Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Informal Learning Theories and Tools to Support Knowledge Management in Distributed CoPs

In this work informal learning theories and practices and social networking features are taken as starting points to build a reference collaboration model to support collaborative knowledge construction in Distributed Communities of Practices. Sample web 2.0 applications to fit the collaboration model purposes are then described. The provided model can give contribution to the design and to the improvement of a specific collaborative virtual environment to support knowledge management in DCoP.
Suppressive Effects of Leflunomide on Leptin-Induced Collagen I Production Involved in Hepatic Stellate Cell Proliferation

In this manuscript, we showed that following a fibrogenic stimulus of leptin, hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) underwent a complex activation process characterized by increased proliferation and excessive deposition of type I collagen. Studies with special chemical inhibitors demonstrated that this process involved Janus protein tyrosine kinase (JAK)/signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT), mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK), and phosphatidylinositol 3-linase (PI3K)/Protein kinase B (AKT) signal pathways. Leflunomide pretreatment significantly inhibited the deposition of type I collagen in HSCs and the proliferation of primary HSC by interrupting the three proliferative signal transduction pathways in vitro, which was indicated by [3H]thymidine incorporation and cell cycle analysis. Furthermore, leptin-induced cyclin D1 protein expression, which correlates well with HSC proliferation, was also significantly inhibited by leflunomide. On the other hand, leflunomide also prevented leptin-induced Kupffer cell (KC) activation and HSC collagen synthesis induced by KC-conditioned medium (KCCM). Collectively, these results provided a novel insight into the mechanisms by which leflunomide may exert in liver fibrosis.
A numerical study of SSP time integration methods for hyperbolic conservation laws

The method of lines approach for solving hyperbolic conservation laws is based on the idea of splitting the discretization process in two stages. First, the spatial discretization is performed by leaving the system continuous in time. This approximation is usually developed in a non-oscillatory manner with a satisfactory spatial accuracy. The obtained semi-discrete system of ordinary differential equations (ODE) is then solved by using some standard time integration method. However, not all of them give satisfactory results. In the last few years, a series of papers appeared, dealing with the high order strong stability preserving (SSP) time integration methods that maintain the total variation diminishing (TVD) property of the first order forward Euler method. In this work the optimal SSP Runge{; ; ; Kutta methods of di®erent order are considered in combination with the ¯nite volume weighted essentially non-oscillatory (WENO) discretization. Furthermore, a new semi{; ; ; implicit WENO scheme is presented and its properties in combination with different optimal implicit SSP Runge{; ; ; Kutta methods are studied. Analysis is made on linear and nonlinear scalar equations and on Euler equations for gas dynamics.
Induction of ATF3 Gene Network by Triglyceride-Rich Lipoprotein Lipolysis Products Increases Vascular Apoptosis and Inflammation

Objective—Elevation of triglyceride-rich lipoproteins (TGRLs) contributes to the risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. Our work has shown that TGRL lipolysis products in high physiological to pathophysiological concentrations cause endothelial cell injury; however, the mechanisms remain to be delineated. Approach and Results—We analyzed the transcriptional signaling networks in arterial endothelial cells exposed to TGRL lipolysis products. When human aortic endothelial cells in culture were exposed to TGRL lipolysis products, activating transcription factor 3 (ATF3) was identified as a principal response gene. Induction of ATF3 mRNA and protein was confirmed by quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction and Western blot respectively. Immunofluorescence analysis showed that ATF3 accumulated in the nuclei of cells treated with lipolysis products. Nuclear expression of phosphorylated c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), previously shown to be an initiator of the ATF3 signaling cascade, also was demonstrated. Small interfering RNA (siRNA)–mediated inhibition of ATF3 blocked lipolysis products–induced transcription of E-selectin and interleukin-8, but not interleukin-6 or nuclear factor-&kgr;B. c-Jun, a downstream protein in the JNK pathway, was phosphorylated, whereas expression of nuclear factor-&kgr;B–dependent JunB was downregulated. Additionally, JNK siRNA suppressed ATF3 and p-c-Jun protein expression, suggesting that JNK is upstream of the ATF3 signaling pathway. In vivo studies demonstrated that infusion of TGRL lipolysis products into wild-type mice induced nuclear ATF3 accumulation in carotid artery endothelium. ATF3−/− mice were resistant to vascular apoptosis precipitated by treatment with TGRL lipolysis products. Also peripheral blood monocytes isolated from postprandial humans had increased ATF3 expression as compared with fasting monocytes. Conclusions—This study demonstrates that TGRL lipolysis products activate ATF3-JNK transcription factor networks and induce endothelial cells inflammatory response.
The changing face of mastectomy: an oncologic and cosmetic perspective.

