Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Electrical resistivity and strength properties of sodium hydroxide contaminated soil solidified with cement

Abstract Nine different contents of sodium hydroxide solutions, silt, and ordinary Portland cement were selected as basic materials to make the cemented soil blocks. The electrical resistivity under different current frequencies and unconfined compressive strengths were measured after curing for 3, 7, 14, 28, 60 and 90 days, respectively. The results show that the alternating current electrical resistivity decreases with the increase in current frequency for all content values. The higher the current frequency is, the smoother the electrical resistivity. The current frequency range of 5 × 104 to 106 Hz is recommended to reduce the error resulting from the slight variation of current frequencies. The strength and electrical resistivity increase logarithmically with the increase in curing time. With the increase in content, the strength first increases linearly and then decreases linearly. The strength reaches the peak value at the content of 7.5 g × kg−1. The electrical resistivity decreases exponentially. A useful prediction formula for the strength is proposed, which was established according to the linear relationship between the strength and the electrical resistivity. Based on the influencing degree of sodium hydroxide on the strength of cemented soil, an evaluation standard for the electrical resistivity of cement-solidified sodium hydroxide-contaminated soil is also proposed.
Plant foods and the risk of cerebrovascular diseases: a potential protection of fruit consumption

Studies on the association between plant foods and cerebrovascular diseases have given contradictory results suggesting the existence of some effect-modifying factors. The present study determines whether the consumption of plant foods (i.e. fruits and berries, vegetables, and cereals) predicts a decreased cerebrovascular disease incidence in a population with low fruit and vegetable and high wholegrain intake. This cohort study on 3932 men and women was based on data from the Finnish Mobile Clinic Health Examination Survey, conducted in 1968–72. The participants were 40–74 years of age and free of cardiovascular diseases at baseline. Data on the plant food consumption were derived from a 1-year dietary history interview. During a 24-year follow-up 625 cases of cerebrovascular diseases occurred, leading to either hospitalisation or death. An inverse association was found between fruit consumption and the incidence of cerebrovascular diseases, ischaemic stroke and intracerebral haemorrhage. The adjusted relative risks (RR) between the highest and lowest quartiles of intake of any cerebrovascular disease, ischaemic stroke and intracerebral haemorrhage were 0·75 (95 % CI 0·59, 0·94), 0·73 (95 % CI 0·54, 1·00) and 0·47 (95 % CI 0·24, 0·92), respectively. These associations were primarily due to the consumption of citrus fruits and occurred only in men. Total consumption of vegetables or cereals was not associated with the cerebrovascular disease incidence. The consumption of cruciferous vegetables, however, predicted a reduced risk of cerebrovascular diseases (RR 0·79; 95 % CI 0·63, 0·99), ischaemic stroke (RR 0·67; 95 % CI 0·49, 0·92) and intracerebral haemorrhage (RR 0·49; 95 % CI 0·25, 0·98). In conclusion, the consumption of fruits, especially citrus, and cruciferous vegetables may protect against cerebrovascular diseases.
Carbon quality and soil microbial property control the latitudinal pattern in temperature sensitivity of soil microbial respiration across Chinese forest ecosystems

Understanding the temperature sensitivity (Q10) of soil organic C (SOC) decomposition is critical to quantifying the climate–carbon cycle feedback and predicting the response of ecosystems to climate change. However, the driving factors of the spatial variation in Q10 at a continental scale are fully unidentified. In this study, we conducted a novel incubation experiment with periodically varying temperature based on the mean annual temperature of the soil origin sites. A total of 140 soil samples were collected from 22 sites along a 3,800 km long north–south transect of forests in China, and the Q10 of soil microbial respiration and corresponding environmental variables were measured. Results showed that changes in the Q10 values were nonlinear with latitude, particularly showing low Q10 values in subtropical forests and high Q10 values in temperate forests. The soil C:N ratio was positively related to the Q10 values, and coniferous forest soils with low SOC quality had higher Q10 values than broadleaved forest soils with high SOC quality, which supported the “C quality temperature” hypothesis. Out of the spatial variations in Q10 across all ecosystems, gram‐negative bacteria exhibited the most importance in regulating the variation in Q10 and contributed 25.1%, followed by the C:N ratio (C quality), fungi, and the fungi:bacteria ratio. However, the dominant factors that regulate the regional variations in Q10 differed among the tropical, subtropical, and temperate forest ecosystems. Overall, our findings highlight the importance of C quality and microbial controls over Q10 value in China's forest ecosystems. Meanwhile, C dynamics in temperate forests under a global warming scenario can be robustly predicted through the incorporation of substrate quality and microbial property into models.
Hyperspectral Image Classification With Discriminative Kernel Collaborative Representation and Tikhonov Regularization

