Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
By-Products from Food Industry as a Promising Alternative for the Conventional Fillers for Wood–Polymer Composites

The present paper describes the application of two types of food-industry by-products, brewers’ spent grain (BSG), and coffee silverskin (ŁK) as promising alternatives for the conventional beech wood flour (WF) for wood–polymer composites. The main goal was to investigate the impact of partial and complete WF substitution by BSG and ŁK on the processing, structure, physicochemical, mechanical, and thermal properties of resulting composites. Such modifications enabled significant enhancement of the melt flowability, which could noticeably increase the processing throughput. Replacement of WF with BSG and ŁK improved the ductility of composites, which affected their strength however. Such an effect was attributed to the differences in chemical composition of fillers, particularly the presence of proteins and lipids, which acted as plasticizers. Composites containing food-industry by-products were also characterized by the lower thermal stability compared to conventional WF. Nevertheless, the onset of decomposition exceeding 215 °C guarantees a safe processing window for polyethylene-based materials.
Postbiotics, Metabolic Signaling, and Cancer

Postbiotics are health-promoting microbial metabolites delivered as a functional food or a food supplement. They either directly influence signaling pathways of the body or indirectly manipulate metabolism and the composition of intestinal microflora. Cancer is the second leading cause of death worldwide and even though the prognosis of patients is improving, it is still poor in the substantial part of the cases. The preventable nature of cancer and the importance of a complex multi-level approach in anticancer therapy motivate the search for novel avenues of establishing the anticancer environment in the human body. This review summarizes the principal findings demonstrating the usefulness of both natural and synthetic sources of postbotics in the prevention and therapy of cancer. Specifically, the effects of crude cell-free supernatants, the short-chain fatty acid butyrate, lactic acid, hydrogen sulfide, and β-glucans are described. Contradictory roles of postbiotics in healthy and tumor tissues are highlighted. In conclusion, the application of postbiotics is an efficient complementary strategy to combat cancer.
Associations of physical activity with cardiorespiratory fitness, muscle strength, and body composition.

INTRODUCTION Most studies have indicated the association between physical activity level (PAL) and physical fitness indices in children and adolescents. This study aimed to investigate the association of PAL with cardiorespiratory fitness, muscle strength, and body composition in healthy Iranian adults. MATERIAL AND METHODS This cross-sectional study was carried out on 120 males and 152 females aged 18-70 years. The participants underwent physical fitness measurements including grip strength, maximal oxygen consumption, and body composition. The PAL was objectively assessed using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ). RESULTS We observed a significant association between PAL and body composition measurements (p < 0.05). Controlling for covariates did not change the results except for body mass index and waist circumference. All cardiorespiratory fitness and muscle strength indexes were positively associated with PAL (p < 0.001 and p = 0.001, respectively). However, these associations were disappeared after adjustment for age, gender, and BMI. CONCLUSIONS Improved body composition profile and function of the muscular and cardiovascular system were associated with higher PA. Further longitudinal studies are required to understand the causal direction of the relationship.
Rinossinusite Aguda / Acute Rhinosinusite

Acute rhinosinusitis is defined as an inflammation of the nasal mucosa and paranasal sinuses lasting <4 weeks, caused by microorganisms such as viruses, bacteria or fungi. Known also as common cold, acute rhinosinusitis is often treated as a trivial entity, although it presents several important particularities whose knowledge is essential to optimize the clinical and treatment Cláudia Viseu Varandas approaches. This article aims to summarize the main characteristics of acute rhinosinusitis, in what concerns its pathophysio logy, clinical manifestations, diagnosis, differential diagnoses and appropriate management, following a representative case report of the disease.
TIME DOMAIN BEM-FEM COUPLING FOR SEISMIC SOIL-STRUCTURE INTERACTION ANALYSES CONCEIVED FOR AN ANSYS-MATLAB WORKFLOW

In this contribution, we present the implementation of the coupling between the Finite Element Method (FEM) and the Boundary Element Method (BEM) in the time domain, for the analysis of the Soil-Structure Interaction (SSI) in the three dimensional space. The Boundary Element Method is based on the transient fundamental solutions for the half-space. The coupling between the BEM and the FEM is obtained using the soil’s stiffness matrix and the soil reaction forces, which result from a convolution integral. The coupling is implemented linking the software MATLAB with the software ANSYS. The system of equations is solved in ANSYS and within the solution step MATLAB is activated to calculate the soil’s stiffness matrix and the interaction forces at the interface between soil and structures at the current time step. Verification examples for static and dynamic cases are presented. A case study for a seismic excitation is presented to show the applicability of the proposed method. 2985 EURODYN 2020 XI International Conference on Structural Dynamics M. Papadrakakis, M. Fragiadakis, C. Papadimitriou (eds.) Athens, Greece, 23–26 November 2020 Available online at www.easdprocedia. org EASD Procedia EURODYN (2020) 2985-3004 ISSN:2311-9020 © 2020 The Authors. Published by EASD Procedia. Peer-review under responsibility of the Organizing Committee of EURODYN 2020. doi: 10.47964/1120.9244. 20361 Francesca Taddei, Bettina Chocholaty, and Gerhard Müller
On the Influence of Dielectric-Coated Conductors on the Performance of Three-Phase Compact Distribution Lines Against Indirect Lightning Strikes

