Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Synergistic treatment of osteosarcoma with biomimetic nanoparticles transporting doxorubicin and siRNA

Introduction Osteosarcoma tumors are the most common malignant bone tumors in children and adolescents. Their treatment usually requires surgical removal of all detectable cancerous tissue and multidrug chemotherapy; however, the prognosis for patients with unresectable or recurrent osteosarcoma is unfavorable. To make chemotherapy safer and more effective for osteosarcoma patients, biomimetic nanoparticles (NPs) camouflaged by mesenchymal stem cell membranes (MSCMs) were synthesized to induce osteosarcoma cell apoptosis by co-delivering the anticancer drug doxorubicin hydrochloride(DOX) and a small interfering RNA (siRNA). Importantly, these NPs have high biocompatibility and tumor-homing ability. This study aimed to improve the efficacy of osteosarcoma therapy by using the synergistic combination of DOX and an siRNA targeting the apoptosis suppressor gene survivin. Methods Biomimetic NPs (DOX/siSUR-PLGA@MSCM NPs) were synthesized by coloading DOX and survivin siRNA (siSUR) into poly (lactide-co-glycolide acid) (PLGA) via a double-emulsion solvent evaporation method. The NPs were camouflaged by MSCMs to deliver both DOX and survivin-targeting siRNA and characterized and evaluated in terms of cellular uptake, in vitro release, in vitro and in vivo antitumor effects, and biosafety. Results DOX/siSUR-PLGA@MSCM NPs had good tumor-homing ability due to the MSCMs modification. The drug-laden biomimetic NPs had good antitumor effects in homozygous MG63 tumor-bearing mice due to the synergistic effect of the drug combination. Conclusion DOX/siSUR-PLGA@MSCM NPs can show improved therapeutic effects in osteosarcoma patients due to the combination of a chemotherapeutic drug and gene therapy based on their good tumor targeting and biosafety.
How can we fully realize the potential of mathematical and biological model systems to re-integrate biology?

Both mathematical models and biological model systems stand as tractable representatives of complex biological systems or behaviors. They facilitate research and provide insights, and they can describe general rules; in fact, models that represent biological processes or formalize general hypotheses are essential to any broad understanding. But at the same time, models either mathematical or biological do not represent all the detail of the natural system (although the degree of abstraction varies) and thus may ultimately be incorrect representations. A key challenge is that this is not just ‘noise’: models can be incorrect in their qualitative, broad implications if those details matter (e.g. Fussman & Blasius 2005). Our paper discusses this tension, and how we can improve our inferences from both mathematical models and biological model systems (e.g. organisms like C. elegans, Drosophila, or Arabadopsis in controlled environments; or even purified proteins in buffers, lipid bilayer membrane models, etc.; to some degree, most lab experiments can be seen as abstracted versions of the natural world). We advocate for further efforts dedicated to model development, improvement, and acceptance by the scientific community, all of which may necessitate a more explicit discussion of the purpose and power of models.
ASSESSING LEAN CONSTRUCTION CONFORMANCE AMONG BUILDING CONTRACTORS IN NAIROBI, KENYA

Lean Construction (LC) is a way to design production systems to minimize waste of materials, time, and effort in order to generate the maximum possible amount of value. In countries where LC has been implemented, studies show that this concept reduce supply chain losses, reduce construction costs and shorten the project delivery schedule. Worldwide, several construction industries in emerging and developed economies have implemented LC and the results have been positive. Attempts have been made towards implementation of LC in Kenya through recommendations from previous studies. However, the implementation of LC by the Kenyan construction firms remains quite limited.This study presents the results of a pilot study carried out to assess the Lean Construction Conformance levels among building contractors in Kenya. Seventeen (17)NCA1 and NCA2 building contractors within Nairobi County were selected to participate in the pilot study. Data was collected through structured questionnaires. A quantitative approach to data analysis was employed using SPSS computer software to generate descriptive statistics. The average lean conformance level of NCA1 and NCA2 building contractors was found to be 85.6% indicating high readiness levels of implementing LC. In addition, there was no significant differences in the average lean conformance levels between the two groups of contractors. Since this was a pilot study, similar full scale studies should be conducted with a larger and more evenly distributed data set for diverse comparison and analysis of the lean conformance values and characteristics.
Equivalent of distribution network with distributed photovoltaics for electromechanical transient study based on user-defined modeling

