Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
~ . j ? ? WEATHER AND CLIMATE FORECASTING

The Biblical quotation above is an ancient example of attempting to make meteorological predictions based on empirical observations. The idea it contains tends to work as a forecasting scheme, and it has been expressed in many different ways in the subsequent 2,000 years. it is one of many sayings and rhymes of folklore that provide a qualitative description of the weather. In the 17th century, the introduction of instruments to measure atmospheric variables meant that meteorology became a quantitative science. By the 19th century meteorological data was being collected all over Europe. It was during the 1800s that many scientists began lamenting the fact that the collection of meteorological data had far outpaced attempts to analyse and understand this data (Lempfert 1932). Attempts had been to find patterns in tables of meteorological, but these had usually ended in failure. One example is the efforts to link weather to celestial motions made by the Palatine Mteorological Society of Mannheim (the World's first such society) in the late 18th century. The breakthrough came when scientists began plotting the growing meteorological database on maps; the tendency of mid-latitude low-pressure systems to advance eastward was discovered: clouds in the west provide a red sky at dawn before bringing bad weather, clouds in the east redden the sky at sunset before making way for clear skies. The discovery of mid-latitude eastward flow not only explained the success of ancient folk wisdom, combined with the telegraph it also provided a means to extend predictability beyond the horizon. The late 19th and early 20th century saw many efforts to identify cycles in time series of weather data. One the most prolific cycle seekers, and ultimately one of the few successful ones, was Sir Gilbert Walker. Walker collated global weather data and spent years seeking correlations (Walker 1923, 1924, 1928, 1937, Walker and Bliss 1932) During this work he discovered that the pressure i,n Tahiti and in Darwin were anti-correlated. This discovery withstood the subsequent tests and is called the "Southern Oscillation". It is now known to be the atmospheric component of El Nine-Southern Oscillation climate phenomenon. Many other claims for the existence of weather cycles were made, but few withstood the scrutiny of statistical tests of robustness. By the 1930s, mainstream meteorology had largely given up attempting to forecast the state of the atmosphere using statistical approaches based solely on data (Nebeker 1995). Since then, estimates of the recurrence time of the atmosphere have implied that globally
Clinical and molecular variability in congenital dyserythropoietic anaemia type I

Congenital dyserythropoietic anaemia (CDA) type I is a rare, inherited disorder characterised by ineffective erythropoiesis and macrocytic anaemia. Complex bone disease has only occasionally been associated with this disease. CDA I is caused by mutations in the CDAN1 gene encoding for codanin‐1. Our aim was to characterise the CDAN1 mutation in eight unrelated patients with sporadic CDA I, three of whom had complex bone disease. Six novel mutations in the CDAN1 gene were identified. In two patients, one mutation and in another, both mutations were elusive. No patient was homozygous for a null‐type mutation. However, one patient with complex bone disease was homozygous for a splice‐site mutation (IVS‐12+5G > A). Western blotting revealed that codanin‐1 synthesis was 65% less than the control. Five single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) previously unreported in the literature or the SNP database were also identified. Although the absence of codanin‐1 is probably lethal, the presence of 35% of the protein was compatible with life but was associated with severe clinical manifestations. However, in most patients studied, no correlation could be established between the expected levels of codanin‐1 or the nature of the mutation and the severity of the clinical manifestations.
32 bit power efficient carry select adder using 4T XNOR gate

Adders are the basic elements used in complex data processing for efficient VLSI design. The CSLA adder circuit is used for the design of high speed processors. There is scope for decreasing the power and area of the design while preserving the speed of the circuit in CMOS technology. The CSLA adder architecture is such that it is of less power dissipation, area efficient and high speed. In this paper 4transistor XNOR gate is used to design the hybrid CMOS Full Adder circuit. The CSLA circuit is designed using this hybrid CMOS Full Adder circuit for 8-, 16-, 32-bit and parameters like area, power and delay are compared with that of the regular CSLA. Here the excess logic operations in the regular CSLA are eradicated and a new logic operation for the modified CSLA is formulated before the final sum calculation is proposed. The power consumed by the modified XNOR and Full adder is 0.5595mW and 1.273mW respectively. In this paper design work is compared with the regular CSLA adder with parameters like area, power and delay through 180nm CMOS process technology and implemented in Cadence Virtuoso tool. The results show that modified CSLA is more efficient than the conventional CSLA in terms of area, power and delay.
Urinary Incontinence and Levels of Regular Physical Exercise in Young Women