BACKGROUND The history of surgical treatment of breast cancer is rich with contributions from many surgeons over the centuries. Among the recent advances in technique is the nipple-sparing mastectomy, which reflects the emerging focus on cosmetic outcomes. METHODS We took a backward glance at the literature illustrating the evolution of surgical management of breast cancer, culminating with nipple-sparing mastectomy. The growing clinical data with nipple-sparing mastectomy are explored. RESULTS The demand for nipple-sparing mastectomy has been steadily increasing at many institutions. Based on the clinical data reported, nipple-sparing mastectomy is an oncologically safe procedure for selected women who have or are at high risk for breast cancer. CONCLUSIONS For women facing mastectomy and their surgeons, the optimal aesthetic result centers on preservation of the nipple. However, nipple-sparing mastectomy is technically challenging, with long-term safety not yet confirmed. Evidence-based data are needed to document local tumor recurrence, distant metastasis, cosmetic outcomes, patient satisfaction, and procedural complications.
High density polyethylene (HDPE) containers as an alternative to polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles for solar disinfection of drinking water in northern region, Ghana

The purpose of this study is to investigate the technical feasibility of high density polyethylene (HDPE) containers as an alternative to polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles for the solar disinfection of drinking water in the Northern Region of Ghana, in a process know as SOLAIR. This study is in line with the intention of Pure Home Water, a registered non-profit organization in Ghana, to offer a variety of low-cost household water treatment and safe storage (HWTS) products as it continues to grow, including the possibility of offering a solar disinfection product in the future. If successful, SOLAIR is practically advantageous over SODIS, which uses smaller PET bottles, chiefly due to the ability to use a larger water container (2-25L), and one that is more likely to be available in a rural setting, given the widespread use of HDPE jerry cans as water collection and storage vessels in many developing countries. The main idea behind the SOLAIR system is to keep high dissolved oxygen (DO) levels in the water which, in turn, enhances disinfection. A study done by Meyer et al. (2000), in South Africa, showed that regular shaking of the water-filled HDPE container keeps DO at sufficiently high levels to augment disinfection. The SOLAIR results, using 10L translucent HDPE containers, obtained in Tamale, Ghana over the month of January, 2007, show that complete solar disinfection of water over the course of 7 consecutive hours of solar exposure, did not take place. It is believed that the primary reason for the low degree of disinfection is the scattering and absorption of UV radiation by the aerosol particles present in the seasonal Harmattan (Sahara dust) haze, which thereby reduces the amount of UV light that reaches the earth’s surface. Using radiation measurements, obtained in Tamale, a model relating the solar radiation intensity versus NASA’s OMI Aerosol Index (AI), which is a measure of the amount of particulates in the atmosphere, was derived. Another key conclusion suggested by this study is that shaking does not increase the DO concentration in the SOLAIR water to sufficient levels, if at all, to augment photo-oxidative disinfection, due to the fact that the oxygen level of the sample water was already near saturation. Laboratory tests performed substantiate this claim. In brief, this solar disinfection process, using translucent 10L HDPE containers, in January in Northern Region, Ghana, does not produce a safe drinking water. Thesis Supervisor: Susan Murcott Title: Senior Lecturer of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Deterministic Mechanisms Are Optimal in Standard Principal – Agent Models

This paper invalidates the claim that a decreasing concavity of the agent’s utility function with type guarantees the optimality of deterministic mechanisms in principal–agent settings with adverse selection and quasi– linear utilities. Subsequently, it readdresses the question of the optimality of deterministic mechanisms. It demonstrates that an optimal deterministic mechanism is optimal among all stochastic mechanisms whenever it exhibits no bunching. In “standard” principal–agent models no bunching is often obtained or assumed.
Practical perspectives on software architectures, high-level design, and evolution

Evolving software gets more complex in each increment. As real-life increments tend to be additive rather than upgrades with more fundamental purpose, the underlying code base keeps extending. With such increments, the associated core architecture of the system gets more and more difficult to modify, because an increasing number of functions are attached to it. Therefore, only the first versions of systems can be properly architected, whereas later versions rely on an already existing architecture into which new features are reflected as change requests. Due to this reason, architecture and high-level design in the scope of evolved software systems becomes primarily impact analysis and reengineering, and only secondarily design of new software artifacts, especially when considering large systems that have a long history. Every now and then, however, it may be possible to upgrade very core structures of a system, resulting in a new generation of the system. Understanding of these basic phenomena gives rise to practices that compensate the increase of complexity of software during software evolution.
Electroactive polymer actuators with carbon aerogel electrodes

