Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Towards a Process Model for Data-Driven Business Model Innovation

The growing importance of data and analytics in a broad range of industries has led to an increased attention of business model literature on this matter. The question of how to capture the business potential associated with data, drives researchers to explore the impact of data and analytics on the business model concept. However, little research has been conducted on how an organization should approach to enrich its existing business model with data or, yet, to develop a completely new, data-driven business model.Our research aims to address this issue by providing a process model for data-driven business model innovation. Therefore, we conduct an extensive review of existing business model innovation processes and derive distinct requirements, taking into account both data specific and business model innovation specific characteristics. The requirements are used to assess the suitability of the identified processes for the development of a data-driven business model. We disclose that existing processes are not appropriate for creating such business models. Based on these findings, we design a new, data-driven business model innovation process that meets the data specific requirements.
Barriers and facilitators to recruitment of South Asians to health research: a scoping review

Objectives People of South Asian ethnicity are under-represented in health research studies. The objectives of this scoping review were to examine the barriers and facilitators to recruitment of South Asians to health research studies and to describe strategies for improving recruitment. Design Scoping review Methods Using the Arksey and O’Malley framework for scoping reviews, we comprehensively searched electronic databases (MEDLINE via PubMed, Cochrane Library, CINAHL and PsycINFO). Studies that identified barriers and facilitators to recruitment, or recruitment strategies for South Asian populations were included. Recruitment barriers, facilitators and strategies were grouped thematically and summarised narratively. Synthesis Of 1846 potentially relevant articles, 15 met the inclusion criteria and were included in the thematic synthesis. Multiple facilitators and barriers to enrolment of South Asians in health research studies were identified; these most commonly related to logistical challenges, language and cultural barriers, concerns about adverse consequences of participating and mistrust of research. Several actionable strategies were discussed, the most common being engagement of South Asian communities, demonstration of cultural competency, provision of incentives and benefits, language sensitivity through the use of translators and translated materials and the development of trust and personal relationships. Conclusion There is a growing awareness of the barriers and facilitators to recruitment of South Asian participants to health research studies. Knowledge of effective recruitment strategies and implementation during the grant funding stages may reduce the risk of poor recruitment and representation of South Asians.
Analysis of Fibrous Reinforced Concrete Beams

Steel fiber reinforced concrete is used as a construction material in modern structures. Recent studies have shown that steel fiber can be used to improve the behavior of structures and increase the bending moment capacity and shear strength of reinforced concrete members. This research present and modify the nominal and ultimate bending moment equation, maximum and balance reinforcement indices and depth of compression zone for different types of reinforced concrete beams: single, double and T beams including the effect of steel fibers. The modified equations showed that the internal moment capacity of the beams with steel fiber increased by the amount ( ) which represent the participation of the steel fiber. The balance and maximum reinforced indexes ( & )decreased by ( ) for single, double & T-beam reinforced concrete, this means that the ductility increased by adding steel fiber. Also the depth of compression zone increased by a factor ( ) which is greater than (1.0). The modified equations are verified and applied on the reinforced concrete beams with steel fibers which tested in previous study, the theoretical results showed excellent agreement with the experimental values.
Commentary: Studying and Testing the Positive Youth Development Model: A Tale of Two Approaches.

Interest in promoting positive development among children and adolescents has always been a focus of developmental science. Historically, many researchers framed this interest using a deficit model that sought to optimize positive development by reducing problems. In the context of the articles in this special section, the author discuss a different conception of positive youth development that has emerged across the past 25 years, one that capitalizes on human plasticity and tests a strength-based model (instead of a deficit one). This model seeks to identify the process that could enhance the attributes of young people that are valued by them and others (e.g., parents, peers, teachers, mentors, coaches, and faith leaders), as compared to processes that reduce or prevent undesirable characteristics.
Diet-induced obesity promotes systemic inflammation and increased susceptibility to murine visceral leishmaniasis

SUMMARY Obesity is the main causal factor for metabolic syndrome and chronic systemic inflammation, which impacts on immune function and increases susceptibility to pathogens. Here, we investigated the effect of obesity on the outcome of visceral leishmaniasis caused by Leishmaniasis infantum chagasi. C57BL/6 mice fed with high-sugar and butter diet (HSB) showed a significant increase in body weight, adiposity index and morphological changes in adipocyte. To investigate the consequences of obesity on the specific immunity against Leishmania, both control and HSB diet groups were infected with 107 L. infantum chagasi promastigotes in the eighth-week after diet started and euthanized 4 weeks later. HSB-diet fed mice exhibited a significantly higher parasite burden in both liver and spleen compared with control- diet group. Gonadal adipocyte tissue from HSB-diet mice showed increased TNF-α, IL-6 and leptin and diminished IL-10 production compared with control. Cytokines production analysis in the spleen and liver from these animals also demonstrated higher production of IFN-γ, TNF-α, IL-6 and nitric oxide and diminished production of IL-10 and TGF-β, which correlate with inflammatory foci and the cell hyperplasia observed. Taken together, obesity can interfere with responses to pathogen-derived signals and impair the development of protective anti-Leishmania immunity.
Stabilization of Clayey Soil using Cement Kiln Waste

