Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
BIO-WASTE OF FRUITS: A POTENTIAL SOURCE OF NUTRACEUTICALS FOR HEALTH AND NUTRITION SECURITY

The survey conducted in Dharwad depicted that watermelon, jackfruit and mango were commonly processed by local vendors along with other seasonal fruits. Edible waste generated from watermelon, jackfruit and mango processing were 32.04, 23.62 and 33.83 per cent respectively. Proximates, minerals, fiber and antinutrient contents were significantly higher in edible waste (rind, mesocarp and peel) of selected fruits than respective pulps/bulb. Mango peel possessed significantly higher antioxidant capacity (29.68 mg/g DM), polypenols (24.61 mg GAE/gDM), flavonoids (28.24 mg QE/gDM), tannins (4.75 mg/100g) and β-carotene compared to pulp (3.11 mg/gDM, 2.01 mg GAE/gDM, 14.25 mg QE/gDM and 0.38 mg/100g). Pickle prepared with watermelon rind had significantly higher protein (4.45%), fat (7.05%), minerals (11.83%), fiber (4.56%), carbohydrate (8.67%), energy (116 Kcal/100 g) soluble dietary fiber (3.83%) and bioactive compounds compared to rind (0.41, 0.02, 0.49, 0.78, 2.28, 11 Kcal and 3.73%). The sensory scores of pickle stored for 180 days were 8.20 (appearance), 8.23 (colour), 7.39 (texture), 7.55 (flavour), 7.60 (taste), 7.70 (overall acceptability) with acceptability index of 86.42. Watermelon rind candy prepared with 1: 1.25 ratio of rind and sugar had significantly higher sensory scores with acceptability index of 95 per cent and possessed better nutritional and antioxidant activity. The moisture, titratble acidity and microbial count increased with increase in storage period in pickle and candy. Glass bottle and carton with butter paper were suitable packaging material for storage of watermelon rind/pickle and candy. The B: C ratio of pickle and candy was 1.37 and 3.25. The greengram laddu incorporated with 15 per cent of mango peel powder was most acceptable with acceptability index of 95.24 per cent.
Action recognition based on human movement characteristics

We present a motion descriptor for human action recognition where appearance and shape information are unreliable. Unlike other motion-based approaches, we leverage image characteristics specific to human movement to achieve better robustness and lower computational cost. Drawing on recent work on motion recognition with ballistic dynamics, an action is modeled as a series of short correlated linear movements and represented with a probability density function over motion vector data. We are targeting common human actions composed of ballistic movements, and our descriptor can handle both short actions (e.g. reaching with the hand) and long actions with events at relatively stable time offsets (e.g. walking). The proposed descriptor is used for both classification and detection of action instances, in a nearest-neighbor framework. We evaluate the descriptor on the KTH action database and obtain a recognition rate of 90% in a relevant test setting, comparable to the state-of-the-art approaches that use other cues in addition to motion. We also acquired a database of actions with slight occlusion and a human actor manipulating objects of various shapes and appearances. This database makes the use of appearance and shape information problematic, but we obtain a recognition rate of 95%. Our work demonstrates that human movement has distinctive patterns, and that these patterns can be used effectively for action recognition.
G551D and G1349D, Two CF-associated Mutations in the Signature Sequences of CFTR, Exhibit Distinct Gating Defects

