Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Silk capsules in micro channels

Droplet microfluidics deals with the creation of emulsions from two or more immiscible fluids in a controlled, repeatable way. The method has several advantages over traditional emulsification techniques, including the possibility for detailed imaging of the process, precise control and the possibility to manipulate the formed droplets in any number of ways. Silk is a fibrous, protein-based material generated by several insects and spiders. Traditionally associated with textiles it is today highly explored as an advanced biomaterial. Apart from its remarkable mechanical properties silk has a high degree of biocompatibility and in the last decade it has been gaining increasing use in biomedical applications. Silk is today produced and used in several forms, including fibers, films and solid microspheres. It has been shown that silk proteins will selforganize into thin films at an amphiphilic interface and this mechanism has been utilized to create hollow silk microcapsules in a water-oil or water-organic solvent emulsion. Our work is intended as a proof of concept and aims to determine whether the conditions inside a flow focusing device (high shear forces and close proximity to channel walls) are compatible with the silk proteins and the capsule formation process. It also briefly explores the differences in film formation at a water-oil and water-organic solvent interface. We successfully demonstrate that silk microcapsules can be formed within the chip and that sticking to the channel walls is a minor problem that can be managed without the need for surface treatments. There is however a problem with buildup of a silk membrane at the permanent water-oil interface which appears to interfere with the droplet generation. The formed capsules also suffer from poor stability once outside the channels. We suggest further experiments with refinement of the channel design and fine-tuning of the chemical conditions to overcome these problems. Overall droplet microfluidics is a promising method for further studies of silk microcapsule generation. Acknowledgements: Several persons have been of great importance for the realization of this project. I would like to issue my thanks to my supervisor, Jonas Tegenfeldt (LTH, Division of Solid State Physics) for his continual support and advice. Special thanks to Jason Beech (LTH, Division of Solid State Physics) for numerous interesting discussions and invaluable support with the practical microfluidics aspects of the project. Thanks also to Stefan Holm and Greger Hammarin for bringing me up to speed on their previous work with droplet generation. Finally big thanks to Cedric Dicko (LTH, Department of Pure and Applied Biochemistry) for supplying information and materials for the protein aspects of the project and for helping me interpreting the results.
External Shocks and Macroeconomic Volatility in Latin America

This paper using a panel VAR methodology to determine whether the differences in output volatility between Latin America and other regions result from the volatility of its external shocks(exposure), or from its response to these shocks (vulnerability) . The results indicate that Latin America is more vulnerable to external shocks than other middle income countries but no more vulnerable than richer countries. Developed countries are less volatile because of their lower exposure. A parametric version of the panel VAR model shows that differences in trade and capital account openness, financial development, labor and firm entry flexibility, and the degree of domestic liability dollarization. can explain many of the qualitative and quantitative differences of vulnerability between Latin America and other regions. ∗Development Economics Research Group, World Bank; e-mail: craddatz@worldbank.org. I am grateful for the support of the Office of the Chief Economist of Latin America, and to Cesar Calderon, Tito Cordella, Eduardo Levy-Yeyati, Andrew Powell, and participants of the conference on country insurance organized by this office for valuable comments. The remaining errors are of course my responsibility. The views expressed in this paper are the author’s only and do not necessarily represent those of the World Bank, its executive directors, or the countries they represent.
Numerical simulation of primary breakup of nonturbulent liquid jets in high-viscous gaseous crossflows

