Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Microfabricated Devices for Adherent Stem Cell Culture

This thesis details the development of a system of microfabricated devices for the adherent culture of stem cells. The multipotency and self renewal of stem cells make them a potentially abundant source of valuable human cells, for both drug screening and regenerative medicine. However, processing stem cells is challenging due to the complexity of whole cell products, the number of process parameters, and the typical use of adherent culture. It is hypothesised that a microfabricated adherent culture system could facilitate process development with minimal use of resources. Furthermore, microfluidic systems offer advantages in spatial and temporal control over the microenvironment that would benefit process development. An existing prototype culture system is critically evaluated by: assessing the design, modelling fluid flow and dissolved oxygen, and successfully co-culturing human embryonic stem cells, on inactivated mouse embryonic fibroblasts, under perfused conditions. The utilisation of reversible seals facilitates the use of standard tissue-culture polystyrene culture surfaces and manual seeding techniques. The evaluation of the prototype system is used to inform improvements to the design, making it easier to use, increasing the robustness, allowing monitoring of whole culture chambers by microscopy, and improving control over mean pericellular dissolved oxygen. Modelling shows the improved culture system also achieves more uniform distribution of both pericellular dissolved oxygen and fluid velocity. The improved culture system shows similar mouse embryonic stem cell seeding behaviour to tissue culture flasks, but, with medium perfused at 300 μl. h 1, mouse embryonic stem cells reach full confluency in less than 48 h, compared with 72 hours for cells maintained statically in flasks. There is also inconclusive data suggesting that the growth rate is limited by pericellular dissolved oxygen and is, therefore, increased and made more uniform by the inclusion of a gas permeable lid system. The reliability, ease of use, comparability with traditional culture systems, and control over process parameters of the improved system should make it a useful tool for stem cell process development.
SDN Based DDos Mitigating Approach Using Traffic Entropy for IoT Network

: The Internet of Things (IoT) has been widely adopted in various domains including smart cities, healthcare, smart factories, etc. In the last few years, the fitness industry has been reshaped by the introduction of smart fitness solutions for individuals as well as fitness gyms. The IoT fitness devices collect trainee data that is being used for various decision-making. However, it will face numerous security and privacy issues towards its realization. This work focuses on IoT security, especially DoS/DDoS attacks. In this paper, we have proposed a novel blockchain-enabled protocol (BEP) that uses the notion of a self-exposing node (SEN) approach for securing fitness IoT applications. The blockchain and SDN architectures are employed to enhance IoT security by a highly preventive security monitoring, analysis and response system. The proposed approach helps in detecting the DoS/DDoS attacks on the IoT fitness system and then mitigating the attacks. The BEP is used for handling Blockchain-related activities and SEN could be a sensor or actu-ator node within the fitness IoT system. SEN provides information about the inbound and outbound traffic to the BEP which is used to analyze the DoS/DDoS attacks on the fitness IoT system. The SEN calculates the inbound and outbound traffic features’ entropies and transmits them to the Blockchain in the form of transaction blocks. The BEP picks the whole mined blocks’ transactions and transfers them to the SDN controller node. The controller node correlates the entropies data of SENs and decides about the DoS or DDoS attack. So, there are two decision points, one is SEN, and another is the controller. To evaluate the performance of our proposed system, several experiments are performed and results concerning the entropy values and attack detection rate are obtained. The proposed approach has outperformed the other two approaches concerning the attack detection rate by an increase of 11% and 18% against Approach 1 and Approach 2 respectively.
Models of sports student exchange and the role of their support systems

Establishing student exchange programs is one way for sports science faculty to support the University to be a world-class university. For several years the faculty has been hosting several batches of a sports students exchange (SSE) program that gains interest and benefits for the students and the institution; however, limited studies have been conducted to present information about the program and its support system. This research is conducted to explain and give an overview of the program as well as explore the support system of the program. Three primary data, namely a depth-interview, questionnaire, and documentation, are gathered to explore the SSE program. The participants are lectures, faculty management, and students involved in the SSE in 2018-2019. The existence of the SSE program was exceedingly influenced by the faculty participation in AUCPESS. A grant from the Dharmasiswa Scholarship that aimed to bolster the exchange of culture and build up the Faculty's International atmosphere was the first booster. However, after the funding stopped, the program ran independently with non-financial support from Rector, faculty management, partner universities, and students. Hence, funding is not a pivotal issue as long as the University and faculty management eager to support the program.
GPS tracking and population genomics suggest itinerant breeding across drastically different habitats in the Phainopepla

