Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
In vitro controlled drug release from loaded microspheres--dose regulation through formulation.

PURPOSE Drug release profiles were established for ibuprofen encapsulated within several types of microspheres and a range of dissolution buffer media to study the effect these variables have in controlling the rate and extent of drug release. METHODS Fatty acid microspheres containing ibuprofen were prepared by a process previously developed and refined to produce microspheres of a known size and composition, namely 80-125 mum diameter and an excipient to ibuprofen ratio of 3:1. Drug release profiles from these encapsulated formulations were compared with those obtained for the dissolution of ibuprofen alone under the same conditions. RESULTS Stearic acid microspheres were found to only partially retard the release of ibuprofen over a twenty minute period compared with the dissolution of ibuprofen alone. However, a significant retardation of ibuprofen release was observed with cetostearyl alcohol microspheres over the same period of time. Secondly, drug release profiles for encapsulated ibuprofen were determined using five distinct dissolution buffer media; sodium phosphate, potassium phosphate, citric acid and phosphate mix, MOPS and tris. Significant differences in the extent and rate of drug release were recorded between the different dissolution buffer solutions. These differences were also shown to be independent of variations in pH, temperature, buffer concentrations and the type of cations present. CONCLUSIONS The presence and choice of microsphere formulation, and the choice of buffer present in the dissolution solution, can influence drug release in vitro, i.e. it is possible to achieve controlled drug release from microspheres. To explain the control achieved through the choice of buffer in solution it is proposed that the buffer anion exerts a stabilising influence on the ibuprofen-microsphere matrix.
Identifying and Reducing Nonresponse Bias throughout the Survey Process

Nonresponse bias can be a major contributing source of total survey error. Too often, this problem is dealt with only in the post-collection approach, through adjustment in the weighting process or through a post-survey evaluation of the potential for bias. The goal of this paper is to suggest the need to place awareness of nonresponse bias throughout the total survey process, that is, to make it part of the initial planning, and, subsequently, to identify, develop, and implement procedures and approaches throughout the survey to minimize nonresponse bias, as well as to plan an evaluation of its potential effects on the data. Specifically, we highlight how to Plan, for and how to Identify Reduce and Evaluate nonresponse bias.
Modeling and control of an intrinsic continuum robot actuated by pneumatic artificial muscles

This paper presents the kinematic model of an intrinsic continuum robot actuated by pneumatic artificial muscles. The orientation of a robotic end-effector was estimated based on Euler angles considering the curvature and the arrangement of pneumatic artificial muscles on each segment of the continuum robot. Also, a torque control scheme using the Jacobian matrix was designed to give stable interaction of the continuum robot with rigid environment. Experimental results revealed that the proposed kinematic model and the torque control scheme for an intrinsic continuum robot gave good performance in predicting the orientation of the continuum robot and following the sinusoidal torque trajectory respectively.
Eclipse Development Tools for Epsilon

Epsilon is a platform that provides the necessary infrastructure for developing task-specific languages to support model management tasks such as transformation, merging, comparison and validation. Currently, a number of taskspecific languages are implemented atop Epsilon. Each language is supported by an execution engine and a set of development tools for the Eclipse platform, that enable developers to compose, execute and debug specifications in a user-friendly and practical environment. In this paper, we provide an overview of the Epsilon infrastructure and the languages build atop it and demonstrate the supporting development tools.
An architecture for adaptation of virtual networks on clouds

Virtual networks are a new research topic advocated to increase flexibility, manageability and isolation in the Internet. However they introduce many open issues to become practical in real scenarios. On the other hand, cloud computing provides elasticity, where availability scales up on demand, with resources being offered frequently as virtualized services over the Internet. The use of virtual networks as a mechanism in cloud computing can aggregate traffic isolation, improving security and facilitating pricing. Also, it allows us to act in cases where the performance is not in accordance with the contract for services between the customer and the provider of the cloud. In this paper we propose an architecture for the deployment of clouds over virtualized networks. In addition, we experimentally evaluate how the virtual network manager can benefit from different virtual network configurations to improve users' quality of service.
Detecting LSB Steganography in Color and Gray-Scale Images

We describe a reliable and accurate method for detecting least significant bit (LSB) nonsequential embedding in digital images. The secret message length is derived by inspecting the lossless capacity in the LSB and shifted LSB plane. An upper bound of 0.005 bits per pixel was experimentally determined for safe LSB embedding.
Caveolin Proteins Are Essential for Distinct Effects of Membrane Estrogen Receptors in Neurons

