Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Compared in vivo toxicity in mice of lung delivered biodegradable and non-biodegradable nanoparticles

Abstract To design nanoparticle (NP)-based drug delivery systems for pulmonary administration, biodegradable materials are considered safe, but their potential toxicity is poorly explored. We here explore the lung toxicity in mice of biodegradable nanoparticles (NPs) and compare it to the toxicity of non-biodegradable ones. NP formulations of poly(d,l-lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) coated with chitosan (CS), poloxamer 188 (PF68) or poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA), which renders 200 nm NPs of positive, negative or neutral surface charge respectively, were analyzed for their biodistribution by in vivo fluorescence imaging and their inflammatory potential after single lung nebulization in mice. After exposure, analysis of bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) cell population, protein secretion and cytokine release as well as lung histology were carried out. The inflammatory response was compared to the one induced by non-biodegradable counterparts, namely, TiO2 of rutile and anatase crystal form and polystyrene (PS). PLGA NPs were mostly present in mice lungs, with little passage to other organs. An increase in neutrophil recruitment was observed in mice exposed to PS NPs 24 h after nebulization, which declined at 48 h. This result was supported by an increase in interleukin (IL)-6 and tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα) in BAL supernatant at 24 h. TiO2 anatase NPs were still present in lung cells 48 h after nebulization and induced the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines and the recruitment of polymorphonuclear cells to BAL. In contrast, regardless of their surface charge, PLGA NPs did not induce significant changes in the inflammation markers analyzed. In conclusion, these results point out to a safe use of PLGA NPs regardless of their surface coating compared to non-biodegradable ones.
Knowledge Acquisition from EPC Models for Extraction of Process Patterns in Engineering Domains

This paper presents an approach for the automated extraction of process patterns from Event-driven Process Chain (EPC) models in engineering domains. The manually extraction of process patterns (semantically described reference building blocks) is a labor-intensive, tedious and cumbersome task. The introduced approach comprises the three stages knowledge acquisition, process pattern extraction and generic pattern construction that are conducted automated. The presented approach is characterized by exploiting the implicit semantics of natural language terms associated with EPC model elements. Semantic patterns are employed to analyze the lexical structure of these terms and to relate them to instances of a reference ontology. Thus semantically annotated EPC model elements are input for subsequent process pattern extraction. The semantic annotation allows during pattern extraction to identify process goals of EPC functions and to organize goals into hierarchies. During generic process pattern construction, common goals of different process patterns give rise to construct generic process patterns.
Solving the Prize-Collecting Steiner Tree Problem to Optimality

The Prize-Collecting Steiner Tree Problem (PCST) on a graph with edge costs and vertex profits asks for a subtree minimizing the sum of the total cost of all edges in the subtree plus the total profit of all vertices not contained in the subtree. PCST appears in the design of utility networks (eg. fiber optics or district heating) where profit generating customers and the network connecting them have to be chosen in the most profitable way. Our main contribution is an efficient implementation using a directed graph model and connectivity inequalities corresponding to cuts in the graph. This enables us to efficiently separate sets of violated inequalities using a maximum flow algorithm. Our implementation solves all benchmark instances from the literature to optimality, including eight for which the optimum was not known. We also present optimal results on very large real world instances that represent fiber optic networks in a German city.
Peripheral feedback effects of facial expressions, bodily postures, and vocal expressions on emotional feelings

The purpose of this study was to examine the feedback effects of three modalities of emotional expression on emotional experience. Facial expressions, bodily postures, and vocal expressions of anger, sadness, fear, and happiness were manipulated under disguised conditions in a sample of 52 undergraduate students. After each manipulation, participants rated their feelings of anger, sadness, fear, happiness, disgust, and surprise on 11-point scales. Results indicated that: (1) facial expressions and bodily postures tended to produce specific, categorical effects on emotional feelings (the effects of vocal expressions were inconsistent); (2) the magnitudes of effects produced by facial expressions tended to be stronger than those of bodily postures, which tended to exceed those of vocal expressions; and (3) responsiveness to self-produced cues of emotion was consistent across the three modalities of expression.
Development of a research tool to enable children to describe their engagement in occupation

Abstract The meaning that individuals attach to events and experiences can affect their engagement and performance in occupations. For preschool children this has the capacity to affect development. Little is known about how preschool children view their engagement in occupation. This study aimed to investigate whether a research tool could be devised to enable preschool children to provide information on their engagement in occupation. Interviews were undertaken with four allied health professionals who work with preschool children. The interviews explored methods and strategies used to communicate with preschool children and how they might be utilised to enable preschool children to provide qualitative information about their engagement in occupation. From analysis of the recorded interviews four different discussion categories were established: Barriers to communication, methods and strategies, the research environment, and recording. A number of recommendations are made with regard to the future devel.
Learning Spontaneity to Improve Emotion Recognition In Speech