Recently, collaborative representation has received much attention in the hyperspectral image (HSI) classification due to its simplicity and effectiveness. However, the existing collaborative representation-based HSI classification methods ignore the correlation among different classes. To overcome this problem, we propose a discriminative kernel collaborative representation and Tikhonov regularization method (DKCRT) for HSI classification, which can make the kernel collaborative representation of different classes to be more discriminative. Specifically, the kernel trick is adopted to map the original HSI into a high space to improve the class separability. Besides, distance-weighted kernel Tikhonov regularization is adopted to enforce these training samples to have large representation coefficients, which are similar to the test sample in the high-dimensional feature space. Moreover, we add a discriminative regularization term to further enhance the separability of different classes, which can take the correlation among different classes into consideration. Furthermore, to take the spatial information of HSI into consideration, we extend the DKCRT to a joint version named JDKCRT. Experiments on real HSIs demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed DKCRT and JDKCRT.
Robust Hadley Circulation changes and increasing global dryness due to CO2 warming from CMIP5 model projections

Significance In spite of increasing research efforts, global warming signals of the Hadley Circulation (HC) and its dynamical linkages to water cycle changes remain largely unknown. Here, from model projections, we find robust signals of both strengthening and weakening components of the HC induced by CO2 warming. These changes in the HC drive a pattern of global dryness featuring widespread reduction of tropospheric humidity and increased frequency of dry months, particularly over subtropical and tropical land regions. We also find that global warming signal in increased dryness is the most detectable among numerous water-cycle quantities examined. Our results provide a scientific basis for inferring that greenhouse warming is likely to contribute to the observed prolonged worldwide droughts in recent decades. In this paper, we investigate changes in the Hadley Circulation (HC) and their connections to increased global dryness (suppressed rainfall and reduced tropospheric relative humidity) under CO2 warming from Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) model projections. We find a strengthening of the HC manifested in a “deep-tropics squeeze” (DTS), i.e., a deepening and narrowing of the convective zone, enhanced ascent, increased high clouds, suppressed low clouds, and a rise of the level of maximum meridional mass outflow in the upper troposphere (200−100 hPa) of the deep tropics. The DTS induces atmospheric moisture divergence and reduces tropospheric relative humidity in the tropics and subtropics, in conjunction with a widening of the subsiding branches of the HC, resulting in increased frequency of dry events in preferred geographic locations worldwide. Among various water-cycle parameters examined, global dryness is found to have the highest signal-to-noise ratio. Our results provide a physical basis for inferring that greenhouse warming is likely to contribute to the observed prolonged droughts worldwide in recent decades.
Do guanidinium and tetrapropylammonium ions specifically interact with aromatic amino acid side chains?

Significance Ever since the discovery by Franz Hofmeister in 1888 that a series of salts (now commonly referred to as the Hofmeister series) can have different but consistent effects on the solubility and hence stability of proteins, many studies have been devoted to understanding how such effects are achieved. However, examining any specific mode of ion–protein interactions has proven to be difficult. Herein, we demonstrate, using guanidinium and tetrapropylammonium as examples, that it is possible to use multiple spectroscopic methods and unnatural amino acids that have distinct, environment-sensitive fluorescence and infrared properties to explicitly assess how these ions interact with a specific type of amino acid side chains, thus yielding microscopic insights into their protein-denaturing mechanisms. Many ions are known to affect the activity, stability, and structural integrity of proteins. Although this effect can be generally attributed to ion-induced changes in forces that govern protein folding, delineating the underlying mechanism of action still remains challenging because it requires assessment of all relevant interactions, such as ion–protein, ion–water, and ion–ion interactions. Herein, we use two unnatural aromatic amino acids and several spectroscopic techniques to examine whether guanidinium chloride, one of the most commonly used protein denaturants, and tetrapropylammonium chloride can specifically interact with aromatic side chains. Our results show that tetrapropylammonium, but not guanidinium, can preferentially accumulate around aromatic residues and that tetrapropylammonium undergoes a transition at ∼1.3 M to form aggregates. We find that similar to ionic micelles, on one hand, such aggregates can disrupt native hydrophobic interactions, and on the other hand, they can promote α-helix formation in certain peptides.
Associations of maternal nutrition during pregnancy and post‐partum with maternal cognition and caregiving

