Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Understanding Parents' Perspectives on Mealtime Technology

For young children, family meals are an enjoyable and developmentally useful part of daily life. Although prior work has shown that ubiquitous computing solutions can enhance children's eating habits and mealtime experiences in valuable ways, other work demonstrates that many families are hesitant to use technology in this context. This paper examines adoption barriers for technology for family meals to understand with more nuance what parents value and resist in this space. Using mixed methods, we first observed family dinnertime experiences and then surveyed 122 parents with children from two to six years old. We found that parents prefer screen-based technology over voice interfaces and smart objects, because parents perceive the latter two systems to intrude on their relationship with children. The pervasiveness of smart objects embedded at meals led parents to worry about distraction and technology dependence, while the anthropomorphization of voice interfaces led parents to worry that this technology could displace parenting relationships or disrupt interpersonal interactions among family members. Parents mindlessly applied social scripts to voice interfaces, suggesting families may be more likely to apply concerns from interpersonal interactions to voice interfaces than to other technologies. We discuss the ways different form factors appeal to and worry parents, providing designers with insights about the likelihood of adoption and acceptance.
Metabolomic Profiling of the Desiccation-Tolerant Medicinal Shrub Myrothamnus flabellifolia Indicates Phenolic Variability Across Its Natural Habitat: Implications for Tea and Cosmetics Production

The leaves and twigs of the desiccation-tolerant medicinal shrub Myrothamnus flabellifolia are harvested for use in traditional and commercial teas and cosmetics due to their phenolic properties. The antioxidant and pharmacological value of this plant has been widely confirmed; however, previous studies typically based their findings on material collected from a single region. The existence of phenolic variability between plants from different geographical regions experiencing different rainfall regimes has thus not been sufficiently evaluated. Furthermore, the anthocyanins present in this plant have not been assessed. The present study thus used an untargeted liquid chromatography-tandem-mass spectrometry approach to profile phenolics in M. flabellifolia material collected from three climatically distinct (high, moderate, and low rainfall) regions representing the western, southern, and eastern extent of the species range in southern Africa. Forty-one putative phenolic compounds, primarily flavonoids, were detected, nine of which are anthocyanins. Several of these compounds are previously unknown from M. flabellifolia. Using multivariate statistics, samples from different regions could be distinguished by their phenolic profiles, supporting the existence of regional phenolic variability. This study indicates that significant phenolic variability exists across the range of M. flabellifolia, which should inform both commercial and traditional cultivation and harvesting strategies.
Surgical outcomes of 14 consecutive bilateral cleft lip patients treated with a modified version of the Millard and Manchester methods

Background Bilateral cleft lip deformity is much more difficult to correct than unilateral cleft lip deformity. The complexity of the deformity and the sensitive relationships between the arrangement of the muscles and the characteristics of the external lip necessitate a comprehensive preoperative plan for management. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the repair of bilateral cleft lip using the Byrd modification of the traditional Millard and Manchester methods. A key component of this repair technique is focused on reconstruction of the central tubercle. Methods Fourteen patients with mean age of 5.7 months presented with bilateral cleft lip deformity and were operated on using a modification of the Millard and Manchester techniques. Patients with a very wide cleft lip and protruded or rotated premaxilla were excluded from this study. We analyzed 30 normal children for a comparison with our patients in terms of anthropometric measurements. Results By the end of the follow-up period (between 9 and 19 months), all our patients had obtained a full central segment with adequate white roll in the central segment and a deep gingivolabial sulcus, and we obtained nearly normal anthropometric measurements in comparison with age-matched normal children. Conclusions We recommend this modified technique for the treatment of bilateral cleft lip deformity.
Development and Control of a Pneumatic-Actuator 3-DOF Translational Parallel Manipulator with Robot Vision †

A vision-based three degree-of-freedom translational parallel manipulator (TPM) was developed. The developed TPM has the following characteristics. First, the TPM is driven by three rodless pneumatic actuators and is designed as a horizontal structure to enlarge its horizontal working space to cover a conveyor. Then, a robot-vision system (including a webcam mounted on the TPM) collects images of objects on the conveyor and transfers them through the LabVIEW application programming interface for image processing. Since it is very difficult to achieve precise position control of the TPM due to the nonlinear couplings among the robot axes, feedback linearization is utilized to design an adaptive interval type-2 fuzzy controller with self-tuning fuzzy sliding-mode compensation (AIT2FC-STFSMC) for each rodless pneumatic actuator to attenuate nonlinearities, function approximation errors, and external disturbances. Finally, experiments proved that the vision-based three degree-of-freedom TPM was capable of accurately tracking desired trajectories and precisely executing pick-and-place movement in real time.
A Methodology for Energy Load Profile Forecasting Based on Intelligent Clustering and Smoothing Techniques