This article presents an investigation on the performance of a three-phase compact distribution line against nearby lightning strikes. It is shown that neglecting the insulating layer that surrounds the phase conductors as usually done in this type of study does not significantly change voltages induced from phase to ground, but can have some effect on voltages induced between phase and messenger, which are the ones that effectively stress the insulation. However, the observed differences are strongly minimized if the usual practice of grounding messenger and neutral in regular intervals of less than 200 m is considered. This is confirmed by a Monte-Carlo-type study that shows that the failure rate of the line is not affected by the inclusion of the insulating layer that surrounds the phase conductors in practical conditions.
Catalyst wetting characteristics in trickle‐bed reactors

A model for external wetting efficiency of the catalyst in trickle-bed reactors was developed based on 1-D force-balance equations incorporating drag forces in a three-phase system. The gas–liquid interfacial drag was considered, as well as the tortuosity effect. The overall model was tested with major experimental data of a 15.2-cm-dia. trickle-bed reactor using a radioisotope tracer technique. Five catalyst packings, different in shape and size, were used in the experiment. External wetting efficiency was calculated from the square root of the ratio of the effective diffusivities in two-phase and liquid-filled operation. The model was also compared with other experimental data available in the literature. The predictions were within an average confidence limit of ±15%.
SAR Target Recognition Based on Efficient Fully Convolutional Attention Block CNN

Attention mechanisms have recently shown strong potential in improving the performance of convolutional neural networks (CNNs). This letter proposes a fully convolutional attention block (FCAB) that can be combined with a CNN to refine important features and suppress unnecessary ones in synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images. The FCAB consists of a channel attention module and a spatial attention module. For the channel attention module, we use average-pooling and max-pooling to learn complementary features, and apply group convolution to aggregate the information of the two types of channels. Global average-pooling is then used to encode the channel-wise importance. For the spatial attention module, the average-pooling and max-pooling along the channel axis are used to generate two spatial feature maps, and then two very lightweight convolutional layers are used to encode the spatial weight map. Experimental results on SAR images demonstrate that our FCAB can focus on important channels and object regions. It uses relatively few parameters and is computationally efficient, while bringing about significant performance gain for SAR recognition.
Fundamental mechanisms of interfacial friction. 2. Stick-slip friction of spherical and chain molecules

The friction and rheological properties of molecularly thin films of hexadecane between two shearing mica surfaces were measured under different conditions of load or applied pressure, film thickness, sliding velocity, temperature, and time or previous history. The aim was to investigate the tribological and rheological properties of ultrathin liquid films composed of chain molecules and to compare these properties with those of spherical molecules. The differences were found to be more quantitative than qualitative, and the results therefore provide insights into the general properties of liquids in thin films. The results show that during steady-state sliding between two solid crystalline surfaces, a liquid film may be considered to be in a one-phase or two-phase dynamic regime. In the two-phase regime, the film undergoes periodic [open quotes]stick-slip[close quotes] transitions between a solidlike and a liquidlike state. However, especially in the case of chain molecules such as hexadecane, the liquidlike state is very different from the bulk liquid. The frequency of transitions between the two dynamic states determines the static and dynamic friction forces and other dynamic properties of a shearing film. The effects produced by changing the load, temperature, sliding velocity, stopping time, etc., were found to be highly correlated. 49more » refs., 21 figs., 3 tabs. « less
Targeting NK Cells to Enhance Melanoma Response to Immunotherapies