Day by day increasing demand of cement results in intense collection of kiln dust from cement plants. The disposal of this fine dust becomes an environmental threat. In order to overcome this problem, research is being carried out in different parts of the world to find out the economical and efficient means of using cement kiln dust (CKD) various applications like soil stabilization, cement production, pavements, waste product stabilization, and agriculture and cement products, etc. Keeping in mind the need for bulk use of these solid wastes in India, it was thought expedient to test these materials and to develop specifications to enhance the use of these industrial wastes in soil stabilization. In the course of the study, this research has been able to establish the reactions between soil and cement. It has been established that the chemical compounds found in soil; quartz, feldspar, dolomite, calcite, montmorillonite, kaolinite etc. react with the chemical constituents found in different identified chemical stabilizers. The purpose of using CKD, and the other additives, is to improve the texture, increase the strength and reduce the swell characteristics of the various soils. This paper represents the stabilization of clayey soil using cement kiln waste. The soil taken from Ravendrapadu in Andhra Pradesh containing different properties in various percentages is mixed with CKD in different proportions and parameters like dry density and moisture content are found out. By examining the values obtained ideal values are obtained at 50% proportional mix of CKD in total percentage.
Formal Verification of Control Strategies for a Cyber Physical System

Cyber Physical Systems (CPS) use emerging computing, communication, and control methods to monitor and control geographically dispersed critical system components to allow a high level of confidence about their operation. Simulation methods are frequently used in testing such critical system components, however, it might not be adequate to show the absence of errors given the complexity of the system components under test. Failure in detecting errors in safety critical systems can lead to a catastrophic situation. In this paper we propose an approach, based on simulation and formal analysis, for the reliability analysis of CPS. We illustrate this approach on an industrial case study that demonstrates several challenging features in the design and implementation of CPS. Experimental results obtained show that the proposed approach is efficiently used in order to test and verify the four tanks process system, where simulation results show the validity of approximation and abstraction of the system, and formal analysis is used to validate that several design requirements were satisfied in the control strategies proposed.
Glucose metabolism and metabolic flexibility in cultured skeletal muscle cells is related to exercise status in young male subjects

Abstract We hypothesised that skeletal muscles of healthy young people have a large variation in oxidative capacity and fibre-type composition, and aimed therefore to investigate glucose metabolism in biopsies and myotubes isolated from musculus vastus lateralis from healthy males with varying degrees of maximal oxygen uptake. Trained and intermediary trained subjects showed higher carbohydrate oxidation in vivo. Fibre-type distribution in biopsies and myotubes did not differ between groups. There was no correlation between fibre-type I expression in biopsies and myotubes. Myotubes from trained had higher deoxyglucose accumulation and fractional glucose oxidation (glucose oxidation relative to glucose uptake), and were also more sensitive to the suppressive action of acutely added oleic acid to the cells. Despite lack of correlation of fibre types between skeletal muscle biopsies and cultured cells, myotubes from trained subjects retained some of their phenotypes in vitro with respect to enhanced glucose metabolism and metabolic flexibility.
Systemic Nicotine Increases Gain and Narrows Receptive Fields in A1 via Integrated Cortical and Subcortical Actions

Abstract Nicotine enhances sensory and cognitive processing via actions at nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs), yet the precise circuit- and systems-level mechanisms remain unclear. In sensory cortex, nicotinic modulation of receptive fields (RFs) provides a model to probe mechanisms by which nAChRs regulate cortical circuits. Here, we examine RF modulation in mouse primary auditory cortex (A1) using a novel electrophysiological approach: current-source density (CSD) analysis of responses to tone-in-notched-noise (TINN) acoustic stimuli. TINN stimuli consist of a tone at the characteristic frequency (CF) of the recording site embedded within a white noise stimulus filtered to create a spectral “notch” of variable width centered on CF. Systemic nicotine (2.1 mg/kg) enhanced responses to the CF tone and to narrow-notch stimuli, yet reduced the response to wider-notch stimuli, indicating increased response gain within a narrowed RF. Subsequent manipulations showed that modulation of cortical RFs by systemic nicotine reflected effects at several levels in the auditory pathway: nicotine suppressed responses in the auditory midbrain and thalamus, with suppression increasing with spectral distance from CF so that RFs became narrower, and facilitated responses in the thalamocortical pathway, while nicotinic actions within A1 further contributed to both suppression and facilitation. Thus, multiple effects of systemic nicotine integrate along the ascending auditory pathway. These actions at nAChRs in cortical and subcortical circuits, which mimic effects of auditory attention, likely contribute to nicotinic enhancement of sensory and cognitive processing.
Evolution of bias and sample size in postoperative pain management trials after hip and knee arthroplasty

