Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A novel transcutaneous, non‐focused ultrasound energy delivering device is able to induce subcutaneous adipose tissue destruction in an animal model

The understanding that adipocytes are greatly influenced by thermal changes combined with the advancement of non‐invasive ultrasound technologies have led to the application of ultrasound as an energy source to induce thermal fat destruction. While application of high intensity focused, ultrasound energy have been widely explored, there is far less information regarding the effects of non‐focused ultrasound on adipose tissue.
Inter-Controller Traffic to Support Consistency in ONOS Clusters

In distributed SDN architectures, the network is controlled by a cluster of multiple controllers. This distributed approach permits to meet the scalability and reliability requirements of large operational networks. Despite that, a logical centralized view of the network state should be guaranteed, enabling the simple development of network applications. Achieving a consistent network state requires a consensus protocol, which generates control traffic among the controllers whose timely delivery is crucial for network performance. We focus on the state-of-art ONOS controller, designed to scale to large networks, based on a cluster of self-coordinating controllers. In particular, we study the inter-controller control traffic due to the adopted consistency protocols. Based on real traffic measurements and the analysis of the adopted consistency protocols, we develop some empirical models to quantify the traffic exchanged among the controllers, depending on the considered shared data structures, the current network state (e.g., topology) and the occurring network events (e.g., flow or host addition). Our models provide a formal tool to be integrated into the design and dimension the control network interconnecting the controllers. Our results are of paramount importance for the proper design of large SDN networks, in which the control plane is implemented in-band and cannot exploit dedicated network resources.
The advantage of using the minipig is the anatomic similarity of its optic nerve to the optic nerve of the primates , 32 except that the retinal arteries arise from the ciliary circulation

METHODS. PO2 measurements were obtained at intervascular areas of the optic disc in nine anesthetized minipigs using oxygen-sensitive microelectrodes (10m tip diameter) placed at 50 m from the optic disc. PO2 was measured continuously during 10 minutes under normoxia, hyperoxia, or carbogen breathing. Oxygen measurements were repeated under these conditions after intravenous injection of acetazolamide (500-mg bolus).
Robust Dehaze Algorithm for Degraded Image of CMOS Image Sensors

The CMOS (Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor) is a new type of solid image sensor device widely used in object tracking, object recognition, intelligent navigation fields, and so on. However, images captured by outdoor CMOS sensor devices are usually affected by suspended atmospheric particles (such as haze), causing a reduction in image contrast, color distortion problems, and so on. In view of this, we propose a novel dehazing approach based on a local consistent Markov random field (MRF) framework. The neighboring clique in traditional MRF is extended to the non-neighboring clique, which is defined on local consistent blocks based on two clues, where both the atmospheric light and transmission map satisfy the character of local consistency. In this framework, our model can strengthen the restriction of the whole image while incorporating more sophisticated statistical priors, resulting in more expressive power of modeling, thus, solving inadequate detail recovery effectively and alleviating color distortion. Moreover, the local consistent MRF framework can obtain details while maintaining better results for dehazing, which effectively improves the image quality captured by the CMOS image sensor. Experimental results verified that the method proposed has the combined advantages of detail recovery and color preservation.
Distributed Distributional Deterministic Policy Gradients

This work adopts the very successful distributional perspective on reinforcement learning and adapts it to the continuous control setting. We combine this within a distributed framework for off-policy learning in order to develop what we call the Distributed Distributional Deep Deterministic Policy Gradient algorithm, D4PG. We also combine this technique with a number of additional, simple improvements such as the use of $N$-step returns and prioritized experience replay. Experimentally we examine the contribution of each of these individual components, and show how they interact, as well as their combined contributions. Our results show that across a wide variety of simple control tasks, difficult manipulation tasks, and a set of hard obstacle-based locomotion tasks the D4PG algorithm achieves state of the art performance.
The preclinical discovery and development of brexpiprazole for the treatment of major depressive disorder

ABSTRACT Introduction: Brexpiprazole is the most recently approved second-generation antipsychotic, which is used as adjunctive therapy to antidepressants for treating major depressive disorder (MDD) with inadequate response. Brexpiprazole shares pharmacological similarities with other second-generation antipsychotics, especially aripiprazole. Area covered: This review provides a detailed overview of the pre-clinical studies of brexpiprazole, followed by a summary of its clinical studies, and a comparison with other antipsychotics in MDD. Brexpiprazole is superior to placebo in reducing depressive symptoms of patients who have had an inadequate response to a standard antidepressant treatment. The efficacy of brexpiprazole is comparable to aripiprazole and quetiapine-XR, but brexpiprazole has demonstrated a lower risk for akathisia than aripiprazole and a lower risk for somnolence than quetiapine-XR. Expert opinion: Given that different studies have used different criteria to define ‘treatment-resistance’ or ‘inadequate-response’, an accurate comparison of the efficacy and safety of brexpiprazole with other antipsychotics is difficult. Preclinical data supports the premise that the antidepressant-like effects of antipsychotics are mainly due to their ability to modulate/regulate the monoamine system. Therefore, antipsychotics with similar pharmacodynamic properties like brexpiprazole could also take the ‘me too’ approach to treating MDD.
An overview of cervical cancer epidemiology and prevention in Scandinavia

