Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Investigation the impacts of fuel oil contamination on the behaviour of passive piles group in clayey soils

Abstract The current study highlights the impacts of medium fuel oil (MFO) on the behaviour of passive piles groups driven into contaminated clayey soil samples. The piles groups are axially loaded and subjected to the lateral soil movement resulted from the construction of a nearby embankment. The soil samples are contaminated synthetically in the laboratory with two percentages of MFO, 10 and 20% of the dry weight of soil. An incremental surcharge was applied at distances of 5 D and 10 D from the edge of the piles cap, where D is the spacing between piles in the group. The results obtained from the experimental physical model are the vertical and lateral displacements at the soil surface and strains along the pile shaft. The finite difference method used to calculate the rotation of pile, pile deflection, shear force and soil reaction along the pile shaft from the bending moment calculated from the measured strains. Based on the results of tests, increasing the percentage of MFO in soil sample causes increasing the effects of surcharge load on the behaviour of piles. Also, increasing the distance spacing between the edge of pile cap and embankment leads to decreasing the effects of a nearby embankment on the behaviour of piles driven into contaminated soil samples.
Aligning One-Dimensional Nanomaterials by Solution Processes

One-dimensional nanomaterials, including both nanowires (NWs) and nanotubes (NTs), have been extensively investigated in the decades because of their unique physicochemical properties. Particularly, aligning NWs/NTs into a network or complex micropatterns has been a key issue for its unique integrated functionalities, which enjoy benefits in versatile applications. So far, solution processes remain the most effective strategy to align NWs/NTs, which also bear advantages of mild operation condition and large-scale production. In this perspective, particular attention is drawn to the currently widely used solution coating approaches for aligning NWs/NTs, including the Langmuir–Blodgett film technique, solution shearing approaches, and methods of tri-phase contact line manipulation. We also proposed several perspectives in this field.
Increased familiarity of intellectual deficits in early-onset schizophrenia spectrum disorders

Abstract Objectives. Early-onset schizophrenia is considered to be neurobiologically similar to adult-onset forms, although it represents a more severe expression of the disorder. In the present study, we explored putative larger familial vulnerability of intellectual impairments in early-onset schizophrenia spectrum disorders (EOS) when compared to adult-onset (AOS) families. Methods. A sample of 340 subjects including schizophrenia spectrum disorder patients, their first degree relatives and age-matched healthy controls was assessed on intelligence quotient (IQ). We used linear regression analysis and intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) to explore familial aggregation of IQ across age at onset groups. Results. The relationship between IQ level of patients and their first-degree relatives showed positive linear association (β = 0.43, P < 0.01). High significant familial aggregation was found for intelligence quotient in EOS families (ICC = 0.618, P < 0.01), while AOS families responded to lower estimates (ICC = 0.204, P = 0.26; between ICC comparison z = 1.993, P < 0.05). Conclusions. High aggregation of intellectual performance in the EOS group suggests larger familial vulnerability in early-onset forms of the disease when cognitive functions are considered. Within a continuum of psychopathology in schizophrenia spectrum disorders, specific genetic effects are discussed for distinct onset forms that might be in line with a neurodevelopmental model of the disease.
Issues in Communication Game

As interaction between autonomous agents, communication can be analyzed in game-theoretic terms. Meaning game is proposed to formalize the core of intended communication in which the sender sends a message and the receiver attempts to infer its meaning intended by the sender. Basic issues involved in the game of natural language communication are discussed, such as salience, grammaticality, common sense, and common belief, together with some demonstration of the feasibility of game-theoretic account of language.
PokeRing: Notifications by Poking Around the Finger

