Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cartilage Tissue Engineering: the Application of Nanomaterials and Stem Cell Technology

Replacement and reconstruction of pathological or absent cartilage within the human body has been a clinical challenge for many years. The avascular nature of cartilage tissue in all areas of the human body means it has little capacity for regeneration or repair beyond the production of functionally inferior fibrocartilage. Cartilage is injured in a number of ways; in the joint region, repetitive stress can cause irreparable damage, eventually resulting in Osteoarthritis, a debilitating disorder managed only with pain medication or joint replacement. A rise in the incidence of cancer has increased the prevalence of tracheal and nasal cancers, both frequently requiring radical resection as part of aggressive treatment regimes. Congenital disorders, such as Treacher Collins syndrome and Aperts syndrome can cause severe malformation of the ear and nose. It is evident that each of these clinical scenarios involves extensive damage to crucial skeletal cartilage and it is for these reasons that a drive for advancements in cartilage tissue engineering exists. Tissue engineering uses principles of cell biology, engineering and medicine to generate constructs that can successfully recapitulate the function of native tissues in terms of histology, mechanics and morphology. There is a need for a suitable scaffold that can provide a 3D environment for cells to proliferate and adhere. Debate still continues over the key characteristics needed for the ideal scaffold, but they are likely to differ according to the type and location of cartilage to be engineered. Should it be biodegradable/non biodegradable, natural/synthetic, and what impact do these features have on the flexibility and strength of neocartilage constructs produced? There are many scaffolds that have been extensively investigated in cartilage tissue engineering research from natural collagen and alginate, to the synthetic Polyhydroxyacids and PEG hydrogels. Nonetheless, despite advancements in scaffold design, neocartilage constructs are still mechanically inferior to their natural counterparts, and in vivo problems of poor biointegration, and deterioration in tissue quality over time limit there translation into clinical use. Nanomaterial science has introduced new methods for improving scaffold quality. Scaffolds can now be engineered on the nanoscale, using techniques such as electrospinning and 3D fibre deposition. Likewise, the incorporation of nanoparticles into polymeric material has
Coupled landscape–lake evolution in High Arctic Canada

We profiled five ice-covered lakes and two ice-covered fiords of Ellesmere Island at the northern limit of High Arctic Canada to examine their environmental characteristics, and to evaluate the long-term limnological consequences of changes in their surrounding landscape through time (landscape evolution). All of the ecosystems showed strong patterns of thermal, chemical, and biological stratification with subsurface temperature maxima from 0.75 to 12.15 °C; conductivities up to 98.1 mS cm -1 (twice that of seawater) in some bottom waters; pronounced gradients in nitrogen, phosphorus, pH, dissolved inorganic and organic carbon, manganese, iron, and oxygen; and stratified photo- synthetic communities. These ecosystems form an inferred chronosequence that reflects different steps of landscape evolution including marine embayments open to the sea, inlets blocked by thick sea ice (Disraeli Fiord, Taconite Inlet), perennially ice-capped, saline lakes isolated from the sea by isostatic uplift (Lakes A, C1, C2), and isolated lakes that lose their ice cover in summer. The latter are subject to entrainment of saline water into their upper water column by wind-induced mixing (Lake Romulus; Lake A in 2000), or complete flushing of their basins by dilute snowmelt (Lake C3 and Char Lake, which lies 650 km to the south of the Ellesmere lakes region). This chronosequence illustrates how changes in geomorphology and other landscape properties may influence the limnology of coastal, high-latitude lakes, and it provides a framework to explore the potential impacts of climate change. Resume : Cinq lacs et deux fjords recouverts de glace ont ete profiles sur l'Ile Ellesmere a la limite nord de l'Extreme- Arctique canadien afin d'examiner leurs caracteristiques environnementales et d'evaluer les consequences limnologiques a long terme des changements, dans le temps, des paysages voisins (evolution du paysage). Tous les ecosystemes montraient de forts patrons de stratification thermique, chimique et biologique avec des temperatures maximales sous la surface de 0,75 a 12,15 oC, des conductivites atteignant 98,1 mS cm -1 (deux fois celle de l'eau de mer) dans certaines
Classification of affective and social behaviors in public interaction for affective computing and social signal processing