New technologies such as human papillomavirus (HPV) testing and vaccination necessitate comprehensive policy analyses to optimize cervical cancer prevention. To inform future Scandinavian‐specific policy analyses, we aimed to provide an overview of cervical cancer epidemiology and existing prevention efforts in Denmark, Norway and Sweden. We compiled and summarized data on current prevention strategies, population demography and epidemiology (for example, age‐specific HPV prevalence and cervical cancer incidence over time) for each Scandinavian country by reviewing published literature and official guidelines, performing registry‐based analyses using primary data and having discussions with experts in each country. In Scandinavia, opportunistic screening occurred as early as the 1950s and by 1996, all countries had implemented nationwide organized cytology‐based screening. Prior to implementation of widespread screening and during 1960–66, cervical cancer incidence was considerably higher in Denmark than in Norway and Sweden. Decades of cytology‐based screening later (i.e. 2010–2014), cervical cancer incidence has been considerably reduced and has converged across the countries since the 1960s, although it still remains lowest in Sweden. Generally, Scandinavian countries face similar cervical cancer burdens and utilize similar prevention approaches; however, important differences remain. Future policy analyses will need to evaluate whether these differences warrant differential prevention policies or whether efforts can be streamlined across Scandinavia.
In vitro antibacterial and time-kill assay of ethanolic extract of Davilla nitida bark on multidrug resistant bacteria isolated from diabetic foot lesions

Abstract This study reported the antimicrobial activity of the bark extract of Davilla nitida on multidrug resistant bacteria isolated from Diabetic Foot Infections. Antibacterial activity of the bark extract was evaluated by agar Disk-Diffusion (DD), Broth Dilution (BD), Checkerboard and Time-kill methods. The extract showed a significant antibacterial activity against all groups of bacteria tested. BD was more sensitive for determining the antibacterial activity of the bark extract than the DD method. The bark extract inhibited the growth of bacteria with high-levels of antibiotic-resistance, such as Pseudomonas spp. (100.0%), Enterobacer spp. (88.89%), Staphylococcus aureus (54.55%), Streptococcus pneumoniae (75.0%), Staphylococcus saprophyticus (92.86%). The combination of extract with antibiotics resulted in an additive effect against most of the strains tested. Time-kill kinetics profiles of bark extract showed bactericidal and time-dependent properties. Our results suggest that the bark extract of Davilla nitida is a source of bioactive compounds, which may be useful against antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
Excess body fat in obese and normal-weight subjects

Excess body adiposity, especially abdominal obesity and ectopic fat accumulation, are key risk factors in the development of a number of chronic diseases. The advent of in vivo imaging methodologies that allow direct assessment of total body fat and its distribution have been pivotal in this process. They have helped to identify a number of sub-phenotypes in the general population whose metabolic risk factors are not commensurate with their BMI. At least two such sub-phenotypes have been identified: subjects with normal BMI, but excess intra-abdominal (visceral) fat (with or without increased ectopic fat) and subjects with elevated BMI (> 25 kg/m2) but low visceral and ectopic fat. The former sub-phenotype is associated with adverse metabolic profiles, while the latter is associated with a metabolically normal phenotype, despite a high BMI. Here, examples of these phenotypes are presented and the value of carrying out enhanced phenotypical characterisation of subjects in interventional studies discussed.
Argumentation and the Diffusion of Counter-Intuitive Beliefs

Research in cultural evolution has focused on the spread of intuitive or minimally counterintuitive beliefs. However, some very counterintuitive beliefs can also spread successfully, at least in some communities—scientific theories being the most prominent example. We suggest that argumentation could be an important factor in the spread of some very counterintuitive beliefs. A first experiment demonstrates that argumentation enables the spread of the counterintuitive answer to a reasoning problem in large discussion groups, whereas this spread is limited or absent when participants can show their answers to each other but cannot discuss. A series of experiments using the technique of repeated transmission show that, in the case of the counterintuitive belief studied: (a) arguments can help spread this belief without loss; (b) conformist bias does not help spread this belief; and (c) authority or prestige bias play a minimal role in helping spread this belief. Thus, argumentation seems to be necessary and sufficient for the spread of some counterintuitive beliefs.
Obstacle Recognition Based on Machine Learning for On-Chip LiDAR Sensors in a Cyber-Physical System

