Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Integrating Facilitative Teaching in Design Based Course

Introducing a highly technical multidisciplinary design problem to first year students can be a daunting task. First, their knowledge experience revolves only about basic mathematics, science and its application to technological problem. If mishandled, exposing them to complex design process at this stage can pose a disastrous effect. The intent of this paper is to share the facilitative teaching approach performed onto the first year students at the Department of Chemical & Environmental Engineering, UPM. This facilitative teaching approach is specifically adopted in the Material Balances courses (2+1) where a multidisciplinary conceptual design project is embedded as part of its content. The teaching team is responsible to plan and design instruction, assessment and evaluation materials, coach team during design activities by providing assistance and on time feedback, and maintain teams' vibrancy. A highly committed teaching team is required to materialize this approach because the efforts and time spent to conduct the activities for learning is not equivalent in number to the given credit loading. Furthermore, time and energy for other activities related to key performance indicators are usually sacrificed. However, excellent students' engagement, enthusiasm and participation to learn indicate that the efforts and time were worth spent.
A Grid-Connected Capacitor-Tapped Multimodule Converter for HVDC Applications: Operational Concept and Control

In this paper, a dc–ac buck converter is proposed as a grid-side converter in high voltage dc (HVdc) transmission systems for high-power renewable energy source grid integration. The proposed architecture consists of multimodules of half-bridge voltage source converters (HB-VSCs). The dc terminals of the HB-VSCs are connected in series across the entire dc link (i.e., capacitor tapped), whereas their ac outputs are connected to multiwinding transformers to provide the three-phase terminals for ac grid integration. The proposed grid-connected capacitor-tapped multimodule converter (CT-MC) architecture, inspired from the HVdc shunt tap proposed by ABB, provides a dc–ac conversion with a relatively moderate voltage rating of semiconductor devices. It also provides operation with a lower number of semiconductor devices, gate driver circuits, voltage sensors, and lower total MVA rating of semiconductor devices (67%) compared with the conventional three-phase HB modular multilevel converter, which positively affects the system cost and reduces the computational burden of the employed controller. In this paper, the operational concept and control of the CT-MC are presented along with a capacitor voltage balancing approach. Simulation results are presented during normal and abnormal conditions to show the viability of the proposed architecture. Finally, a scaled down prototype for the CT-MC is employed to validate the converter operation.
The Research of Several Situations About Memory Accessing on Non-Uniform Memory Access Architecture

In this paper, we have focused our work on memory accesses behavior over a AMD Opteron cache coherent Non-Uniform Memory Access (ccNUMA) platform with multicore processors. We investigated three types memory operations: threads accessing local data, threads not firing at each other and threads firing at each other. When the system was idle and not idle, We compared and analyzed the performance of the three cases and we have the important conclusion about the threads accessing to the memory.
The Effect of Lutein on Eye and Extra-Eye Health

Lutein is a carotenoid with reported anti-inflammatory properties. A large body of evidence shows that lutein has several beneficial effects, especially on eye health. In particular, lutein is known to improve or even prevent age-related macular disease which is the leading cause of blindness and vision impairment. Furthermore, many studies have reported that lutein may also have positive effects in different clinical conditions, thus ameliorating cognitive function, decreasing the risk of cancer, and improving measures of cardiovascular health. At present, the available data have been obtained from both observational studies investigating lutein intake with food, and a few intervention trials assessing the efficacy of lutein supplementation. In general, sustained lutein consumption, either through diet or supplementation, may contribute to reducing the burden of several chronic diseases. However, there are also conflicting data concerning lutein efficacy in inducing favorable effects on human health and there are no univocal data concerning the most appropriate dosage for daily lutein supplementation. Therefore, based on the most recent findings, this review will focus on lutein properties, dietary sources, usual intake, efficacy in human health, and toxicity.
A Phase 1 Trial of Oncolytic Adenovirus ICOVIR-5 Administered Intravenously to Cutaneous and Uveal Melanoma Patients.

