Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Characterisation of commercial aromatised vinegars: phenolic compounds, volatile composition and antioxidant activity.

BACKGROUND Nineteen commercially available aromatised vinegars, which were representative of this type of product, were tested to ascertain their phenolic and volatile composition and antioxidant activity. The aromatised vinegars came from different raw materials such as fruits, spices, herbs and vegetables. The antioxidant activity was determined by means of photochemiluminescence, phenolic profile by using ultra performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detection, and the volatile composition was determined by using stir bar sorptive extraction-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. RESULTS Nine polyphenolic compounds and 141 volatile compounds were identified. Vinegar aromatised with black truffle and rosemary obtained the highest values of antioxidant activity, followed by those aromatised with lemon, tarragon, aromatic herbs and vegetables. Antioxidant activity was highly correlated with the presence of trans-p-coutaric acid, trans-caftaric acid, 5-hydroxy-methylfurfural and furfural. Moreover, (Z)-3-hexen-1-ol was exclusive to the vinegar aromatised with tarragon, while p-menth-1,8-ol, dimethyl styrene, 4-methyl acetophenone and nootkatone were only found in vinegar aromatised with lemon. CONCLUSION On the basis of the results from the cluster analysis of cases, it can be concluded that the grouping responds more to the trademark of each vinegar than to the raw material.
EEG Source Analysis

Electroencephalographic data recorded on the human scalp can be modeled as a linear mixture of underlying dipolar source generators. The characterization of such generators is the aim of several families of signal processing methods. In this HDR we consider in several details three of such families, namely 1) EEG distributed inverse solutions, 2) diagonalization methods, including spatial filtering and blind source separation and 3) Riemannian geometry. We highlight our contributions in each of this family, we describe algorithms reporting all necessary information to make purposeful use of these methods and we give numerous examples with real data pertaining to our published studies. Traditionally only the single-subject scenario is considered; here we consider in addition the extension of some methods to the simultaneous multi-subject recording scenario. This HDR can be seen as an handbook for EEG source analysis. It will be particularly useful to students and other colleagues approaching the field.
Graph Embedding with Constraints

Recently graph based dimensionality reduction has received a lot of interests in many fields of information processing. Central to it is a graph structure which models the geometrical and discriminant structure of the data manifold. When label information is available, it is usually incorporated into the graph structure by modifying the weights between data points. In this paper, we propose a novel dimensionality reduction algorithm, called Constrained Graph Embedding, which considers the label information as additional constraints. Specifically, we constrain the space of the solutions that we explore only to contain embedding results that are consistent with the labels. Experimental results on two real life data sets illustrate the effectiveness of our proposed method.
Algal ancestor of land plants was preadapted for symbiosis

Significance Colonization of land by plants was a critical event for the emergence of extant ecosystems. The innovations that allowed the algal ancestor of land plants to succeed in such a transition remain unknown. Beneficial interaction with symbiotic fungi has been proposed as one of these innovations. Here we show that the genes required for this interaction appeared in a stepwise manner: Some evolved before the colonization of land by plants and others first appeared in land plants. We thus propose that the algal ancestor of land plants was preadapted for interaction with beneficial fungi and employed these gene networks to colonize land successfully. Colonization of land by plants was a major transition on Earth, but the developmental and genetic innovations required for this transition remain unknown. Physiological studies and the fossil record strongly suggest that the ability of the first land plants to form symbiotic associations with beneficial fungi was one of these critical innovations. In angiosperms, genes required for the perception and transduction of diffusible fungal signals for root colonization and for nutrient exchange have been characterized. However, the origin of these genes and their potential correlation with land colonization remain elusive. A comprehensive phylogenetic analysis of 259 transcriptomes and 10 green algal and basal land plant genomes, coupled with the characterization of the evolutionary path leading to the appearance of a key regulator, a calcium- and calmodulin-dependent protein kinase, showed that the symbiotic signaling pathway predated the first land plants. In contrast, downstream genes required for root colonization and their specific expression pattern probably appeared subsequent to the colonization of land. We conclude that the most recent common ancestor of extant land plants and green algae was preadapted for symbiotic associations. Subsequent improvement of this precursor stage in early land plants through rounds of gene duplication led to the acquisition of additional pathways and the ability to form a fully functional arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis.
Multi-response optimization for machining GFRP composites using GRA and DFA

