Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An electrospun polycaprolactone–collagen membrane for the resurfacing of cartilage defects

A polycaprolactone (PCL)–collagen electrospun mesh is proposed as a novel alternative to the conventional periosteal graft in autologous chondrocyte implantation. This is the first known attempt in designing a cartilage resurfacing membrane using a mechanically resilient PCL mesh with a weight-average molecular weight of 139 300 that is enhanced with bioactive collagen. PCL–collagen 10, 20 and 40% electrospun meshes (Coll-10, Coll-20 and Coll-40) were evaluated and it was discovered that the retention of surface collagen could only be achieved in Coll-20 and Coll-40. Furthermore Coll-20 was stiffer and stronger than Coll-40 and it satisfied the mechanical demands at the cartilage implant site. When seeded with mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), the cells adhered on the surface of the Coll-20 mesh and they remained viable over a period of 28 days; however, they were unable to infiltrate through the dense meshwork. Cell compatibility was also noted in the chondrogenic environment as the MSCs differentiated into chondrocytes with the expression of Sox9, aggrecan and collagen II. More importantly, the mesh did not induce a hypertrophic response from the cells. The current findings support the use of Coll-20 as a cartilage patch, and future implantation studies are anticipated. Copyright © 2010 Society of Chemical Industry
XFindBugs: eXtended FindBugs for AspectJ

Aspect-oriented software development (AOSD) is gaining popularity with the wider adoption of languages such as AspectJ. However, though the state-of-the-art aspect-oriented programming environment (such as AJDT in the Eclipse IDE) provides powerful capabilities to check the syntactic or grammar errors in AspectJ programs, it fails to detect potential semantic defects in aspect-oriented software systems. In this paper, we present XFindBugs, an eXtended FindBugs for AspectJ, to help programmers find potential bugs in AspectJ applications through static analysis. XFindBugs supports 17 bug patterns to cover common error-prone features in an aspect-oriented system, and integrates the corresponding bug detectors into the FindBugs framework. We evaluate XFindBugs on a number of large-scale open source AspectJ projects (306,800 LOC in total). In our evaluation, XFindBugs confirms 7 reported bugs and finds 257 previously unknown defects. Our experiment also indicates that the bug patterns supported in XFindBugs exist in real-world software systems, even for mature applications by experienced programmers.
Need for (the right) speed : the timing and composition of public debt deleveraging

This paper studies the optimal path for public debt deleveraging in a heterogeneous agents framework under incomplete financial markets. My analysis addresses two questions. What is the optimal fiscal instrument the government needs to use to reduce public debt? What is the optimal speed of public debt deleveraging? The main finding is that public debt should be reduced quickly and by cutting public expenditure. If the fiscal authority is forced to use income taxation instead, public debt deleveraging needs to be slow. Independently of fiscal instruments, the economy may end up in a liquidity trap. I show that, in my model, the zero lower bound has a redistributive effect. If the liquidity trap is very persistent, it can reallocate resources from financially constrained agents to financially unconstrained ones. Due to this mechanism, a very slow public debt reduction achieved by increasing income taxation is very costly in terms of aggregate welfare.
Association of Human Fas (CD95) with a Ubiquitin-conjugating Enzyme (UBC-FAP)*

A novel human ubiquitin conjugating enzyme (UBC) was found to associate with Fas (CD95). The mRNA for this UBC Fas-associated protein (FAP) was widely expressed in human tissues, and the protein was identified in several mammalian cell lines. UBC-FAP shows strong homology to two recently identified UBCs, Hus5 and Ubc9, which control yeast cell cycle progression. UBC-FAP, but not an active site mutant, complemented ubc9-1ts mutants. This suggests that UBC-FAP is a human homologue of Ubc9, possesses ubiquitin conjugating activity, and may play an important role in mammalian cell cycle regulation. A single amino acid substitution in the death domain of Fas that abolishes Fas-mediated apoptosis also abolished Fas association with UBC-FAP, suggesting that UBC-FAP may play a role in Fas signal transduction. The sequence of UBC-FAP is identical to that of HsUbc9, a UBC recently shown to interact with Rad51.
Ensembles of Artificial Example based Neural Networks

Ensembles with several neural networks are widely used to improve the generalization performance over a single network. A proper diversity among component networks is considered as an important parameter for ensemble construction so that the failure of one may be compensated by others. Data sampling, i.e., different training sets for different networks, is the most investigated technique for diversity than other approaches. This paper presents a data sampling based neural network ensemble method where the individual networks are trained on the union of original training set and a set of some artificially generated examples. Generated examples are different for different networks and are the element to produce diversity among the networks. After each network is trained, the method checks whether the trained network is suitable to ensemble or not, and absorbs the network based on the ensemble performance with it. The effectiveness of the method is evaluated on a suite of 20 benchmark classification problems. The experimental results show that the performance of this ensemble method is better or competitive with respect to the existing popular methods.
The Σ − L Correlation in Nearby Early-type Galaxies

