Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Fabrication of polymer microfluidic devices with 3D microfeatures that have near optical surface quality

A low cost manufacturing method for creating polymer microfluidic devices with microfeatures that have near optical surface quality is described in this paper. The manufacturing method involves laser micromachining, partial hot embossing, and molding (LHEM) to create polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) mold masters for device replication. A metallic hot intrusion mask with the desired microfeatures is first machined by laser and then used to produce the mold master by pressing the mask onto a PMMA substrate under applied heat and pressure. The resultant 3D micro-reliefs have near optical quality surface finishes. Design parameters such as the height and width of the extruded features are investigated in this study. The experimental results demonstrate that different heights of the extruded features of a mold master can be fabricated using a single mask at a set of process parameters. Examples of curved microchannels of the PMMA mold masters and an integrated microchannel/microlens of the mold master are presented to illustrate the proposed methodology.
University of Birmingham The role of oxytocin in empathy to the pain of conflictual out-group members among patients with schizophrenia

Background. Oxytocin (OT) is associated with our ability to empathize and has been shown to play a major role in mediating social behaviors within the context of intergroup dynamics. Schizophrenia is associated with impaired empathy, and with a dysfunctional oxytocinergic system. The effect of OT on the empathic responses of patients with schizophrenia within the context of intergroup relationships has not been studied. The present study examined the effect of OT on the patients ’ empathic responses to pain experienced by in-group, con ﬂ ictual out-group and neutral out-group members. Method. In a double-blind, placebo-controlled, within-subject cross-over design, the responses on the Pain Evaluation Task of 28 male patients with schizophrenia were compared to 27 healthy male controls. All participants received a single intranasal dose of 24 IU OT or placebo, 1 week apart. Results. OT induced an empathy bias in the healthy controls towards the con ﬂ ictual out-group members. Although this effect was absent in the patient group, OT seems to heighten an empathic bias in the patient group towards the in-group members when rating non-painful stimuli. Conclusions. The study demonstrates that the administration of OT can result in empathic bias towards adversary out-group members in healthy controls but not in patients with schizophrenia. However, the OT-induced bias in both the patients (in the no-pain condition towards the in-group members) and the healthy controls (in the no-pain and pain conditions towards the adversary out-group) suggests that OT enhances the distinction between con ﬂ ictual in-group and out-group members.
Bullying and ART Nonadherence Among South African ALHIV: Effects, Risks, and Protective Factors

Background: Identifying risk and protective factors for adolescent antiretroviral therapy (ART) adherence is a public health priority, given high HIV-related mortality in this population. An area that merits further investigation is the relationship between bullying victimization, mental health problems, and ART nonadherence among adolescents living with HIV (ALHIV). However, no known studies assess effects of bullying on adolescent nonadherence or risk and protective factors that could moderate this relationship.
PLAATO (Percutaneous Left Atrial Appendage Transcatheter Occlusion) for prevention of cardioembolic stroke in non-anticoagulation eligible atrial fibrillation patients: results from the European PLAATO study.

The European PLAATO (Percutaneous Left Atrial Appendage Transcatheter Occlusion) study was performed to determine the safety and efficacy of left atrial appendage occlusion by catheter technique. Embolic stroke due to atrial fibrillation is a common observation, especially in the elderly. Most thrombi in atrial fibrillation form in the left atrial appendage (LAA), its occlusion may therefore reduce the incidence of stroke in these patients.
SPEECH FEATURES IN FOOD ENDORSEMENT BY INDONESIAN INFLUENCERS: A STUDY OF LANGUAGE AND GENDER

This study aims to identify the speech features employed by male and female influencers while promoting food. This research decided to apply a qualitative method, specifically in the form of a case study. Meanwhile, the researchers chose observation through social media, namely Instagram, as the data collection process. The data analysis consists of three stages, such as reduction, presentation, and conclusion. The researchers found that the female influencers use speech features are intensifier, emphatic stress, tag question, rising intonation, empty adjectives, specialized, hypercorrect grammar, super polite forms, avoidance of strong swear, and one form that belongs to the men known as command and directive. Meanwhile, the speech features employed by the men are command and directive, swearing and taboo words, compliments, and theme, and three forms of speech feature that belong to women, which are intensifier, empty adjective, and emphatic stress. The finding of this study is that both genders are not constantly with their own speech features. Both genders also applied speech features that belong to the opposite gender while doing promotion, although the language features of each gender dominate the respective results.
Productivity Spillovers from Foreign Direct Investment in New Zealand Manufacturing First Draft –

