Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Lactoferrin Ameliorates Dry Eye Disease Potentially through Enhancement of Short-Chain Fatty Acid Production by Gut Microbiota in Mice

Lactoferrin is a glycoprotein found at high concentrations within exocrine secretions, including tears. Low levels of lactoferrin have been implicated in the loss of tear secretion and ageing. Furthermore, lactoferrin possesses a range of functionalities, including anti-inflammatory properties and the ability to modulate the gut microbiota. Expanding evidence demonstrates a crucial role of the gut microbiota in immune regulation and development. The specific composition of bacterial species of the gut has a profound influence on local and systemic inflammation, leading to a protective capacity against a number of inflammatory diseases, potentially by the induction of regulatory immune cells. In this study, we demonstrated that oral administration of lactoferrin maintains tear secretion in a restraint and desiccating stress induced mouse model of dry eye disease. Furthermore, we revealed that lactoferrin induces the reduction of inflammatory cytokines, modulates gut microbiota, and induces short-chain fatty acid production. Whereas, the antibiotic vancomycin abrogates the effects of lactoferrin on dry eye disease and significantly reduces short-chain fatty acid concentrations. Therefore, this protective effect of LF against a mice model of DED may be explained by our observations of an altered gut microbiota and an enhanced production of immunomodulatory short-chain fatty acids.
Investigation Into Cavitation Erosion Pits

Cavitation erosion pits and their effects on erosion progression were investigated in detail for SUS 304 stainless steel, α + β brass (60/40), and pure aluminum (Al-99.999 and Al-99.92) by means of vibratory erosion. Two kinds of erosion pits were found on the specimen surfaces, one by microjet impact and the other by shockwave blow. Systematic observations of the feature of microjet-pits with the testing time showed that the sizes and shapes of microjet-pits did not change at all and such pits scarcely played an important role in developing the erosion. Moreover, the feature morphology of eroded surfaces, and dislodged particles and their large sizes revealed that microjet-pits had a limited effect on erosion and that the predominant failure was a fatigue process.
A Model-Based Expert System For Component-Level Fault Diagnosis

This paper summarizes research completed for the development of a prototype expert system to diagnose failures of a complex computer down to an individual component. Our research goal was to model the diagnostic process followed by expert technicians to achieve a component-level diagnosis. The development goal was to construct an initial prototype system for a single board of the computer which could be used as a model for the construction of a diagnostic system for the entire computer.
Could We Use Vital Signs and Lactate Levels Together to Predict the Prognosis in Abdominal Pain?

Objectives: Abdominal pain occupies most of the emergency department admissions. This entity leads to research various markers for the early detection of causes in patients presenting with abdominal pain. There is limited data about collaborations between lactate levels and vital signs at admission in abdominal pain. Materials and Methods: Patients aged 18 years and older, who had presented with abdominal pain to the Emergency Department, in total 102 patients, were included to the study. The patients’ demographics, vital signs, abdominal physical examination findings, diagnosis and outcomes of patients were recorded. The 1 ml venous blood samples were collected by blood gase injectors from the patients and lactate levels were analyzed. Results: Female patients’ percentile was 68,6% and mean age was 39 years old. The systolic blood pressure levels were normal in 45 patients, low in 26% patients and high in 29% patients. The seventy-six of the patients had normal pulse rate and 26 of them were tachycardic. Most common diagnosis was non-specific abdominal pain (37,25%) and the least common was ovarian torsion/intracystic hemorrhage (0,98%) and obstruction due to hernia (0,98%). There was no statistically significant relation between lactate level and pulse rate (p=0,637), systolic blood pressure (p=0,052), diastolic blood pressure (p=0,095), respiratory rate (p=0,527), body temperature (p=0,040) and oxygen saturation (p=0,905). Similarly, no significant association occurred between lactate levels and diagnosis and outcomes. Conclusion: Further studies including more patients groups have to be done in order to attain more reliable data about this topic.
Deleting DNMT3A in CAR T cells prevents exhaustion and enhances antitumor activity

