Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
EVOLUTION OF STRUCTURAL DAMPING FOR CROSS-PLY LAMINATE BY MODAL ANALYSIS

The work concerned exactly a structural damage of cross-ply laminate as function of loading rate. In this paper also involves the effect of loading rate on the damping of the composite. The calculation of laminate damping is performed by use of a strain energy method. The modal analysis of the structure for different loading rates is based on the analytical method used to solve the equation of free vibrations. The difference between strain energies for both cases damaged and undamaged are calculated by the finite element method. The structural damping of the beam is evaluated from these energies. The result deduced from the damping by finite element analysis that the structural damping η increases when the loading rate becomes higher. This study shows clearly the decrease of the frequencies when the loading rate increases; this should have high utility as a decisive test for non-destructive damage detection.
Does Personality Predict Health and Well-Being? A Metasynthesis

Objective: To derive a robust and comprehensive estimate of the overall relation between Big Five personality traits and health variables using metasynthesis (i.e., second-order meta-analysis). Method: Thirty-six meta-analyses, which collectively provided 150 meta-analytic effects from over 500,000 participants, met criteria for inclusion in the metasynthesis. Information on methodological quality as well as the type of health outcome, unreliability adjustment, population sampled, health outcome source, personality source, and research design was extracted from each meta-analysis. An unweighted model was used to aggregate data across meta-analyses. Results: When entered simultaneously, the Big Five traits were moderately associated with overall health (multiple R = .35). Personality–health relations were larger when examining mental health outcomes than physical health outcomes or health-related behaviors and when researchers adjusted for measurement unreliability, used self-report as opposed to other-report Big Five scales, or focused on clinical as opposed to nonclinical samples. Further, effects were larger among agreeableness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism than extraversion or openness to experience. Conclusions: This metasynthesis provides among the most compelling evidence to date that personality predicts overall health and well-being. In addition, it may inform research on the mechanisms by which personality impacts health as well as research on the structure of personality.
Reducing in vitro rumen methanogenesis for two contrasting diets using a series of inclusion rates of different additives

Eleven individual additives were incubated with either perennial ryegrass or with grass silage+barley grain (50 : 50) and the in vitro methane output was assessed using the gas production technique (GPT). Additives were: fatty acids (lauric, oleic, linoleic and linolenic acids), halogenated methane analogues (bromoethanesulfonate and bromochloromethane), pyromellitic diimide, statins (mevastatin and lovastatin), a probiotic (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) and an unsaturated dicarboxylic acid (fumaric acid). Each additive was included at a range of concentrations. Effects on methane output per gram of feed dry matter (DM) incubated (CH4/DMi) and disappeared (CH4/DMd), as well as other fermentation variables, were evaluated after 24 h of incubation. The addition of increased concentrations of individual fatty acids, bromoethanesulfonate and pyromellitic diimide caused a dose-dependent decline in methane output (CH4/DMi, CH4/DMd), when incubated with either perennial ryegrass or grass silage+barley grain. No methane output was detected for either feed with the addition of ≥5 µM bromochloromethane. The statins were ineffective inhibitors of methane output regardless of feed type. For perennial ryegrass, S. cerevisiae caused a dose-dependent decline in CH4/DMd and fumaric acid a dose-dependent decline in CH4/DMi and CH4/DMd. The effectiveness of lauric, oleic, linoleic and linolenic acids and bromoethanesulfonate to reduce methane output was more pronounced when incubated with grass silage+barley grain than with perennial ryegrass, and therefore the type of feed is an important component for any future in vitro and in vivo studies to be undertaken with these additives. Thus, incorporating different feed types in the initial in vitro screening protocols of all new additives is recommended.
Pan-Genome Analysis Links the Hereditary Variation of Leptospirillum ferriphilum With Its Evolutionary Adaptation

Niche adaptation has long been recognized to drive intra-species differentiation and speciation, yet knowledge about its relatedness with hereditary variation of microbial genomes is relatively limited. Using Leptospirillum ferriphilum species as a case study, we present a detailed analysis of genomic features of five recognized strains. Genome-to-genome distance calculation preliminarily determined the roles of spatial distance and environmental heterogeneity that potentially contribute to intra-species variation within L. ferriphilum species at the genome level. Mathematical models were further constructed to extrapolate the expansion of L. ferriphilum genomes (an ‘open’ pan-genome), indicating the emergence of novel genes with new sequenced genomes. The identification of diverse mobile genetic elements (MGEs) (such as transposases, integrases, and phage-associated genes) revealed the prevalence of horizontal gene transfer events, which is an important evolutionary mechanism that provides avenues for the recruitment of novel functionalities and further for the genetic divergence of microbial genomes. Comprehensive analysis also demonstrated that the genome reduction by gene loss in a broad sense might contribute to the observed diversification. We thus inferred a plausible explanation to address this observation: the community-dependent adaptation that potentially economizes the limiting resources of the entire community. Now that the introduction of new genes is accompanied by a parallel abandonment of some other ones, our results provide snapshots on the biological fitness cost of environmental adaptation within the L. ferriphilum genomes. In short, our genome-wide analyses bridge the relation between genetic variation of L. ferriphilum with its evolutionary adaptation.
Increasing Specificity of Correlate Research: Exploring Correlates of Children’s Lunchtime and After-School Physical Activity

