Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
New Understanding of β-Cell Heterogeneity and In Situ Islet Function

Insulin-secreting β-cells are heterogeneous in their regulation of hormone release. While long known, recent technological advances and new markers have allowed the identification of novel subpopulations, improving our understanding of the molecular basis for heterogeneity. This includes specific subpopulations with distinct functional characteristics, developmental programs, abilities to proliferate in response to metabolic or developmental cues, and resistance to immune-mediated damage. Importantly, these subpopulations change in disease or aging, including in human disease. Although discovering new β-cell subpopulations has substantially advanced our understanding of islet biology, a point of caution is that these characteristics have often necessarily been identified in single β-cells dissociated from the islet. β-Cells in the islet show extensive communication with each other via gap junctions and with other cell types via diffusible chemical messengers. As such, how these different subpopulations contribute to in situ islet function, including during plasticity, is not well understood. We will discuss recent findings revealing functional β-cell subpopulations in the intact islet, the underlying basis for these identified subpopulations, and how these subpopulations may influence in situ islet function. Furthermore, we will discuss the outlook for emerging technologies to gain further insight into the role of subpopulations in in situ islet function.
Programming video games and simulations in science education: exploring computational thinking through code analysis

ABSTRACT Various aspects of computational thinking (CT) could be supported by educational contexts such as simulations and video-games construction. In this field study, potential differences in student motivation and learning were empirically examined through students’ code. For this purpose, we performed a teaching intervention that took place over five weeks, with two-hour sessions per week, plus two more weeks for the pretest and post-test projects. Students were taught programming concepts through a science project; one group represented the function of a basic electric circuit by creating a simulation, while the other group represented the same function by creating a video game in which a player should achieve a score in order to win. Video game construction resulted in projects with higher CT skills and more primitives, as measured through projects’ code analysis. Moreover, the video-game context seems to better motivate students for future engagement with computing activities.
Energy-Efficient Neighbor Discovery in Mobile Ad Hoc and Wireless Sensor Networks: A Survey

Due to slow advance in battery technology, power remains a bottleneck to limit wide applications of mobile ad hoc and wireless sensor networks. Among all extensive studies on minimizing power consumption, neighbor discovery is one of the fundamental components focusing on communication and access. This work surveys research literature on neighbor discovery protocols (NDPs). In general, they can be roughly classified by four underlying principles: randomness, over-half occupation, rotation-resistant intersection, and coprime cycles. The Birthday protocols act as representatives of NDPs using randomness, in which a node decides to listen, transmit, or sleep with probabilities. The original idea of over-half occupation is to be active over at least half of each period, though several refinements have been proposed to decrease its high duty cycle. Methods of rotation-resistant intersection formulate the problem of discovery using combinatorial characteristics of discrete time slots, and guarantee discovery at least once per period. Moreover, neighbor discovery can also be guaranteed within a worst-case bound, as shown by methods adopting coprime cycles. In this paper, we elaborate on these ideas and present several representative protocols, respectively. In particular, we give an integrative analysis of deterministic protocols via a generic framework. A qualitative comparison incorporating multiple criteria and a quantitative evaluation on energy efficiency are also included. Finally, we point out promising research directions towards energy-efficient neighbor discovery.
PV Aging Model Applied to Several Meteorological Conditions

Photovoltaic installations are usually guaranteed to operate for 25 to 30 years, with a warranty of 80% of initial performance remaining after this time. However, in order to determine the profitability of a project, it is important to estimate the performance of the photovoltaic modules over their lifetime, depending on their environment. In this study, a first version of an ageing model for photovoltaic systems is considered, taking into account the influence of the environmental stress factors, which are the temperature, the relative humidity, and the exposure to UV radiation. Another stress factor also needs to be taken into account: the module’s voltage potential versus ground (Potential Induced Degradation). The impact of cell cracks on the modules is also included in the model, their impact over the years depending on the temperature, but mainly to thermal cycles, due to the differences in temperature between day and night (thermal dilatation). Accelerated Damp Heat tests, thermal cycling tests, PID tests and UV tests are interpreted and used for calibrating the model, in addition to other degradation studies taken from relevant literature. A simple model is first built for the corrosion, with the temperature and humidity as stress factors, considering only the maximum power degradation. A more advanced model is then built, considering the degradation of the two-diode model parameters. A model has been built for each degradation, that is to say corrosion (temperature and humidity), AR coating and EVA discoloration (UV exposure), PID causes (temperature, humidity and voltage), and cell cracks (Thermal cycling). First simulations have been done, with weather data from the south of France (Mediterranean climate), Miami (hot and humid), and Dubai (hot and dry) showing that the power output after 30 years is still above the warranty limit of 80%.
Complete Sequence and Analysis of Plastid Genomes of Two Economically Important Red Algae: Pyropia haitanensis and Pyropia yezoensis