There are numerous models for affective states classification and social behavior description. Despite proving their reliability, some of these classifications turn out to be redundant, while others — insufficient for certain practical purposes. In this paper we propose a classification describing human behavior in the course of public interaction. We relied on existing literature to adopt the current achievements to a practical task—to automatically detect various aspects of human behavior. Our goal was not to suggest a new universal model describing human behavior, but to create a quite comprehensive list of affective and social behaviors in public interaction. The final list consists of the following seventeen scales: happiness, surprise, anxiety, anger, sadness, disgust, shame, pride, contempt, admiration, self-presentation, self-disclosure, mental effort, friendliness, engagement, pleasure and self-confidence. These scales concern only behavior patterns which can be observed by outside annotator and do not include personal traits or hidden states.
Genomic Organization of Heat Shock Protein Genes of Silkworm Bombyx mori

The Hsp 20.8 and Hsp 90 cDNA sequence retrieved from NCBI database and consists of 764 bp and 2582 bp lengths respectively. The corresponding cDNA homologus sequences were BLAST searched in Bombyx mori genomic DNA database and two genomic contigs viz., BAAB01120347 and AADK01011786 showed maximum homology. In B. mori Hsp 20.8 and Hsp 90 is encoded by single gene without intron. Specific primers were used to amplify the Hsp 20.8 gene and Hsp 90 variable region from genomic DNA by using the PCR. Obtained products were 216 bp in Hsp 20.8 and 437 bp in Hsp 90. There was no variation found in the six silkworm races PCR products size of contrasting response to thermal tolerance. The comparison of the sequenced nucleotide variations through multiple sequence alignment analysis of Hsp 90 variable region products of three races not showed any differences respect to their thermotolerance and formed the clusters among the voltinism. The comparison of aminoacid sequences of B. mori Hsps with dipteran and other insect taxa revealed high percentage of identity growing with phylogenetic relatedness of species. The conserved domains of B. mori Hsps predicted, in which the Hsp 20.8 possesses α-crystallin domain and Hsp 90 holds HATPase and Hsp 90 domains.
School Leadership in Pakistan: Exploring the Headteacher’s Role

There is a good deal of consensus in the literature about the key role of leadership – especially that of the headteacher – in facilitating school improvement. Yet much of the research in this area has taken place in Western industrialised countries. This article explores the issue of headship in the context of schools in a specific developing country context, that of Pakistan. Drawing on 2 studies of the experience of headteachers in Karachi, the article identifies and explores the key variables that may contribute to a sense of personal efficacy for these heads, namely the expectations generated by the national or community culture, the powers and accountabilities generated by the school system in which they work, and their own individual personalities and histories.
Location decisions of multinational enterprises : the experiences of Poland, Bulgaria and Romania

In this paper, we present a simple theoretical framework in order to analyze the decision of a multinational firm to locate either in Poland, Bulgaria, or Romania, conditional on entering the Eastern European market. We also explore empirically whether foreign investors are driven by market seeking or efficiency seeking motives when locating in one of the three countries. The results of a conditional logit model suggest that both local demand and unit labor costs are important in driving multinational location decisions. The results also show the importance of other factors, such as agglomeration forces, labor market flexibility and the parent’s nationality. For instance, while US investors are more likely to locate in markets where the demand for their products is larger, German investors seem to be attracted by low-cost locations.
Finite-Time Convergence Adaptive Fuzzy Control for Dual-Arm Robot With Unknown Kinematics and Dynamics