ABSTRACT Migratory birds generally divide the annual cycle between discrete breeding and nonbreeding ranges. Itinerant breeders, however, reproduce twice at different geographic locations, migrating between them. This unusual flexibility in movement ecology and breeding biology suggests that some species can rapidly modulate the conflicting physiological and behavioral traits required for migration and reproduction. The Phainopepla (Phainopepla nitens), a songbird of the southwestern USA, has long been suspected to breed first in desert habitats in spring, then migrate to woodland habitats to breed again in summer. However, direct evaluation of movement and gene flow among individuals breeding in different locations has previously been logistically intractable. We deployed GPS tags on free-flying Phainopeplas in southern California, all of which migrated to hypothesized woodland breeding habitats after desert breeding (an average distance of 232 km). GPS data also revealed previously unknown fall and spring stopover sites. Population genomic analyses revealed no genetic differentiation among desert and woodland breeding populations, indicating significant movement and gene flow across the region. Finally, we used random forest analyses to quantify substantial environmental differences among temporal stages. Our results provide direct evidence that individual Phainopeplas do indeed move between 2 drastically different breeding habitats in the same year, representing a rare and extreme example of life-history flexibility.
Feasibility for spinal muscles creating pure axial compressive load or follower load in the lumbar spine in 3-D postures

Previous in-vivo studies showed that compressive force acting on the spine may exceed 2600 N. However, the ligamentous lumbar spine becomes unstable when subjected to compressive loads less than 100 N. It is generally accepted that the ligamentous spine itself is unstable but can be stabilized by muscle forces (MFs) in vivo. Nevertheless, normal spinal muscle contraction patterns remain unknown. In recent in vitro studies, when the direction of the applied load was controlled along the spinal curvature so that the internal spinal load became perfect compressive follower loads (CFLs) at all lumbar levels, the ligamentous lumbar spine was found to withstand large compressive load (up to 1200 N) without buckling while maintaining its flexibility in neutral or flexed postures. The results of in-vivo animal studies also have shown that shear stress has a more detrimental effect on the rate of disc degeneration compared to compressive stress. These results suggest CFLs in the lumbar spine would be a normal spinal load whereas the transverse (or shear) load abnormal. An initial test of this postulation would be to investigate whether the spinal muscles can create perfect internal CFLs in the lumbar spine in all 3-D postures. In addition, small intrinsic muscles (SIMs) are crucial for better control of the direction of the internal spinal load along the spinal axis was also proposed. A finite element (FE) model together with an optimization model were used for this study. Both models consist of the trunk, sacrolumbar spine and 244 spinal muscles. Different from other studies, 54 SIMs were also included in the models. The FE model was validated by comparing the ROM of the spine with the literature data. Minimization of the summation of the spinal loads and moments was used as the cost function for the optimization model. The geometrical data obtained from the FE
Active Noise Control in Ventilation Systems : Practical Implementation Aspects

In many kinds of buildings, the ventilation is handled by a mechanical ventilation system. Such ventilation systems constitute a well known source of broadband noise. As awareness of the negative effects that subjection to low frequency noise can have on human well-being has increased, so too has the requirement for quieter ventilation installations. Traditionally, duct born noise is attenuated using passive resistive silencers. These passive silencers are valued for their ability to produce a high level of attenuation over a broad frequency range, however they tend to become large and bulky if designed for low frequency attenuation. The active noise control (ANC) technique is known for its ability to produce high levels of attenuation in the low frequency range even with a relatively moderate sized ANC system. On the other hand, ANC normally tends to be ineffective for higher frequencies. Accordingly, a combination of active- and passive techniques, i.e. the construction of a hybrid active/passive silencer, provides a duct silencer solution of manageable size which also covers the low frequency range. The ANC systems controller normally relies on adaptive digital signal processing. Even so, adequate levels of attenuation are not likely to be obtained if the installation of the ANC system is not designed to account for the physical factors that may degrade its performance. This thesis focuses on applying ANC in ventilation systems, with particular emphasis on analysis and installation design, for the purpose of reducing the influence of some of these degrading physical factors. The degrading factors which are of particular interest include: flow induced noise in the microphone signals, acoustic feedback between the control loudspeaker and reference microphone, and standing waves inside the ducts. With respect to installation design, focus is also placed upon industry requests on the ANC system. Taking this into consideration has led to a module based approach, in which the microphones and the loudspeaker are installed in separate modules based on standard duct parts. This thesis comprises four parts. The first describes initial investigations of potential microphone installations intended to reduce flow induced noise. The second part analyzes the influence of flow induced noise on the digital controller and presents further investigations of microphone modules. Further, results of measurements conducted in an acoustic laboratory according to an ISO-standard are presented. The attenuation produced by the ANC system was approximately 15-25 dB between 50-315 Hz even for airflow speeds up to 20 m/s. The third part of this thesis focuses on the possibility of using the passive silencer with which the ANC system is combined, to reduce acoustic feedback and standing waves. The fourth and final part investigates the possibility of using a passive silencer to reduce standing waves in the duct when the ANC system is not installed near the duct outlet.
Assessment of the economical effectiveness of applying auditing software

