Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Design of an Ejector for a Hydrogen Recirculation System for a PEM Fuel Cell

One of the issues that need to be addressed in order to improve the durability and efficiency of a PEM fuel cell system is the management of the hydrogen feeding procedure. It has been demonstrated these aspects are improved when a hydrogen recirculation systems are used [1]. In this work, an ejector has been designed and manufactured and implemented in an experimental PEM fuel cell Test Station to analyze how ejector based hydrogen recirculation systems affect PEM fuel cells. The proper design of an ejector must take into account several geometrical parameters that can only be studied using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). Thus, a CFD model has been implemented with an axisymmetric geometry and the standard k-ε model to approximate the Favre-averaged Navier-Stokes equations. An experimental ejector has been used to validate the CFD model, obtaining very good agreement between experimental results and the model. Finally, a parametric study has been done to find the optimum geometrical parameters for the ejector to be implemented in the Test Station.
Impact of Panic Attacks on Bronchoconstriction and Subjective Distress in Asthma Patients With and Without Panic Disorder

Objective Panic disorder (PD) is common among asthma patients and is associated with worse asthma outcomes. This may occur because of psychophysiological factors or cognitive/affective factors. This study evaluated the impact of panic attacks (PAs) on bronchoconstriction and subjective distress in people who have asthma with and without PD. Methods A total of 25 asthma patients (15 with PD who had a PA [PD/PA], 10 without PD who did not have a PA [no PD/no PA]) were recruited from an outpatient clinic. They underwent a panic challenge (one vital capacity inhalation of 35% carbon dioxide [CO2]) and completed the Panic Symptom Scale, the Subjective Distress Visual Analogue Scale, and the Borg Scale before and after CO2. Forced expiratory volume in 1 second was assessed pre- and post-CO2; respiratory (i.e., CO2 production, minute ventilation, tidal volume) was continuously recorded, and physiological measures (i.e., systolic and diastolic blood pressure [SBP/DBP]) were recorded every 2 minutes. Results Analyses adjusting for age, sex, and provocative concentration of methacholine revealed no significant differences between groups in forced expiratory volume in 1 second change after CO2 inhalation (F(1, 23) < 0.01, p = . 961). However, patients with PD/PA reported more panic (F(1, 22) = 18.10, p < . 001), anxiety (F(1, 22) = 21.93, p < . 001), worry (F(1, 22) = 26.31, p < . 001), and dyspnea (F(1,22) = 4.68, p = . 042) and exhibited higher levels of CO2 production (F(1, 2843) = 5.89, p = . 015), minute ventilation (F(1, 2844) = 4.48, p = . 034), and tidal volume (F(1, 2844) = 4.62, p = . 032) after the CO2 challenge, compared with patients with no PD/no PA. Conclusions Results, presented as hypothesis generating, suggest that asthma patients with PD/PA exhibit increased panic-like anxiety, breathlessness, and a respiratory pattern consistent with hyperventilation that was not linked to statistically significant drops in bronchoconstriction.
Biodegradable and Biocompatible Polyhydroxy-alkanoates (PHA): Auspicious Microbial Macromolecules for Pharmaceutical and Therapeutic Applications

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) are bio-based microbial biopolyesters; their stiffness, elasticity, crystallinity and degradability are tunable by the monomeric composition, selection of microbial production strain, substrates, process parameters during production, and post-synthetic processing; they display biological alternatives for diverse technomers of petrochemical origin. This, together with the fact that their monomeric and oligomeric in vivo degradation products do not exert any toxic or elsewhere negative effect to living cells or tissue of humans or animals, makes them highly stimulating for various applications in the medical field. This article provides an overview of PHA application in the therapeutic, surgical and tissue engineering area, and reviews strategies to produce PHA at purity levels high enough to be used in vivo. Tested applications of differently composed PHA and advanced follow-up products as carrier materials for controlled in vivo release of anti-cancer drugs or antibiotics, as scaffolds for tissue engineering, as guidance conduits for nerve repair or as enhanced sutures, implants or meshes are discussed from both a biotechnological and a material-scientific perspective. The article also describes the use of traditional processing techniques for production of PHA-based medical devices, such as melt-spinning, melt extrusion, or solvent evaporation, and emerging processing techniques like 3D-printing, computer-aided wet-spinning, laser perforation, and electrospinning.
Observational equality, now!