Early-type galaxy velocity dispersions and luminosities are correlated. The correlation estimated in local samples (≤ 100 Mpc) differs from that measured more recently in the SDSS. This is true even when systematics in the SDSS photometric and spectroscopic parameters have been accounted-for. We show that this is also true for the ENEAR sample if galaxy luminosities are estimated using distances which have been corrected for peculiar motions. We then show that, because the estimate of the 'true' distance is derived from a correlation with velocity dispersion, in this case the D n − σ relation, using it in the σ − L relation leads to an artificially tight relation with a biased slope. Making no correction for peculiar velocities results in a σ − L relation which is very similar to that of the SDSS, although with larger scatter. We also measure the σ − L correlation in a mock ENEAR catalog, in which the underlying galaxy sample has the same σ − L correlation as seen in the SDSS. The mock catalog produces the same D n − σ relation as the data, the same biased slope when D n − σ distances are used to estimate luminosities, and good agreement with the input σ − L relation when redshift is used as the distance indicator. This provides further evidence that the true σ − L relation of ENEAR galaxies is indeed very similar to that of SDSS early-types. Our results suggest that local σ − L relations which are based on Fundamental Plane distances should also be re-evaluated. Our findings also have important implications for black hole demographics; the best direct estimates of the masses of supermassive black holes come from local galaxies, so estimates of the black hole mass function are more safely made by working with the M • − σ correlation than with M • − L. 1. INTRODUCTION The luminosities and velocity dispersions of early-type galaxies are strongly correlated: their logarithms follow an approximately linear relation (e.g. Faber & Jack-son 1976). There is a long and complicated history of what the slope of this relation is, mainly due to the fact that, if there is intrinsic scatter around this correlation , then there are at least three interesting slopes: that obtained from fitting the mean luminosity at each velocity dispersion, log L| log σ = a L|σ log σ + b L|σ , the …
A review of nanoparticle functionality and toxicity on the central nervous system

Although nanoparticles have tremendous potential for a host of applications, their adverse effects on living cells have raised serious concerns recently for their use in the healthcare and consumer sectors. As regards the central nervous system (CNS), research data on nanoparticle interaction with neurons has provided evidence of both negative and positive effects. Maximal application dosage of nanoparticles in materials to provide applications such as antibacterial and antiviral functions is approximately 0.1–1.0 wt%. This concentration can be converted into a liquid phase release rate (leaching rate) depending upon the host or base materials used. For example, nanoparticulate silver (Ag) or copper oxide (CuO)-filled epoxy resin demonstrates much reduced release of the metal ions (Ag+ or Cu2+) into their surrounding environment unless they are mechanically removed or aggravated. Subsequent to leaching effects and entry into living systems, nanoparticles can also cross through many other barriers, such as skin and the blood–brain barrier (BBB), and may also reach bodily organs. In such cases, their concentration or dosage in body fluids is considered to be well below the maximum drug toxicity test limit (10−5 g ml−1) as determined in artificial cerebrospinal solution. As this is a rapidly evolving area and the use of such materials will continue to mature, so will their exposure to members of society. Hence, neurologists have equal interests in nanoparticle effects (positive functionality and negative toxicity) on human neuronal cells within the CNS, where the current research in this field will be highlighted and reviewed.
A Dynamic Community Creation Mechanism in Opportunistic Mobile Social Networks

Web-based social networking services enable like-minded people to collaborate and socialize with each other. With rich sensing and communication capabilities, mobile phones provide new possibilities for enhancing face-to-face social interaction among people who are both socially and physically close to each other. Research challenges arise as how to exploit the characteristics of people's mobility patterns and form a social community with a specific goal in the mobile environment. In this paper, we present SOCKER - a dynamic community creation mechanism based on social-aware broker selection strategies. SOCKER gradually forms a mobile social community by dynamically selecting a broker during each opportunistic encounter, and the selected broker disseminates community creation requests to the encountered users for match-making. Based on real human mobility traces, extensive evaluations are conducted showing that SOCKER achieves high community completion ratio as well as high user social satisfaction, while incurring a small overhead.
Enriching Information Retrieval with Reading Level Prediction

The ability of a user to understand a document would seem to be an critical aspect of that document’s relevance, and yet a document’s reading difficulty is a factor that has typically been ignored in information retrieval systems. In this position paper we advocate for incorporating estimates of reading proficiency of users, and reading difficulty of documents, into retrieval models, representations for learning algorithms, and large-scale analyses of information retrieval systems and users, particularly for Web search. We describe key research problems such as estimating user proficiency, estimating document difficulty, and re-ranking, and summarize some potential future extensions that could exploit this new type of meta-data.
Multiple-step martensitic transformations in Ni-rich NiTi alloys--an in-situ transmission electron microscopy investigation

