amorphous state to the lower energy crystalline counterparts. As a result, the CDs are uniformly in situ embedded in the BA crystal matrix. This method affords maximum uniform embedding of the CDs in the BA crystals, decreases nonradiative decay, and promotes intersystem crossing by restraining the free vibration of the CDs, thus producing strong RTP materials with the highest reported phosphorescence quantum yield (48%). Remarkably, RTP from g‐t‐CD@BA powder is strong enough to illuminate items with a delay time exceeding 9 s.
Flow Processes in Rocket Engine Nozzles with Focus on Flow Separation and Side-Loads

The increasing demand for higher performance in rocket launchers promotes the development of nozzles with higher performance, which is basically achieved by increasing the expansion ratio. However, this may lead to flow separation and ensuing unstationary, asymmetric forces, so-called side-loads, which may present life-limiting constraints on both the nozzle itself and other engine components. Substantial gains can be made in the engine performance if this problem can be overcome, and hence different methods of separation control have been suggested, however none has so far been implemented in full scale, due to the uncertainties involved in modelling and predicting the flow phenomena involved. The present thesis presents a comprehensive, up-to-date review of supersonic flow separation and side-loads in internal nozzle flows with ensuing side-loads. In addition to results available in the literature, it also contains previously unpublished material based on this author’s work, whose main contributions are (i) discovery the role of transition between different separation patterns for side-load generation, (ii) experimental verification of side-loads due to aeroelastic effects and (iii) contributions to the analysis and scaling of side-loads. A physical description of turbulent shock wave boundary layer interactions is given, based on theoretical concepts, computational results and experimental observation. This is followed by an in-depth discussion of different approaches for predicting the phenomena. This includes methods for predicting shock-induced separation, models for predicting side-load levels and aeroelastic coupling effects. Examples are presented to illustrate the status of various methods, and their advantages and shortcomings are discussed. The third part of the thesis focuses on how to design sub-scale models that are able to capture the relevant physics of the full-scale rocket engine nozzle. Scaling laws like those presented in here are indispensable for extracting side-load correlations from sub-scale tests and applying them to full-scale nozzles. The present work was performed at VAC's Space Propulsion Division within the framework of European space cooperation.
Literature review: independent driving in the driver training and on-road assessment protocols - building an evidence base

Accident rates are highest in the first few months of (independent) driving after passing the practical driving test, after which they decrease during the remainder of the first 12 months and beyond. Independent driving has previously been defined as "candidates making a responsible choice based on their own abilities and the requirements of the task". The research literature is reviewed with the aim of providing the Driving Standards Agency (DSA) with an evidence-base on which to inform policy decisions regarding the implementation of an independent driving element into the UK training and testing protocol. The literature show that some of the challenges facing solo drivers include poor opportunity for feedback, involvement in a variety of traffic conditions, different driving manoeuvres, unexpected actions of other drivers, different types of roads and distraction. The findings from this review suggest that giving more emphasis to independent driving in driver training and testing may help address some of the challenges that novice drivers face in the early period of post test driving. Including elements of independent driving in the driving test should give examiners new opportunities to observe more "typical" driving behaviour, and thereby to reach a more robust assessment of competence.
Measurement of vibrations and radiated acoustic noise of electrical machines

The investigations reported in this paper mainly concern the vibration and noise aspects of polyphase induction motors. Although the investigations are focused on induction machines, the fundamental results presented in the paper will be applicable to other types of rotating electrical machines. The maximum allowable noise levels associated with the operation of electrical machines of different sizes and speeds are stipulated in the various standards. Although these noise levels represent the upper limits, they do not necessarily reflect upon the achievable levels with the present state of art in the design of electrical machines. Considering the physiological characteristics of the human ear, magnetic noise of electrical machines is particularly troublesome since it is characterised by many pure tones. The conventional methods for the measurement of resonant frequencies, vibrations and noise are laborious and very time consuming. This paper presents the laboratory-techniques which have been developed for the measurement of resonant frequencies, vibrations and noise based on digital processing of signals. The measurement set-up acquires and processes signals from several transducers with the help of a data-acquisition system and a personal-computer.
Analysis of Variability in Precasting and Installation of Pile Foundations

