Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
How education background affects design outcome: teaching product development to mechanical engineers, industrial designers and managers

ABSTRACT Product design and development (PDD) is a current topic of academic and industrial research. Emphasis on innovation and entrepreneurship, as well as design thinking and creativity has been recently pulled together into the teaching and research on PDD. This paper looks into a multidisciplinary setting made up of three similar but independent PDD masters courses taught at three higher education institutions, having the same assessment, syllabus, assignments and outcomes. As expected, students’ projects foci are different. The outcomes of this experience were confronted with an ex-post literature review, which generated thorough guidelines that supported an innovative proposal for PDD education, to be implemented into an interdisciplinary Summer School. Significant generalisable contributions for educating modern engineers, designers and business entrepreneurs are expected, instead of just teaching methods of engineering, design and entrepreneurship at the case universities. The limitation of the used inductive reasoning concerns ‘truth’ being suggested but not assured.
Synthetic Gear Wheels for Space Mechanisms

The thesis studies the applicability of synthetic gear wheels in space mechanisms. Therefore different polymers were evaluated regarding their suitability as material for gear wheels in space and the most promising materials were tested. The tests had the goal to identify any possible influence of the space environment, like extreme temperatures, vacuum, and radiation, on the performance of the gear wheels.
The Effects of Healthcare Robot Empathy Statements and Head Nodding on Trust and Satisfaction: A Video Study

Clinical empathy has been associated with many positive outcomes, including patient trust and satisfaction. Physicians can demonstrate clinical empathy through verbal statements and non-verbal behaviors, such as head nodding. The use of verbal and non-verbal empathy behaviors by healthcare robots may also positively affect patient outcomes. The current study examined whether the use of robot verbal empathy statements and head nodding during a video recorded interaction between a healthcare robot and patient improved participant trust and satisfaction. One hundred participants took part in the experiment, online through Amazon Mechanical Turk. They were randoimnized to watch one of four videos depicting an interaction with a `patient' and a Nao robot that (1) either made empathetic or neutral statements, and (2) either nodded its head when listening to the patient or did not. Results showed that the use of empathetic statements by the healthcare robot significantly increased participant perceptions of robot empathy, trust and satisfaction, and reduced robot distrust. No significant findings were revealed in relation to robot head nodding. The positive effects of empathy statements support the model of Robot-Patient Communication, which theorizes that robot use of recommended clinical empathy behaviors can improve patient outcomes. The effects of healthcare robot nodding behavior needs to be further investigated.
Evidence for intercellular bridges and radial patterning of meiotic initiation in the human fetal ovary

Meiosis is the hallmark of reproduction. Our understanding of early oocyte development was improved by studying the spatiotemporal dynamics and mechanisms governing meiosis in mice, however, our knowledge of the meiotic initiation process in humans remains limited. Here, we utilized three-dimensional (3D) analysis to determine spatiotemporal dynamics of meiotic initiation in fetal human ovaries. Similar to mice, we found that the first meiotic cells appear in clusters in the center of human fetal ovaries as early at 9 weeks and that the initiation of meiosis propagates as a radial wave. Between developing germ cells in fetal human ovaries, we detected a component of the intercellular bridge, TEX14 protein. 3D quantification of germ cells in ovaries collected at the end of first trimester revealed, for the first time, considerable variation in the number of meiotic cells between individuals and asynchronous mitotic-meiotic transition. In addition to illustrating the geography of meiotic initiation in ovaries from the first trimester, we extended our 3D analysis approach to second trimester and showed heterogeneous spatial distribution of meiotic and non-meiotic germ cells in human fetal ovaries. This study is an important step towards better understanding of 3D structure of developing ovary and early stages of meiosis in humans. Highlights - Organic solvent-based clearing methods and confocal microscopy can be implemented to visualize and quantify germ cells in the intact human fetal ovary. - Identification of a new, radial, pattern of meiotic initiation in the ovaries from the first trimester. - Immunolocalization of the intercellular bridge component TEX14 between developing germ cells in the fetal ovary - Maintenance of pre-meiotic germ cells in second trimester ovaries suggests less synchronous mitotic-meiotic stage transition.
WNT stimulation induced conformational dynamics in the Frizzled-Dishevelled interaction