This paper seeks to answer two questions: Whether FDI led productivity spillovers exist in NZ manufacturing, and, whether such spillovers are conditional on the absorptive capacity of domestic firms. Productivity spillovers from FDI are distinguished into three types horizontal, forward and backward. Horizontal spillovers are productivity gains (losses) accruing to domestic firms as a result of MNE presence in their own industry. Forward and backward spillovers are productivity gains (losses) accruing to domestic firms as a result of their association with MNEs as customers and suppliers respectively. For the empirical analysis, this paper uses data from the prototype Longitudinal Database (LBD) administered by Statistics NZ. Drawing from the various data sources within the LBD, an unbalanced panel of 12,837 manufacturing firms, spanning years the 2001-06 is compiled. The paper finds evidence that NZ manufacturing benefits from FDI through all three types of spillovers. While horizontal and forward spillovers are independent of absorptive capacity, backward spillovers are found to accrue to domestic firms that are relatively backward. JEL Classifications:
Pyrolytic formation of monomers from hardwood lignin as studied from 1 the reactivities of the primary products 2 3

Right © 2014. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/; The fulltext file will be made open to the public on 1 May 2017 in accordance with publisher's 'Terms and Conditions for SelfArchiving'. ; This is not the published version. Please cite only the published version. この論文は出版社版でありません。 引用の際には出版社版をご確認ご利用ください。 Type Journal Article
Evaluation of Reaction Mechanisms and Kinetic Parameters for the Transesterification of Castor Oil by Liquid Enzymes

The use of liquid enzymes for the production of biodiesel as an alternative to chemical catalysts requires significant investigation due to the lack of experimental data for the various feedstock and catalyst combinations. In this paper, reaction rates and kinetic modeling of the transesterification of castor oil with methanol using the enzyme Eversa Transform as the catalyst were investigated. Reactions were carried out for 8 h at 35 °C with an alcohol-to-oil molar ratio equal to 6:1, a 5 wt % of liquid enzyme solution, and addition of 5 wt % of water by weight of castor oil. From the concentration data, four different reaction mechanistic models were compared to determine the mechanism that best fitted the experimental data. Mechanisms where the methanolysis and hydrolysis reactions occurred simultaneously in the system were best at describing the concentration profiles. The high methanolysis rates of glycerides that were obtained indicated that transesterification dominates over hydrolysis. The mechani.
The effect of diet and sociopolitical change on physiological stress and behavior in late Roman‐Early Byzantine (300–700 AD) and Islamic (902–1,235 AD) populations from Ibiza,

Objectives This study evaluated chronological changes in physiological stress and levels of habitual loading of Ibizan populations from the Late Roman-Early Byzantine (LREB) to the Islamic period (300-1235 AD) using measures of body size and bone cross-sectional properties to compare Urban LREB, Urban Medieval Islamic, and Rural Medieval Islamic groups. It also explored the effect of diet, modeled using stable isotopes, on physiological stress levels and behavior.
May 2015 3 , 3 ’-Diindolylmethane ( DIM ) and its ring-substituted halogenated analogs ( ring-DIMs ) induce differential mechanisms of survival and death in androgen-dependent and – independent prostate cancer cells