Background The lunchtime and after-school contexts are critical windows in a school day for children to be physically active. While numerous studies have investigated correlates of children’s habitual physical activity, few have explored correlates of physical activity occurring at lunchtime and after-school from a social-ecological perspective. Exploring correlates that influence physical activity occurring in specific contexts can potentially improve the prediction and understanding of physical activity. Using a context-specific approach, this study investigated correlates of children’s lunchtime and after-school physical activity. Methods Cross-sectional data were collected from 423 South Australian children aged 10.0–13.9 years (200 boys; 223 girls) attending 10 different schools. Lunchtime and after-school physical activity was assessed using accelerometers. Correlates were assessed using purposely developed context-specific questionnaires. Correlated Component Regression analysis was conducted to derive correlates of context-specific physical activity and determine the variance explained by prediction equations. Results The model of boys’ lunchtime physical activity contained 6 correlates and explained 25% of the variance. For girls, the model explained 17% variance from 9 correlates. Enjoyment of walking during lunchtime was the strongest correlate for both boys and girls. Boys’ and girls’ after-school physical activity models explained 20% variance from 14 correlates and 7% variance from the single item correlate, “I do an organised sport or activity after-school because it gets you fit”, respectively. Conclusions Increasing specificity of correlate research has enabled the identification of unique features of, and a more in-depth interpretation of, lunchtime and after-school physical activity behaviour and is a potential strategy for advancing the physical activity correlate research field. The findings of this study could be used to inform and tailor gender-specific public health messages and interventions for promoting lunchtime and after-school physical activity in children.
Distributed massive MIMO performance with channel reciprocity error and pilot contamination

In this paper, we restrict on the distributed massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) downlink that incorporates the effect of reciprocity error and pilot contamination. The closed-form expressions of achievable rate with maximum ratio transmission (MRT) beamforming and definitive rate are derived with both matrix normalization (MN) and vector normalization (VN). We show that distributed antenna layout with VN outperforms other counterparts in large transmit antenna regime. As for the reciprocity error, the deviations at base station side result in much severer performance penalty than those at user side. However, there impacts on the definitive rate are both slight. On the other hand, the impact of pilot contamination decreases with increasing level of reciprocity error.
Nonrigid point matching of Chinese characters for robot writing

Point matching is a key step in robot writing-learning process. There are three major challenges that weakened most of the existing point matching algorithms to match points for Chinese characters, including nonlinearly deformation, connected strokes and geometrically dispersive. We propose a novel algorithm based on constrained global energy function (CGE) in the matching process to cope with the abovementioned challenges in this paper. We utilized a global spatial distribution energy function (EF) to evaluate relationship among point sets. Then we could solve problems with point registration by minimizing the energy function. To evaluate the matching results of energy function, we defined a vector that describe local spatial information to optimize the algorithm presentation. In addition, to avoid divergence, we designed an operator based on sigmoid function, using literation numbers as inputs to constrain the vector. We have conducted experiments on an extensive human handwriting database, and our algorithm performed competitively against the state-of-the-art point matching algorithm in terms of accuracy and stability.
Clinical documentation variations and NLP system portability: a case study in asthma birth cohorts across institutions

Abstract Objective To assess clinical documentation variations across health care institutions using different electronic medical record systems and investigate how they affect natural language processing (NLP) system portability. Materials and Methods Birth cohorts from Mayo Clinic and Sanford Children’s Hospital (SCH) were used in this study (n = 298 for each). Documentation variations regarding asthma between the 2 cohorts were examined in various aspects: (1) overall corpus at the word level (ie, lexical variation), (2) topics and asthma-related concepts (ie, semantic variation), and (3) clinical note types (ie, process variation). We compared those statistics and explored NLP system portability for asthma ascertainment in 2 stages: prototype and refinement. Results There exist notable lexical variations (word-level similarity = 0.669) and process variations (differences in major note types containing asthma-related concepts). However, semantic-level corpora were relatively homogeneous (topic similarity = 0.944, asthma-related concept similarity = 0.971). The NLP system for asthma ascertainment had anF-score of 0.937 at Mayo, and produced 0.813 (prototype) and 0.908 (refinement) when applied at SCH. Discussion The criteria for asthma ascertainment are largely dependent on asthma-related concepts. Therefore, we believe that semantic similarity is important to estimate NLP system portability. As the Mayo Clinic and SCH corpora were relatively homogeneous at a semantic level, the NLP system, developed at Mayo Clinic, was imported to SCH successfully with proper adjustments to deal with the intrinsic corpus heterogeneity.
Cell-laden micropatterns using self-assembled cell-ECM microtissues in soft pectin hydrogels