Oncolytic viruses represent a unique type of agents that combine self-amplification, lytic, and immunostimulatory properties against tumors. A local and locoregional clinical benefit has been demonstrated upon intratumoral injections of an oncolytic herpes virus in melanoma patients, leading to its approval in the United States and Europe for patients without visceral disease (up to stage IVM1a). However, in order to debulk and change the local immunosuppressive environment of tumors that cannot be injected directly, oncolyitc viruses need to be administered systemically. Among different viruses, adenovirus has been extensively used in clinical trials but with few evidences of activity upon systemic administration. Preclinical efficacy of a single intravenous administration of our oncolytic adenovirus ICOVIR5, an adenovirus type 5 responsive to the retinoblastoma pathway commonly deregulated in tumors, led us to use this virus in a dose-escalation phase 1 trial in metastatic melanoma patients. The results in 12 patients treated with a single infusion of a dose up to 1 × 1013 viral particles show that ICOVIR5 can reach melanoma metastases upon a single intravenous administration but fails to induce tumor regressions. These results support the systemic administration of armed oncolytic viruses to treat disseminated cancer.
SIRT1 facilitates amyloid beta peptide degradation by upregulating lysosome number in primary astrocytes

Previous studies have shown that sirtuin 1 (SIRT1) reduces the production of neuronal amyloid beta (Aβ) and inhibits the inflammatory response of glial cells, thereby generating a neuroprotective effect against Aβ neurotoxicity in animal models of Alzheimer’s disease. However, the protective effect of SIRT1 on astrocytes is still under investigation. This study established a time point model for the clearance of Aβ in primary astrocytes. Results showed that 12 hours of culture was sufficient for endocytosis of oligomeric Aβ, and 36 hours sufficient for effective degradation. Immunofluorescence demonstrated that Aβ degradation in primary astrocytes relies on lysosome function. Enzymatic agonists or SIRT1 inhibitors were used to stimulate cells over a concentration gradient. Aβ was co-cultured for 36 hours in medium. Western blot assay results under different conditions revealed that SIRT1 relies on its deacetylase activity to promote intracellular Aβ degradation. The experiment further screened SIRT1 using quantitative proteomics to investigate downstream, differentially expressed proteins in the Aβ degradation pathway and selected the ones related to enzyme activity of SIRT1. Most of the differentially expressed proteins detected are close to the primary astrocyte lysosomal pathway. Immunofluorescence staining demonstrated that SIRT1 relies on its deacetylase activity to upregulate lysosome number in primary astrocytes. Taken together, these findings confirm that SIRT1 relies on its deacetylase activity to upregulate lysosome number, thereby facilitating oligomeric Aβ degradation in primary astrocytes.
Economics of dementia: A review of methods

Given the expected increase in the number of people with dementia in the coming years, it is anticipated that the resources necessary to support those with dementia will significantly increase. There will therefore likely be increased emphasis on how best to use limited resources across a number of domains including prevention, diagnosis, treatment and supporting informal caregivers. There has been increasing use of economic methods in dementia in the past number of years, in particular, cost-of-illness analysis and economic evaluation. This paper reviews the aforementioned methods and identities a number of methodological issues that require development. Addressing these methodological issues will enhance the quality of economic analysis in dementia and provide some useful insights about the best use of limited resources for dementia.
Credit Card Fraud Detection Based on Whale Algorithm Optimized BP Neural Network

This paper proposes a credit card fraud detection technology based on whale algorithm optimized BP neural network aiming at solving the problems of slow convergence rate, easy to fall into local optimum, network defects and poor system stability derived from BP neural network. Using whale swarm optimization algorithm to optimize the weight of BP network, we first use WOA algorithm to get an optimal initial value, and then use BP network algorithm to correct the error value, so as to obtain the optimal value.
Collusion between neutralizing antibodies and other immune factions in the destruction of adenoviral vectors