This paper has something new and positive to say about propositional equality in programming and proof systems based on the Curry-Howard correspondence between propositions and types. We have found a way to present a propositional equality type which is substitutive, allowing us to reason by replacing equal for equal in propositions; which reflects the observable behaviour of values rather than their construction: in particular, we have extensionality-- functions are equal if they take equal inputs to equal outputs; which retains strong normalisation, decidable typechecking and canonicity--the property that closed normal forms inhabiting datatypes have canonical constructors; which allows inductive data structures to be expressed in terms of a standard characterisation of well-founded trees; which is presented syntactically--you can implement it directly, and we are doing so this approach stands at the core of Epigram 2; which you can play with now: we have simulated our system by a shallow embedding in Agda 2, shipping as part of the standard examples package for that system [21]. Until now, it has always been necessary to sacrifice some of these aspects. The closest attempt in the literature is Altenkirch's construction of a setoid-model for a system with canonicity and extensionality on top of an intensional type theory with proof-irrelevant propositions [4]. Our new proposal simplifies Altenkirch's construction by adopting McBride's heterogeneous approach to equality [19].
Ossabaw Pigs With a PCSK9 Gain‐of‐Function Mutation Develop Accelerated Coronary Atherosclerotic Lesions: A Novel Model for Preclinical Studies

Background Ossabaw pigs are unique miniature swine with genetic predisposition to develop metabolic syndrome and coronary atherosclerosis after extended periods receiving atherogenic diets. We have hypothesized that transgenic Ossabaw swine expressing chimp PCSK9 (proprotein convertase subtilisin‐like/kexin type 9) containing the D374Y gain of function would develop familial hypercholesterolemia and coronary artery plaques more rapidly than Landrace swine with the same transgene. Methods and Results Ossabaw and Landrace PCSK9 gain‐of‐function founders were generated by Sleeping Beauty transposition and cloning. Histopathologic findings in the Ossabaw founder animal showed more advanced plaques and higher stenosis than in the Landrace founder, underscoring the Ossabaw genetic predisposition to atherosclerosis. We chose to further characterize the Ossabaw PCSK9 gain‐of‐function animals receiving standard or atherogenic diets in a 6‐month longitudinal study using computed tomography, magnetic resonance (MR) imaging, intravascular ultrasound, and optical coherence tomography, followed by pathological analysis of atherosclerosis focused on the coronary arteries. The Ossabaw model was consistently hypercholesterolemic, with or without dietary challenge, and by 6 months had consistent and diffuse fibrofatty or fibroatheromatous plaques with necrosis, overlying fibrous caps, and calcification in up to 10% of coronary plaques. Conclusions The Ossabaw PCSK9 gain‐of‐function model provides consistent and robust disease development in a time frame that is practical for use in preclinical therapeutic evaluation to drive innovation. Although no animal model perfectly mimics the human condition, this genetic large‐animal model is a novel tool for testing therapeutic interventions in the context of developing and advanced coronary artery disease.
Early Assessment of Extracorporeal Shock Wave Myocardial Revascularization (ESMR)

Objectives: To predict the social impact of introducing extracorporealshock wave myocardial revascularization (ESMR) on refractory cardiovascular disease. Methods: We used a horizon-scanning system to prioritize and select promising health technologies, and evidence assessment and peer review to analyze current clinical evidence and predict the social impact. Results: Analysis of the current evidence revealed that the non-invasive health technology ESMR, which can be performed using low-energy shock waves, is promising for refractory cardiovascular disease treatment. Its effectiveness regarding improvements in pain relief,nitroglycerine dosage, and blood flow have been reported in the absence of adverse events. However, these reports were based on short-term studies that lacked comparison groups, and treatment mechanisms have not been elucidated. According to expert opinions, it is currently difficult to assess and predict the social impact of this technology. Conclusion: ESMR is promising, although stronger evidence of its safety, effectiveness, and treatment mechanism is needed.
Sound Source Study in Shenzhen China

Shenzhen is a rapid developing city in Chinese urbanization. With thirty-year development, the city is derived from a rural into the fourth metropolis in China. In such a dramatic transforming, the area’s ecological environment has been changed tremendously, in which its sonic environment including sound level and sound sources has been changed too. No doubtfully, many man-made sounds have penetrated into the area and original natural sounds are dying away. In order to reveal how much sound source is having been and will be changed in the Shenzhen’s urbanization, the Shenzhen Environmental Monitoring Centre (SEMC) started a project of recording and monitoring sound sources and their changes with the whole city context. In this paper, works of the SEMC in investigating sound sources and their distribution around the inner Shenzhen are demonstrated. It is expected to show an ecological diverse of sound in Shenzhen. The study is also supposed to express an ecological variation of acoustic environment in terms of sound sources. Moreover, the study result will be used to effectively monitor sound changes of the Shenzhen in order to provide useful guidelines to the city planners and designers in creating more sonic pleasure open spaces for the Shenzhen’s further development.
Thalamic neuronal specification and early circuit formation