Mutations in the gene encoding cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) result in cystic fibrosis (CF). CFTR is a chloride channel that is regulated by phosphorylation and gated by ATP binding and hydrolysis at its nucleotide binding domains (NBDs). G551D-CFTR, the third most common CF-associated mutation, has been characterized as having a lower open probability (Po) than wild-type (WT) channels. Patients carrying the G551D mutation present a severe clinical phenotype. On the other hand, G1349D, also a mutant with gating dysfunction, is associated with a milder clinical phenotype. Residues G551 and G1349 are located at equivalent positions in the highly conserved signature sequence of each NBD. The physiological importance of these residues lies in the fact that the signature sequence of one NBD and the Walker A and B motifs from the other NBD form the ATP-binding pocket (ABP1 and ABP2, named after the location of the Walker A motif) once the two NBDs dimerize. Our studies show distinct gating characteristics for these mutants. The G551D mutation completely eliminates the ability of ATP to increase the channel activity, and the observed activity is ∼100-fold smaller than WT-CFTR. G551D-CFTR does not respond to ADP, AMP-PNP, or changes in [Mg2+]. The low activity of G551D-CFTR likely represents the rare ATP-independent gating events seen with WT channels long after the removal of ATP. G1349D-CFTR maintains ATP dependence, albeit with a Po ∼10-fold lower than WT. Interestingly, compared to WT results, the ATP dose–response relationship of G1349D-CFTR is less steep and shows a higher apparent affinity for ATP. G1349D data could be well described by a gating model that predicts that binding of ATP at ABP1 hinders channel opening. Thus, our data provide a quantitative explanation at the single-channel level for different phenotypes presented by patients carrying these two mutations. In addition, these results support the idea that CFTR's two ABPs play distinct functional roles in gating.
Neuroprotection in Glaucoma

Glaucoma is an age related heterogeneous group of diseases affecting 70 million people worldwide that is commonly associated with elevated intraocular pressure due to impairment of the outflow pathway of the trabecular meshwork, and characterized by pathological changes in optic nerve head, and lamina cribosa, leading to visual field defects and eventual blindness due to apoptosis of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) (Clark and Yorio, 2003; Fraser and Wormald, 1999; and Lipton, 2003). The predominant risk factor for patients that suffer from glaucoma is elevation of intraocular pressure (IOP) (Fatma, et al. 2008). Elevated IOP imposes strain on the unmyelinated portion of axons of the RGCs, at the optic nerve head where they take a 90 degree turn to traverse to their final destination at the lateral geniculate nucleus in the thalamus of the brain, or to the superior colliculus in lower vertebrate animals (Quigley 1981). This strain on the axons of the RGCs at the optic nerve head is thought to be the initiating primary insult that damages the axons of the RGCs, inhibiting retrograde transport of neurotrophic factors produced in the brain, and eventually leading to cell death of RGCs (Quigley 1981). This primary insult is hypothesized to initiate a release of noxious secondary factors including glutamate, endothelin, and tumor necrosis-factor-α from injured RGCs and proliferating astrocytes going through reactive gliosis (Clark and Yorio 2003; Prasanna et al., 2010; Tezel and Wax, 2000; Tezel et al., 2001; Tezel and Wax 2004; Nakazawa et al. 2006). These secondary factors are also hypothesized to be associated with RGC death. Other mechanisms include ischemia/hypoxia at the optic nerve head, which could trigger release of glutamate, endothelin-1 (ET-1) and TNF-α from astrocytes, which could contribute to neurodegeneration. Currently used treatment modalities for glaucoma are agents targeted at lowering IOP and preventing the primary insult contributing to RGC apoptosis. If the main cause of RGC death is axotomy due to pressure induced trauma to axons at the optic nerve head, then a reduction of IOP should protect the remainder of RGCs and halt the progression of this disease process. Although IOP in glaucoma patients is often held within “normal” ranges, the disease process and RGC death can still progress. Additionally, patients with IOP measurements of 6-10 mmHg (normal being 10-20 mmHg) can still develop glaucoma (normal tension glaucoma), thus suggesting that elevation of IOP is not the only predisposing factor for patients that suffer from glaucoma, and suggests that there may be
Towards Hierarchical Prosodic Prominence Generation in TTS Synthesis

We address the problem of identification (from text) and generation of pitch accents in HMM-based English TTS synthesis. We show, through a large scale perceptual test, that a large improvement of the binary discrimination between pitch accented and non-accented words has no effect on the quality of the speech generated by the system. On the other side adding a third accent type that emphatically marks words that convey ”contrastive” focus (automatically identified from text) produces beneficial effects on the synthesized speech. These results support the accounts on prosodic prominence that consider the prosodic patterns of utterances as hierarchical structured and point out the limits of a flattening of such structure resulting from a simple accent/non-accent distinction. Index Terms: speech synthesis, HMM, pitch accents, focus detection
Understanding individuals' perceptions, determinants and the moderating effects of age and gender on the adoption of mobile learning: developing country perspective