Description DNMT3A deletion preserves CAR T cell functionality during prolonged stimulation. Evading exhaustion Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy has revolutionized cancer treatment. However, a major limitation of CAR T cell therapies is the development of exhaustion during extended antigen exposure. Here, Prinzing et al. showed that epigenetic changes in CAR T cells, modulated by DNA methyltransferase 3 alpha (DNMT3A), drive exhaustion. Deletion of DNMT3A from CAR T cells prevented dysfunction and enhanced antitumor activity of CAR T cells in an interleukin-10–dependent manner. These results show that targeting epigenetic programs in CAR T cells may further improve their efficacy. Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy is revolutionizing cancer immunotherapy for patients with B cell malignancies and is now being developed for solid tumors and chronic viral infections. Although clinical trials have demonstrated the curative potential of CAR T cell therapy, a substantial and well-established limitation is the heightened contraction and transient persistence of CAR T cells during prolonged antigen exposure. The underlying mechanism(s) for this dysfunctional state, often termed CAR T cell exhaustion, remains poorly defined. Here, we report that exhaustion of human CAR T cells occurs through an epigenetic repression of the T cell’s multipotent developmental potential. Deletion of the de novo DNA methyltransferase 3 alpha (DNMT3A) in T cells expressing first- or second-generation CARs universally preserved the cells’ ability to proliferate and mount an antitumor response during prolonged tumor exposure. The increased functionality of the exhaustion-resistant DNMT3A knockout CAR T cells was coupled to an up-regulation of interleukin-10, and genome-wide DNA methylation profiling defined an atlas of genes targeted for epigenetic silencing. This atlas provides a molecular definition of CAR T cell exhaustion, which includes many transcriptional regulators that limit the “stemness” of immune cells, including CD28, CCR7, TCF7, and LEF1. Last, we demonstrate that this epigenetically regulated multipotency program is firmly coupled to the clinical outcome of prior CAR T cell therapies. These data document the critical role epigenetic mechanisms play in limiting the fate potential of human T cells and provide a road map for leveraging this information for improving CAR T cell efficacy.
Diversity of Endophytic Bacteria Associated with Different Cultivars of Medicinal Plant Arctium Lappa L. and Their Potential for Host Plant Growth Promoting

Purpose Arctium lappa L. is one of the medicinal and food homologous plants in China, which is rich in nutrients and medicinal ingredients. The use of plant growth promoting (PGP) endophytic bacteria is a useful alternative in agricultural production to reduce the use of chemical fertilizers. The aim of this study was to analysis the diversity of endophytic bacteria in different cultivars of A. lappa L. collected from two different geographical locations in China and evaluate PGP traits of the isolates and their potential PGP ability in greenhouse condition. Methods Endophytic bacterial community was investigated by culture-dependent and culture-independent methods. Isolates were screened and investigated for multiple PGP traits, and representative strains were inoculated host seedlings to evaluate the growth promoting effect. Results A total of 348 endophytic bacteria were obtained and they distributed into four phyla, 30 genera and 73 different species. In addition, high throughput sequencing revealed more abundant bacterial community, including 17 bacterial phyla, and 207 different known genera. A high proportion of PGP traits were detected, including production of indole acetic acid, siderophore, ammonia and phosphate solubilization. Four representative strains with multiple PGP traits of the most prevalent genera were further selected for host inoculation and growth promoting evaluation, and they significantly increase seedlings length, root length and fresh weight. Conclusion This study demonstrated that A. lappa L. harbors abundant endophytic bacteria, and plant genotype and geographical origin affect their composition. Moreover, some endophytic bacteria showed good potential for the development of microbial fertilizer in the future.
Building material naturalness: Perceptions from Finland, Norway and Slovenia

Natural elements, life and life-like processes, as well as representations of them, can produce positive experiences within the built environment. Over the past decade, a number of empirical studies have found experiencing nature, both actively and passively, can reduce stress, increase human well-being, and produce positive emotional experiences. Therefore, in this study, user perceptions of building material naturalness in three European countries, Finland, Norway, and Slovenia were investigated. A survey was conducted in each country to gather user perceptions of the naturalness of 22 building materials. Perceptions were collected in three ways: a binary decision task (e.g. natural or not natural), a seven-point scale from not natural to natural, and an ordered ranking of all specimens from most natural to least natural. The building materials included solid wood, engineered wood-based products, masonry, stone, wallpaper, ceramic tiles, metal, and plastic. Solid wood, stone, and brick were clearly considered more natural than their counterparts with greater degrees of processing. Similarly, wood-based composites with greater degrees of processing were identified as being less natural than materials with less processing. Furthermore, the study found there was agreement between regions on building material naturalness, despite some minor differences.
'Manufacturing or Services - That is (not) the Question': The Role of Manufacturing and Services in OECD Economies