The thalamus is a central structure of the brain, primarily recognized for the relay of incoming sensory and motor information to the cerebral cortex but also key in high order intracortical communication. It consists of glutamatergic projection neurons organized in several distinct nuclei, each having a stereotype connectivity pattern and functional roles. In the adult, these nuclei can be appreciated by architectural boundaries, although their developmental origin and specification is only recently beginning to be revealed. Here, we summarize the current knowledge on the specification of the distinct thalamic neurons and nuclei, starting from early embryonic patterning until the postnatal days when active sensory experience is initiated and the overall system connectivity is already established. We also include an overview of the guidance processes important for establishing thalamocortical connections, with emphasis on the early topographical specification. The extensively studied thalamocortical axon branching in the cortex is briefly mentioned; however, the maturation and plasticity of this connection are beyond the scope of this review. In separate chapters, additional mechanisms and/or features that influence the specification and development of thalamic neurons and their circuits are also discussed. Finally, an outlook of future directions is given. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Develop Neurobiol 77: 830–843, 2017
Enhanced Statistical Tests for GWAS in Admixed Populations: Assessment using African Americans from CARe and a Breast Cancer Consortium

While genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have primarily examined populations of European ancestry, more recent studies often involve additional populations, including admixed populations such as African Americans and Latinos. In admixed populations, linkage disequilibrium (LD) exists both at a fine scale in ancestral populations and at a coarse scale (admixture-LD) due to chromosomal segments of distinct ancestry. Disease association statistics in admixed populations have previously considered SNP association (LD mapping) or admixture association (mapping by admixture-LD), but not both. Here, we introduce a new statistical framework for combining SNP and admixture association in case-control studies, as well as methods for local ancestry-aware imputation. We illustrate the gain in statistical power achieved by these methods by analyzing data of 6,209 unrelated African Americans from the CARe project genotyped on the Affymetrix 6.0 chip, in conjunction with both simulated and real phenotypes, as well as by analyzing the FGFR2 locus using breast cancer GWAS data from 5,761 African-American women. We show that, at typed SNPs, our method yields an 8% increase in statistical power for finding disease risk loci compared to the power achieved by standard methods in case-control studies. At imputed SNPs, we observe an 11% increase in statistical power for mapping disease loci when our local ancestry-aware imputation framework and the new scoring statistic are jointly employed. Finally, we show that our method increases statistical power in regions harboring the causal SNP in the case when the causal SNP is untyped and cannot be imputed. Our methods and our publicly available software are broadly applicable to GWAS in admixed populations.
Glycaemic index and glycaemic load of breakfast predict cognitive function and mood in school children: a randomised controlled trial

The macronutrient composition of a breakfast that could facilitate performance after an overnight fast remains unclear. As glucose is the brain's major energy source, the interest is in investigating meals differing in their blood glucose-raising potential. Findings vary due to unaccounted differences in glucoregulation, arousal and cortisol secretion. We investigated the effects of meals differing in glycaemic index (GI) and glycaemic load (GL) on cognition and mood in school children. A total of seventy-four school children were matched and randomly allocated either to the high-GL or low-GL group. Within each GL group, children received high-GI and low-GI breakfasts. Cognitive function (CF) and mood were measured 95–140 min after breakfast. Blood glucose and salivary cortisol were measured at baseline, before and after the CF tests. Repeated-measures ANOVA was used to identify differences in CF, mood, glucose and cortisol levels between the breakfasts. Low-GI meals predicted feeling more alert and happy, and less nervous and thirsty (P < 0·05 for each); high-GL meals predicted feeling more confident, and less sluggish, hungry and thirsty (P < 0·05 for each). High-GL (P < 0·001) and high-GI (P = 0·05) meals increased glucose levels 90 min after breakfast, and high-GI meals increased cortisol levels (P < 0·01). When baseline mood, glucose and cortisol levels were considered, low-GI meals predicted better declarative-verbal memory (P = 0·03), and high-GI meals better vigilance (P < 0·03); observed GI effects were valid across GL groups. GI effects on cognition appear to be domain specific. On balance, it would appear that the low-GI high-GL breakfast may help to improve learning, and of potential value in informing government education policies relating to dietary recommendations and implementation concerning breakfast.
INVESTIGATION ON HARDENED STEEL MILLING WITH MICRO-END MILL

Tool wear and breakage of the micro-milling tool is an important problem for high speed machining of hardened steel die and mould. Dry milling of S136 hardened steel is carried out using TiAlN coated carbide micro-end mill (2 mm). The effect of cutting speed, feed per tooth and radial depth of cut on cutting force is analyzed. Cutting parameters adapting to dry machining and strategy optimized for higher rate of material removal with lower cutting force are attained. Results of SEM observation show that the main failure patterns of micro-end mill are breakage of tool tip, wear and drop-off of surface coating, micro-chipping, and breakage of flank.
Breast Cancer Care in California and Ontario: Primary Care Protections Greatest Among the Most Socioeconomically Vulnerable Women Living in the Most Underserved Places

