Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An Evaluation Framework for Content Recommender Systems The Industry Perspective

Recommender systems are a reality today. Evaluating recommender systems is difficult because of their extreme diversity. Many aspects need to be considered to be able to benchmark recommender systems against each other. This paper proposes an evaluation framework for content recommender systems which goes beyond traditional prediction accuracy. The first aspects to be considered relate to the input required for the correct functioning of the recommender system, to the output it produces and the usage of this output. Other aspects relate to how suitable the content recommender system is for the one deploying it, for the ones using it, as well as in today's world, inherently multidevice and with multiple sources of content. The quality of recommendations and the user experience they enable are key to the evaluation. Deployment aspects of content recommender systems, usually forgotten, complete this framework. The proposed evaluation framework provides a complete picture of the strenghts and weaknesses of content recommender systems from the industry perspective.
High-Efficiency Control of Internal Combustion Engines in Blended Charge Depletion/Charge Sustenance Strategies for Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles

This paper realizes a novel control strategy for the fuel consumption reduction in plug-in hybrid and hybrid electric vehicles having an internal combustion engine (ICE) and one or more motor/generators. The proposed control strategy combines power balancing and variable speed control to achieve a more efficient utilization of fossil fuel energy that is consumed over standardized drive cycles. Furthermore, a high-efficiency region in the ICE performance map is utilized to aid with energy management decisions. For the test bench, three vehicle models have been developed in ADVISOR (the software package utilized in this paper) using available measured data. After verifying the accuracy of models, the proposed control strategy is implemented in the three vehicles to demonstrate reduced fuel consumption. The proposed control strategy is applicable to parallel-connected and power-split-connected topologies.
XRD, FTIR and SEM studies on calcined sugarcane bagasse ash blended cement

The utilization of waste material as mineral admixture in cement provides a satisfactory solution to some of the environmental concerns and problems associated with waste management. Agro waste such as Sugarcane Bagasse Ash (SCBA) is one among such a potential material. In this study, the effect of partial replacing of cement with 10% calcined SCBA on the properties of produced cement pastes were analyzed using Compressive strength measurements, XRD, FTIR, and SEM techniques. The spectroscopic techniques were performed at 7 and 28 days to identify the hydration products such as AFt, AFm, C-S-H and Ca(OH)2 and the obtained results were compared with Strength measurements
Environments around Al, Si, and Ca in aluminate and aluminosilicate melts by X-ray absorption spectroscopy at high temperature

Structural data on silicate, aluminate, and aluminosilicate melts are difficult to measure and understand at high temperature. X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) performed in situ at high tem-perature has been used to probe the local environment of low-Z elements (Al, Si, and Ca). For fully tetrahedral network glasses, CaAl
SoCrates-A Scalable Multiprocessor System On Chip

This document is the result of a Master Thesis in Computer Engineering, describing the analysis, specification and implementation of the first prototype of Socrates, a configurable, scalable and predictable platform for System-on-chip Multiprocessor system for real-time applications. The design time of Systemon-a-Chip (SoC) is today rapidly increasing due to high complexity and lack of efficient tools for development and verification. By combining all the functions into one chip the system becomes smaller, faster, and less power consuming but increasing the complexity. To decrease the time-to-market SoCs are entirely or partially build with IP-components. Thanks to SoC, a whole new domain of products, like small hand held devices, has emerged. The concept has been around a few years now, but there are still challenges that needs to be resolved. There is a lack of standards for enabling fast mix and match of cores from different vendors. Further needs are new design methods, tools, and verification techniques. SoC solutions needs special kind of CPUs that consumes less power, is cheaper, smaller, but still has high-performance requirements. To fulfill all these demands, they are getting more and more complex as the number of transistors are rapidly growing which has led to the emerging of multiprocessors systems-on-a-chip. Our initial question is to investigate if it is possible to build these complex multiprocessors systems on a single FPGA and if these solutions can lead to shorter time-to-market. The consumer demands for cheaper and smaller products makes FPGA solutions interesting. Our approach is to have multiple processing nodes containing processing unit, memory and a network interface all together connected on a shared bus. A central in-house developed hardware real-time unit handles scheduling and synchronization. We have designed and implemented a MSoC that fits on a single FPGA in only 40 days, which has to our supervisors knowledge not been accomplished before. Our experience is that a tightly coupled group can produce fast results since information, new ideas and bug reports propagates immediately.
Top-down technique for scaling to nano in silicon MEMS

