Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Uma Abordagem Baseada em Algoritmo Genético para Recomendação de Objetos de Aprendizagem Sensível ao Contexto do Estudante

Technological developments led to important consequences for the processes of teaching and learning. This evolution has promoted the emergence of new approaches to distance learning, such as mobile learning. By facilitating access to diverse educational content, this learning modality provides content often inappropriate to the context of the student. One way to minimize this problem is by using computational techniques to support context-aware mobile learning. Therefore, this paper presents an environment able to perform context-sensitive recommendation of learning objects, defined in a standard format, through the use of ontologies, a multi-agent system and the application of a Genetic Algorithm. Resumo. A evolucao tecnologica ocasionou consequencias relevantes para os processos de ensino e aprendizagem. Essa evolucao promoveu o surgimento de novas abordagens para o ensino nao presencial, sendo uma delas a aprendizagem movel. Por facilitar o acesso a diversos conteudos educacionais, essa modalidade de ensino frequentemente fornece conteudo inadequado ao contexto do estudante. Uma forma de minimizar esse problema e a utilizacao de tecnicas computacionais para suporte a aprendizagem movel sensivel ao contexto do estudante. Portanto, este artigo apresenta um ambiente capaz de realizar a recomendacao sensivel ao contexto de objetos de aprendizagem, definidos em um formato padrao, atraves do uso de ontologias,de um sistema multiagente e da aplicacao de um Algoritmo Genetico. 1. Introducao Os avancos das tecnologias moveis e de comunicacao sem fio contribuiram para demarcar um novo horizonte aos processos de ensino e aprendizagem ja estabelecidos. Os dispositivos moveis possibilitam o acesso a ambientes virtuais de ensino e
Non-linear programming applied to finite element lower bound limit analysis in soil mechanics

The non-linear programming theory along with active set algorithm is employed to solve the objective function of quadratic type problem in soil mechanics under plain strain and two dimensional loading conditions. Combination of lower bound limit analysis and finite element method leads to an appropriate procedure for determining the collapse load of the system. In this combined method, a linear approximation of yield surface is used and by applying the equilibrium, stress boundary and discontinuity condition and utilizing a suitable optimization technique, the statically admissible stress field is obtained from which a lower safe limit to collapse load is computed. In order to assess the usefulness of the proposed technique, a number of examples are given and the results obtained from this technique are compared with the published results on those examples. Based on the comparisons made, the accuracy and efficiency of the method are examined and discussed.
MEMS-based compact FT-spectrometers - a platform for spectroscopic mid-infrared sensors

Novel low-voltage driven translational MEMS micro-mirror components are used to build a fully portable Fourier-Transform spectrometer. Applying nearly inertia-less MEMS devices to modulate the IR light allows building highly compact spectrometers with sub-millisecond scan times that are immune to shock and vibrations. Compact, energy efficient and robust, MEMS-based spectrometers can thus act as transducers for spectroscopic IR sensors deployable in the field. The devices shown can be used to qualitatively and quantitatively measure absorbance and/or emission spectra, even of transient signals and in real time, over a wide spectral range. This allows making full use of the inherent multi-analyte detection capabilities of spectroscopic sensors, giving this spectroscopy platform a significant advantage over single-wavelength IR sensors. When combined with already available fibre-optic sensor probes, the resulting sensors could open new application fields for smart sensors.
RoboKinect — A low-cost mobile vision system for 2.5D object detection

The new generation of 3D imaging sensors allows to go beyond the traditional 2D object detection. In this paper a low-cost robotic platform exploiting the sensing capabilities of the Microsoft Kinect is presented. The developed mobile vision system is called RoboKinect and it utilises affordable hardware components such as the Texas Instruments OMAP-based BeagleBoard and the MSP430 microcontroller, as well as open-source software. In addition we implemented a novel technique for 2.5D object detection exploiting the depth map from the Microsoft Kinect. We present also some results from the preliminary testing of the algorithm on the mobile platform.
Deep learning for sentiment analysis: successful approaches and future challenges