Atomization of liquid jets in subsonic gaseous crossflows is of great importance in thermal spray coating process. In this process, suspensions and solution precursors are injected into high-viscous plasma crossflows where the gas-flow Reynolds and Weber numbers are around 50 and 200, respectively. The coatings’ quality strongly depends on the breakup of liquid jets in plasma crossflows. In the absence of comprehensive atomization measurements, robust numerical simulations have suggested a detailed picture of atomization process in recent years. In this work, a numerical model is used to investigate the impact of gas viscosity on breakup mechanisms. The conservation of mass and momentum, and capturing the interface are solved by a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code, called Basilisk. The incompressible variable-density Navier–Stokes (NS) equations are solved by using finite volume schemes. The gas-liquid interface is tracked by a geometric volume-of-fluid (VOF) approach. A parametric study is performed on atomization process in a wide range of gas-flow Reynolds numbers (Reg=39−39000). The jet trajectory, breakup location and instability waves generated along the jet column are investigated. Ultimately, the effect of gas viscosity on jet deformation and breakup physics are described.
Seismic Fragility Analysis of Buildings Based on Double-Parameter Damage Models considering Soil-Structure Interaction

Most conventional seismic fragility analyses of RC buildings usually ignore or greatly simplify the soil-structure interaction (SSI), and the maximum interstory drift ratio (MIDR) is often adopted to establish seismic fragility curves. In this work, an eight-story RC building was designed to study the influence of the SSI on the seismic fragility of RC buildings. Three double-parameter damage models (DPDMs) were considered for the fragility assessment: the Park–Ang model, the Niu model, and the Lu–Wang model. Results show that considering SSI induces a higher fragility than that of the fixed model and that employing the DPDMs for the fragility analysis provides more reasonable results than those evaluated using the MIDR damage index.
SMS Information Service: Innovative Thinking for the Successful Solution

Traditional usage of mobile phones for SMS messages, boom-calls and conversation is still dominant in all European regions, but the usage of other different services is on very low level. In order to analyze that, we focused on student information system in Novi Sad Higher School of Professional Business Studies, organized on multi-channel infrastructure, with the important role of the service based on mobile infrastructure and SMS. The problems of adoption of this information channel and parallel analysis with the Web-based information channel and an analysis of the structure of those communications with the innovative solution as the result are the main topics of this paper.
111 HB‐50: A Pre‐Clinical Study of a Prophylactic for Wound Infection

Topical prophylaxis against wound infection by an agent that is active against multi-resistant bacteria does not generate resistance and is rapidly cidal would be of great clinical benefit. Peptides of the innate immune system have long been known to protect a wide range of organisms from attack by bacterial and fungal pathogens. Helix BioMedix Inc. has developed a short bioactive peptide antimicrobial modeled after these peptides. HB-50 is an amphipathic cationic alpha-helical peptide that has broad spectrum activity and is rapidly microbicidal. These attributes make HB-50 an ideal candidate for wound infection prophylaxis. In vitro studies have demonstrated HB-50 to be active against both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria killing 5–7 log orders of bacteria within minutes. In addition, this peptide has potent activity against Vancomycin and Mupirocin resistant S. aureus. Preliminary testing of the peptide in a rat abraded skin infection model has shown the peptide’s effectiveness in preventing wound infection while not inhibiting wound healing. Additionally, the HB-50 sequence has been specifically developed to be cost effective to manufacture and therefore is well suited for use as a topical antimicrobial agent.
Tilburg University Content validity, construct validity, and reliability of the WHOQOL-Bref in a population of Dutch adult psychiatric outpatients Trompenaars,

In this study, the psychometric properties of a quality of life scale, the WHOQOL-Bref, were examined in a population of 533 Dutch adult psychiatric outpatients. Participants underwent two semistructured interviews in order to obtain Axis-I and II diagnoses, according to DSM-IV. Besides the WHOQOL-Bref they also completed questionnaires for measuring psychopathological symptoms (SCL-90) and perceived social support (PSSS). Scores on 25 of the 26 questions of the WHOQOL-Bref had a good distribution. Similar to previous findings, exploratory factor analysis revealed a four-factor structure. A priori expected associations were found between the domains of the WHOQOL-Bref, on the one hand, and dimensions of the SCL-90 and the PSSS-score, on the other hand, indicating good construct validity. The internal consistency of the four domains of the WHOQOL-Bref ranged from 0.66 to 0.80. Domain scores of the WHOQOLBref correlated around 0.92 with the WHOQOL-100 domain scores. Relatively low correlations were found between demographic characteristics (age and sex) and WHOQOL-Bref domain scores. It is concluded that the content validity, construct validity, and the reliability of the WHOQOL-Bref in a population of adult Dutch psychiatric outpatients are good. The WHOQOL-Bref, therefore, is an adequate measure for assessing quality of life at the domain level in a population of adult psychiatric outpatients.
Iride: an Industrial Perspective on Production Grade End to End Dialog System