Nanoscale building blocks impart added functionalities to microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). The integration of silicon nanowires with MEMS-based sensors leading to miniaturization with improved sensitivity and higher noise immunity is one example highlighting the advantages of this multiscale approach. The accelerated pace of research in this area gives rise to an urgent need for batch-compatible solutions for scaling to nano. To address this challenge, a monolithic fabrication approach of silicon nanowires with 10-μm-thick silicon-on-insulator (SOI) MEMS is developed in this work. A two-step Si etching approach is adopted, where the first step creates a shallow surface protrusion and the second step releases it in the form of a nanowire. It is during this second deep etching step that MEMS—with at least a 2-order-of-magnitude scale difference—is formed as well. The technique provides a pathway for preserving the lithographic resolution and transforming it into a very high mechanical precision in the.
Localization of Putative Stem Cells in Dental Epithelium and Their Association with Notch and Fgf Signaling

The continuously growing mouse incisor is an excellent model to analyze the mechanisms for stem cell lineage. We designed an organ culture method for the apical end of the incisor and analyzed the epithelial cell lineage by 5-bromo-2′-deoxyuridine and DiI labeling. Our results indicate that stem cells reside in the cervical loop epithelium consisting of a central core of stellate reticulum cells surrounded by a layer of basal epithelial cells, and that they give rise to transit-amplifying progeny differentiating into enamel forming ameloblasts. We identified slowly dividing cells among the Notch1-expressing stellate reticulum cells in specific locations near the basal epithelial cells expressing lunatic fringe, a secretory molecule modulating Notch signaling. It is known from tissue recombination studies that in the mouse incisor the mesenchyme regulates the continuous growth of epithelium. Expression of Fgf-3 and Fgf-10 were restricted to the mesenchyme underlying the basal epithelial cells and the transit-amplifying cells expressing their receptors Fgfr1b and Fgfr2b. When FGF-10 protein was applied with beads on the cultured cervical loop epithelium it stimulated cell proliferation as well as expression of lunatic fringe. We present a model in which FGF signaling from the mesenchyme regulates the Notch pathway in dental epithelial stem cells via stimulation of lunatic fringe expression and, thereby, has a central role in coupling the mitogenesis and fate decision of stem cells.
EQUAL: Encyclopaedic QUestion Answering for Lists

This paper presents EQUAL , a semantic question answering (QA) system which relies on structural information from Wikipedia to extract answers to list questions in the GikiCLEF 2009 task. The system is described in the context of of a more general architecture for semantic QA. Unlike the usual textual QA approach, EQUAL does not rely on identifying the answer within a text snippet by using keyword retrieval. Instead, it explores the Wikipedia page graph extracting and aggregating information from multiple documents. Enforcing semantic constraints proved to yield precise results, and the system achieved the highest score amongst the participants in the task.
Favorable outcome in non-Hodgkin lymphoma of the maxillary sinus treated with R-CHOP

Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) accounts for less than 1% of all head and neck malignancies, although this anatomic location is the second most common extranodal site for NHL, lagging behind only the GI tract. Specifically, in the sinonasal tract, NHL is a common neoplasm, while its overall incidence ranges from 0.2% to 2% of all lymphoma cases in the Western world. Among paranasal sinuses, the maxillary sinus is the most common site of involvement, followed by the ethmoid, sphenoid and the frontal sinus. Men are predominantly affected and there is a prevalence of middle to older ages. The most common subtype is diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), comprising approximately two thirds of cases [1].
Automated Identification of Individual Great White Sharks from Unrestricted Fin Imagery