Sentiment analysis (also known as opinion mining) is an active research area in natural language processing. It aims at identifying, extracting and organizing sentiments from user generated texts in social networks, blogs or product reviews. A lot of studies in literature exploit machine learning approaches to solve sentiment analysis tasks from different perspectives in the past 15 years. Since the performance of a machine learner heavily depends on the choices of data representation, many studies devote to building powerful feature extractor with domain expert and careful engineering. Recently, deep learning approaches emerge as powerful computational models that discover intricate semantic representations of texts automatically from data without feature engineering. These approaches have improved the state‐of‐the‐art in many sentiment analysis tasks including sentiment classification of sentences/documents, sentiment extraction and sentiment lexicon learning. In this paper, we provide an overview of the successful deep learning approaches for sentiment analysis tasks, lay out the remaining challenges and provide some suggestions to address these challenges. WIREs Data Mining Knowl Discov 2015, 5:292–303. doi: 10.1002/widm.1171
Lactobacillus Strain Ecology and Persistence within Broiler Chickens Fed Different Diets: Identification of Persistent Strains

ABSTRACT Lactobacilli are autochthonous residents in the chicken gastrointestinal tract, where they may potentially be used as probiotics, competitive exclusion agents, or delivery vehicles. The aim of this study was to use an in vivo model to investigate the effect of diet and competing lactic acid bacteria on the colonization of inoculated Lactobacillus strains, with the goal of identifying strains which can consistently colonize or persist for an extended period of several weeks. Chicken-derived Lactobacillus strains were genetically marked with rifampin resistance and administered on day 0 to chickens fed either a normal commercial diet or a specially formulated high-protein diet. Chickens fed the high-protein diet were also coinoculated with two different mixes of additional lactic acid bacteria. Enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus sequence-based PCR (ERIC-PCR) was used to identify rifampin-resistant isolates recovered from chickens. Three strains, belonging to the species Lactobacillus agilis, Lactobacillus crispatus, and Lactobacillus vaginalis, were commonly reisolated from the chickens on both diets at days 21 and 42. The ability of these strains to persist was confirmed in a second chicken trial. All three strains persisted throughout the production period in the chickens fed a commercial diet, while only the L. agilis and L. vaginalis strains persisted in the chickens fed the high-protein diet. In both in vivo trials, competing lactic acid bacteria modified representation of the strains recovered, with all three stains capable of competing in the presence of one or both mixes of coinoculated strains. The in vivo model successfully identified three persistent strains that will be characterized further.
Multi-dimensional transfer functions design based on boundary model

Direct volume rendering is an important method for visualizing complex dataset. However, many information is lost in the process of generating 2D data from 3D data. Since the lack of prior information of volume data, designing transfer function becomes a time-consuming and unintuitive work. Most direct volume renderings employ one-dimensional transfer functions, which assign color and opacity to the volume base on the single scalar quantity, but their capability for extracting specific material boundaries is not satisfied. In this paper, we describe the application of multi-dimensional transfer functions to scalar data. The data value's first and second directional derivatives along the gradient direction help us find the exact boundaries of interested structures. Through analyzing the boundary model, we can quickly and easily design our transfer functions. Experimental results show that this approach can solve the locating of interested structures, and the rendering results completely meet clinical needs.
Effect of Alcohol Consumption on the Gut

Both acute and chronic alcohol consumption have severe effects on the structure and function of the entire gastrointestinal tract (GIT) which result in a vicious cycle. The healthy person who begins to drink heavily, first experiences the toxic effects of high concentrations of ethanol. Mucosal damage compromises the basic functions of the GIT. Suppression of the gastrointestinal immune system and increased transport of toxins across the mucosa result in increased susceptibility to infections. Inhibition of digestion, absorption and secretion cause diarrhea and reduce the transfer of nutrients to the rest of the body. As the individual becomes more dependent on alcohol, the functional reserve and regenerative capacity of the GIT are overwhelmed and malnutrition increases. The rate of progression of this cycle depends on several factors including nutritional intake. Whilst the clinical effects of alcohol are well recognized, more research is required to fully elucidate the underlying mechanisms.
Cholecystokinin octapeptide antagonizes apoptosis in human retinal pigment epithelial cells

