Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Robustness of cooperative behaviour model on N robot-based multi-robot systems: Application to mine emergency and disaster management

Developing an efficient model for real-life management has been a rapidly growing robotic research area. Environments such as underground tunnels are one of many harsh areas that still need exploration and exploitation by autonomous systems in the field robotics. In this paper, a robust cooperative framework is presented for pre emergency and disaster management, in other words, safety prevention measures in the underground terrain. The system is designed for n-robots to understand the emergency and disaster behaviours of one another and cooperate while avoiding collision. The framework logically establishes a QLACS model based on Ant Colony System (ACS) and QLearning (QL) techniques. To provide a robust way of achieving pre-emergency and disaster management in the mine, the scalable QLACS was tested with 2-robots, 3-robots and 4-robots. The performance evaluation result shows that the QLACS is reliably robust in communication and search costs, and also scalable to n-based MRS.
Thermal cycling of grate-link material for iron ore pelletising process

A test-rig for thermal cycling has been developed to investigate the mechanisms behind some of the damages done to a grate-link in a pelletising indurator for iron ore pellets. The results from the test-rig were compared with the degradation of grate-links that had been in service for 8 months in the indurator. The damages on the grate-links induced both in the test-rig and at service were defined as internal oxidation which facilitated propagation of intergranular stress corrosion cracking (IGSCC). Internal oxidation was initiated by spallation or removal of the oxide layers. The test-rig was able to successfully perform a lab-scale simulation of the degradation experienced in the indurator. Thermal cycling was applied to plate-formed specimens by constraining their thermal elongation to form bending and thereby stimulate the mechanisms of spallation and sensibilisation to IGSCC by internal oxidation.
Interactive comment on “ HO x measurements in the summertime upper troposphere over Europe : a comparison of observations to a box model and a 3-D model ”

This paper presents a valuable dataset for the HOx measurements in the summertime upper troposphere over Europe. The authors then compared the HOx measurements to a box model and a 3-D model. While the box model was able to reproduce measured OH and HO2 in upper troposphere, the 3-D model shows less agreement with observations. The authors attribute such discrepancy to the underestimate of H2O2 in the 3-D model. I have a few major concerns on this paper:
Targeted Deletion of Adipocyte Abca1 (ATP-Binding Cassette Transporter A1) Impairs Diet-Induced Obesity

Objective— Adipose tissue cholesterol increases with adipocyte triglyceride content and size during development of obesity. However, how adipocyte cholesterol affects adipocyte function is poorly understood. The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of the cellular cholesterol exporter, Abca1 (ATP-binding cassette transporter A1), on adipose tissue function during diet-induced obesity. Approach and Results— Adiponectin Cre recombinase transgenic mice were crossed with Abca1flox/flox mice to generate ASKO (adipocyte-specific Abca1 knockout) mice. Control and ASKO mice were then fed a high-fat, high-cholesterol (45% calories as fat and 0.2% cholesterol) diet for 16 weeks. Compared with control mice, ASKO mice had a 2-fold increase in adipocyte plasma membrane cholesterol content and significantly lower body weight, epididymal fat pad weight, and adipocyte size. ASKO versus control adipose tissue had decreased PPAR&ggr; (peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor &ggr;) and CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein expression, nuclear SREBP1 (sterol regulatory element-binding protein 1) protein, lipogenesis, and triglyceride accretion but similar Akt activation after acute insulin stimulation. Acute siRNA-mediated Abca1 silencing during 3T3L1 adipocyte differentiation reduced adipocyte Abca1 and PPAR&ggr; protein expression and triglyceride content. Systemic stimulated triglyceride lipolysis and glucose homeostasis were similar between control and ASKO mice. Conclusions— Adipocyte Abca1 is a key regulator of adipocyte lipogenesis and lipid accretion, likely because of increased adipose tissue membrane cholesterol, resulting in decreased activation of lipogenic transcription factors PPAR&ggr; and SREBP1.
Cumulative risk exposure moderates the association between parasympathetic reactivity and inhibitory control in preschool‐age children

A child's cumulative risk for early exposure to stress has been linked to alterations of self-regulation outcomes, including neurobiological correlates of inhibitory control (IC). We examined whether children's ability to engage the parasympathetic nervous system impacts how risk affects IC. Children ages 3-5 years completed two laboratory measures of IC while respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) was measured, indexing parasympathetic activity. Children with greater risk demonstrated lower IC; risk also moderated associations between RSA reactivity and IC. For children with less risk, greater RSA withdrawal during IC tasks was associated with better IC. In contrast, greater risk was associated with poor IC, regardless of RSA withdrawal. Effects of risk were more pronounced for cumulative than individual measures. Results suggest that cumulative risk exposure disrupts connectivity between physiological and behavioral components of self-regulation in early childhood. Parasympathetic withdrawal to cognitive tasks may be less relevant for performance in developmental samples experiencing greater life stress.
Selective production of decanoic acid from iterative reversal of β‐oxidation pathway