This paper aims at describing, from an industrial perspective, the experience in delivering conversational agents via the development of Iride, a platform able to deploy multi-language task-oriented dialog systems. It has been implemented a set of functionalities that can be aggregated in different ways, in order to build domain independent conversational systems, which are able to satisfy needs of real business cases. Along with algorithms and techniques for end to end Dialog management, such as Natural Language Understanding (NLU), Question Answering (QA) and Dialog State tracking and policy management, the technical insights leveraged into the platform are described by outlining the requirements and constraints emerging from these on the field experiences.1
INVESTIGATIONS ON THERMAL DEGRADATION OF PRUNUS SPINOSA PHYTOCHEMICALS BY FLUORESCENCE SPECTROSCOPY AND INACTIVATION KINETICS

The present study focuses on the heat-induced structural changes and the degradation kinetics of polyphenolic compounds correlated antioxidant activity from Prunus spinosa fruit extract at temperatures ranging from 60 to 90°C. The influence of heating on anthocyanins was evaluated by using fluorescence spectroscopy technique. The most effective fluorescence intensity was observed at the UV absorption maxima of 300 nm, whereas the extract exhibited a fluorescence emission maximum at 408 nm. By increasing the temperature, a significant decrease in the fluorescence intensity was registered, accompanied by a 12 nm blue-shift at 60°C, followed by 3-8 nm red-shift at 70°C and 80°C and again a 2 nm blue-shift at 90°C, when excited at 270 nm. The presence of the chalcone derivative induced by thermal treatment was also suggested. First-order and fractional conversion kinetic models were used to describe the heatinduced changes of the phytochemicals and antioxidant activity in terms of reaction rate constant and activation energy. A higher degradation rate for polyphenols was observed, whereas the antioxidant activity degrades at the lowest rate. The activation energies for anthocyanins, polyphenols, flavonoids and antioxidant activity were 6.95±1.22, 5.99±1.20, 42.50±9.42 and 13.35±5.01 kJ/mol, respectively. A higher Ea value demonstrated a higher stability of flavonoids at lower temperatures, while a faster degradation rate was observed at higher temperatures.
Alcohol consumption as a risk factor for colorectal cancer; An epidemiological study on genetic susceptibility and molecular endpoints

• A submitted manuscript is the version of the article upon submission and before peer-review. There can be important differences between the submitted version and the official published version of record. People interested in the research are advised to contact the author for the final version of the publication, or visit the DOI to the publisher's website. • The final author version and the galley proof are versions of the publication after peer review. • The final published version features the final layout of the paper including the volume, issue and page numbers.
Urban public bicycle dispatching optimization method

Unreasonable public bicycle dispatching area division seriously affects the operational efficiency of the public bicycle system. To solve this problem, this paper innovatively proposes an improved community discovery algorithm based on multi-objective optimization (CDoMO). The data set is preprocessed into a lease/return relationship, thereby it calculated a similarity matrix, and the community discovery algorithm Fast Unfolding is executed on the matrix to obtain a scheduling scheme. For the results obtained by the algorithm, the workload indicators (scheduled distance, number of sites, and number of scheduling bicycles) should be adjusted to maximize the overall benefits, and the entire process is continuously optimized by a multi-objective optimization algorithm NSGA2. The experimental results show that compared with the clustering algorithm and the community discovery algorithm, the method can shorten the estimated scheduling distance by 20%–50%, and can effectively balance the scheduling workload of each area. The method can provide theoretical support for the public bicycle dispatching department, and improve the efficiency of public bicycle dispatching system.
Disease Control Priorities in Developing Countries