Electromechanically active polymers (EAPs) change their shape in response to the voltage stimulus. They can be used as actuators or sensors. Several researchers have introduced different materials and assembling methods for EAPs. It is generally accepted that the porous structure of electrodes with possibly high specific surface area can greatly improve the actuation performance. In this paper, carbon aerogel is introduced as a new material for fabrication of nanoporous electrodes for EAP actuators. Using the direct assembly process (DAP), carbon–ionic liquid EAPs with either activated or non-activated carbon aerogel electrodes are prepared and analyzed. Their electrochemical and electromechanical characteristics are presented and compared to our recently reported actuators based on carbide-derived carbon and activated carbon electrodes. The results show that our newly developed actuators with activated carbon aerogel electrodes and non-activated carbon aerogel electrodes have maximum strains of 1.2% and 1.3%, respectively, which are comparable to the parameters reported previously for carbide-derived carbon and activated carbon based actuators and also to any other low-voltage driven EAP actuators.
Indexes and Algorithms for Scalable and Flexible Instant Overview Search

There is an increasing interest on recommending to the user instantly (during typing characters) queries and query results. This is evidenced by the emergence of several systems that offer such functionalities (e.g. Google Instant Search, Facebook for social searching, IMDB for movie searching, etc). In this thesis we consider more informative recommendations based on various precomputed aggregated information. Such recommendations can accommodate the products of various services like autocompletion, search-as-you-type, results clustering, faceted search, entity mining, etc. The instant presentation of these recommendations helps the user (a) to discover fast what is popular among other users, (b) to decide fast which (of the suggested) query completions to use, and (c) to decide what hits of the returned answer to inspect. In this thesis we focus on making this feasible (scalable) and flexible. Regarding scalability we elaborate on an approach based on precomputed information and we comparatively evaluate various triebased index structures for making real-time interaction feasible, even if the size of the available memory space is limited. For improving the throughput that can be served we analyze and experimentally evaluate various caching policies. We report performance results over a server running on a modest personal computer (with 3 GB main memory) that provides instant services (in less than 140 ms) for millions of distinct queries and terabytes of precomputed information. As regards flexibility, in order to reduce user’s effort and to increase the exploitation of the precomputed information, we elaborate on how the recommendations can tolerate different word orders and spelling errors, assuming the proposed trie-based index structures. The experimental results revealed that such functionality significantly increases the number of recommendations especially for queries that contain several words. Euret ria kai Algìrijmoi gia Klimak ̧simh kai Euèlikth StigmiaÐa Episkopik Anaz thsh
Protection of Mice against Sendai Virus Pneumonia by Non‐Neutralizing Anti‐F Monoclonal Antibodies

Nine monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) directed to F protein of Sendai virus were obtained and characterized for their protective ability against Sendai virus infection in mice. None of the MAbs showed hemagglutination‐inhibition (HI), hemolysis‐inhibition (HLI), or neutralization (NT) activities in vitro when assayed by standard methods. Some of the MAbs, however, showed complement‐requiring NT (C‐NT) and complement‐requiring hemolysis (C‐HL) activities when assayed in the presence of complement. Passive immunization experiments revealed that the MAbs with higher C‐NT and C‐HL activities showed protective activity against Sendai virus pneumonia in mice, and that some MAbs with IgGl isotype having neither C‐NT nor C‐HL activity also showed the protective activity. Digestion of the MAbs with pepsin which split immunoglobulin molecules into F(ab')2 and Fc fragments greatly suppressed the protective activity. These results suggest that not only complement‐mediated immunological responses such as immune virolysis but also antibody‐dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) and/or immune phagocytosis, in which complement system is not necessarily involved. play an important role in the protection of mice from Sendai virus infection.
Log-Gabor Energy Based Multimodal Medical Image Fusion in NSCT Domain

Multimodal medical image fusion is a powerful tool in clinical applications such as noninvasive diagnosis, image-guided radiotherapy, and treatment planning. In this paper, a novel nonsubsampled Contourlet transform (NSCT) based method for multimodal medical image fusion is presented, which is approximately shift invariant and can effectively suppress the pseudo-Gibbs phenomena. The source medical images are initially transformed by NSCT followed by fusing low- and high-frequency components. The phase congruency that can provide a contrast and brightness-invariant representation is applied to fuse low-frequency coefficients, whereas the Log-Gabor energy that can efficiently determine the frequency coefficients from the clear and detail parts is employed to fuse the high-frequency coefficients. The proposed fusion method has been compared with the discrete wavelet transform (DWT), the fast discrete curvelet transform (FDCT), and the dual tree complex wavelet transform (DTCWT) based image fusion methods and other NSCT-based methods. Visually and quantitatively experimental results indicate that the proposed fusion method can obtain more effective and accurate fusion results of multimodal medical images than other algorithms. Further, the applicability of the proposed method has been testified by carrying out a clinical example on a woman affected with recurrent tumor images.
The behavior of screw dislocations dynamically emitted from the tip of a surface crack during loading and unloading

