Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Design of a Bioartificial Pancreas+

Introduction In type 1 diabetes, the β-cells that secrete insulin have been destroyed such that daily exogenous insulin administration is required for the control of blood glucose in individuals with the disease. After the development of reliable techniques for the isolation of islets from the human pancreas, islet transplantation has emerged as a therapeutic option, albeit for only a few selected patients largely because there are not enough islets for the millions of patients requiring the treatment, and there is also the need to use immunosuppressive drugs to prevent transplant rejection. In 1980, the concept of islet immunoisolation by microencapsulation was introduced as a technique to overcome these 2 major barriers to islet transplantation. Microencapsulation of islets and transplantation in the peritoneal cavity was then described as a bioartificial pancreas. However, it is difficult to retrieve encapsulated islets transplanted in the peritoneal cavity, thus making it difficult to meet all the criteria for a bioartificial pancreas. A new design of a bioartificial pancreas comprising islets co-encapsulated with angiogenic protein in permselective multilayer alginate-poly-L-ornithine-alginate microcapsules and transplanted in an omentum pouch is described in this paper. Materials and Methods The multilayer alginate-poly-L-ornithine-alginate microcapsules are made with ultrapure alginate using poly-L-ornithine as a semipermeable membrane separating the 2 alginate layers. The inner alginate layer is used to encapsulate the islets, and the outer layer is used to encapsulate angiogenic protein, which would induce neovascularization around the graft within the omentum pouch. Results In in vitro studies, we found that both the wild-type and the heparin-binding growth-associated molecule (HBGAM)-fibroblast growth factor-1 chimera can be encapsulated and released in a controlled and sustained manner from the outer alginate layer with a mean diameter in the range of 113 to 164 µm when 1.25% high guluronic acid alginate is used to formulate this outer layer. Discussion We are currently performing in vivo experiments to determine the ability of angiogenic proteins released from this outer layer to induce neovascularization around the grafts in the omentum pouch. We will subsequently examine the effect of co-encapsulation of islets with angiogenic protein on blood glucose control in diabetic animals. It is hoped that addition of tissue engineering to encapsulated islet transplantation will result in long-term survival of the islets and their ability to control blood glucose in type 1 diabetes without the necessity to use risky immunosuppressive drugs to prevent transplant rejection.
Automatic knot adjustment for b-spline smoothing approximation using improved clustering algorithm

Smoothing b-splines constitute a powerful and popular methodology for performing nonparametric regression with high accuracy. It is well known that the placement of the knots in spline smoothing approximation has an important and considerable effect on the behavior of the final approximation. For this purpose, in this paper a novel methodology is presented for optimal placement and selections of knots, in order to approximate or fit curves to data, using smoothing splines. A new method based on improved clustering algorithm is used to optimally select a reduced number of knots for constructing the base of the b-spline, while ensuring the best accuracy.
Myzel - Selforganization in Networked Worlds

Using a Proof of Concept (PoC) of Myzel, we tested a new concept for an online community game. In contrast to existing simulation games Myzel allows the players to negotiate and change the rules of their virtual world. Apart from minor technical restrictions they have to create rules for legislation, resources, economy political organizations and other areas. This should help players to understand the complex inner workings of modern societies. Myzel’s PoC was developed with the help of a small test community using extreme programming techniques. The PoC was tested in a controlled environment as well as in a free scenario. The results proved the validity of the game concept in most aspects. With small adaptations and a state-of-the-art user interface, Myzel should develop a great selforganized virtual society.
Examination of food reward and energy intake under laboratory and free-living conditions in a trait binge eating subtype of obesity

Background/Aims: Trait binge eating has been proposed as a “hedonic subtype” of obesity characterized by enhanced food liking and wanting, and a preference for high-fat sweet foods in the laboratory. The current study examined the influence of trait binge eating in overweight or obese women on eating behavior under laboratory and free-living conditions over a 48-h period. Methods: In a matched pairs design, 24 overweight or obese females (BMI: 30.30 ± 2.60 kg/m2; Age: 25.42 ± 3.65 years) with high or low scores on the Binge Eating Scale (BSE) were divided into one of two groups; Obese Binge (O-B) and Obese Non-binge (O-NB). Energy intake was assessed using combined laboratory energy intake measures and 24-h dietary recall procedures. Liking and wanting were assessed using the Leeds Food Preference Questionnaire (LFPQ). Results: There was a significant association between overall energy consumed, and energy consumed from snack foods under laboratory and free-living conditions. O-B exhibited a greater preference for sweet snack foods in their laboratory and free-living eating behavior. These findings were supported by greater laboratory-based measures of wanting and craving for this food type in O-B. In addition, O-B consumed significantly more energy than their estimated daily energy requirements in the laboratory suggesting that they over-consumed compared to O-NB. Conclusions: The measurement concordance between laboratory and free-living based energy intake supports the validity of laboratory-based test meal methodologies Variation in trait binge eating was associated with increased craving and wanting for high-fat sweet foods and overconsumption in the laboratory. These findings support the use of trait binge eating as a common hedonic subtype of obesity and extend the relevance of this subtype to habitual patterns of energy intake.
Low Power Minimization Technique and Strategies

