Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of long-term exposure to sevoflurane on the proliferation, migration, invasion, and cisplatin sensitivity of esophageal cancer

Background Esophageal cancer has a high incidence and one of the highest mortality rates worldwide. There are few studies on the effects of sevoflurane on postoperative metastasis and recurrence of esophageal cancer. This study aimed to investigate the effect of sevoflurane on the progression of esophageal cancer and the underlying mechanism of the sensitivity to cisplatin. Methods We used the esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) line EC109 and esophageal adenocarcinoma (EADC) line SKGT-4. Cell proliferation and stemness potential were determined by MTT assay and sphere-forming assays, respectively. The protein expression of (sex determining region Y)-box 2 (SOX2) and octamer-binding transcription factor 4 (OCT4) was determined by western blot. Cell migration and invasion ability were separately determined by scratch assay and transwell assays, respectively. The distribution of cell cycle and apoptosis were detected by flow cytometry, and the levels of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) were measured by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Results In the SKGT-4 cells, exposure to sevoflurane inhibited proliferation, increased the migration and invasion potential, increased the number of cells in S phase, promoted self-renewal ability, and up-regulated the expression of SOX2 and OCT4 compared with control cells. Compared with the cisplatin treated group, treatment with sevoflurane plus cisplatin reduced the level of LDH and inhibited apoptosis in the SKGT-4 cells. However, sevoflurane did not affect EC109 cells. Conclusions Long-term exposure to sevoflurane inhibited the proliferation, increased migration and invasion capacity, and decreased the sensitivity to cisplatin in EADC by promoting stemness. However, sevoflurane had no effect on the behavior of ESCC.
An Evaluation of Methods for Meta-Analytic Structural Equation Modeling

Abstract The present study evaluated the performance of robust variance estimation (RVE) and random-effects TSSEM with missing at random (MAR) data under realistic conditions. The performance of the two methods was compared in terms of the first stage of MASEM entailing the pooling of correlation estimates and in the second stage when the SEM model is estimated. Findings from this study indicated that RVE and TSSEM provided unbiased pooled correlations at the first stage of MASEM. And TSSEM and RVE both provided unbiased parameter estimates at the second stage. With MAR missing correlations, RVE provided acceptable coverage rates only in scenarios with at least 100 studies while TSSEM provided acceptable coverage rates even with a small to a moderate number of studies (k = 25 and 50).
“Salamandra”: Filosofia-Performance, corpo e saúde holística

A partir da Prática Artística como Pesquisa e da Filosofia-Performance, problematizo como o corpo performático constrói, reconstrói e cambia sentidos de fenômenos diversos, ampliando entendimentos do movimento e do gesto como exercício filosófico e aliados a dimensões de saúde holística. Compartilho trabalhos em que seres se movem enquanto geram autoconhecimento, potência energética e espiritualizada relacionadas à qualidade de vida. A Performance “Salamandra” (2018) e o projeto de intercâmbio artístico “Salamandra” (2020), foram realizados em momentos de doenças, dores e aflições. Reflexões complexificam conexões teórico-práticas e alargam pensamentos sobre cura, ciência, realidade, corpo, filosofia, performance, cognição, imaginação e arte.
Numerical Analysis of Masonry Structures through a Modified Composite Interface (MCI) Model

This paper presents an innovative modelling approach for evaluating the structural response of new and existing masonry buildings characterized by a periodic arrangement of units and mortar joints. The aim is to provide a calculation tool that allows to model the non-linear behaviour of masonry structures under lateral and vertical loads with a reduced numerical effort, without compromising the accuracy of the results. The proposed model is a typical D-FEM (Discontinuum - Finite Element Model) consisting of deformable blocks, which incorporates several masonry units. The blocks are separated by interface elements placed along predetermined surfaces on which cracks, sliding or crushing planes can develop. The surface layout is conceived to replicate all the fundamental failure mechanisms that can occur in real masonry structures. To adequately describe the non-linear behaviour of the interface elements, a Modified Composite Interface (MCI) model is formulated by modifying the "Combined Cracking-Shearing-Crushing" model originally proposed by Lourenço to simulate the cracking mechanisms along the interface elements of simplified micro-models in FEM analysis. The proposed D-FE model has been already calibrated and validated by the Authors on different masonry panels and, through an Evolutionary Polynomial Regression (EPR), expressions in closed form have been defined to calculate the mechanical parameters of the new MCI model starting from the original CI. Particularly, for each mechanical parameter, six formulas of increasing complexity have been identified through non-linear regression, progressively including a greater number of input variables to increase the precision of results. The aim of this study is to determine the accuracy of these formulas. Numerical analyses are carried out on a population of sixty-four masonry walls already used in the previous calibration phase, modeling each panel with all available equations. This allows to evaluate the average accuracy of each formula and to understand their efficiency in terms of calculation effort and correctness of the results.
A GPU-accelerated framework for simulating LiDAR scanning