It has become widely accepted that along with its ability to directly regulate gene expression, estradiol also influences cell signaling and brain function via rapid membrane-initiated events. Many of these novel signaling processes are dependent on estrogen receptors (ERs) localized to the neuronal membrane. However, the mechanism(s) by which ERs are able to trigger cell signaling when targeted to the neuronal membrane surface has yet to be determined. In hippocampal neurons, we find that caveolin proteins are essential for the regulation of CREB (cAMP response element-binding protein) phosphorylation after estradiol activation of metabotropic glutamate receptor (mGluR) signaling. Furthermore, caveolin-1 (CAV1) and CAV3 differentially regulate the ability of estradiol to activate two discrete signaling pathways. ERα activation of mGluR1a is dependent on CAV1, whereas CAV3 is necessary for ERα and ERβ activation of mGluR2/3. These results are consistent with previous reports in non-neuronal cells, implicating the importance of caveolin proteins in rapid estrogen signaling. In addition, the functional isolation of distinct estrogen-sensitive signaling pathways by different caveolin proteins suggests novel mechanisms through which the membrane-initiated effects of estradiol are orchestrated.
Detection of JavaScript of Malware with Un-readability Using Mahalanobis-Distance

Increasing of Java Scripts of malware requires automatic malware detection systems in these days. Our research takes note of the appearence probability and the state transition probability of first order Markov source for both of malware Java Script and other Java Script. The preexperiments found statistical significance. We propose the malware detection method using Mahalanobis-distance with the probability variable of the appearance probability of characters and the probability variable of state transition probability of first order Markov source. As the results of experiments, the method of combining two probability variables proved the effectiveness compared to the method using single probability variable.
O ct 2 00 1 Generalized statistical mechanics and fully developed turbulence

The statistical properties of fully developed hydrodynamic turbulence can be successfully described using methods from nonextensive statistical mechanics. The predicted probability densities and scaling exponents precisely coincide with what is measured in various turbulence experiments. As a dynamical basis for nonextensive behaviour we consider nonlinear Langevin equations with fluctuating friction forces, where Tsallis statistics can be proved rigorously.
A near optimal solution for network topology reconfigurations with limited link resources

As a promising approach to improve network survivability, reliability and flexibility, topology reconfiguration is extremely important for modern networked infrastructures. In particular, for an existing network and a limited set of newly available resources, it is valuable to determine how to optimally allocate the new resources, such that the resulting network is the most robust and efficient. In this paper, we investigate the problem of network topology reconfiguration (NTR) optimization with limited link resources. A dynamic robustness metric is developed to quantitatively characterize the network robustness and efficiency. We show that the NTR optimization with limited link resources is NP-complete. Therefore, to approximately solve the problem, we develop a preferential configuration node-protecting cycle (PCNC) scheme for sequential link additions. Analysis showed that the PCNC scheme provide an approximate optimal solution under the dynamic robustness metric. Simulation results also showed that the PCNC scheme effectively improves the network robustness and efficiency at the cost of least added link resources.
6DOF semi-rigid SLAM for mobile scanning

The terrestrial acquisition of 3D point clouds by laser range finders has recently moved to mobile platforms. Measuring the environment while simultaneously moving the vehicle demands a high level of accuracy from positioning systems such as the IMU, GPS and odometry. We present a novel semi-rigid SLAM algorithm that corrects the global position of the vehicle at every point in time, while simultaneously improving the quality and accuracy of the entire acquired map. Using the algorithm the temporary failure of positioning systems or the lack thereof can be compensated for. We demonstrate the capabilities of our approach on a wide variety of systems and data sets.
Algal Community Membership of Estuarine Mudflats from the Savannah River, United States

Algae represent a large and diverse group of photosynthetic organisms inhabiting all aquatic habitats. Although the traditional assessment of algal diversity relies mainly on microscopy-based morphological identification, certain limitations exist. In this study, we present a combined molecular and morphological assessment of algal diversity in mudflats from the Savannah River Estuary, Georgia. High diversity of diatoms was documented, and less than 20% of the algal community was physiologically active at the time of collection. From the total genomic DNA extracted from the field samples and lab isolates, 18S rDNA sequences were PCR amplified, cloned, sequenced, identified, and then compared to the taxa identified via microscopy. Only a few of the DNA sequences matched documented taxa, and the abundance of particular algal species was limited to morphological analysis. Surprisingly, upon examination of the remaining lysis buffer from the mechanical lysis step of algal cells, diatom species were left intact even in the presence of a detergent indicating that the diatom species resistant to lysis could be easily underrepresented. Generation of additional algal sequences data, tied to accurate taxonomic identification, is essential to current environmental sequencing projects and potentially would allow faster acquisition of algal community structure within these unique environments.
VMI 2 . 0 : A Dynamically Reconfigurable Messaging Layer for Availability , Usability , and Management