Low power has emerged as a principal theme in today’s world of natural philosophy industries. Power dissipation has become a vital thought in terms of performance and space for VLSI Chip style. With shrinking technology, reducing power consumption and over all power management on chip area unit the key challenges below 100nm attributable to redoubled complexness. For several styles, improvement of power is vital as temporal arrangement attributable to the necessity to cut back package value and extended battery life. For power management leak current conjointly plays a vital role in low power VLSI styles. Leakage current is turning into an progressively vital fraction of the full power dissipation of integrated circuits. This paper describes regarding the assorted ways, methodologies and power management techniques for low power circuits and systems. A future challenge that has got to be met to style an occasional power high performance circuits are mentioned.
Quantifying the mechanical properties of polymeric tubing and scaffold using atomic force microscopy and nanoindentation

Measurement of mechanical parameters of polymeric scaffolds presents a significant challenge due to their intricate shape and small characteristics dimensions of their elements – around 100μm. In this study, mechanical properties of polymeric tubing and scaffold, made of biodegradable poly (l-lactic) acid (PLLA), were characterised using atomic force microscopy (AFM) and nanoindentation, complemented with tensile testing. AFM was employed to assess the properties of the tube and scaffold locally, whilst nanoindentation produced results with a dependency on the depth of indentation. As a result, the AFM-measured elastic modulus differs from the nanoindentation data due to a substantial difference in indentation depth between the two methods. With AFM, a modulus between 2 and 2.5 GPa was measured, while a wide range was obtained from nanoindentation on both the tube and scaffold, depending on the indentation scale. Changes in the elastic modulus with in-vitro degradation and ageing were observed over the one-year period. To complement the indentation measurements, tensile testing was used to study the structural behaviour of the tube, demonstrating the yielding, hardening and fracture properties of the material.
Microencapsulation of paracetamol using polyacrylate resins (Eudragit Retard), kinetics of drug release and evaluation of kinetic model

Methacrylate copolymers were used for microencapsulation of paracetamol by phase separation from chloroform with polyisobutylene 6% in cyclohexane. With polyisobutylene as an anti‐aggregating agent, high quality microcapsules were obtained. Drug release appeared to fit both first order and Higuchi matrix model kinetics. However, on application of the differential rate treatment, the evidence supported the first order description, which was further supported by computed simulations of the models. Variation of production conditions showed that increasing the proportion of core material raised the microcapsule drug content and the release rate. Reduction of core particle size correlated with reduced coating thickness and faster release rate. The rate constants correlated with the estimated surface areas and wall thicknesses of the various batches. The data were used to estimate an apparent permeability constant for paracetamol in Eudragit RS microcapsules, which was constant and comparable with values found single core, non‐aggregated microcapsules containing other similar drugs and different wall materials.
Dynamic Decision Model using Partially Observable Markov Decision Process

:- Dynamic decision making in partially observable and stochastic environment is still one of the challenging problem. Reinforcement learning is generic method for analyzing environment for taking actions on trial and error basis. In this paper, we are using the most widely accepted mathematical model of reinforcement learning i.e. Markov Decision Process (MDP) for dynamic decision making. Using state, action, transition probability and reward function, it can model the decision policies. We are using partially observable MDP having belief states to resolve the state from current observation.
Configuring global software teams: a multi-company analysis of project productivity, quality, and profits

In this paper, we examined the impact of project-level configurational choices of globally distributed software teams on project productivity, quality, and profits. Our analysis used data from 362 projects of four different firms. These projects spanned a wide range of programming languages, application domain, process choices, and development sites spread over 15 countries and 5 continents. Our analysis revealed fundamental tradeoffs in choosing configurational choices that are optimized for productivity, quality, and/or profits. In particular, achieving higher levels of productivity and quality require diametrically opposed configurational choices. In addition, creating imbalances in the expertise and personnel distribution of project teams significantly helps increase profit margins. However, a profit-oriented imbalance could also significantly affect productivity and/or quality outcomes. Analyzing these complex tradeoffs, we provide actionable managerial insights that can help software firms and their clients choose configurations that achieve desired project outcomes in globally distributed software development.
Non-Sinusoidal Activity Can Produce Cross-Frequency Coupling in Cortical Signals in the Absence of Functional Interaction between Neural Sources