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to optimise the process parameters, namely, fibre orientation angle, helix angle, spindle speed, and feed rate in milling of glass fibre-reinforced plastic (GFRP) composites using grey relational analysis (GRA) and desirability function analysis (DFA). Design/methodology/approach In this work, experiments were carried out as per the Taguchi experimental design and an L27 orthogonal array was used to study the influence of various combinations of process parameters on surface roughness and delamination factor. As a dynamic approach, the multiple response optimisation was carried out using GRA and DFA for simultaneous evaluation. These two methods are best suited for multiple criteria evaluation and are also not much complicated. Findings The process parameters were found optimum at a fibre orientation angle of 15°, helix angle of 25°, spindle speed of 6,000 rpm, and a feed rate of 0.04 mm/rev. Analysis of variance was employed to classify the significant parameters affecting the responses. The results indicate that the fibre orientation angle is the most significant parameter preceded by helix angle, feed rate, and spindle speed for GFRP composites. Originality/value An attempt to optimise surface roughness and delamination factor together by combined approach of GRA and DFA has not been previously done.
Nanostructured TiO2 Materials: Preparation, Properties and Potential Applications (3P’s)

Nanostructured materials are a new class of materials which provide one of the greatest potentials for improving performance and extended capabilities of products in a number of applications. In particular nanostructured TiO2 was used as photocatalysts, gas sensor, solar cells and nanocomposite biomaterials. For each of these applications, aspects such as surface morphology, crystallinity and chemistry of the titania-based materials are the key parameters to be settled for the process optimization. A series of nanostructured TiO2 materials (TiO2 nanotubes, TiO2 nanorods, TiO2 nanoparticles) was synthesized using simple hydrothermal methods. X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Field Emission Scanning Electron microscope (FESEM) and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface area characterization was carried out to study the properties of synthesized nanostructured TiO2 materials. The performance of synthesized nanostructured TiO2 was evaluated for various applications such as photocatalyst for methyl orange (MO) degradation and anti-bacterial thin film for biomedical and food packaging. Among the nanostructured TiO2 materials, TiO2 nanotubes shows the highest activity regardless of their applications. This is probably due to their nanotubular morphology in which provided high surface area materials. The surface area of TiO2 nanotubes was found to be 226.52 m2/g. The outer and inner diameters of nanotubes are 4 nm and 10 nm, respectively with several hundred nanometers in length. Anatase TiO2 phase structure and crystallinity of TiO2 nanotubes supports the good performances of the nanostructured materials.
Classification of Emotion Words in Russian and Romanian Languages

This paper presents a machine learning study of aective words in Russian and Romanian languages. We tag the word aective meaning by one of the WordNet Aect six labels anger, disgust, fear, joy, sadness, surprise and group into “positive” (joy, surprise) and “negative” (anger, disgust, fear, sadness) classes. We use the word spelling, a word form, to represent words in machine learning experiments to solve the multiclass classification and binary classification problems. The results show that the word form can be a reliable source of learning the aect.
The influence of alendronate on osseointegration of nanotreated dental implants in New Zealand rabbits.

OBJECTIVES Growing clinical demands for stronger and faster bone bonding to the implant have motivated the development of methods enhancing osseointegration. Lately, the application of bisphosphonates (bis) in order to optimize bone healing has become a topic of great interest. N-containing bis, such as alendronate (ALN), are the more potent drugs of this class. It was the aim of this study to determine the effect of ALN on the osseointegration of a well-documented nanotreated implant system in a rabbit femoral condyle model. MATERIAL AND METHODS Thirty-two adult female New Zealand White rabbits received one implant (3.25 mm in diameter and 10 mm in length) in their left femoral condyle, a week after they were ovariectomized. Half of them were saline treated (control, group A) and the other half were ALN treated (group B). Rabbits from both groups were euthanized after 6 and 12 weeks, respectively. RESULTS The specimens were evaluated histologically and histomorphometrically. Upon histological evaluation, no obvious differences were found between the control and the treatment group. Implants showed good integration into the bone tissue surrounding them. There were also no statistically significant differences in bone-to-implant contact and the amount of bone tissue in the immediate neighborhood of the implant at both healing periods. CONCLUSIONS The systemic administration of ALN was not found to affect histological osseointegration of implants in animals with a hormonal status resembling that of postmenopausal healthy women. Further research will be needed to investigate this approach.
SpiNNaker: Mapping neural networks onto a massively-parallel chip multiprocessor