This paper presents a study on the use of pre-stressed precast foundation piles using data collected on a building project that comprised the installation of more than 340 piles. The objective is to assess the presence of product and process variability in demand and supply, and the impact it has on precast pile delivery. Sources of variability in precasting, transportation, and installation are described. As a step towards understanding the complexity of this production system and to show how production planning decisions affect execution, this paper elaborates on two deterministic scenarios and compares those with actual data from the project. Performance of the system is analyzed on the basis of inventory vs. work completed. From the perspective of ‘lean’ thinking the paper then identifies sources of waste and suggests means to eliminate them. It also presents questions for follow-on research.
7,8-Dihydroxyflavone alleviates apoptosis and inflammation induced by retinal ischemia-reperfusion injury via activating TrkB/Akt/NF-kB signaling pathway

Retinal ischemia-reperfusion injury (RIRI) is of common occurrence in retinal and optic nerve diseases. The BDNF/TrkB signaling pathway has been examined to be neuroprotective in RIRI. In this study, we investigated the role of a potent selective TrkB agonist 7,8-dihydroxyfavone (DHF) in rat retinas with RIRI. Our results showed that RIRI inhibited the conversion of BDNF precursor (proBDNF) to mature BDNF (mBDNF) and increased the level of neuronal cell apoptosis. Compared with RIRI, DHF+RIRI reduced proBDNF level and at the same time increased mBDNF level. Moreover, DHF administration effectively activated TrkB signaling and and downstream Akt and Erk signaling pathways which increased nerve cell survival. The combined effects of mBDNF/proBDNF increase and TrkB signaling activation lead to reduction of apoptosis level and protection of retinas with RIRI. Moreover, it was also found that astrocytes labeled by GFAP were activated in RIRI and NF-kB mediated the increased expressions of inflammatory factors and these effects were partially reversed by DHF administration. Besides, we also used RNA sequencing to analyze the differently expressed genes (DEGs) and their enriched (Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes) KEGG pathways between Sham, RIRI, and DHF+RIRI. It was found that 1543 DEGs were differently expressed in RIRI and 619 DEGs were reversed in DHF+RIRI. The reversed DEGs were typically enriched in PI3K-Akt signaling pathway, Jak-STAT signaling pathway, NF-kB signaling pathway, and Apoptosis. To sum up, the DHF administration alleviated apoptosis and inflammation induced by RIRI via activating TrkB signaling pathway and may serve as a promising drug candidate for RIRI related ophthalmopathy.
Measurement techniques enhancements for MIMO 4G mobile communication systems. extension of mode stirred reverberation chambers (MSRCs) emulation capabilities

Mobile communications have experienced a brutal raise over the past 15 years. What started as a voice communication system (GSM or 2G) has finished yet as a data communication system of any kind, which in some cases has come to replace the conventional cabled data access infrastructure. This change in the use given to mobile devices necessarily entails a change in the underlying technology, which should be capable to provide the transmission speeds that these new applications require. This has emerged in recent years an increasing interest in multiple antenna techniques, usually referred as multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) techniques, as they increase the spectral efficiency (and thus the transmission rate for a given bandwidth) of wireless systems. In this thesis, some of the factors limiting the ideal advantages of these multi-antenna techniques are studied, in order to quantify the differences between the ideal behavior of 4G devices and behavior that users will experience in actual use conditions. The effect that the user has on the final performance of the devices is one of the main limitations that these devices are in daily use. Mobile phones are used in almost all of the time in the vicinity of the user, causing a decrease in the richness of the multipath electromagnetic environment (and thus a reduction of the MIMO benefits). As a result of this reduction, the number of signal paths that reach the user is also reduced. In this thesis both factors (user influence and influence of the number of signal paths) will be studied both for passive devices (antenna prototypes) and active devices (commercial phones). The second part of this thesis consist on the study of how to transfer some of these factors reducing the isotropicity of the environment, to one of the most promising measurement techniques, as it is the mode-stirred chamber (MSRC). This technique emulates naturally an isotropic rich multipath environment with the signal strength following a Rayleigh distribution. However, in this thesis, two new techniques are proposed that allow the emulation of less isotropic environments without altering the basic operating principle of the MSRC.
Tribbles Gene Expression Profiles in Colorectal Cancer