The analysis of cross-frequency coupling (CFC) has become popular in studies involving intracranial and scalp EEG recordings in humans. It has been argued that some cases where CFC is mathematically present may not reflect an interaction of two distinct yet functionally coupled neural sources with different frequencies. Here we provide two empirical examples from intracranial recordings where CFC can be shown to be driven by the shape of a periodic waveform rather than by a functional interaction between distinct sources. Using simulations, we also present a generalized and realistic scenario where such coupling may arise. This scenario, which we term waveform-dependent CFC, arises when sharp waveforms (e.g., cortical potentials) occur in a periodic manner throughout parts of the data. Since the waveforms are repeated periodically, they constitute a slow wave that is inherently phase-aligned with the high-frequency component carried by the same waveforms. We submit that such behavior of the data, which seems to be present in various cortical signals, cannot be interpreted as reflecting functional modulation between distinct neural sources without additional evidence. In addition, we show that even low amplitude periodic potentials that cannot be readily observed or controlled for, are sufficient for significant CFC to occur.
Basic Science for the Clinician 56: Inducible T-cell Costimulator—The World of Costimulation Gets More Complicated…and Interesting

AbstractThey say that nothing is assured in this world but change. And this applies in a cynical way to immunology: nothing is assured—we can never rest with an assumption that we know it all because there are always more apparent complications when analyzing immune mechanisms (someday, perhaps we will arrive on a “grand scheme” that elegantly explains it all, just as our brethren in particle physics seek the Higgs boson and the completion of a better model—I am not holding my breath awaiting completion of our task! ). In a recent article in this series, we explored CTLA4 as a counterregulator of the CD28-CD80/86 costimulatory pathway. However, treatment with CTLA4 does not entirely shutdown the immune system; engineering animals so that the CD28-CD80/86 pathway no longer functions does not prevent functional protective immune responses. Thus, there must be yet another pathway. And there is—an “inducible T-cell costimulator” (ICOS) is found on T cells (activated, not naive), which has a single ligand on antigen-presenting cells (ICOS ligand, B7-RP-1). The rapid induction of ICOS speaks to its importance in T-cell function; however, ICOS is more relevant to the stimulation of effector and memory T cells than is CD28 signaling. There are similarities and differences, interactions, and overlaps between the 2 pathways, some of which are very useful in understanding the immunopathogenesis of immune diseases.
An Intrusion Detection System for Gigabit Networks -Architecture and an example system

The aim of this work is to investigate the effectiveness of a finite state machine (FSM) based string-matching scheme for the implementation of high-speed network intrusion detection systems. The work uses standard RAM based techniques for the FSM implementation, but provides a per-FSM input stream consisting of symbols representing multi-byte patterns that appear in the input data. Multiple search strings are processed in parallel using multiple FSMs. This pre-FSM classification stage is used to reduce the redundancy in the input data stream (as seen by an individual FSM) and hence allows a FSM to be implemented with relatively small resources that is able to operate on multiple bytes per clock cycle. The benefit of this approach is that in operating on a relatively large number of input data bits per clock cycle, we are able to cope with an increased network throughput. An example architecture is described along with an associated compiler. The compiler takes a set of intrusion detection rules, generates the various tables required for system implementation and also provides a high level simulation against some simple synthesised network data. Resource utilisation is presented for a range of input word sizes.
Effect of denture cleansers and accelerated aging on the color stability of maxillofacial silicone: An in vitro study

Aim: Evaluate the effect of denture cleansers and accelerated aging on the color stability of a commercially available maxillofacial silicone. Materials and Methods: A commercially available maxillofacial silicone cosmesil M511 was mixed according to manufacturer's instruction with the incorporation of three pigments, namely, Burnt sienna, Hansa Yellow, and Alizarin red and packed into the stone molds prepared using metal dies according to ASTM standards. After processing, initial color measurement was carried out 72 h following processing using a spectrophotometer. The samples were later subjected to disinfection and accelerated aging for 504 h and 1008 h following which color measurement was carried out. The results were analyzed using one-way ANOVA and Tukey's multiple comparison test (P < 0.001). Results: There was a statistically significant difference in the color stability of the silicone samples pigmented with Hansa Yellow than with Burnt Sienna and Alizarin Red after disinfection and 504 h of accelerated aging. Silicone samples disinfected with Fittydent denture cleanser showed better color stability than samples disinfected with neutral soap. There was a statistically significant difference in the color stability of the samples after 1008 h of accelerated aging irrespective of pigmentation and disinfection method. Conclusions: Silicone samples pigmented with Hansa Yellow had greater color stability than the samples pigmented with other two pigments after disinfection and 504 h of accelerated aging. After 1008 h of aging, all samples showed poor color stability irrespective of pigmentation and disinfection method.
Meta-analysis reveals evolution in invasive plant species but little support for Evolution of Increased Competitive Ability (EICA)