The electrical sector needs to study how energy demand changes to plan the maintenance and purchase of energy assets properly. Prediction studies for energy demand require a high level of reliability since a deviation in the forecasting demand could affect operation costs. This paper proposed a short-term forecasting energy demand methodology based on hierarchical clustering using Dynamic Time Warp as a similarity measure integrated with Artificial Neural Networks. Clustering was used to build the typical curve for each type of day, while Artificial Neural Networks handled the weather sensibility to correct a preliminary forecasting curve obtained in the clustering stage. A statistical analysis was carried out to identify those significant factors in the prediction model of energy demand. The performance of this proposed model was measured through the Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE). The experimental results show that the three-stage methodology was able to improve the MAPE, reaching values as good as 2%.
Black Soldier Fly (Hermetia Illucens) as Dietary Source for Laying Quails: Live Performance, and Egg Physico-Chemical Quality, Sensory Profile and Storage Stability

Simple Summary The search for alternative and sustainable protein sources in poultry production is an issue of major importance due to the increasing demand of products of animal origin and, consequently, of feedstuffs to feed food-producing animals. The latter is exacerbating the overexploitation of natural resources, thus increasing the environmental impact of animal farming, as well as the prices of raw materials. In this sense, insects have been indicated as one of the possible alternatives to solve this problem, thus research efforts to test the feasibility of a practical application to the poultry sector are required. Therefore, the present study tested different inclusion levels of a defatted black soldier fly larvae protein meal in the diets for laying quails as an alternative ingredient to the soybean meal and oil. Results of the present study showed that the insect meal can technically be applied to laying quails’ feed formulations, providing optimal performance and health status. Egg nutritional quality and sensory profile too did not worsen when quails were fed with the insect meal supplementation. Further research efforts should be performed to improve the healthiness of the lipid fraction of the tested insect larvae and, in turn, the lipid quality of the eggs obtained from insect-fed quails. Abstract Insects are promising candidates as alternative sustainable sources of protein for poultry species. The present research studied the effect of a dietary inclusion of a defatted black soldier fly (BSF) larvae meal as an alternative protein source in the diets of laying quails, on productive performance, egg physicochemical quality, fatty acid profile, sensory traits and storage stability. A total of 225 laying quails were divided into 3 dietary groups (5 replicates/each). A conventional soybean meal-based diet was formulated (Control group), and two other diets were formulated including either 10% (BSF10) or 15% (BSF15) defatted BSF larvae meal. Laying quails showed satisfactory productive performance throughout the trial. BSF10 and BSF15 eggs had the highest shape index (p < 0.01), shell weight and percentage (p < 0.001) and the most intense yolk color (p < 0.001). Defatted BSF larvae meal increased the eggs’ saturated fatty acid content (p < 0.001) to the detriment of the polyunsaturated fraction (p < 0.001). Overall the eggs’ sensory profile was not affected by the dietary treatment, but BSF15 eggs had a higher feed off-flavor vs Control group (p < 0.05). At day 28 of storage, oxidative stability was higher in BSF10 vs. Control eggs (p < 0.01). Defatted BSF larvae meal can be considered a possible alternative ingredient to soybean meal in laying quail diets, up to the 15% inclusion level.
W!NCE

The ability to unobtrusively and continuously monitor one's facial expressions has implications for a variety of application domains ranging from affective computing to health-care and the entertainment industry. The standard Facial Action Coding System (FACS) along with camera based methods have been shown to provide objective indicators of facial expressions; however, these approaches can also be fairly limited for mobile applications due to privacy concerns and awkward positioning of the camera. To bridge this gap, W! NCE re-purposes a commercially available Electrooculography-based eyeglass (J! NS MEME) for continuously and unobtrusively sensing of upper facial action units with high fidelity. W! NCE detects facial gestures using a two-stage processing pipeline involving motion artifact removal and facial action detection. We validate our system's applicability through extensive evaluation on data from 17 users under stationary and ambulatory settings, a pilot study for continuous pain monitoring and several performance benchmarks. Our results are very encouraging, showing that we can detect five distinct facial action units with a mean F1 score of 0.88 in stationary and 0.82 in ambulatory settings, and that we can accurately detect facial gestures that due to pain.
The Versatile Roles of the tRNA Epitranscriptome during Cellular Responses to Toxic Exposures and Environmental Stress