In this work, we present an efficient GPU-based LiDAR scanner simulator. Laser-based scanning is a useful tool for applications ranging from reverse engineering or quality control at an object scale to large-scale environmental monitoring or topographic mapping. Beyond that, other specific applications require a large amount of LiDAR data during development, such as autonomous driving. Unfortunately, it is not easy to get a sufficient amount of ground truth data due to time constraints and available resources. However, LiDAR simulation can generate classified data at a reduced cost. We propose a parameterized LiDAR to emulate a wide range of sensor models, from airborne to terrestrial scanning. OpenGL’s compute shaders are used to massively generate beams emitted by the virtual LiDAR sensors and solve their collision with the surrounding environment, even with multiple returns. Our work is mainly intended for the rapid generation of datasets for neural networks, consisting of hundreds of millions of points. The conducted tests show that the proposed approach outperforms a sequential LiDAR scanning. Its capabilities for generating huge labeled datasets have also been shown to improve previous studies.
Physical and Biochemical Factors Affecting Breast Fillet Tenderness in Broilers Reared For Divergent Market Demands

Market trends have dictated that broilers be reared for divergent market demands for decades. Also, broiler genetic strains have been adapted to meet market demands which include: genetic selection for improved breast meat, the practice of growing birds to older ages and greater market weights to meet demands, and decreasing postmortem (PM) aging time to improve processing efficiency and fillet yield. These production practices can also affect product quality, specifically boneless breast fillet tenderness and water-holding capacity. To address these factors, a series of experiments were conducted to determine the effect of strain and slaughter age on meat quality parameters, as well as potential causes of these differences in meat quality. Furthermore, commonly accepted methods for improving boneless breast fillet meat quality were evaluated for the effect of older slaughter age and greater market weights. Based on these results, it appears that, regardless of debone time, broilers reared to greater market weights are tougher than birds reared to a lighter market weight. There are several factors that are compounding this increased toughness, including slower progression of rigor development, greater myofibrillar diameter, and perhaps decreased PM fragmentation; however, the relationship among factors is not fully exploited. Also, it appears that boneless breast fillet marination is critical in these larger birds to alleviate the toughness associated with pre-rigor debone, and may be necessary even when birds are deboned at 24 h PM. Therefore, based on these results it can be recommended that longer PM aging prior to debone is necessary when birds are slaughtered at heavier market weights, and aging the meat off the bone may be beneficial to improving boneless breast fillet tenderness. Furthermore, the commercial practice of tumble-marinating is effective for breast fillets of greater size and may be necessary to avoid negative consumer perception of tenderness.
Long-Term Durability of Inorganic Matrix Composite (IMC) Systems under Sustained Tensile Loading

Inorganic Matrix Composite (IMC) systems have been extensively studied in recent years as an effective alternative to the most known organic Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) systems, especially for strengthening applications on masonry. Despite intensive research has been conducted to study mechanical properties and bond mechanisms of such systems, also under different environmental conditions, little information is available on their long-term behaviour under sustained load. In the framework of a large assessment plan for the analysis of fabric reinforced inorganic matrix composites, long-term tensile tests have been performed on different systems in a newly developed test setup. The paper will aim at describing the proposed setup and instrumentation, as well as the results in terms of measured displacements for different combination of fabrics and matrices. Results in terms of retained tensile strength will also be presented, showing the little influence of the long-term loading on the performance of the studied composite systems.
Internet of things–Enabled technologies as an intervention for childhood obesity: A systematic review

Childhood obesity is one of the most serious public health challenges of the 21st century, with consequences lasting into adulthood. Internet of Things (IoT)-enabled devices have been studied and deployed for monitoring and tracking diet and physical activity of children and adolescents as well as a means of providing remote, ongoing support to children and their families. This review aimed to identify and understand current advances in the feasibility, system designs, and effectiveness of IoT-enabled devices to support weight management in children. We searched Medline, PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, ProQuest Central and the IEEE Xplore Digital Library for studies published after 2010 using a combination of keywords and subject headings related to health activity tracking, weight management, youth and Internet of Things. The screening process and risk of bias assessment were conducted in accordance with a previously published protocol. Quantitative analysis was conducted for IoT-architecture related findings and qualitative analysis was conducted for effectiveness-related measures. Twenty-three full studies are included in this systematic review. The most used devices were smartphone/mobile apps (78.3%) and physical activity data (65.2%) from accelerometers (56.5%) were the most commonly tracked data. Only one study embarked on machine learning and deep learning methods in the service layer. Adherence to IoT-based approaches was low but game-based IoT solutions have shown better effectiveness and could play a pivotal role in childhood obesity interventions. Researcher-reported effectiveness measures vary greatly amongst studies, highlighting the importance for improved development and use of standardised digital health evaluation frameworks.
Investigation of Aerosol Particles Produced from Rapid Failure of Concrete