Simple Summary NK cells are innate immune cells that form one of the initial responses to infections and cancers. There have been increasing number of studies investigating the anti-tumor effects of NK cells. Immunotherapy targeting NK cell may enhance the therapeutic efficacy of current immunotherapy regimes. Through pro-inflammatory cytokine production, enhancing B cell production of antibodies, facilitate and activate dendritic cells, activate T cells and participating in anti-tumor immunity through the granzyme B pathway and antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity, the versatility of NK cells provides an attractive immunotherapy option. This review highlights NK cell biology, NK cell antitumor immunity, NK cell immune evasive mechanisms and novel immunotherapies that aim to target NK cells. Abstract Natural killer (NK) cells are a key component of an innate immune system. They are important not only in initiating, but also in augmenting adaptive immune responses. NK cell activation is mediated by a carefully orchestrated balance between the signals from inhibitory and activating NK cell receptors. NK cells are potent producers of proinflammatory cytokines and are also able to elicit strong antitumor responses through secretion of perforin and granzyme B. Tumors can develop many mechanisms to evade NK cell antitumor responses, such as upregulating ligands for inhibitory receptors, secreting anti-inflammatory cytokines and recruiting immunosuppressive cells. Enhancing NK cell responses will likely augment the effectiveness of immunotherapies, and strategies to accomplish this are currently being evaluated in clinical trials. A comprehensive understanding of NK cell biology will likely provide additional opportunities to further leverage the antitumor effects of NK cells. In this review, we therefore sought to highlight NK cell biology, tumor evasion of NK cells and clinical trials that target NK cells.
A review of chronic relapsing inflammatory optic neuropathy

Chronic relapsing inflammatory optic neuropathy (CRION), initially described in 2003, is a form of recurrent optic neuritis (ON) that has relatively good response/dependency to steroid treatment. In demyelinating ON, patients present with periorbital ache and pain elicited by eye movement, which usually begins insidiously and worsens, in synchrony with or preceding a reduction in vision, which deteriorates over days. The etiology of CRION is unknown. However, the excellent response to corticosteroids and the need for immunosuppressive therapy to prevent relapse suggests an immunomediated origin.
Factors Affecting the Initial Engagement of Older Adults in the Use of Interactive Technology

Smart environments and the use of interactive technology has the potential to improve the quality of life for the senior community as well as to support the connections among the senior community and the world outside their community. In addition to the increasing number of studies in the field of aging and technologies, research is needed to understand the practical issues of user focus, adoption, and engagement for older adults to accept interactive technologies in their lives. In this study, we use two commercial technological interventions (uDraw and GrandPad) to understand technology-related perceptions and behaviors of older adults. We present five case studies that emerge from empirical observations of initial engagement with technology through research methods such as focus group discussions, in-depth interviews, observations, and diary studies. The contributions of this study are identification of the key factors that influence the initial engagement with interactive technology for older adults.
High-Yield Luminescence from Cadmium Sulfide Nanoclusters Supported in a Poly(ethylene glycol) Oligomer

Making a luminescent material out of CdS nanoclusters, particularly an efficient one, is not easy. In the present work, the authors are proposing a very simple and easy way of making luminescent CdS that can be useful to many laboratories. The authors have managed to produce high-yield luminescent CdS by reacting Cd{sup 2+} with S{sup 2{minus}} ions in the fluid environment of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) oligomers. The only parameter they then needed to control was reactant concentrations. Indeed, strongly luminescent CdS nanoclusters have been produced in a narrow concentration range, which is well defined under ambient conditions. The authors have recently shown that PEG oligomers constitute favorable host environments for luminescent ions such as lanthanides. The present extension to CdS nanoclusters may attract more attention to these solvents and increase the range of their applications.
Effective Biological Nitrogen Removal Treatment Processes for Domestic Wastewaters with Low C/N Ratios: A Review

Abstract Discharge of nitrogenous components to water bodies can cause eutrophication, deterioration of water quality, toxicity to aquatic life, and pose a potential hazard to human and animal health. Biological nitrogen removal can remove nitrogenous components via conversion to harmless nitrogen gas with high efficiency and relative low costs. However, the removal of nitrogen from domestic wastewater with a low carbon/nitrogen (C/N) ratio can often be limited in municipal wastewater plants (WWTPs) because organic carbon is a limiting factor for denitrification. The present work reviews innovative bacterial nitrogen removal pathways such as shortcut nitrification/denitrification, simultaneous nitrification/denitrification, and the nitritation Anammox process, which can remove nitrogen with low or zero dosage of organic carbon sources. We conclude that advanced process control and some new biological treatment processes including the modified anaerobic/anoxic/oxic (A2/O) process, the step-feed multistage .
Biocompatible and biodegradable polymersomes for pH-triggered drug release

