Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Stimulating Entrepreneurship in Teaching Human Computer Interaction

Software development requires understanding of users, user needs, user tasks and context in which they are operating. These skills are familiar to entrepreneurs, product managers, and marketing experts. However, our teaching experience suggests that students generally find these topics less attractive as they perceive them to be far too theoretical and thus, not as useful. During the years of teaching the Human Computer Interaction course we have noticed students' preferences for learning technology oriented methods, or what we refer to topics belonging to solution domain. The changes in the modernized HCI course introduced Product Market Fit canvas in order to bridge the gap between 'theoretical' and 'practical' part of the course.
Combining Gesture and Voice Control for Mid-Air Manipulation of CAD Models in VR Environments

Modeling 3D objects in domains like Computer Aided Design (CAD) is time-consuming and comes with a steep learning curve needed to master the design process as well as tool complexities. In order to simplify the modeling process, we designed and implemented a prototypical system that leverages the strengths of Virtual Reality (VR) hand gesture recognition in combination with the expressiveness of a voice-based interface for the task of 3D modeling. Furthermore, we use the Constructive Solid Geometry (CSG) tree representation for 3D models within the VR environment to let the user manipulate objects from the ground up, giving an intuitive understanding of how the underlying basic shapes connect. The system uses standard mid-air 3D object manipulation techniques and adds a set of voice commands to help mitigate the deficiencies of current hand gesture recognition techniques. A user study was conducted to evaluate the proposed prototype. The combination of our hybrid input paradigm shows to be a promising step towards easier to use CAD modeling.
Explainable AI for System Failures: Generating Explanations that Improve Human Assistance in Fault Recovery

With the growing capabilities of intelligent systems, the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) and robots in everyday life is increasing. However, when interacting in such complex human environments, the failure of intelligent systems, such as robots, can be inevitable, requiring recovery assistance from users. In this work, we develop automated, natural language explanations for failures encountered during an AI agents' plan execution. These explanations are developed with a focus of helping non-expert users understand different point of failures to better provide recovery assistance. Specifically, we introduce a context-based information type for explanations that can both help non-expert users understand the underlying cause of a system failure, and select proper failure recoveries. Additionally, we extend an existing sequence-to-sequence methodology to automatically generate our context-based explanations. By doing so, we are able develop a model that can generalize context-based explanations over both different failure types and failure scenarios.
Growth of the Asian Clam Corbicula fluminea (Müller, 1774) Cultured in Çine Creek, Aydin, Turkey

ABSTRACT Natural stocks of the Asian clam Corbicula fluminea (Müller, 1774) provide an important food source predominantly in Southern Asia. It is, therefore, important not only to assess the sustainability of natural stocks, but also to facilitate aquaculture efforts of this species. This study investigated the growth and survival rate of C. fluminea in bottom net culture over 13 mo in Çine Creek, Aydın, Turkey, in a temperate Mediterranean climate zone. Water temperature ranged between 10 and 24°C and food availability (measured by concentrations of chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) and suspended particulate organic matter) peaked during the autumn and spring. The final shell length (SL) and total body weight of C. fluminea (mean ± SE) were 29.02 ± 0.5 mm (initially 23.76 mm) and 12.17 ± 0.5 g (initially 6.65 g), respectively. Maximum growth rates were significantly higher during the autumn and spring months. A strong positive correlation was found between the availability of food (Chl-a) and total particulate matter concentrations and growth rates (in terms of SL and total weight). Survival was high (97%) by the end of the study and environmental conditions in Çine Creek supported good growth of clams. The species Corbicula fluminea, either as a native or introduced species, can be considered as a promising candidate species for the diversification of aquaculture in the region.
Asymmetric Private Set Intersection with Applications to Contact Tracing and Private Vertical Federated Machine Learning

We present a multi-language, cross-platform, open-source library for asymmetric private set intersection (PSI) and PSI-Cardinality (PSI-C). Our protocol combines traditional DDH-based PSI and PSI-C protocols with compression based on Bloom filters that helps reduce communication in the asymmetric setting. Currently, our library supports C++, C, Go, WebAssembly, JavaScript, Python, and Rust, and runs on both traditional hardware (x86) and browser targets. We further apply our library to two use cases: (i) a privacy-preserving contact tracing protocol that is compatible with existing approaches, but improves their privacy guarantees, and (ii) privacy-preserving machine learning on vertically partitioned data.
Alliin alters gut microbiota and gene expression of colonic epithelial tissues.

