Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Regenerative nanomedicine: current perspectives and future directions

Nanotechnology has considerably accelerated the growth of regenerative medicine in recent years. Application of nanotechnology in regenerative medicine has revolutionized the designing of grafts and scaffolds which has resulted in new grafts/scaffold systems having significantly enhanced cellular and tissue regenerative properties. Since the cell–cell and cell-matrix interaction in biological systems takes place at the nanoscale level, the application of nanotechnology gives an edge in modifying the cellular function and/or matrix function in a more desired way to mimic the native tissue/organ. In this review, we focus on the nanotechnology-based recent advances and trends in regenerative medicine and discussed under individual organ systems including bone, cartilage, nerve, skin, teeth, myocardium, liver and eye. Recent studies that are related to the design of various types of nanostructured scaffolds and incorporation of nanomaterials into the matrices are reported. We have also documented reports where these materials and matrices have been compared for their better biocompatibility and efficacy in supporting the damaged tissue. In addition to the recent developments, future directions and possible challenges in translating the findings from bench to bedside are outlined.
Synthesis of metal-polymer nanocomposites

This thesis details the synthesis and characterisation of novel nanocomposite materials. The unifying theme of all the projects investigated, is the aim to combine metal or metal oxide nanoparticles with polymer systems. In order to investigate the structure of the materials produced, the extensive use of advanced electron microscopy techniques is essential throughout. Chapter 1: This introductory chapter outlines key themes that are relevant to all the areas of research in this thesis. Theory, background and applications are provided for the fields of nanoparticles, polymers, and supercritical fluids. Chapters 2, 3 and 4 each report a separate area of research. In each chapter additional theory and background is provided where appropriate, and previous literature is discussed. The aims, results and discussion of each research area are contained within the relevant chapter, as well as conclusions and future work. Chapter 2: Supercritical CO2 is used to impregnate optical polymer substrates with silver complexes, which are then decomposed to form nanoparticles. Chapter 3: Metal oxide nanoparticles are used to stabilise dispersion and suspension polymerisations, providing a method of recovering nanoparticles from aqueous solutions and embedding them on the surface of polymer powders. Chapter 4: Two alternative routes, for creating polymer microspheres surface decorated with silver nanoparticles, are compared. Chapter 5: A detailed description of the synthetic methods, equipment, and analysis techniques used in this research is provided. Chapter 6: A brief but overall conclusion to the research is given.
Plasma YKL-40

OBJECTIVE—YKL-40 is produced by macrophages, and plasma YKL-40 is elevated in patients with diseases characterized by inflammation. In the present study, YKL-40 was examined in relation to obesity, inflammation, and type 2 diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS—Plasma YKL-40 and adipose tissue YKL-40 mRNA levels were investigated in 199 subjects who were divided into four groups depending on the presence or absence of type 2 diabetes and obesity. In addition, plasma YKL-40 was examined in healthy subjects during a hyperglycemic clamp, in which the plasma glucose level was kept at 15 mmol/l for 3 h, and during a hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamp. RESULTS—Patients with type 2 diabetes had higher plasma YKL-40 (76.7 vs. 45.1 ng/ml, P = 0.0001) but not higher expression in adipose tissue YKL-40 mRNA (1.20 vs. 0.98, P = 0.2) compared with subjects with a normal glucose tolerance. Within the groups with normal glucose tolerance and type 2 diabetes, obesity subgroups showed no difference with respect to either plasma YKL-40 or adipose tissue YKL-40 mRNA levels. Multivariate regression analysis showed that plasma YKL-40 was associated with fasting plasma glucose (β = 0.5, P = 0.0014) and plasma interleukin (IL)-6 (β = 0.2, P = 0.0303). Plasma YKL-40 was not related to parameters of obesity. There were no changes in plasma YKL-40 in healthy subjects during either hyperglycemic or hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamps. CONCLUSIONS—Plasma YKL-40 was identified as an obesity-independent marker of type 2 diabetes related to fasting plasma glucose and plasma IL-6 levels.
Multi-scale, Multi-feature Vector Flow Active Contours for Automatic Multiple Face Detection

To automatically detect faces in real-world images presenting challenges such as complex background and multiple foregrounds, we propose a new method which is based on parametric active contours and which does not require any supervision, model nor training. The proposed face detection technique computes multi-scale representations of an input color image and based on them initializes the multi-feature vector flow active contours which, after their evolution, automatically delineate the faces. In this way, our computationally efficient system successfully detects faces in complex pictures with varying numbers of persons of diverse gender and origins and with different types of face views (front/profile) and variate face alignments straight/oblique), as demonstrated in tests carried out on several datasets.
A SOI CMOS reconfigurable output matching network for multimode multiband power amplifiers