We investigate the effect and usefulness of spontaneity in speech (i.e. whether a given speech data is spontaneous or not) in the context of emotion recognition. We hypothesize that emotional content in speech is interrelated with its spontaneity, and thus propose to use spontaneity classification as an auxiliary task to the problem of emotion recognition. We propose two supervised learning settings that utilize spontaneity to improve speech emotion recognition: a hierarchical model that performs spontaneity detection before performing emotion recognition, and a multitask learning model that jointly learns to recognize both spontaneity and emotion. Through various experiments on a benchmark database, we show that by using spontaneity as an additional information, significant improvement (3%) can be achieved over systems that are unaware of spontaneity. We also observe that spontaneity information is highly useful in recognizing positive emotions as the recognition accuracy improves by 12%.
Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled efficacy trial of a bivalent recombinant glycoprotein 120 HIV-1 vaccine among injection drug users in Bangkok, Thailand.

BACKGROUND In Thailand, phase 1/2 trials of monovalent subtype B and bivalent subtype B/E (CRF01_AE) recombinant glycoprotein 120 human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) vaccines were successfully conducted from 1995 to 1998, prompting the first HIV-1 vaccine efficacy trial in Asia. METHODS This randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled efficacy trial of AIDSVAX B/E (VaxGen), which included 36-months of follow-up, was conducted among injection drug users (IDUs) in Bangkok, Thailand. The primary end point was HIV-1 infection; secondary end points included plasma HIV-1 load, CD4 cell count, onset of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome-defining conditions, and initiation of antiretroviral therapy. RESULTS A total of 2546 IDUs were enrolled between March 1999 and August 2000; the median age was 26 years, and 93.4% were men. The overall HIV-1 incidence was 3.4 infections/100 person-years (95% confidence interval [CI], 3.0-3.9 infections/100 person-years), and the cumulative incidence was 8.4%. There were no differences between the vaccine and placebo arms. HIV-1 subtype E (83 vaccine and 81 placebo recipients) accounted for 77% of infections. Vaccine efficacy was estimated at 0.1% (95% CI, -30.8% to 23.8%; P=.99, log-rank test). No statistically significant effects of the vaccine on secondary end points were observed. CONCLUSION Despite the successful completion of this efficacy trial, the vaccine did not prevent HIV-1 infection or delay HIV-1 disease progression.
Commentary on The Psychology of Creativity: A Critical Reading by Vlad P. Glăveanu

4P paradigm Inconvenient samples The psychology of creativity is in crisis! This is the assertion of Glăveanu’s thought-provoking and wide-ranging review. The present commentary responds to each of Glăveanu’s six conclusions – supporting some and challenging others – finding much to drive an exciting future of research in creativity. Bold, new and surprising questions do, indeed, need to be asked in this field. Reflection on definitions of creativity is, as Glăveanu asserts, important, but should not divert researchers from moving forward, confident that a consensus does exist. Reductionist approaches in creativity research should not overwhelm attempts to integrate the contributions of the 4Ps as a system. Creativity research should seek out and study inconvenient samples – professional practitioners, for example. Qualitative, theory-building approaches to creativity research need to be encouraged as a counter-balance to quantitative theory-testing. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly for the future health of creativity, researchers need to demonstrate to the wider scientific community the value that creativity brings to other disciplines. If the community of creativity researchers, psychological or otherwise, contributes to Glăveanu’s suggestions for future research, then the fragmentation and dispersion he identifies are, in fact, the seeds of future health.
An Analysis of the Activities of Rural-School Supervisors

During the past decade the task of training rural teachers in service has been undertaken in many states through the appointment of rural-school supervisors working under the direction of the county superintendent of schools. The situation faced by these supervisors has been a difficult one. The average county is more than fifteen hundred square miles in area. It contains on the average eighty-four school buildings, of which sixty-five house one-teacher schools. The average number of teachers per county is 132. Because of their short period of training in rural teacher-training institutions and their meager experience in teaching positions, rural teachers are less capable of self-direction than are teachers in urban schools. In addition to the supervisory duties confronting the rural supervisor, administrative tasks demand much time and attention.
The Israeli Arab extended family and the inner courtyard: a historical portrait