Alliin is a natural organosulfur-containing phytochemical in garlic. It is possible that alliin can regulate the gut microbiota for its strong antimicrobial activity against many pathogens. Here, we assessed whether alliin impacts the distal small intestinal bacteria, hence the cecal microbiota, thus altering the gene expression of colonic epithelial tissues (CETs). Eighty mg/kg alliin was orally administered to rats for 14 days, and the 16S rDNA from small intestinal and cecal microbiota as well as mRNA from CETs were sequenced and analyzed. The results showed that alliin consumption affected microbiota composition in both the small intestine and cecum, although there was only one specific genus, Allobaculum that was significantly altered in the rat cecum. The altered composition of microbiota indirectly impacted 174 genes in the CETs. Specifically, five genes, including RT1-Ba, RT1-Bb, Cd80, Madcam1, and Aicda, indicated this consumption related to the intestinal immune network for IgA production. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: We firstly reported alliin consumption in vivo potentially affected the intestinal immunity of healthy rats by slightly alteration of microbiota composition in small intestine and cecum. The alteration subsequently amplified, resulting in the change of the colonic epithelial expression of several genes related to the intestinal immune network for IgA production. Hence, we suggested the alliin consumption may potentially affect the immune system of healthy individuals by alteration of gut microbiota and epithelial gene expression.
Broad-scale study of the seasonal and geographic occurrence of blue and fin whales in the Southern Indian Ocean

The southern Indian Ocean is believed to be a natural territory for blue and fin whales. However, decades after commercial and illegal whaling decimated these populations, little is known about their current status, seasonal habitat or movements. Recent passive acoustic studies have described the presence of 4 acoustic populations of blue whales (Antarctic and 3 ‘pygmy’ types), but are generally limited temporally and geographically. Here, we examine up to 7 yr of continuous acoustic recordings (2010-2016) from a hydrophone network of 6 widely spaced sites in the southern Indian Ocean, looking for the presence of Antarctic and pygmy blue and fin whales. Power spectral density analyses of characteristic and distinct frequency bands of these species show seasonal and geographic differences among the different populations, and the overall patterns for each display interannual consistencies in timing and occurrence. Antarctic blue and fin whales are recorded across the hydrophone network, mainly from austral autumn to spring, with peak intensity in winter. Pygmy blue whales show spatial variation: Madagascan pygmy blue whales are mainly present in the west of the network, while the Australian call type is heard at the eastern sites. Both populations share a common seasonality, with a presence from January to June. Finally, the Sri Lankan call type is recorded only on a single site in the northeast. These results confirm the importance of the southern Indian Ocean for several populations of endangered large whales and present the first long-term assessment of fin whales in the southern Indian Ocean.
Diversification of Petroica robins across the Australo-Pacific region: first insights into the phylogenetic affinities of New Guinea’s highland robin species