The behavior of screw dislocations dynamically emitted from the tip of a surface crack during loading and unloading has been investigated using a discrete dislocation model. The critical stress intensity factor at the crack tip for dislocation emission is a function of friction stress, core radius of dislocation, and dislocations near the crack tip. During motion, the velocity of dislocation is assumed to be proportional to the effective shear stress to the third power. The effect of crack length and friction stress on dislocation distributions, plastic zone, and dislocation-free zone during loading and unloading was examined.
3D Cell Culture: A Review

Over the last decade, a central focus of drug discovery efforts has been the incorporation of in vitro testing models that better mimic in vivo conditions found within the target patient. An initial step saw a move away from biochemical assays using purified drug target, in favor of a cell-based approach which utilized over-expression of drug target in common host cell lines, such as CHO and HEK-293. The quest for greater physiological relevance proceeded to the use of primary cells, preferably human if supply was adequate, and the reliance on endogenous expression of drug target should detection technology be sensitive enough. A large percentage of these cell types, being naturally adherent, allowed simple culturing workflows that seeded cells in a coated microplate well, incubating the microplate to encourage the cells to attach in a two dimensional (2D) monolayer before performing the prescribed assay. While providing initial improvements over biochemical and immortalized cell lines, an abundance of evidence now supports the reality that culturing cells in this 2D manner is often problematic and is a relatively poor model for in vivo conditions and behaviors. Using a 2D model, attrition rates of drug candidates for cancer were approximately 95%1, stemming from in vitro drug efficacy values that did not translate to the clinic, as well as unforeseen toxicity issues. In 2011 alone, out of approximately 900 anti-cancer therapies in clinical trials or under Federal Drug Administration review2, only twelve achieved approval3; resulting in the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars that were spent on pre-clinical and clinical trials. The reason for these shortfalls can be traced to using conventional 2D conditions, where extracellular matrix (ECM) components, cell-to-cell and cell-to-matrix interactions, important for differentiation, proliferation and cellular functions in vivo, are lost4. Brad Larson, Senior Applications Scientist, Applications Department, BioTek Instruments, Inc., Winooski, VT
Prevalence and Patterns of Multi-Morbidity in Serbian Adults: A Cross-Sectional Study

Introduction Like many developing countries, Serbia is facing a growing burden of chronic diseases. Within such public health issue, multi-morbidity requires a special attention. Aims This study investigated the prevalence of multi-morbidity in the Serbia population and assessed the co-occurrence of chronic diseases by age and gender. Methods We analyzed data from the 2013 National Health Survey, which included 13,103 individuals ≥ 20 years old. Multi-morbidity patterns were identified by exploratory factor analysis of data on self-reported chronic diseases, as well as data on measured body weight and height. The analysis was stratified by age and gender. Results Multi-morbidity was present in nearly one-third of respondents (26.9%) and existed in all age groups, with the highest prevalence among individuals aged 65 years and older (47.2% of men and 65.0% of women). Six patterns of multi-morbidity were identified: non-communicable, cardio-metabolic, respiratory, cardiovascular, aggregate, and mechanical/mental/metabolic. The non-communicable pattern was observed in both genders but only in the 20–44 years age group, while the aggregate pattern occurred only in middle-aged men. Cardio-metabolic and respiratory patterns were present in all age groups. Cardiovascular and mechanical/mental/metabolic patterns showed similar presentation in both men and women. Conclusions Multi-morbidity is a common occurrence among adults in Serbia, especially in the elderly. While several patterns may be explained by underlying pathophysiologies, some require further investigation and follow-up. Recognizing the complexity of multi-morbidity in Serbia is of great importance from both clinical and preventive perspectives given that it affects one-third of the population and may require adjustment of the healthcare system to address the needs of affected individuals.
Zinc Status in Hair Samples and Common Neurodevelopmental Disorders

Zinc status is an important modifiable factor in Attention Deficit and Hyperactive Disorders (ADHD) and Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD), the two most common neurodevelopmental disorders. Many studies reported low serum or plasma zinc level in children with these conditions. While hair zinc level can be obtained non-invasively in young children, the reports of the hair zinc levels in ASD and ADHD children were varied. ASD children were reported to have lower than or indifferent level of hair zinc from that of healthy children. In ADHD children, hair zinc levels were reported as either lower or higher than their healthy control groups. Many factors interplayed and affected measurement of hair zinc level. Until more standardized method has been established, currently the zinc level in hair samples may be used as screening or supporting evidence. Other functional zinc markers such as serum zinc concentrations, dietary zinc intakes, and percentage of stunting rate, are still needed to assess the zinc status in susceptible children.