This article presents significant transformations in the social history of the Israeli Arab extended family as reflected in the architectural history of the inner courtyard – once the focal point of the extended family's economic and social life. The article places this socio-architectural perspective within its broad political, economic and demographic contexts. As an interdisciplinary study in the sociology of space, it weaves together anthropological insights regarding social structures and processes and geographical explanations of the rapid changes in the landscape of Israeli Arab villages, towns, and cities.
New Family of Ulvan Lyases Identified in Three Isolates from the Alteromonadales Order*

Ulvan is the main polysaccharide component of the Ulvales (green seaweed) cell wall. It is composed of disaccharide building blocks comprising 3-sulfated rhamnose linked to d-glucuronic acid (GlcUA), l-iduronic acid (IdoUA), or d-xylose (Xyl). The degradation of ulvan requires ulvan lyase, which catalyzes the endolytic cleavage of the glycoside bond between 3-sulfated rhamnose and uronic acid according to a β-elimination mechanism. The first characterized ulvan lyase was identified in Nonlabens ulvanivorans, an ulvanolytic bacterial isolate. In the current study, we have identified and biochemically characterized novel ulvan lyases from three Alteromonadales isolated bacteria. Two homologous ulvan lyases (long and short) were found in each of the bacterial genomes. The protein sequences have no homology to the previously reported ulvan lyases and therefore are the first representatives of a new family of polysaccharide lyases. The enzymes were heterologously expressed in Escherichia coli to determine their mode of action. The heterologous expressed enzymes were secreted into the milieu subsequent to their signal sequence cleavage. An endolytic mode of action was observed and studied using gel permeation chromatography and 1H NMR. In contrast to N. ulvanivorans ulvan lyase, cleavage occurred specifically at the GlcUA residues. In light of the genomic context and modular structure of the ulvan lyase families identified to date, we propose that two ulvan degradation pathways evolved independently.
Rheumatoid arthritis markers : antibodies against citrullinated peptides 37

2 Vilnius University Medical Faculty, Department of Physiology, Biochemistry and Laboratory Medicine, Vilnius, Lithuania The objective of this study is to assess the diagnostic value and to determine the frequency of the ACCP (antibodies against cyclic citrullinated peptides), AKA (antikeratin antibodies), RF-IgA (rheumatoid factor), RF-IgM serological markers in the diagnosis of early rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and to compare the association of these antibodies with disease activity, disease duration and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR). Patients and methods. The analysis involved 115 RA and 40 osteroarthritis patients. Sera from each patient were tested for ACCP and RF isotypes by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and for AKA by indirect immunofluorescence (IIF). Results. 91 (79.1%) sera from 115 patients with RA were ACCP-positive, 55 (47.8%) AKA-positive, 74 (64.3%) RF-IgA-positive and 103 (89.6%) RF-IgMpositive. We determined the diagnostic value of the serological markers for RA. Sensitivity for RA was the highest for the RF-IgM test (89%), followed by the ACCP (79%), RF-IgA (64%) and AKA (48%) tests. The AKA test was less sensitive than the other three tests. The best specificity was achieved with the ACCP test (97%). The specificity of ACCP was significantly higher than that obtained for the AKA (87%), RF-IgA (87%) and RF-IgM (80%) tests. Our study suggests that diagnostic efficacy is the highest when tests for ACCP and RF are used in combination. When used in combination, the ACCP and RF demonstrate a high specificity (100%) for RA. In this study, we found no statistically significant correlation between ACCP, AKA, RF-IgA, RF-IgM and the disease duration, the disease activity and ESR. Conclusions. These results indicate that ACCP is the most specific serological marker of RA and therefore most useful for diagnosis but not for disease monitoring or as a disease activity marker.
Thermal benefit of sibling presence in the newborn rabbit.

Newborn rabbits compete vigorously for the mother's milk, and survivors benefit from littermate deaths. Here we report that rabbit pups also may benefit from littermate presence in terms of increased thermal efficiency. Pups nursed normally once a day by their mother but otherwise raised alone had a lower probability of survival, lower body temperature, and lower efficiency of converting milk into body mass than their siblings raised with littermates. The contribution of a more favorable thermal environment to the better growth and survival of group-raised pups was supported by the finding that single pups raised at higher ambient temperatures grew more rapidly than single pups raised at lower temperatures. These effects were most clearly seen across Days 2 to 5, after which time differences between treatment groups were no longer significant. Thus, the results of this study suggest that the benefits as well as costs of having siblings must be weighed against each other when considering the manner in which sibling presence influences individual development and survival.
An overview of continuous improvement: from the past to the present