Adenoviral vectors hold great promise for gene therapy, the induction of antitumor immunity, and vaccination against viral infections (1, 2). But sometimes, preexisting antibodies elicited by natural infection with particular types of adenovirus prevent the desired expression of the transgene carried by the vector, such as a replication-defective adenovirus 5. And there has been a mystery: The antibodies binding to the virus do not prevent the adenoviral particles from reaching the cells, attaching to specific receptors, getting internalized by endocytosis, or even penetrating the membrane of the endocytic vesicle and thus entering the cytoplasm. Building on the discovery of how a cytoplasmic receptor, tripartite motif-containing protein 21 (TRIM21) (3, 4), participates in neutralizing adenovirus, Bottermann et al. (5) have solved the mystery by showing that once the antibodies on the gene-delivery vehicle are in the cytoplasm, they interact with TRIM21 and thereby launch machineries for destroying not only the protein coat of the virus but also its DNA genome. In addition, the antibody–TRIM21 interaction sets off cascades of immune signaling, which can be deleterious (5, 6). If vector-mediated delivery in the face of neutralizing antibodies were a courier service, the package would reach the correct address, even get inside the intended home, but the evoking of bad memories of similar packages would prompt the overzealous shredding of the box and the rapid chopping up of its precious contents thereafter, triggering both fire and burglar alarms, and sometimes even setting fire to the house. The field of virus–antibody interactions abounds with dichotomies. Some antibodies to viral epitopes neutralize infectivity; others do not. Enveloped viruses, which enter the host cell by fusing with the cell surface or an endosomal membrane, are neutralized only if antibodies block viral attachment to receptors or entry by fusion. But naked viruses, which enter … [↵][1]1Email: pek2003{at}med.cornell. edu. [1]: #xref-corresp-1-1
Differentiation of Gait Using Principal Component Analysis and Application for Parkinson's Disease Monitoring

Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disease. The diagnosis of PD can be difficult, especially in its early stage since there are no existing specific biomarkers. Most biomechanical data characterizing human movement is shown as time series or temporal waveforms representing different joint measures. Principal component analysis (PCA) can be used as a tool to identify differences in gait between healthy persons and those diagnosed with PD. The purpose of this study is to compare hip and knee kinematics during walking in PD group and control (CO) group using PCA, and to identify the specific PCA variables that can be used for differentiating Parkinsonian gait from normal gait. The subjects were divided into two groups: PD group n = 15, control group n = 12. Each subject performed a gait task and kinematics of limbs was measured using nine degrees of freedom inertial measurement unit (IMU). PCA was performed on the angular velocity of right and left side hip and knee joints in the sagittal plane of the gait cycle. Different numbers of principal components (PC) are needed to describe important information from hip (PC - 3) and knee (PC - 4) joints in sagittal plane. Statistically significant differences were found between PD and CO groups: right hip PC3 (p=0.0026); left hip PC3 (p=0.0262); right knee PC3 (p=0.0286). The PCA applied in this paper identified differences in gait features between PD and CO groups. Identification of these differences between PD and CO groups could clarify PD progress.
Cognitive deficits and Alzheimer-like neuropathological impairments during adolescence in a rat model of type 2 diabetes mellitus

