Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Development of endothelium‐denuded human umbilical veins as living scaffolds for tissue‐engineered small‐calibre vascular grafts

Tissue‐engineered small‐calibre vessel grafts may help to alleviate the lack of graft material for coronary and peripheral bypass grafting in an increasing number of patients. This study explored the use of endothelium‐denuded human umbilical veins (HUVs) as scaffolds for vascular tissue engineering in a perfusion bioreactor. Vessel diameter (1.2 ± 0.4 mm), wall thickness (0.38 ± 0.09 mm), uniaxial ultimate failure stress (8029 ± 1714 kPa) and burst pressure (48.4 ± 20.2 kPa, range 28.4–83.9 kPa) were determined in native samples. The effects of endothelium removal from HUVs by enzymatic digestion, hypotonic lysis and dehydration were assessed. Dehydration did not significantly affect contractile function, tetrazolium dye reduction, mechanical strength and vessel structure, whereas the other methods failed in at least one of these parameters. Denudation by dehydration retained laminin, fibronectin, collagen and elastic fibres. Denuded HUVs were seeded in a perfusion bioreactor with either allogeneic HUVs endothelial cells or with saphenous vein endothelial cells harvested from patients with coronary artery disease. Seeding in a perfusion bioreactor resulted in a confluent monolayer of endothelial cells from both sources, as judged by histology and scanning electron microscopy. Seeded cells contained von Willebrand factor and CD31. In conclusion, denuded HUVs should be considered an alternative to decellularized blood vessels, as the process keeps the smooth muscle layer intact and functional, retains proteins relevant for biomechanic properties and for cell attachment and provides a suitable scaffold for seeding an autologous and flow‐resistant endothelium. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Identification of the Peptide Sequences within the EIIIA (EDA) Segment of Fibronectin That Mediate Integrin α9β1-dependent Cellular Activities*

Alternative splicing of the fibronectin (FN) gene transcript provides an efficient mechanism for generating functionally appropriate forms of this adhesive glycoprotein in situ. Cellular FNs that include the EIIIA and/or EIIIB FN-III segments are prominently expressed during embryogenesis, wound healing, tumor progression, and inflammation. However, the roles of this domain in altering overall FN protein structure and regulating cellular function remain unclear. We previously reported that two integrins, α9β1 and α4β1, ligate the EIIIA segment ( Liao, Y. F., Gotwals, P. J., Koteliansky, V. E., Sheppard, D., and Van De Water, L. (2002) J. Biol. Chem. 277, 14467-14474 ) and that the epitopes for function-blocking monoclonal antibodies lie within the C-C′ loop of EIIIA ( Liao, Y. F., Wieder, K. G., Classen, J. M., and Van De Water, L. (1999) J. Biol. Chem. 274, 17876-17884 ). We have now performed site-directed mutagenesis within the EIIIA segment and carried out cell adhesion assays on these mutant EIIIAs. We find that the Asp41 and Gly42 residues within the C-C′ loop of EIIIA are necessary for integrin α9β1 binding. Synthetic peptides based on the predicted important amino acid sequence from the C-C′ loop encode sufficient information to completely inhibit α9β1-mediated cell adhesion. We also report that EIIIA promotes filopodial formation in α9β1-expressing cells accompanied by Cdc42 activation. Our data provide a cellular activity for the EIIIA segment, evidence for conformational lability, and peptide sequences for probing EIIIA functions in vitro and in vivo.
Reconnaissance automatique de concepts à partir d'une ontologie

Résumé Ce papier présente une approche qui s’appuie sur une ontologie pour reconnaître automatiquement des concepts spécifiques à un domaine dans un corpus en langue naturelle. La solution proposée est non-supervisée et peut s’appliquer à tout domaine pour lequel une ontologie a été déjà construite. Un corpus du domaine est utilisé dans lequel les concepts seront reconnus. Dans une première phase, des connaissances sont extraites de ce corpus en faisant appel à des fouilles de textes. Une ontologie du domaine est utilisée pour étiqueter ces connaissance. Le papier donne un aperçu des techniques de fouilles employées et décrit le processus d ‘étiquetage. Les résultats d‘une première expérimentation dans le domaine de l’accidentologie sont aussi présentés.
Non-linear filtering for feature enhancement of reverberant speech

Speaker identification implemented on a mobile robot is a challenging problem because of varying reverberant environments which the robot encounters while in motion. The performance of a typical speaker identification system degrades significantly in reverberant environments. The degradation in performance is mainly due to the conventional feature being not robust to change in reverberant condition. In this paper, we present a non-linear filter based mel frequency cepstral coefficient (MFCC) feature extraction, which is more robust to changes in reverberant conditions. This feature extraction method is a two stage operation and is applied on the spectrogram of the speech signal. The first stage suppresses the frequency spread due to reverberation within each frame and in the second stage, reverberation effect across the frames is suppressed. The performance is evaluated by the GMM-UBM based identifier built and tested with conventional MFCC feature vectors and with the non-linear filter based MFCC feature vectors. We show that, the identification accuracy of GMM-UBM based identifier with non-linear filter based MFCC feature vectors is better than that of conventional MFCC feature vectors.
Effects of current stress and thermal storage on polymeric heterojunction P3HT:PCBM solar cell