Advanced skin regeneration therapies can combine biomaterials, cells, growth factors and advanced biomanufacturing techniques for the fabrication of constructs that will ultimately mimic native skin anatomy. Regardless of the specific tissue-engineering approach for in vitro artificial skin substitute production, to engineer functional skin, the formation of an efficient vascular network is required. Aiming to develop a strategy to improve constructs microvascularization with fibroblasts support endothelial cells in the formation of self-assembled vascular structures, this study allowed the dissection of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) and neonatal human dermal fibroblasts (NHDFs) behavior in a 3D microenvironment. We addressed for the first time the effect of several culture parameters on cells behavior when embedded on RGD-grafted soft pectin hydrogels. Conditions such as media composition, cell density, cell type to type ratio and polymer concentration were optimized on standard 2D culture conditions. The results obtained allowed us to choose the best conditions to proceed into a 3D experimental setup. A 3:1 ratio of M199 to DMEM media was selected for HUVEC:NHDFs co-cultures and we also determined that low HUVEC to NHDFs ratios, in 2D environments led to NHDFs spreading in detriment of HUVEC proliferation while higher ratios sustained a controlled environment where HUVECs were able to grow and assemble in spider weblike structures. In a three dimensional context, Cell behavior parameters displayed better outcomes for lower hydrogel formulations (1.5% w/v) and higher cell densities (1.5x10 cells.mL). Fibroblasts formed spheroidss and contracted the matrix, while maintaining the metabolic activity, in a matrix and cell density-dependent way, with 1.5% (w/v) pectin hydrogels embedded with 1x107cells.mL-1 demonstrating microtissues formation. Based on combination of NHDFs and HUVECs, a cocuture systems were developed in soft pectin hydrogel matrices. Within these, HUVEC survival was increased, and fibroiblast spheroids formation was observed. Although further investigation is needed, we developed a a three-dimensional co-culture system in RGD-grafted soft pectin hydrogel in which fibroblasts support endothelial cells, and established this techniques as a promising strategy for in vitro microvascularization towards skin regeneration therapies. FCUP Cell-laden micropatterns using self-assembled cell-ECM microtissues in soft pectin hydrogels iv
Streptomyces coelicolor SCO4226 Is a Nickel Binding Protein

The open reading frame SCO4226 of Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2) encodes an 82-residue hypothetical protein. Biochemical assays revealed that each SCO4226 dimer binds four nickel ions. To decipher the molecular function, we solved the crystal structures of SCO4226 in both apo- and nickel-bound (Ni-SCO4226) forms at 1.30 and 2.04 Å resolution, respectively. Each subunit of SCO4226 dimer adopts a canonical ferredoxin-like fold with five β-strands flanked by two α-helices. In the structure of Ni-SCO4226, four nickel ions are coordinated at the surface of the dimer. Further biochemical assays suggested that the binding of Ni2+ triggers the self-aggregation of SCO4226 in vitro. In addition, RT-qPCR assays demonstrated that the expression of SCO4226 gene in S. coelicolor is specifically up-regulated by the addition of Ni2+, but not other divalent ions such as Cu2+, Mn2+ or Co2+. All these results suggested that SCO4226 acts as a nickel binding protein, probably required for nickel sequestration and/or detoxification.
Dense 3D Reconstruction of Endoscopic Polyp

This paper proposes a model for 3D reconstruction of polyp in endoscopic scene. 3D shape of polyp enables better understanding of the medical condition and can help predict abnormalities like cancer. While there has been significant progress in monocular shape recovery, the same hasn’t been the case with endoscopic images due to challenges like specular regions. We take advantage of the advances in shape recovery and suitably apply these with modifications to the scenario of endoscopic images. The model operates on 2 nearby video frames. ORB features are detected and tracked for computing camera motion and initial rough depth estimation. This is followed by a dense pixelwise operation which gives a dense depth map of the scene. Our method shows positive results and strong correspondence with the ground truth.
Dynamic Power Reduction in Scalable Neural Recording Interface Using Spatiotemporal Correlation and Temporal Sparsity of Neural Signals