As more and more distributed photovoltaics (PVs) are installed in distribution networks, the dynamic characteristics of PVs affect the operation of the bulk power system. Accurate simulation of PV characteristics is essential for the needs of power system transient security and stability analysis. However, because of the large number of distributed PVs, detailed modeling of each PV significantly increases the electromechanical transient simulation time. The equivalent study of distribution networks with distributed PVs is needed to improve simulation efficiency. However, existing equivalent methods of PVs mainly focus on centralized PVs but are unsuitable for distributed PVs with significantly different dynamic characteristics. To improve simulation efficiency, this paper proposes an equivalent method of the distribution network with distributed PVs for electromechanical transient study based on user-defined (UD) modeling. Firstly, the equivalent structure of the distribution network is established. The static equivalent of the transmission lines and the dynamic equivalent model of loads are carried out. Then, a UD model based on PSASP is established for the dynamic equivalent of the distributed PVs. Compared with the current PV models in simulation software, the UD model has multiple sets of parameters for the equivalent of distributed PVs with different dynamic characteristics. Finally, the particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm is used to obtain the parameters of the equivalent PV. The effectiveness of the proposed method is verified under an example of a distribution network with PVs in PSASP.
Localization Techniques in Wireless Sensor Networks

In these years, there has been a growing interest in the(WSN) wireless sensor networks for a number of applications name as the real time positioning and localization. Localization in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) is the capacity of deciding the positions of sensor hubs, with an adequate exactness, based on known places of a several anchor nodes.One of the challenges in wireless sensor networks is to determine the location of sensor nodes based on the known location of other nodes.Different localization methods are there in wireless sensor networks (WSN) and consequent localization algorithms.All localization methods needs thatonly little nodesshould have GPS hardware which know their positions without communicating with other nodes, Irrespective of requiring each node to have GPS installed.Different approaches based on artificial intelligence are applied to solve common issues in WSN and improve network performance.This paper gives a survey on machine learning methods for localization in WSNs.
Foreign Aid and Aid Policy effectiveness on Economic Growth of Ghana. Obu-Cann, Ernest and Fosu, Gabriel Obed and Bondzie,

The concept of foreign aid became a fundamental component of international affairs and an essential instrument to rebuild the world after the World War II. Many developing countries including Ghana depend on it in order to support their budget or finance economic projects and programmes in their countries. The study examines the impact of foreign aid inflow on economic growth for the Ghanaian economy for the period 1975 to 2010 by adopting the Burnside and Dollars model. We indicated that foreign aid has a positive but insignificant effect on economic growth of Ghana. The study concludes by examining and recommending important policy issues that must be given thorough attention in order to achieve significant impact of aid on Ghana’s economic growth. KeywordsEconomic growth, Foreign Aid, Foreign Direct Investment, Human Capital I.INTRODUCTION The eradication of abject poverty and reduction of income inequality in the world has been a topical issue for quite some time now. This was evident when leaders all around the world gathered in New York, 2000 to agree on concrete strategies and actions to meet human needs and basic rights. This resulted in the Millennium declaration in 2000. The declaration increased the contribution commitment of development aid donors that was reduced in the early 90s due to financial hardship [1]. Due to the ‘perceived’ role aid plays in achieving the Millennium Development Goal (MDGs) of eradicating extreme poverty by 2015, the impact of aid on economic growth has received great debate among economic researchers. According to OECD (2009), in 2008 alone, the total net bilateral official development assistance (ODA) Development Assistant Committee (DAC) donated to Africa was estimated at US$26billion in real terms. Again, it is perceived that Africa, has received by far the largest proportion of foreign aid in the world (estimated at about 600 billion dollars) on a per capita basis and yet it is still classified as the poorest continent in the world [2]. Due to the economic and political stability of Ghana, and the historic and geopolitical considerations that influenced aid flows, many developed countries, donors and NGO’s have used the country as a test ground for their programmes for other African countries. The increasing inflow of development aid into the country has created dependency of the country’s budget on aid inflows. About 50% of Ghana’s budget depends on aid from donors and NGOs [3]. Again, Amoako-Tuffour [4], finds evidence to suggest that there is high dependency of public investment and imports on foreign aid, as 52% of total net aid in Ghana was invested in physical capital formation only in the year 2000.
Numerical modelling of the biophysical feedbacks of Salicornia at the constructed Marconi salt marsh