Manufacturing features again high on the policy agenda in a lot of OECD countries. While deindustrialisation and offshoring have dominated the news about manufacturing during the past decades, recent years have witnessed a number of examples of companies re-shoring activities back to OECD economies. It is then not surprising that the discussion about the need for industrial policies in favour of manufacturing has gained importance in recent years. Policy discussions however often ignore the profound changes manufacturing has undergone in recent years, for example manufacturing today is much more than the pure production of tangible things and includes a growing services content. This paper addresses this issue against the background of long-term structural change of OECD economies and discusses the changing role of manufacturing and services in OECD economies.
The Extraction of a Bacillus anthracis Surrogate from HVAC Filters

Developing a quick and inexpensive method to extract bacteria from HVAC filters can provide valuable information on the extent of contamination of a building after a release of pathogenic microorganisms. In order to identify the preferred extraction procedure of Bacillus thuringiensis HD1011 from a pleated filter with a minimum efficiency reporting value of 7, different agitation methods were varied systematically. This study shows that the vortex–shake extraction procedure was found to be significantly more efficient when preceded by sonication; the vortex–shake sequence had a mean of 0.49 (0.3–0.77) CFUs (colony forming units) compared to 1.3 (0.8–2.1) CFUs for sonicate–vortex–shake agitation. The control data suggested that growth was occurring when the filter was present in the bacterial solution, and this was investigated further. The data with no filter ever present produced a mean of 0.37 (0.14–0.47) CFU compared to the means of 0.85 (0.52–1.35) CFU and 1.07 (0.65–1.74) CFUs, respectively, for when the filter was present for agitation and when it was present for 24 h prior to agitation, indicating significant growth. Because these results suggest that germination could occur during the extraction procedure, all the results were quantified based on presence versus absence using a most probable number method.
Generic approach for mathematical model of multi-strain pandemics

Pandemics with multi-strain have become a major concern. We introduce a new model for assessing the connection between multi-strain pandemic and the mortality rate, basic reproduction number, and the maximum of infected individuals. The proposed model provides a general mathematical approach for representing multi-strain pandemics, generalizing for an arbitrary number of strains. We show the proposed model fits well with epidemiological historical data world health over a long period. From a theoretical point of view, we show that the increasing number of strains increases logarithmically the maximum number of infected individuals and the mean mortality rate. Moreover, the mean basic reproduction number is statistically identical to the single, most aggressive strain pandemic for multi-strain pandemics.
Performance Enhancement by the In Ga As Pseudomorphic Channel on the In Al As Metamorphic Buffer Layer

A new method to determine the isothermal dc and ac characteristics has been presented. This method can be used with standard measurement equipment. The method has been applied to a state of the art HBT technology. It hasbeen validated by comparing the pulsed measurement method to this new method on a 0.35- m AMS technology. Applying this method to measured data confirms, that isothermal data are useful for parameter extraction for transit time and Kirk effect-related parameters.
Dispersion-tolerant optical transmission system using duobinary transmitter and binary receiver

We propose a dispersion-tolerant optical duobinary transmission system which uses a binary intensity modulation direct detection (IM-DD) receiver. The proposed system also relaxes the fiber input power limitation due to stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS). Tolerance to chromatic dispersion in the proposed system is estimated by a simulation. A 10 Gb/s optical duobinary signal can be transmitted over 200 km of standard single-mode fiber (SMF) with 1 dB dispersion penalty. The advantages of the proposed system are confirmed experimentally. The optical duobinary signal was successfully received by the binary IM-DD receiver at the same sensitivity as a binary IM signal. Power penalty due to chromatic dispersion over a 164-km standard SMF was about 1.8 dB at 10 Gb/s. The SBS threshold of the 10 Gb/s optical duobinary modulated light was more than +20 dBm.
BIM-EXTRACTED ENERGYPLUS MODEL CALIBRATION FOR RETROFIT ANALYSIS OF A HISTORICALLY LISTED BUILDING IN SWITZERLAND

Building retrofit analysis in Switzerland traditionally relies on expert heuristics and best practices. These processes are not often supplemented by data or modeldriven techniques that would enhance the accuracy and ability to quantify the impact of innovative technologies. We present a process of calibrated building energy model (BEM) analysis of a case study using a building information model (BIM) and measured data from a custom wireless sensor network. The case study is a mixed-use office and residential historically listed building in Zurich, Switzerland. A BIM model was first developed in Autodesk Revit and then extracted to an EnergyPlus model through the Design Performance Viewer (DPV) toolkit. This toolkit uses the RevitPythonShell (RPS) plug-in to convert the BIM data model to a geometric representation for EnergyPlus. This model was further developed using the OpenStudio modeling suite and collected sensor data was used for calibration. The geometry translation process from BIM to BEM included many difficult challenges with respect to zone creation and model simplification. The calibration process was implemented on various facade and heating system retrofit options. A scenario was chosen for the project that has a predicted energy savings of 32%. Other results of this calibration and lessons learned regarding model development and translation to EnergyPlus are discussed.
A compact dual‐band microstrip patch antenna suitable for DCS/GPS operations

