Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Entrapment of curcumin into monoolein-based liquid crystalline nanoparticle dispersion for enhancement of stability and anticancer activity

Despite the promising anticancer potential of curcumin, its therapeutic application has been limited, owing to its poor solubility, bioavailability, and chemical fragility. Therefore, various formulation approaches have been attempted to address these problems. In this study, we entrapped curcumin into monoolein (MO)-based liquid crystalline nanoparticles (LCNs) and evaluated the physicochemical properties and anticancer activity of the LCN dispersion. The results revealed that particles in the curcumin-loaded LCN dispersion were discrete and monodispersed, and that the entrapment efficiency was almost 100%. The stability of curcumin in the dispersion was surprisingly enhanced (about 75% of the curcumin survived after 45 days of storage at 40°C), and the in vitro release of curcumin was sustained (10% or less over 15 days). Fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) analysis using a human colon cancer cell line (HCT116) exhibited 99.1% fluorescence gating for 5 μM curcumin-loaded LCN dispersion compared to 1.36% for the same concentration of the drug in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), indicating markedly enhanced cellular uptake. Consistent with the enhanced cellular uptake of curcumin-loaded LCNs, anticancer activity and cell cycle studies demonstrated apoptosis induction when the cells were treated with the LCN dispersion; however, there was neither noticeable cell death nor significant changes in the cell cycle for the same concentration of the drug in DMSO. In conclusion, entrapping curcumin into MO-based LCNs may provide, in the future, a strategy for overcoming the hurdles associated with both the stability and cellular uptake issues of the drug in the treatment of various cancers.
Effects of plasma treatment on mechanical properties of rubber/cellulose fibre composites

Natural rubber materials reinforced with cellulose fibres have been studied with respect to crosslink density, tensile strength and stress relaxation. The fibres have been grafted with butadiene or divinylbenzene by plasma treatment. Chemiluminescence analysis was used to indicate the grafting on the surface of the cellulose fibres and also to estimate the effect of the plasma on the cellulose fibres. The results indicate the possibility of obtaining a surface layer on the fibres, which is a conceivable way of improving the mechanical properties of rubber composites.
FairCache: Introducing fairness to ICN caching

Caching is a core principle of information-centric networking (ICN). Many novel algorithms have been proposed for enabling ICN caching, many of which rely on collaborative principles, i.e. multiple caches interacting to decide what to store. Past work has assumed entirely altruistic nodes that will sacrifice their own performance for the global optimum. In this paper, we argue that this assumption is flawed. We address this problem by modelling the in-network caching problem as a Nash bargaining game. We develop optimal and heuristic caching solutions that explicitly consider both performance and fairness. We argue that only algorithms that are fair to all parties will encourage engagement and cooperation. Through extensive simulations, we show our heuristic solution, FairCache, ensures that all collaborative caches achieve performance gains without undermining the performance of others.
Intelligent Energy Optimization for User Intelligible Goals in Smart Home Environments

Intelligent management of energy consumption is one of the key issues for future energy distribution systems, smart buildings, and consumer appliances. The problem can be tackled both from the point of view of the utility provider, with the intelligence embedded in the smart grid, or from the point of view of the consumer, thanks to suitable local energy management systems (EMS). Conserving energy, however, should respect the user requirements regarding the desired state of the environment, therefore an EMS should constantly and intelligently find the balance between user requirements and energy saving. The paper proposes a solution to this problem, based on explicit high-level modeling of user intentions and automatic control of device states through the solution and optimization of a constrained Boolean satisfiability problem. The proposed approach has been integrated into a smart environment framework, and promising preliminary results are reported.
Cold hardiness in Ostrinia nubilalis (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae): glycerol content, hexose monophosphate shunt activity, and antioxidative defense system