SpiNNaker is a novel chip - based on the ARM processor - which is designed to support large scale spiking neural networks simulations. In this paper we describe some of the features that permit SpiNNaker chips to be connected together to form scalable massively-parallel systems. Our eventual goal is to be able to simulate neural networks consisting of 109 neurons running in dasiareal timepsila, by which we mean that a similarly sized collection of biological neurons would run at the same speed. In this paper we describe the methods by which neural networks are mapped onto the system, and how features designed into the chip are to be exploited in practice. We will also describe the modelling and verification activities by which we hope to ensure that, when the chip is delivered, it will work as anticipated.
The Blind Men and the Elephant: Towards an Empirical Evaluation Framework for Software Sustainability

Software sustainability has been identified as one of the key challenges in the development of scientific and engineering software as we move towards new paradigms of research and computing infrastructures. However, it is suggested that sustainability is not well understood within the software engineering community, which can led to ineffective and inefficient efforts to address the concept or result in its complete omission from the software system. This paper proposes a definition of software sustainability and considers how it can be measured empirically in the design and engineering process of software systems.
Decentralization of HIV Care and Treatment Services in Central Province, Kenya

Background:Since 2006, the government of Kenya began decentralizing HIV care from secondary health facilities (SHF) to an expanded network, including primary health facilities (PHF). We evaluated the impact of this strategy on enrollment, care, and outcomes among adult patients in Central Province, Kenya, from 2006 to 2010. Methods:We analyzed electronic patient-level data for 26,690 patients at 15 SHF and 22 PHF. Enrollment, patient, and facility characteristics and patterns in CD4+ testing, World Health Organization staging, and antiretroviral treatment (ART) initiation were compared between SHF and PHF. Survival analysis was used to estimate cumulative death and loss to follow-up (LTF) rates in PHF and SHF. Multivariate competing risks regression and Cox proportional hazards models were constructed to identify correlates of LTF and death. Results:Enrollment in PHF increased mainly between 2007 and 2009, representing 5% and 25% of all new enrollments, respectively. CD4+ test provision and World Health Organization staging, time to ART initiation, and CD4+ count at ART initiation were for the most part similar between PHF and SHF. In multivariate analyses, pre-ART patients enrolled in PHF had a lower risk of LTF than those enrolled in SHF (SHR = 0.77, 95% confidence interval: 0.61 to 0.96). No differences in risk of death among pre-ART patients or in LTF or death among ART patients were observed. Conclusions:Enrollment at PHF increased substantially during the period; death rates were comparable between PHF and SHF, whereas LTF among pre-ART patients was lower at PHF. This suggests that decentralization can be a successful strategy for expanding HIV care.
Predictors and moderators of treatment outcome in a randomized clinical trial for adults with symptoms of bulimia nervosa.

OBJECTIVE This study examined predictors and moderators of outcome in 2 treatments for bulimia nervosa (BN). METHOD Eighty adults with BN symptoms at 1 of 2 sites were randomized to 21 sessions of integrative cognitive-affective therapy for BN (ICAT-BN) or enhanced cognitive behavior therapy (CBT-E). Generalized linear models examined predictors and moderators of improvements in bulimic behavior and eating disorder psychopathology at end of treatment (EOT) and 4-month follow-up (FU). RESULTS At EOT, individuals with higher dietary restraint had greater reductions in bulimic behavior. At FU, individuals with higher weight and shape concern had greater reductions in bulimic behavior, whereas those with greater baseline depression had less improvement in eating disorder psychopathology. Individuals higher in stimulus seeking had greater reductions in bulimic behavior and eating disorder psychopathology at follow up in ICAT-BN than in CBT-E, whereas individuals lower in stimulus seeking had greater reductions in bulimic behavior in CBT-E than in ICAT-BN. Finally, individuals with higher affective lability had greater reductions in eating disorder psychopathology in ICAT-BN than in CBT-E, whereas improvements were comparable across treatments for individuals with lower affective lability. CONCLUSIONS This study identified 3 nonspecific predictors of outcome (i.e., dietary restraint, weight and shape concern, and depression) and 2 moderators (i.e., affective lability and stimulus seeking). All moderator effects emerged at FU rather than at EOT, suggesting that the moderating effects of treatment were not immediately apparent. These results suggest that individuals with higher affective lability and stimulus seeking may benefit more from treatment with a greater focus on affective states and self-regulation.
Noise estimation techniques for robust speech recognition

Two new techniques are presented to estimate the noise spectra or the noise characteristics for noisy speech signals. No explicit speech pause detection is required. Past noisy segments of just about 400 ms duration are needed for the estimation. Thus the algorithm is able to quickly adapt to slowly varying noise levels or slowly changing noise spectra. This techniques can be combined with a nonlinear spectral subtraction scheme. The ability can be shown to enhance noisy speech and to improve the performance of speech recognition systems. Another application is the realization of a robust voice activity detection.
Direct selection on allozymes is not required to explain heterogeneity among marker loci across a Mytilus hybrid zone