This first edition provides information on disease control interventions for the most common diseases and injuries in developing countries to help them define essential health service packages. Life expectancy in developing countries increased from forty to sixty-three years between 1950 and 1990 with a concommitant rise in the incidence of noncommunicable diseases of adults and the elderly. It is still necessary to deal with under nutrition and communicable childhood diseases. Also, new epidemic diseases like AIDS are emerging, and the health of the poor during economic crisis is a growing concern. These health developments intensify the need for better information on the effectiveness and cost of health interventions. The information is intended for health practitioners at every level. Individual chapters offer preventive and case management guidelines critical to improving the quality of care. The need for health sector reform is global. Both developed and developing countries, and centrally planned and market oriented health systems share basic dissatisfaction with the present organization and financing of health care delivery and a conviction that there are better ways to obtain results with the available resources. This book attempts to assist health sector reformers to review existing services and adapt them to provide the most cost effective interventions available.
Kinesin Family Member 18A (KIF18A) Contributes to the Proliferation, Migration, and Invasion of Lung Adenocarcinoma Cells In Vitro and In Vivo

Objective To determine the expression levels of KIF18A in lung adenocarcinoma and its relationship with the clinicopathologic features of patients undergoing radical colectomy and explore the potential role in the progression of lung adenocarcinoma. Methods Immunohistochemical assays were performed to explore the expression levels of KIF18A in 82 samples of lung adenocarcinoma and corresponding normal tissues. According to the levels of KIF18A expression in lung adenocarcinoma tissue samples, patients were classified into the KIF18A high expression group and low expression group. Clinical data related to the perioperative clinical features (age, gender, smoking, tumor size, differentiation, clinical stage, and lymph node metastasis), the potential correlation between KIF18A expression levels, and clinical features were analyzed, and the effects of KIF18A on lung adenocarcinoma cell proliferation, migration, and invasion were measured by colony formation assay, MTT assay, wound healing assay, and transwell assays. The possible effects of KIF18A on tumor growth and metastasis were measured in mice through tumor growth and tumor metastasis assays in vivo. Results KIF18A in lung adenocarcinoma tissues. Further, KIF18A was significantly associated to clinical characteristic features including the tumor size (P = 0.033) and clinical stage (P = 0.041) of patients with lung adenocarcinoma. Our data also investigated that KIF18A depletion dramatically impairs the proliferation, migration, and invasion capacity of lung adenocarcinoma cells in vitro and inhibits tumor growth and metastasis in mice. Conclusions Our study reveals the involvement of KIF18A in the progression and metastasis of lung adenocarcinoma and provides a novel therapeutic target for the treatment of lung adenocarcinoma.
Profound Changes of the World and China-US Trade Disputes

We are facing profound changes in the world in the 21st century. Various contradictions in the world become more intensive. Deep globalization has promoted a more integrated and efficient human society. Meanwhile, it has become more unbalanced, uncertain and contradictory. The movement of contradictions in the world tends to go from extremes to opposites. The development of human society will see the emergence of several civilization centers, instead of one civilization center taking the place of another. The current China-US trade disputes is one of the important appear of the profound change. The contradictory movements of China-US economic and trade relations are eternal while constants are relative, but changes in the basic structure of China-US relations will take place over a long period of time. The China-US trade problem is actually an imbalance problem, reflectsing the deep-seated and complex contradictions between developed and emerging developing countries in the global transformation. To solve the current China-US trade war, we need to take a balanced line. The China-US trade problem has accumulated over the past decades, and it will take some time to solve them. A scrutiny of China-US trade disputes in the profound changes of the world and the context of modernization shows that China has been working to address many of the issues of concern, which complies with China’s general direction of reform and opening-up and its goal to achieve all-round modernization. The most important thing both of China-US need to consider is not a win-or-lose outcome, but how to convert the fierce trade war to normal trade disputes and how to obtain a leading position in morals, strategies and tactics in the game between major countries. To this end, methods of balanced thinking need to be adopted for proper handling of five major relationships. We need to understand, tolerate and compromise each other. We need to discuss and negotiate the balanced solutions to the problem. This is the requirement of the law of balance. What is the Profound Changes of the world? What is the essence and reason of the profound changes? How should we deal with such profound changes? How do we view China-US trade disputes in the profound changes of the world. This paper attempts to give a preliminary analysis on these questions. This paper is a special research project of the National Social Science Fund, "Research on the joint development of China", the "one belt and one road" initiative and the United Nations sustainable development agenda.
KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE AND PRACTICES ON USE OF TOBACCO USE IN ADOLESCENT STUDENTS IN WARANGAL DISTRICT, ANDHRA PRADESH