Many insects in temperate regions overwinter in diapause, during which they are cold hardy. In these insects, one of the metabolic adaptations to the unfavorable environmental conditions is the synthesis of cryoprotectants/anhydroprotectants. The aim of this study was to investigate the connection between the antioxidative system and synthesis of cryoprotectants (mainly glycerol) in diapausing larvae of the European corn borer, Ostrinia nubilalis (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae). At two periods during diapause (November and February), in three groups of insects (kept under field conditions; -12°C for two weeks; 8°C for two weeks), the activity of key enzymes of the antioxidative system and oxidative part of the hexose monophosphate shunt were measured: super- oxide dismutase, catalase, non selenium glutathione peroxidase, glutathione S-transferase, glutathione reductase, glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase and 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase, as well that of the antioxidative components: total glutathione and ascorbate, and dehydroascorbate reductase. There was a higher activity of antioxidative enzymes at the beginning of the dia- pause period (November) compared to late diapause (February), while glutathione and ascorbate were higher in February. Similarly, there was a lower activity of the hexose monophosphate shunt enzymes in February. Exposure of larvae to -12°C resulted in an ele- vation of hexose monophosphate shunt enzyme activity, especially in November. This was accompanied by a significant increase in glycerol content in February. Changes in ascorbate levels and dehydroascorbate reductase activity in both experimental groups (-12°C and 8°C) suggest a connection between the antioxidative system, metabolism during diapause and cold hardiness. Our results support the notion that antioxidative defense in larvae of Ostrinia nubilalis is closely connected with metabolic changes character- istic of diapause, mechanisms of cold hardiness involved in diapause and the maintenance of a stable redox state.
Neuromagnetic Indication of Dysfunctional Emotion Regulation in Affective Disorders

Dysfunctional emotion regulation is often reported in affective disorders, but it is unclear whether this dysfunction concerns initial processing of emotional input or regulation of resulting emotion. The present study addressed these aspects in 27 depressive and 15 borderline personality disorder patients and 28 healthy controls who were instructed to either passively view unpleasant and neutral pictures or downregulate emotional responses by reappraisal, while neuromagnetic brain activity was measured. All three groups showed more early response to unpleasant than to neutral pictures, whereas patients failed to show subsequent activity suppression under instructions to down-regulate. This deficient emotion regulation was evident primarily in those subjects reporting high childhood adversity. Results support intact emotional input processing but impaired emotion regulation in affective disorders and indicate a moderating influence of early life stress.
Analyzing the Use of Web 2.0 for Brand Awareness and Competitive Advantage: An Empirical Study in the Malaysian Hospitability Industry

In developing countries such as Malaysia, citizens primarily use the internet to keep in touch with friends/family via social networking sites. Firms have realized the potential of the social web to promote their products/services. This article develops a conceptual model, grounded in Technology-Organization-Environment theory, to assess the adoption/use of Web 2.0 for branding activities and its effect on firm performance. Hypotheses are tested using a sample of 104 Malaysian firms from the hospitality industry.
Laminin-1 and Laminin-2 G-domain Synthetic Peptides Bind Syndecan-1 and Are Involved in Acinar Formation of a Human Submandibular Gland Cell Line*

The culture of human submandibular gland (HSG) cells on laminin-1 induces acinar differentiation. We identified a site on laminin involved in acinar differentiation using synthetic peptides derived from the C-terminal G-domain of the laminin α1 and α2 chains. The α1 chain peptide AG73 (RKRLQVQLSIRT) decreases the size of acini formed on laminin-1. Cells cultured with either AG73 or the homologous α2 chain peptide MG73 (KNRLTIELEVRT) form structures that appear acinar-like, but the cell nuclei are not polarized to the basal surface and no lumen formation occurs, indicating that additional sites on laminin are required for complete differentiation. The G-domain of laminin-1 contains both integrin and heparin binding sites, and anti-β1-integrin antibodies disrupt acinar formation. Cell adhesion to the peptides and to E3, an elastase digest fragment of laminin-1 containing AG73, is specific, since other laminin peptides or EDTA do not compete the binding. Heparin and heparan sulfate decrease cell adhesion to AG73 and MG73 but anti-β1-integrin antibodies have no effect. Treating the cell surface with heparitinase inhibits adhesion to both AG73 and MG73. We isolated cell surface ligands using both peptide affinity chromatography and laminin-1 affinity chromatography. Treating the material bound to the affinity columns with heparitinase and chondroitinase enriches for a core protein identified as syndecan-1 by Western blot analysis, thus identifying a syndecan-1 binding site in the globular domain of laminin-1 and laminin-2. In summary, multiple interactions between laminin and HSG cells contribute to acinar differentiation, involving both β1-integrins and syndecan-1.
Identifying new process parameters for preparing poly-caprolactone powder with a solution spraying technique