A reconfigurable output matching network (OMN) for multimode multiband power amplifier (MMPA) applications has been designed and implemented using SOI CMOS RF switches and switched capacitor. The proposed reconfigurable matching network covers up to ten E-UTRA frequency bands ranging from 700 MHz to 920 MHz and presents two different impedance levels. It has been designed with four distinct RF paths, one path being dedicated to GSM/EDGE (2G/2.5G) PA applications and three paths being dedicated to UMTS/LTE (3G/4G) PA applications. The realized prototype occupies a silicon area of 1.5 mm2 in a 130 nm SOI CMOS process. A lower than 3 Ohm input impedance has been measured for different operating modes and frequency bands.
Electrical and structural properties of nanofilms of doped polyaniline

The physical-chemical and electrical properties of polyaniline nanofilms doped with meta-cresol and deposited on silicon substrates are studied. The energy dispersive components of the surface are studied by wetting ability, a technique permitting the determination of the contact angle of a liquid drop on the surface. The result of this study of surface energy varies little with the dopant concentration. The current-voltage characteristics are studied. With weak electric field, the current presents a behaviour proportional to V/sup m/ (m>2). This property means that polyanaline nanofilms are good candidates for use in the realisation of electroluminescent diodes.
iFitQuest: a school based study of a mobile location-aware exergame for adolescents

Exergames, games that encourage and facilitate physical exercise, are growing in popularity thanks to progressions in ubiquitous technologies. While initial findings have confirmed the potential of such games, little research has been done on systems which target the needs of adolescent children. In this paper we introduce iFitQuest, a mobile location-aware exergame designed with adolescent children in mind. In an attempt to understand how exergames can be used to target adolescent children, and whether they can be effective for this demographic, we outline the results of a school based field study conducted within a P.E. class. Through a detailed analysis of our results, we conclude that iFitQuest appeals to twelve to fifteen year olds and causes them to exercise at moderate to vigorous levels. However, in order to develop effective systems that can dynamically adapt to the adolescent users, further research into different categories of users' behavior is required.
Scaling and multiscaling properties in China’s corn futures price system

In this paper, based on the time series of Chinapsilas corn futures prices, by introducing R/S analysis and multi-affine function to explore empirically the price dynamics and behaviors in corn futures prices, we investigate the scaling and multiscaling properties in the price system and analyze the price behaviors especially the system memory mechanism of historical information, thus we analyze numerically the long-term memory mechanism in the system; furthermore, we find nontrivial fractal features and multi-affine spectra in the price system. All numerical results support that there exist scaling/multiscaling properties and long-term memory in the price system.
Adaptive Multi-Target Tracking in Heterogeneous Wireless Sensor Networks

Energy efficient multiple-target tracking is an important application of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). Most prior studies consider tracking multiple tar- gets as an extension of executing a single target tracking algorithm multiple times, and use a single parameter for energy efficiency. We consider various factors such as mul- tiple targets tracked by the sensor, remaining energy of the sensor and relative location of the sensor with respect to a target's motion, in order to decide the tracking state of a sensor in a distributed environment. Further, we explore and identify the effective combination of these parameters to optimize energy usage, depending on specific network conditions. We then propose the Adaptive Multi-Target Tracking (AMTT) algorithm that can recognize the network condition based on local information without centralized coordination, and uses effective parameters to achieve en- ergy efficiency.
Articulatory movements during vowels in speakers with dysarthria and healthy controls.

PURPOSE This study compared movement characteristics of markers attached to the jaw, lower lip, tongue blade, and dorsum during production of selected English vowels by normal speakers and speakers with dysarthria due to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or Parkinson disease (PD). The study asked the following questions: (a) Are movement measures different for healthy controls and speakers with ALS or PD, and (b) Are articulatory profiles comparable for speakers with ALS and speakers with PD? METHOD Nineteen healthy controls and 15 speakers with dysarthria participated in this study. The severity of dysarthria varied across individuals and between the 2 disorder groups. The stimuli were 10 words (i.e., seed, feed, big, dish, too, shoo, bad, cat, box, and dog) embedded into sentences read at a comfortable reading rate. Movement data were collected using the X-ray microbeam. Movement measures included distances, durations, and average speeds of vowel-related movement strokes. RESULTS Differences were found (a) between speakers with ALS and healthy controls and (b) between speakers with ALS and PD, particularly in movement speed. Tongue movements in PD and ALS were more consistently different from healthy controls than jaw and lower lip movements. This study showed that the effects of neurologic disease on vowel production are often articulator-, vowel-, and context-specific. CONCLUSIONS Differences in severity between the speakers with PD and ALS may have accounted for some of the differences in movement characteristics between the groups. These factors need to be carefully considered when describing the nature of speech disorder and developing empirically based evaluation and treatment strategies for dysarthria.
Transition path sampling: throwing ropes over mountains in the dark

