Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Ethnic differences in sleep duration and morning–evening type in a population sample

ABSTRACT This cross-sectional population study examined associations of sleep duration and morning–evening type with sociodemographic and cardiometabolic disease in adults participating in the UK Biobank study (N = 439 933). Multivariable Poisson regression models of sleep duration and morning–evening type with a robust error variance were generated to estimate adjusted prevalence ratios and their 95% confidence intervals. All models were adjusted for sex, race, college attendance, employment status and age. Twenty five percent of the sample reported short sleep; 27% were morning, 64% intermediate and 9% evening type. Black ethnicity emerged as most strongly associated with sleep behavior. Short sleep was twice as prevalent, and morning versus intermediate type was 1.4 times more prevalent in Black than White participants. The greater prevalence of short sleep and morning type among Blacks suggests that sleep-based approaches to improving cardiometabolic outcomes may require a more multidimensional approach that encompasses adequate sleep and circadian alignment in this population.
An investigation of site-similarity approaches to generalisation of a rainfall?runoff model

This paper investigates a new approach to spatial generalisation of rainfall–runoff model parameters – site-similarity with pooling groups – for use in flood frequency estimation at ungauged sites using continuous simulation. The method is developed for the generalisation of a simple conceptual model, the Probability Distributed Model, with four parameters which require specific estimation. The study is based on a relatively large sample of catchments in Great Britain. Various options are investigated within the approach. In the final version, the pooling group comprises the 10 calibrated catchments closest, in catchment property space, to the target site, where the catchment properties used to define the space differ for each parameter of the model. An analysis that, explicitly, takes account of calibration uncertainty as a source of error enables the uncertainty associated with generalised parameter values to be reduced, justifiably. The approach uses calibration uncertainty estimated through jack-knifing and employs a weighting scheme within pooling groups that uses weights which vary both with distance in the catchment property space and with the calibration uncertainty. Models using generalised values from this approach perform relatively well compared with direct calibration. Although performance appears to be better in some areas of the country than others, there are no obvious relationships between catchment properties and performance.
Review: Starch Matrices and the Glycemic Response

Starch is the most important source of energy for humans, and it is present in many products derived from cereals, legumes and tubers. Interestingly, some of these food products can have different metabolic effects (e.g. change of postprandial blood glucose concentration) although the total amount of starch is the same. This review focuses on a microstructural perspective of the glycemic response, in search of an alternative and complementary explanation of this phenomenon. Several starch and food microstructures are responsible for the change in starch bioaccessibility. Aspects such as the characterization of the microstructure of starchy products and, its relation to the metabolic problem, the crucial role of the food matrix and other components in the ingested meal, and the gaps in our present knowledge are discussed.
[Online First].

Research background: On the basis of an analysis of the current situation and expectations in the field of implementation of the elements of the Industry 4.0 concept, the purpose of this paper is to identify the effects on the labor market in large manufacturing enterprises in the Slovak Republic. Purpose of the article: The presented work has a theoretical-empirical nature and consists of a theoretical section and a practical section, which includes statistical indicator analysis and quantitative research. In the theoretical section, the paper discusses the issue of Industry 4.0 in general, with a focus on its impact on the labor market, thus laying the groundwork for future research on the subject. Methods: The output of this work is an analysis of selected indicators of the manufacturing industry sector in the Slovak Republic, based on the most recent employment data analysis in the first stage and quantitative research survey in the second stage, with the respondents being manufacturing industry companies operating in the Slovak Republic, and whose primary objective is to determine the current status of the implementation of the elements and technologies of Industry 4.0 in production companies in the Slovak Republic, as well as the factors influencing this situation, such as digital twin simulation modeling, artificial intelli-gence-based Internet of Manufacturing Things systems, and virtual machine and cognitive computing algorithms. Findings & value added: The research findings indicate that the degree of digitization adopted by businesses in the Slovak Republic is comparatively less robust and more sluggish to adapt. This is primarily attributable to the underdeveloped educational system, population reluctance, self-actualization, and inadequate state support. Recommendations for the Slovak market aim to increase the digital proficiency of businesses and of the general populace through various means, such as reforming legislation, enhancing state support for entrepre-neurs, and modifying the education system, constituting the added value of the work.
Advanced Character Physics

This paper explains the basic elements of an approach to physically-based modeling which is well suited for interactive use. It is simple, fast, and quite stable, and in its basic version the method does not require knowledge of advanced mathematical subjects (although it is based on a solid mathematical foundation). It allows for simulation of both cloth; soft and rigid bodies; and even articulated or constrained bodies using both forward and inverse kinematics. The algorithms were developed for IO Interactive’s game Hitman: Codename 47. There, among other things, the physics system was responsible for the movement of cloth, plants, rigid bodies, and for making dead human bodies fall in unique ways depending on where they were hit, fully interacting with the environment (resulting in the press oxymoron “lifelike death animations”). The article also deals with subtleties like penetration test optimization and friction handling.
Effects of Maltodextrin and Silicon Dioxide Added as Anticaking Agents on the Properties of Instant Date Palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) Powder Using Spray Drying