Background: Better health care among Canada’s socioeconomically vulnerable versus America’s has not been fully explained. We examined the effects of poverty, health insurance and the supply of primary care physicians on breast cancer care. Methods: We analyzed breast cancer data in Ontario (n = 950) and California (n = 6300) between 1996 and 2000 and followed until 2014. We obtained socioeconomic data from censuses, oversampling the poor. We obtained data on the supply of physicians, primary care and specialists. The optimal care criterion was being diagnosed early with node negative disease and received breast conserving surgery followed by adjuvant radiation therapy. Results: Women in Ontario received more optimal care in communities well supplied by primary care physicians. They were particularly advantaged in the most disadvantaged places: high poverty neighborhoods (rate ratio = 1.65) and communities lacking specialist physicians (rate ratio = 1.33). Canadian advantages were explained by better health insurance coverage and greater primary care access. Conclusions: Policy makers ought to ensure that the newly insured are adequately insured. The Medicaid program should be expanded, as intended, across all 50 states. Strengthening America’s system of primary care will probably be the best way to ensure that the Affordable Care Act’s full benefits are realized.
Stable Overexpression of the Constitutive Androstane Receptor Reduces the Requirement for Culture with Dimethyl Sulfoxide for High Drug Metabolism in HepaRG Cells

Dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) induces cellular differentiation and expression of drug metabolic enzymes in the human liver cell line HepaRG; however, DMSO also induces cell death and interferes with cellular activities. The aim of this study was to examine whether overexpression of the constitutive androstane receptor (CAR, NR1I3), the nuclear receptor controlling various drug metabolism genes, would sufficiently promote differentiation and drug metabolism in HepaRG cells, optionally without using DMSO. By stable lentiviral overexpression of CAR, HepaRG cultures were less affected by DMSO in total protein content and obtained increased resistance to acetaminophen- and amiodarone-induced cell death. Transcript levels of CAR target genes were significantly increased in HepaRG-CAR cultures without DMSO, resulting in increased activities of cytochrome P450 (P450) enzymes and bilirubin conjugation to levels equal or surpassing those of HepaRG cells cultured with DMSO. Unexpectedly, CAR overexpression also increased the activities of non-CAR target P450s, as well as albumin production. In combination with DMSO treatment, CAR overexpression further increased transcript levels and activities of CAR targets. Induction of CYP1A2 and CYP2B6 remained unchanged, whereas CYP3A4 was reduced. Moreover, the metabolism of low-clearance compounds warfarin and prednisolone was increased. In conclusion, CAR overexpression creates a more physiologically relevant environment for studies on hepatic (drug) metabolism and differentiation in HepaRG cells without the utilization of DMSO. DMSO still may be applied to accomplish higher drug metabolism, required for sensitive assays, such as low-clearance studies and identification of (rare) metabolites, whereas reduced total protein content after DMSO culture is diminished by CAR overexpression.
Inkjet Printing of Highly Loaded Particulate Suspensions

Inkjet printing is an attractive method for patterning and fabricating objects directly from design or image files without the need for masks, patterns, or dies. In order to achieve this with metals or ceramics, it is often necessary to print them as highly concentrated suspensions of powders in liquids. Such liquid suspensions must have physical properties appropriate to the inkjet delivery mechanism. These properties are presented using a nondimensional formalism to illustrate the requirements for both drop formation and spreading on impact. Further critical issues relevant to inkjet printing of particulate suspensions are discussed and illustrated with experiments on a model alumina-containing colloidal suspension.
Preparation and properties of water-swellable natural rubber vulcanizates

Abstract Water-swellable natural rubber was prepared with natural rubber latex grafted with acrylamide. Monomer cross-linked water-swellable natural rubber and vulcanised water-swellable natural rubber were synthesised separately through grafting of acrylamide onto natural rubber latex, using formaldehyde and sulphur as monomer cross-linking agent and rubber vulcanising agent, respectively. Effects of different cross-linking modes on water-swelling properties and repeat water-swelling properties were studied. Mechanical properties were studied by dynamic mechanical analysis. The state of water in water-swellable natural rubber, cross-linked water-swellable natural rubber and vulcanised water-swellable natural rubber was studied by differential scanning calorimetry. Thermal stability of water-swellable natural rubber, cross-linked water-swellable natural rubber and vulcanised water-swellable natural rubber was studied by thermo gravimetric analysis. Microstructure of fractured surface was analysed by scanning electron microscope. The results showed that water-swelling ratio and repeat water-swelling ratio of water-swellable natural rubber were decreased with increasing amount of cross-linking agents. Storage modulus was enhanced after cross-linking treatment. Bound water absorbency and thermal stability were decreased with increasing cross-linking degree. Network structure was much more compacted after cross-linking treatment.