The objective of this paper is automatically to identify individual great white sharks in a database of thousands of unconstrained ﬁn images. The approach put forward ap-preciates shark ﬁns in natural imagery as smooth, ﬂexible and partially occluded objects with an individuality encoding trailing edge. In order to recover animal identities there-from we ﬁrst introduce an open contour stroke model which extends multi-scale region segmentation to achieve robust ﬁn detection. Secondly, we show that combinatorial spectral ﬁngerprinting can successfully encode individuality in ﬁn boundaries. We combine both approaches in a ﬁne-grained multi-instance recognition framework. We provide an evaluation of the system components and report their performance and properties.
Morphological Changes in Gastric Cancer after Helicobacter pylori Eradication Therapy

A 63-year-old woman visited her local doctor complaining of acid regurgitation. Esophagogastroduodenoscopy revealed a protruding lesion with a modulated mucosal surface in the gastric antrum, with mucosal biopsies indicating well-differentiated adenocarcinoma. Because of a positive urea breathe test, while the patient was waiting for elective surgery she underwent Helicobacter pylori eradication therapy. Thirty days after eradication therapy, the patient underwent laparoscopic distal gastrectomy with regional lymph node dissection. Gross examination of the resected specimen revealed a well-circumscribed, slightly depressed lesion measuring 3.0 × 2.0 cm without elevated components. Direct effects of H. pylori eradication therapy on the morphological appearance of gastric adenomas and carcinomas have been reported. The findings in this patient suggest that the morphology of gastric cancer may be influenced directly by H. pylori eradication therapy.
The Effect of Biological Movement Variability on the Performance of the Golf Swing in High- and Low-Handicapped Players

The purpose of this study was to examine the role of neuromotor noise on golf swing performance in high- and low-handicap players. Selected two-dimensional kinematic measures of 20 male golfers (n = 10 per high- or low-handicap group) performing 10 golf swings with a 5-iron club was obtained through video analysis. Neuromotor noise was calculated by deducting the standard error of the measurement from the coefficient of variation obtained from intra-individual analysis. Statistical methods included linear regression analysis and one-way analysis of variance using SPSS. Absolute invariance in the key technical positions (e.g., at the top of the backswing) of the golf swing appears to be a more favorable technique for skilled performance.
Establishment and characterization of a T-cell line specific for Rickettsia tsutsugamushi

To study the immunological protective system against rickettsial infection, a T-cell line specific for Rickettsia tsutsugamushi antigen was established by long-term culture of splenocytes from mice immunized with live Gilliam strain R. tsutsugamushi and then propagated in the presence of homologous rickettsial antigen and syngeneic filler cells. The characteristics of the T-cell line and its capacity to induce antirickettsial protection in vivo were studied. Flow cytometric analysis demonstrated that the T-cell line showed the phenotype Thy-1.2+ L3T4+ Lyt-2-, suggestive of helper T cells. In a lymphocyte proliferation assay, this cell line showed a specific response to Gilliam antigen, partial cross-reactivity to Karp antigen, but no response to Kato antigen. The proliferative response of this T-cell line was filler cell dependent, and genetic restriction was observed between the T-cell line and filler cells. The T-cell line produced gamma interferon, one of the macrophage-activating factors, in cultures with specific antigen and was able to adoptively mediate antirickettsial protection in vivo. The data presented here suggest that antigen-specific helper T cells play an important role in protection against rickettsial infection.
Exploiting spectral and spatial information in hyperspectral urban data with high resolution