Frizzleds (FZD1-10) are G protein-coupled receptors containing an extracellular cysteine-rich-domain (CRD) that presents the orthosteric binding site of the 19 mammalian WNTs, the endogenous agonists of FZDs. FZDs signal via a diverse set of effector proteins, of which Dishevelled (DVL1-3) is the most well studied and which acts as a hub for several FZD-mediated signaling pathways. However, the mechanistic details of how FZD-DVL interaction mediate pathway initiation and provide pathway selectivity remain an enigma. Here, we use bioluminescence resonance energy transfer-based assays employing Venus-tagged DVL2 together with NanoLuciferase-tagged FZD5 to investigate the WNT-3A- and WNT-5A-induced dynamics of the FZD-DVL interaction. Our biophysical assessment suggests that the ligand-induced BRET changes over time originate from conformational dynamics in the FZD5-DVL2 complex rather than recruitment dynamics of DVL2 to FZD5. Thus, we suggest that extracellular agonist and intracellular transducers could cooperate with each other through allosteric interaction with FZDs in a ternary complex reminiscent of that of classical GPCRs. One Sentence Summary Analysis of the interaction of FZD5 and DVL2 uncovers WNT-induced conformational dynamics of a WNT-FZD5-DVL2 complex.
Identification of a Papain-Like Protease Inhibitor with Potential for Repurposing in Combination with an Mpro Protease Inhibitor for Treatment of SARS-CoV-2

SARS-CoV-2 requires two cysteine proteases for viral polypeptide processing to allow maturation and replication: the 3C-like protease also known as the Main protease (Mpro) and the papain-like protease (PLpro). In addition to its critical role in viral replication, PLpro removes post-translational modifications like ubiquitin and interferon-stimulated gene product 15 (ISG15) from host proteins through its deubiquitinase domain, leading to host immunosuppression and increased ability of the virus to evade the host antiviral immune response. Through screening of a custom clinical compound library, we identified eltrombopag (DDL-701), a thrombopoietin receptor agonist, as having PLpro inhibitory activity that is sustained in the presence of the Mpro inhibitor nirmatrelvir. DDL-701 also suppressed both the deubiquitinase and ISG15 cleavage activities of PLpro. In addition, DDL-701 partially restored interferon-β induction – an element of the host immune response - in an in vitro model system. Further, modeling and docking studies suggest DDL-701 interacts with the active site region of the PLpro enzyme and pilot pharmacokinetic studies indicate it is brain permeable. DDL-701 is already approved for treatment of thrombocytopenia and has previously been shown to achieve human plasma levels after oral dosing that is above the IC50 needed for it to exert its PLpro inhibitory activity in vivo. In addition, it has also been reported to have antiviral efficacy against SARS-CoV-2. DDL-701 thus represents a drug that can immediately be repurposed and undergo clinical evaluation as a PLpro inhibitor that may be most effectively used in a protease inhibitor cocktail with an Mpro inhibitor such as nirmatrelvir (Paxlovid) for the treatment of COVID-19.
Evaluation of Equivalent Single-degree-of-freedom Method for Nonlinear Dynamic Response Analysis of Embankments

A static push-over analysis method was used to assess nonlinear behavior of embankments. Then, based on the results of the analysis, a simple method for carrying out nonlinear seismic response analysis of an embankment using an equivalent-single-degree-of-freedom model was proposed. Seismic responses of embankments calculated using the proposed method agreed well with those obtained using the two-dimensional finite element method. This confirmed the validity of the proposed simple method for evaluating seismic behaviors. The proposed method enables the dynamic responses of embankments to be evaluated easily compared to the conventional two-dimensional finite element method. The method is thus considered an efficient and expedient procedure for evaluating the seismic responses of lengthy railway embankments.
O trabalho cotidiano da enfermeira na saúde da família: utilização de ferramentas da gestão