Date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) is a highly nutritional fruit containing many health benefiting nutrients. The date fruit at Tarm (fully ripened) ripening stage is rejected by consumers as a result of its dark brown skin and bad appearance. Therefore, it is commonly processed into various products. This study aims improve the properties of instant date palm powder (IDPP) produced by spray drying by optimizing the amounts of the anticaking agents Maltodextrin (MD) and Silicon dioxide (SiO2). MD (2040 %w/v of date solution) was used in powder preparation then mixed with SiO2 (0.5-1.5 %w/w of powder) and analyzed for its physicochemical properties and sensory acceptance. The results show that MD and SiO2 significantly affected on properties of IDPP. Increasing the amount of MD and SiO2 increased the yield recovery, tapped density and sensory acceptance score, while decreasing moisture content, bulk density, hygroscopicity (HG) and reducing sugar (RS). The optimized amounts of MD and SiO2 in IDP production were 35.82 %w/v of date solution and 0.72 %w/w of powder respectively. These amounts provided the highest yield recovery (31.45±0.98%), tapped density (649.67±6.98kg/m) and sensory acceptance score (powder distribution was 7.6±0.6 and overall liking was 7.3±1.0), as well as the lowest moisture content (4.25±0.12%), bulk density (478.34±10.56kg/m) and HG (17.79±0.45%). 
The thematic hierarchy in sentence comprehension: A study on the interaction between verb class and word order in Spanish

Linking is the theory that captures the mapping of the semantic roles of lexical arguments to the syntactic functions of the phrases that realize them. At the sentence level, linking allows us to understand “who did what to whom” in an event. In Spanish, linking has been shown to interact with word order, verb class, and case marking. The current study aims to provide the first piece of experimental evidence about the interplay between word order and verb type in Spanish. We achieve this by adopting role and reference grammar and the extended argument dependency model. Two different types of clauses were examined in a self-paced reading task: clauses with object–experiencer psychological verbs and activity verbs. These types of verbs differ in the way that their syntactic and semantic structures are linked, and thus they provide interesting evidence on how information that belongs to the syntax–semantics interface might influence the predictive and integrative processes of sentence comprehension with alternative word orders. Results indicate that in Spanish, comprehension and processing speed is enhanced when the order of the constituents in the sentence mirrors their ranking on a semantic hierarchy that encodes a verb's lexical semantics. Moreover, results show that during online comprehension, predictive mechanisms based on argument hierarchization are used rapidly to inform the processing system. Our findings corroborate already existing cross-linguistic evidence on the issue and are briefly discussed in the light of other sentence-processing models.
Graphene Quantum Strain Transistors and Two-in-One CarbonNanotube Quantum Transistors

Graphene and carbon nanotubes are ideal for strain engineering in quantum nanoelectromechanical systems due to their long coherence lengths, mechanical strength, and sensitivity to deformations. Mechanical strain induces scalar ($\Delta \mu_{\varepsilon}$) and vector ($\bm{A}$) potentials, which directly tune the Hamiltonian, providing precise control of the energy, momentum, and quantum state of electrons in these materials. This strain-tunability could be used to completely suppress ballistic transmission in graphene quantum strain transistors (GQSTs), generate large pseudomagnetic fields ($\nabla \times \bm{A}$), or carry quantum information (valleytronics). Thus far, experimental challenges have prevented thorough exploration of quantum transport strain engineering (QTSE). To this end, we have constructed low temperature ($T\sim 1$~K) QTSE instrumentation. Incorporating fabrication methods for ultra-short ($\sim 10$~nm), suspended carbon nanotube and graphene devices, we predict tunable uniaxial strains up to $\approx \text{1--10}\%$ using this instrumentation. We first determined the impact of ultra-short channel lengths on transport by measuring unstrained nanotube devices. These formed ``two-in-one" quantum transistors with drastically different behaviour for electrons and holes. In a small bandgap nanotube ($\approx 50$~meV) we observed ballistic transport for electrons, and quantum dot (QD) behaviour for holes, while in larger bandgap nanotubes($\approx 300$~meV), we measured asymmetric QD behaviour between electrons and holes. We showed that this transport asymmetry is caused by electron doping in the nanotube contacts, and is greatly enhanced in ultra-short devices. With these contact effects in mind, we developed a realistic applied theoretical model for transport in uniaxially strained ballistic GQSTs. We calculated conductivity for strained ballistic graphene, and found four transport signatures: gate-shifting of the data from the scalar potential, and strong suppression of conductivity, modification of electron-hole conductivity asymmetry, and a rich resonance spectrum from the vector potential. We calculated high on/off ratios $>10^4$ in realistically achievable GQSTs at sufficient strains. Using our strain instrumentation, we measured transport in strained graphene, observing unambiguously the effects of strain-induced vector and scalar potentials. In graphene QDs, we observed gate-shifting of the charge states with strain, consistent with strong, strain-tunable pseudomagnetic fields. In a strained ballistic graphene device, we observed the four expected transport signatures discussed above, and using our model, we found good semi-quantitative agreement between theory and experiment.
Clinical test to detect mecA and antibiotic resistance in Staphylococcus aureus, based on novel biotechnological methods