Very high resolution hyperspectral data should be very useful to provide detailed maps of urban land cover. In order to provide such maps, both accurate and precise classification tools need, however, to be developed. In this letter, new methods for classification of hyperspectral remote sensing data are investigated, with the primary focus on multiple classifications and spatial analysis to improve mapping accuracy in urban areas. In particular, we compare spatial reclassification and mathematical morphology approaches. We show results for classification of DAIS data over the town of Pavia, in northern Italy. Classification maps of two test areas are given, and the overall and individual class accuracies are analyzed with respect to the parameters of the proposed classification procedures.
Intelligent Bar Chart Plagiarism Detection in Documents

This paper presents a novel features mining approach from documents that could not be mined via optical character recognition (OCR). By identifying the intimate relationship between the text and graphical components, the proposed technique pulls out the Start, End, and Exact values for each bar. Furthermore, the word 2-gram and Euclidean distance methods are used to accurately detect and determine plagiarism in bar charts.
Redundant and synchronized EtherCAT network

Communication redundancy and time synchronization are two important requirements commonly found in industrial systems. However, achieving high redundancy performance in combination with highly accurate time synchronization at all times is a challenging task. EtherCAT is a high performance, functionality rich communication technology offering both advanced redundancy features and accurate time synchronization. This paper will describe a robust solution where an EtherCAT system offers high redundancy performance in combination with accurate time synchronization. The solutions is based on using Ether-CAT slaves integrated into the EtherCAT master nodes. In the redundant case there is a need for two of these integrated slaves and they need to be configured appropriately to offer a robust solution.
Control of Muscle Mitochondria by Insulin Entails Activation of Akt2-mtNOS Pathway: Implications for the Metabolic Syndrome

Background In the metabolic syndrome with hyperinsulinemia, mitochondrial inhibition facilitates muscle fat and glycogen accumulation and accelerates its progression. In the last decade, nitric oxide (NO) emerged as a typical mitochondrial modulator by reversibly inhibiting citochrome oxidase and oxygen utilization. We wondered whether insulin-operated signaling pathways modulate mitochondrial respiration via NO, to alternatively release complete glucose oxidation to CO2 and H2O or to drive glucose storage to glycogen. Methodology/Principal Findings We illustrate here that NO produced by translocated nNOS (mtNOS) is the insulin-signaling molecule that controls mitochondrial oxygen utilization. We evoke a hyperinsulinemic-normoglycemic non-invasive clamp by subcutaneously injecting adult male rats with long-lasting human insulin glargine that remains stable in plasma by several hours. At a precise concentration, insulin increased phospho-Akt2 that translocates to mitochondria and determines in situ phosphorylation and substantial cooperative mtNOS activation (+4–8 fold, P<.05), high NO, and a lowering of mitochondrial oxygen uptake and resting metabolic rate (−25 to −60%, P<.05). Comparing in vivo insulin metabolic effects on gastrocnemius muscles by direct electroporation of siRNA nNOS or empty vector in the two legs of the same animal, confirmed that in the silenced muscles disrupted mtNOS allows higher oxygen uptake and complete (U-14C)-glucose utilization respect to normal mtNOS in the vector-treated ones (respectively 37±3 vs 10±1 µmolO2/h.g tissue and 13±1 vs 7.2±1 µmol 3H2O/h.g tissue, P<.05), which reciprocally restricted glycogen-synthesis by a half. Conclusions/Significance These evidences show that after energy replenishment, insulin depresses mitochondrial respiration in skeletal muscle via NO which permits substrates to be deposited as macromolecules; at discrete hyperinsulinemia, persistent mtNOS activation could contribute to mitochondrial dysfunction with insulin resistance and obesity and therefore, to the progression of the metabolic syndrome.
Nutritional risk assessment in critically ill cancer patients: systematic review