In recent years, mobile devices, applications and services have largely spread over the globe and have become a popular commodity. This study is launched to investigate the factors that influence individuals' intention to adopt and use of mobile learning (m-learning) in Jordan. Besides, it provides quantified indicators, designs principles, opportunities, limitations and a conceptual model that might help in understanding m-learning phenomenon in the Jordanian educational environment. The current study is based on a modified Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) by incorporating social influence, security and privacy, price value and service quality factors as external variables. This study examines also the moderating effects of age and gender differences among the study variables. The suggested model was tested with data collected by means of a paper-based questionnaire by using WarpPLS 4.0 software. The results reveal that individuals' adoption and the use of m-learning can be anticipated from individuals' behavioural intention with 39% in variance.
Geographical and Energy Aware Routing: a recursive data dissemination protocol for wireless sensor networks

Future sensor networks will be composed of a large number of densely deployed sensors/actuators. A key feature of such networks is that their nodes are untethered and unattended. Consequently, energy efficiency is an important design consideration for these networks. Motivated by the fact that sensor network queries may often be geographical, we design and evaluate an energy efficient routing algorithm that propagates a query to the appropriate geographical region, without flooding. The proposed Geographic and Energy Aware Routing (GEAR) algorithm uses energy aware neighbor selection to route a packet towards the target region and Recursive Geographic Forwarding or Restricted Flooding algorithm to disseminate the packet inside the destina-
The relationship between anion exchange and net anion flow across the human red blood cell membrane

The conductive (net) anion permeability of human red blood cells was determined from net KCl or K2SO4 effluxes into low K+ media at high valinomycin concentrations, conditions under which the salt efflux is limited primarily by the net anion permeability. Disulfonic stilbenes, inhibitors of anion exchange, also inhibited KCl or K2SO4 efflux under these conditions, but were less effective at lower valinomycin concentrations where K+ permeability is the primary limiting factor. Various concentrations of 4,4'-diisothiocyanostilbene-2,2'-disulfonate (DIDS) had similar inhibitory effects on net and exchange sulfate fluxes, both of which were almost completely DIDS sensitive. In the case of Cl-, a high correlation was also found between inhibition of net and exchange fluxes, but in this case about 35% of the net flux was insensitive to DIDS. The net and exchange transport processes differed strikingly in their anion selectivity. Net chloride permeability was only four times as high as net sulfate permeability, whereas chloride exchange is over 10,000 times faster than sulfate exchange. Net OH- permeability, determined by an analogous method, was over four orders of magnitude larger than that of Cl-, but was also sensitive to DIDS. These data and others are discussed in terms of the possibility that a common element may be involved in both net and exchange anion transport.
Detection and Clinical Significance of Intratumoral EGFR Mutational Heterogeneity in Chinese Patients with Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

Purpose This study evaluated occurrence and potential clinical significance of intratumoral EGFR mutational heterogeneity in Chinese patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Materials and Methods Eighty-five stage IIIa-IV NSCLC patients who had undergone palliative surgical resection were included in this study. Of these, 45 patients carried EGFR mutations (group-M) and 40 patients were wild-type (group-W). Each tumor sample was microdissected to yield 28–34 tumor foci and Intratumoral EGFR mutation were determined using Denaturing High Performance Liquid Chromatography (DHPLC) and Amplification Refractory Mutation System (ARMS). EGFR copy numbers were measured using fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). Results Microdissection yielded 1,431 tumor foci from EGFR mutant patients (group-M) and 1,238 foci from wild-type patients (group-W). The EGFR mutant frequencies in group-M were 80.6% (1,154/1,431) and 87.1% (1,247/1,431) using DHPLC and ARMS, respectively. A combination of EGFR-mutated and wild-type cells was detected in 32.9% (28/85) of samples by DHPLC and 28.2% (24/85) by ARMS, supporting the occurrence of intratumoral heterogeneity. Thirty-one patients (36.5%) were identified as EGFR FISH-positive. Patients harboring intratumoral mutational heterogeneity possessed lower EGFR copy numbers than those tumors contained mutant cells alone (16.7% vs. 71.0%, P<0.05). Among 26 patients who had received EGFR-TKIs, the mean EGFR mutation content was higher in patients showing partial response (86.1%) or stable disease (48.7%) compared with patients experiencing progressive disease (6.0%) (P = 0.001). There also showed relationship between progression-free survival (PFS) and different content of EGFR mutation groups (pure wild type EGFR, EGFR mutation with heterogeneity and pure mutated EGFR) (P = 0.001). Conclusion Approximately 30% of patients presented intratumoral EGFR mutational heterogeneity, accompanying with relatively low EGFR copy number. EGFR mutant content was correlated with the response and prognosis of EGFR-TKIs.
AdS bubbles, entropy and closed string tachyons

