Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
On the continuum intensity distribution of the solar photosphere

Context. For many years, there seemed to be significant di fferences between the continuum intensity distributions derived from observations and simulations of the solar photosphere. Aims. In order to settle the discussion on these apparent discrepa ncies, we present a detailed comparison between simulations and seeing-free observations that takes into account the cruci al influence of instrumental image degradation. Methods. We use a set of images of quiet Sun granulation taken in the blue, green and red continuum bands of the Broadband Filter Imager of the Solar Optical Telescope (SOT) onboard Hinode. The images are deconvolved with Point Spread Functions (PSF) that account for non-ideal contributions due to instrumental stray-light and imperfections. In addition, synthetic i ntensity images are degraded with the corresponding PSFs. The results are compared with respect to spatial power spectra, intensity histog rams, and the centre-to-limb variation of the intensity contrast. Results. The intensity distribution of SOT granulation images is broadest for the blue continuum at disc-centre and narrows towards the limb and for longer wavelengths. The distributions are relatively symmetric close to the limb but exhibit a growing asymmetry towards disc-centre. The intensity contrast, which is connected to the width of the distribution, is found to be (12.8± 0.5) %, (8.3± 0.4) %, and (6.2± 0.2) % at disc-centre for blue, green, and red continuum, respectively. Removing the influence of the PSF unveils much broader intensity distributions with a secondary component that is otherwise only visible as an asymmetry between the darker and brighter than average part of the distribution. The cont rast values increase to (26.7± 1.3) %, (19.4± 1.4) %, and (16.6± 0.7) % for blue, green, and red continuum, respectively. The power spectral density of the images exhibits a pronounced peak at spatial scales characteristic for the granulation pattern and a steep decr ease towards smaller scales. The observational findings lik e the absolute values and centre-to-limb variation of the intensity contr ast, intensity histograms, and power spectral density are well matched with corresponding synthetic observables from three-dimensional radiation (magneto-)hydrodynamic simulations. Conclusions. We conclude that the intensity contrast of the solar continuum intensity is higher than usually derived from groundbased observations and is well reproduced by modern radiation (magneto-)hydrodynamic models. Properly accounting for image degradation effects is of crucial importance for comparisons between observations and numerical models.
10 Lectins and Their Roles in Pests Control

Losses in agricultural production due to pests and diseases have been estimated at 37% of total production worldwide, with 13% due to insect pests (Gatehouse, 1998). Over the last decades, the use of chemical compounds, such as pesticides has been rapidly increased. Thus, the harmful effects of insecticides on non target organisms and environment are well documented in order to limit their use. This fact justifies the necessity for research and development of alternative approach to balance agricultural, environmental and health issues, in crop protection. The new alternative to chemical compound was the use of bacteria, Bacillus thuringiensis (Berliner) (Bt) and several strains of this bacteria were introduced as biopesticide to a wide range of insect pests. In recent years, due to increasing resistance of some insect pests to Bt, new approaches including the use of entomotoxic proteins has been proposed for the insect pest control (Aronson, 1994; Ferre and Rie, 2002; Janmaat and Myers, 2003).
Alfvénic Heating in the Cusp Ionosphere‐Thermosphere

The effect of electromagnetic variability on cusp‐region ionosphere‐thermosphere heating is examined. The study is motivated by observed correlations between anomalous thermospheric density enhancements at F region altitudes and small‐scale field‐aligned currents, previously interpreted as evidence of ionospheric Alfvén resonator modes. Height‐integrated and height‐dependent heating rates for Alfvén waves incident from the magnetosphere at frequencies from 0.05 to 2 Hz and perpendicular wavelengths from 0.5 to 20 km have been calculated. The velocity well in Alfvén speed surrounding the F region plasma density maximum facilitates energy deposition by slowing, trapping, and intensifying resonant waves. The Alfvénic Joule heating rate maximizes at the resulting resonances. F region Joule heating resulting from quasistatic and Alfvénic variability with the same root‐mean‐square amplitude in the F region are shown to be comparable. At the same time, Alfvénic variability deposits little electromagnetic power in the E region, whereas quasistatic variability greatly enhances E region heating. When measured electric and magnetic fields are used to constrain the amplitude and spectral content of superposed Alfvén waves incident from the magnetosphere, the calculated F region heating rate ranges from 5 to 10 nW/m3.
Manifold implications of forgotten hyperglycemia in clinical opiate dependence