Collision avoidance is an important feature in advanced driver-assistance systems, aimed at providing correct, timely and reliable warnings before an imminent collision (with objects, vehicles, pedestrians, etc.). The obstacle recognition library is designed and implemented to address the design and evaluation of obstacle detection in a transportation cyber-physical system. The library is integrated into a co-simulation framework that is supported on the interaction between SCANeR software and Matlab/Simulink. From the best of the authors’ knowledge, two main contributions are reported in this paper. Firstly, the modelling and simulation of virtual on-chip light detection and ranging sensors in a cyber-physical system, for traffic scenarios, is presented. The cyber-physical system is designed and implemented in SCANeR. Secondly, three specific artificial intelligence-based methods for obstacle recognition libraries are also designed and applied using a sensory information database provided by SCANeR. The computational library has three methods for obstacle detection: a multi-layer perceptron neural network, a self-organization map and a support vector machine. Finally, a comparison among these methods under different weather conditions is presented, with very promising results in terms of accuracy. The best results are achieved using the multi-layer perceptron in sunny and foggy conditions, the support vector machine in rainy conditions and the self-organized map in snowy conditions.
Objective Video Quality Assessment Based on Machine Learning for Underwater Scientific Applications

Video services are meant to be a fundamental tool in the development of oceanic research. The current technology for underwater networks (UWNs) imposes strong constraints in the transmission capacity since only a severely limited bitrate is available. However, previous studies have shown that the quality of experience (QoE) is enough for ocean scientists to consider the service useful, although the perceived quality can change significantly for small ranges of variation of video parameters. In this context, objective video quality assessment (VQA) methods become essential in network planning and real time quality adaptation fields. This paper presents two specialized models for objective VQA, designed to match the special requirements of UWNs. The models are built upon machine learning techniques and trained with actual user data gathered from subjective tests. Our performance analysis shows how both of them can successfully estimate quality as a mean opinion score (MOS) value and, for the second model, even compute a distribution function for user scores.
Drought Impacts on Tree Growth and Mortality of Southern

Program represents the eastern deciduous forests of the south- em Appalachian Mountains in the United States. Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory was established in 1934 and hence has a long record of climate measurement and vegetation response to both natural and human disturbance (Swank and Crossley 1988). The general climate of the area is classified
The Physical Interpretation of Special Relativity -a Vindication of Hendrik Lorentz

Abstract Modern astronomy has revealed the existence of a cosmologically-based fundamental reference frame associated with the distribution of matter in our universe. The existence of such a frame offers a firm basis to H. A. Lorentz's approach to the understanding of the relativistic effects associated with the transformation named after him. Lorentz's approach and his notion of an "ether" evolved over a number of years, and it has been further refined as a result of our new view of the universe. It now provides a complete interpretation of Special Relativity based on a single assumption -that light-propagation takes place with respect to a unique, observable, fundamental reference frame. This interpretation links Einstein's theory with Lorentz's findings and so further develops our understanding of it; it also offers new insights for the better understanding of quantum and particle physics.
CRACK PROPAGATION MODELING FOR SURFACE GENERATED SCRATCHES IN Al 2024-T3 CLAD ALLOY

The effects of surface generated scratches on fatigue life and fatigue crack growth rate in Al 2024-T3 clad alloy is reported. Significant drops in fatigue life of up to 95% were observedfor 100 micron scratch depth in 0.4 inches (1.016 mm) thick specimens, which suggests that this alloy is a scratch-sensitive material. In addition, it was observed that fatigue crack growth rates are significantly higher in scratched specimens than in the unscratched specimens. Based on data analysis, Paris equation type models have been developed that predict the fatigue crack propagation behavior in scratched specimens for both long and short cracks. Scanning Electron Microscope observations reveal that scratches generate micro fissures. The micro fissures aided by the fatigue process coalesce to form larger concentration of micro cracks (whose performance resembles short crack behavior) in front of the path of cracks. It is conjectured that this correlation can be linked to the reduction in fatigue life and to the increase in fatigue crack growth rates of the alloy.
Iron in ice cores from Law Dome: A record of atmospheric iron deposition for maritime East Antarctica during the Holocene and Last Glacial Maximum