Although cholecystokinin octapeptide-8 is important for neurological function, its neuroprotective properties remain unclear. We speculated that cholecystokinin octapeptide-8 can protect human retinal pigment epithelial cells against oxidative injury. In this study, retinal pigment epithelial cells were treated with peroxynitrite to induce oxidative stress. Peroxynitrite triggered apoptosis in these cells, and increased the expression of Fas-associated death domain, Bax, caspa-se-8 and Bcl-2. These changes were suppressed by treatment with cholecystokinin octapeptide-8. These results suggest that cholecystokinin octapeptide-8 can protect human retinal pigment epithelial cells against apoptosis induced by peroxynitrite.
Contrôle des fausses découvertes lors de la sélection de variables en grande dimension. (Control of false discoveries in high-dimensional variable selection)

Dans le cadre de la regression, de nombreuses etudes s’interessent au probleme dit de la grande dimension, ou le nombre de variables explicatives mesurees sur chaque echantillon est beaucoup plus grand que le nombre d’echantillons. Si la selection de variables est une question classique, les methodes usuelles ne s’appliquent pas dans le cadre de la grande dimension. Ainsi, dans ce manuscrit, nous presentons la transposition de tests statistiques classiques a la grande dimension. Ces tests sont construits sur des estimateurs des coefficients de regression produits par des approches de regressions lineaires penalisees, applicables dans le cadre de la grande dimension. L’objectif principal des tests que nous proposons consiste a controler le taux de fausses decouvertes. La premiere contribution de ce manuscrit repond a un probleme de quantification de l’incertitude sur les coefficients de regression realisee sur la base de la regression Ridge, qui penalise les coefficients de regression par leur norme l2, dans le cadre de la grande dimension. Nous y proposons un test statistique base sur le reechantillonage. La seconde contribution porte sur une approche de selection en deux etapes : une premiere etape de criblage des variables, basee sur la regression parcimonieuse Lasso precede l’etape de selection proprement dite, ou la pertinence des variables pre-selectionnees est testee. Les tests sont construits sur l’estimateur de la regression Ridge adaptive, dont la penalite est construite a partir des coefficients de regression du Lasso. Une derniere contribution consiste a transposer cette approche a la selection de groupes de variables.
In vitro development of equine nuclear transfer embryos: effects of oocyte maturation media and amino acid composition during embryo culture

This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) and other media factors during oocyte maturation, and the presence of different compositions of amino acids in embryo culture medium, on the development of equine embryos. Oocytes recovered from slaughterhouse-derived ovaries were matured in vitro for 24 h and those with a polar body were subjected to intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) or nuclear transfer with adult fibroblasts (NT). For ICSI embryos, there were no significant differences in rates of morphological cleavage, cleavage with normal nuclei or average nucleus number at 96 h post-ICSI between the absence and presence of IGF-I in maturation medium, or between embryos cultured in G1.2 or a modified CZB medium (CZB-C). Embryos produced by interspecies NT (equine donor cells into bovine cytoplasts) also showed no difference in cleavage rate or average nucleus number whether cultured in G1.2 or in CZB-C. The rates of cleavage, cleavage with normal nuclei and average nucleus number of equine NT embryos were not significantly different among oocytes matured in M199 with FSH in the presence or absence of IGF-I, or in EMMI medium, which contains IGF-I, epidermal growth factor, steroid hormones, FSH and LH. There were no differences in development of equine NT embryos cultured in any of three amino acid treatments (with or without non-essential amino acids, or containing taurine, hypotaurine and cysteine only). The cleavage rate and average nucleus number of parthenogenetically activated oocytes (treated similarly to NT oocytes but not enucleated or subjected to donor cell injection) were significantly (p < 0.05) higher than those for NT embryos. These results indicate that the presence of IGF-I or of EMMI medium during in vitro maturation of equine oocytes does not have a beneficial effect on their developmental competence as assessed at 96 h. Presence or absence of non-essential amino acids in embryo culture medium does not affect development of NT embryos within the first 96 h of culture. Factors associated with enucleation or nuclear transfer decrease the developmental competence of equine NT embryos. CZB-C medium may be used for culture of equine embryos with results similar to those obtained with G1.2 medium, thus providing a base medium that may be modified for further study of culture requirements of equine embryos.
Neuroprotective effect of Feronia limonia on ischemia reperfusion induced brain injury in rats