Salt marshes are valuable intertidal ecosystems because they increase flood safety and ecological value of the coastal area simultaneously. Recently, worldwide efforts have been made to restore and create these salt marshes. One of the recently constructed marshes is the Marconi salt marsh, which was constructed in the Ems-Dollard estuary at the end of 2018. The Marconi marsh is used to study the effects of different sediment compositions and sowing of seeds on salt marsh establishment and development. The sowing of Salicornia (glasswort) at the Marconi marsh gives an interesting opportunity to gain more knowledge on the establishment and development in a salt marsh of an important pioneer species. By using the Marconi project as a case study, this thesis aims to determine the impact of hydrodynamics and morphodynamics on the development of the pioneer vegetation Salicornia Europaea at a (constructed) salt marsh by using a numerical modelling approach.
Spatial Distribution of Rainfall and Reference Evapotranspiration in Southeast Nigeria

Spatial trends of rainfall and reference evapotranspiration (ET o ) are crucial for sustainable water resources management. Rainfall and ET o trends were evaluated and estimated using FAO Penman-Monteith model and their spatial distributions were mapped across Southeast Nigeria. Two spatial interpolation techniques, Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW) and Kriging in ArcGIS were employed for monthly, annual and seasonal rainfall and ET o . Results showed that rainfall increased gradually from North to South while ET o increased from South to North of the study area. ET o was found to be higher during dry seasons as the average rise in temperature within the period of study stood at 1.1%. There was a positive correlation of the predicted results obtained by the IDW and kriging methods with measured rainfall and ET o data, evaluated at R = 0.87(rainfall) and R = 0.83 (ET o ) for IDW method, and R = 0.92 (rainfall) and R = 0.50 (ET o ) for kriging method. This study provides background information on rainfall, ET o and climatic conditions for climate change studies, efficient crop water, and environmental management.
PART OF A SPECIAL ISSUE ON BIOBASED VALUE CHAINS FOR A GROWING BIOECONOMY

Genetic improvement through breeding is one of the key approaches to increasing biomass supply. This paper documents the breeding progress to date for four perennial biomass crops (PBCs) that have high output-input energy ratios: namely Panicum virgatum (switchgrass), species of the genera Miscanthus (miscanthus), Salix (willow) and Populus (poplar). For each crop, we report on the size of A cc ep te d A rt ic le This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. germplasm collections, the efforts to date to phenotype and genotype the diversity available for breeding, and on the scale of breeding work as indicated by number of attempted deliberate crosses. We also report on the development of faster and more precise breeding using molecular breeding techniques. Poplar is the model tree for genetic studies and is furthest ahead in terms of biological knowledge and genetic resources. Linkage maps, transgenesis, and genome editing methods are now being used in commercially focused poplar breeding. These are in development in switchgrass, miscanthus and willow generating large genetic and phenotypic datasets requiring concomitant efforts in informatics to create summaries that can be accessed and used by practical breeders. Cultivars of switchgrass and miscanthus can be seed-based synthetic populations, semihybrids or clones. Willow and poplar cultivars are commercially deployed as clones. At local and regional level, the most advanced cultivars in each crop are at technology readiness levels which could be scaled to planting rates of thousands of hectares per year in about 5 years with existing commercial developers. Investment in further development of better cultivars is subject to current market failure and the long breeding cycles. We conclude that sustained public investment in breeding plays a key role in delivering future mass-scale deployment of PBCs.
Assessment of the Extended Theory of Planned Behavior for Nicotine Dependence Prediction: An Application of Path Analysis