Background and Objective: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is one of the most common organisms isolated from clinical samples, and has been associated with morbidity and mortality among hospitalized patients. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence and antibiotic susceptibility patterns among MRSA and methicillin-sensitive S. aureus (MSSA) isolates collected from four hospitals in Iran. Material and Methods: A total of 183 isolates of S. aureus were collected from various clinical specimens of four hospitals in Iran. The isolates were identified by using the conventional biochemical tests. Three methods—oxacillin agar disk diffusion, oxacillin agar screening, and PCR— were applied to determine susceptibility to oxacillin. The conventional disk agar diffusion test was used to evaluate the antibiotic sensitivity of our isolates against 15 antibiotics, according to the guidelines of the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI). Results: Of 183 isolates, 77 isolates (42.1%) were found to be MRSA, by the PCR method. The highest antibiotic resistance was found to be against penicillin, co-trimoxazole, erythromycin, and tetracycline respectively. All isolates were susceptible to vancomycin, according to the results of disk agar diffusion. Among other antibiotics, teicoplanin (84%) and fusidic acid (80.5%) were more active against MRSA isolates. For the different methods evaluated, the sensitivities and specificities were as follows: for disk agar diffusion (84.9% and 95.9%) and for agar screening test with oxacillin concentrations of 0.6 μg/ml (70.8% and 97.4%), 4 μg/ml (96.1%and 97.2%) and 6 μg/ml (96% and 96.3%), respectively. Conclusion: The results of our study showed that 47% of S. aureus isolates were MRSA. Overall, in this research study, resistance to all test antimicrobial agents in MRSA isolates were higher than that of MSSA isolates. Our results also revealed that 85% of mecA-positive isolates and 15% of mecA-negative isolates were resistant to methicillin; while 96% of mecA-negative isolates were sensitive to methicillin. Meanwhile 4% of mecA-positive isolates were also sensitive to methicillin.
An implicit connection graph maze routing algorithm for ECO routing

ECO routing is a very important design capability in advanced IC, MCM and PCB designs when additional routings need to be made at the latter stage of the physical design. ECO is difficult in two aspects: first, there are a large number of existing interconnects which become obstacles in the region. A hierarchical approach is not applicable in this situation, and we need to search a large, congested region thoroughly. Second, advances in circuit designs require variable width and variable spacing on interconnects. Thus, a gridless routing algorithm is needed. We propose to use an implicit representation of a non-uniform grid graph for a gridless maze routing algorithm. A novel slit-tree plus interval-tree data structure is developed, combined with a cache structure, to support efficient queries into the connection graph. Our experiments show that this data structure is very small in memory usage while very fast in answering maze expansion related queries. This makes the framework very useful in the ECO type of routing.
Effect of some growth regulators on "in vitro" culture of two Vitis vinifera L. cultivars.

Shoot apical meristems were used for in vitro regeneration in 2 grape cultivars -"Soltanin" and "Sahebi". Meristems were taken from 10 cm length shoots. The culture media used in this study was MS (Murashige & Skoog, 1962), with hormonal supplements consisting of: A (1 mgL -1 BA), B (1.5 mgL -1 BA), C (1 mgL -1 IBA+ 1.5 mgL -1 BA) and D (1 mgL -1 TDZ). Results indicated that B and C variants of culture media produced the highest average number of shoots per cultured apex (3.8-5.4). Consequently, the shoots were twice subcultured on a medium variant supplemented with 1 mg/L TDZ+1.5 mg/L GA. The "in vitro" derived shoots were pretreated with 1 mgL -1 IBA, and then directly potted, which caused significant enhancement in root number per shoot. The good rooting achieved under "in vivo" conditions resulted in the reduction of the time spent for vitroplant acclimatization compared with "in vitro" rooting and, therefore, the time needed for plantlet regeneration was shortened. There was no significant difference between the two cultivars regarding the measured traits.
Hydrology and Earth System Sciences Discussions Uncertainty, Sensitivity Analysis and the Role of Data Based Mechanistic Modeling in Hydrology