A new integrated structure of a two‐element microstrip patch antenna with two feeds for DCS/GPS dual‐band operations is proposed. The radiating element for DCS (1710–1880 MHz) operation is a broadband low‐profile cylindrical monopole top loaded with a shorted square patch, which gives a linearly polarized conical‐pattern radiation. The second radiating element is a square‐ring microstrip patch with truncated corners for GPS operation at 1575 GHz, which provides circularly polarized broadside radiation patterns. The two radiating elements are integrated in the proposed antenna to have a compact structure. The proposed antenna meets the bandwidth requirements of DCS and GPS systems, and is suitable for mounting on a vehicle. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 29: 410–412,
Heat Island Research in Europe: The State of the Art

Abstract This paper summarizes recent research on urban heat islands carried out in Europe. Recent studies to identify the amplitude of urban heat islands as well as the main reasons that increase temperatures in urban areas are identified and discussed for southern, mid- and northern Europe. Studies aiming to identify the energy impact of heat islands are presented, as well as those that explore the impact of heat islands on the cooling potential of natural and night ventilation techniques. New deterministic and data-driven models developed to estimate the amplitude of heat islands are discussed and the results are presented of recent research on mitigation techniques and, in particular, the impact of green spaces, as well as the development and testing of white and coloured cool materials.
“What happened to I’m my sister’s keeper?” A case of abuse at a university in South Africa

Abstract Gender-based violence is a major concern in South African society and in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) which demonstrates a need to address this phenomenon. Not much is known about the forms of gender based violence and the places where they occur in these South African educational spaces. The study explored the forms of gender-based violence at public higher education institutions in South Africa and in this paper, we present the case of one campus of a public higher education institution. The study was informed by a composite theoretical framework combining social learning theory and social ecological theory. A purposive sample of 100 students and four representatives of the campus support services were also used to generate data using an open-ended questionnaire and semi-structured interviews respectively. Qualitative content analysis was utilised to analyse the data in this study. The conceptualisation of gender based violence for the study was based on Fay's conctThe The findings from the study established four forms of gender-based violence at this campus: physical, emotional, sexual and verbal abuse. The findings revealed that first year female students, members of the LGBTQI community and students living with disabilities were the most vulnerable to gender-based violence at this campus. The study illuminated multiple spatial areas of risk and several victim vulnerabilities at the campus which predisposed students to violence on this campus. From the study’s findings, we recommend the establishment of support structures for vulnerable groups identified.
Low- Speed Aerodynamics and Aeroacoustics of CROR Propulsion Systems

Contra Rotating Open Rotor (CROR) propulsion systems have come back into focus as a possible economic and environmentally friendly powerplant for future transport aircraft. Having been widely applied to the simulations of single rotation propellers, the DLR CFD code TAU and the aeroacoustic analysis tool APSIM have been employed for the analysis of the complex aerodynamics and aeroacoustics of this type of aircraft propulsion system. In order to demonstrate the codes applicability to these types of simulations as well as to develop an understanding of the impact of configuration variations, a generic 8x8 and 10x8 pusher CROR powerplant are studied here at typical sea-level take-o conditions of M=0.2. The results allow for a detailed analysis of the aerodynamic interactions between the two rotors as well as the noise generation mechanisms, allowing for an improved understanding of interaction tone sources. In addition, the impact of the numerical approach to the aeroacoustic simulations on the results is studied with a focus on determining the importance of the quadrupole contributions.
Radiata Pine Bark Removal Associated with Two On-Landing Log-Processing Methods

Abstract Bark accounts for about 9 percent of the weight of the boles of mature radiata pine (Pinus radiata D. Don) trees. The presence of bark can be considered as either a cost or benefit depending on the participant in the forest-to-customer supply chain. Understanding how much bark is lost or removed by different processing methods should help with managing bark quantities and with the design of harvesting systems and equipment. Bark loss was measured in autumn in New Zealand on radiata pine logs processed using two methods; delimbing and bucking with a mechanized, dangle-head processor fitted with spiked rollers, and delimbing with a static, pull-through delimber and manual bucking using a chainsaw. The line intersect method and photographic images were used to measure areal bark loss on a total of 302 logs. Equal numbers of logs were measured for each log-processing method. No difference in bark removal was found between methods for log grades cut from the lower portion of the stem. However, there w.