Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Composite Tissue Engineering on Polycaprolactone Nanofiber Scaffolds

Tissue engineering has largely focused on single tissue-type reconstruction (such as bone); however, the basic unit of healing in any clinically relevant scenario is a compound tissue type (such as bone, periosteum, and skin). Nanofibers are submicron fibrils that mimic the extracellular matrix, promoting cellular adhesion, proliferation, and migration. Stem cell manipulation on nanofiber scaffolds holds significant promise for future tissue engineering. This work represents our initial efforts to create the building blocks for composite tissue reflecting the basic unit of healing. Polycaprolactone (PCL) nanofibers were electrospun using standard techniques. Human foreskin fibroblasts, murine keratinocytes, and periosteal cells (4-mm punch biopsy) harvested from children undergoing palate repair were grown in appropriate media on PCL nanofibers. Human fat-derived mesenchymal stem cells were osteoinduced on PCL nanofibers. Cell growth was assessed with fluorescent viability staining; cocultured cells were differentiated using antibodies to fibroblast- and keratinocyte-specific surface markers. Osteoinduction was assessed with Alizarin red S. PCL nanofiber scaffolds supported robust growth of fibroblasts, keratinocytes, and periosteal cells. Cocultured periosteal cells (with fibroblasts) and keratinocytes showed improved longevity of the keratinocytes, though growth of these cell types was randomly distributed throughout the scaffold. Robust osteoinduction was noted on PCL nanofibers. Composite tissue engineering using PCL nanofiber scaffolds is possible, though the major obstacles to the trilaminar construct are maintaining an appropriate interface between the tissue types and neovascularization of the composite structure.
Sex differences in complex regional pain syndrome type I (CRPS-I) in mice

Background Sex differences have been increasingly highlighted in complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) in clinical practice. In CRPS type I (CRPS-I), although inflammation and oxidative stress have been implicated in its pathogenesis, whether pain behavior and the underlying mechanism are sex-specific is unclear. In the present study, we sought to explore whether sex differences have an impact on inflammation, oxidative stress, and pain sensitivity in CRPS-I. Methods Chronic post-ischemia pain (CPIP) was established in both male and female mice as an animal model of CRPS-I. Edema and mechanical allodynia of bilateral hind paws were assessed after reperfusion. Blood samples were analyzed for serum levels of oxidative stress markers and inflammatory cytokines. Results Both male and female mice developed edema. Male mice developed CPIP at day 3 after reperfusion; female mice developed CPIP at day 2 after reperfusion. Female mice displayed significantly earlier and higher mechanical allodynia in the ischemic hind paw, which was associated with higher serum levels of IL-2, TNF-α, isoprostanes, 8 OhdG, and malondialdehyde at day 2 after reperfusion. Moreover, female mice showed significantly lower SOD and IL-4 compared to male mice at day 2 after reperfusion. Conclusion Our results indicate that sex differences in inflammatory and oxidative stress states may play a central role in the sex-specific nociceptive hypersensitivity in CRPS-I, and offer a new insight into pharmacology treatments to improve pain management with CRPS.
System for assisted mobility using eye movements based on electrooculography

Describes an eye-control method based on electrooculography (EOG) to develop a system for assisted mobility. One of its most important features is its modularity, making it adaptable to the particular needs of each user according to the type and degree of handicap involved. An eye model based on electrooculographic signal is proposed and its validity is studied. Several human-machine interfaces (HMI) based on EOG are commented, focusing our study on guiding and controlling a wheelchair for disabled people, where the control is actually effected by eye movements within the socket. Different techniques and guidance strategies are then shown with comments on the advantages and disadvantages of each one. The system consists of a standard electric wheelchair with an on-board computer, sensors and a graphic user interface run by the computer. On the other hand, this eye-control method can be applied to handle graphical interfaces, where the eye is used as a mouse computer. Results obtained show that this control technique could be useful in multiple applications, such as mobility and communication aid for handicapped persons.
The development and evaluation of a continuous flow process for the lipase-mediated oxidation of alkenes

We report the use of an immobilised form of Candida antarctica lipase B, Novozym® 435, in a preliminary investigation into the development of a continuous flow reactor capable of performing the chemo-enzymatic oxidation of alkenes in high yield and purity, utilising the commercially available oxidant hydrogen peroxide (100 volumes). Initial investigations focussed on the lipase-mediated oxidation of 1-methylcyclohexene, with the optimised reaction conditions subsequently employed for the epoxidation of an array of aromatic and aliphatic alkenes in 97.6 to 99.5% yield and quantitative purity.
Deciphering Physiological Functions of AHL Quorum Quenching Acylases