We recently reported that novel ring-substituted analogs of 3,3’-diindolylmethane (ring-DIMs) induce apoptosis and necrosis in androgen-dependent and –independent prostate cancer cells. In this paper, we have focused on the mechanism(s) associated with ring-DIM-mediated cell death, and on identifying the specific intracellular target(s) of these compounds. The 4,4’and 7,7’-dichloroDIMs and 4,4’and 7,7’-dibromoDIMs induced the death of LNCaP, C42B and DU145 prostate cancer cells, but not that of immortalized normal human prostate epithelial (RWPE-1) cells. RingDIMs caused the early loss of mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) and decreased mitochondrial ATP generation in prostate cancer cells. Cyclosporin A, an inhibitor of the mitochondrial permeability transition pore, inhibited ring-DIM-mediated cell death, and salubrinal, an inhibitor of ER stress, inhibited cell death mediated only by 4,4’-dihaloDIMs. We found that although salubrinal did not inhibit the onset of ER stress, it prevented 4,4’-dibromoDIM mediated loss of MMP. Salubrinal potentiated cell death in response to 7,7’-dihaloDIMs and DIM, and this effect concurred with increased loss of MMP. Using in silico 3-D docking affinity analysis, we identified Ca2+/ calmodulin-dependent kinase II (CaMKII) as a potential direct target for the most toxic ring-DIM, 4,4’-dibromoDIM. An inhibitor of CaMKII, KN93, but not its inactive analog KN92, abrogated cell death mediated by 4,4’-dibromoDIM. The ring-DIMs induced ER stress and autophagy, but these processes were not necessary for ring-DIM-mediated cell death. Inhibition of autophagy with bafilomycin A1, 3-methyladenine or by LC3B gene silencing sensitized LNCaP and C42B, but not ATG5-deficient DU145 cells to ring-DIMand DIM-mediated cell death. We propose that autophagy induced by the ring-DIMs and DIM has a cytoprotective function in prostate cancer cells.
Changes in physical activity and sedentary time before, during and after the confinement by COVID-19 in Spanish university students

: The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic resulted in restrictive measures in many countries. The aim of this study was to analyse the changes in physical activity (PA) and sedentary time in Spanish university students before, during and after the confinement. An online questionnaire was designed and distributed at two times. Participants were more inactive and sedentary and increased the use of social networks during the confinement. After the confinement, they did not reach PA pre-confinement levels and the use of social networks remained higher than before. The confinement has impacted on PA of Spanish university students, with the potential to affect healthy habits
One of the most challenging cases for predicting in-situ performance is that of wearable textile antennas fabricated on woven and non-woven materials that will experience bending, twisting and crumpling when pulled in different directions by

—Applications for conformal, wearable antennas are growing for consumer electronics. Hence, it is important to assess to what degree antenna performance can be tolerant to in-situ deformations that can take the form of bending, crumpling and twisting and combinations of these effects. However, generating geometries of arbitrary antenna deformations such as bending, crumpling and twisting, that can be processed by standard electromagnetic software is a major challenge that significantly complicates full assessment of in-situ antenna performance. Constructive Solid Geometry methods of generating geometries is difficult to robustly apply to non-conformal antennas and more flexible techniques required to progress the antenna studies further. To address this challenge, this paper investigates the utility of the Green Coordinate method for spatial manipulation of 3D objects. First a calibration of a straightforward application of the GC method against a reference case of a patch antenna bent over a cylindrical surface, which can also be generated exactly, is undertaken. The paper shows that systemic scaling distortions are introduced by the GC method and introduces a compensation method that can overcome these distortions. Subsequently, the compensated method is used to obtain new predictions of the electromagnetic performance of patch antennas with deformations.
The interpretation of Mesolithic structures in Britain: new evidence from Criet Dubh, Isle of Mull, and alternative approaches to chronological analysis for inferring occupation tempos and settlement patterns

Mithen, S. and Wicks, K. (2018) The interpretation of Mesolithic structures in Britain: new evidence from Criet Dubh, Isle of Mull, and alternative approaches to chronological analysis for inferring occupation tempos and settlement patterns. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, 84. pp. 77­ 110. ISSN 0079­797X doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/ppr.2018. 13 Available at http://centaur.reading. ac.uk/77894/
In-Pixel Readout IC with compact in-pixel ADC for Pixel detectors at HL LHC