Ecological explanations for the success and persistence of invasive species vastly outnumber evolutionary hypotheses, yet evolution is a fundamental process in the success of any species. The Evolution of Increased Competitive Ability (EICA) hypothesis (Blossey and Nötzold 1995) proposes that evolutionary change in response to release from coevolved herbivores is responsible for the success of many invasive plant species. Studies that evaluate this hypothesis have used different approaches to test whether invasive populations allocate fewer resources to defense and more to growth and competitive ability than do source populations, with mixed results. We conducted a meta-analysis of experimental tests of evolutionary change in the context of EICA. In contrast to previous reviews, there was no support across invasive species for EICA's predictions regarding defense or competitive ability, although invasive populations were more productive than conspecific native populations under noncompetitive conditions. We found broad support for genetically based changes in defense and competitive plant traits after introduction into new ranges, but not in the manner suggested by EICA. This review suggests that evolution occurs as a result of plant introduction and population expansion in invasive plant species, and may contribute to the invasiveness and persistence of some introduced species.
A reduction from parity games to simple stochastic games

Games on graphs provide a natural model for reactive non-terminating systems. In such games, the interaction of two players on an arena results in an infinite path that describes a run of the system. Different settings are used to model various open systems in computer science, as for instance turn-based or concurrent moves, and deterministic or stochastic transitions. In this paper, we are interested in turn-based games, and specifically in deterministic parity games and stochastic reachability games (also known as simple stochastic games). We present a simple, direct and efficient reduction from deterministic parity games to simple stochastic games: it yields an arena whose size is linear up to a logarithmic factor in size of the original arena.
Development and Analysis of Blended Pineapple-Watermelon Ready To Drink (RTD) Juice.

The physicochemical properties of juice from pineapple and watermelon and their ready to drink (RTD) blends were carried out. The % watermelon juice and pineapple juice of each formulation (v/v) were BL1 (70:30), BL2 (60:40), BL3 (50:50), BL4 (30:70) and BL5 (40:60). The standards were done without blending the two juices SPJ (100% standard pineapple juice) and SWJ (100% standard watermelon juice). The results of the analysis of Vitamin C content (mg/g) gave 125.26 in SWJ, 38.90 in SPJ, 111.58 in BL1, 98.94 BL2, 86.31 BL3, 72.63 BL4 and 84.21 BL5 respectively. The vitamin C content of the RTD blends increase with high proportion of SWJ. The results revealed that all the blends especially 70:30 (watermelon: pineapple) gave an improved composition in terms of the physicochemical properties determined. Keywords: Physicochemical, blends, ready to drink, pineapple, watermelon, juice, vitamin C
Probabilistic analysis of CAN with faults

As CANs (controller area networks) are being increasingly used in safety-critical applications, there is a need for accurate predictions of failure probability. In this paper we provide a general probabilistic schedulability analysis technique which is applied specifically to CANs to determine the effect of random network faults on the response times of messages. The resultant probability distribution of response times can be used to provide probabilistic guarantees of real-time behaviour in the presence of faults. The analysis is designed to have as little pessimism as possible but never be optimistic. Through simulations, this is shown to be the case. It is easy to apply and can provide useful evidence for justification of an event-triggered bus in a critical system.
Cost-optimisation of screening for latent tuberculosis in close contacts

We read with great interest the article by DIEL et al. [1] in a recent issue of the European Respiratory Journal. We believe that the authors have been successful in modelling and analysing the cost of alternatives for tuberculosis (TB) contact investigation. Nevertheless, we have some hesitation regarding a simplifying assumption that the authors have made in the follow-up of subjects after a positive screening test.
Geometric descriptor for bag of visual words-based place recognition

Bayesian pattern recognition is a natural companion for graph-based simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) due to its ability to come up with high quality place matches based solely on image data, completely eschewing metric information. Recent SLAM-like approaches such as fast appearance-based mapping (FAB-MAP) [1] are very effective information filters, with the ability to provide place matching data in real-time to a very high degree of accuracy. In this study, the strong foundations of FAB-MAP and bag of visual words-based place recognition are refined to include geometric information directly into the image descriptor. To demonstrate the practicality of such an approach, the new descriptor type was incorporated into a full real-time graph-based SLAM stack. In experiments, places are recognized at a rate of 14% in a series of experiments performed in challenging, visually monotonous environments, compared to the 9% rate obtained by the direct application of OpenFABMAP to the same data set [2]. The system played an instrumental role in maintaining map integrity, without which SLAM would not have been possible.