Both chronic opiate dependence and diabetes are widespread public health problems. The historically causal relationship between opiate pharmacology and hyperglycemia would appear to have fallen from curent medical knowledge. The aims of this study were to assess the severity of hyperglycemia in our opiate substance use disorder (SUD) patient population and review its pathophysiological basis. A review was undertaken of our clinical pathology database, comparing SUD patients and general medical controls (NSUD). A total of 1,602 SUD patients were compared with 2,858 NSUD patients 15–50 years of age. Mean ages were 31.29 ± 7.40 and 31.55 ± 9.17 years, respectively (P = 0.42) and were 68.60 and 52.76% male (P < 0.0001). The glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) level in diabetics was 8.14 ± 2.76 and 6.29 ± 1.88 (P = 0.0032). In a nested case-control subset, random glucose, HbA1c, and fructosamine levels were all significantly elevated (P < 0.05). Adjusted for age, the HbA1c level was elevated among the SUD group (P < 0.0001) the age at addiction interaction was also significant (P < 0.0001). Serum glucose, HbA1c, fructosamine, and microalbumin levels were shown to be biomarkers of age. At multiple regression analysis, interactions between age, addictive status, glycemia, and the inflammatory markers, ethrocyte sedimentation rate and C-reactive protein, were significant (P < 0.05). At age 50, diabetic SUD patients had a HbA1c of 8.31%, which was equivalent to that of NSUD patients at age 140.54 years, a 181.07% elevation. These results confirm that hyperglycemia is higher in both an absolute and an age-dependent sense among diabetic SUD patients. These results are consistent with an acceleration of age-related and degenerative pathologies in many tissues and therefore carry far-reaching implications for the safety of indefinite opiate maintenance.
Pseudo-Euclidean Jordan Algebras

A pseudo-euclidean Jordan algebra is a Jordan algebra 𝔍 with an associative non-degenerate symmetric bilinear form B. We study the structure of the pseudo-euclidean Jordan algebras over a field 𝕂 of characteristic not two, and we obtain an inductive description of these algebras in terms of double extensions and generalized double extensions. Next, we study the symplectic pseudo-euclidean Jordan 𝕂-algebras, and we give some informations on a particular class of these algebras, namely the class of symplectic Jordan–Manin Algebras.
A M ETHOD FOR A IRCRAFT I CING D IAGNOSIS IN P RECIPITATION

A study of feasibility is performed for the development of a nowcasting method of aircraft icing conditions. The supercooled cloud water content is a key parameter for the determination of hazardous regions. The production of supercooled water in clouds is possible only where sufficiently strong updraft produces supersaturation with respect to water. However, to maintain the presence of supercooled droplets, the generation of moisture excess during the air uplift must exceed the rate of vapor deposition on snow and the rate of snow riming. The “storm of the century” (March 13-14, 1993) has been chosen as a good case of stratiform precipitation event and its microphysics was simulated using a high resolution three-dimensional kinematic cloud model with a full microphysical scheme. The winds driving the development of hydrometeors are obtained by a three-dimensional wind retrieval technique applied to single Doppler radar data. The output of the cloud model provides the field of supercooled (since T < 0°C) cloud water. In this way a potentially operational method for detection of icing conditions is suggested. Once implemented, the method was used on a second case (October 21, 1993), where aircraft observations provided a mean of evaluating its performance. The comparison of retrieved cloud liquid water with in situ measurements, shows a good potential for the retrieval method.
Genetic Profiling of Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli Strains in Relation to Clonality and Clinical Signs of Infection