We subjected P3HT:PCBM solar cells to electrical constant current stress and thermal storage. We employed the impedance spectroscopy technique combined to conventional DC measurements for device characterization during all stresses. We identified and separated different contributions affecting the open circuit voltage and short circuit current. Several mechanisms are behind these changes during the stresses; in particular, we underlined the exciton recombination rate and the variation of the built-in voltage.
How Emotive is Creativity

ABSTRACT Emotive creativity is generally believed to facilitate communication by increasing attention. However, during relaxed TV viewing, psychology suggests we may pay less not more attention to emotive ads. An experiment conducted in a realistic viewing environment found that ads that were high in emotive content correlated with a 20 percent lower level of attention and that attention toward these ads was unlikely to decline on repeat viewing. This supports the idea that TV advertising is not systematically processed but is automatically processed in response to the stimuli presented. We speculate that emotive creativity may benefit brand TV advertising by lowering attention and inhibiting counter-argument.
The Effect of Promotion Benefit Level on Patronage Intention in Limited-quantity Promotion: A Consumer Perceived Availability Perspective

This study aims to investigate the effect of promotion benefit level on consumers’ patronage intention in limited-quantity promotion (LQP) by considering the mediating influence of perceived availability. A mathematical model is built and an experiment is conducted to demonstrate that the effect of promotion benefit level on patronage intention is reversed U-shaped in LQP. When promotion benefit level is low, patronage intention increases as promotion benefit level increases, whereas when promotion benefit level is high, patronage intention would decrease as promotion benefit level increases. The mediating influence of perceived availability between promotion benefit level and patronage intention explains this phenomenon. Empirical results show that perceived availability is negatively related with promotion benefit level and patronage intention is positively related with perceived availability. Those results can be used by retailers to determine the most appropriate benefit level in LQP.
PRIVACY-PRESERVING QUERY PROCESSING ON OUTSOURCED DATABASES IN CLOUD COMPUTING

Database-as-a-Service (DBaaS) is a category of cloud computing services that enables IT providers to deliver database functionality as a service. In this model, a third party service provider known as a cloud server hosts a database and provides the associated software and hardware supports. Database outsourcing reduces the workload of the data owner in answering queries by delegating the tasks to powerful third-party servers with large computational and network resources. Despite the economic and technical benefits, privacy is the primary challenge posed by this category of services. By using these services, the data owners will lose the control of their databases. Moreover, the privacy of clients may be compromised since a curious cloud operator can follow the queries of a client and infer what the client is after. The challenge is to fulfill the main privacy goals of both the data owner and the clients without undermining the ability of the cloud server to return the correct query results. This thesis considers the design of protocols that protect the privacy of the clients and the data owners in the DBaaS model. Such protocols must protect the privacy of the clients so that the data owner and the cloud server cannot infer the constants contained in the query predicate as well as the query result. Moreover, the data owner privacy should be preserved by ensuring that the sensitive information in the database is not leaked to the cloud server and nothing beyond the query result is revealed to the clients. The results of the complexity and performance analysis indicates that the proposed protocols incur reasonable communication and computation overhead on the client and the data owner, considering the added advantage of being able to perform the symmetrically-private database search.
Up‐regulation of thioredoxin and thioredoxin reductase in human malignant pleural mesothelioma

Thioredoxin (Trx) with a redoxactive dithiol together with NADPH and thioredoxin reductase (TrxR) is a major disulfide reductase regulating cellular redox state and cell proliferation and possibly contributing to the drug resistance of malignant cells. We assessed the Trx system in malignant pleural mesothelioma cell lines, in nonmalignant pleural mesothelium and in biopsies of malignant pleural mesothelioma. The mRNA and immunoreactive proteins of Trx and cytosolic and mitochondrial TrxR were positive in all four human mesothelioma cell lines investigated. Six cases of nonmalignant, histologically healthy pleural mesothelium showed no Trx or TrxR immunoreactivity, whereas immunohistochemistry on 26 biopsies of human malignant pleural mesothelioma showed positive Trx in all cases and positive TrxR in 23 (88%) of the cases. Moderate or strong immunoreactivity for Trx or TrxR was detected in 85% (22 cases) and 61% (14 cases) of the mesothelioma cases, respectively. Both Trx and TrxR staining patterns were mainly diffuse and cytoplasmic, but in 39% of the mesothelioma cases prominent nuclear staining could also be detected. Although staining for Trx and TrxR was seen in tumor cells, no significant association could be demonstrated between Trx or TrxR expression and tumor cell proliferation or apoptosis in the biopsies of mesothelioma. There was no significant association between the intensity of Trx or TrxR immunoreactivity and patient survival, which may possibly be related to moderate or intense Trx and TrxR reactivity in most of the cases. Although the Trx system may have an important role in the drug resistance of malignant mesothelioma, these studies also suggest that multiple factors contribute to the promotion, cell proliferation and apoptosis of malignant mesothelioma cells in vivo. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Frequency responsive wind plant controls: Impacts on grid performance