OBJECTIVES: To study the existing level of knowledge among college students regarding smoking and other modes of tobacco use. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional survey done on 600 adolescent college students. Both Government and Private Colleges students of Warangal district were included. The age group of student was from 16 to 18 years. RESULTS: Out of 600 students, 424 were males and 176 were females. Among study group 25.8% having smoking habit. Reason given for smoking is that majority want just to enjoy. 84% of the study group wants banning of tobacco use in public places. CONCLUSIONS: The majority of students have the knowledge and awareness about toxic effect of tobacco products using and its warning about smoking. Reason showing to become smokers is from association of smoking parents and smoking friends circle. KEY WORD: Tobacco, smoking, students.
A Miniature 3D Printed On-Off Linear Pneumatic Actuator and Its Demonstration into a Cartoon Character of a Hopping Lamp

Although 3D printing has been extensively used to create passive machines and mechanisms, 3D printing of actuators is a relatively new concept. 3D printing of actuators allows greater customization, accelerates the design and development, and consequently saves time and money. We present the design and fabrication of a 3D printed, miniature size, double-acting, On-Off type, linear pneumatic actuator. The actuator has an overall length of 8 cm, a bore size of 1.5 cm, and a stroke length of 2.0 cm. The overall weight is 12 gm and it generates a peak output power of 2 W when operating at an input air pressure of 40 psi ( 275 . 79 kPa). This paper demonstrates novel methods to solve the challenges that arise during fabrication that include: (1) chemical post-processing to achieve airtight sealing and a smooth surface finish, (2) strategic placement of a metallic part within 3D printed plastic for higher strength, (3) design of an airtight seal between the cylinder and piston head, (4) chemical bonding of printed parts using adhesive, and (5) use of a lubricant to reduce friction and improve force generation. The power-to-weight ratio of our actuator is comparable to that of high-end commercial actuators of similar size. The utility of the actuator is demonstrated in a series of jumping experiments with the actuator and by incorporating the actuator into a hopping robot inspired by Disney/Pixar Luxo lamp. We conclude that 3D printed pneumatic actuators combine the high power of pneumatics with the low weight of plastics, and structural strength through the selective placement of metal parts, thus offering a promising actuator for robotic applications.
INFLUENCE OF ONLINE ACTIVISM ONTO TRADITIONAL MODELS OF POLITICAL PARTICIPATION

There are a lot of disputes regarding the real potential and influence of online activism onto offline world events. In line with that the aim of this paper is to establish the relationship between online activism and potential for social activism in the events that are manifesting in the real world. For that purpose we have conducted a survey of a nationally representative sample of Serbia (around 1200 respondents). Online activism is measured through both usage of the internet as the main source of information, as well as usage of Facebook used as a tool for political participation. On the other hand, real world social activism is measured through belonging to different citizens and political organizations, as well as participation in different kinds of social protests. The results of our research revealed an interconnectedness between the intensity of online activism and the potential for offline social activism.