We study the conjectured connection between AdS bubbles (AdS solitons) and closed string tachyon condensations. We confirm that the entanglement entropy, which measures the degree of freedom, decreases under the tachyon condensation. The entropies in supergravity and free Yang-Mills agree with each other remarkably. Next we consider the tachyon condensation on the AdS twisted circle and argue that its endpoint is given by the twisted AdS bubble, defined by the double Wick rotation of rotating black 3-brane solutions. We calculated the Casimir energy and entropy and checked the agreements between the gauge and gravity results. Finally we show an infinite boost of a null linear dilaton theory with a tachyon wall (or bubble), leads to a solvable time-dependent background with a bulk tachyon condensation. This is the simplest example of spacetimes with null boundaries in string theory.
Three–dimensional observation of the boundary region between massive feldspar and graphic granite by X–ray computed tomography

The three–dimensional (3–D) structure of crystals around the interface between massive potassium (K)–feldspar and quartz–feldspar intergrowth (graphic granite) of two samples collected from a pegmatite body in Ishikawa town, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, was determined by X–ray computed tomography (CT). Based on the results and additional information obtained by serial thin section and polarizing observations, the formation processes of graphic granite and pegmatite bodies are discussed. The most important finding of the 3–D observation using X–ray CT is the very flat spatial distribution of the tips of the quartz crystals. The sharp interface between the graphic and single–phase parts suggests that the change from graphic granite to massive K–feldspar crystallization corresponds to the transition of the thermodynamic conditions at the growth front from non–equilibrium to equilibrium. This indication leads to a new model for the pegmatite genesis, that is, graphic granite forms at the marginal zone under non–equilibrium conditions shortly after the intrusion of magma due to rapid cooling by the cold host rock body and, subsequently, the crystallization of massive K–feldspar starts when the conditions at the crystal growth front reenter the ‘feldspar + melt’ field in the phase diagram due to the relaxation of the conditions. Other results related to the conditions of the growth environment with coexisting aqueous fluid, such as the connectivity of the quartz crystals, are also discussed, for example, the influence of the supercritical state on the nucleation of quartz crystals.
A review of natural aerosol interactions and feedbacks within the Earth system

Abstract. The natural environment is a major source of atmospheric aerosols, including dust, secondary organic material from terrestrial biogenic emissions, carbonaceous particles from wildfires, and sulphate from marine phytoplankton dimethyl sulphide emissions. These aerosols also have a significant effect on many components of the Earth system such as the atmospheric radiative balance and photosynthetically available radiation entering the biosphere, the supply of nutrients to the ocean, and the albedo of snow and ice. The physical and biological systems that produce these aerosols can be highly susceptible to modification due to climate change so there is the potential for important climate feedbacks. We review the impact of these natural systems on atmospheric aerosol based on observations and models, including the potential for long term changes in emissions and the feedbacks on climate. The number of drivers of change is very large and the various systems are strongly coupled. There have therefore been very few studies that integrate the various effects to estimate climate feedback factors. Nevertheless, available observations and model studies suggest that the regional radiative perturbations are potentially several Watts per square metre due to changes in these natural aerosol emissions in a future climate. Taking into account only the direct radiative effect of changes in the atmospheric burden of natural aerosols, and neglecting potentially large effects on other parts of the Earth system, a global mean radiative perturbation approaching 1 W m−2 is possible by the end of the century. The level of scientific understanding of the climate drivers, interactions and impacts is very low.
Measures of Speech Rhythm in East-Asian Tonal Languages