ABSTRACT Complex spatial and temporal phylogenetic patterns have emerged among Pacific Island radiations and their Australian and New Guinean congeners. We explore the diversification of Australo-Pacific Petroica robins using the first phylogeny with complete species-level sampling of the genus. In doing so we provide the first assessment of the phylogenetic affinities of two poorly known species with highly restricted ranges in the highlands of New Guinea – Subalpine Robin (Petroica bivittata) and Snow Mountain Robin (P. archboldi). Our analyses suggest that Petroica underwent an initial diversification during the Plio-Pleistocene that established four major lineages restricted to New Zealand (four species), Australia (four species), New Guinea (two species) and Pacific Islands + Australia (three or four species). All lineages appear to have undergone species diversification in situ with the exception of the Pacific Islands + Australia lineage where long-distance over-water dispersal must be invoked to explain the placement of the Red-capped Robin (P. goodenovii) within the iconic Pacific robin species complex (P. multicolor + pusilla). Two scenarios fit this biogeographic pattern: (1) a single ‘upstream’ colonisation of mainland Australia from a Pacific Island ancestor resulting in P. goodenovii, or (2) two or three ‘downstream’ colonisations from a mainland Australian or New Guinean ancestor resulting in the distinct Pacific robin lineages that occur in the south-west Pacific. Overall, biogeographic patterns in Petroica suggest that long-distance dispersal and island colonisations have been rare events in this group, which contrasts with other Australo-Pacific radiations that show evidence for repeated long-distance dispersals and multiple instances of secondary sympatry on islands across the Pacific.
The Efficacy and Safety of Nicorandil for Periprocedural Myocardial Injury in Patients Undergoing PCI: A Meta-Analysis

Purpose To evaluate the efficacy and safety of nicorandil for periprocedural myocardial injury in patients undergoing PCI through meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Methods We analyzed the clinical data of patients including the incidence of periprocedural myocardial injury (PMI) and major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) from selected articles. RCTs were retrieved from medical literature databases. RR and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated to compare the endpoints. Results In total, 15 articles (16 trial comparisons) were retrieved which contained 2221 patients. In general, 1130 patients (50.9%) were randomized to the experimental group, whereas 1091 patients (49.1%) were randomized to the control group. The result showed that nicorandil significantly reduced the incidence of PMI and MACE after PCI compared to the control group. Conclusions Overall, early use of nicorandil in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) was associated with a significant reduction of PMI and MACE.
Robotic-assisted total knee arthroplasty demonstrates decreased postoperative pain and opioid usage compared to conventional total knee arthroplasty

Aims Robotic-assisted total knee arthroplasty (RA-TKA) has been introduced to provide accurate bone cuts and help achieve the target knee alignment, along with symmetric gap balancing. The purpose of this study was to determine if any early clinical benefits could be realized following TKA using robotic-assisted technology. Methods In all, 140 consecutive patients undergoing RA-TKA and 127 consecutive patients undergoing conventional TKA with minimum six-week follow-up were reviewed. Differences in visual analogue scores (VAS) for pain at rest and with activity, postoperative opiate usage, and length of stay (LOS) between the RA-TKA and conventional TKA groups were compared. Results Patients undergoing RA-TKA had lower average VAS pain scores at rest (p = 0.001) and with activity (p = 0.03) at two weeks following the index procedure. At the six-week interval, the RA-TKA group had lower VAS pain scores with rest (p = 0.03) and with activity (p = 0.02), and required 3.2 mg less morphine equivalents per day relative to the conventional group (p < 0.001). At six weeks, a significantly greater number of patients in the RA-TKA group were free of opioid use compared to the conventional TKA group; 70.7% vs 57.0% (p = 0.02). Patients in the RA-TKA group had a shorter LOS; 1.9 days versus 2.3 days (p < 0.001), and also had a greater percentage of patient discharged on postoperative day one; 41.3% vs 20.5% (p < 0.001). Conclusion Patients undergoing RA-TKA had lower pain levels at both rest and with activity, required less opioid medication, and had a shorter LOS.
Polycirridae (Annelida, Terebelliformia) from Lizard Island, Great Barrier Reef, Australia.