Due to strongly coupled nonlinearities of the grasped dual-arm robot and the internal forces generated by grasped objects, the dual-arm robot control with uncertain kinematics and dynamics raises a challenging problem. In this paper, an adaptive fuzzy control scheme is developed for a dual-arm robot, where an approximate Jacobian matrix is applied to address the uncertain kinematic control, while a decentralized fuzzy logic controller is constructed to compensate for uncertain dynamics of the robotic arms and the manipulated object. Also, a novel finite-time convergence parameter adaptation technique is developed for the estimation of kinematic parameters and fuzzy logic weights, such that the estimation can be guaranteed to converge to small neighborhoods around their ideal values in a finite time. Moreover, a partial persistent excitation property of the Gaussian-membership-based fuzzy basis function was established to relax the conventional persistent excitation condition. This enables a designer to reuse these learned weight values in the future without relearning. Extensive simulation studies have been carried out using a dual-arm robot to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.
An Effective Approach for Lung Segmentation in CT Images

This paper describes a method for extracting lung regions by X-ray Computer Tomography. Mostly Image Processing Techniques are used in medical areas to diagnosis the diseases in the human anatomy. An effective Extraction method is needed to separate the lung region from the other parts of human body. This method mainly helps for detecting the cancer cells and other diseases in the Lung region. The following steps to be followed to extract lung portion 1) identifying and capturing the chest body portion with the background portion 2) removing background portion 3) leaving only lungs portion.
BALANCED SCORECARDS IN FINNISH COMPANIES: A RESEARCH NOTE

Abstract The balanced scorecard (BSC) seems to be the latest management fashion to sweep the organizational world. Despite its apparent popularity, we have only limited systematic, research-based evidence on BSC applications. This study aims to find out how BSCs are applied in Finland and why companies adopt them. The study comprised a series of semi-structured interviews in 17 organizations. It appears that BSCs are used basically in two different ways. The first approaches management by objectives. The second is to use BSCs merely as an information system. Moreover, our findings suggest that the idea of linking measures together based on assumed cause-and-effect relationships was not well understood by the early adopters of BSCs. In explaining the popularity of BSCs in Finland, supply-side forces seem to have an important role. These results, as well as the definition of the BSC, are discussed and ideas for further research are presented.
Morpho-Anatomical Characterization and Phylogenetic Analysis of Five Tomentella Ectomycorrhizae from Leigong Mountain , Guizhou

Mycorrhizal specimens were collected from Castanopsis fargesii, Betula luminifera, Pinus massoniana and Quercus acutissima in the Leigong Mountain Nature Reserve and five brown ectomycorrhizal morphotypes were identified from the samples. An analysis of morphological and anatomical characteristics indicated that all five morphotypes had the morphological characteristics of Tomentella ectomycorrhizae. rDNA ITS segment phylogenetic analysis indicated that these five morphotypes consisted of ectomycorrhizae formed by Tomentella fungi. Phylogenetic analysis of rDNA ITS showed that four of them were Tomentella. ellisii, T. fuscocinerea, T. bryophila and T. stuposa. The results of this study fill gaps in research on ectomycorrhizal fungi of the genus Tomentella in the Leigong Mountain Nature Reserve. © 2019 Friends Science Publishers
SHAPE AND CONSTRUCTION OF BRICK VAULTS. CRITERIA, METHODS ANDTOOLS FOR A POSSIBLE CATALOGUE

Abstract. The use of cloister vaults in the construction of noble buildings, as covering elements for square or rectangular rooms, is widespread and well-known. The geometric continuity at the intrados makes generally possible the execution all over the span of frescoes, stucco and decorations. The construction of brick vaults, from the late Middle Age, was sped up by limiting the centering to the wooden planks arches that were instrumental in the profile determination. Nowadays, the availability of several procedures, phases and tools for carrying out a survey allows to draw reliable assumptions about the construction methods and the execution time. It is mandatory to determine the properties of the binders, the shape and dimensions of the bricks, and to carry out a comparison between the geometry of the intrados surface and the evidences emerging at the extrados. The support of the laser scanner technique allows to accurately identify the surface profile and thickness. All these indications, in turn, are useful, in view of an interpretation of the structural behavior, to identify weaknesses, and to highlight contributing factors of instability (if any). The paper focuses on a well-documented case, the Magio Grasselli palace in Cremona in which the cloister vaults of two main rooms show different construction systems, although they were built almost at the same time. The thermographic recordings and laser-scanner surveys highlight the various arrangements used for the cloister vaults.
Cellular reprogramming of adult goat fibroblast: Toward pluripotency