As system area networks (SANs) grow in size, and organizations pool their SANs over the wide area into even larger compute platforms (commonly known asgrids), it becomes increasingly di fficult both to manage and to exploit the available resources. The key issues is the space of grid computing are availability, reliability, and management. Availability is an issue, as network hardware is more likely to fail in a large network than in a small one. Usability is an issue, as di fferent SANs use di fferent networks, and inter-SAN communication frequently uses different networks from intra-SAN communication. And management is an issue, as it is more di fficult to find and isolate problematic components of a large, heterogeneous system than a small, homogeneous one. This paper introduces VMI 2.0, a middleware communication layer that addresses the issues of availability, usability, and management in the context of large-scale SANs interconnected over wide-area grids. Novel features include the ability to stripe data across heterogeneous networks, the ability to fail over from one network onto a heterogeneous network, and the ability to add data filters and other features dynamically, remotely, and even on per-connection bases.
Computing stress-related emotional state via frontal cortex asymmetry to be applied in passive-ssBCI

The identification of stress-related emotional states allows the use of a passive single-switch BCI (passive-ssBCI) together with a main multi-class BCI. Thus, the passive-ssBCI could work in the background of the main BCI, allowing it to recognize stress-related emotions and to switch to a “stress mode”, which allows a better adaptation to the user current mental state, leading the system to better success rates. Frontal cortex asymmetry gave evidence that greater right frontal activity seems to be more highly related to negative emotional states. In this work, index of asymmetry of alpha band was computed by comparing the power of contra-lateral frontal electrodes. Discrete Wavelet transformation was used to decompose the EEG signals in frequency bands. The power spectral density was then calculated using modified Hamming periodogram. Signals from a public database for the analysis of human affective states, which was labeled with volunteers self-assessment scores, were employed. In order to label negative stress-related emotional state, rules based on valence, arousal and dominance dimensional emotions were defined. The results were promissory, because computed index of asymmetry in the alpha band indicated activity into the right frontal hemisphere was higher than the left one for seven out of nine volunteers during negative emotional states. This index could be employed as switch to a “stress mode” in a passive-ssBCI.
A Framework for the Evaluation of Mashup Tools

Mashup Programming is one of the latest trends in web application development. However, different sources still regard that mashup technology is in its infancy despite the mushroom growth of mashup-based applications and technologies. This calls for an in depth analysis of the support available to end users for mashup development. In this paper, we propose a multi-dimensional framework to evaluate existing mashup tools and platforms. The main idea behind this evaluation is to study the state of the art of mashup development from the end-user perspective and critically evaluate the efforts in this regard against a set of criteria to identify the research directions in this field. The idea of evaluation of mashup tools has been tackled through different approaches in past, however, in this research we attempt to synthesize additional concepts regarding mashup development and analyse this area against previously ignored factors, such as support for capturing users' requirements and users' goals. This study also includes platforms that have not yet been covered by previous evaluation studies. The framework presented in this study can be used as a guideline to inform future design of mashup development environments for both academic and industrial research. The results of the study reinforce the need of a more user-oriented approach to deal with the inherent issues of end-user mashup programming. The study concludes with the proposal of use of goals as a guiding mechanism to derive the mashup applications.
Efficient strategyproof multicast in selfish networks

In this paper, we propose several strategyproof mechanisms for multicast for both node weighted graphs and link weighted graphs. A node in node weighted graphs or a link in link weighted graphs is called an agent. For a multicast with a source node and a set of receiver nodes, we assume that they will pay each agent to carry the traffic from source to receivers. The utility of an agent is its payment received, minus its cost if it is in the multicast tree. We assume that the cost of each agent is private and each agent can manipulate its weight to maximize its utility. A payment scheme is strategyproof if every agent maximizes its utility when it reports its cost truthfully. In this paper, we proposed several strategyproof payment schemes based on various structures. We prove that each of our payment schemes is optimum for the corresponding structure used.
Cryo‐EM visualization of an exposed RGD epitope on adenovirus that escapes antibody neutralization

Interaction of the adenovirus penton base protein with αV integrins promotes virus entry into host cells. The location of the integrin binding sequence Arg‐Gly‐Asp (RGD) on human type 2 adenovirus (Ad2) was visualized by cryo‐electron microscopy (cryo‐EM) and image reconstruction using a mAb (DAV‐1) which recognizes a linear epitope, IRGDTFATR. The sites for DAV‐1 binding corresponded to the weak density above each of the five 22 Å protrusions on the adenovirus penton base protein. Modeling of a Fab fragment crystal structure into the adenovirus‐Fab cryo‐EM density indicated a large amplitude of motion for the Fab and the RGD epitope. An unexpected finding was that Fab fragments, but not IgG antibody molecules, inhibited adenovirus infection. Steric hindrance from the adenovirus fiber and a few bound IgG molecules, as well as epitope mobility, most likely prevent binding of IgG antibodies to all five RGD sites on the penton base protein within the intact virus. These studies indicate that the structure of the adenovirus particle facilitates interaction with cell integrins, whilst restricting binding of potentially neutralizing antibodies.
Degenerative structures that inhibit the emergence of communities of practice: a case study of knowledge management in the British Council