In a survey of the polychaetes of the Lizard Island region, sixteen new species of terebellids, plus one previously described species, were found from material collected during the two week long Lizard Island Taxonomic Workshop in 2013, along with material collected from previous projects carried out at Lizard Island. This included the CReefs Project (http://www.aims.gov.au/creefs/field-program.html), of which Lizard was one of the nodes. Those species are distributed as follows: one species of each of the following genera Eupolymnia Verrill, 1900, Lanice Malmgren, 1866; Lanicides Hessle, 1917, Lanicola Hartmann-Schroder, 1986, Pistella Hartmann-Schroder, 1996, Reteterebella Hartman, 1963, and Terebella Linnaeus, 1767; two species of Nicolea Malmgren, 1866; three species of Pista Malmgren, 1866 and four of Loimia Malmgren, 1866, together with another new species, belonging to the new genus Lizardia n. gen. Keys for identification of these genera and species are provided, together with generic diagnoses and full descriptions for all species; for each new species, comparisons with the morphologically most similar congeners are provided. A redescription of Reteterebella queenslandia Hartman, 1963 is also included.
“Bow-tie” optimal pathway discovery analysis of sepsis hospital admissions using the Hospital Episode Statistics database in England

Abstract Objective The “Bow-tie” optimal pathway discovery analysis uses large clinical event datasets to map clinical pathways and to visualize risks (improvement opportunities) before, and outcomes after, a specific clinical event. This proof-of-concept study assesses the use of NHS Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) in England as a potential clinical event dataset for this pathway discovery analysis approach. Materials and Methods A metaheuristic optimization algorithm was used to perform the “bow-tie” analysis on HES event log data for sepsis (ICD-10 A40/A41) in 2016. Analysis of hospital episodes across inpatient and outpatient departments was performed for the period 730 days before and 365 days after the index sepsis hospitalization event. Results HES data captured a sepsis event for 76 523 individuals (>13 years), relating to 580 000 coded events (across 220 sepsis and non-sepsis event classes). The “bow-tie” analysis identified several diagnoses that most frequently preceded hospitalization for sepsis, in line with the expectation that sepsis most frequently occurs in vulnerable populations. A diagnosis of pneumonia (5 290 patients) and urinary tract infections (UTIs; 2 057 patients) most often preceded the sepsis event, with recurrent UTIs acting as a potential indicative risk factor for sepsis. Discussion This proof-of-concept study demonstrates that a “bow-tie” pathway discovery analysis of the HES database can be undertaken and provides clinical insights that, with further study, could help improve the identification and management of sepsis. The algorithm can now be more widely applied to HES data to undertake targeted clinical pathway analysis across multiple healthcare conditions.
Patients with progranulin mutations overlap with the progressive dysexecutive syndrome: towards the definition of a frontoparietal dementia phenotype

1 Department of Neurology, Centro Hospitalar e Universitário de Coimbra, Coimbra 3000-045, Portugal 2 Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra, Coimbra 3000-370, Portugal 3 Center for Innovative Biomedicine and Biotechnology, University of Coimbra, Coimbra 3004-517, Portugal 4 Centro Académico Clı́nico de Coimbra, University of Coimbra, Coimbra 3004-517, Portugal 5 University of Coimbra, Center for Research in Neuropsychology and Cognitive Behavioral Intervention (CINEICC), Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Coimbra 3000-115, Portugal 6 Center for Neurodegenerative Science, Van Andel Institute, Grand Rapids, MI 49503, USA 7 Division of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine, Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, Grand Rapids, MI 49503, USA
Topographical cuescontrol the morphology and dynamics of migrating cortical interneurons

In mammalian embryos, cortical interneurons travel long distances among complex three-dimensional tissues before integrating into cortical circuits. Several molecular guiding cues involved in this migration process have been identified, but the influence of physical parameters remains poorly understood. In the present study, we have investigated in vitro the influence of the topography of the microenvironment on the migration of primary cortical interneurons released from mouse embryonic explants. We found that arrays of 10 μm-sized PDMS micro-pillars, either round or square, influenced both the morphology and the migratory behavior of interneurons. Strikingly, most interneurons exhibited a single and long leading process oriented along the diagonals of the square pillared array, whereas leading processes of interneurons migrating in-between round pillars were shorter, often branched and oriented in all available directions. Accordingly, dynamic studies revealed that growth cone divisions were twice more frequent in round than in square pillars. Both soma and leading process tips presented forward directed movements within square pillars, contrasting with the erratic trajectories and more dynamic movements observed among round pillars. In support of these observations, long interneurons migrating in square pillars displayed tight bundles of stable microtubules aligned in the direction of migration. Overall, our results show that micron-sized topography provides global spatial constraints promoting the establishment of two different morphological and migratory states. Remarkably, both states belong to the natural range of migratory behaviors of cortical interneurons, highlighting the potential importance of topographical cues in the guidance of these embryonic neurons, and more generally in brain development.
Self-Evolutionary Genetic Algorithm for Vector Field Measuring System Registration