Bias (systematic error) and small trial sample size (random error) may induce imprecise and exaggerated treatment effects in randomised controlled trials (RCTs). To avoid this, SPIRIT‐ and CONSORT‐guidelines, and Cochrane Collaboration bias recommendations were developed. We investigated risk of bias and trial sample size development over time in postoperative pain trials.
Take a Stand!-a multi-component intervention aimed at reducing sitting time among office workers-a cluster randomized trial.

Background Prolonged sitting time has been associated with adverse health outcomes. Interventions at work may contribute to reduced sitting. The objective was to test if a multicomponent work-based intervention can reduce sitting time and the number of prolonged sitting periods (> 30 min), increase the number of sit-to-stand transitions and decrease waist circumference and body fat percentage among office workers. Primary outcomes were: change in sitting time, prolonged sitting periods and sit-to-stand transitions at follow-up 1 month later. Methods At four workplaces, 19 offices (317 workers in total) were cluster randomized for intervention or control. The intervention included the appointment of local ambassadors, management support, environmental changes, a lecture and a workshop. Sitting time was measured using an ActiGraph GT3X+ fixed on the thigh. Data were processed using Acti4 software providing data on time spent sitting, standing and doing other activities. Control participants were instructed to behave as usual. Follow-up measurements were obtained after 1 and 3 months. Results At 1 and 3 months, total sitting time was 71 ( P < 0.001) and 48 min ( P < 0.001) lower per 8-h workday in the intervention group compared with the control group. At 1 month, the number of prolonged sitting periods was lower (-0.79/8-h workday, P < 0.001) and sit-to-stand transitions were higher (+14%/sitting hour, P = 0.001) in the intervention compared with the control group. After 3 months, trends persisted. The body fat percentage was lower by 0.61 percentage points ( P = 0.011) in the intervention group compared with the control group after 3 months. Conclusions The multicomponent workplace-based intervention was effective in reducing sitting time, prolonged sitting periods and body fat percentage, and in increasing the number of sit-to-stand transitions.
Genetic Stability and Evolution of the sigB Allele, Used for Listeria Sensu Stricto Subtyping and Phylogenetic Inference

ABSTRACT Sequencing of single genes remains an important tool that allows the rapid classification of bacteria. Sequencing of a portion of sigB, which encodes a stress-responsive alternative sigma factor, has emerged as a commonly used molecular tool for the initial characterization of diverse Listeria isolates. In this study, evolutionary approaches were used to assess the validity of sigB allelic typing for Listeria. For a data set of 4,280 isolates, sigB allelic typing showed a Simpson's index of diversity of 0.96. Analyses of 164 sigB allelic types (ATs) found among the 6 Listeriasensu stricto species, representing these 4,280 isolates, indicate that neither frequent homologous recombination nor positive selection significantly contributed to the evolution of sigB, confirming its genetic stability. The molecular clock test provided evidence for unequal evolution rates across clades; Listeria welshimeri displayed the lowest sigB diversity and was the only species in which sigB evolved in a clocklike manner, implying a unique natural history. Among the four L. monocytogenes lineages, sigB evolution followed a molecular clock only in lineage IV. Moreover, sigB displayed a significant negative Tajima D value in lineage II, suggesting a recent population bottleneck followed by lineage expansion. The absence of positive selection along with the violation of the molecular clock suggested a nearly neutral mechanism of Listeriasensu strictosigB evolution. While comparison with a whole-genome sequence-based phylogeny revealed that the sigB phylogeny did not correctly reflect the ancestry of L. monocytogenes lineage IV, the availability of a large sigB AT database allowed accurate species classification. IMPORTANCE sigB allelic typing has been widely used for species delineation and subtyping of Listeria. However, an informative evaluation of this method from an evolutionary perspective was missing. Our data indicate that the genetic stability of sigB is affected by neither frequent homologous recombination nor positive selection, which supports that sigB allelic typing provides reliable subtyping and classification of Listeria sensu stricto strains. However, multigene data are required for accurate phylogeny reconstruction of Listeria. This study thus contributes to a better understanding of the evolution of sigB and confirms the robustness of the sigB subtyping system for Listeria.
Leveraging Weakly Annotated Data for Fashion Image Retrieval and Label Prediction