Decanoic acid is a valuable compound used as precursor for industrial chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and biofuels. Despite efforts to produce it from renewables, only limited achievements have been reported. Here, we report an engineered cell factory able to produce decanoic acid as a major product from glycerol, and abundant and renewable feedstock. We exploit the overlapping chain‐length specificity of β‐oxidation reversal (r‐BOX) and thioesterase enzymes to selectively generate decanoic acid. This was achieved by selecting r‐BOX enzymes that support the synthesis of acyl‐CoA of up to 10 carbons (thiolase BktB and enoyl‐CoA reductase EgTER) and a thioesterase that exhibited high activity toward decanoyl‐CoA and longer‐chain acyl‐CoAs (FadM). Combined chromosomal and episomal expression of r‐BOX core enzymes such as enoyl‐CoA reductase and thiolase (in the presence of E. coli thioesterase FadM) increased titer and yield of decanoic acid, respectively. The carbon flux toward decanoic acid was substantially increased by the use of an organic overlay, which decreased its intracellular accumulation and presumably increased its concentration gradient across cell membrane, suggesting that decanoic acid transport to the extracellular medium might be a major bottleneck. When cultivated in the presence of a n‐dodecane overlay, the final engineered strain produced 2.1 g/L of decanoic acid with a yield of 0.1 g/g glycerol. Collectively, our data suggests that r‐BOX can be used as a platform to selectively produce decanoic acid and its derivatives at high yield, titer and productivity.
Approaches for establishing human health no effect levels for engineered nanomaterials

Current Technical Guidance Documents for preparing risk assessments, like the guidance for the implementation of REACH, have limited focus on chemical substances in the particulate form and generally do not focus on substances in the nanoform. Within the ENRHES project a comprehensive and critical scientific review of publicly available health and safety information on four types of nanoparticles was performed. Based on the identified exposure and hazard data, basic human health risk assessment appraisals were carried out for fullerenes, carbon nanotubes, nano-silver and nano-titanium dioxide. These risk assessment appraisals followed the structure of a regulatory risk assessment and if possible and relevant, it was attempted to derive indicative human no-effect levels from key studies by applying assessment factors as suggested in the technical guidance document for REACH. These assessment factors address differences and uncertainty related to exposure features between test animals and humans (time, respiratory volume), other interspecies and intraspecies differences and factors for extrapolation to chronic duration. If required, the severity of effects and the quality of the database can be addressed by additional factors. Recently other procedures for deriving human no-effect levels have been published and these are compared to the ENRHES basic risk assessment appraisals. The main differences were observed in relation to evaluating the differences in animal and human exposure situations and interspecies differences, and in applying assessment factors for intraspecies differences for local effects. The applicability of the REACH guidance for nanomaterials is currently being investigated for possible adaptations, considering the specific behaviour and mode of action of nanomaterials.
Research Online Research Online Earth is (mostly) flat: apportionment of the flux of continental sediment Earth is (mostly) flat: apportionment of the flux of continental sediment over millennial time scales: REPLY over millennial time scales: REPLY

Abstract We thank Warrick et al. (2014) for the Comment on our recent synthesis of 10Be-derived denudation rates (Willenbring et al., 2013), in which we suggested that gently sloping areas, representing ∼ 90% of the Earth’s land surface, have sufficiently high rates of denudation to produce a majority of mass fluxes to the world’s ocean. First, Warrick et al. take issue with labeling our global cosmogenic nuclide denudation fluxes “sediment” and with the inferred comparisons to other sediment yield apportionment studies. We apologize for instances of unclear wording related to the terms: sediment production, sediment to the oceans, and mass flux. Unlike sediment gauging data, cosmogenic nuclides measure total mass loss in surface environments averaged over millennial time scales, and they tend to not miss large landscape-changing events with low recurrence intervals (Kirchner et al., 2001). We aimed to quantify the spatial patterns of long-term, pre-anthropogenic mass fluxes from continents. We stated that previous sediment yield studies are not directly comparable, and this is correct because chemical weathering is included in total denudation, and there are differences in terms of averaging time scales and the effects of sediment storage.
Movement rehabilitation: are the principles of re-learning in the recovery of function the same as those of original learning?