Many situations require two vector field measuring systems to work together, such as strap down navigation technology. Therefore, identify the spatial relationship between vector field measuring systems is a prerequisite for engineering applications. This paper deduces the relationship of two vector field measuring systems and proposes fitness function. Then use the self-evolutionary genetic algorithm to align the measuring systems. The simulation results show that self-evolutionary genetic algorithm can be used effectively in the registration of two measuring systems and the noise and sampling data have direct impact on the registration accuracy.
CNNC: Convolutional Neural Networks for Co-Expression Analysis

Co-expression analysis has been extensively used in genomics studies and tools for over two decades. To date, most methods for such analysis are unsupervised and symmetric. Such methods cannot infer causality and are prone to both overfitting and false negatives resulting from differences between cells in bulk studies. Here we present a new, supervised method based on convolutional neural networks (CNNs) for co-expression analysis. We use a normalized histogram image of gene pair co-expression as the input to the CNN. Testing our method on several co-expression prediction tasks we show that it outperforms prior methods and that scRNA-Seq data leads to more accurate results when compared to bulk data. The method can be directly extended to integrate sequence and epigenetic data and to infer causal relationships. Supporting website with software and data: https://github.com/xiaoyeye/CNNC.
Modelling the Static and Dynamic Behaviour of Electrolytes: A Modified Poisson-Nernst-Planck Approach

In this thesis a method is presented for the modelling the effects of the excluded volume (ion-ion) and ion excess polarisability (ion-solvent) interactions in an electrolyte at a smooth planar electrode. The impact of these interactions is studied in terms of the equilibrium state of single and mixed electrolytes, the dynamic response of single electrolytes to a time-dependent applied potential, and their effect on the reaction rate, for both steady and time-dependent applied potentials. For reacting systems, the reaction rate is modelled using a modified form of the Frumkin-Butler-Volmer equation, in which the interactions are explicitly accounted for.At equilibrium, the model offers improvement over models which only account for the excluded volume interaction, in terms of both the predicted electrolyte structure and the electrical properties of the electrode. For example accounting for the polarisability interaction is shown to limit and then reverse the growth in the differential capacitance at the point of zero charge as the bulk concentration increases, an effect is not seen when only the excluded volume interaction is accounted for. Another example is for mixed electrolytes, in which accounting for the polarisability interaction leads to better agreement with experimental data regarding the composition of the double layer.For the response of an electrolyte to a potential step, the two interactions both lead to peaks in the time taken to reach equilibrium as a function of the potential. The effect of the domain length on the equilibration time is qualitatively discussed, together with the differences between the two interaction models. The response to a time-dependent potential is analysed through simulated electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and consideration of the capacitance dispersion effect. Between this and the potential step response data it is shown that the interactions themselves have little direct effect on the dynamic processes beyond the way in which they limit the ion concentrations in the double layer and alter the differential capacitance of the system.The investigation of the effect of the ion interactions on the reaction rate shows that both terms can either increase or decrease the rate, relative to a system with no interactions, depending on the details of the reaction and the applied potential. This is linked to the changes in the electric field within the double layer, which are caused by the interactions, and how this affects the reactant flux in that region. In terms of simulated EIS, deviations are observed relative to the equivalent circuit for the system, the reasons for which are discussed.Geraint Minton, Modelling the Static and Dynamic Behaviour of Electrolytes: A Modified Poisson-Nernst-Planck Approach, Degree of Doctor of Philosophy, The University of Manchester, September 2013