Abstract The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of different levels of regular physical exercise on the frequency of urinary incontinence in young nulliparous women from the northern region of Portugal. Participants (n=386) self-reported demographic variables, frequency, and time spent practicing organized exercise per week, as well as completed the International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire-Short Form. The level of exercise was calculated based on the time (in minutes) usually spent per week in organized exercise. 19.9% of Portuguese nulliparous women reported incontinence symptoms. Considering the distribution of urinary incontinence among the different quartiles of organized exercise, women from the 4thquartile (those who train for competitive purposes) demonstrated highest relative frequency (p=0.000) and a 2.53 greater relative risk to develop (95% CIs,1.3–2.7) incontinence compared to women from the 1st quartile (inactive). Women who practice exercise for recreational purposes (2nd and 3rd quartiles) did not show significant differences in the urinary incontinence prevalence and relative risk of developing it compared to women from the 1st quartile. The results showed that women participating in organized exercise involving high volume training for competition are potentially at risk of developing urinary incontinence, although organized exercise undertaken without the intent to compete seems to be safe for maintaining urinary continence.
A New Categorization of Image Quality Metrics Based On a Model of Human Quality Perception

— This study presents a new model of the human image quality assessment process: the aim is to highlight the foundations of the image quality metrics proposed in literature, by identifying the cognitive/physiological or mathematical principles of their development and the relation with the actual human quality assessment process. The model allows to create a novel categorization of objective and subjective image quality metrics. Our work includes an overview of the most used or effective objective metrics in literature, and, for each of them, we underline its main characteristics, with reference to the rationale of the proposed model and categorization. From the results of this operation, we underline a problem that affects all the presented metrics: the fact that many aspects of human biases are not taken in account at all. We then propose a possible methodology to address this issue.
Diagnostic Role of Upper Gastrointestinal Endoscopy in Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Background: Discrimination between ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn disease (CD) may be difficult on ileo-colonoscopy alone because of a lack of definitive lesions. Retrospective studies show upper gastrointestinal endoscopy may be helpful in confirming diagnosis in such cases. Aims: To prospectively determine importance of upper gastrointestinal endoscopy in diagnosis of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and assess factors predictive of upper gastrointestinal involvement in IBD. Methods: All pediatric patients were enrolled prospectively and consecutively over a 2-year period and investigated with an ileo-colonoscopy and barium meal follow-through. Children with procto-sigmoiditis, later confirmed histologically to be typical of UC, were excluded from the study. The remainder underwent upper gastrointestinal endoscopy. The protocol and methodology were determined a priori. Results: 65 children suspected of IBD underwent colonoscopy. Of the total, 11 had recto-sigmoiditis with typical macroscopic appearances of UC; once this was confirmed on histology these patients were excluded from the study. Of the 54 children (males, 31; median age, 11.1 years) remaining, 23 were initially diagnosed with CD on ileo-colonoscopy and 18 (33%) were diagnosed with UC. The diagnosis remained ambiguous in 13 (six colonic, four ileo-colonic, three normal colon) on clinical, radiologic and histologic grounds. Upper GI endoscopy helped to confirm CD in a further 11 (20.4%). Two patients were diagnosed with indeterminate colitis. Upper gastrointestinal inflammation was seen in 29 of 54 (22 CD; 7 UC ). Epigastric and abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting, weight loss and pan-ileocolitis were predictive of upper gastrointestinal involvement (P < 0.05). However, 9 children with upper gastrointestinal involvement were asymptomatic at presentation (31%). Overall upper gastrointestinal tract inflammation was most common in the stomach (67%), followed by the esophagus (54%) and duodenum (22%). Conclusions: Upper gastrointestinal tract endoscopy should be part of the first-line investigation in all new cases suspected of IBD. Absence of specific upper gastrointestinal symptoms do not preclude presence of upper gastrointestinal inflammation.
Assessment of upper airway obstruction by measuring peak oral and nasal inspiratory flow