The purpose of the present article is to propose a methodology for assessing economic efficiency before and after the implementation of auditing software in order to facilitate the process of choosing the most suitable specialized software application in the activity of auditors. The specificity in assessing the indicator is the use of projected economic efficiency, based on the potential revenues and the potential costs of introducing auditing software. In its applicability it is necessary to make an estimation of the possible saved hours, which will be used for taking on new commitments. In the article there is presented an actual example of the proposed methodology.
Data-Based Optimal Tracking Control for Natural Gas Desulfurization System

Desulfurization control of natural gas has long been a challenging industrial issue owing to its inherent difficulty in establishing accurate mathematical model for the nonlinear and strong coupling process. In this paper, a data-based adaptive dynamic programming (ADP) algorithm is presented to solve optimal control for natural gas desulfurization. First, neural network (NN) is used to reconstruct the dynamics of the desulfurization system via the input and output production data. Then, an improved unscented Kalman filter (IUKF) aided ADP method is presented to solve optimal control problem for desulfurization system, where IUKF algorithm is developed as a new weight-updating strategy for the action network and the critic network. The IUKF aided algorithm can improve the convergence speed as well as the anti-interference ability of the ADP controller. Furthermore, the proposed IUKF-ADP algorithm is implemented using the heuristic dynamic programming (HDP) structure. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed IUKF-ADP algorithm is demonstrated through experiments of the natural gas desulfurization system.
A Proposal to Revise and Simplify the Disruption Indicator

The disruption index (DI) based on bibliographic coupling and uncoupling between a document and its references, was first proposed by Funk & Owen-Smith (2017) for citation relations among patents and then adapted for scholarly papers by Wu et al. (2019). However, Wu & Wu (2019) showed that this indicator can be inconsistent. We propose a revised disruption index (DI*) which solves these issues and makes the indicator theoretically more robust and consistent. The sometimes small, but significant improvements are elaborated in simulations and empirically. The relation between “disruption” and bibliographic coupling is further specified.
Damage characterization strategies using local vibration measurements from wired and wireless sensor networks

The goal of this dissertation is to advance the state-of-art of data-driven structural monitoring (Figure 0.1), which is a promising way to automate the maintenance process of civil structures, thus benefitting their life-cycle management in both the economy and performance aspect. The availability of affordable electronic data acquisition systems enabled continuous monitoring of structures, and effective data compression algorithms are needed for structural state characterization/damage detection from the collected signals. Ideally, the data processing algorithms would provide information for all four levels of damage detection proposed by Rytter (1994): 1) damage existence; 2) damage location; 3) damage severity; 4) remaining service life prediction. Damage detection in real-world structures is a complex problem because of the various possible forms of damage that can occur and the influences of operational/environmental variations on the observations/measurements made. The focus of this study will be the first three stages of damage detection using vibration measurements, which are commonly measured for structural health monitoring purposes. For damage existence identification time series analysis on single channel response will be used (Part I of this document), while higher-level damage detection is attempted by using multi-input-single-output subsystem modeling (Part II of this document). More detailed outlines of both subjects can be found in their respective introduction sections. The specific contributions of this study are in the following technical areas: exploring the capabilities of different SHM vibration sensors, proposing and testing new indicators/thresholds for damage identification, cross-comparing the proposed indicators/thresholds with existing ones through applications to various civil structures,
Investigation of the feasibility and development of a user-friendly platform for creating and hosting programming contests as a recruitment aid for software companies