Smart-rings are ideal for subtle and always-available haptic notifications due to their direct contact with the skin. Previous researchers have highlighted the feasibility of haptic technology in smart-rings and their promise in delivering noticeable stimulations by poking a limited set of planar locations on the finger. However, the full potential of poking as a mechanism to deliver richer and more expressive information on the finger is overlooked. With three studies and a total of 76 participants, we informed the design of PokeRing, a smart-ring capable of delivering information via stimulating eight different locations around the index finger's proximal phalanx. We report our evaluation of the performance of PokeRing in semi-realistic wearable conditions, (standing and walking), and its effective usage for information transfer with twenty-one spatio-temporal patterns designed by six interaction designers in a workshop. Finally, we present three applications that exploit PokeRing's notification usages.
Applications of Micro-CT scanning in medicine and dentistry: Microstructural analyses of a Wistar Rat mandible and a urinary tract stone

High-resolution tomographic imaging by means of x-ray micro-computed tomography (μCT) has been widely utilized for morphological evaluations in dentistry and medicine. The use of μCT follows a standard procedure: image acquisition, reconstruction, processing, evaluation using image analysis, and reporting of results. This paper discusses methods of μCT using a specific scanning device, the Bruker SkyScan 1173 High Energy Micro-CT. We present a description of the general workflow, information on terminology for the measured parameters and corresponding units, and further analyses that can potentially be conducted with this technology. Brief qualitative and quantitative analyses, including basic image processing (VOI selection and thresholding) and measurement of several morphometrical variables (total VOI volume, object volume, percentage of total volume, total VOI surface, object surface, object surface/volume ratio, object surface density, structure thickness, structure separation, total porosity) were conducted on two samples, the mandible of a wistar rat and a urinary tract stone, to illustrate the abilities of this device and its accompanying software package. The results of these analyses for both samples are reported, along with a discussion of the types of analyses that are possible using digital images obtained with a μCT scanning device, paying particular attention to non-diagnostic ex vivo research applications.
Analysis of white and f-α noise in oscillators

In this paper the general correlation spectrum of an oscillator with white and f -α noise sources is derived from the Langevin equations describing the deterministic and stochastic behaviour of an oscillator by perturbation methods. The treatment of f -α noise and the influence of the finite measuring time on the noise spectra are included in a time domain calculation. The theory is applied to a Van der Pol oscillator exhibiting parametric sideband amplification and to a realized oscillator demonstrating the applicability of the theory to technically relevant circuits
Identification & enhancement of different skin lesion images by segmentation techniques

A skin lesion is a portion of skin with an abnormal growth or presence due to a skin disease. Skin diseases at their early stages can be cured very easily; otherwise they begin to spread to other parts of the body and may be deadly. An early detection of skin disease is essential for such patients. Due to the high cost involved in various dermatology testing procedures for every patient, an automated system is required to give better lesion images and vision to help the doctors to further diagnose and prescribe the correct prescription and medication. In this paper, an innovative approach for automatic identification of skin lesions is proposed. To improve the quality of skin lesion images, Median filtering and Sobel edge detection techniques have been implemented for filtering and segmentation. The efficacy of the proposed work has been verified by measuring the entropy of the resultant images obtained for different skin diseases. The performance is tested on a dataset of 70 samples from 150 medical images of different body parts with 10 different classes of skin diseases.
Hidden Markov Model-based Pedestrian Navigation System using MEMS Inertial Sensors

Abstract In this paper, a foot-mounted pedestrian navigation system using MEMS inertial sensors is implemented, where the zero-velocity detection is abstracted into a hidden Markov model with 4 states and 15 observations. Moreover, an observations extraction algorithm has been developed to extract observations from sensor outputs; sample sets are used to train and optimize the model parameters by the Baum-Welch algorithm. Finally, a navigation system is developed, and the performance of the pedestrian navigation system is evaluated using indoor and outdoor field tests, and the results show that position error is less than 3% of total distance travelled.
Multi-level sample importance ranking based progressive transmission strategy for time series body sensor data

Body sensors have gained increasing interest during the past several years. With more applications deployed, it is imperative to ensure the success of data analysis, which largely depends on data transmission reliability as well as the importance of samples received. Traditional approaches focus on improving data reliability through various schemes such as prioritization of MAC access. In this paper, we analyzed the characteristics of time series body sensor data and propose to rank sample importance based on a multi-level approach. With this approach, samples are grouped into five levels, indicating their importance with regard to data analysis. Then, a progressive transmission strategy is designed to transmit samples in order of their importance so that the overall received data quality is maximized. Preliminary simulation results indicate that as much as 40-60% bandwidth saving can be achieved while meeting the requirements of data analysis algorithms.
[Immunophenotyping and gene rearrangement analysis in lymphoid/lymphoproliferative disorders of the lungs].