Unequal differentiation between two types of loci (allozyme and DNA markers) across a Mytilus hybrid zone has recently been claimed as evidence for direct selection on some allozyme loci. We provide here a counter‐example: a noncoding DNA locus that exhibits as much differentiation as the incriminated allozymes do. The levels of genetic differentiation varied widely among both allozymes and noncoding DNA markers and no clear difference emerged between the two types of markers. This suggests that the strong interlocus variance in genetic differentiation has been confounded with a discrepancy between marker types as a result of an insufficient and unbalanced locus sampling. Heterogeneity in differentiation among neutral loci can be created by stochastic variance during the allopatric divergence preceding a secondary contact. In hybrid zones, a further source of variance is differential introgression among chromosomal regions after the secondary contact owing to the local influence of selected genes on more or less distant markers. However, the degree of differentiation alone gives no way to distinguish indirect pseudo‐selection (a regular and ubiquitous feature of hybrid zones) from direct selection. More generally, we suggest that comparative neutrality tests based on discrepancies among marker types have to be applied with caution when the presence of semi–permeable genetic barriers to gene exchange is suspected.
Immunotherapy Expands and Maintains the Function of High-Affinity Tumor-Infiltrating CD8 T Cells In Situ

Cancer cells harbor high-affinity tumor-associated Ags capable of eliciting potent antitumor T cell responses, yet detecting these polyclonal T cells is challenging. Therefore, surrogate markers of T cell activation such as CD69, CD44, and programmed death-1 (PD-1) have been used. We report in this study that in mice, expression of activation markers including PD-1 is insufficient in the tumor microenvironment to identify tumor Ag-specific T cells. Using the Nur77GFP T cell affinity reporter mouse, we highlight that PD-1 expression can be induced independent of TCR ligation within the tumor. Given this, we characterized the utility of the Nur77GFP model system in elucidating mechanisms of action of immunotherapies independent of PD-1 expression. Coexpression of Nur77GFP and OX40 identifies a polyclonal population of high-affinity tumor-associated Ag-specific CD8+ T cells, which produce more IFN-γ in situ than OX40 negative and doubles in quantity with anti-OX40 and anti-CTLA4 mAb therapy but not with anti–PD-1 or programmed death ligand-1. Moreover, expansion of these high-affinity CD8 T cells prolongs survival of tumor-bearing animals. Upon chronic stimulation in tumors and after adoptive cell therapy, CD8 TCR signaling and Nur77GFP induction is impaired, and tumors progress. However, this can be reversed and overall survival significantly enhanced after adoptive cell therapy with agonist OX40 immunotherapy. Therefore, we propose that OX40 agonist immunotherapy can maintain functional TCR signaling of chronically stimulated tumor-resident CD8 T cells, thereby increasing the frequency of cytotoxic, high-affinity, tumor-associated Ag-specific cells.
Determinants of pain, disability, health-related quality of life and physical performance in patients with knee osteoarthritis awaiting total joint arthroplasty

Abstract Purpose: In patients suffering from knee osteoarthritis awaiting knee arthroplasty, to measure associations between several selected determinants and pain, disability, health-related quality of life and physical performance. Material and methods: Validated self-reported measures were collected: (1) Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index, (2) Lower Extremity Functional Scale (LEFS) and (3) Short-Form 36 (SF-36). Physical performance was also assessed with four validated performance tests. Demographic, socioeconomic, psychosocial and clinical characteristics of the participants were also measured. Multivariate regression analyses were used to evaluate potential associations. Results: Higher fear-avoidance beliefs, greater comorbidities, psychological distress and use of a walking aid were significantly associated with worse pain, function or HRQOL (p < 0.05) and explained 12%–35% of the variances of the self-reported measure scores. Pretest pain and change in pain during posttest, greater comorbidities, psychological distress and use of a walking aid were significantly associated with worse performance on the physical tests (p < 0.05) and explained 41%–59% of the variances of the different physical tests results. Conclusions: Several determinants were significantly associated with worse pain, disability, health-related quality of life or physical performance. Several of these associations may be considered clinically important, including psychosocial determinants in relation to self-reported measures, but to physical performance as well. Implications for rehabilitation Knee osteoarthritis is a highly prevalent and disabling condition incurring important socioeconomic costs. Several modifiable determinants have been shown to contribute to pain and disability in individuals suffering from knee OA awaiting TKA. Recent studies demonstrated the efficacy of education and rehabilitation (prehabilitation) in individuals awaiting TKA.