Poly-caprolactone (PCL) is a biodegradable polymer that has been widely used for fabricating temporary tissue scaffolds. PCL has been considered for an alternative part material of selective vacuum manufacturing (SVM), an inexpensive additive manufacturing technique, to fabricate PCL scaffolds. In attempt for PCL to be used in SVM, it must be transformed from pellet-like into loose powder. A simple solution spraying technique successfully used for preparing poly-lactic acid (PLA) powder, was applied for PCL. Initial investigations suggested revisiting its process parameters. Presented in this paper is an attempt to identify the suitable process parameters for PCL powder preparation.
Homomorphic Token and Distributed Erasure-Code for cloud

Cloud users store their data in the cloud environment which is privileged by the service provider. Cloud users can access their cloud storage. Here we propose a flexible distributed storage integrity auditing mechanism, utilizing the homomorphic token and distributed erasure-coded data. The proposed design allows users to audit the cloud storage with very lightweight communication and computation cost. The proposed scheme is highly efficient and resilient against Byzantine failure, malicious data modification attack, and even server colluding attacks.
Fast and Robust Parametric Estimation for Time Series and Spatial Models

We present a new framework for robust estimation and inference on second-order stationary time series and random fields. This framework is based on the Generalized Method of Wavelet Moments which uses the wavelet variance to achieve parameter estimation for complex models. Using an M-estimator of the wavelet variance, this method can be made robust therefore allowing to estimate the parameters of a wide range of time series and spatial models when the data suffers from outliers or different forms of contamination. The paper presents a series of simulation studies as well as a range of applications where this new approach can be considered as a computationally efficient, numerically stable and robust method which performs at least as well as existing methods in bounding the influence of outliers on the estimation procedure.
Use of the Minnesota Living With Heart Failure Questionnaire Among Elderly Patients With Aortic Stenosis: Results From a Pilot Study

Background:Past studies of health-related quality of life (HRQL) in aortic stenosis (AS) have focused on valve replacement, using generic or heart failure measures because no disease-specific measure exists. The literature is lacking in both performance of these measures among patients with AS and HRQL outcomes in the nonsurgical elderly AS population. Objective:The aims of this study were to measure HRQL and test the reliability of the Minnesota Living With Heart Failure Questionnaire (MLHFQ), Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), and Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Spiritual Well-being Scale (FACIT-Sp) in persons older than 70 years with AS receiving nonsurgical treatment. Methods:The prospective, descriptive design in this study included baseline administration of questionnaires to a consecutive convenience sample of patients aged 75 to 97 years (mean, 85 years) enrolled in a clinical trial for AS (n = 25). Results:Mean aortic valve area was 0.54 cm2 (range, 0.37–0.96 cm2). Patients reported angina (52%) and light-headedness (72%); these 2 items were not included on the MLHFQ but were added as investigator-developed items. Scores for MLHFQ varied widely (median, 52; range, 7–101). Although the median GDS was 4 (range, 1–13), almost half (48%) scored higher than 5, indicating a positive depression screen. Scores for FACIT-Sp were moderately high (median, 37.5; range, 18–45), indicating strong spiritual well-being among many participants. A significant inverse relationship (r = −0.73, P < .0001; 95% confidence interval, −0.87 to −0.48) was found between depression and spiritual well-being. Cronbach &agr; was 0.91, 0.83, and 0.81 for the MLHFQ, GDS, and FACIT, respectively. Conclusions:The HRQL measures selected had good internal consistency reliability, but use of the MLHFQ alone would have missed common disease-specific concerns (eg, angina, light-headedness); studies for minimally invasive aortic valve replacement should include these items. Because higher spiritual well-being was associated with less depressive symptoms, both should receive further study in HRQL assessment. Larger samples may clarify appropriate education and interventions for depressive symptoms, spiritual well-being, as well as safe physical activity and fall prevention for those with light-headedness.
Arabidopsis HDA6 Regulates Locus-Directed Heterochromatin Silencing in Cooperation with MET1