ABSTRACT Sixty-seven human strains of enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) (from patients with more or less severe symptoms) were serogrouped and arranged according to pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) patterns. We used PCR to investigate the strains according to known or putative virulence factors, and associations with disease were studied. All EHEC strains with the same PFGE pattern belonged to the same serogroup. On the contrary, two serogroups (O157 and O8) included strains with different PFGE patterns. We found several different combinations of chromosomal and plasmid-borne determinants, encoding the putative virulence factors, among the strains. As judged from clinical symptoms, there was no marked difference in pathogenicity among the strains and their combinations of virulence traits. All strains of O157 had the genes coding for verocytotoxin (VT) 2, intimin (eaeA), E. coli hemolysin (E-hly), and secreted serine protease (espP). Among EHEC non-O157 strains, the genes coding for VT1 and VT2 were equally dispersed. EaeA positivity was just as common among VT1- as VT2-positive strains. Among the plasmid-borne determinants, E-hly and espP were the most common and E-hly might be a pathogenicity marker among EHEC non-O157 strains. The conclusion is that PFGE is a very useful tool in epidemiological studies. The EHEC plasmids are heterogeneous in their gene composition, with the four plasmid-borne determinants found in many combinations. There was no reliable correlation between chromosomal and plasmid-borne virulence factors and human disease.
Universal Turing Machine

Many cyberneticists would agree that, had it not been for reinforcement learning, the development of IPv7 might never have occurred. In fact, few security experts would disagree with the natural unification of RPCs and courseware, which embodies the significant principles of steganography. Our focus in our research is not on whether the famous random algorithm for the investigation of vacuum tubes by C. Martinez et al. [114, 188, 62, 70, 114, 179, 68, 95, 54, 152, 191, 59, 168, 148, 99, 58, 129, 128, 106, 154] runs inΘ(n) time, but rather on constructing an analysis of scatter/gather I/O (ObyAvoset).
Executive-process interactive control: A unified computational theory for answering 20 questions (and more) about cognitive ageing

Although the effects of ageing on human information processing and performance have been studied extensively, many fundamental questions about cognitive ageing remain to be answered definitively. For example, what are the sources of age-related slowing? How much is working-memory capacity reduced in older adults? Is time-sharing ability lost with age? Answering such questions requires a unified computational theory that characterises the interactive operations of many component mental processes and integrates diverse data on cognitive ageing. Toward fulfilling this requirement, an executive-process interactive control (EPIC) architecture has been extended to model performance of both young and older adults. EPIC models yield accurate accounts of ageing effects on reaction times and accuracy in basic dual-task and working-memory paradigms. From these accounts, it appears that time-sharing ability and working-memory capacity decrease relatively little until after 70 years of age. Before age 70, at least some apparent performance decrements may be attributable to conservative executive processes and inefficient task procedures rather than decreased "hardware" functionality. By clarifying and deepening such insights, unified computational theories like EPIC will help answer many questions about cognitive ageing.
Age-related increases in false recognition: the role of perceptual and conceptual similarity

Older adults (OAs) are more likely to falsely recognize novel events than young adults, and recent behavioral and neuroimaging evidence points to a reduced ability to distinguish overlapping information due to decline in hippocampal pattern separation. However, other data suggest a critical role for semantic similarity. Koutstaal et al. [(2003) false recognition of abstract vs. common objects in older and younger adults: testing the semantic categorization account, J. Exp. Psychol. Learn. 29, 499–510] reported that OAs were only vulnerable to false recognition of items with pre-existing semantic representations. We replicated Koutstaal et al.’s (2003) second experiment and examined the influence of independently rated perceptual and conceptual similarity between stimuli and lures. At study, young and OAs judged the pleasantness of pictures of abstract (unfamiliar) and concrete (familiar) items, followed by a surprise recognition test including studied items, similar lures, and novel unrelated items. Experiment 1 used dichotomous “old/new” responses at test, while in Experiment 2 participants were also asked to judge lures as “similar,” to increase explicit demands on pattern separation. In both experiments, OAs showed a greater increase in false recognition for concrete than abstract items relative to the young, replicating Koutstaal et al.’s (2003) findings. However, unlike in the earlier study, there was also an age-related increase in false recognition of abstract lures when multiple similar images had been studied. In line with pattern separation accounts of false recognition, OAs were more likely to misclassify concrete lures with high and moderate, but not low degrees of rated similarity to studied items. Results are consistent with the view that OAs are particularly susceptible to semantic interference in recognition memory, and with the possibility that this reflects age-related decline in pattern separation.
Clinically meaningful changes in health-related quality of life in patients diagnosed with hepatobiliary carcinoma.