Understanding rare transitions occurring in complex systems, for instance chemical reactions in solution, poses the problem of finding and analysing the trajectories that move from one basin of attraction to another on a complicated potential energy surface. We have developed a systematic approach for finding these trajectories using computer simulations without preconceived knowledge of transition states. The approach follows from a novel statistical mechanics and thermodynamics of trajectories and has been demonstrated with several applications.
Where Resources Meet at the Edge

Edge computing is a recent paradigm where network nodes are placed close to the end users, at the edge of the network. Efficient management of resources within this configuration is crucial due to scarcity and geographical spreading of edge resources. We begin by a brief description of the edge paradigm, the most generic edge architecture, and the terminology associated to it. Then, we propose and elaborate on a preliminary taxonomy for edge resource management, together with a substantial review of works in the area. Finally, we identify some research challenges.
Association of patient autonomy with increased transplantation and survival among new dialysis patients in the United States.

BACKGROUND It is unclear whether patients with chronic kidney disease who are more autonomous in medical decision making have better outcomes than those who are not. We examined the contribution of patient autonomy to treatment selection (peritoneal dialysis versus hemodialysis) and subsequent association with transplantation and survival. METHODS Data were obtained from the Dialysis Morbidity and Mortality Study Wave 2, a national random sample of 4,025 new dialysis patients enrolled during 1996 and 1997 and followed up until October 31, 2001. Responders were asked to quantify their contribution to treatment selection and were grouped based on perceived degree of participation as patient led, team led, or patient and team led. Groups were compared and subsequent outcomes were evaluated by using Cox regression. RESULTS Six hundred thirty-six patients (26.3%) reported a patient-led decision, 860 patients (35.6%) reported a team-led decision, and 922 patients (38.1%) reported a patient-and-team-led decision in treatment assignment. Unadjusted death rates were significantly lower (127 versus 159 versus 207 deaths/1,000 patient-years at risk; P < 0.0001), and transplantation rates were significantly higher (103 versus 88 versus 41 transplantations/1,000 patient-years at risk; P < 0.0001) for patients reporting the greatest contribution to modality selection. With adjustment for case mix, mortality risks were lowest (relative risk [RR], 0.84; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.71 to 0.99) and transplantation rates were highest (RR, 1.44; 95% CI, 1.07 to 1.93) for the patient-led group. CONCLUSION Although the contribution of patient selection factors cannot be completely ignored, this analysis supports an association of patient autonomy with transplantation and survival. Greater efforts to empower patients with chronic kidney disease during the period before end-stage renal disease may improve clinical outcomes.
Vitamin E and risk of age-related cataract: a meta-analysis

Abstract Objective We conducted a meta-analysis to evaluate the relationship between vitamin E and age-related cataract (ARC). Design The fixed- or random-effect model was selected based on heterogeneity. Meta-regression was used to explore potential sources of between-study heterogeneity. Publication bias was evaluated using Begg’s test. The dose–response relationship was assessed by a restricted cubic spline model. Setting Relevant studies were identified by a search of PubMed and the Cochrane Library to May 2014, without language restrictions. Subjects Studies involved samples of people of all ages. Results Dietary vitamin E intake, dietary and supplemental vitamin E intake, and high serum tocopherol levels were significantly associated with decreased risk of ARC, the pooled relative risk was 0·73 (95 % CI 0·58, 0·92), 0·86 (95 % CI 0·75, 0·99) and 0·77 (95 % CI 0·66, 0·91), respectively. Supplemental vitamin E intake was non-significantly associated with ARC risk (relative risk=0·92; 95 % CI 0·78, 1·07). The findings from dose–response analysis showed evidence of a non-linear association between dietary vitamin E intake and ARC. The risk of ARC decreased with dietary vitamin E intake from 7 mg/d (relative risk=0·94; 95 % CI 0·90, 0·97). Conclusions The findings of the meta-analysis indicated that dietary vitamin E intake, dietary and supplemental vitamin E intake, and high level of serum tocopherol might be significantly associated with reduced ARC risk.
Structured Matrices and the Algebra of Displacement Operators

Matrix calculations underlie countless problems in science, mathematics, and engineering. When the involved matrices are highly structured, displacement operators can be used to accelerate fundamental operations such as matrix-vector multiplication. In this thesis, we provide an introduction to the theory of displacement operators and study the interplay between displacement and natural matrix constructions involving direct sums, Kronecker products, and blocking. We also investigate the algebraic behavior of displacement operators, developing results about invertibility and kernels.
VoIP Capacity over PCF with Imperfect Channel