Living organisms respond to environmental changes and xenobiotic exposures by regulating gene expression. While heat shock, unfolded protein, and DNA damage stress responses are well-studied at the levels of the transcriptome and proteome, tRNA-mediated mechanisms are only recently emerging as important modulators of cellular stress responses. Regulation of the stress response by tRNA shows a high functional diversity, ranging from the control of tRNA maturation and translation initiation, to translational enhancement through modification-mediated codon-biased translation of mRNAs encoding stress response proteins, and translational repression by stress-induced tRNA fragments. tRNAs need to be heavily modified post-transcriptionally for full activity, and it is becoming increasingly clear that many aspects of tRNA metabolism and function are regulated through the dynamic introduction and removal of modifications. This review will discuss the many ways that nucleoside modifications confer high functional diversity to tRNAs, with a focus on tRNA modification-mediated regulation of the eukaryotic response to environmental stress and toxicant exposures. Additionally, the potential applications of tRNA modification biology in the development of early biomarkers of pathology will be highlighted.
Liquid Crystals Templating

Liquid crystal templating is a versatile technique to create novel organic and inorganic materials with nanoscale features. It exploits the self-assembled architectures of liquid crystal phases as scaffolds. This article focuses on some of the key developments in lyotropic and thermotropic liquid crystals templating. The procedures that were employed to create templated structures and the applications of these novel materials in various fields including mesoporous membranes, organic electronics, the synthesis of nanostructured materials and photonics, are described.
Cabazitaxel-Loaded Nanocarriers for Cancer Therapy with Reduced Side Effects

Jevtana® is a micellar cabazitaxel (CBZ) solution that was approved for prostate cancer in 2010, and recently, this drug has been reported for breast cancer. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the mediated delivery of CBZ via liposomes and nanoparticles (NPs) for the treatment of breast cancer and compare these with a micellar formulation that is currently in clinical use. CBZ-loaded nanocarriers were prepared with particle sizes between 70–110 nm, and with the sustained in vitro release of CBZ for more than 28 days. Cytotoxicity studies on MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cells demonstrated the toxic potential of these nanocarriers. Cellular internalization revealed that NPs and liposomes have better permeability than micelles. Cell cycle analysis and apoptosis studies on MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cells confirmed G2/M phase arrest as well as cell death due to apoptosis and necrosis, where formulations were found to be effective compared to a micellar CBZ solution. Results from pharmacokinetic studies revealed that there is an increased circulation half-life and mean residence time for CBZ liposomes and NPs in comparison with a micellar CBZ solution. CBZ liposomes and NPs showed a reduction in hemolysis and neutropenia in comparison with a micellar CBZ solution in rats.
CT-Based Radiomics Model for Predicting Brain Metastasis in Category T1 Lung Adenocarcinoma.

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study is to develop and evaluate an unenhanced CT-based radiomics model to predict brain metastasis (BM) in patients with category T1 lung adenocarcinoma. MATERIALS AND METHODS A total of 89 eligible patients with category T1 lung adenocarcinoma were enrolled and classified as patients with BM (n = 35) or patients without BM (n = 54). A total of 1160 quantitative radiomic features were extracted from unenhanced CT images of each patient. Three prediction models (the clinical model, the radiomics model, and a hybrid [clinical plus radiomics] model) were established. The ROC AUC value and 10-fold cross-validation were used to evaluate the prediction performance of the models. RESULTS In terms of predictive performance, the mean AUC value was 0.759 (95% CI, 0.643-0.867; sensitivity, 82.9%; specificity, 57.4%) for the clinical model, 0.847 (95% CI, 0.739-0.915; sensitivity, 80.0%; specificity, 81.5%) for the radiomics model, and 0.871 (95% CI, 0.767-0.933; sensitivity = 82.9%, specificity = 83.3%) for the hybrid model. The hybrid and radiomics models (p = 0.0072 and 0.0492, respectively) performed significantly better than the clinical model. No significant difference was found between the radiomics model and the hybrid model (p = 0.1022). CONCLUSION A CT-based radiomics model presented good predictive performance and great potential for predicting BM in patients with category T1 lung adenocarcinoma. As a promising adjuvant tool, it can be helpful for guiding BM screening and thus benefiting personalized surveillance for patients with lung cancer.
Artificial Neural Network for Response Inference of a Nonvolatile Resistance-Switch Array

An artificial neural network was utilized in the behavior inference of a random crossbar array (10 × 9 or 28 × 27 in size) of nonvolatile binary resistance-switches (in a high resistance state (HRS) or low resistance state (LRS)) in response to a randomly applied voltage array. The employed artificial neural network was a multilayer perceptron (MLP) with leaky rectified linear units. This MLP was trained with 500,000 or 1,000,000 examples. For each example, an input vector consisted of the distribution of resistance states (HRS or LRS) over a crossbar array plus an applied voltage array. That is, for a M × N array where voltages are applied to its M rows, the input vector was M × (N + 1) long. The calculated (correct) current array for each random crossbar array was used as data labels for supervised learning. This attempt was successful such that the correlation coefficient between inferred and correct currents reached 0.9995 for the larger crossbar array. This result highlights MLP that leverages its versatility to capture the quantitative linkage between input and output across the highly nonlinear crossbar array.
Dehydroabietic Acid Suppresses Inflammatory Response Via Suppression of Src-, Syk-, and TAK1-Mediated Pathways