We report a scalable neural recording interface with embedded lossless compression to reduce dynamic power consumption (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\text{P}_{D}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>) for data transmission in high-density neural recording systems. We investigated the characteristics of neural signals and implemented effective lossless compression for local field potential (LFP) and extracellular action potential (EAP or spike) in separate signal paths. For LFP, spatial–temporal (spatiotemporal) correlation of the LFP signals is exploited in a <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\Delta $ </tex-math></inline-formula>-modulated <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\Delta \Sigma $ </tex-math></inline-formula> analog-to-digital converter (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\Delta -\Delta \Sigma $ </tex-math></inline-formula> ADC) and a dedicated digital difference circuit. Then, statistical redundancy is further eliminated through entropy encoding without information loss. For spikes, only essential parts of waveforms in the spikes are extracted from the raw data by using spike detectors and reconfigurable analog memories. The prototype chip was fabricated using 180-nm CMOS processes, incorporating 128 channels into a modular architecture that is easily scalable and expandable for high-density neural recordings. The fabricated chip achieved the data rate reduction for the LFPs and spikes by a factor of 5.35 and 10.54, respectively, from the proposed compression scheme. Consequently, <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$P_{D}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> was reduced by 89%, when compared to the uncompressed case. We also achieved the state-of-the-art recording performance of 3.37 <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mu \text{W}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> per channel, 5.18 <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mu V_{\mathrm {rms}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> noise, and 3.41 <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${\text {NEF}}^{2}V_{\mathrm {DD}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>.
Niclosamide is a potential therapeutic for familial adenomatosis polyposis by disrupting Axin-GSK3 interaction

The epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is implicated in tumorigenesis and cancer progression, and canonical Wnt signaling tightly controls Snail, a key transcriptional repressor of EMT. While the suppression of canonical Wnt signaling and EMT comprises an attractive therapeutic strategy, molecular targets for small molecules reverting Wnt and EMT have not been widely studied. Meanwhile, the anti-helminthic niclosamide has been identified as a potent inhibitor of many oncogenic signaling pathways although its molecular targets have not yet been clearly identified. In this study, we show that niclosamide directly targets Axin-GSK3 interaction, at least in part, resulting in suppression of Wnt/Snail-mediated EMT. In vitro and in vivo, disruption of Axin-GSK3 complex by niclosamide induces mesenchymal to epithelial reversion at nM concentrations, accompanied with suppression of the tumorigenic potential of colon cancer. Niclosamide treatment successfully attenuates Snail abundance while increasing E-cadherin abundance in xenograft tumor. Notably, oral administration of niclosamide significantly suppressed adenoma formation in an APC-MIN mice model, indicating that niclosamide is an effective therapeutic for familial adenomatosis polyposis (FAP) patients. In this study, we identified a novel target to control the canonical Wnt pathway and Snail-mediated EMT program, and discovered a repositioned therapeutics for FAP patients.
A hierarchical decision-making algorithm of UAV for collision avoidance in target tracking

Effective target tracking and obstacle avoidance strategies are essential to the success of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) missions. In this paper, we consider the UAV action decision-making problem for tracking a ground moving target, while avoiding dynamic ellipsoidal obstacle detected en route. The studied problem was formulated as a Partially Observable Markov Decision Process (POMDP), and then in this framework, we get the optimal or sub-optimal strategy to achieve the target tracking in the barrier environment. We first improved the conditions and methods of collision detection based on collision cone, and use common penalty function method to ensure tracking safety. Further taking into account that the UAV needs to react more quickly to obstacles than target tracking, we propose an alternative hierarchical decision-making approach. For the entire tracking process, the total information gain in the UAV-to-target observation is used as a tracking optimization criterion in case of no obstacle. Simulations are presented to demonstrate the comparison between the proposed approach with the improved penalty function approach. The results show that our proposed algorithm is superior.
Monoclonal antibody 7D5 recognizes the R147 epitope on the gp91phox, phagocyte flavocytochrome b558 large subunit

Human phagocyte flavocytochrome b558 (Cyt b), the catalytic center of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate oxidase, consists of a heavily glycosylated large subunit (gp91phox; Nox2) and a small subunit (p22phox). Cyt b is a membrane‐spanning complex enzyme. Chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) is predominantly caused by a mutation in the CYBB gene encoding gp91phox on the X‐chromosome. Because the phagocytes of patients with CGD are not able to generate the superoxide anion, these patients are susceptible to severe infections that can be fatal. It has been suggested that the extracellular region of gp91phox is necessary for and critical to forming the epitope of mAb 7D5 and that 7D5 provides a useful tool for rapid screening of X‐linked CGD by FACS. To further elucidate the mAb 7D5 epitope on human gp91phox, chimeric DNA expressed human and mouse gp91phox recombinant protein were constructed. The fusion proteins were immunostained for mAb 7D5 and analyzed by FACS and western blot analysis. The 143ELGDRQNES151 region was found to reside at the extracellular surface on human gp91phox and to be an important epitope for the interaction with mAb 7D5, as analyzed by FACS analysis. In particular, amino acid R147 is a unique epitope on the membrane‐associated Cyt b for mAb 7D5. In conclusion, it is proposed that FACS analysis using mAb 7D5 is a valuable tool for early diagnosis of CGD.