Objective To systematically review the main methods for nutritional risk assessment used in critically ill cancer patients and present the methods that better assess risks and predict relevant clinical outcomes in this group of patients, as well as to discuss the pros and cons of these methods according to the current literature. Methods The study consisted of a systematic review based on analysis of manuscripts retrieved from the PubMed, LILACS and SciELO databases by searching for the key words “nutritional risk assessment”, “critically ill” and “cancer”. Results Only 6 (17.7%) of 34 initially retrieved papers met the inclusion criteria and were selected for the review. The main outcomes of these studies were that resting energy expenditure was associated with undernourishment and overfeeding. The high Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment score was significantly associated with low food intake, weight loss and malnutrition. In terms of biochemical markers, higher levels of creatinine, albumin and urea were significantly associated with lower mortality. The worst survival was found for patients with worse Eastern Cooperative Oncologic Group - performance status, high Glasgow Prognostic Score, low albumin, high Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment score and high alkaline phosphatase levels. Geriatric Nutritional Risk Index values < 87 were significantly associated with mortality. A high Prognostic Inflammatory and Nutritional Index score was associated with abnormal nutritional status in critically ill cancer patients. Among the reviewed studies that examined weight and body mass index alone, no significant clinical outcome was found. Conclusion None of the methods reviewed helped to define risk among these patients. Therefore, assessment by a combination of weight loss and serum measurements, preferably in combination with other methods using scores such as Eastern Cooperative Oncologic Group - performance status, Glasgow Prognostic Score and Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment, is suggested given that their use is simple, feasible and useful in such cases.
Development of Capillary-driven Microfluidic, Nucleic Acid Biosensor

An ideal point-of-care device would incorporate the simplicity and reliability of a lateral flow assay with a microfluidic device. Our system consists of self-priming microfluidics with sealed conjugate pads of reagent delivery and an absorbent pad for additional fluid draw. Using poly(methyl methacrylate) as a microfluidic substrate, we have developed a single-step surface modification method which allows strong capillary flow within a sealed microchannel. For our biosensor design, we have incorporated aspects of lateral flow assays within our device. Conjugate pads within the device held trapped magnetic nanoparticles which were released when the sample entered the chamber. In addition, nucleic-acidprobe-conjugated horseradish peroxidase was released on a second conjugate pad. The complex consisting of the magnetic nanoparticle, target nucleic acid and HRP was immobilized over a magnet while a co-reactant stream containing H2O2 was merged with the channel. A downstream electrode attached to a potentiostat was able to quantify the signal. This new format of biosensor will allow for a smaller and more portable point-of-care biosensor. The design also allows to commercial-scale manufacturing and low materials cost. The potentiostat can be miniaturized to allow for a truly handheld system which and conduct assays on a disposable chip.
Transfersomal Nanoparticles for Enhanced Transdermal Delivery of Clindamycin

ABSTRACTThe aim of this work was to study the potential of delivering clindamycin phosphate, as an efficient antibiotic drug, into a more absorbed, elastic ultradeformable form, transfersomes (TRSs). These vesicles showed an enhanced penetration through ex vivo permeation characters. TRSs were prepared using thin-film hydration method. Furthermore, they were evaluated for their entrapment efficiency, size, zeta potential, and morphology. Also, the prepared TRSs were converted into suitable gel formulation using carbopol 934 and were evaluated for their gel characteristics like pH, viscosity, spreadability, homogeneity, skin irritation, in vitro release, stability, and ex vivo permeation studies in rats. TRSs were efficiently formulated in a stable bilayer vesicle structure. Furthermore, clindamycin phosphate showed higher entrapment efficiency within the TRSs reaching about 93.3% ± 0.8 and has a uniform particle size. Moreover, the TRSs surface had a high negative charge which indicated the stability of the produced vesicles and resistance of aggregation. Clindamycin phosphate showed a significantly higher in vitro release (p < 0.05; ANOVA/Tukey) compared with the control carbopol gel. Furthermore, the transfersomal gel showed a significantly higher (p < 0.05; ANOVA/Tukey) cumulative amount of drug permeation and flux than both the transfersomal suspension and the control carbopol gel. In conclusion, the produced results suggest that TRS-loaded clindamycin are promising carriers for enhanced dermal delivery of clindamycin phosphate.