Background: Given the importance of water-pipe smoking cessation in health improvement, further studies are required to identify the predictors of this behavior. Objectives: This study aimed to examine both one-way direct and indirect effects of the constructs of the extended theory of planned behavior (TPB) on nicotine dependence among women residing in Bushehr, situated in Southwest of Iran. Methods: This cross sectional study was performed in Bushehr province in Southwest of Iran. In this study, 430 women were selected through multistage, stratified, cluster, random sampling and were evaluated using a self-administered questionnaire. Path analysis was applied to estimate the direct and indirect effects of attitude, perceived norms, and personal agency on nicotine dependence. Results: The results demonstrated that extended TPB is a predictor of nicotine dependence (R2, 34%) and intention to quit water-pipe smoking (R2, 40%). According to the results, the modified model was a good fit for the data (RMSEA, 0.05; NFI, 0.97; AGFI, 0.91). Self-efficacy (factor loading, -0.30) and perceived behavioral control (factor loading, -0.17) both directly and indirectly affected nicotine dependence through intention. However, in this study, subjective norms did not predict nicotine dependence. Conclusions: The finding showed that skill-based training should be implemented in interventional programs to increase self-efficacy, alongside policies to constrain access to water-pipe smoking. Therefore, social and cognitive interventions can be effective only in the presence of political changes.
Covid-19: Researchers launch app to track spread of symptoms in the UK

Nearly 700 000 people signed up in the first 24 hours of the launch of an app to help track the spread of coronavirus across the UK in real time and collect information on the range of self-reported symptoms and the characteristics of those most at risk. The Covid Symptom Tracker app (covid.joinzoe.com) enables users to make a daily report of any symptoms. It is available free of charge to members of the public in the UK. The app has also been given to 5000 twins and their families recruited from the ongoing TwinsUK cohort study.1 “The aim of the app is to help slow the outbreak” by understanding what measures work, said the researchers from King’s College London and Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospitals in partnership with ZOE, a spin-off health data science company from King’s. “It will …
The evolutionary dynamics and fitness landscape of clonal hematopoiesis

Evolutionary dynamics in hematopoiesis Cells accumulate mutations as we age, and these mutations can be a source of diseases such as cancer. How cells containing mutations evolve, are maintained, and proliferate within the body has not been well characterized. Using a quantitative framework, Watson et al. applied population genetic theory to estimate mutation accumulation in cells in blood from sequencing data derived from nearly 50,000 healthy individuals (see the Perspective by Curtis). By evaluating how mutations differ between blood cell populations, a phenomenon known as clonal hematopoiesis, the researchers could observe how recurrent mutations can drive certain clonal lineages to high frequencies within an individual. The risk of specific mutations, some of which are associated with leukemias, rising to high frequencies may therefore be a function of cellular selection and the age at which the mutation originated. Science, this issue p. 1449; see also p. 1426 Blood sequencing data from ~50,000 individuals reveals how mutation, genetic drift, and fitness differences shape the diversity of healthy blood. Somatic mutations acquired in healthy tissues as we age are major determinants of cancer risk. Whether variants confer a fitness advantage or rise to detectable frequencies by chance remains largely unknown. Blood sequencing data from ~50,000 individuals reveal how mutation, genetic drift, and fitness shape the genetic diversity of healthy blood (clonal hematopoiesis). We show that positive selection, not drift, is the major force shaping clonal hematopoiesis, provide bounds on the number of hematopoietic stem cells, and quantify the fitness advantages of key pathogenic variants, at single-nucleotide resolution, as well as the distribution of fitness effects (fitness landscape) within commonly mutated driver genes. These data are consistent with clonal hematopoiesis being driven by a continuing risk of mutations and clonal expansions that become increasingly detectable with age.
The dark matter interpretation of the 3.5-keV line is inconsistent with blank-sky observations