Nano-sized biocompatible and biodegradable polymersomes were prepared based on poly(D,L-lactide)-block-poly(2-methacryloyloxyethyl phosphorylcholine) (PLA-b-PMPC) diblock copolymers and applied for the release anti-cancer drugs. Hydrophobic doxorubicin (DOX) and hydrophilic doxorubicin hydrochloride (DOX·HCl) were successfully loaded into the polymersome membrane and polymersome interior, respectively. The in vitro release studies demonstrated that the release of DOX and DOX·HCl from polymersomes was highly pH-dependent, i.e. significantly faster drug release at mildly acidic pH of 5.0 compared to physiological pH 7.4. Furthermore, DOX·HCl-loaded polymersomes exhibited faster drug release than DOX-loaded polymersomes under the same pH conditions. The highly pH-depended release behavior was attributed to the hydrolysis of PLA-b-PMPC, which would result in morphological transformation from polymersome to micelle with a triggered release of the encapsulated drugs. The drug-loaded polymersomes were shown to rapidly enter HepG2 cells, localize in their endosome/lysosomes with acidic pH environment and display enhanced intracellular release of the drugs into the cytosol. These biocompatible and acid pH-sensitive polymersomes might have great potential for cancer therapy.
The Performance Implication of Corporate Social Responsibility: The Moderating Role of Employee’s Prosocial Motivation

Although there has been extensive research on the corporate social responsibility (CSR)–performance link, full understanding is still elusive. A possible reason for this is the limited understanding of the underlying processes that affect the relationship. Grounded in institutional theory, which emphasizes the importance of micro-level intermediating processes (e.g., employees’ perceptions and attitudes) to explain a macro-level association (i.e., CSR to organizational performance), we built a moderated mediation model where: (i) organization commitment mediated the influence of CSR on organizational performance, and (ii) an employee’s prosocial motivation moderated the relationship between CSR and organizational commitment. Using three-wave time-lagged survey data obtained from 302 Korean workers, we found that organizational commitment is an important micro-level process in the CSR–performance link, and that the level of an employee’s prosocial motivation can positively moderate that link. We discuss theoretical and practical implications, along with limitations and future research directions.
Mercury-in-quartz thermometers for very high accuracy

Experiments have shown that mercury thermometers of fused quartz do not show zero changes exceeding one or two hundredths of a degree after heating to 600° C, while heating for a month at 100° C did not produce a change greater than 0.001 deg C. Thermometers and observing equipment have been designed to take advantage of this stability, and observations on a thermometer ranged 0° to 28° C show a reproducibility of reading to within ±0.0007 deg C over a period of twelve months.
Nonstoichiometric spinel ferrites obtained from α-NaFeO2via molten media reactions

Different solid/liquid “exchange” reactions involving divalent cations, protons, or ammonium ions have been performed at low/moderate temperatures (between 80 and 500 °C) on α-NaFeO2 dipped in molten salts (or acid) media. Several ferrites have been obtained which are nonstoichiometric with partially inverse spinel structures. When sodium is replaced by divalent cations (Mg2+, Co2+, Ni2+, and Zn2+), the obtained ferrites are hyperstoichiometric (cation/oxygen ratio higher than 3/4) whereas proton or ammonium reactions result in hypostoichiometric materials (cation/oxygen lower than 3/4). All these ferrites present a platelet-like morphology and show ferrimagnetic, soft magnet behavior.
Inhibition of Ganglioside Synthesis Suppressed Liver Cancer Cell Proliferation through Targeting Kinetochore Metaphase Signaling

The incidence and mortality of liver cancer, mostly hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), have increased during the last two decades, partly due to persistent inflammation in the lipid-rich microenvironment associated with lifestyle diseases, such as obesity. Gangliosides are sialic acid-containing glycosphingolipids known to be important in the organization of the membrane and membrane protein-mediated signal transduction. Ganglioside synthesis is increased in several types of cancers and has been proposed as a promising target for cancer therapy. Here, we provide evidence that ganglioside synthesis was increased in the livers of an animal model recapitulating the features of activation and expansion of liver progenitor-like cells and liver cancer (stem) cells. Chemical inhibition of ganglioside synthesis functionally suppressed proliferation and sphere growth of liver cancer cells, but had no impact on apoptotic and necrotic cell death. Proteome-based mechanistic analysis revealed that inhibition of ganglioside synthesis downregulated the expression of AURKA, AURKB, TTK, and NDC80 involved in the regulation of kinetochore metaphase signaling, which is essential for chromosome segregation and mitotic progression and probably under the control of activation of TP53-dependent cell cycle arrest. These data suggest that targeting ganglioside synthesis holds promise for the development of novel preventive/therapeutic strategies for HCC treatment.
Decision making in mental health care: the caregiver’s role

This paper sets a framework for considering ethical issues related to involuntary treatment in people with a) intellectual and developmental disabilities, b) progressive neurocognitive impairments, or c) compromised mental health from the caregiver’s perspective. The different time courses for three groups of conditions are described, and potential impacts on the person affected and their caregivers in relation to decision. While some issues for caregivers who are supporting capabilities of their loved ones to make healthcare decisions will vary, some principles apply across all groups. All caregivers need recognition and support for the roles they undertake. They need access to evidence-based, coherent and trustworthy information about available options, how to best fulfil these roles and how to look after their own health and wellbeing to best look after the person for whom they are caring.