Background Pyropia haitanensis and P. yezoensis are two economically important marine crops that are also considered to be research models to study the physiological ecology of intertidal seaweed communities, evolutionary biology of plastids, and the origins of sexual reproduction. This plastid genome information will facilitate study of breeding, population genetics and phylogenetics. Principal Findings We have fully sequenced using next-generation sequencing the circular plastid genomes of P. hatanensis (195,597 bp) and P. yezoensis (191,975 bp), the largest of all the plastid genomes of the red lineage sequenced to date. Organization and gene contents of the two plastids were similar, with 211–213 protein-coding genes (including 29–31 unknown-function ORFs), 37 tRNA genes, and 6 ribosomal RNA genes, suggesting a largest coding capacity in the red lineage. In each genome, 14 protein genes overlapped and no interrupted genes were found, indicating a high degree of genomic condensation. Pyropia maintain an ancient gene content and conserved gene clusters in their plastid genomes, containing nearly complete repertoires of the plastid genes known in photosynthetic eukaryotes. Similarity analysis based on the whole plastid genome sequences showed the distance between P. haitanensis and P. yezoensis (0.146) was much smaller than that of Porphyra purpurea and P. haitanensis (0.250), and P. yezoensis (0.251); this supports re-grouping the two species in a resurrected genus Pyropia while maintaining P. purpurea in genus Porphyra. Phylogenetic analysis supports a sister relationship between Bangiophyceae and Florideophyceae, though precise phylogenetic relationships between multicellular red alage and chromists were not fully resolved. Conclusions These results indicate that Pyropia have compact plastid genomes. Large coding capacity and long intergenic regions contribute to the size of the largest plastid genomes reported for the red lineage. Possessing the largest coding capacity and ancient gene content yet found reveal that Pyropia are more primitive multicellular red algae.
Pharmacokinetic Study of Bioactive Flavonoids in the Traditional Japanese Medicine Keigairengyoto Exerting Antibacterial Effects against Staphylococcus aureus

Recent studies have demonstrated that flavonoid glucuronides can be deconjugated to the active form aglycone by β-glucuronidase-expressing macrophages. Keigairengyoto (KRT) is a flavonoid-rich traditional Japanese medicine reported to enhance bacterial clearance through immune modulation. Our aims are to examine the pharmacokinetics of KRT flavonoids and to identify active flavonoids contributing to the adjuvant effects of KRT. KRT was evaluated at pharmacokinetic analysis to quantify absorbed flavonoids, and cutaneous infection assay induced in mice by inoculation of Staphylococcus aureus. Preventive or therapeutic KRT administration reduced the number of bacteria in the infection site as well as macroscopic and microscopic lesion scores with efficacies similar to antibiotics. Pharmacokinetic study revealed low plasma levels of flavonoid aglycones after KRT administration; however, plasma concentrations were enhanced markedly by β-glucuronidase treatment, with baicalein the most abundant (Cmax, 1.32 µg/mL). In random screening assays, flavonoids such as bacalein, genistein, and apigenin enhanced bacteria phagocytosis by macrophages. Glucuronide bacalin was converted to aglycone baicalein by incubation with living macrophages, macrophage lysate, or skin homogenate. Taken together, the adjuvant effect of KRT may be due to some blood-absorbed flavonoids which enhance macrophage functions in host defense. Flavonoid-rich KRT may be a beneficial treatment for infectious skin inflammation.
Seeing It from Both Sides: Do Approaches to Involving Patients in Improving Their Safety Risk Damaging the Trust between Patients and Healthcare Professionals? An Interview Study

Objective Encouraging patients to be more vigilant about their care challenges the traditional dynamics of patient-healthcare professional interactions. This study aimed to explore, from the perspectives of both patients and frontline healthcare staff, the potential consequences of patient-mediated intervention as a way of pushing safety improvement through the involvement of patients. Design Qualitative study, using purposive sampling and semi-structured interviews with patients, their relatives and healthcare professionals. Emergent themes were identified using grounded theory, with data coded using NVIVO 8. Participants 16 patients, 4 relatives, (mean age (sd) 60 years (15); 12 female, 8 male) and 39 healthcare professionals, (9 pharmacists, 11 doctors, 12 nurses, 7 health care assistants). Setting Participants were sampled from general medical and surgical wards, taking acute and elective admissions, in two hospitals in north east England. Results Positive consequences were identified but some actions encouraged by current patient-mediated approaches elicited feelings of suspicion and mistrust. For example, patients felt speaking up might appear rude or disrespectful, were concerned about upsetting staff and worried that their care might be compromised. Staff, whilst apparently welcoming patient questions, appeared uncertain about patients’ motives for questioning and believed that patients who asked many questions and/or who wrote things down were preparing to complain. Behavioural implications were identified that could serve to exacerbate patient safety problems (e.g. staff avoiding contact with inquisitive patients or relatives; patients avoiding contact with unreceptive staff). Conclusions Approaches that aim to push improvement in patient safety through the involvement of patients could engender mistrust and create negative tensions in the patient-provider relationship. A more collaborative approach, that encourages patients and healthcare staff to work together, is needed. Future initiatives should aim to shift the current focus away from “checking up” on individual healthcare professionals to one that engages both parties in the common goal of enhancing safety.
Iris liveness detection based on quality related features