Numerous studies have shown that many patients who suffer from type 2 diabetes mellitus exhibit cognitive dysfunction and neuronal synaptic impairments. Therefore, growing evidence suggests that type 2 diabetes mellitus has a close relationship with occurrence and progression of neurodegeneration and neural impairment in Alzheimer’s disease. However, the relationship between metabolic disorders caused by type 2 diabetes mellitus and neurodegeneration and neural impairments in Alzheimer’s disease is still not fully determined. Thus, in this study, we replicated a type 2 diabetic animal model by subcutaneous injection of newborn Sprague-Dawley rats with monosodium glutamate during the neonatal period. At 3 months old, the Barnes maze assay was performed to evaluate spatial memory function. Microelectrodes were used to measure electrophysiological function in the hippocampal CA1 region. Western blot assay was used to determine expression levels of glutamate ionotropic receptor NMDA type subunit 2A (GluN2A) and GluN2B in the hippocampus. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to determine levels of interleukin-1β, tumor necrosis factor α, and interleukin-6 in the hippocampus and cerebral cortex, as well as hippocampal amyloid beta (Aβ)1–40 and Aβ1–42 levels. Our results showed that in the rat model of type 2 diabetes mellitus caused by monosodium glutamate exposure during the neonatal period, latency was prolonged and the number of errors increased in the Barnes maze. Further, latency was increased and time in the escape platform quadrant shortened. Number of times crossing the platform was also reduced in the Morris water maze. After high frequency stimulation of the hippocampus, synaptic transmission was inhibited, expression of GluN2A and GluN2B were decreased in the hippocampus, expression of interleukin 1β, interleukin 6, and tumor necrosis factor α was increased in the hippocampus and cortex, and levels of Aβ1–40 and Aβ1–42 were increased in the hippocampus. These findings confirm that type 2 diabetes mellitus induced by neonatal monosodium glutamate exposure results in Alzheimer-like neuropathological changes and further causes cognitive deficits and neurodegeneration in young adulthood.
Label-Assisted Transmission for Short Packet Communications: A Machine Learning Approach

Short packet communications (SPC) will play an important role in future Internet-of-Things networks. Conventional pilot-assisted transmission (PAT) needs significant overhead to obtain accurate channel state information (CSI) for further symbol detection and bit recovery, thereby reducing the spectral efficiency of the transmission. In this paper, a machine learning framework called Label-Assisted Transmission is proposed, in which the received signals are grouped into clusters through clustering algorithms and known labels are transmitted for cluster-symbol/bits mapping. This novel framework supports bit recovery directly without requiring the bit-symbol mapping information. When such mapping information is available, modulation constrained (MC) clustering algorithms are proposed, which exploit the unique characteristics of digital communication signals. For frequency-flat channels, this novel design needs only one known label regardless of the modulation size and the missing labels can be reconstructed using a proposed label reconstruction scheme. For frequency-selective channels with $L$ -tap time domain channel responses, only $L$ known labels are needed to reconstruct the missing labels if orthogonal frequency division multiplexing technology is adopted. The proposed clustering receiver works well even when the number of clusters is much larger than the number of received samples. The performance of the proposed framework is analyzed empirically through extensive simulations, which verify that the proposed scheme approaches the maximum likelihood detector with perfect CSI.
Epitaxial Growth of InGaN Multiple-Quantum-Well LEDs With Improved Characteristics and Their Application in Underwater Optical Wireless Communications

InGaN light-emitting diodes (LEDs) grown with a thin GaN barrier and a gradually reduced well width in the multiple-quantum-well (MQW) regions close to n-GaN are proposed for use in underwater optical wireless communications. Experimentally, LED epiwafers grown by metal–organic vapor phase epitaxy were found to have comparable crystalline quality despite using a different epistructure design from InGaN MQWs. The modified MQWs facilitated hole transport to the deep quantum wells while preventing energetic electrons from accumulating at the topmost quantum wells close to p-GaN, thus improving the current-light output performance at high currents. In addition, relatively strong carrier localization in the proposed LEDs indicates more injected carriers within the modified MQWs can participate in radiative recombinations to contribute to light output. On the other hand, the available bandwidth of a line-of-sight LED-based optical link passing through a 100-cm-long water tank was found to be around 148.7 MHz using the proposed LED, which is $1.3\times $ higher than that obtained using normal LED. This type of optical link produces data transmission at rates in tap water exceeding 300 Mbit/s and enables real-time transmission of digital TV signals.
Smoke Detection Method Based on LBP and SVM from Surveillance Camera