Abstract Objective: We wanted to access upper airway obstruction in patients undergoing tonsillectomy by measuring peak oral and nasal inspiratory airflow. Methods: We recruited study participants from a cohort of patients on the waiting list for tonsillectomy, with or without adenoidectomy, at University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff, UK. Fifty patients enrolled on phase I of the study and underwent pre-operative measurement of the rate of peak oral and nasal inspiratory flow; 25 of these patients returned after one month for phase II of the study and underwent post-operative measurement of the rate of both peak oral and nasal inspiratory flow. Results: Of the 25 participants who completed phase II of the study, 17 (68 per cent) showed an increase in post-operative peak oral inspiratory flow rate by an average of 45 per cent, while 18 (72 per cent) showed an increase in post-operative peak nasal inspiratory flow rate by an average of 22 per cent. Conclusion: Both peak oral and nasal inspiratory flow rate measurements may be useful measures of oral and nasal obstruction. Further larger studies are needed to develop these measurements as screening and efficacy measures for adenotonsillectomy to relieve upper airway obstruction.
Recent advancements in combination subunit vaccine development

ABSTRACT Viral structural proteins share a common nature of homotypic interactions that drive viral capsid formation. This natural process has been mimicked in vitro through recombinant technology to generate various virus-like particles (VLPs) and small subviral particles that exhibit similar structural and antigenic properties of their authentic viruses. Therefore, such self-assembled, polyvalent, and highly immunogenic VLPs and small subviral particles are excellent subunit vaccines against individual viruses, such as the VLP vaccines against the hepatitis B virus, human papilloma virus, and hepatitis E virus, which have already been in the markets. In addition, various antigens and epitopes can be fused with VLPs, small subviral particles, or protein polymers, forming chimeric mono-, bi-, or trivalent vaccines. Owing to their easy-production, un-infectiousness, and polyvalence, the recombinant, chimeric vaccines offer a new approach for development of safe, low-cost, and high efficient subunit vaccines against a single or more pathogens or diseases. While the first VLP-based combination vaccine against malaria has been approved for human use, many others are under development with promising future, which are summarized in this commentary.
RasGRF Couples Nox4-Dependent Endoplasmic Reticulum Signaling to Ras

Objectives— In response to endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, endothelial cells initiate corrective pathways such as the unfolded protein response. Recent studies suggest that reactive oxygen species produced on the ER may participate in homeostatic signaling through Ras in response to ER stress. We sought to identify mechanisms responsible for this focal signaling pathway. Approach and Results— In endothelial cells, we found that ER stress induced by tunicamycin activates the NADPH (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate) oxidase Nox4 focally on the ER surface but not on the plasma membrane. Ras activation is also restricted to the ER, occurs downstream of Nox4, and is required for activation of the unfolded protein response. In contrast, treatment with the growth factor VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor) results in Ras activation and reactive oxygen species production confined instead to the plasma membrane and not to the ER, demonstrating local coupling of reactive oxygen species and Ras signals. We further identify the calcium-responsive, ER-resident guanyl exchange factors RasGRF1 and RasGRF2 as novel upstream mediators linking Nox4 with Ras activation in response to ER stress. Oxidation of the sarcoendoplasmic reticulum calcium ATPase and increases in cytosolic calcium caused by ER stress are blocked by Nox4 knockdown, and reduction in cytosolic free calcium prevents both Ras activation and the unfolded protein response. Conclusions— ER stress triggers a localized signaling module on the ER surface involving Nox4-dependent calcium mobilization, which directs local Ras activation through ER-associated, calcium-responsive RasGRF.
Electrode type and placement configuration for quadriceps activation evaluation.