Abstract Pregnant and post‐partum women require increased nutrient intake and optimal cognition, which depends on adequate nutrition, to enable reasoning and learning for caregiving. We aimed to assess (a) differences in maternal cognition and caregiving between women in Malawi who received different nutritional supplements, (b) 14 effect modifiers, and (c) associations of cognition and caregiving with biomarkers of iron, Vitamin A, B‐vitamin, and fatty acid status. In a randomized controlled trial (n = 869), pregnant women daily received either multiple micronutrients (MMN), 20 g/day lipid‐based nutrient supplements (LNS), or a control iron/folic acid (IFA) tablet. After delivery, supplementation continued in the MMN and LNS arms, and the IFA control group received placebo until 6 months post‐partum, when cognition (n = 712), caregiving behaviour (n = 669), and biomarkers of nutritional status (n = 283) were assessed. In the full group, only one difference was significant: the IFA arm scored 0.22 SD (95% CI [0.01, 0.39], p = .03) higher than the LNS arm in mental rotation. Among subgroups of women with baseline low hemoglobin, poor iron status, or malaria, those who received LNS scored 0.4 to 0.7 SD higher than the IFA arm in verbal fluency. Breastmilk docosahexaenoic acid and Vitamin B12 concentrations were positively associated with verbal fluency and digit span forward (adjusting for covariates ps < .05). In this population in Malawi, maternal supplementation with MMN or LNS did not positively affect maternal cognition or caregiving. Maternal docosahexaenoic acid and B12 status may be important for post‐partum attention and executive function.
Study on the Factors Associated with Postpartum Visits in Rural China

Background Postpartum visits (PPVs) have been advocated as a way to improve health outcomes for mothers and their infants, but the rate of PPVs is still low in rural China. This study aims to investigate the utilization of PPVs and to explore the factors associated with PPVs in rural China. Parity is the most concerned factor in this study. Methods A cross-sectional household survey was performed in two counties of Zhejiang province. Questions include socio-economic, health services and women's delivery data. Chi-square tests and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to identify factors associated with PPVs. Results 223 women who had a delivery history in the recent five years were enrolled in analyses. 173 (78%) of them were primiparous. Among the primiparous women, 43 (25%) had not received any PPVs. The majority, 27 (55%) of the 49 multiparous women, had not received any PPVs. Multiparous women were less likely to receive PPVs than primiparous women. Among 223 puerperal women, 47 (21%) had been compensated for delivery fee expenses. Women who received compensation were found to be more likely to receive standard (at least 3) PPVs. Conclusions It was found that women with “second babies” were less likely to use PPVs. This could be an unintended consequence of the “one-child policy”, due to fear that contact with public health facilities could result in sanctions. This phenomenon should be taken seriously by government in order to improve the health of babies and their mothers. Financial compensation for delivery fee charges can improve the use of PPVs, thus free-of-charge delivery should be promoted.
Effects of plyometric training on soccer players

Plyometric training (PT) is a technique used to increase strength and explosiveness. It consists of physical exercises in which muscles exert maximum force at short intervals to increase dynamic performances. In such a training, muscles undergo a rapid elongation followed by an immediate shortening (stretch-shortening contraction), utilizing the elastic energy stored during the stretching phase. There is consensus on the fact that when used, PT contributes to improvement in vertical jump performance, acceleration, leg strength, muscular power, increase of joint awareness and overall sport-specific skills. Consequently, PT which was primarily used by martial artists, sprinters and high jumpers to improve performances has gained in popularity and has been used by athletes in all types of sports. However, although PT has been shown to increase performance variables in many sports, little scientific information is currently available to determine whether PT actually enhances skill performance in soccer players, considering that soccer is an extremely demanding sport. Soccer players require dynamic muscular performance for fighting at all levels of training status, including rapid movements such as acceleration and deceleration of the body, change of direction, vertical and horizontal jumps, endurance, speed as well as power for kicking and tackling. In this review we discussed the effects of PT on soccer players by considering gender and age categories.
Implementation of a Low Cost Prototype for Electrical Impedance Tomography based on the Integrated Circuit for Body Composition Measurement AFE4300

Electrical impedance tomography (EIT) is a technique of image reconstruction of the electrical conductivity distribution in a tissue or region under observation. An electrical system for EIT comprises complex hardware and software modules, which are designed for a specific application which requires that the system to be able to detect conductivity variations within the study object. The Front-End for body composition measurement, AFE4300 from Texas Instruments allows a minimal implementation of an electrical impedance tomography system. It is the main device in the development of the EIT system presented in this paper, this device injects the current signal and measures the tensions generated on the study region boundary by 8 electrodes, the image reconstruction software was developed on the National Instruments platform Labview. The system includes a microcontroller PIC16F886 to configure the 8 channels for the definition of the patterns of injection and measurement of signals, also defines the current signal frequency and the bluetooth communication with the computer for the image reconstruction. The developed system was validated by a planar resistive phantom (CardiffEIT phantom), obtaining a stable voltage measurement every 50 ms per pair of electrodes, and a signal to noise ratio (SNR) maximum of 71.8 dB, for a current signal of 50 kHz. Additionally, tests were carried out in a saline tank with a concentration of 4 g/L, the developed system can simultaneously estimate the presence of conductive and non-conductive disturbances into the tank.
Relationship Between Changes in Workplace Bullying Status and the Reporting of Personality Characteristics