Heichelheim, Eric W. (M.S., Civil Engineering, Department of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering) Investigation of Aerosol Particles from Rapid Failure of Concrete Thesis directed by Associate Professor Mija H. Hubler This work addresses the hypothesis that modern concrete admixtures and inclusions have changed the microstructure mechanical properties sufficiently to result in undocumented concrete response to dynamic loading. The macro-, micro-, and nanoscale fragmentation of concrete as a function of different admixtures and inclusions is studied. This was done by loading them rapidly in a materials testing machine, with air sampling equipment standing by to sample the air, and collect the dust that resulted from the impact event. Four mixes were studied: regular Portland cement concrete for comparison, fly ash and slag admixtures to study effects of micro-scale inclusions, and steel-fiber reinforced concrete to study effects of macro-scale inclusions. Previous studies have shown that concrete fragments follow the Rosin-Rammler distribution as predicted by brittle fracture probabilities. This work concludes that such information is not representative of the aerosol particles that are generated, which are of primary importance for health. It is found that in particular the inclusion of large fibers generates a higher concentration of nanoscale fragments than the other admixtures. An improved analytical formulation for the probability of formulation of small fragments is developed.
Modernizing Competition Policy and Law: The Impact of Marketing Developments on the Legal Treatment of Price Maintenance in the United States, the European Union, and China

Competition policy and law toward price maintenance (e.g., resale price maintenance, unilateral price policies, minimum advertised prices) draws on scholarly perspectives and theory developed over a half century ago. Since that time, changes to marketing practice have caused scholars to question the practical relevance of the perspectives and theory and to call for the modernization of competition policy and law toward price maintenance. Responding to these calls, the authors examine three important developments in contemporary marketing practice and assess their impact on the legal treatment of price maintenance in the three largest economies: the United States, the European Union, and China. Their analysis reveals significant differences in how each jurisdiction is responding to (1) increasing market concentration and accompanying shifts in interfirm power, (2) advances in information technology and the commercial use of the internet, and (3) developments in cross-channel shopping and the rise of omnichannel distribution. Their findings pose implications for future public policy, marketing practice, and academic scholarship and contribute to the modernization of competition policy and law.
A Reliability Measure and Model Method of Space Station

On-orbit maintenance is important means to sustain the reliability of space station. Reliability block diagram and static fault tree analysis are usually applied to measure the system reliability of space station. The results are too conservative due to the disregard of maintenance. Markov method can deal with the measure in case of maintenance. However, due to the possibility of state combinational explosion problem in Markov chain, it is difficult to apply in the space station. The paper investigates a reliability measurement method to consider the contribution of maintenance, and in this way the reliability can be calculated easily. First, check whether the reliability block diagram should be updated by the maintenance condition inspection, and convert the model into dynamic fault tree, then, use Markov transfer chain to calculate reliability. Examples are analyzed with these new methods. The analysis results show that the method can accurately measure the maintenance contribution to the reliability, and the analysis accuracy is better than RBD.
An optimized RESURF LDMOS power device module compatible with advanced logic processes

An advanced optimized RESURF LDMOS device intended for use in low side applications and suitable for integration into advanced CMOS and BiCMOS processes is described. Devices with 84 V and 97 V breakdown voltages have been modeled and fabricated with excellent specific on-resistance performance at CMOS level gate drives. Specific on-resistance of 2.0 m Omega . cm/sup 2/ at 97 V represents the best performance in this voltage class. <<ETX>>
Few-Shot Learning for Fine-Grained Emotion Recognition Using Physiological Signals

Fine-grained emotion recognition can model the temporal dynamics of emotions, which is more precise than predicting one emotion retrospectively for an activity (e.g., video clip watching). Previous works require large amounts of continuously annotated data to train an accurate recognition model, however experiments to collect such large amounts of continuously annotated physiological signals are costly and time-consuming. To overcome this challenge, we propose an Emotion recognition algorithm based on Deep Siamese Networks (EmoDSN) which can rapidly converge on a small amount of training data, typically less than 10 samples per class (i.e., <10 shot). EmoDSN recognizes fine-grained valence and arousal (V-A) labels by maximizing the distance metric between signal segments with different V-A labels. We tested EmoDSN on three different datasets collected in three different environments: desktop, mobile and HMD-based virtual reality, respectively. The results from our experiments show that EmoDSN achieves promising results for both one-dimension binary (high/low V-A, 1D-2 C) and two-dimensional 5-class (four quadrants of V- A space + neutral, 2D-5 C) classification. We get an averaged accuracy of 76.04, 76.62 and 57.62% for 1D-2 C valence, 1D-2 C arousal, and 2D-5 C, respectively, by using only 5 shots of training data. Our experiments show that EmoDSN can achieve better results if we select training samples from the changing points of emotion or the ending moments of video watching.
Endodontic management of pulp canal obliteration: A case report of two cases