CONTEXT The ability to accurately estimate quadriceps voluntary activation is an important tool for assessing neuromuscular function after a variety of knee injuries. Different techniques have been used to assess quadriceps volitional activation, including various stimulating electrode types and electrode configurations, yet the optimal electrode types and configurations for depolarizing motor units in the attempt to assess muscle activation are unknown. OBJECTIVE To determine whether stimulating electrode type and configuration affect quadriceps central activation ratio (CAR) and percentage-of-activation measurements in healthy participants. DESIGN Crossover study. SETTING Research laboratory. PATIENTS AND OTHER PARTICIPANTS Twenty participants (13 men, 7 women; age = 26 ± 5.3 years, height = 173.85 ± 7.3 cm, mass = 77.37 ± 16 kg) volunteered. INTERVENTION(S) All participants performed 4 counter-balanced muscle activation tests incorporating 2 different electrode types (self-adhesive, carbon-impregnated) and 2 electrode configurations (vastus, rectus). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S) Quadriceps activation was calculated with the CAR and percentage-of-activation equations, which were derived from superimposed burst and resting torque measurements. RESULTS No differences were found between conditions for CAR and percentage-of-activation measurements, whereas resting twitch torque was higher in the rectus configuration for both self-adhesive (216 ± 66.98 Nm) and carbon-impregnated (209.1 ± 68.22 Nm) electrodes than in the vastus configuration (209.5 ± 65.5 Nm and 204 ± 62.7 Nm, respectively) for these electrode types (F(1,19) = 4.87, P = . 04). In addition, resting twitch torque was greater for both electrode configurations with self-adhesive electrodes than with carbon-impregnated electrodes (F(1,19) = 9.33, P = . 007). Bland-Altman plots revealed acceptable mean differences for agreement between electrode type and configuration for CAR and percentage of activation, but limits of agreement were wide. CONCLUSIONS Although these electrode configurations and types might not necessarily be able to be used interchangeably, differences in electrode type and configuration did not seem to affect CAR and percentage-of-activation outcome measures.
The essential role of carotid body chemoreceptors in sleep apnea.

Sleep apnea is attributable, in part, to an unstable ventilatory control system and specifically to a narrowed "CO2 reserve" (i.e., the difference in P(a)CO2 between eupnea and the apneic threshold). Findings from sleeping animal preparations with denervated carotid chemoreceptors or vascularly isolated, perfused carotid chemoreceptors demonstrate the critical importance of peripheral chemoreceptors to the ventilatory responses to dynamic changes in P(a)CO2. Specifically, (i) carotid body denervation prevented the apnea and periodic breathing that normally follow transient ventilatory overshoots; (ii) the CO2 reserve for peripheral chemoreceptors was about one half that for brain chemoreceptors; and (iii) hypocapnia isolated to the carotid chemoreceptors caused hypoventilation that persisted over time despite a concomitant, progressive brain respiratory acidosis. Observations in both humans and animals are cited to demonstrate the marked plasticity of the CO2 reserve and, therefore, the propensity for apneas and periodic breathing, in response to changing background ventilatory stimuli.
The Effect of Meal Composition on Specific Dynamic Action in Burmese Pythons (Python molurus)