The most frequently used variables for language rhythm categorisation have been measured for some tonal languages. Cantonese, Mandarin, Thai and Vietnamese are languages which ground their prosodic properties on phonological tones and are supposed to reserve secondary role to stress whose functions are controversially bounded to prominence patterns of constituency. Therefore, a distinctive characterisation in terms of speech rhythm is not usually acknowledged for them. In spite of these phonological expectancies, our results reflect a clear-cut distribution of these languages along timing categories corresponding to languages traditionally considered as stresstimed or syllable-timed (e.g. English vs. Spanish). The differences shown by the speech samples we analysed seem to be due to phenomena related to specific syllable compression patterns and vowel reduction / lengthening strategies affected by tone and more general prosodic rules.
SESR: Single Image Super Resolution with Recursive Squeeze and Excitation Networks

Single image super resolution is a very important computer vision task, with a wide range of applications. In recent years, the depth of the super-resolution model has been constantly increasing, but with a small increase in performance, it has brought a huge amount of computation and memory consumption. In this work, in order to make the super resolution models more effective, we proposed a novel single image super resolution method via recursive squeeze and excitation networks (SESR). By introducing the squeeze and excitation module, our SESR can model the interdependencies and relationships between channels and that makes our model more efficiency. In addition, the recursive structure and progressive reconstruction method in our model minimized the layers and parameters and enabled SESR to simultaneously train multi-scale super resolution in a single model. After evaluating on four benchmark test sets, our model is proved to be above the state-of-the-art methods in terms of speed and accuracy.
Issues in the Conceptualization and Assessment of Hot Executive Functions in Childhood

Abstract Our review examines the current state of the research on hot executive function (EF), as contrasted with cool EF, with regard to the evidence for construct validity. Current theoretical discussions have examined the conceptual overlap among constructs such as hot EF, effortful control, self-control, and self-regulation. We explore this emerging literature with a focus on research questions, tasks, and methods. Finally, we consider the unresolved questions facing the study of hot EF, most notably the difficulty in determining the relative “heat” of a given task based on task content, testing context, and the individual differences among the participants. (JINS, 2014, 20, 1–5)
Degradation of oxidized proteins in mammalian cells

Protein oxidation in vivo is a natural consequence of aerobic life. Oxygen radicals and other activated oxygen species generated as by‐products of cellular metabolism or from environmental sources cause modifications to the amino acids of proteins that generally result in loss of protein function/enzymatic activity. Oxidatively modified proteins can undergo direct chemical fragmentation or can form large aggregates due to covalent cross‐linking reactions and increased surface hydrophobicity. Mammalian cells exhibit only limited direct repair mechanisms and most oxidized proteins undergo selective proteolysis. The proteasome appears to be largely responsible for the degradation of soluble intracellular proteins. In most cells, oxidized proteins are cleaved in an ATP‐and ubiquitin‐independent pathway by the 20 S “core” proteasome. The proteasome complex recognizes hydrophobic amino acid residues, aromatic residues, and bulky aliphatic residues that are exposed during the oxidative rearrangement of secondary and tertiary protein structure: increased surface hydrophobicity is a feature common to all oxidized proteins so far tested. The recognition of such (normally shielded) hydrophobic residues is the suggested mechanism by which proteasome catalyzes the selective removal of oxidatively modified cell proteins. By minimizing protein aggregation and cross‐linking and by removing potentially toxic protein fragments, proteasome plays a key role in the overall antioxidant defenses that minimize the ravages of aging and disease. —Grune, T. , Reinheckel, T. , Davies, K. J. A. Degradation of oxidized proteins in mammalian cells. FASEB J. 11, 526–534 (1997)