Multiple-step martensitic transformations in Ni-rich NiTi shape memory alloys have so far been rationalized on the basis of dislocation stress fields, coherency stress fields around Ni 4 Ti 3 precipitates and evolving Ni concentrations between precipitates during ageing. The primary objective of the present paper is to show that such transformations can also occur owing to heterogeneous microstructures that form during ageing of solution annealed defect-free materials. These microstructures are characterized by Ni 4 Ti 3 grain-boundary precipitation and by precipitate-free grain interiors. Two microstructures which give rise to two and three distinct differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) peaks on cooling from the B2 regime are subjected to in-situ cooling and heating cycles in the transmission electron microscope. Martensitic transformations are directly studied and the observations provide a new explanation for multiple-step martensitic transformations in Ni-rich NiTi alloys. Most importantly the results of the present study allow us to understand why DSC chart features on cooling from the B2 regime change during ageing, where they lose their one-step character (after solution annealing at 1123 K for 900 s) and evolve from two-step (after ageing at 773 K for 3.6 ks) to three-step (after ageing at 773 for 36 ks K) transformations.
Evaluation of mailed pediatric buccal cytobrushes for use in a case-control study of birth defects.

BACKGROUND Buccal cell collection is a convenient DNA collection method; however, little attention has been given to the quality of DNA obtained from pediatric populations. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of a modified cytobrush collection method on the yield and quality of infant buccal DNA collected as part of a population-based case-control study of birth defects. METHODS Cytobrushes were collected from infants, mothers, and fathers using a standard collection method in 1997 to 2003 and a modified protocol that allows air-drying of the cytobrushes after collection from 2003 to the present. Yield and quality of DNA from 1057 cytobrushes was assessed by quantitative PCR and short tandem repeat (STR) genotyping, respectively. RESULTS Air-dried cytobrushes from infants had higher median DNA yields (1300 ng) and STR completion rates (99.5%) than standard collection method cytobrushes (60 ng and 59.5%, respectively). A subset of DNA aliquots was genotyped for six single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Aliquots from both collection methods that passed the quality protocol (DNA concentration >1 ng/μl, and successful amplification of ≥1 STR) had high genotype completion rates (99-100%). The median DNA yield following whole genome amplification was more than twofold higher for air-dried than standard collection specimens (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION Yield and quality of buccal DNA collected from infants are improved by using a method that incorporates air-drying; however, DNA collected by both methods is suitable for genotyping if stringent quality control procedures are instituted. These findings may be helpful for future epidemiologic studies of birth defects and other adverse pediatric outcomes.
The influence of propagation path on elastic waves as measured by acoustic emission parameters

Apart from the quantitative parameters of acoustic emission testing, such as the total activity or the location of the sources, much more information can be exploited by qualitative characteristics of the signals. The shape of the waveform strongly depends on the source, supplying information on the type of cracks. Shear cracks which normally follow tensile during fracture, emit signals with longer rise time as well as lower average frequency. However, due to the inherent inhomogeneity of the media, which is enhanced by the nucleation of cracks, each pulse suffers strong dispersion which results in serious alteration of the waveform shape. Therefore, classification of cracks based on acoustic emission parameters would be probably misleading in case the separation distance of the sensors is long or the material contains many cracks. In the present study, numerical simulations were conducted in order to examine the influence of distance on the shape distortion of an excited wave inside concrete. Results are compared with actual experiments on steel fiber reinforced concrete, showing that the distance between the source crack and the acquisition point should not exceed a threshold value in order to lead to reliable crack classification.
Teaching Robots Parametrized Executable Plans Through Spoken Interaction

While operating in domestic environments, robots will necessarily face difficulties not envisioned by their developers at programming time. Moreover, the tasks to be performed by a robot will often have to be specialized and/or adapted to the needs of specific users and specific environments. Hence, learning how to operate by interacting with the user seems a key enabling feature to support the introduction of robots in everyday environments. In this paper we contribute a novel approach for learning, through the interaction with the user, task descriptions that are defined as a combination of primitive actions. The proposed approach makes a significant step forward by making task descriptions parametric with respect to domain specific semantic categories. Moreover, by mapping the task representation into a task representation language, we are able to express complex execution paradigms and to revise the learned tasks in a high-level fashion. The approach is evaluated in multiple practical applications with a service robot.
Split-band perceptual harmonic cepstral coefficients as acoustic features for speech recognition