OBJECTIVE To determine the usefulness, in routine practice, of using polymerase chain reaction to analyze B and T lymphocyte clonality in pulmonary tissue as a tool for the diagnosis of pulmonary lymphoproliferative disorders. METHODS Immunohistochemistry and molecular gene rearrangement analysis were performed in order to assess 8 cases of lymphoid interstitial pneumonia (LIP) and 7 cases of pulmonary lymphoproliferative disorders. RESULTS All 8 cases of LIP presented moderate to strong immunostaining for CD3, compared with only 2 cases of lymphoma and 1 case of pseudolymphoma (p = 0.02). Gene rearrangement was detected in 4 of the 8 cases, which changed the diagnosis from LIP to lymphoma, showing the importance of gene rearrangement detection in cases of LIP. In this situation, gene rearrangement using the VH/JH and Vgamma11/Jgamma12 primer pairs was detected in 3 cases and 1 case, respectively, and no gene abnormalities were found using the Dbeta1/Jbeta2 and Vgamma101/Jgamma12 primer pairs in any of the cases. A significant positive association was found between the intensity of CD20 and CD68 expression and gene rearrangement using the VH/JH primer pair. Prior to the gene rearrangement, 4 patients with LIP died quickly, whereas only one patient with LIP died after the gene rearrangement. CONCLUSIONS Detection of monoclonal B and T cells by immunophenotyping and polymerase chain reaction had an impact on the diagnosis of pulmonary lymphomas in patients previously diagnosed with LIP. Therefore, immunophenotyping and polymerase chain reaction should be used as 'gold standard' techniques in routine practice.
Hemangioblasts from human embryonic stem cells generate multilayered blood vessels with functional smooth muscle cells.

BACKGROUND The formation and regeneration of functional vasculatures require both endothelial cells (ECs) and vascular smooth muscle cells (SMCs). Identification and isolation of progenitors with potential for both EC and SMC lineage differentiation from an inexhaustible source, such as human embryonic stem (hES) or induced pluripotent stem cells, will be desirable for cell replacement therapy. METHOD Recently, we have developed a serum-free and animal feeder-free differentiation system to generate blast cells (BCs) from hESCs. These cells possess the characteristics of hemangioblasts in vitro and are capable of repairing damaged retinal vasculatures, restoring blood flow in hind-limb ischemia and reducing the mortality rate after myocardial infarction in vivo. We demonstrate here that BCs express markers of SMCs and differentiate into smooth muscle-like cells (SMLCs), in addition to ECs and hematopoietic cells. RESULTS When BCs from individual blast colonies were cultured in SMC medium, they differentiated into both ECs and SMLCs, which formed capillary-vascular-like structures after replating on Matrigeltrade mark. The SMLCs expressed SMC-specific markers (alpha-SM actin and calponin) and contracted upon treatment with carbachol. When implanted in nude mice, these cells formed microvasculature with ECs in Matrigel plaques. The BCs differentiated into both ECs and SMLCs, and incorporated into blood vessels after injection into ischemic tissue. CONCLUSION These results demonstrate that hemangioblasts (BCs) generated from hESCs are tripotential and can provide a potentially inexhaustible source of cells for the treatment of human blood and vascular diseases.
Techniken zur Exploration und Visualisierung geometrischer Modelle