Objectives: Brain stroke is a leading cause of death without effective treatment. Feronia limonia have potent antioxidant activity and can be proved as neuroprotective against ischemia-reperfusion induced brain injury. Materials and Methods: We studied the effect of methanolic extract of F. limonia fruit (250 mg/kg, 500 mg/kg body weight, p.o.) and Vitamin E as reference standard drug on 30 min induced ischemia, followed by reperfusion by testing the neurobehavioral tests such as neurodeficit score, rota rod test, hanging wire test, beam walk test and elevated plus maze. The biochemical parameters, which were measured in animals brain were catalase, superoxide dismutase (SOD), malondialdehyde and nitric oxide in control and treated rats. Results: The methanolic extract of F. limonia fruit (250 mg/kg, 500 mg/kg body weight, p.o.) treated groups showed a statistically significant improvement in the neurobehavioral parameters such as motor performance (neurological status, significant increase in grasping ability, forelimb strength improvement in balance and co-ordination). The biochemical parameters in the brains of rats showed a significant reduction in the total nitrite (P < 0.01) and lipid peroxidation (P < 0.01), also a significant enhanced activity of enzymatic antioxidants such as catalase (P < 0.01) and SOD (P < 0.05). Conclusion: These observations suggest the neuroprotective and antioxidant activity of F. limonia and Vitamin E on ischemia reperfusion induced brain injury and may require further evaluation.
Title Ectopic Fat Accumulation and Distant Organ-Specific Insulin Resistance inJapanese People with Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease

Objective: The aim of this study was to examine the association between ectopic fat and organ-specific insulin resistance (IR) in insulin-target organs in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Methods: Organ-specific IR in the liver (hepatic glucose production (HGP)6fasting plasma insulin (FPI) and suppression of HGP by insulin [%HGP]), skeletal muscle (insulin-stimulated glucose disposal [Rd]), and adipose tissue (suppression of FFA by insulin [%FFA]) was measured in 69 patients with NAFLD using a euglycemic hyperinsulinemic clamp with tracer infusion ([6,6-H2]glucose). Liver fat, intramyocellular lipid (IMCL), and body composition were measured by liver biopsy, proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and bioelectrical impedance analysis, respectively. Results: HGP6FPI was significantly correlated with Rd (r=20.57, P,0.001), %HGP with %FFA (r= 0.38, P,0.01), and Rd with %FFA (r= 0.27, P,0.05). Liver steatosis score was negatively associated with Rd (r=20.47, P,0.001) as well as with HGP6FPI (r = 0.43, P,0.001). Similarly, intrahepatic lipid was negatively associated with Rd (r=20.32, P,0.05). IMCL was not associated with Rd (r=20.16, P= 0.26). Fat mass and its percentage were associated with HGP6FPI (r = 0.50, P,0.001; r = 0.48, P,0.001, respectively) and Rd (r=20.59, P,0.001; r=20.52, P,0.001, respectively), but not with %FFA (r=20.21, P= 0.10; r=20.001, P= 0.99, respectively). Conclusion: Unexpectedly, fat accumulation in the skeletal muscle and adipose tissue was not associated with organspecific IR. Instead, liver fat was associated not only with hepatic IR but also with skeletal muscle IR, suggesting a central role of fatty liver in systemic IR and that a network exists between liver and skeletal muscle. Citation: Kato K-i, Takamura T, Takeshita Y, Ryu Y, Misu H, et al. (2014) Ectopic Fat Accumulation and Distant Organ-Specific Insulin Resistance in Japanese People with Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease. PLoS ONE 9(3): e92170. doi:10.1371/journal.pone. 0092170 Editor: Yanqiao Zhang, Northeast Ohio Medical University, United States of America Received December 29, 2013; Accepted February 18, 2014; Published March 20, 2014 Copyright: 2014 Kato et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Funding: This work was supported in part by a grant-in-aid for Scientific Research (C-20591054 to TT) from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology, Japan. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. No additional external funding received for this study. Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. * E-mail: ttakamura@m-kanazawa.jp . These authors contributed equally to this work.
Enzymatic synthesis of octadecameric saccharides of multiply branched blood group I-type, carrying four distal alpha 1,3-galactose or beta 1,3-GlcNAc residues.