Objective: To examine whether a shift in work-related bullying status, from being non-bullied to being bullied or vice versa, was associated with changes in reporting of personality characteristics. Methods: Data on bullying and personality (neuroticism, extraversion, and sense of coherence) were collected in three waves approximately 2 years apart (N = 4947). Using a within-subjects design, personality change scores that followed altered bullying status were evaluated with one-sample t tests. Sensitivity analyses targeted depressive symptoms. Results: Shifts from non-bullied to frequently bullied were associated with increased neuroticism or decreased sense of coherence manageability scores. Shifts from bullied to non-bullied were associated with decreasing neuroticism and increasing extraversion scores, or increasing sense of coherence meaningfulness and comprehensibility scores. Excluding depressive cases had minor effects. Conclusions: Bullying seems to some extent to affect personality scale scores, which thus seem sensitive to environmental and social circumstances.
Art Expertise and the Processing of Titled Abstract Art

The effect of art expertise on viewers’ processing of titled visual artwork was examined. The study extended the research of Leder, Carbon, and Ripsas by explicitly selecting art novices and art experts. The study was designed to test assumptions about how expertise modulates context in the form of titles for artworks. Viewers rated a set of abstract paintings for liking and understanding. The type of title accompanying the artwork (descriptive or elaborative) was manipulated. Viewers were allotted as much time as they wished to view each artwork. For judgments of liking, novices and experts both liked artworks with elaborative titles better, with overall rated liking similar for both groups. For judgments of understanding, type of title had no effect on ratings for both novices and experts. However, experts’ rated understanding was higher than novices, with experts making their decisions faster than novices. An analysis of viewers’ art expertise revealed that expertise was correlated with understanding, but not liking. Overall, the results suggest that both novices and experts integrate title with visual image in similar manner. However, expertise differentially affected liking and understanding. The results differ from those obtained by Leder et al. The differences between studies are discussed.
Automatic Polyp Detection from Endoscope Image using Likelihood Map based on Edge Information

An endoscope is a medical instrument that acquires images in side the human body. This paper proposes a new approach for the automatic detection of polyp regions in an endoscope image by generating a likelihood map with both of edge and color information to obtain high acc ura y so that probability becomes high at around polyp candidate region. Next, Histograms of Oriente d Gradients (HOG) features are extracted from the detected region and random forests are applied for the cl assification to judge whether the detected region is polyp region or not. It is shown that the proposed approach has high accuracy for the polyp detection and the usefulness is confirmed through the computer experiment s with endoscope images.
Task-specific reorganization of the auditory cortex in deaf humans

Significance What principles govern large-scale reorganization of the brain? In the blind, several visual regions preserve their task specificity but switch to tactile or auditory input. It remains open whether this type of reorganization is unique to the visual cortex or is a general mechanism in the brain. Here we asked deaf and hearing adults to discriminate between temporally complex sequences of stimuli during an fMRI experiment. We show that the same auditory regions were activated when deaf subjects performed the visual version of the task and when hearing subjects performed the auditory version of the task. Thus, switching sensory input while preserving the task specificity of recruited areas might be a general principle that guides cortical reorganization in the brain. The principles that guide large-scale cortical reorganization remain unclear. In the blind, several visual regions preserve their task specificity; ventral visual areas, for example, become engaged in auditory and tactile object-recognition tasks. It remains open whether task-specific reorganization is unique to the visual cortex or, alternatively, whether this kind of plasticity is a general principle applying to other cortical areas. Auditory areas can become recruited for visual and tactile input in the deaf. Although nonhuman data suggest that this reorganization might be task specific, human evidence has been lacking. Here we enrolled 15 deaf and 15 hearing adults into an functional MRI experiment during which they discriminated between temporally complex sequences of stimuli (rhythms). Both deaf and hearing subjects performed the task visually, in the central visual field. In addition, hearing subjects performed the same task in the auditory modality. We found that the visual task robustly activated the auditory cortex in deaf subjects, peaking in the posterior–lateral part of high-level auditory areas. This activation pattern was strikingly similar to the pattern found in hearing subjects performing the auditory version of the task. Although performing the visual task in deaf subjects induced an increase in functional connectivity between the auditory cortex and the dorsal visual cortex, no such effect was found in hearing subjects. We conclude that in deaf humans the high-level auditory cortex switches its input modality from sound to vision but preserves its task-specific activation pattern independent of input modality. Task-specific reorganization thus might be a general principle that guides cortical plasticity in the brain.
Oxidized low‐density lipoprotein stimulates epithelial sodium channels in endothelial cells of mouse thoracic aorta

The epithelial sodium channel (ENaC) is expressed in endothelial cells and acts as a negative modulator of vasodilatation. Oxidized LDL (ox‐LDL) is a key pathological factor in endothelial dysfunction. In the present study we examined the role of ENaC in ox‐LDL‐induced endothelial dysfunction and its associated signal transduction pathway.