BACKGROUND To test the reliability, sensitivity to change in biomarkers associated with disease progression and response to treatment, and clinical meaningfulness of the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Hepatobiliary (FACT-Hep) in patients with hepatobiliary carcinoma. PATIENTS AND METHODS One hundred and fifty-eight patients diagnosed with hepatobiliary carcinoma were prospectively studied. Health-related quality of life (HRQL) was assessed at baseline (prior to treatment), 3-month follow-up (n=55) and 6-month follow-up (n=27). RESULTS The internal consistency of all the scales of the FACT-Hep were adequate at all time points (>0.75). The FACT-Hep was found to be sensitive to changes in clinical indicators (alkaline phosphate, alpha-fetoprotein, hemoglobin and survival) that reflect disease progression and response to treatment. Combined results from distribution-based and cross-sectional anchor-based analyses provide the following minimally important difference (MID) estimates: FACT-General (FACT-G) subscales=2-3; FACT-G=6-7; Hepatobiliary Cancer Subscale=5-6; FACT-Hep=8-9; Trial Outcome Index=7-8; and FACT-Hepatobiliary Symptom Index=2-3 points. CONCLUSIONS The FACT-Hep is a reliable instrument that is responsive to clinical indicators of disease progression and response to treatment. The MID estimates can aid interpretation of HRQL data and facilitate sample size calculation in clinical trials.
Multi-resistance to carbapenems by the production of Imipenemase (IMP)-types carbapenemases in Gram-negative bacilli in Burkina Faso

The growing prevalence of Imipenemase (IMP) metallo-beta-lactamases (MBL) producing strains of Gram-negative bacilli (GNB) pathogens is a real concern for clinicians in the light of therapeutic impasses driven. However, resistance genes encoding these enzymes are hardly documented in Burkina Faso. This study aims to show carbapenem-resistance mediated by the production of IMP-type carbapenemase in GNB clinical strains collected in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Strains resistance profile to imipenem, meropenem, ertapenem, doripenem and aztreonam was determined by the disk diffusion method. Classical polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was carried out to detect β-lactamase ( bla ) gene of IMP in resistant strains. Out of 158 GNB collected, 91 (57.6%) were resistant to at least one of the carbapenems and/or to aztreonam. The highest prevalence of resistant strains was observed in Escherichia coli (45.1%; n=41) and Klebsiella pneumoniae (26.5% n=24). Among 32 resistant strains bla IMP gene positive (35.2%), Escherichia coli was the predominant species carrying resistance gene (18.7%, n=17/91). The findings strengthen the scarce existing scientific data on antimicrobial resistance mediated by metallo-beta-lactamases (MBL) in Burkina Faso.
Distributed Computing by Mobile Robots: Gathering

Consider a set of $n>2$ identical mobile computational entities in the plane, called robots, operating in Look-Compute-Move cycles, without any means of direct communication. The Gathering Problem is the primitive task of all entities gathering in finite time at a point not fixed in advance, without any external control. The problem has been extensively studied in the literature under a variety of strong assumptions (e.g., synchronicity of the cycles, instantaneous movements, complete memory of the past, common coordinate system, etc.). In this paper we consider the setting without those assumptions, that is, when the entities are oblivious (i.e., they do not remember results and observations from previous cycles), disoriented (i.e., have no common coordinate system), and fully asynchronous (i.e., no assumptions exist on timing of cycles and activities within a cycle). The existing algorithmic contributions for such robots are limited to solutions for $n \leq 4$ or for restricted sets of initial configura.
Sinularin from Indigenous Soft Coral Attenuates Nociceptive Responses and Spinal Neuroinflammation in Carrageenan-Induced Inflammatory Rat Model