N-Acylhomoserine lactone (AHL)-acylase (also known as amidase or amidohydrolase) is a class of enzyme that belongs to the Ntn-hydrolase superfamily. As the name implies, AHL-acylases are capable of hydrolysing AHLs, the most studied signaling molecules for quorum sensing in Gram-negative bacteria. Enzymatic degradation of AHLs can be beneficial in attenuating bacterial virulence, which can be exploited as a novel approach to fight infection of human pathogens, phytopathogens or aquaculture-related contaminations. Numerous acylases from both prokaryotic and eukaryotic sources have been characterized and tested for the interference of quorum sensing-regulated functions. The existence of AHL-acylases in a multitude of organisms from various ecological niches, raises the question of what the physiological roles of AHL-acylases actually are. In this review, we attempt to bring together recent studies to extend our understanding of the biological functions of these enzymes in nature.
Machine Learning Meets iOS Malware: Identifying Malicious Applications on Apple Environment

The huge diffusion of the so-called smartphone devices is boosting the malware writer community to write more and more aggressive software targeting the mobile platforms. While scientific community has largely studied malware on Android platform, few attention is paid to iOS applications, probably to their closed-source nature. In this paper, in order to fill this gap, we propose a method to identify malicious application on Apple environment. Our method relies on a feature vector extracted by static analysis. Experiments, performed with 20 different machine learning algorithms, demonstrate that malware iOS applications are discriminated by trusted ones with a precision equal to 0.971 and a recall equal to 1.
Robust subspace-based fundamental frequency estimation

The problem of fundamental frequency estimation is considered in the context of signals where the frequencies of the harmonics are not exact integer multiples of a fundamental frequency. This frequently occurs in audio signals produced by, for example, stiff-stringed musical instruments, and is sometimes referred to as inharmonicity. We derive a novel robust method based on the subspace orthogonality property of MUSIC and show how it may be used for analyzing audio signals. The proposed method is both more general and less complex than a straight-forward implementation of a parametric model of the inharmonicity derived from a physical instrument model. Additionally, it leads to more accurate estimates of the individual frequencies than the method based on the parametric inharmonicity model and a reduced bias of the fundamental frequency compared to the perfectly harmonic model.
Competition and Innovation: An inverted-U relationship using Japanese industry data

This study replicates a model of Aghion et al. ("Competition and Innovation: An inverted-u relationship," Quarterly Journal of Economics 2005; 120(2):701-728), which suggests that an inverted-U relationship exists between competition and innovation. We apply patent data and a competition measure based on Japanese firm-level and industry-average data from 1964 to 2006. In a constant slope model using a full dataset, we find the same inverted-U relationship as did Aghion-Bloom-Blundell-Griffith-Howitt (ABBGH). In decade and industry fixed-effects slope models, we find the inverted-U relationship to be fragile.
Enhancing the portability of employability skills using e-portfolios

Transferable skills are essential in allowing graduates to make the transition between the world of learning and the world of work. Teaching these skills, however, is a challenge that institutions of higher learning are still grappling with. This article describes how the transferability of skills can be encouraged using e-portfolios. It is based on a review of a skills course taught to first-year undergraduate economics students. Google sites were used by students to develop platforms of reflection and evidence their skills development. The approach used included bolt-on and embedded methods. The sites developed by students are reviewed alongside post-module focus group discussions. We find that the embedded approach is more effective in enhancing transference. We also find that e-portfolios provide a relevant platform and context for the development of transferable skills. The assessment aspect of the portfolio also provides the incentive to transfer.
Using final placements to prepare student nurses.

AIM This qualitative phenomenological study explored the perceptions of the support received by children's student nurses on their final placement as they prepared for their role as staff nurses. METHOD Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of six final-placement students. The interviews were recorded and transcribed. Thematic analysis was used to interpret the transcripts. FINDINGS Five themes relevant to student support were identified: preparation for transition from theory into practice; the support system; specific support for children's nurses; students' perceptions of transition experiences; and improvements to assist their transition process. CONCLUSION Key recommendations include incorporating a transition component into the nursing programme and providing structured guidelines for mentors that Follofocus on specific support for final-placement students.
Predictive Power of Air Travel and Socio-Economic Data for Early Pandemic Spread