Abstract. This paper presents the British Council’s knowledge management strategy. It outlines how, as part of this strategy, the organization attempted to engender communities of practice among a strategically significant group spread across the 110 countries in which the organization operates. Using a case study of this group, the paper explores ‘degenerative structures’ that impact on the ability to engender communities of practice and, through consideration of issues of individualization and risk, highlights a series of paradoxes that inhibited this organization’s attempt to move from a ‘hub‐and‐spoke’ structure to become a networked organization in which communities of practice flourish.
Attentional capture in schizophrenia and schizotypy: Effect of attentional load

Introduction: We examined the effect of attentional load on attentional capture in schizophrenia. On the basis of the ‘‘resource limitations hypothesis’’ in schizophrenia, we propose that attentional capture by an irrelevant distractor will be differentially affected by the attentional load for patients and healthy controls. Method: 70 patients with schizophrenia, 15 schizotypals, and 54 controls were asked to attend to a central task while a lateral distractor moved. Participants were instructed either (i) to localise a black square (low-load condition), or (ii) to locate the larger number between two 1-digit numbers (medium-load condition), or (iii) to locate the larger number between two several-digit numbers (high-load condition). In the baseline condition, no distractor moved. Results: All groups showed attentional capture in the low-load condition. Patients and schizotypals resisted interference from the distractor in the medium and highload conditions. Controls resisted interference in the high-load condition. Conclusion: The results suggest that attentional modulation is impaired in schizophrenia and in the schizophrenia spectrum.
Optimal synthesis via superdifferentials of value function

We derive a differential inclusion governing the evo- lution of optimal trajectories to the Mayer problem. The value func- tion is allowed to be discontinuous. This inclusion has convex com- pact right-hand sides. Keywords: Mayer problem, optimal synthesis, differential in- clusion, Hamilton-Jacobi equation, semiconcave function, viability theory, viscosity solution.
The effect of red-allotrope selenium nanoparticles on head and neck squamous cell viability and growth

Given their low toxicity and natural presence in the human diet, selenium nanoparticles have been established as potential candidates for the treatment of numerous cancers. Red-allotrope selenium nanoparticles (rSeNPs) were synthesized and characterized in this study. Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) and human dermal fibroblast (HDF) cells were cultured and exposed to rSeNPs at concentrations ranging from 0.01 to 100 μg rSeNP/mL media for 1–3 days. The toxicity of rSeNP toward HNSCC and HDFs was analyzed. Results indicated that the particles were approximately four times as cytotoxic toward HNSCC compared to HDFs, with their respective IC50 values at 19.22 and 59.61 μg rSeNP/mL media. Using statistical analysis, an effective dosage range for killing HNSCC cells while simultaneously minimizing damage to HDFs over a 3-day incubation period was established at 20–55 μg rSeNP/mL media. Observations showed that doses of rSeNP <5 μg rSeNP/mL media resulted in cell proliferation. Transmission electron microscopy images of HNSCC and HDF cells, both treated with rSeNPs, revealed that the rSeNPs became localized in the cytoplasm near the lysosomes and mitochondria. Analysis of cell morphology showed that the rSeNPs primarily induced HNSCC apoptosis. Collectively, these results indicated that rSeNPs are a promising option for treating HNSCC without adversely affecting healthy cells and without resorting to the use of harmful chemotherapeutics.
The Parker Instability in Three Dimensions: Corrugations and Superclouds along the Carina-Sagittarius Arm

Here we present three-dimensional MHD models for the Parker instability in a thick magnetized disk, including the presence of a spiral arm. The B field is assumed parallel to the arm, and the model results are applied to the optical segment of the Carina-Sagittarius arm. The characteristic features of the undular and interchange modes are clearly apparent in the simulations. The interchange mode appears first and generates small interstellar structures in the interarm regions, but its development inside the arm is hampered by the acceleration of the spiral wave. In contrast, the undular mode follows its normal evolution inside the spiral wave, creating large gas concentrations distributed along the arm. This results in a clear arm/interarm difference; the instability triggers the formation of large interstellar clouds (with masses in the range of 106-107 M☉) inside the arms but generates only small structures with slight density enhancements in the interarm regions. The resulting clouds are distributed in an antisymmetric way with respect to the midplane, and their masses are similar to those inferred for H I superclouds in our Galaxy. Such a cloud distribution results in an azimuthal corrugation along the arm, and for conditions similar to those of the optical segment of the Carina-Sagittarius arm, it has a wavelength of about 2.4 kpc. This structuring, then, can explain the origin of both H I superclouds and the azimuthal corrugations in spiral arms. In particular, the wavelength of the fastest growing undular mode matches the corrugation length derived with the young stellar groups located in the optical segment of the Carina-Sagittarius arm.