In this paper, we present a method to learn a visual representation adapted for e-commerce products. Based on weakly supervised learning, our model learns from noisy datasets crawled on e-commerce website catalogs and does not require any manual labeling. We show that our representation can be used for downward classification tasks over clothing categories with different levels of granularity. We also demonstrate that the learnt representation is suitable for image retrieval. We achieve nearly state-of-art results on the DeepFashion In-Shop Clothes Retrieval and Categories Attributes Prediction [12] tasks, without using the provided training set.
Vascular Health Profile predicts cardiovascular outcomes in patients with diabetes

We previously reported the development of a novel high dimensional cytomic assay, the Vascular Health Profile (VHP) based on measurements of angiogenic circulating hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (CHSPCAng) and extracellular vesicles (EVs), that discovered a unique signature, differentiating the vascular status of diabetics and normal healthy controls. Here, we present data from a 3‐year follow‐up to evaluate the power of the VHP to identify individuals at risk for cardiovascular (CV) events.
Effects of Surfactant Lavage Combined With Intratracheal Budesonide Instillation on Meconium-Injured Piglet Lungs

Objectives: To evaluate the combined effects of surfactant lavage and intratracheally instillation of budesonide on meconium-injured piglet lungs. Design: A prospective, randomized, animal model study. Setting: An experimental laboratory. Subjects: Twenty-four anesthetized and mechanically ventilated newborn piglets. Interventions: Human meconium slurry was intratracheally instilled into piglet lungs to induce lung injury. The injured piglets were randomly assigned to either the sham treatment group (control) or one of the three therapeutic groups: the intratracheally instilled budesonide (Bud) group, the bronchoalveolar lavage with diluted surfactant (dsBAL) group, and the combination therapy of Bud and dsBAL (dsBAL + Bud) group. Measurements and Main Results: Cardiopulmonary profiles were measured hourly. Proinflammatory cytokine (interleukin-1&bgr;, interleukin-6, and interleukin-8) levels in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid were measured. Finally, the pulmonary histology of the experimental subjects was examined at the end of experiments. Both of the lavaged groups (dsBAL and dsBAL + Bud) showed significantly better oxygenation than those that had not undergone lavage (control and Bud) (p < 0.05). The dsBAL + Bud group showed a significantly higher lung compliance and required a significantly lower peak inspiratory pressure during the experimental periods than the other three groups (p < 0.05). All treatment groups had significantly lower concentrations of interleukin-1&bgr; concentration in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid than the control group (p < 0.05). The dsBAL + Bud group also had a significantly lower interleukin-6 concentration in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (p< 0.05), as well as a significantly lower lung injury score based on pulmonary histology than the control group (p < 0.05). Conclusions: Therapeutic bronchoalveolar lavage with diluted surfactant followed by intratracheal instillation of budesonide has a synergistic and beneficial effect when treating severe meconium-injured newborn piglet lungs.
[POSTER] DotWarp: Dynamic Object Timewarping for Video See-Through Augmented Reality

A significant issue associated with the use of video see-through head-mounted displays (VST-HMD) for augmented reality is the presence of latency between real-world images and the images displayed to the HMD. For a static scene, this latency provides no real problem, however for dynamic scenes, which arise when the HMD user moves their head, when real-world objects move, or a combination of the two, the accompanying delay may result in significant registration error. To address this issue, we present DotWarp, a novel latency reduction technique for VST-HMDs that does not rely on head motion and compensates for the delay arising from real-world object motion. The algorithm requires a two-camera setup and matches dynamic objects in both images by tracking on the faster image and warping the pixels of the slower image, with the fast and slow components being RGB and IR components, respectively, for our system. First, moving objects are extracted from the faster camera scene using a motioncompensating background subtraction algorithm and tracked using a robust correlation tracker. Then, temporal correspondence between the two camera images is computed using sensor update information and the objects' positions in the slower image are shifted to match the corresponding positions in the faster image. Finally, the gaps in the slower image left behind by the shifted objects are filled in with background pixel data from previous frames using homography from the background subtraction model. In this manner, the augmented image is more closely matched with the real-world image and the perceived registration of the camera is significantly improved, with initial results of an 81.64% reduction in registration error.
Altered serum levels of TNF‐α, IL‐6, and IL‐18 in depressive disorder patients

Depressive disorder is associated with abnormal changes in cytokines levels. This study aimed to assess serum concentrations of tumor necrosis factor (TNF) α, interleukin (IL) 6, and IL‐18 in depressive patients. The correlations between these three cytokine concentrations and the patients' clinical characteristics were also assessed.
A simple threshold nonlinearity for blind separation of sub-Gaussian signals

A computationally simple nonlinearity in the form of a threshold device for the blind separation of sub-Gaussian signals is derived. Convergence is shown to be robust, fast, and comparable to that of more complex polynomial nonlinearities. Together with the known signum nonlinearity for super-Gaussian distributions, which basically is a threshold device with the threshold set to zero, the general threshold nonlinearity (with an appropriate threshold) can separate any non-Gaussian signals.