Background Controlling the pandemic spread of newly emerging diseases requires rapid, targeted allocation of limited resources among nations. Critical, early control steps would be greatly enhanced if the key risk factors can be identified that accurately predict early disease spread immediately after emergence. Methodology/Principal Findings Here, we examine the role of travel, trade, and national healthcare resources in predicting the emergence and initial spread of 2009 A/H1N1 influenza. We find that incorporating national healthcare resource data into our analyses allowed a much greater capacity to predict the international spread of this virus. In countries with lower healthcare resources, the reporting of 2009 A/H1N1 cases was significantly delayed, likely reflecting a lower capacity for testing and reporting, as well as other socio-political issues. We also report substantial international trade in live swine and poultry in the decade preceding the pandemic which may have contributed to the emergence and mixed genotype of this pandemic strain. However, the lack of knowledge of recent evolution of each H1N1 viral gene segment precludes the use of this approach to determine viral origins. Conclusions/Significance We conclude that strategies to prevent pandemic influenza virus emergence and spread in the future should include: 1) enhanced surveillance for strains resulting from reassortment in traded livestock; 2) rapid deployment of control measures in the initial spreading phase to countries where travel data predict the pathogen will reach and to countries where lower healthcare resources will likely cause delays in reporting. Our results highlight the benefits, for all parties, when higher income countries provide additional healthcare resources for lower income countries, particularly those that have high air traffic volumes. In particular, international authorities should prioritize aid to those poorest countries where both the risk of emerging infectious diseases and air traffic volume is highest. This strategy will result in earlier detection of pathogens and a reduction in the impact of future pandemics.
Using an Early Science Curriculum to Teach Science Vocabulary and Concepts to Students with Severe Developmental Disabilities

Teaching academic content to students with severe developmental disabilities is a topic that has recently been debated, even though science content is one of the academic areas that comprise a standards-based curriculum. Science content like other academic skills can be taught to this population using forms of systematic instruction, a validated evidence-based practice. In this study, three elementary aged students between 6 and 8 years old were taught units from an Early Science curriculum via inquiry-based lessons and effects were measured by a multiple probe design across behaviors (units). Visual analysis shows a functional relationship between the introduction of the intervention and a change in each participant's responding. These successful outcomes are discussed in light of other comparable work, the practicality of classroom teachers implementing similar lessons, social validity, and extending the knowledge-base of teaching science content to students with severe developmental disabilities.
Uniform sliding mode controllers and uniform sliding surfaces

In this note, we propose two uniform sliding mode controllers (SMCs) for a second-order uncertain system. They provide convergence to an arbitrarily small vicinity centred at the origin in finite time, which can be bounded by some constant independent of the initial conditions and uncertainties. Towards this aim, a non-linear sliding surface is designed ensuring convergence, during the sliding motion, of 10 every trajectory to an arbitrarily small vicinity of the origin in a finite time bounded by some constant, independent of the initial condition on the surface. A first-order SMC is designed providing convergence of every trajectory to the sliding surface in a finite time, bounded by another constant independent of the initial conditions and uncertainties/disturbances of a special class. In order to adjust chattering, a super twisting-based controller is suggested providing convergence of the trajectories to the sliding surface in a 15 finite time bounded by some constant independent of any initial condition and uncertainties/disturbances of another class.
CDO: extremely high-throughput road distance computations on city road networks

Some analytic queries on road networks, usually concentrating in a local area spanning several cities, need a high-throughput solution such as performing millions of shortest distance computations per second. However, most existing solutions achieve less than 5, 000 shortest distance computations per second per machine even with multi-threads. We demonstrate a solution, termed City Distance Oracles (CDO), using our previously developed ε-distance oracle to achieve as many as 7 million shortest distance computations per second per commodity machine on a city road network, i.e., 10K × 10K origin-distance (OD) matrix can be finished in 14 seconds.
Corrections for nonlinear vector network analyzer measurements using a stochastic multi-line/reflect method

A new 16-term statistical calibration has been developed for the correction of the vector network analyzer (VNA) data. The method uses multiple measurements of generic transmission line and reflection standards. Using a functional model of the system and transmission line standards, we apply a nonlinear least-squares estimator to simultaneously optimize the correction terms in the measurement model and the propagation constant. The method provide estimates of the uncertainty on each of the parameters using the final Jacobian. This paper shows for the first time an application of the new calibration to a commercial nonlinear VNA, plus quantitative statements regarding the quality of the parameters.
Capacity achieving high rate space-time block codes

It is well known, that the Alamouti scheme is the only space-time code from orthogonal design achieving the capacity of multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) wireless communication system with n/sub T/=2 transmit antennas and n/sub R/=1 receive antenna. In this work, we propose the n-times stacked Alamouti scheme for n/sub T/=2n transmit antennas and show that this scheme achieves the capacity in the case of n/sub R/=1 receive antenna. For the more general case of more than one receive antenna, we show that if the number of transmit antennas is higher than the number of receive antennas we achieve a high portion of the capacity with this scheme.
Modeling the Cost of Software Quality

This paper offers an extrapolation of the manufacturing and service industries' Cost of Quality Model to the business of software development. The intent is to provide a theoretical account of the changing quality cost structure as a function of a maturing software development process. Thus, the trends in expenditures due to the four major quality cost categories --- appraisal, prevention, internal failures, and external failures --- are presented over the five levels of software process maturity, according to the Software Engineering Institute's (SEI's) Capability Maturity Model for Software (CMM). The Software Cost of Quality Model conservatively proposes that the total cost of quality, expressed as a percentage of the cost of development, can be decreased by approximately two-thirds as process maturity grows from Level 1 to Level 5 of the SEI's CMM.
Career Problems Among Help-Seekers in the United States: An Integrative Approach