Grid integration of wind power plants is complicated by a number of issues, primarily related to wind variability and the electrical characteristics of wind generators. Frequency control is a particularly significant issue with high levels of wind and solar penetration. A typical wind plant appears to the grid as a substantially different generation source than a conventional power plant. A significant difference is that the wind energy source is inherently uncontrollable. In addition, the electrical characteristics of wind generators result in a disturbance response that is naturally different from that of conventional synchronous generators. Without special controls, a wind plant does not inherently participate in the regulation of grid frequency as do synchronous machines. And, when wind generation displaces conventional synchronous generation, the burden of frequency regulation placed upon the remaining synchronous generators is increased. The paper summarizes results from a recent investigation of system frequency response in the Western US as it may be affected by large amounts of wind generation. Impacts and benefits of wind plant controls that provide frequency response are illustrated with quantitative examples. Both inertial and primary frequency response behaviors are examined.
Does Ethnic/Cultural Dissimilarity Affect Perceptions of Service Quality?

This article examined the issue of ethnic and cultural differences between service recipients and service providers and their impact on service quality perceptual evaluations (SQPs). The study analyzed responses of two samples of patients who consulted specialist physicians from a survey of 300 Israeli Jewish and 300 Israeli Arab respondents. For all respondents, the research constructed a measure of similarity between the service providers (the physicians) and the service receivers (the patients) based on whether the former belonged to the same ethnic or cultural communities as the service recipients. The results show that within the Israeli Jewish population (the majority population), service providers similarity was positively correlated with higher SQP scores. Similar results were not found for the Arab Israeli respondents (the minority social group). The results indicate that service recipients may seek quality “markers” for the services received by transferring their objective or subjective quality perceptions of the service providers to the SQPs themselves. The article then draws implications for service managers and for future research.
A review of wayfinding and a new virtual reality system for wayfinding studies

The Virtual Reality (VR) systems for wayfinding studies, the evaluation metrics for wayfinding performance and the factors affecting wayfinding performances are summarised and discussed in the present study. The VR systems covered by this study include desktop, large display, Head-Mounted Display (HMD), Fish Tank and Cave Automatic Virtual Environment (CAVE) systems. Three levels of evaluation metrics are reviewed, which are task performance, physical behaviours and cognitive rationale. Factors affecting wayfinding performance are divided into four categories: personal factors, wayfinding strategy factors, environmental factors and navigation support tool factors, each of which has several sub-factors. Effects of these factors on wayfinding performance are discussed. Finally, a new VR system developed by this study for wayfinding problems is introduced and a perspective on future wayfinding research is provided.
Successful in vitro cultivation of Cryptosporidium andersoni : evidence for the existence of novel extracellular stages in the life cycle and implications for the classification of Cryptosporidium

The present study describes the complete development of all life cycle stages of Cryptosporidium andersoni in the HCT-8 cell line. The in vitro cultivation protocols were the same as those used for the successful growth of all life cycle stages of Cryptosporidium parvum (Int. J. Parasitol. 31 (2001) 1048). Under these culture conditions, C. andersoni grew and proliferated rapidly with the completion of the entire life cycle within 72 h post-infection. The developmental stages of C. andersoni are larger than those of C. parvum enabling easier identification of life cycle stages including a previously unrecognised extracellular stage. The presence of this extracellular stage was further confirmed following its isolation from the faeces of infected cattle using a laser microdissection technique. This stage was present in large numbers and some of them were seen undergoing syzgy. Extraction of DNA from the extracellular stage, followed by polymerase chain reactionrestriction fragment length polymorphism and sequencing of the 18S rDNA confirmed that this is a stage in the life cycle of C. andersoni. In vitro, extracellular stages were always observed moving over the HCT-8 cells infected with C. andersoni. Comparative observations with C. parvum also confirmed the presence of extracellular stages. Extracellular stages were recovered from in vitro culture after 5 days postinfection with the cattle genotype of C. parvum and from infected mice. At least two morphologically different stages (stages one and two) were purified from mice after 72 h of infection. The presence and morphological characterisation of extracellular developmental stages in the life cycle of Cryptosporidium confirms its relationship to gregarines and provides important implications for our understanding of the taxonomic and phylogenetic affinities of the genus Cryptosporidium. The growth of C. andersoni in cell culture now provides a means of studying its development, metabolism, and behaviour as well as testing its response to different therapeutic agents. q 2002 Australian Society for Parasitology Inc. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Benchmarking design‐build procurement systems in construction