Radiolabeled oligosaccharide constructs were prepared to evaluate carbohydrate determinants involved in gamete adhesion in mice. The octasaccharide primer GlcNAc beta 1-3Gal beta 1-4GlcNAc beta 1-3(GlcNAc beta 1-3Gal beta 1-4GlcNAc beta 1-6)Gal beta 1-4GlcNAc (1) was incubated with UDP-GlcNAc and beta 1,6-GlcNAc-transferase of hog gastric microsomes, producing the tetraantennary decasaccharide GlcNAc beta 1-3(GlcNAc beta 1-6)Gal beta 1-4GlcNAc beta 1-3[GlcNAc beta 1-3(GlcNAc beta 1-6)Gal beta 1-4GlcNAc beta 1-6]Gal beta 1-4GlcNAc (2). The decasaccharide was then incubated with UDP-Gal and beta 1,4-galactosyltransferase from bovine milk, yielding the tetradecasaccharide Gal beta 1-4GlcNAc beta 1-3(Gal beta 1-4GlcNAc beta 1-6)Gal beta 1-4GlcNAc beta 1-3[Gal beta 1-4GlcNAc beta 1-3(Gal beta 1-4GlcNAc beta 1-6)Gal beta 1-4GlcNAc beta 1-6]Gal beta 1-4GlcNAc (3). Incubation of the tetradecasaccharide 3 with UDP-Gal and alpha 1,3-galactosyltransferase from bovine thymus gave the octadecameric glycan Gal alpha 1-3Gal beta 1-4GlcNAc beta 1-3(Gal alpha 1-3Gal beta 1-4GlcNAc beta 1-6)Gal beta 1-4GlcNAc beta 1-3[Gal alpha 1-3Gal beta 1-4GlcNAc beta 1-3(Gal alpha 1-3Gal beta 1-4GlcNAc beta 1-6)Gal beta 1-4GlcNAc beta 1-6]Gal beta 1-4GlcNAc (4). (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
A modified pinhole camera method for investigation of X-ray tube focal spots

A technique for X-ray focal spot measurements with the pinhole camera has been developed which is based on the use of fast screen-film combinations and magnifications of 30* or greater. Both the size and the intensity distribution of focal spots are recorded with greater accuracy. The large images of the focal spot can be scanned with a standard densitometer and a strip chart recorder. Fast screen-film combinations allow the use of smaller pinholes, thus improving the resolution of focus detail.
The Design and Development of Indoor 3D Routing System

At present, the development and application of outdoor navigation is already quite mature. Car navigating system and mobile navigating system have been good to meet people's requirements to find the path in outdoor. With the development of outdoor navigation system, indoor navigation system is also being paid more attention, especially in an unfamiliar and complex indoor environment. This paper constructs 3D models of the building by SketchUP so as to provide a 3D scene for indoor navigation system, and builds 3D network model based on the building plan by ArcGIS. Finally, a indoor routing prototype system is developed based on ArcEngine, which does a preliminary study for indoor navigation.
Comparative study of oral and trans nasal midazolam as a sedative premedication in paediatric patients

Background: Premedication in pediatric patient before induction of anaesthesia is of vital importance. Midazolam is a benzodiazepine which produces anxiolytic, amnestic, hypnotic and skeletal muscle relaxant effects. Objectives: To evaluate the safety, acceptability, level of sedation and ease of administration of midazolam by using oral and trans nasal route as a sedative premedication in paediatric patient. Materials and Methods: Sixty paediatric patients of ASA grade I or II, aged 2-10 years, undergoing elective surgery were randomly divided into two groups. Group I received oral syrup midazolam 0.5mg/kg and Group II received nasal spray midazolam 0.25mg/kg. Demographic profile, response to drug administration, level of sedation, separation from parents, venipuncture, induction and postoperative recovery scores were noted and statistically analyzed. Results: The study shows that children receiving oral midazolam has better acceptability (group I, 76.66%) than when administered through intranasal route (group II, 53.33%). Sedation score were better at 20 min. in intranasal group (3.06 versus 2.96) than oral group. Post anesthesia recovery scores were similar in both groups. Conclusion: On the basis of our study, we concluded that oral syrup midazolam has better acceptability while intranasal spray midazolam has slightly faster onset without prolonging recovery from anesthesia.