X-ray data constrain dark matter decay Dark matter may consist of previously unknown forms of subatomic particles. An unidentified astronomical x-ray emission line has been interpreted as being caused by the decay of a dark matter particle. If this is correct, then dark matter in the halo of the Milky Way Galaxy should produce a faint emission line across the whole sky. Dessert et al. tested this hypothesis using observations by the XMM-Newton (X-ray Multi-Mirror Mission) space telescope. Analyzing blank-sky regions with a total exposure time of about a year, they found no evidence for the predicted line and set upper limits on the decay rate that rule out the previously proposed dark matter interpretation. Science, this issue p. 1465 X-ray observations of the Milky Way’s halo rule out proposed models of dark matter decay. Observations of nearby galaxies and galaxy clusters have reported an unexpected x-ray emission line around 3.5 kilo–electron volts (keV). Proposals to explain this line include decaying dark matter—in particular, that the decay of sterile neutrinos with a mass around 7 keV could match the available data. If this interpretation is correct, the 3.5-keV line should also be emitted by dark matter in the halo of the Milky Way. We used more than 30 megaseconds of XMM-Newton (X-ray Multi-Mirror Mission) blank-sky observations to test this hypothesis, finding no evidence of the 3.5-keV line emission from the Milky Way halo. We set an upper limit on the decay rate of dark matter in this mass range, which is inconsistent with the possibility that the 3.5-keV line originates from dark matter decay.
Open-path remote sensing for multi-species gas detection using a broadband optical parametric oscillator

We demonstrate path-integrated simultaneous concentration measurements of water, methane and ethane, measuring spectra across the 3.1–3.5-μm range using 0.05 cm-1 resolution Fourier-transform spectroscopy in-line with an ultrafast optical parametric oscillator and a simple, non-compliant target. Illumination spectra were extracted from a fitting procedure which simultaneously minimized the rms error between the experimental spectrum and a synthetic spectrum calculated from the envelope and a fitted mixture of PNNL or HITRAN absorbance data for water, methane and ethane. Simultaneous methane, ethane and water measurement at 30-m range were initially performed. Indoor measurements launched light from the OPO through a 20-cm-long gas cell containing a 1.5±0.15% ethane-in-air mixture. Light was reflected from a rough Al-foil target. Best-fit concentrations were determined to be 1.15% (water), 1860 ppb (methane) and 1.37 % (ethane). The methane background value is consistent with reported ambient levels. Respective water and ethane values were consistent with the ambient relative humidity. The second experiment demonstrated real-time methane emission measurement at 70-m range. A 2% methane:air mix was released for 100 seconds at a rate of 103 μgs-1 at a distance of 65 m from the OPO. The signal was recorded from a simple target of rough aluminum foil situated 70 m from the OPO, with the beam passing near the emission point. This work demonstrates our ability to extract concentration data from a single spectrum with no need for averaging, which provides a real-time and quantitative monitoring capability.
Incident angle-dependent gain correction for reflection images on ultrasound computed tomography

We are performing clinical studies on breast cancer examinations at Hokkaido University Hospital with an ultrasound computed tomography (USCT) system. Our studies have revealed that some reflection images exhibit intensity inhomogeneity because ultrasound waves, shot by a 1-D ring array transducer, go non-vertically into the object surface. This trend significantly increases the burden of interpretation. Therefore, we developed a calibration method to remove this heterogeneity based on the distribution of the incident angle of waves that are estimated from the slope of the subject surface morphologically extracted from multi-slice reflection images. Results showed that applying this correction method to clinical images enabled the image contrast and uniformity to be successfully recovered.