A novel method and apparatus is disclosed for the joining of two wooden structural members in which a connector plate assembly having teeth projecting from opposite sides thereof is placed between the members to be joined and the members forced thereon. The connector assembly includes back-to-back connector plates which are welded prior to assembly. The teeth projecting from either side of the assembly are arranged in longitudinal rows with selected teeth having scarfed tips for providing a clinching action. Other teeth are provided with chisel-pointed tips for resistance to shear. The rows of teeth are staggered and carry angled shoulder portions which provide the shank of each tooth with a widened base. Because of the staggering the slot left by each shoulder portion is adjacent the metal between adjacent teeth in an adjacent row thereby increasing the effective net section of the plates. The slots in the connector plates left when the teeth are struck from the plate are misaligned when the plates are welded together for permitting welding of the two plates together by the introduction of weldment into the slots. Selected teeth are made shorter than the remaining teeth to permit joint formation with reduced pressure.
Assessing Risk of Bias in Randomized Controlled Trials for Autism Spectrum Disorder

Aim To determine construct validity and reliability indicators of the Cochrane risk of bias (RoB) tool in the context of randomized clinical trials (RCTs) for autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Methods Confirmatory factor analysis was used to evaluate a unidimensional model consisting of 9 RoB categorical indicators evaluated across 94 RCTs addressing interventions for ASD. Results Only five of the nine original RoB items returned good fit indices and so were retained in the analysis. Only one of this five had very high factor loadings. The remaining four indicators had more measurement error than common variance with the RoB latent factor. Together, the five indicators showed poor reliability (ω = 0.687; 95% CI: 0.613–0.761). Conclusion Although the Cochrane model of RoB for ASD exhibited good fit indices, the majorities of the items have more residual variance than common variance and, therefore, did not adequately capture the RoB in ASD intervention trials.
Ultrasound-mediated gastrointestinal drug delivery

Ultrasound enables rapid and local delivery of drugs to the gastrointestinal tract for treatment of inflammatory diseases, such as ulcerative colitis. Drugs ride the wave across tissue barriers Macromolecular drugs traveling through the gastrointestinal tract are met by hard-to-breach tissue barriers that limit uptake and, in turn, dilute or prevent the drugs’ effects. Schoellhammer and colleagues repurposed a common technology in the clinic (ultrasound) to temporarily disrupt structural and physiological tissue barriers, allowing drugs to pass through. The initial application of a handheld ultrasonic probe was for rectal delivery of drugs, with a focus on treating a form of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), called ulcerative colitis (UC). Patients with UC have few efficacious therapies, but drug enemas seem to work the best, as long as the patient isn’t suffering from diarrhea and the drug is absorbed quickly. The authors found that ultrasonic waves drove insulin and mesalamine into pig colonic tissue faster than natural absorption, without any physical or thermal damage to tissue. Ultrasound was also instrumental in encouraging mesalamine into mouse colonic tissues, leading to the resolution of acute colitis. Ultrasound-mediated drug delivery could be used for other drugs, such as hydrocortisone, and even macromolecules, such as insulin, as demonstrated by the authors, thus serving as a simple physical solution to the barrier challenge in gastrointestinal drug delivery. There is a significant clinical need for rapid and efficient delivery of drugs directly to the site of diseased tissues for the treatment of gastrointestinal (GI) pathologies, in particular, Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis. However, complex therapeutic molecules cannot easily be delivered through the GI tract because of physiologic and structural barriers. We report the use of ultrasound as a modality for enhanced drug delivery to the GI tract, with an emphasis on rectal delivery. Ultrasound increased the absorption of model therapeutics inulin, hydrocortisone, and mesalamine two- to tenfold in ex vivo tissue, depending on location in the GI tract. In pigs, ultrasound induced transient cavitation with negligible heating, leading to an order of magnitude enhancement in the delivery of mesalamine, as well as successful systemic delivery of a macromolecule, insulin, with the expected hypoglycemic response. In a rodent model of chemically induced acute colitis, the addition of ultrasound to a daily mesalamine enema (compared to enema alone) resulted in superior clinical and histological scores of disease activity. In both animal models, ultrasound treatment was well tolerated and resulted in minimal tissue disruption, and in mice, there was no significant effect on histology, fecal score, or tissue inflammatory cytokine levels. The use of ultrasound to enhance GI drug delivery is safe in animals and could augment the efficacy of GI therapies and broaden the scope of agents that could be delivered locally and systemically through the GI tract for chronic conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease.
The psychosocial impact of stigma in people with head and neck or lung cancer