Cellular reprogramming erases the epigenetic constraints of somatic cells genome and thus considered as key factor for success of somatic cell nuclear transfer technology. To achieve the reprogramming, different strategies are used which are mostly based on arresting the cell cycle at G0 or G1 stage. The present study was based on molecular investigation of reprogrammed cells for expression of pluripotent genes that are crucial for development of cloned embryos. The fibroblast cell lines were treated by four methods to induce cellular reprogramming viz., serum starvation, Roscovitin, aphidicolin and overconfluent. These treated cell lines were used for quantification of pluripotent gene transcripts by using real time PCR machine. The results showed that the relative expression of different pluripotent genes as Oct-4 and Nanog along with DNA methyl transferase gene (Dnmt-1) was observed in four treated cells. In case of normal cells, only Dnmt-1 gene was expressed, but pluripotent genes were not expressed at detection level. The expression of pluripotent genes in the donor cells prior to nuclear transfer have significant impact on cloning as because it facilitates the expression of that gene in the resulting embryo after nuclear transfer. The finding of this study may be extended for stem cell generation as it showed that pluripotent genes could be induced in the somatic cells without any transgenic incorporation.
Probabilistic seismic response transformation factors between SDOF and MDOF systems using artificial neural networks

An approach to obtain with acceptable accuracy probabilistic response transformation factors by training an artificial neural network (ANN) model is presented. The transformation factors are defined as the ratio of the seismic response of multi-degree-of-freedom structures and their equivalent single-degree-of-freedom systems, associated with a given annual exceedance rate. The approach is used for predicting the seismic response of steel framed buildings. Equations useful to obtain probabilistic response transformation factors for maximum ductility and inter-story drift, as functions of their mean annual rate of exceedance, and of the fundamental vibration period of the structure, are proposed. It is shown that artificial neural networks are a useful tool for reliability-based seismic design procedures of framed buildings and for the improvement toward the next generation of earthquake design methodologies based on structural reliability.
Peroxidase, Superoxide Dismutase and Catalase Activities of the Pistacia khinjuk Seedlings under Drought Stress

The aims of this study were to assess the effects of drought stress on peroxidase (POD), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) activities as well as free proline content and growth parameters of Pistacia khinjuk seedlings under drought stress. Therefore, the one-year seedlings of Pistacia khinjuk subjected to water stress (25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% field capacity) for 8 months in greenhouse condition. Results showed that drought stress decreased height, collar diameter, shoot dry weight and root dry weight of P. khinjuk seedlings. But it had different effects on antioxidant enzyme activities in root and shoot of P. khinjuk seedlings. Drought stress increased CAT activity in shoot and root of seedlings and its activity was higher in 25% field capacity than other treatments. Also, the POD enzyme activity increased in root and shoot of seedlings subjected to drought stress. The SOD activity was at the lowest level in 100% FC than other treatments. The results also showed that free proline accumulation was lower in well watered seedlings and increased under drought stress.
Study of efficient techniques for implementing a Pseudo-Boolean solver based on cutting planes