A new liveness detection scheme for iris based on quality related measures is presented. The novel anti-spoofing technique is tested on a database comprising over 1,600 real and fake (high quality printed images) iris samples proving to have a very high potential as an effective protection scheme against direct attacks. Furthermore, the liveness detection method presented has the added advantage over previously studied techniques of needing just one iris image (the same used for verification) to decide whether it comes from a real or fake eye.
Automatic segmentation and classification of olive fruits batches based on discrete wavelet transform and visual perceptual texture features

The quality of olive fruit and its virgin olive oil is a main concern for consumers and fruit industrial companies. The effectiveness and fast detection of olive’s skin defects is the most decisive factor in determining its quality. It is necessary to design and implement image processing tools for segmentation and correct classification of the different fresh incoming olive batches. In this paper, we propose a new automatic image segmentation algorithm, based on discrete wavelets transform. The aim of the segmentation algorithm is to discriminate between olives and the background with the challenge of irregular and dispersive lesion borders, low contrast, artifacts in the olive fruit and variety of colors within the interest region. The second part of our work proposes a scheme for olive fruit classification. The classifier first identifies the olive fruit color and then, based upon discrete wavelets transform and Tamura statistical texture features, the healthy olive fruit is distinguished from the dama.
Newton: Gravitating Towards the Physical Limits of Crossbar Acceleration

Many recent works take advantage of highly parallel analog in-situ computation in memristor crossbars to accelerate the many vector-matrix multiplication operations in deep neural networks (DNNs). However, these in-situ accelerators have two significant shortcomings: The ADCs account for a large fraction of chip power and area, and these accelerators adopt a homogeneous design in which every resource is provisioned for the worst case. By addressing both problems, the new architecture, called Newton, moves closer to achieving optimal energy per neuron for crossbar accelerators. We introduce new techniques that apply at different levels of the tile hierarchy, some leveraging heterogeneity and others relying on divide-and-conquer numeric algorithms to reduce computations and ADC pressure. Finally, we place constraints on how a workload is mapped to tiles, thus helping reduce resource-provisioning in tiles. For many convolutional-neural-network (CNN) dataflows and structures, Newton achieves a 77-percent decrease in power, 51-percent improvement in energy-efficiency, and 2.1× higher throughput/area, relative to the state-of-the-art In-Situ Analog Arithmetic in Crossbars (ISAAC) accelerator.
Optimising the Design of Adhesively Bonded Joints

The effect of varying certain geometric and material property parameter on the stiffness of bonded joints has been investigated for both single overlap joints and for coach (T peel) joints. An understanding of bonded joint behaviour under load has been gained from this parametric study and this insight has been used to fashion some design guidelines aimed at optimising these parameters to increase joint stiffness. To develop these design guidelines, laboratory tensile testing of single overlap joints and coach joints, manufactured from steel and aluminium and bonded with either an epoxide or a methacrylate adhesive, was utilised to establish joint stiffness. For single overlap joints, joint stiffness was found to be sensitive to changes in adherend thickness, adherend’s Young’s modulus, bondline thickness and overlap length but indifferent to changes in adhesive material properties, unsupported length and joint width. Coach joints, stiffness was found to be sensitive to changes in adherend material, adherend thickness, fill ratio and outer radius and adhesive material. It must be recognised that the Design of Experiments technique, used to analyse the coach joint samples may have masked some of the effects caused by changes to joint parameters.
A Laser-Activated Biocompatible Theranostic Nanoagent for Targeted Multimodal Imaging and Photothermal Therapy