Dehydroabietic acid (DAA) is a naturally occurring diterpene resin acid derived from coniferous plants such as Pinus and Picea. Various bioactive effects of DAA have been studied including antibacterial, antifungal, and anticancer activities. However, the anti-inflammatory mechanism of DAA remains unclear. We evaluated the anti-inflammatory effect of DAA in macrophage cell lines. Dehydroabietic acid clearly reduced nitric oxide (NO) production and inflammatory gene expression decreased according to RT-PCR results. Dehydroabietic acid displayed anti-inflammatory activity at the transcriptional level in results from NF-κB- or AP-1-mediated luciferase assays. To identify the DAA target protein, we investigated NF-κB and AP-1 pathways by Western blotting analysis. Dehydroabietic acid suppressed the activity of proto-oncogene tyrosine protein kinase (Src) and spleen tyrosine kinase (Syk) in the NF-κB cascade and transforming growth factor beta-activated kinase 1 (TAK1) in the AP-1 cascade. Using overexpression strategies, we confirmed that DAA targeted these kinases. Our findings demonstrate the anti-inflammatory effects and molecular mechanism of DAA. This suggests that DAA has potential as a drug or supplement to ameliorate inflammation.
Oops

The massive increase of IoT devices and their collected data raises the question of how to analyze all that data. Edge computing provides a suitable compromise, but the question remains: How much processing should be done locally vs. offloaded to other devices? The diverse application requirements and limited resources at the edge extend the challenges. We propose Oops, an optimization framework to adapt the resource management at runtime distributedly. It orchestrates the IoT devices and adapts their operation mode with respect to their constraints and the gateway’s limited shared resources. Oops reduces runtime overhead significantly while increasing user utility compared to state-of-the-art.
Synthesis and solution properties of an associative polymer with excellent salt-thickening

To enhance apparent viscosities in brine solutions with high salinities for associative water-soluble polymers, a novel macromonomer (APEO): allyl-capped octylphenoxy poly(ethylene oxide) (degree of polymerization: 14) was synthesized, and a novel tetra-polymer (PAVO) was synthesized by copolymerizing APEO, acrylamide (AM), sodium 2-acrylamido-2-methylpropane sulfonate (NaAMPS), and vinyl biphenyl (VP). The macromonomer and the PAVO polymer were characterized with Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H-NMR). The apparent viscosities of PAVO in pure water were very low over all polymer concentrations, and the critical association concentration (C*p) was 0.15 g dL−1. However, in brine solutions above 40 g L−1 NaCl or 10 g L−1 CaCl2, the intermolecular hydrophobic associations of octylphenyl groups and biphenyl groups were enhanced dramatically, the polymer chains were still comparatively extended due to the incorporation of APEO into the polymer, C*p was reduced to 0.10 g dL−1, and the apparent viscosities were significantly higher than in pure water. The PAVO brine solutions exhibited excellent salt-thickening induced by metallic univalent or bivalent cations, heat-thickening effect, shear-thickening behavior, and thixotropy. Moreover, the brine solution also performed good resistance to ageing because of the simultaneous incorporation of bulky side groups. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2012
“We have this awesome organization where it was built by women for women like us”: Supporting African American women through their pregnancies and beyond

ABSTRACT Infant mortality is a problem that disproportionately affects infants of African American women, particularly residents in underserved neighborhoods. Chronic stress due to racism has been identified as an important factor in infant mortality. This study examined a novel community-based perinatal support professional (PSP) program, Birthing Beautiful Communities (BBC), in Cleveland, Ohio. BBC provides services for pregnant African American women in underserved neighborhoods with the goal of decreasing infant mortality and low birthweight rates by addressing chronic stress. Focus groups and one individual interview were conducted with the program‘s 14 PSPs, and 25 clients were interviewed individually. Interviews were analyzed inductively using qualitative thematic analysis to identify pervasive themes. Coders identified major themes of stress, resilience, community, cultural matching, advocacy, self-care, transformation, and self-actualization. BBC PSPs and clients alike reported the program is transforming the lives of clients by helping them address stressors. Findings suggest the community-based PSP model is an important but underused intervention in addressing infant mortality.