Pulp canal obliteration (PCO) is defined as a deposition of hard tissue within the root canal space and a yellow discoloration of clinical crown. These tissues can eventually produce the radiographic appearance of a root canal space that has become partial or completely calcified. These teeth provide an endodontic treatment challenge. The critical management decision being whether to treat these teeth endodontically immediately upon detection of the pulpal obliteration or to wait until symptoms or signs of pulp or periapical disease occur. Success in root canal treatment is based on proper debridement, disinfection and obturation of the root canal system. However, this procedure may be difficult or even impossible to achieve if the pulpal space is calcified. The endodontic treatment performed under these circumstances pose the risk of root perforation, a complication that seriously affects the long-term prognosis of tooth. The present article discusses a series of cases of endodontic treatment in teeth with partially or completely PCO and methods for the clinical management of these cases using contemporary endodontic techniques.
Problem mobile gaming: The role of mobile gaming habits, context, and platform

Aims: Mobile gaming is a dominant form of gaming, known for its portability and for game characteristics that motivate continuous play and spending. Such involvement may also turn problematic, but research on problem gaming (PG) has tended to focus on non-mobile forms of gaming. The study was based on a cross-sectional observational design where students in upper secondary schools were recruited to a survey about mobile gaming. The age of the respondents ranged from 16 to 23 years (n = 519; 52.4% men; mean age = 17.2 years, SD = 1.1). Methods: We examined (1) gaming frequency, gaming contexts, and in-game spending in relation to PG; (2) gaming context in relation to academic achievement and sleep quality; and (3) PG according to gaming platform (i.e., playing on mobile, console/computer, or mixed platforms) with Kruskal−Wallis tests, chi-square tests and Spearman rank-order correlations. Results: PG was positively associated with mobile gaming hours per week (η2 = .02, p < .01), minutes per session (η2 = .03, p < .001), making in-app purchases (Cramer's V = .15, p < .05), and gaming during homework (Cramer's V = .14, p < .05). Statistically significant associations were found between mobile gaming in bed and later sleep midpoint for weekdays (rs = .18, p < .001) and weekends (rs = .11, p < .05). Mixed platform gamers had increased likelihood of PG, console/computer gamers had increased likelihood of being at risk for PG, and mobile gamers had lower risk for PG (Cramer's V = .18, p < .001). Conclusion: Future studies should include specific measures of mobile gaming as it appears implicated in problem gaming, albeit to a lesser degree than console and computer gaming.
Using Video Games to Improve the Sexual Health of Young People Aged 15 to 25 Years: Rapid Review

Background Sexually transmitted infections and unintended pregnancies among young people remain public health concerns in many countries. To date, interventions that address these concerns have had limited success. Serious games are increasingly being used as educational tools in health and professional public education. Although acknowledged as having great potential, few studies have evaluated the use of serious games in sexual health education among young people, and to date, there have been no published reviews of these studies. Objective This study aims to assess the effects of video game–based sexual health interventions for risky sexual behavior in young people aged between 15 and 25 years. Methods A rapid review of randomized controlled trials and quasi–randomized controlled trials was performed. The search included the following bibliographic databases: Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Embase, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, and Scopus. A total of 2 reviewers independently screened 50% (35/70) of the retrieved articles during the full-text screening phase. Results From a total of 459 identified citations, after removing duplicates, 327 (71.2%) articles were deemed eligible for title and abstract screening. Of the 327 articles, 70 (21.4%) full texts were screened, from which 10 (3.1%) articles (evaluating 11 different games) were included in the review. The findings highlighted the considerable diversity in video game–based interventions and assessed sexual health outcomes. Although there were some promising findings in outcome studies using game-based interventions, the results across studies were mixed. Conclusions Although game interventions for sexual health have been in existence for almost three decades, relatively few studies have evaluated them, and the results of previous outcome studies have been mixed. Moreover, there is little clarity regarding which specific elements of a game facilitate positive outcomes. We provide recommendations for future researchers developing video game–based interventions to improve sexual health in young people.