Multifunctional nanoparticles have been reported for cancer detection and treatment currently. However, the accurate diagnosis and efficient treatment for tumors are still not satisfied. Here we report on the development of targeted phase change multimodal polymeric nanoparticles for the imaging and treatment of HER2-positive breast cancer. Methods: We evaluated the multimodal imaging capabilities of the prepared nanoparticles in vitro using agar-based phantoms. The targeting performance and cytotoxicity of the nanoparticles were examined in cell culture using SKBR3 (over-expressing HER2) and MDA-MB-231 (HER2 negative) cells. We then tested the magnetic resonance (MR)/ photoacoustic (PA)/ ultrasound (US)/ near-infrared fluorescence (NIRF) multimodal imaging properties and photothermal effect of the nanoparticles in vivo using a SKBR3 breast xenograft model in nude mice. Tissue histopathology and immunofluorescence were also conducted. Results: Both in vitro and in vivo systematical studies validated that the hybrid nanoparticles can be used as a superb MR/US/PA/NIRF contrast agent to simultaneously diagnose and guide tumor photothermal therapy (PTT). When irradiated by a near infrared laser, the liquid PFP vaporizes to a gas, rapidly expelling the contents and damaging surrounding tissues. The resulting micro-sized bubbles provide treatment validation through ultrasound imaging. Localization of DIR and SPIO in the tumor region facilitate photothermal therapy for targeted tumor destruction. The mice treated with HER2 targeted nanoparticles had a nearly complete response to treatment, while the controls showed continued tumor growth. Conclusion: This novel theranostic agent may provide better diagnostic imaging and therapeutic potential than current methods for treating HER2-positive breast cancer.
Closing the Racial Discipline Gap in Classrooms by Changing Teacher Practice

Abstract. Black students are issued school discipline sanctions at rates higher than members of other racial and ethnic groups, underscoring the need for professional development that addresses this gap. In 86 secondary school classrooms, a randomized controlled trial examined the effects of a 2-year teacher-coaching program, My Teaching Partner Secondary (MTP-S). Results from the second year of coaching and from the year after coaching was discontinued replicated previous findings from the first year of coaching—intervention teachers had no significant disparities in discipline referrals between Black students and their classmates, as compared with teachers in the control condition, for whom racial discipline gaps remained. Thus, MTP-S effects were replicated in the second year of coaching and maintained when coaching was withdrawn. Mediational analyses identified mechanisms for these effects; Black students had a low probability of receiving disciplinary referrals with teachers who increased skills to engage students in high-level analysis and inquiry.
Soccer game optimization for travelling salesman problem

Soccer Game Optimization is a metaheuristics algorithm that integrates competitiveness and cooperation in its procedure. Soccer Game Optimization can be used to solve continuous as well as discrete problems. In this research, the Soccer Game Optimization is implemented to solve symmetric Travelling Salesman Problem. A constructed algorithm is used to initialize solutions. The move off operator implements four type of greedy local search; the 2-opt algorithm, 3-opt algorithm, greedy reconnection and sub tour rotation on a neighbor list; which can be selected one at a time. The move forward operator is based on the distance-preserving crossover. Based on 25 benchmark problems, the performance of the proposed method is compared with the self-organizing neural network, Real-Valued Antibody Network, and Genetic Algorithm. The experiment results show that the proposed method outperforms the above-mentioned algorithms in most problems. However, its computational cost is higher than above methods.
Involvement of Bradykinin B2 Receptor in Pathological Vascularization in Oxygen-Induced Retinopathy in Mice and Rabbit Cornea

The identification of components of the kallikrein–kinin system in the vitreous from patients with microvascular retinal diseases suggests that bradykinin (BK) signaling may contribute to pathogenesis of retinal vascular complications. BK receptor 2 (B2R) signaling has been implicated in both pro-inflammatory and pro-angiogenic effects promoted by BK. Here, we investigated the role of BK/B2R signaling in the retinal neovascularization in the oxygen-induced retinopathy (OIR) model. Blockade of B2R signaling by the antagonist fasitibant delayed retinal vascularization in mouse pups, indicating that the retinal endothelium is a target of the BK/B2R system. In the rabbit cornea assay, a model of pathological neoangiogenesis, the B2 agonist kallidin induced vessel sprouting and promoted cornea opacity, a sign of edema and tissue inflammation. In agreement with these results, in the OIR model, a blockade of B2R signaling significantly reduced retinal neovascularization, as determined by the area of retinal tufts, and, in the retinal vessel, it also reduced vascular endothelial growth factor and fibroblast growth factor-2 expression. All together, these findings show that B2R blockade reduces retinal neovascularization and inhibits the expression of proangiogenic and pro-inflammatory cytokines, suggesting that targeting B2R signaling may be an effective strategy for treating ischemic retinopathy.
Unusual C2h -Symmetric trans-1-(Bis-pyrrolidine)-tetra-malonate Hexa-Adducts of C60 : The Unexpected Regio- and Stereocontrol Mediated by Malonate-Pyrrolidine Interaction.

A totally unanticipated regio- and stereoisomerically pure C2h -symmetric trans-1-(bis-pyrrolidine)-tetra-malonate hexa-adduct of C60 was obtained via a topologically controlled method, followed by a 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reaction. The structures of the products were elucidated by 1 H and 13 C NMR and by X-ray crystallography. The unexpected regio- and stereoselectivity observed, supported by theoretical calculations, was found to be a consequence of malonate-pyrrolidine interactions.