– To provide an overview of the history, evolution, and existing research on continuous improvement. , – Extensive review of the literature. , – This paper provides an overview of continuous improvement, its inception, how it evolved into sophisticated methodologies used in organizations today, and existing research in this field in the literature. , – It does not provide an exhaustive review of the existing literature, or an exhaustive list of all continuous improvement programs, only the most well known. , – This paper traces how organizations have used various tools and techniques to address the need for improvement on various levels. The paper also presents research conducted in this field. It should be of value to practitioners of continuous improvement programs and to academics who are interested in how continuous improvement has evolved, and where it is today. To the authors’ knowledge, no recent papers have provided an historical perspective of continuous improvement. Furthermore, our paper also discusses the existing research in this field.
Optimizing Perceived Heaviness and Motion for Lifting Objects with a Power Assist Robot System Considering Change in Time Constant

Abstract Power assist robots are usually used for disabled and elderly people to augment their abilities and skills. This paper proposes to use these robots to handle heavy objects in industries, and thus brings a novelty in the applications of power assist robots. However, it is difficult to optimize perceived heaviness and motion either independently or simultaneously for lifting objects with power-assist. Hence, this paper investigates the techniques to optimize perceived heaviness and motion following bionic and psychophysical approaches. We developed two systems-one was used to lift objects manually, and another was a power assist system to lift objects with it. Several hypotheses and strategies related to weight perception and time constant were adopted. Humans lifted objects manually and with power-assist independently. Analyses showed that load force rate for power-assisted lifting were lower than that for manual lifting. We hypothesized that time constant of the assist system might be responsible for this. We changed time constant and found that increase in time constant reduced perceived heaviness and load force. Then, objects were lifted with power-assist in some selected conditions pertaining to time constant. Analyses showed that perceived heaviness was related to load force rate while object motion (acceleration) was related to load force magnitude. It was then demonstrated how to independently optimize perceived heaviness and motion by optimizing load force rate and its magnitude respectively. Techniques for simultaneous optimization of motion and perceived heaviness were also presented. Finally, we proposed to use the findings to develop power assist robots for manipulating heavy objects in industries that may enhance interactions with humans in terms of maneuverability, safety etc.
The social-pragmatic theory of word learning.

Abstract Some researchers have tried to explain early word learning via garden-variety learning processes and others by invoking linguistically specific "constraints" that help children to narrow down the referential possibilities. The social-pragmatic approach to word learning argues that children do not need specifically linguistic constraints to learn words, but rather what they need are flexible and powerful social-cognitive skills that allow them to understand the communicative intentions of others in a wide variety of interactive situations. A series of seven word learning studies demonstrate something of the range of communicative situations in which children can learn new words. These situations include many non-ostensive contexts in which no one is intentionally teaching the child a new word and the intended referent is not perceptually present at the time of the new word's introduction. Language acquisition in general, and word learning in particular, is best seen as a special case of cultural learning in which children attempt to discern adults' intentions toward their intentions toward things in the world. Keywords: Word Learning, Lexical Development, Pragmatics, Intentionality
Choice Based on Reasons: The Case of Attraction and Compromise Effects

Building on previous research, this article proposes that choice behavior under preference uncertainty may be easier to explain by assuming that consumers select the alternative supported by the best reasons. This approach provides an explanation for the so-called attraction effect and leads to the prediction of a compromise effect. Consistent with the hypotheses, the results indicate that (1) brands tend to gain share when they become compromise alternatives in a choice set; (2) attraction and compromise effects tend to be stronger among subjects who expect to justify their decisions to others; and (3) selections of dominating and compromise brands are associated with more elaborate and difficult decisions.
Adaptive dynamic balance of a biped robot using neural networks

An adaptive dynamic balance scheme was implemented and tested on an experimental biped. The control scheme used pre-planned but adaptive motion sequences. CMAC neural networks were responsible for the adaptive control of side-to-side and front-to-back balance, as well as for maintaining good foot contact. Qualitative and quantitative test results show that the biped performance improved with neural network training. The biped is able to start and stop on demand, and to walk with continuous motion on flat surfaces at a rate of up to 100 steps per minute, with up to 6 cm long step.
Robust distributed state estimation for a networked dynamical system

Robust distributed state estimation is investigated in this paper for a networked dynamical system composed of many subsystems interacting with each other. The explicit and recursive expressions for the pseudo covariance matrix of the prediction errors and the update gains for each individual subsystem are derived, then the robust distributed state predictor is realized under the coordination of a collaboration unit. Numerical simulations show that the obtained robust distributed state estimator has nice estimation performances than that only based on the nominal parameters.