Estudio descriptivo, cualitativo, cuyos objetivos fueron identificar y analizar los atributos utilizados por la enfermera al realizar su trabajo diario en la Salud Familiar, los cuales se basaron en la planificacion, coordinacion y supervision, con la finalidad de aproximar el desempeno y asi construir la competencia gerencial. El estudio fue realizado en cuatro Unidades de Salud Familiar en Ribeirao Preto, SP, Brasil. Los sujetos fueron: cuatro enfermeras con mas de un ano de trabajo en Salud Familiar. La recoleccion de los datos fue hecha de junio a julio de 2006 por medio de observacion participativa, totalizando 160 horas. Se empleo el analisis de contenido, utilizando la tecnica de analisis tematico. Observamos que la supervision se caracteriza por aspectos como control y educacion, la planificacion incentiva las practicas basadas en la articulacion de los procesos de trabajo, los cuales son realizados conjuntamente con la coordinacion. Concluimos que las enfermeras utilizan el saber aprender y el saber convivir.
Information Accumulation and Loss as a Foundation for Sound Phylogenetic Biodiversity Metrics

Phylogenetic metrics are essential tools in ecology, evolution and conservation, and Phylogenetic Diversity (PD) is one of the most prominent measures of biodiversity. PD is based on the idea that biological features accumulate along the branches of phylogenetic trees, and that these features are of biological importance. We argue that PD, and other phylogenetic biodiversity metrics, fail to capture an essential biological process: ‘information loss’, whereby features, and biological information in general, can be lost through the process of evolution. We introduce Generalised Phylogeny Diversity (GPD), which is founded on the joint processes of information accumulation and loss and can be applied to phylogenetic trees or more complex networks. We derive a dimensionless measure ϕ from GPD that reproduces species richness and PD at opposite ends of a continuum of information loss intensity. We suggest how the existing calculus of PD-based metrics, and other phylogenetic biodiversity metrics, can be recast to incorporate information loss. To illustrate our approach, we give three empirical applications all reliant on new measures using the information loss concept. First, in ecology, evaluating ϕ as a predictor of community productivity against species richness and PD. Second, in evolution, quantifying living fossils and resolving their associated controversy. Third, in conservation, using a partitioning of GPD to re-balance our priorities at the broad scale of the complete tree of life.
Primate Simplexviruses Differ in Tropism for Macaque Cells

Primate simplexviruses are closely related neurotropic herpesviruses, which are largely apathogenic in their respective host species. However, cross-species transmission of Macacine alphaherpesvirus 1 (McHV1, also termed Herpes B virus) from rhesus macaques to humans can cause fatal encephalomyelitis. In contrast, closely related viruses, such as Cercopithecine alphaherpesvirus 2 (CeHV2, also termed simian agent 8) or Papiine alphaherpesvirus 2 (PaHV2, also termed herpesvirus papio 2), have not been linked to human disease and are believed to be largely apathogenic in humans. Here, we investigated whether McHV1, PaHV2 and CeHV2 differ in their capacity to infect non-human primate (NHP) and human cells. For comparison, we included the human simplexviruses HSV1 and HSV2 in our analyses. All five viruses replicated efficiently in cell lines of human and African green monkey origin and McHV1 and PaHV2 also showed robust replication in rhesus macaque cell lines. In contrast, replication of HSV1, HSV2 and CeHV2 in cell lines of rhesus macaque origin was inefficient. These results demonstrate a previously unappreciated partial resistance of certain rhesus macaque cell lines to HSV1/HSV2/CeHV2 infection and reveal similarities between cell tropism of McHV1 and PaHV2 that might be relevant for risk assessment.
Interlimb coordination in Parkinson’s Disease is minimally affected by a visuospatial dual task