We quantified the specific dynamic action (SDA) resulting from the ingestion of various meal types in Burmese pythons (Python molurus) at 30°C. Each snake was fed a series of experimental meals consisting of amino acid mixtures, simple proteins, simple or complex carbohydrates, or lipids as well as meals of whole animal tissue (chicken breast, beef suet, and mouse). Rates of oxygen consumption were measured for approximately 4 d after feeding, and the increment above standard metabolic rate was determined and compared to energy content of the meals. While food type (protein, carbohydrate, and lipid) had a general influence, SDA was highly dependent on meal composition (i.e., amino acid composition and carbohydrate structure). For chicken breast and simple carbohydrates, the SDA coefficient was approximately one‐third the energetic content of the meal. Lard, suet, cellulose, and starch were not digested and did not produce measurable SDA. We conclude that the cost of de novo protein synthesis is an important component of SDA after ingestion of protein meals because (1) simple proteins, such as gelatin and collagen, did not stimulate levels of SDA attained after consumption of complete protein, (2) incomplete mixtures of amino acids failed to elicit the SDA of a complete mixture, and (3) the inhibition of de novo protein synthesis with the drug cycloheximide caused a more than 70% decrease in SDA. Stomach distension and mechanical digestion of intact prey did not cause measurable SDA.
Title Supply-side hurdles in internet B 2 C e-commerce : An empiricalinvestigation

Given Hong Kong’s special circumstances of small physical size, advanced infrastructure, and low shopping cost, a survey is designed under which supply-side problems in Internet business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce are indirectly revealed by responses on the demand side. Difficulties arising from the reluctance to answer questionnaires on the part of e-firms wary about trade and innovation secrets and their small number at the outset are thereby overcome. Survey data on demand-side obstacle factors in the form of perceived low e-shopping comparability, e-shopping inconvenience, e-transaction insecurity, and poor Internet privacy, together with orientation toward social interaction and low awareness on the part of consumers, translate into information on notionally matching supply-side hurdles. Regression analysis and hypothesis testing indicate statistical significance for the above hurdle factors in terms of impact on individual unwillingness to shop online. These results add to the inductive basis for future research into a general demand-supply theory of Internet B2C e-commerce and offer an empirically-grounded position against which the effects of later supply-side changes can be evaluated. Useful information also follows for engineer–managers seeking to compare marginal improvements in supply-side problems, particularly in the form of estimated substitution ratios.
Brain and Peripheral Atypical Inflammatory Mediators Potentiate Neuroinflammation and Neurodegeneration

Neuroinflammatory response is primarily a protective mechanism in the brain. However, excessive and chronic inflammatory responses can lead to deleterious effects involving immune cells, brain cells and signaling molecules. Neuroinflammation induces and accelerates pathogenesis of Parkinson’s disease (PD), Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Multiple sclerosis (MS). Neuroinflammatory pathways are indicated as novel therapeutic targets for these diseases. Mast cells are immune cells of hematopoietic origin that regulate inflammation and upon activation release many proinflammatory mediators in systemic and central nervous system (CNS) inflammatory conditions. In addition, inflammatory mediators released from activated glial cells induce neurodegeneration in the brain. Systemic inflammation-derived proinflammatory cytokines/chemokines and other factors cause a breach in the blood brain-barrier (BBB) thereby allowing for the entry of immune/inflammatory cells including mast cell progenitors, mast cells and proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines into the brain. These peripheral-derived factors and intrinsically generated cytokines/chemokines, α-synuclein, corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH), substance P (SP), beta amyloid 1–42 (Aβ1–42) peptide and amyloid precursor proteins can activate glial cells, T-cells and mast cells in the brain can induce additional release of inflammatory and neurotoxic molecules contributing to chronic neuroinflammation and neuronal death. The glia maturation factor (GMF), a proinflammatory protein discovered in our laboratory released from glia, activates mast cells to release inflammatory cytokines and chemokines. Chronic increase in the proinflammatory mediators induces neurotoxic Aβ and plaque formation in AD brains and neurodegeneration in PD brains. Glial cells, mast cells and T-cells can reactivate each other in neuroinflammatory conditions in the brain and augment neuroinflammation. Further, inflammatory mediators from the brain can also enter into the peripheral system through defective BBB, recruit immune cells into the brain, and exacerbate neuroinflammation. We suggest that mast cell-associated inflammatory mediators from systemic inflammation and brain could augment neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration in the brain. This review article addresses the role of some atypical inflammatory mediators that are associated with mast cell inflammation and their activation of glial cells to induce neurodegeneration.