Total dissolvable iron (TDFe) was measured in sections of ice cores recovered from Law Dome on the coast of Wilkes Land, East Antarctica. These samples include ice dating from the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), the Last Deglaciation, and the early and mid Holocene as well as samples from the Anthropocene that have been dated with seasonal to annual resolution. Combining our TDFe concentration data with estimates of the ice accumulation rate, we estimate the atmospheric iron deposition for Law Dome and the adjacent Southern Ocean during these periods. Our results indicate that the atmospheric iron deposition flux to this region during the LGM (∼8 μmol Fe m−2 yr−1) was an order of magnitude higher than the average Holocene deposition flux (∼0.8 μmol Fe m−2 yr−1). This Holocene flux estimate is significantly higher than recent estimates of atmospheric iron deposition based on the analysis of iron in samples of the Dome C EPICA ice core, implying that there are significant meridional gradients in eolian iron flux to the Antarctic region. Our data also suggest that there have been significant variations in atmospheric iron deposition to Law Dome and adjacent ocean waters over seasonal to decadal timescales during the past century. Analysis of ice samples dating from calendar years 1927 to 1928 indicates an anomalously high flux of TDFe to the Law Dome region, amounting to around half the maximum LGM flux, possibly as a result of severe drought conditions on the Australian continent. Given that chronic iron deficiency is thought to limit phytoplankton production in much of the ocean around Antarctica, such large secular variations in atmospheric iron supply are likely to have had profound impacts on year‐to‐year primary production and ecosystem structure in Antarctic waters.
Compactification of strata of Abelian differentials

We describe the closure of the strata of abelian differentials with prescribed type of zeros and poles, in the projectivized Hodge bundle over the Deligne-Mumford moduli space of stable curves with marked points. We provide an explicit characterization of pointed stable differentials in the boundary of the closure, both a complex analytic proof and a flat geometric proof for smoothing the boundary differentials, and numerous examples. The main new ingredient in our description is a global residue condition arising from a full order on the dual graph of a stable curve.
Exploring the impact of CMIP5 model biases on the simulation of North Atlantic decadal variability

Instrumental observations, paleoproxies, and climate models suggest significant decadal variability within the North Atlantic subpolar gyre (NASPG). However, a poorly sampled observational record and a diversity of model behaviors mean that the precise nature and mechanisms of this variability are unclear. Here we analyze an exceptionally large multimodel ensemble of 42 present‐generation climate models to test whether NASPG mean state biases systematically affect the representation of decadal variability. Temperature and salinity biases in the Labrador Sea covary and influence whether density variability is controlled by temperature or salinity variations. Ocean horizontal resolution is a good predictor of the biases and the location of the dominant dynamical feedbacks within the NASPG. However, we find no link to the spectral characteristics of the variability. Our results suggest that the mean state and mechanisms of variability within the NASPG are not independent. This represents an important caveat for decadal predictions using anomaly assimilation methods.
The Plant Hormone Abscisic Acid Is a Prosurvival Factor in Human and Murine Megakaryocytes*

Abscisic acid (ABA) is a phytohormone involved in pivotal physiological functions in higher plants. Recently, ABA has been proven to be also secreted and active in mammals, where it stimulates the activity of innate immune cells, mesenchymal and hematopoietic stem cells, and insulin-releasing pancreatic β cells through a signaling pathway involving the second messenger cyclic ADP-ribose (cADPR). In addition to behaving like an animal hormone, ABA also holds promise as a nutraceutical plant-derived compound in humans. Many biological functions of ABA in mammals are mediated by its binding to the LANCL-2 receptor protein. A putative binding of ABA to GRP78, a key regulator of endoplasmic reticulum stress, has also been proposed. Here we investigated the role of exogenous ABA in modulating thrombopoiesis, the process of platelet generation. Our results demonstrate that expression of both LANCL-2 and GRP78 is up-regulated during hematopoietic stem cell differentiation into mature megakaryocytes (Mks). Functional ABA receptors exist in mature Mks because ABA induces an intracellular Ca2+ increase ([Ca2+]i) through PKA activation and subsequent cADPR generation. In vitro exposure of human or murine hematopoietic progenitor cells to 10 μm ABA does not increase recombinant thrombopoietin (rTpo)-dependent Mk differentiation or platelet release. However, under conditions of cell stress induced by rTpo and serum deprivation, ABA stimulates, in a PKA- and cADPR-dependent fashion, the mitogen-activated kinase ERK 1/2, resulting in the modulation of lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2) family members, increased Mk survival, and higher rates of platelet production. In conclusion, we demonstrate that ABA is a prosurvival factor for Mks in a Tpo-independent manner.
Sequence-Aware Recommender Systems

Recommender systems are one of the most successful applications of data mining and machine-learning technology in practice. Academic research in the field is historically often based on the matrix completion problem formulation, where for each user-item-pair only one interaction (e.g., a rating) is considered. In many application domains, however, multiple user-item interactions of different types can be recorded over time. And, a number of recent works have shown that this information can be used to build richer individual user models and to discover additional behavioral patterns that can be leveraged in the recommendation process. In this work, we review existing works that consider information from such sequentially ordered user-item interaction logs in the recommendation process. Based on this review, we propose a categorization of the corresponding recommendation tasks and goals, summarize existing algorithmic solutions, discuss methodological approaches when benchmarking what we call sequence-aware recommender systems, and outline open challenges in the area.