Abstract This paper addresses the change in movement dynamics in rehabilitation through discussing issues that pertain to the question as to whether the principles of re-learning in functional recovery are the same as those of original learning. The many varieties of disease and injury states lead to significant differences in the constraints to action and these impairments in turn influence the pathway of change in re-learning and/or recovery of function. These altered constraints channel the effectiveness of many conditions and strategies of practice that influence learning and performance. Nevertheless, it is proposed that there is a small set of principles for the change in dynamics of motor learning, which drive the continuously evolving stability and instability of movement forms through the lifespan. However, this common set of dynamical principles is realized in individual pathways of change in the movement dynamics of learning, re-learning and recovery of function. The inherent individual differences of humans and environments insure that the coordination, control and skill of movement rehabilitation are challenged in distinct ways by the changing constraints arising from the many manifestations of disease and injury. Implications for rehabilitation The many varieties of disease and injury states lead to significant differences in the constraints to action that in turn influence the pathway of change in re-learning and/or recovery of function, and the effectiveness of the many conditions/strategies of practice to influence learning and performance. There are a small set of principles for the change in dynamics of motor learning that drive the continuously evolving ebb and flow of stability and instability of movement forms through the lifespan. The inherent individual differences of humans and environments insure that the coordination, control and skill of movement rehabilitation are uniquely challenged by the changing constraints arising from the many manifestations of disease and injury.
Organic carbon availability limiting microbial denitrification in the deep vadose zone

Microbes in the deep vadose zone play an essential role in the mitigation of nitrate leaching; however, limited information is available on the mechanisms of microbial denitrification due to sampling difficulties. We experimentally studied the factors that affect denitrification in soils collected down to 10.5 meters deep along the soil profile. After an anoxic pre-incubation, denitrification rates moderately increased and the N2 O/(N2 O + N2 ) ratios declined while the microbial abundance and diversity did not change significantly in most of the layers. Denitrification rate was significantly enhanced and the abundance of the denitrification genes was simultaneously elevated by the increased availability of organic carbon in all studied layers, to a greater extent in the subsurface layers than in the surface layers, suggesting the severe scarcity of carbon in the deep vadose zone. The genera Pseudomonas and Bacillus, which are made up of a number of species that have been previously identified as denitrifiers in soil, were the major taxa that respond to carbon addition. Overall, our results suggested that the limited denitrification in the deep vadose zone is not because of the lack of denitrifiers, but due to the low abundance of denitrifiers which is caused by low carbon availability.
iNEAT: Incomplete Network Alignment

Network alignment and network completion are two fundamental cornerstones behind many high-impact graph mining applications. The state-of-the-arts have been addressing these tasks in parallel. In this paper, we argue that network alignment and completion are inherently complementary with each other, and hence propose to jointly address them so that the two tasks can benefit from each other. We formulate it from the optimization perspective, and propose an effective algorithm iNEAT to solve it. The proposed method offers two distinctive advantages. First (Alignment accuracy), our method benefits from higher-quality input networks while mitigates the effect of incorrectly inferred links introduced by the completion task itself. Second (Alignment efficiency), thanks to the low-rank structure of the complete networks and alignment matrix, the alignment can be significantly accelerated. The extensive experiments demonstrate the performance of our algorithm.
Relation between the Loss Coefficient of the Corroded Rebar's Cross-section in Concrete and That of its Weight

The accelerated corrosion test over the 60 steel bars in sample concrete is made by adopting the accelerated corrosion method by mixing sodium chloride inside.Based on the detailed measurement over the change of weight and diameter,a statistical relation formula between the weight loss factors of the corroded bars and that of the cross-section is established.The method of calculating the cross-section loss factor is also suggested in the case of the weight loss factor available.
Mapping social–ecological vulnerability to inform local decision making

An overarching challenge of natural resource management and biodiversity conservation is that relationships between people and nature are difficult to integrate into tools that can effectively guide decision making. Social–ecological vulnerability offers a valuable framework for identifying and understanding important social–ecological linkages, and the implications of dependencies and other feedback loops in the system. Unfortunately, its implementation at local scales has hitherto been limited due at least in part to the lack of operational tools for spatial representation of social–ecological vulnerability. We developed a method to map social–ecological vulnerability based on information on human–nature dependencies and ecosystem services at local scales. We applied our method to the small‐scale fishery of Moorea, French Polynesia, by combining spatially explicit indicators of exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity of both the resource (i.e., vulnerability of reef fish assemblages to fishing) and resource users (i.e., vulnerability of fishing households to the loss of fishing opportunity). Our results revealed that both social and ecological vulnerabilities varied considerably through space and highlighted areas where sources of vulnerability were high for both social and ecological subsystems (i.e., social–ecological vulnerability hotspots) and thus of high priority for management intervention. Our approach can be used to inform decisions about where biodiversity conservation strategies are likely to be more effective and how social impacts from policy decisions can be minimized. It provides a new perspective on human–nature linkages that can help guide sustainability management at local scales; delivers insights distinct from those provided by emphasis on a single vulnerability component (e.g., exposure); and demonstrates the feasibility and value of operationalizing the social–ecological vulnerability framework for policy, planning, and participatory management decisions.
Biotechnological application of yeasts in food science: Starter cultures, probiotics and enzyme production