Heterochromatin silencing is pivotal for genome stability in eukaryotes. In Arabidopsis, a plant-specific mechanism called RNA–directed DNA methylation (RdDM) is involved in heterochromatin silencing. Histone deacetylase HDA6 has been identified as a component of such machineries; however, its endogenous targets and the silencing mechanisms have not been analyzed globally. In this study, we investigated the silencing mechanism mediated by HDA6. Genome-wide transcript profiling revealed that the loci silenced by HDA6 carried sequences corresponding to the RDR2-dependent 24-nt siRNAs, however their transcript levels were mostly unaffected in the rdr2 mutant. Strikingly, we observed significant overlap of genes silenced by HDA6 to those by the CG DNA methyltransferase MET1. Furthermore, regardless of dependence on RdDM pathway, HDA6 deficiency resulted in loss of heterochromatic epigenetic marks and aberrant enrichment for euchromatic marks at HDA6 direct targets, along with ectopic expression of these loci. Acetylation levels increased significantly in the hda6 mutant at all of the lysine residues in the H3 and H4 N-tails, except H4K16. Interestingly, we observed two different CG methylation statuses in the hda6 mutant. CG methylation was sustained in the hda6 mutant at some HDA6 target loci that were surrounded by flanking DNA–methylated regions. In contrast, complete loss of CG methylation occurred in the hda6 mutant at the HDA6 target loci that were isolated from flanking DNA methylation. Regardless of CG methylation status, CHG and CHH methylation were lost and transcriptional derepression occurred in the hda6 mutant. Furthermore, we show that HDA6 binds only to its target loci, not the flanking methylated DNA, indicating the profound target specificity of HDA6. We propose that HDA6 regulates locus-directed heterochromatin silencing in cooperation with MET1, possibly recruiting MET1 to specific loci, thus forming the foundation of silent chromatin structure for subsequent non-CG methylation.
Characterizing the effect of supplements on the phenotype of cultured macrophages from patients with age-related macular degeneration

Purpose Oral vitamin and mineral supplements reduce the risk of visual loss in age-related macular degeneration (AMD). However, the pathways that mediate this beneficial effect are poorly understood. Macrophages may exert oxidative, inflammatory, and angiogenic effects in the context of AMD. We aim to assess if oral supplements can modulate the macrophage phenotype in this disease. Methods Monocytes were isolated from patients with neovascular AMD (nvAMD), cultured, matured to macrophages, and polarized to classical [M1 (stimulated by IFNγ and lipopolysaccharide (LPS))] and alternative [M2 (stimulated with IL-4 and IL-13)] phenotypes. Combinations of antioxidants including lutein+zeaxanthin (1 μM; 0.2 μM), zinc (10 µM), carnosic acid (2 µM), beta-carotene (2 µM), and standardized tomato extract containing lycopene and other tomato phytonutrients were added to the culture media. Levels of anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and pro-angiogenic gene and protein expression were then evaluated. Results Combinations of lutein and carnosic acid with zinc and standardized tomato extract or with beta-carotene yielded an antioxidative, anti-inflammatory, and antiangiogenic effect in M1 and M2 macrophages. These effects manifested in the upregulation of antioxidative genes (HMOX1, SOD1) and the downregulation of pro-angiogenic genes and pro-inflammatory genes (SDF-1, TNF-alpha, IL-6, MCP-1). Lutein monotherapy or a combination of lutein and zinc had less effect on the expression of these genes. Conclusions Combinations of supplements can modify the expression of genes and proteins that may be relevant for the involvement of macrophages in the pathogenesis of AMD. Further studies are required to evaluate if the modulation of the macrophage phenotype partially accounts for the beneficial effect of oral supplements in AMD and if modification of the AREDS formula can improve its effect on macrophages.
Vocalizations, feeding and flight behaviour of nectar-feeding bats (Glossophaga soricina and Leptonycteris yerbabuenae)