—The prototype Smart Pixel concept test chip (SP28), designed in a CMOS 28 nm bulk process, is a proof of concept readout integrated circuit (ROIC) designed for a future Phase III High Luminosity upgrade of the Large Hadron Collider. It employs a synchronous analog to digital converter (ADC) for the front-end design, with signal processing and data conversion within a single bunch crossing of 25 ns. It is therefore capable of accurately detecting hits occurring in consecutive bunch crossings, without off-time registration of events and pileup insensitivity, making it particularly suitable for the inner most layers of the vertex detector. The ROIC consists of a matrix of 32 × 16 pixels, each 25 × 25 µ m 2 in size. Each pixel contains a charge sensitive preamplifier with leakage current compensation, three auto-zero comparators for a 2-bit flash-type ADC. The total power consumption is approximately 5 µ W per pixel. The measured noise at the output of all the hit comparators across the ROIC is < 90 e-with threshold dispersion < 45 e -RMS , which allows an in-time threshold setting of ≈ 475 e - .
Clonal selection in xenografted human T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia recapitulates gain of malignancy at relapse

T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemias (ALLs [T-ALLs]) are aggressive malignancies derived from the transformation of lymphoblastic precursors in the thymus. Despite major therapeutic improvements, a fraction of patients with T-ALL still relapse and experience eventual refractory leukemia (Bailey et al., 2008; Pui et al., 2008). T-ALLs are characterized by the deregulated expression of oncogenic transcription factors combined with the frequent inactivation of the tumor suppressor CDKN2A/P16/ ARF and activation of the NOTCH1 pathway (Ferrando et al., 2002; Weng et al., 2004; De Keersmaecker et al., 2005; Soulier et al., 2005; Aifantis et al., 2008). Recently, high-resolution cytogenetic tools have identified frequent additional cryptic deletions and duplications in T-ALL cells (Clappier et al., 2007; Van Vlierberghe et al., 2008; Gutierrez et al., 2009; Tosello et al., 2009; Kleppe et al., 2010). We used our established xenotransplantation assay of human T-ALL in CORRESPONDENCE Jean Soulier: jean.soulier@sls.aphp. fr OR Françoise Pflumio: francoise.pflumio@cea.fr
The effects of laforin, malin, Stbd1, and Ptg deficiencies on heart glycogen levels in Pompe disease mouse models

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)%%%%Pompe disease (PD) is a rare metabolic myopathy characterized by loss of acid alpha-glucosidase (GAA), the enzyme responsible for breaking down glycogen to glucose within the lysosomes. PD cells accumulate massive quantities of glycogen within their lysosomes, and as such, PD is classified as a “lysosomal storage disease” (LSD). GAA-deficient cells also exhibit accumulation of autophagic debris. Symptoms of severe infantile PD include extreme muscle weakness, hypotonia, and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, resulting in death before one year of age. Certain LSDs are currently being successfully treated with enzyme replacement therapy (ERT), which involves intravenous infusion of a recombinant enzyme to counteract the endogenous deficiency. ERT has been less successful in PD, however, due to ineffective delivery of the recombinant enzyme. Alternatively, specific genes deletion may reduce lysosomal glycogen load, and could thus be targeted in PD therapy development. Absence of malin (EPM2B) or laforin (EPM2A) has been proposed to impair autophagy, which could reduce lysosomal glycogen levels. Additionally, deficiency of Stbd1 has been postulated to disable lysosomal glycogen import. Furthermore, Ptg deficiency was previously reported to abrogate Lafora body formation and correct neurological abnormalities in Lafora disease mouse models and could have similar effects on PD pathologies. The goal of this study was to characterize the effects of homozygous disruption of Epm2a, Epm2b, Stbd1, and Ptg loci on total glycogen levels in PD mouse model heart tissue, as in severe infantile PD, it is accumulation of glycogen in the heart that results in fatal hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Gaa-/- mice were intercrossed with Epm2a-/-, Epm2b-/-, Stbd1-/-, and Ptg-/- mice to generate wildtype (WT), single knockout, and double knockout mice. The results indicated that Gaa-/- hearts accumulated up to 100-fold more glycogen than the WT. These mice also displayed cardiac hypertrophy. However, deficiency of Epm2a, Epm2b, Stbd1, or PTG in the Gaa-/- background did not reveal changes of statistical significance in either heart glycogen or cardiac hypertrophy. Nevertheless, since total glycogen was measured, these deficiencies should not be discarded in future discussions of PD therapy, as increasing sample sizes and/or distinguishing cytosolic from lysosomal glycogen content may yet reveal differences of greater significance.
Developing Border Area: A Study of the Village Internet Program in Kaliau Village, Sambas Regency