This review is an account of experiences of two research teams (from Italy to Spain); the leading idea is the following: yeasts represent valuable sources in food science and microbiology and are a kind of food factories, because of the potentiality of whole cells or for their produced compounds. This review covers three major areas: the first section addresses the role of yeasts as starter cultures with a special focus on wine. The second section is an update on probiotic yeasts. Finally, the focus of the last section is on enzymes produced by yeasts, with a short description of the removal of mycotoxin.
Evaluating the potential of thermal read‐out techniques combined with molecularly imprinted polymers for the sensing of low‐weight organic molecules

In recent years, there has been a tremendous increase in the papers published on synthetic recognition elements. Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs), also referred to as “man‐made mimics” of antibodies, are able to rebind their template molecules with high affinity. Advantages compared with those of natural receptors include their excellent thermal and chemical stability, low cost, and ease of the production process. However, their use in commercial biosensors is limited owing to the difficulty to incorporate MIPs into suitable sensing platforms and traditional detection techniques, such as chromatography, that require bulky and sophisticated equipment. In this review, we evaluate the potential to use MIPs combined with thermal read‐out for the detection of low‐weight organic molecules. We discuss thermal methods to study MIP‐template complexation and to determine neurotransmitters concentrations. In particular, we highlight the heat‐transfer method, a recent technique that is straightforward and low cost and requires minimal instrumentation. Until now, sample preparation involves a 2‐step process, making it time‐consuming, and measuring biological samples is difficult owing to the noise in the signal. Different sample preparation methods are discussed, and it will be demonstrated how this affects the thermal response. An outlook is given in novel methods that can simplify and speed up sample preparation. Finally, we show a novel thermal technique, which is based on the analysis of transport of thermal waves rather than evaluating the fixed heat‐transfer resistance. Through applying the concept of thermal waves, signal‐noise ratio is significantly increased, which results in lower detection limits and has potential for the study of biological samples.
Embedding Academic Literacy Skills: Towards a Best Practice Model

Learning advisors provide academic literacy development support in a variety of configurations, ranging from one-on-one consultations through to large-scale lectures. Such lectures can be generic, stand-alone modules or embedded within a discipline-specific course. Pragmatic and institutional considerations suggest that a generic model of delivery often has an effective role to play; however, there are strong pedagogical arguments for adopting an embedded approach wherever possible. The practice of embedding literacy interventions within subject papers is time-consuming and often logistically challenging; therefore, in order to help learning advisors, their managers and academic staff in faculties to consider the issues, options and constraints in a systematic manner, this paper proposes a best-practice model drawing from over two decades of literature and the authors’ practical experience over the same period in New Zealand and overseas. In order to elucidate the model, the paper critiques an embedded academic literacy skills programme facilitated by an interdisciplinary studies unit at Auckland University of Technology (AUT), New Zealand. The programme is embedded in a core paper entitled Knowledge, Enquiry and Communication (KEC) which is a prerequisite for entry into all of the Health Science programmes. As well as describing key features which have contributed to the success of the programme, the authors identify several key factors which need to be taken into account when considering embedded academic literacy initiatives
Postoperative pancreatic fistula: a review of traditional and emerging concepts

Postoperative pancreatic fistula (POPF) remains the major cause of morbidity after pancreatic resection, affecting up to 41% of cases. With the recent development of a consensus definition of POPF, there has been a large number of reports examining various risk factors, prediction models, and mitigation strategies for this costly complication. Despite these strategies, the rates of POPF have not significantly diminished. Here, we review the literature and evidence regarding both traditional and emerging concepts in POPF prediction, prevention, and management. In particular, we review the evidence for the association between postoperative pancreatitis and POPF, and present a novel proposed mechanism for the development of POPF.
Adjunctive nutrients in first‐episode psychosis: A systematic review of efficacy, tolerability and neurobiological mechanisms

The effects of nutrient‐based treatments, including adjunctive vitamin or antioxidant supplementation, have been explored extensively in long‐term schizophrenia. However, no systematic evaluation of trials in “first‐episode psychosis” (FEP) has been conducted, despite the potential benefits of using these treatments during the early stages of illness. Therefore, we aimed to review all studies examining efficacy, tolerability and the biological mechanisms of action, of nutrient supplementation in FEP.