Benchmarking can be an effective way of helping organizations to deliver better services through continuous improvement. The concept of benchmarking has been extensively applied to the construction industry in recent years to enhance the performance of the project delivery process. Success is hard to achieve, especially for a construction project delivered by an innovative procurement method – design and build, and the identification of critical success factors can enable project team leaders to make improvements in some particular areas. This paper aims to establish a conceptual framework of critical success factors (CSFs) for design‐build projects in construction. From the framework, it is hypothesized that project success of a design‐build project is a function of the interaction among project characteristics, project procedures, project management strategies, project‐related participants, project work atmosphere and project environment. The CSFs so identified can provide practitioners and academics with a better understanding of running a design‐build project successfully to develop a benchmark for the D&B project delivery process.
The New Public Management in hybrid settings: New challenges for performance measures

This study questions whether Performance Measurement Systems (PMSs) defined under the New Public Management (NPM) logic fit the needs of hybrid settings where inter-organizational relationships exist between multiple actors in charge of service delivery. After outlining the key characteristics of an NPM-based PMS and its limitations in hybrid settings, an exploratory case study was carried out on a public network in charge of delivering a local public transport service. The network was particularly appropriate, as it initially endorsed an NPM-based PMS. Findings show problems in using the PMS and adapting the model, which led to the development of new features and requirements. Using a theoretical triangulation, it was possible to draw a more general insight into the characteristics of a PMS in a hybrid setting, here called a relational and participative PMS.
Synthesis of influenza virus polypeptides in cells resistant to alpha-amanitin: evidence for the involvement of cellular RNA polymerase II in virus replication

Influenza virus polypeptides were not synthesized in wild-type CHO-S-infected cells in the presence of alpha-amanitin, but were synthesized in CHO-Amal cells, a mutant cell line whose DNA-dependent RNA polymerase II is specifically resistant to this drug, indicating that this cellular enzyme is involved in influenza virus replication. The results of experiments designed to detect viral polypeptides synthesized from primary transcripts suggest that the synthesis of a cellular RNA species by RNA polymerase II is required for primary transcription of the influenza virus genome.
Dynamic Spectrum Access in the Time Domain : Modeling and Exploiting Whitespace

Dynamic spectrum access is a promising approach to alleviat e the spectrum scarcity wireless communications faces today. In short, it aims at reusing sparse ly occupied frequency bands while causing no (or insignificant) interference to the actual licensees. Th is article focuses on applying this concept in the time domain by exploiting idle durations between bursty tra nsmissions of multiaccess communication channels, addressing WLAN as an example of practical import ance. A statistical model based on empirical data is presented and it is shown how to use this model for deri ving access strategies. The coexistence of Bluetooth and WLAN is considered as a concrete example.
On distribution of the depth index on perfect matchings

We study the restriction of depth index statistic on the set of perfect matchings. In particular, we provide additional combinatorial description of the statistic for perfect matchings and calculate the generating polynomial. The main result of the present short paper is that the depth index on perfect matchings is equidistributed with the rank function of the Bruhat order.
Innovation Generation Process and its Determinants

Background. The paper presents the conceptual and empirical examinations of the innovation generation process which is one of the most significant dynamic processes taking place within an organization. The generation of innovation is presented as a sequence of stages, progressing from idea generation through its development to the market introduction of the generated solution and it is considered at the organizational level. Research aims. The purpose of the paper is to examine the broad sets of factors that influence the innovation generation process in the organizational, top managers’ and environmental context. Method. By using the Delphi survey conducted among 264 experts representing a diverse professional and academic experience, the study analyses the perceived significance of each factor for the various stages of the innovation generation process. Key findings. The results of the analysis indicate that the considered factors do not affect the innovation generation process with the same strength but exert varying levels of influence on the subsequent stages. Implications of these findings as well as the suggestions for future research are also discussed.
Knowledge-based Management: a New Management Model

Knowledge management refers to a process in which knowledge recourses are controlled under effective management.Its goal can be achieved through the share between dominant knowledge and intangible knowledge,knowledge innovation and maximal exploration of employee's intelligence.In practice,we should strengthen human resources development and management,build learning organizations,foster enterprise culture for innovation,and reform framework within organizations.
Stock Prices and Social Dynamics

The empirical evidence that is widely interpreted as supporting the efficient markets theory in finance actually does not rule out the possibility that changing fashions or fads among investors have an important influence on prices in financial markets. A model of the impact of such fashions on prices is proposed and used in an exploratory data analysis of the aggregate United States Stock Market in the 20th century.