ii Acknowledgments iii Table of Contents vi List of Tables viii List of Figures ix List of Appendices x Chapter 1 1 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Bat vocalizations 1 1.2 Eavesdropping 3 1.3 Air traffic control 4 1.4 Study Species 6 1.5 Thesis Objectives 9 Chapter 2 10 2 Materials and Methods 10 2.1 Study sites 10 2.1.1 The Montreal Biodome 10 2.1.2 Tucson, Arizona 10 2.2 Call playback presentations 15 2.2.1 Creating playbacks 16 2.2.2 The Montreal Biodome 15 2.2.3 Tucson, Arizona 16 2.3 Video monitoring 21 2.4 Recording feeding visits 21 vii 2.5 Behavioural scoring 22 2.6 Data analysis and statistics 27 2.6. 1 Feeding durations 27 2.6. 2 Call analysis 28 2.6. 3 Behavioural responses 29 Chapter 3 30 3 Results 30 3.1 Durations of feeding visits 30 3.2 Behavioural analysis 33 3.2.1 Glossophaga soricina behavioural responses 33 3.2.2 Leptonycteris yerbabuenae behavioural responses 34 Chapter 4 40 4 Discussion 40 4.1 Echolocation calls signal feeding activity 40 4.2 Echolocation calls signal social information 44 4.3 Social calls influence feeding behaviour 45 4.4 Conclusions 47 References 48 Curriculum Vitae 58
NORMAS at SemEval-2016 Task 1: SEMSIM: A Multi-Feature Approach to Semantic Text Similarity

This paper presents the submission of our team (NORMAS) to the SemEval 2016 semantic textual similarity (STS) shared task. We submitted three system runs, each using a set of 36 features extracted from the training set. The runs explore the use of the following three machine learning algorithms: Support Vector Regression, Elastic Net and Random Forest. Each run was trained using sentence pairs from the STS 2012 training data. Features extracted include lexical, syntactic and semantic features. This paper describes the features we designed for assessing the semantic similarity between sentence pairs, the models we build using these features and the performance obtained by the resulting systems on the 2016 evaluation data.
Development and characterization of chitosan-grafted polycaprolactone/poly (3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyhexanoate) fiber blends for tissue engineering applications

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are a family of biodegradable and biocompatible polyesters that have recently attracted much industrial attention. The most representative PHA is poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB), though it presents several shortcomings such as brittleness and poor impact resistance. 3-hydroxyhexanoate units can be incorporated in PHB to obtain poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3hydroxyhexanoate) (PHBHHx), a copolymer with improved mechanical properties, processability and biodegradability, more suitable for biomedical applications. In this study, chitosan-grafted polycaprolactone (CS-gPCL)/PHBHHx fiber blends in different compositions were developed by wet electrospinning, and their morphology, biodegradability, mechanical and tribological properties were investigated. A direct correlation was found between the wear rate and the mechanical properties, pointing that fiber breakage is the mechanism responsible for both the abrasive wear and yield. The interactions between the components led to a synergistic effect on tensile and tribological properties at a blend composition of 70/30, resulting in an optimum combination of maximum stiffness, strength, ductility and toughness and minimum coefficient of friction and wear rate, ascribed to the lower porosity and higher crystallinity of this sample. Further, it exhibits the slowest degradation rate. These fiber blends are ideal candidates as scaffolds for tissue engineering applications.
A handheld diagnostic system for 6LoWPAN networks

The successful deployment of low-power wireless sensor networks (WSNs) in real application environments is a much broader exercise than just the simple instrumentation of the intended monitoring site. Many problems, from node malfunctions to connectivity issues, may arise during commissioning of these networks. These need to be corrected on the spot, often within limited time, to avoid undesired delays in commissioning and yet a fully functional system does not guarantee that no new problems will occur after leaving the site. In this paper we present the first ever (to our knowledge) implementation of a handheld diagnostic system for fast on-site commissioning of low-power IPv6 (6LoWPAN) WSNs as well as troubleshooting of network problems during and after deployment. This system can be used where traditional solutions are insufficient to ascertain the root causes of any problems encountered at no additional complexity in the implementation of the WSN. The embedded diagnosis capability in our system is based on a lightweight decision tree that distills the functioning of communication protocols in use by the network, with a major focus on interoperable IPv6 standards and protocols for low-power WSNs. To show the applicability of our system, we present a set of experiments based on results from a real deployment in a large construction site. Through these experiments, important performance insights are gained that can be used as guidelines for improvement of operation and maintenance of 6LoWPAN networks.