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common cancer and the second leading cause of death due to cancer in the world. Therefore, the identification of novel druggable targets is urgently needed. Tribbles proteins belong to a pseudokinase family, previously recognized in CRC as oncogenes and potential therapeutic targets. Here, we analyzed the expression of TRIB1, TRIB2, and TRIB3 simultaneously in 33 data sets from CRC based on available GEO profiles. We show that all three Tribbles genes are overrepresented in CRC cell lines and primary tumors, though depending on specific features of the CRC samples. Higher expression of TRIB2 in the tumor microenvironment and TRIB3 overexpression in an early stage of CRC development, unveil a potential and unexplored role for these proteins in the context of CRC. Differential Tribbles expression was also explored in diverse cellular experimental conditions where either genetic or pharmacological approaches were used, providing novel hints for future research. This comprehensive bioinformatic analysis provides new insights into Tribbles gene expression and transcript regulation in CRC.
A Novel Experimental Study of a Valveless Impedance Pump for Applications at Lab-On-Chip, Microfluidic, and Biomedical Device Size Scales

In 1954, Gerhart Liebau demonstrated a simple valveless pumping phenomenon utilizing the periodic compression of a compliant tube and some systematic asymmetry to pump water out of a bucket. Liebau's goal was to explain peculiarities seen in the human circulatory system. In the years that have followed, the Liebau phenomenon has been studied in a variety of open and closed loop configurations, through experimental, computational, and analytical studies. Recent advances in microfluidic and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technology have enabled a wide range of small scale engineering systems. The further development of many important systems is limited by the absence of an appropriate means of fluid transport. Valveless pumps based on the Liebau phenomenon show great promise, particularly in lab-on-chip (LOC), biological, and medical applications in which biocompatibility and the ability to move sensitive molecules without damage are key design requirements. The purpose of this thesis is to synthesize previous studies of the Liebau phenomenon and produce the first extensive experimental study of a novel valveless pump at size scales and geometries that are relevant to lab-on-chip, microfluidic, and biomedical device applications. For the first time, detailed, dynamic pressure and flow data have been recorded during the operation of these valveless pumps for a large range of operating parameters. This dynamic data allowed us to identify new flow regimes and observe previously undocumented pump behaviors and performance. Parameters investigated include pump material properties and geometry, working fluid density and viscosity, pump excitation properties (amplitude, offset, location, and frequency), and flow loop/system properties. A critical relationship between the relative volumetric compliance of the valveless pump to the system it acts upon is identified, and the implications for practical implementation of valveless pumps at small size scales are discussed.
On-Line Water Consumption Monitoring as a Tool for Optimal Management of Water Distribution Network

Monitoring and computer modeling of water networks is an effective tool supporting water management in the city. The aim of this paper is to present the results of measurement campaigns carried out in Polanica-Zdrój, preceding the construction, calibration and validation of the hydrodynamic model of the water supply network. The obtained results showed that the changed conditions of the functioning of the local community during a pandemic also significantly affect the way water is used. Daily distribution of water consumption by residents of multi-family housing has been significantly “flattened” due to remote work and extended time at home. This confirms the necessity to conduct on-line measurements in order to calibrate the model reliably and effectively use the results of computer simulations.
SYNTHETIC APERTURE RADAR PROCESSING WITH TIERED SUBAPERTURES

Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) is used to form images that are maps of radar reflectivity of some scene of interest, from range soundings taken over some spatial aperture. Additionally, the range soundings are typically synthesized from a sampled frequency aperture. Efficient processing of the collected data necessitates using efficient digital signal processing techniques such as vector multiplies and fast implementations of the Discrete Fourier Transform. Inherent in image formation algorithms that use these is a trade-off between the size of the scene that can be acceptably imaged, and the resolution with which the image can be made. These limits arise from migration errors and spatially variant phase errors, and different algorithms mitigate these to varying degrees. Two fairly successful algorithms for airborne SARs are Polar Format processing, and Overlapped Subaperture (OSA) processing. This report introduces and summarizes the analysis of generalized Tiered Subaperture (TSA) techniques that are a superset of both Polar Format processing and OSA processing. It is shown how tiers of subapertures in both azimuth and range can effectively mitigate both migration errors and spatially variant phase errors to allow virtually arbitrary scene sizes, even in a dynamic motion environment.
Energy Saving in buildings in Bahrain:Suitability of Concrete blocks

The thermal transmission through of walls and roof in the residential houses more than half of the total peak cooling load. Insulating a building causes a significant reduction in the air-conditioning equipment's capacity in energy consumption, it is possible to save energy by using insulation in the walls and roofs, the type of masonry building materials used for the walls affect heat loss or gain. The objective of this study is to identify the energy saving potentials of different types of blocks used in buildings in Bahrain. The results show that the lightweight concrete blocks with polystyrene insulation have the lowest thermal transmittance U-value and it's the best block available in Bahrain for nonbearing wall structures. The annual savings in energy consumption of buildings constructed using this block is about 30% less compared to the hollow concrete blocks.
Dietary Fiber Intake May Influence the Impact of FTO Genetic Variants on Obesity Parameters and Lipid Profile—A Cohort Study of a Caucasian Population of Polish Origin

Genetic and environmental factors play a key role in the development of obesity. The aim of this study was to explore the potential effect of fat mass and obesity-associated (FTO) rs3751812, rs8050136, rs9939609, rs6499640, rs8044769, and rs7190492 genotypes and dietary fiber intake on the obesity-related parameters and lipid profile in the Polish population. We selected 819 Polish Caucasian adult subjects (52.5% female and 47.5% male) for a final gene–diet interaction analysis, with mean BMI 28.5 (±6.6) kg/m2. We performed measurements of anthropometric parameters, total body fat content and distribution, and blood glucose, insulin, and lipid concentrations. Daily fiber intake was analyzed based on 3-day food-intake diaries, and daily physical activity was evaluated based on the International Physical Activity Questionnaire—Long Form. Our study shows that carriers of the GG genotype (rs3751812), CC genotype (rs8050136), and GG genotype (rs6499640) presented lower hip circumference if daily fiber intake was above 18 g per day. Additionally, GG genotype (rs3751812) and CC genotype (rs8050136) carriers showed surprisingly higher total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol levels when they were stratified to the group with higher than median fiber intake. The results of this study highlight that high-fiber diets may positively affect anthropometric parameters but may also worsen lipid profile dependent on the FTO genotype.
Gender Equality in Plastic Surgery Training: A Canadian Nationwide Cross-sectional Analysis

Introduction: One of the important factors in achieving gender equity is ensuring equitable surgical training for all. Previous studies have shown that females get significantly lower surgical exposure than males in certain surgical specialties. Gender gap in surgical exposure has never been assessed in plastic surgery. To that end, the goal of this study was to assess if there are any differences in plastic surgery training between male and female residents. Methods: A survey was sent to all plastic surgery residency programs in Canada to assess the No. of surgeries residents operated on as a co-surgeon or primary assistant during their training. The survey also assessed career goals, level of interest in the specialty, and subjective perception of gender bias. Results: A total of 89 plastic surgery residents (59.3% participation rate) completed the survey and were included in the study. The average No. of reconstructive cases residents operated on as a co-surgeon or primary assistant was 245 ± 312 cases. There was no difference in either reconstructive or aesthetic surgery case logs between male and female residents (p > .05). However, a significantly larger proportion of females (39%) compared to males (4%) felt that their gender limited their exposure to surgical cases and led to a worsening of their overall surgical training (p < .001). Finally, a larger proportion of male residents were interested in academic careers while a larger proportion of female residents were interested in a community practice (p = .024). Conclusion: While there is no evidence of differences in the volume of logged cases between genders, female surgical residents still feel that their respective gender limits their overall surgical training. Gender inequalities in training should be addressed by residency programs.