Wildfire is a regular incident worldwide today. It destroys forests and also the living areas of wild animals. So, to reduce the harmful effects of such disasters this paper describes a method of smoke detection for surveillance cameras. This smoke detection will ease the fire detection. Proposed method is based on Local Binary Pattern (LBP) and Support Vector Machine (SVM). Initially, Approximate Median Filtering Algorithm was applied to subtract the background from input frame. Then, shape based filtering method was applied to get the region of interest. Thirdly, LBP values and histograms were calculated from the pixels of region of interest to form a feature vector. The proposed method also applied Bhattacharyya coefficients to verify the smoke region for accurate result. Finally, SVM classified the region of interest as smoke image. Results using real scene data show that the proposed method can give accurate results in different conditions of real world situations.
Performance Analysis of a VANET with optimal infrastructure location in setting urban

Vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs) lead the development of intelligent transportation systems (ITS). Reporting and data gathering applications used by ITS rely on the reliability of vehicle to infrastructure (V2I) and vehicle to vehicle (V2V) communications to reach the gateways, called Road-Side Units (RSUs), in the fixed network. A key factor in the performance of this kind of applications is the adequate location of access points in the city. In this paper, we present an integer linear optimization model, employed for locating the infrastructure points in the network, considering V2I communications only for avoiding the multi-hop complexity. Our objective is to find the most valuable positions for the RSUs deployment. Simulation results carried out with NS-2 and SUMO simulation software, over a real city layout, show that the proposed model detects the best positions to locate RSUs. Moreover, result show that in inclusion of a number of RSU greater than the optimal one, leads to a very short and non-signiticative increase in the packets throughput.
Fabrication and Assembly Method for Synchronous Reluctance Machines

In this paper, a comprehensive manufacturing and assembly process of synchronous reluctance machines (SynRMs) is presented. One stator and two transversally laminated anisotropic (TLA) SynRM rotors are manufactured using cold-roll nongrain-oriented steel. To enhance the performance of the designed SynRM, a TLA segmented SynRM rotor is fabricated using cold-roll grain-oriented steel. The application of nonconventional photochemical machining to produce machine laminations is presented. Different stages of manufacturing, stator and rotor assembly techniques, rotor balancing procedure as well as specialized components used at various stages of the process are described. Performance characteristics such as static torque–angle curves are obtained experimentally to verify the accuracy of design, manufacturing, and assembly.
Cellular, matrix, and mechano-biological differences in load-bearing versus positional tendons throughout development and aging: a narrative review

ABSTRACT Purpose: Summarise available evidence comparing the cellular, biochemical, structural and biomechanical properties, and the changes that occur in these parameters in response to stimuli, in differentially loaded tendons across different stages of life. Methods: The PubMed database was searched for literature pertaining to differences between tendons using the term “tendon” or “tendinopathy”, plus one or more of the following descriptors: “loading”, “positional”, “weight- or load-bearing”, and “energy-storing”. The abstracts were reviewed and relevant full-length articles retrieved and used to assemble a narrative review. Results: The incidence and prevalence of tendon disorders (“tendinopathies”) is increasing in Western societies, with limited evidence that currently available treatments have any significant long-term effect on the disease course. A key emerging hypothesis is that disease in different tendons and even different regions within a tendon may be distinct. The available literature indicates that there are phenotypic differences, not only in the constitutive compositional and material properties but also in resident cells of positional compared with load-bearing tendons. Evident during early tendon growth, such differences have become well established by adulthood. Conclusions: The pheno-endotype of tendinopathy may be distinct between load-bearing tendons compared to positional tendons, which has translational implications with regard to preventing and managing tendinopathy. Better understanding of the molecular, cellular, and biomechanical pathophysiology underlying disease phenotypes, will allow more targeted/personalised treatment and therefore improve outcomes.