Lung and head and neck cancers are widely believed to produce psychologically destructive stigma because they are linked to avoidable risk‐producing behaviors and are highly visible, but little research has tested these ideas. We examined cancer‐related stigma, its determinants, and its psychosocial impact in lung (n = 107) and head and neck cancer survivors (n = 99) ≤3 years post‐diagnosis. We investigated cancer site, self‐blame, disfigurement, and sex as determinants, benefit finding as a moderator, and illness intrusiveness as a mediator of the relation between stigma and its psychosocial impact.
An Application View of COORDINATORS: Coordination Managers for First Responders

COORDINATORs are coordination managers for fielded first responders. Each first response team is paired with a COORDINATOR coordination manager which is running on a mobile computing device. COORDINATORs provide decision support to first response teams by reasoning about who should be doing what, when, with what resource, in support of which other team, and so forth. COORDINATORs respond to the dynamics of the environment by (re)coordinating to determine the right course of action for the current circumstances. COORDINATORs have been implemented using wireless PDAs and proprietary first responder location tracking technologies. This paper describes COORDINATORs, the motivation for them, the underlying agent architecture, implementation issues, and first response exercises.
Tetraaquabis(orotato-κO)cobalt(II) dihydrate

In the title CoII complex, [Co(C5H3N2O4)2(H2O)4]·2H2O, the CoII ion is located on an inversion center and is coordinated by two orotate (2,6-dioxo-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyrimidine-4-carboxylate) anions and four water molecules in a slightly distorted octahedral geometry. The dihedral angle between the carboxylate group and the attached orotate ring is 1.2 (3)°. In the crystal structure, intermolecular O—H⋯O, N—H⋯O and C—H⋯O hydrogen bonds link the molecules into a three-dimensional network. π–π contacts between the orotate rings [centroid–centroid distances = 3.439 (2) and 3.438 (2) Å] further stabilize the structure.
Usefulness of the ARCHITECT Chagas® assay as a single test for the diagnosis of chronic Chagas disease

Imported Chagas disease (CD) is an emerging health problem in Europe due to immigration from endemic countries. Although WHO currently recommends two different serological methods to establish diagnosis, new tools like the ARCHITECT Chagas assay have potential for use as a single diagnostic test. Our objective was to determine an optimal signal‐to‐cut‐off (S/CO) value for the ARCHITECT Chagas assay to diagnose CD with a single test.
Berberine ameliorates intestinal epithelial tight-junction damage and down-regulates myosin light chain kinase pathways in a mouse model of endotoxinemia.

BACKGROUND This study aimed to examine the protective effect of berberine in endotoxin-induced intestinal tight-junction injury in a mice model of endotoxinemia. METHODS Endotoxinemia was induced by intraperitoneal injection of lipopolysaccharide (10 mg/kg). Mice were randomized to 5 groups: control mice, berberine-treated mice, lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-injected mice, mice pretreated with berberine, and mice administered berberine following LPS injection. Samples were collected 12 h after LPS treatment. RESULTS Ileal mucosal permeability to fluorescein isothiocyanate dextran assay indicated that berberine reduced the permeability of the gut barrier in endotoxinemia. Transmission electron microscopy revealed that pretreatement with berberine partly prevented ultrastructural disruption of tight junctions by LPS. Immunofluorescence and Western blot analysis were performed, and the results demonstrated that pretreatement with berberine partially reversed the redistribution of tight-junction proteins in colon epithelium and in membrane microdomains. Our data also indicated that pretreatement with berberine could suppress translocation, from cytoplasm to the nucleus, of nuclear factor-κB and myosin light chain kinase activation in the intestinal epithelium. CONCLUSIONS Pretreatement with berberine attenuates disruption of tight junctions in intestinal epithelium in a mice model of endotoxinemia. This may possibly have been mediated through down-regulation of the nuclear factor-κB and myosin light chain kinase pathway.