The implementation of the village community empowerment program around the national border areas is faced a unique environment with complex problems. The purpose of the study is to highlight the empowerment program and explore the supporting and inhibiting factors of the program. The type of this study was descriptive-qualitative. Data were collected through interviews, document searches, and observation. The collected data were then processed, analysed, and concluded. Results showed that the process of implementing the empowerment program started from with planning the program carried out by the village government and the community. Programplanning was conducted using a bottom-up pattern, involving representatives from each community component. The program implementation was based on the bottom-up planning model as the main supporting factor for the effectiveness of the empowerment program. Through the program implemented, all components of society can meet their needs regarding internetbased information. The main obstacles to implementing the empowerment program are natural matters, such as wide-area coverage, uneven distribution of the population, and lack ofresources for the program development. The success of the program can be achieved through community involvement in program planning based on full awareness of the community’s needs for the program and structurally supported by the village government.
3D Virtual Surgical Planning and Patient-Specific Instrumentation in Spine Surgery

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present and validate a new semi-automated 3D surface mesh segmentation approach that optimizes the laborious individual human vertebrae separation in the spinal Virtual Surgical Planning workflow and make a direct accuracy and segmentation time comparison with current standard segmentation method. Methods: The proposed semi-automatic method uses the 3D bone surface derived from CT image data for seed point based 3D mesh partitioning. The accuracy of the proposed method was evaluated on a representative patient dataset. In addition, the influence of the number of used seed points was studied. The investigators analyzed whether there was a reduction in segmentation time when compared to manual segmentation. Surface-to-surface accuracy measurements were applied to assess the concordance with the manual segmentation. Results: The results demonstrated a statically significant reduction in segmentation time, while maintaining a high accuracy compared to the manual segmentation. A considerably smaller error was found when increasing the number of seed points. Anatomical regions that include articulating areas tend to show the highest errors, whilst the posterior laminar surface yielded an almost negligible error. Conclusion: A novel seed point initiated surface based segmentation method for the laborious individual human vertebrae separation was presented. This proof-of-principle study demonstrated the accuracy of the proposed method on a clinical CT image dataset and its feasibility for spinal Virtual Surgical Planning applications.
ETH Zürich

1. Begriff a) Ein Kompetenzzentrum ist ein Netzwerk, in welchem ETH-Professuren oder ETH-Institute aus verschiedenen Bereichen ihre wissenschaftliche Arbeit unter gemeinsamen strategischen Zielen koordinieren. b) Es ermöglicht das Erarbeiten von wissenschaftlichen relevanten Themen, die nur in einem interdisziplinären Verbund von Wissenschaftlern / Wissenschaftlerinnen oder in Zusammenarbeit mit Institutionen der Kultur oder der Wirtschaft erfolgreich angegangen werden können.
POPULATION GENETICS OF TRYPANOSOMA BRUCEI GAMBIENSE : A CLONE IN THE DARK GENETIQUE DES POPULATIONS DE TRYPANOSOMA

Human African trypanosomiasis (HAT) (or sleeping sickness) due to Trypanosoma brucei gambiense ) occurs in Western and Central Africa. T. brucei s.l. displays a huge diversity of adaptations and host specificities, and questions about its reproductive mode, dispersal abilities, and effective size remain under debate. We have investigated genetic variation at eight microsatellite loci of T. b. gambiense strains isolated from HAT patients in Côte d’Ivoire and Guinea, with the aim of knowing how genetic information was partitioned within and between individuals, between foci and between temporally spaced samples. The results indicate that (i) migration of T. b. gambiense group 1 strains does not occur at the scale of West Africa, and that even at a finer scale (e.g. within Guinea) migration is restricted; (ii) effective population sizes of trypanosomes as reflected by infected hosts are probably higher than what the epidemiological surveys suggest; and (iii) T. b. gambiense group 1 is most likely a strictly clonally reproducing organism.