This thesis describes the development of a platform for creating and hosting programming contests, intended to aid software companies in their, often time-consuming and expensive, recruitment processes. Conducted on behalf of a company named Software Skills, the project aimed to test the feasibility of using such a platform as a tool for attracting and getting in touch with potential new recruits, and making it user-friendly and stable enough to go into active use within the industry. The project resulted in a fully-functioning platform, with support for participating in contests using three different programming languages, with access to high-level APIs, an online coding environment with syntax highlighting, console output, and graphical visualization of program behavior. New contests may be implemented in Python, with no need for working with other languages. The thesis follows the project from its beginning to its end, describing the methodologies used, the challenges encountered, the solutions devised, and the final results.
A corpus-driven lexico-grammatical analysis of English tourism industry texts and the study of its pedagogic implications in English for Specific Purposes

This paper reports on a lexico-grammatical analysis of a corpus of English tourism industry texts using a corpus-driven approach. The corpus comprises texts of travel guides, tourist information and travelogues obtained from websites. Notwithstanding the apparent differences between tourism English and general English, little literature has explored such differences in depth or studied the English of the tourism industry from a pedagogic perspective. This paper gives an account of the key semantic fields obtained by categorising the keywords found in the above corpus. Through contextualising some of these words and word clusters in concordance lines, the paper exemplifies the collocation, semantic prosodies and colligation patterns that are specific to this corpus, and thus to tourism English. The results of this paper instantiate how the English language is institutionalised in the tourism industry context. They raise important pedagogic implications in English for Specific Purposes (ESP), specifically English for tourism purposes, and lexicography.
Using Split-Questionnaire Survey Design: An Empirical Analysis

Lengthy questionnaires have always been a problem for respondents, increasing the chances of delayed, hasty or slapdash responses. Splitting a long questionnaire into parts reduces the burden on the respondents as well as increases the chances of getting prompt and responsible responses.In this study, we have attempted to compare a new survey technique i.e. the Split-Questionnaire Survey Design, and its comparison has been done with the existing classical Full Questionnaire Survey Design, using basic statistics, confidence intervals and dispersion measures. The Split Questionnaire Design, though developed recently, has not yet been used in surveys, and the present study employed both these designs to conduct a survey for measuring public’s perception of corruption in the public sector. The Split Questionnaire Design, has emerged as efficient as the classical design. However, there are still many unexplored aspects of Split-Questionnaire Survey Design.
Dexamethasone Attenuates Hyperexcitability Provoked by Experimental Febrile Status Epilepticus

Abstract The role of neuroinflammation in the mechanisms of epilepsy development is important because inflammatory mediators provide tractable targets for intervention. Inflammation is intrinsically involved in the generation of childhood febrile seizures (FSs), and prolonged FS [febrile status epilepticus (FSE)] precedes a large proportion of adult cases of temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). As TLE is often refractory to therapy and is associated with serious cognitive and emotional problems, we investigated whether its development can be prevented using anti-inflammatory strategies. Using an immature rat model of FSE [experimental FSE (eFSE)], we administered dexamethasone (DEX), a broad anti-inflammatory agent, over 3 d following eFSE. We assessed eFSE-provoked hippocampal network hyperexcitability by quantifying the presence, frequency, and duration of hippocampal spike series, as these precede and herald the development of TLE-like epilepsy. We tested whether eFSE provoked hippocampal microgliosis, astrocytosis, and proinflammatory cytokine production in male and female rats and investigated blood–brain barrier (BBB) breaches as a potential contributor. We then evaluated whether DEX attenuated these eFSE sequelae. Spike series were not observed in control rats given vehicle or DEX, but occurred in 41.6% of eFSE-vehicle rats, associated with BBB leakage and elevated hippocampal cytokines. eFSE did not induce astrocytosis or microgliosis but provoked BBB disruption in 60% of animals. DEX significantly reduced spike series prevalence (to 7.6%) and frequency, and abrogated eFSE-induced cytokine production and BBB leakage (to 20%). These findings suggest that a short, postinsult intervention with a clinically available anti-inflammatory agent potently attenuates epilepsy-predicting hippocampal hyperexcitability, potentially by minimizing BBB disruption and related neuroinflammation.