The current research sought to examine further the integration of career and non-career domains by studying the career problems of 307 help-seekers from three campus agencies (counseling center, academic skills center, career center) at a large eastern university in the United States. Career problems, in turn, were studied in relation to psychodynamic antecedents (i.e., early attachments and self development) and psychological adjustment (i.e., academic, affective, self, interpersonal). Our findings indicated that career problems coexisted with mental health and academic problems for all help-seekers, thereby suggesting the importance of understanding their interrelationships for career theory and interventions. Additionally, attachment processes and problems in the development of the self were related to career difficulties. The implications of these findings for the practice of career counseling are discussed.
Measurements of Epidural Space Depth Using Preexisting CT Scans Correlate with Loss of Resistance Depth during Thoracic Epidural Catheter Placement

Background. Thoracic epidural catheters provide the best quality postoperative pain relief for major abdominal and thoracic surgical procedures, but placement is one of the most challenging procedures in the repertoire of an anesthesiologist. Most patients presenting for a procedure that would benefit from a thoracic epidural catheter have already had high resolution imaging that may be useful to assist placement of a catheter. Methods. This retrospective study used data from 168 patients to examine the association and predictive power of epidural-skin distance (ESD) on computed tomography (CT) to determine loss of resistance depth acquired during epidural placement. Additionally, the ability of anesthesiologists to measure this distance was compared to a radiologist, who specializes in spine imaging. Results. There was a strong association between CT measurement and loss of resistance depth (P < 0.0001); the presence of morbid obesity (BMI > 35) changed this relationship (P = 0.007). The ability of anesthesiologists to make CT measurements was similar to a gold standard radiologist (all individual ICCs > 0.9). Conclusions. Overall, this study supports the examination of a recent CT scan to aid in the placement of a thoracic epidural catheter. Making use of these scans may lead to faster epidural placements, fewer accidental dural punctures, and better epidural blockade.
Context-aware information modeling for HR SAR image scene interpretation

In this paper, we improve the traditional bag-of-words-based image representation method in two aspects: preserving the semantics in vocabulary generation and incorporating spatial relations in image representation. Based on that, we present a novel context-aware information modeling method for high resolution synthetic aperture radar image scene interpretation. We compare the proposed method with traditional ones in scene interpretation on TerraSAR-X data sets.
Efficacy of Jasminum grandiflorum L. leaf extract on dermal wound healing in rats

Wound healing is a fundamental response to tissue injury and natural products accelerate the healing process. Here, we have explored the efficacy of topical administration of an ointment, prepared by methanolic extract of Jasminum grandiflorum L. (Oleaceae) leaves, on cutaneous wound healing in rats. The topical application of the Jasminum ointment on full thickness excision wounds accelerated the healing process. Tissue growth and collagen synthesis were significantly higher determined by total hydroxyl proline, hexosamine, protein and DNA content. The response was concentration‐ and time‐dependent, when observed on days 4, 8 and 12 after wound creation. The rate of wound healing was faster as determined by wound contraction, tensile strength and other histopathological changes. In addition, this ointment also raised the activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) with high GSH content and low lipid peroxidation products in wound tissue. Thus, it could be suggested that the ointment from the methanolic extract of J. grandiflorum leaf improves the rate of wound healing by enhancing the rate of collagen synthesis and also by improving the antioxidant status in the newly synthesised healing wound tissue.
On the fundamental statistical limit of community detection in random hypergraphs

The problem of community detection in random hypergraphs is considered. We extend the Stochastic Block Model (SBM) from graphs to hypergraphs with d-uniform hyperedges, which we term “d-wise hyper stochastic block model” (d-hSBM) and consider a homogeneous and approximately equal-sized K community case. For d = 3, we fully characterize the exponentially decaying rate of the minimax risk in recovering the underlying communities, where the loss function is the mis-match ratio between the true community assignment and the recovered one. It turns out that the rate function is a weighted combination of several divergence terms, each of which is the Renyi divergence of order 1 between two Bernoulli distributions. The Bernoulli distributions involved in the characterization of the rate function are those governing the random instantiation of hyperedges in d-hSBM. The lower bound is set by finding a smaller parameter space where we can analyze the risk, while the upper bound is achieved with the Maximum Likelihood estimator. The technical contribution is to show that upper bound has the same decaying rate as the lower bound, which involves careful bounding of the various probabilities of errors. Finally, we relate the minimax risk to the recovery criterion under the Bayesian framework and derive a threshold condition for exact recovery.