Three decades ago, the marine-derived compound sinularin was shown to have anti-edematous effects on paw edema induced by carrageenan or adjuvant. To the best of our knowledge, no new studies were conducted to explore the bioactivity of sinularin until we reported the analgesic properties of sinularin based on in vivo experiments. In the present study, we found that sinularin significantly inhibits the upregulation of proinflammatory proteins, inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and upregulates the production of transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated murine macrophage RAW 264.7 cells according to western blot analysis. We found that subcutaneous (s.c.) administration of sinularin (80 mg/kg) 1 h before carrageenan injection significantly inhibited carrageenan-induced nociceptive behaviors, including thermal hyperalgesia, mechanical allodynia, cold allodynia, and hindpaw weight-bearing deficits. Further, s.c. sinularin (80 mg/kg) significantly inhibited carrageenan-induced microglial and astrocyte activation as well as upregulation of iNOS in the dorsal horn of the lumbar spinal cord. Moreover, s.c. sinularin (80 mg/kg) inhibited carrageenan-induced tissue inflammatory responses, redness and edema of the paw, and leukocyte infiltration. The results of immunohistochemical studies indicate that s.c. sinularin (80 mg/kg) could upregulate production of TGF-β1 in carrageenan-induced inflamed paw tissue. The present results demonstrate that systemic sinularin exerts analgesic effects at the behavioral and spinal levels, which are associated with both inhibition of leukocyte infiltration and upregulation of TGF-β1.
Role-based delegation model/hierarchical roles (RBDM1)

The basic idea behind delegation is that some active entity in a system delegates authority to another active entity in order to carry out some functions on behalf of the former. User delegation in RBAC is the ability of one user (called the delegating user) who is a member of the delegated role to authorize another user (called the delegate user) to become a member of the delegated role. This paper introduces a new model, which we consider it to be an extension of REDM0 [BS2000]. The central contribution of this paper is to introduce a new model, referred to as RBDM1 (role-based delegation model/ hierarchical roles), that uses the details from RBDM0, which was described in the literature by Barka and Sandhu [BS2000] to address the temporary delegation based on hierarchical roles. We formally defined a role-based delegation model based on hierarchical relationship between the roles involved. We also identified the different semantics that impact the can-delegate relation, we analyzed these semantics to determine which ones we consider as more appropriate in business today, thus allowed in our model, and provided a justification to why those selections are made.
Comparison of three commercial knowledge bases for detection of drug-drug interactions in clinical decision support

Objective To compare 3 commercial knowledge bases (KBs) used for detection and avoidance of potential drug-drug interactions (DDIs) in clinical practice. Methods Drugs in the DDI tables from First DataBank (FDB), Micromedex, and Multum were mapped to RxNorm. The KBs were compared at the clinical drug, ingredient, and DDI rule levels. The KBs were evaluated against a reference list of highly significant DDIs from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC). The KBs and the ONC list were applied to a prescription data set to simulate their use in clinical decision support. Results The KBs contained 1.6 million (FDB), 4.5 million (Micromedex), and 4.8 million (Multum) clinical drug pairs. Altogether, there were 8.6 million unique pairs, of which 79% were found only in 1 KB and 5% in all 3 KBs. However, there was generally more agreement than disagreement in the severity rankings, especially in the contraindicated category. The KBs covered 99.8-99.9% of the alerts of the ONC list and would have generated 25 (FDB), 145 (Micromedex), and 84 (Multum) alerts per 1000 prescriptions. Conclusion The commercial KBs differ considerably in size and quantity of alerts generated. There is less variability in severity ranking of DDIs than suggested by previous studies. All KBs provide very good coverage of the ONC list. More work is needed to standardize the editorial policies and evidence for inclusion of DDIs to reduce variation among knowledge sources and improve relevance. Some DDIs considered contraindicated in all 3 KBs might be possible candidates to add to the ONC list.