Most modern SAT solvers are based on resolution and CNF representation. The performance of these has improved a great deal in the past decades. But still they have some drawbacks such as the slow effi- ciency in solving some compact formulas e.g. Pigeonhole Principle [1] or the large number of clauses required for representing some SAT instances. Linear Pseudo-Boolean inequalities using cutting planes as resolution step is another popular configuration for SAT solvers. These solvers have a more compact representation of a SAT formula, which makes them also able to solve some instances such as the Pigeonhole Principle easily. However, they are outperformed by clausal solvers in most cases. This thesis does a research in the CDCL scheme and how can be applied to cutting planes based PB solvers in order to understand its performance. Then some aspects of PB solving that could be improved are reviewed and an implementation for one of them (division) is proposed. Finally, some experiments are run with this new implementation. Several instances are used as benchmarks encoding problems about graph theory (dominating set, even colouring and vertex cover). In conclusion the performance of division varies among the different problems. For dominating set the performance is worse than the original, for even colouring no clear conclusions are shown and for vertex cover, the implementation of division outperforms the original version.
From GCM scales rainfall variability

The variability of rainfall is a key component determining how the continental surfaces react to the atmospheric forcing. When studying the impact of climatic fluctuations onto the water resources, it is'thus of paramount importance to evaluate to which extent the atmospheric models used in this kind of studies are able to reproduce the variability of the rain process, both in space and time. First among these are the general circulation models (GCM) with coarse resolution, which has two consequences: (i) a simplified parametrisation of convection; (ii) a scale of representation of rainfields which is not adequate when it comes to use them as inputs to hydrologic models. Since linking GCMs and regional hydrologic models is the corner stone of impact studies, it is necessary to analyse the consequences of this gap in scales and to find ways of bridging it. As a preliminary step in that direction, a comparative analysis of the observed and of the GCM rainfall variabilities is carried out for a tropical semi-arid zone of West Africa displaying a high sensitivity to climatic fluctuations. Over tropical regions the GCM used here (LMD-6) has a space resolution of 1.6O in latitude and of 3.75' in longitude. The comparative study shows that the errors of the GCM rainfall outputs may be traced down to two fundamental shortcomings: (i) a wrong seasonal cycle, probably linked to problems in representing the large scale circulation; (ii) an unrealistic
Magic mirror using kinect

In this modern civilization, everyone is depended on technology and technological revolution has made our lives easier in every aspect. With the blessings of technologies, shopping is been brought into the clients palm and there is no doubt about the fact that online shopping has replaced the way of traditional shopping for daily goods and clothing. Now a day, everyone enjoys online shopping because it eliminates the hassles of billing queues and most importantly getting stuck in traffic jam which is really time consuming. Online shopping has made peoples works less in many ways like most of the online shopping offers free shipping, cash on delivery and different kinds of discounts. Therefore, online shopping has been accepted widely all over the world. However, there is a small drawback of online shopping which might loses peoples’ attraction on online shopping and that is people cannot try on their desire clothes. Our goal is to build a real time virtual dress up system consists of multiple tasks including extraction of the users’ different body parts from video stream, alignment of models, torso detecting, and resizing input dress images and dress up using Kinect. Extraction of the users’ different body parts allow us to create augmented reality environment by separating the user area from the video stream and imposing it onto the virtual environment in the user interface. We also have used 3D locations for joint positioning, rotating and system so that user can command to open or close the app. By integrating all the techniques, our system will produce prominently credible and well fitted virtual dress up results.
Important morphological markers for improvement of yield in bread wheat

Correlation analysis for different traits and yield components with yield, is very important issue in selection and breeding programs of genotypes, therefore, in order to evaluate the correlation of different traits with grain yield and determine the share of those traits that have most influence on grain yield, and also to study direct and indirect effects between grain yield with its components in wheat, an experiment was carried using 12 genotypes of bread wheat in a completely randomized block design with three replications. Statistical analysis of variances showed that there is significant difference between genotypes in terms of plant height, main spike length, main spike weight, number of grain per main spike, number of grain per secondary spikes, grain weight per main spike, one-thousand grain weight for main spike, one-thousand grain weight for secondary spikes, biological yield and straw yield. Results of stepwise regression and path analysis revealed that biological yield, main spike weight, number of spike per square meter and grain weight per spike can be a criterion to select high-yielding genotypes in breeding wheat programs.