Ucp

Software estimation is a crucial task in software engineering. Software estimation encompasses cost, effort, schedule, and size. The importance of software estimation becomes critical in the early stages of the software life cycle when the details of software have not been revealed yet. Several commercial and non-commercial tools exist to estimate software in the early stages. Most software effort estimation methods require software size as one of the important metric inputs and consequently, software size estimation in the early ...

Software estimation is a tedious and daunting task in project management and software development. Software estimators are notorious in predicting software effort and they have been struggling in the past decades to provide new models to enhance software estimation. The most critical and crucial part of software estimation is when estimation is required in the early stages of the software life cycle where the problem to be solved has not yet been completely revealed. This paper presents a novel log-linear regression model based on the use case point model (UCP) to calculate the software effort based on use case diagrams. A fuzzy logic approach is used to calibrate the productivity factor in the regression model. Moreover, a multilayer perceptron (MLP) neural network model was developed to predict software effort based on the software size and team productivity. Experiments show that the proposed approach outperforms the original UCP model. Furthermore, a comparison between the MLP and log-linear regression models was conducted based on the size of the projects. Results demonstrate that the MLP model can surpass the regression model when small projects are used, but the log-linear regression model gives better results when estimating larger projects.► This paper focuses on creating a log-linear regression model for software effort estimation from use case diagrams. ► A multi layer perceptron (MLP) neural network model was also developed to predict software effort. ► The proposed approach can be used in the early stages of the software life cycle. ► The MLP model can be used as an alternative to regression models when small projects are used (<3000 person-hours).

It is very important to conduct software estimation in the early stages of the software life cycle, because it helps managers bid on projects and allocate resources efficiently. This paper presents a novel regression model to estimate the software effort based on the use case point size metric. The use case point model takes use case diagrams as input and gives the software size in use case points as output. The proposed effort equation takes into consideration the non-linear relationship between software size and software effort, as well as the influences of project complexity and productivity. Results show that the software effort estimation accuracy can be improved by 16.5% using PRED(25) and 25% using PRED(35).

Obesity is a complex disease caused by the interaction of a myriad of genetic, dietary, lifestyle, and environmental factors, which favors a chronic positive energy balance, and leads to increased body fat mass. The incidence of obesity is rising at an alarming rate and is becoming a major public health concern with incalculable social costs. Indeed, obesity facilitates the development of metabolic disorders such as diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular diseases in addition to chronic diseases such as stroke, osteoarthritis, sleep apnea, some cancers, and inflammationbased pathologies. Recent researches demonstrated the potential of natural products to counteract obesity. Multiple-natural product combinations may result in a synergistic activity that increases their bioavailability and action on multiple molecular targets, offering advantages over chemical treatments. In this review, we discuss the anti-obesity potential of natural products and analyze their mechanisms.

Thermogenesis in brown adipocytes, conferred by mitochondrial uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1), is receiving great attention because metabolically active brown adipose tissue may protect humans from metabolic diseases. In particular, the thermogenic function of brown-like adipocytes in white adipose tissue, known as brite (or beige) adipocytes, is currently of prime interest. A valid procedure to quantify the specific contribution of UCP1 to thermogenesis is thus of vital importance. Adrenergic stimulation of lipolysis is a common way to activate UCP1. We here report, however, that in this frequently applied setup, taking control over intracellular fatty acid levels is essential for the analysis of thermogenic function in cultured brown and brite adipocytes. By the application of these findings, we demonstrate that UCP1 is functionally thermogenic in intact brite adipocytes and adrenergic UCP1 activation is largely dependent on adipose triglyceride lipase (ATGL) rather than hormone sensi...

The stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHRsp) represents an animal model of increased susceptibility to high-salt diet–induced cerebral and renal vascular injuries. High blood pressure and genetic factors are viewed as major contributing factors. In high-salt–loaded SHRsp and stroke-resistant SHR animals, we determined blood pressure levels, degree of kidney lesions, renal uncoupling protein 2 (UCP2) gene and protein expression levels along with rattus norvegicus (rno)-microRNA (miR) 24 and 34a gene expression, nuclear factor-κB protein levels, and oxidative stress. In vitro, UCP2 gene silencing was performed in renal mesangial cells. We found more severe degree of renal damage in SHRsp at the end of 4-week high-salt dietary treatment as compared with stroke-resistant SHR, despite comparable blood pressure levels, along with increased rate of inflammation and oxidative stress. Kidney UCP2 gene and protein expression levels were significantly downregulated under high-salt d...

&lt;p&gt;The grip force (GF, black) and load force (LF, grey) are presented as a function of time in seconds (s) and measured in Newton (N). t&lt;sub&gt;0&lt;/sub&gt; = vertical line, start of child’s downward movement. The circles highlights the events observed in the forces during the task: a = minimal load force value observed during the task (LF&lt;sub&gt;min&lt;/sub&gt;), b = minimal grip force value observed during the task (GF&lt;sub&gt;min&lt;/sub&gt;), c = maximal load force value observed during the task (LF&lt;sub&gt;max&lt;/sub&gt;), d = maximal grip force value observed during the task (GF&lt;sub&gt;max&lt;/sub&gt;).&lt;/p

&lt;p&gt;A) Mean Load force. B) Mean Grip force. C) Mean GF/LF ratio. The four conditions are presented in colour code as follow: blue = more affected hand, cyan = less affected hand, green = nondominant hand and yellow = dominant hand. Error bars represent the standard error. * indicates p-value &lt;0.050.&lt;/p

Adaptive thermogenesis allows mammals to resist to cold. For instance, in brown adipose tissue (BAT) the facultative uncoupling of the proton gradient from ATP synthesis in mitochondria is used to generate systemic heat. However, this system necessitates an increase of the Uncoupling protein 1 (Ucp1) and its activation by free fatty acids. Here we show that mice without functional Period2 (Per2) were cold sensitive because their adaptive thermogenesis system was less efficient. Upon cold-exposure, Heat shock factor 1 (HSF1) induced Per2 in the BAT. Subsequently, PER2 as a co-activator of PPARα increased expression of Ucp1. PER2 also increased Fatty acid binding protein 3 (Fabp3), a protein important to transport free fatty acids from the plasma to mitochondria to activate UCP1. Hence, in BAT PER2 is important for the coordination of the molecular response of mice exposed to cold by synchronizing UCP1 expression and its activation.

Skeletal muscle has strong regenerative capabilities. However, failed regeneration can lead to complications where aberrant tissue forms as is the case with heterotopic ossification (HO), in which chondrocytes, osteoblasts and white and brown adipocytes can arise following severe trauma. In humans, the various HO cell types likely originate from multipotent mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) in skeletal muscle, which have not been identified in humans until now. In the present study, adherent cells from freshly digested skeletal muscle tissue were expanded in defined culture medium and were FACS-enriched for the CD73(+)CD105(+)CD90(-) population, which displayed robust multilineage potential. Clonal differentiation assays confirmed that all three lineages originated from a single multipotent progenitor. In addition to differentiating into typical HO lineages, human muscle resident MSCs (hmrMSCs) also differentiated into brown adipocytes expressing uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1). Characte...