This paper presents a significant modification of our previously proposed speech recognizer’s front-end based on perceptual harmonic cepstral coefficients. The spectrum is split into two frequency bands, which correspond to the harmonic and non-harmonic components. A weighting function, which depends both on the voiced/unvoiced/ transitional classification and on the prominence of harmonic structures, is applied to the harmonic band, and ensures accurate representation of the voiced and transitional speech spectral envelope. Conventional smoothed spectrum is used in the non-harmonic band. The mixed spectrum undergoes mel-scaled band-pass filtering, and the log-energy of the filters’ output is discrete cosine transformed to produce cepstral coefficients. Experiments with Mandarin digit and E-set databases show significant recognition gains over plain perceptual harmonic cepstral coefficients and considerable gains over standard techniques.
Effects of intravenous administration of neurokinin receptor subtype-selective agonists on gonadotropin-releasing hormone pulse generator activity and luteinizing hormone secretion in goats

Recent evidence suggests that neurokinin B (NKB), a member of the neurokinin (tachykinin) peptide family, plays a pivotal role in gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) pulse generation. Three types of neurokinin receptors (NKRs), NK1R, NK2R and NK3R, are found in the brain. Although NKB preferentially binds to NK3R, other NKRs are possibly also involved in NKB action. The present study examined the effects of intravenous administration of the NKR subtype-selective agonists GR73632 (NK1R), GR64349 (NK2R), and senktide (NK3R) on GnRH pulse generator activity and luteinizing hormone (LH) secretion. Multiple-unit activity (MUA) was monitored in ovariectomized goats (n = 5) implanted with recording electrodes. Characteristic increases in MUA (MUA volleys) were considered GnRH pulse generator activity. Although three NKR agonists dose-dependently induced an MUA volley and an accompanying increase in LH secretion, the efficacy in inducing the volley markedly differed. As little as 10 nmol of senktide induced an MUA volley in all goats, whereas a dose of 1000 nmol was only effective for the NK1R and NK2R agonists in two and four goats, respectively. When the treatment failed to evoke an MUA volley, no apparent change was observed in the MUA or LH secretion. Similar effects of the NK2R and NK3R agonists were observed in the presence of estradiol. The results demonstrated that NK3R plays a predominant role in GnRH pulse generation and suggested that the contributions of NK1R and NK2R to this mechanism may be few, if any, in goats.
Whitepaper on the DAE δ ALUS Program

This whitepaper describes the status of the DAEδALUS program for development of high power cyclotrons as of the time of the final meeting of the Division of Particles and Fields 2013 Community Study (“Snowmass”). We report several new results, including a measurement capability between ∼4 and 12 degrees on the CP violating parameter in the neutrino sector. Past results, including the capability of the IsoDAR high ∆m2 ν̄e disappearance search, are reviewed. A discussion of the R&D successes, including construction of a beamline teststand, and future plans are provided. This text incorporates short whitepapers written for subgroups in the Intensity Frontier and Frontier Capabilities Working Groups that are available on the Snowmass website. ar X iv :1 30 7. 29 49 v1 [ ph ys ic s. ac cph ] 1 1 Ju l 2 01 3
Finite element analysis of the cylindrical shells subjected to ER damping treatment

The free vibration problems of sandwich cylindrical shells with an electrorheological (ER) layer and a constraining layer are considered. The vibration and damping characteristics of the sandwich cylindrical shell system are studied by the discrete finite element method. The effects of the thickness of the ER layer, constraining layer and the applied electrical fields on the dynamic characteristics of the sandwich system are also investigated in this paper. The rheological properties of the ER material can be changed by applying various electrical fields and the properties of the ER material are described by complex quantities. The natural frequencies and modal loss factor of the sandwich cylindrical shells are calculated for many design parameters. The ER core layer is found to have significant effects on the damping behavior of the sandwich cylindrical shells.
Coding for reliable on-chip buses: a class of fundamental bounds and practical codes

A reliable high-speed bus employing low-swing signaling can be designed by encoding the bus to prevent crosstalk and provide error correction. Coding for on-chip buses requires additional bus wires and codec circuits. In this paper, fundamental bounds on the number of wires required to provide joint crosstalk avoidance and error correction using memoryless codes are presented. The authors propose a code construction that results in practical codec circuits with the number of wires being within 35% of the fundamental bounds. When applied to a 10-mm 32-bit bus in a 0.13-μm CMOS technology with low-swing signaling, one of the proposed codes provides 2.14× speedup and 27.5% energy savings at the cost of 2.1× area overhead, but without any loss in reliability.
A Comparison of Theoretical Expressions and Experimental Data for EM Penetration through Small Apertures

This work presents a summary of experimental data collected to check the validity of theoretical expressions for EM leakage through electrically small apertures. In particular, expressions for normalized polarizabilities of apertures loaded with thin conducting films or wire meshes are compared with experimental data. Experimental methods for (and the associated problems of) separately obtaining both the magnetic and electric polarizabilities are discussed. Also considered are the relative merits of wire mesh and thin conducting films as treatments for reducing aperture leakage.