Papers published in Hydrology and Earth System Sciences Discussions are under open-access review for the journal Hydrology and Earth System Sciences Abstract In this paper, we discuss the problem of calibration and uncertainty estimation for hy-drologic systems from two points of view: a bottom-up, reductionist approach; and a top-down, data-based mechanistic (DBM) approach. The two approaches are applied to the modelling of the River Hodder catchment in NorthWest England. The bottom-up 5 approach is developed using the TOPMODEL, whose structure is evaluated by global sensitivity analysis (GSA) in order to specify the most sensitive and important parameters ; and the subsequent exercises in calibration and validation are carried out in the light of this sensitivity analysis. GSA helps to improve the calibration of hydrological models, making their properties more transparent and highlighting mis-specification 10 problems. The DBM model provides a quick and efficient analysis of the rainfall-flow data, revealing important characteristics of the catchment-scale response, such as the nature of the effective rainfall nonlinearity and the partitioning of the effective rainfall into different flow pathways. TOPMODEL calibration takes more time and it explains the flow data a little less well than the DBM model. The main differences in the mod-15 elling results are in the nature of the models and the flow decomposition they suggest. The " quick " (63%) and " slow " (37%) components of the decomposed flow identified in the DBM model show a clear partitioning of the flow, with the quick component apparently accounting for the effects of surface and near surface processes; and the slow component arising from the displacement of groundwater into the river channel (base 20 flow). On the other hand, the two output flow components in TOPMODEL have a different physical interpretation, with a single flow component (95%) accounting for both slow (subsurface) and fast (surface) dynamics, while the other, very small component (5%) is interpreted as an instantaneous surface runoff generated by rainfall falling on areas of saturated soil. The results of the exercise show that the two modelling method-25 ologies have good synergy; combining well to produce a complete modelling approach that has the kinds of checks-and-balances required in practical data-based modelling of rainfall-flow systems. Such a combined approach also produces models that are 3100 suitable for different kinds of application. As such, the DBM model can provides an immediate vehicle for flow and flood forecasting; while TOPMODEL, suitably calibrated …
Lateralization and effects of adult androgen in a sexually dimorphic neuromuscular system controlling song in zebra finches

Unlike many other sexually dimorphic systems, gonadal secretions do not explain sex differences in the morphology of the telencephalic song control nuclei of zebra finches. It is important to understand whether a novel mechanism for controlling structure is restricted to the forebrain regions specialized for song, and whether other areas respond more typically to gonadal steroids. Therefore, the effects of sex and adult androgen manipulation on the neuromuscular end of the song control system (tracheosyringeal portion of the hypoglossal nucleus, nXIIts, and the syrinx, or vocal organ) were investigated. Because lesion and axotomy experiments indicate a right‐side bias in the functional control of song, asymmetry in the motor nucleus and in the ventralis and dorsalis syrinx muscles was also tested. Male‐biased dimorphisms existed in the volume of nXIIts, and in syrinx mass and size of muscle fibers, but not in motoneuron number or size. Asymmetries favoring the right side were detected in nXIIts volume and motoneuron number in males, as well as in ventralis and dorsalis fiber size in both sexes. Hormone manipulations had no effect on nXIIts size, neuron size, or number. Testosterone treatment of adult females increased all of the syringeal measures, but the only effect of flutamide in males was to decrease syrinx weight. Thus, male‐biased sexual dimorphisms and right side dominance in both nXIIts and the syrinx may facilitate singing behavior. Adult androgen exposure can induce partial masculinization of the syrinx, but other factors must be important in mediating the sex differences in both that structure and the volume of nXIIts. J. Comp. Neurol. 426:154–164, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Influence of UV-B Light Emitting Diodes on Colour Development and Accumulation of Polyphenols and Antioxidants in Apple Skin

UV light provoked stress can evoke antioxidant defence system and consequently induces the synthesis of several phytochemical compounds. The aim of the present study was to investigate the influence of UV-B light irradiation on surface colour and synthesis of some bioactive compounds in apples skin of cultivars ‘Elstar’ and ‘Jonagold’. Half of each apple was shaded with aluminium foil to compare irradiated and non-irradiated parts of skin. Apple fruits were exposed to constant UV-B light at 310 nm in chamber for 13 days at 8.5 °C. The UV-B light emitting diodes were positioned ca. 13 cm above the apple fruit and the average irradiance fruit received was 4.6 μW/cm2. Measurements of colour parameters (L*, a*, b*) were performed on the same spots of irradiated and non-irradiated surface of each apple fruit before and after 7, 10 and 13 days of storage constant UV-B light irradiation. All apple fruits started to develop red colour on the irradiated surface. The antioxidant potential, ascorbic acid content, total phenolic compounds, six flavonols and anthocyanin cyanidin-3-galactoside were quantitatively evaluated. Apple skins exposed to UV-B light irradiation contained significantly more total phenolic compounds and had higher antioxidant potential as compared to non-irradiated. UV light treated apple skin contained more cyanidin-3-galactoside and flavonols.