Parkinson’s disease (PD) leads to reduced spatial and temporal interlimb coordination during gait as well as reduced coordination in the upper or lower limbs. Multi-tasking when walking is common during real-world activities, and affects some gait characteristics, like gait speed and variability. However, the impact of a dual task (DT) on intra and interlimb coordination of both lower and upper limbs when walking in people with PD remains unknown. Seventeen volunteers with mild to moderate PD (11 males, 65 ± 8 years, 173 ± 8 cm, 74 ± 20 kg, Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale motor section 10 ± 5) participated in gait trials in an Extended-CAREN system, which includes a treadmill, 12-camera Vicon motion capture system, and a 180° field-of-view virtual reality projection screen. Participants completed a 3 min walking trial and a 2 min visuospatial word recognition DT trial at their preferred walking pace. Single and DT were compared with a paired t-test, and the less and more affected (LA, MA) sides were tested for equivalence in sensitivity to the DT. During the DT, we found the LA shoulder ROM decreased by 1.5°, and the LA shoulder peak flexion decreased by 1.1° (p<.028, gav>.12). The LA and MA hip ROM were differently affected by the dual task (p=.023), and intralimb coordination was affected by dual tasking equivalently between sides (p=.004). These results suggest that during normal single-task gait, people with PD use attentional resources to compensate for reduced arm swing. Furthermore, our results indicate that any effect of DT on lower intralimb coordination is not meaningfully different between the LA and MA sides. Statements and Declarations The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.
Spatial transcriptomics of FFPE pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasias reveals cellular and molecular alterations of progression to pancreatic ductal carcinoma

Spatial transcriptomics (ST) is a powerful approach for cancers molecular and cellular characterization. Pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasia (PanIN) is a pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) premalignancy diagnosed from formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded (FFPE) specimens limiting single-cell based investigations. We developed a new FFPE ST analysis protocol for PanINs complemented with novel transfer learning approaches. The first transfer learning approach, to assign cell types to ST spots and integrate the transcriptional signatures, shows that PanINs are surrounded by PDAC cancer associated fibroblasts (CAFs) subtypes, including the rare antigen-presenting CAFs. Furthermore, most PanINs are of the classical PDAC subtype while one sample expresses cancer stem cell markers. A second transfer learning approach, to integrate ST PanIN data with PDAC scRNA-seq data, identifies a shift between inflammatory and proliferative signaling as PanINs progress to PDAC. Our data support a model of inflammatory signaling and PanIN-CAF interactions promoting premalignancy progression and PDAC immunosuppressive characteristics. Significance We developed a novel FFPE spatial transcriptomics analysis pipeline to profile the heterogeneous CAF and malignant epithelial cells in PanINs, premalignant lesions that can progress to invasive PDAC. This study identifies for the first time similar CAF populations residing in PanINs and associated molecular changes that together may be early mediators of premalignant transformation to PDAC.
Trait-specific patterns of community ecospace occupancy in an insular mammal radiation

Communities that vary in the richness of closely related species but occupy similar environments provide a powerful system to investigate how trait variation and species richness interact to fill ecological space. In tropical mountain habitats on the island of Sulawesi, Indonesia, local murine rodent community richness ranges from 7 to 23 species. We measured 17 morphological, ecological, and isotopic traits to test for the expansion or packing of community ecospace among nine murine communities. Traits related to cranial shape (but not jaw shape), trophic level, and body shape showed the strongest evidence of expansion. Locomotion emerged as a fundamental axis of ecological variation, expanding ecospace and enabling niche packing of other traits such as diet and body size. Though trait divergence often explains functional diversity in island communities, we found that phylogenetic diversity facilitates community ecospace expansion in some conserved traits such as cranial shape, while more labile traits are overdispersed both within and between island clades. Our results evoke competition, trait evolvability, and the independent evolutionary trajectories of each of Sulawesi’s murine clades as central to generating the exceptional functional diversity and species richness in this insular radiation. Komunitas-komunitas dengan variasi kekayaan spesies berkerabatan dekat tetapi menempati lingkungan yang serupa menyediakan sistem yang kuat untuk menyelidiki bagaimana variasi sifat dan kekayaan spesies berinteraksi untuk mengisi ruang ekologi. Kami mengukur 17 karakter morfologi, ekologi, dan sifat isotop untuk menguji perluasan atau pengemasan volume ruang ekologi komunitas di antara sembilan komunitas hewan pengerat yang terdiri dari 7 hingga 23 spesies di pulau Sulawesi. Sifat-sifat yang berhubungan dengan bentuk tengkorak (tetapi tidak bentuk rahang), tingkat trofik, dan bentuk tubuh menunjukkan bukti ekspansi yang kuat. Sistem penggerak muncul sebagai sumbu fundamental dari variasi ekologi, mengembangkan ruang ekologi, dan memungkinkan pengemasan relung pada sifat lain seperti makanan dan ukuran tubuh. Meskipun divergensi sifat dianggap melampaui konservatisme ceruk di komunitas pulau, kami menemukan bahwa keragaman filogenetik memfasilitasi ekspansi ruang ekologi komunitas dalam beberapa sifat yang dilestarikan seperti bentuk tengkorak, sementara sifat yang lebih labil tersebar secara berlebihan baik di dalam maupun di antara klad pulau. Hasil kami menunjukkan persaingan, sifat evolvabilitas, dan lintasan evolusi independen dari setiap klad murinae Sulawesi sebagai pusat untuk menghasilkan keragaman fungsional yang luar biasa dan kekayaan spesies dalam radiasi insular ini.
Potent Bacterial Vaccines Require FcγRIIB-mediated Pathogen Capture by Liver Sinusoidal Endothelium