Voice, in the form of VoIP, has emerged as a dominating traffic category in the Internet. VoIP traffic suffers from severe voice quality degradation if the end-to-end delay and loss becomes high. PCF medium access mechanism offers delay bound delivery which is a crucial attribute for delay sensitive applications like VoIP. But due to its unavailability in most commercial products, little analysis has been done on PCF for supporting VoIP traffic. Most importantly, standard voice quality assessment methods are not used in the capacity studies. We propose a VoIP capacity model for PCF that uses voice quality as the limiting factor and takes imperfect channel condition into account. The effects of aggregation level, packet error rate and voice quality on VoIP capacity are investigated, and a comparison between voice capacities under PCF and DCF is presented. The proposed model will be extremely useful in designing networks to support quality voice calls.
An extension of COCOMO II for the B-Method

Constructive Cost Model (COCOMO) series of models are widely used for estimation of informal software development effort. To meet the need for estimating size and cost of projects developed with the B-Method, we extend the sub-models of COCOMO II by introducing specification-based size metrics, adjusting relevant coefficients, and narrowing the value ranges of certain cost drivers. Our work is intended to serve as a start point for a general cost model for formal software development processes.
Mutations in the Gene Encoding Starch Synthase II Profoundly Alter Amylopectin Structure in Pea Embryos

Mutations at the rug5 (rugosus5) locus have been used to elucidate the role of the major soluble isoform of starch synthase II (SSII) in amylopectin synthesis in the developing pea embryo. The SSII gene maps to the rug5 locus, and the gene in one of three rug5 mutant lines has been shown to carry a base pair substitution that introduces a stop codon into the open reading frame. All three mutant alleles cause a dramatic reduction or loss of the SSII protein. The mutations have pleiotropic effects on the activities of other isoforms of starch synthase but apparently not on those of other enzymes of starch synthesis. These mutations result in abnormal starch granule morphology and amylopectin structure. Amylopectin contains fewer chains of intermediate length (B2 and B3 chains) and more very short and very long chains than does amylopectin from wild-type embryos. The results suggest that SSII may play a specific role in the synthesis of B2 and B3 chains of amylopectin. The extent to which these findings can be extrapolated to other species is discussed.
Predictive maintenance decision using statistical linear regression and kernel methods

In this paper, we develop a predictive maintenance (PdM) method to determine the most effective time to apply maintenance to an equipment and study its application to a real semiconductor etching chamber. More specifically, we first apply linear regression to predict the (output) equipment health condition from the (input) operational parameters. This choice of linear model also allows us to propose an algorithm to reduce the number of operational parameters to be monitored for PdM purposes using t-statistics. Then, we follow a cross-validation based procedure to generate prediction error samples and apply a kernel method to construct the corresponding probability density function of the prediction error. Finally, the PdM decision can be made based on the likelihood of the predicted health condition exceeding a certain maintenance threshold. Our analysis using real data from a semiconductor etching chamber shows that the proposed PdM decision with the reduced dimension linear regression performs comparably to the one using full-scale linear model and can be used for better maintenance planning compared to the existing practice of fixed-schedule maintenance.
Roles of Nitric Oxide Synthase Inhibition and Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor-2 Inhibition on Vascular Morphology and Function in an In vivo Model of Pancreatic Cancer

Purpose: Both nitric oxide (NO) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) mediate tumor vascular function. Because these molecules regulate one another's expression, we hypothesized that NO synthase (NOS) inhibition produces effects comparable to those of anti-VEGF therapy on human pancreatic cancer xenografts. Experimental Design: L3.6pl human pancreatic cancer cells were s.c. implanted in nude mice. On day 6, mice were randomized to receive (a) PBS (control), (b) DC101 [VEGF receptor 2 (VEGFR-2) antibody] by i.p. injection, (c) N-nitro-l-arginine (NNLA; NOS inhibitor) in the drinking water, or (d) both DC101 and NNLA. Mice were killed on day 20. Results: DC101 and NNLA as single agents inhibited tumor growth by ∼50% to 60% (P < 0.008 for both). Furthermore, combined therapy inhibited mean tumor growth by 89% (P < 0.008). Combined inhibition of VEGFR-2 and NOS also decreased mean vessel counts by 65% (P < 0.03) and vessel area by 80% versus controls (P < 0.001). In contrast to DC101 where vessel diameter was similar to control, NNLA decreased mean vessel diameter by 42% (P < 0.001). NNLA also led to a 54% (P < 0.03) decrease in tumor uptake of the perfusion marker Hoechst 33342 versus controls whereas DC101 decreased Hoechst 33342 staining by 43% (P < 0.03). The combination of inhibitors decreased perfusion by 73% (P < 0.03). Conclusions: Although VEGFR-2 can mediate NOS activity, the combination of VEGFR-2 and NOS inhibition significantly increased the antivascular effect over single agent therapy. The addition of NOS inhibition led to an even further alteration of tumor vessel morphology and vascular perfusion compared with VEGFR-2 blockade, suggesting that NO and VEGFR-2 have distinct but complementary effects on the tumor vasculature.