Certain vaccines are more effective than others against microbial infections, but the molecular mechanisms separating the two types of vaccines are largely undefined. Here, by comparing two vaccines of Streptococcus pneumoniae with identical antigens but different efficacies (pneumococcal conjugate vaccine – PCV13 and pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine – PPV23), we reveal that superior vaccine protection against blood-borne bacteria is primarily achieved by activating pathogen capture of the sinusoidal endothelial cells (ECs) in the liver. Consistent with its superior protection in humans, PCV13 confers a more potent protection than PPV23 against pneumococcal infection in mice. In vivo real-time imaging and genetic mutagenesis revealed that PCV13 activates both liver ECs and resident macrophages Kupffer cells (KCs) to capture IgG-coated bacteria via IgG Fc gamma receptor (FcγR). In particular, the FcγRIIB-mediated capture by ECs is responsible for PCV13-induced superior protection. In contrast, PPV23 only activates KCs (but not ECs) to achieve a less effective pathogen capture and protection through complement receptor-mediated recognition of IgM- and C3-coated bacteria. These liver-based vaccine protection mechanisms are also found with the vaccines of Neisseria meningitidis and Klebsiella pneumoniae, another two important invasive human pathogens. Our findings have uncovered a novel EC- and FcγRIIB-mediated mechanism in the liver for more efficacious vaccine protection. These findings can serve as in vivo functional readouts to evaluate vaccine efficacy and guide the future vaccine development. One Sentence Summary Vaccine efficacy is defined by FcγRIIB-mediated capture of antibody-coated bacteria via liver sinusoidal endothelial cells.
Improving Scalability of Generic Online Calibration for Real-Time Dynamic Traffic Assignment Systems

Flexible calibration of dynamic traffic assignment (DTA) systems in real time has important applications in effective traffic management. However, the existing approaches are either limited to small networks or to a specific class of parameters. In this light, this study presents a framework to systematically reduce the dimension of the generic online calibration problem, making it more scalable. Specifically, a state–space formulation of the problem in the reduced dimension space is proposed. Following this the problem is solved using the constrained extended Kalman filter, which is made tractable because of the low dimensionality of the formulated problem. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is demonstrated using a real-world network leading to better state estimation by 13% and better state predictions by 11%—with a 50 fold dimensionality reduction. Insights into choosing the right degree of dimensionality reduction are also discussed. This work has the potential for a more widespread application of real-time DTA systems in practice.
How to Buffer the Family Costs of Project Citizenship Behavior

Previous studies have mainly concentrated on the desirable aspects of project citizenship behavior (PCB) but largely ignored its dark sides. We seek to fill in this gap by exploring whether and when PCB would lead to one specific family cost—namely, work interference with family (WIF). Data were collected from a sample of 311 project employees. It was found that PCB was positively related with time-, strain-, and behavior-based WIF only when project employees possessed low levels of task self-efficacy or work meaningfulness. The theoretical and practical implications for project management are also discussed.