Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Barriers and facilitators to adoption and use of fuel pellets and improved cookstoves in urban Rwanda

Background The environmental and health impacts of reliance on solid fuels and traditional cookstoves in low-income countries have motivated the promotion of household cooking energy systems that use cleaner burning fuels and cookstoves that lead to reduced exposure to harmful pollutants. Little is known about adoption and use of such systems from the users’ perspective. Methods We explored the facilitators and barriers to adoption and use of a private sector marketed household cooking energy system that uses sustainably produced biomass pellets and the cleanest burning fan micro-gasification stove currently available. We conducted 48 in-depth qualitative interviews in Gisenyi, Rwanda with decision-makers and cooks in 16 households that adopted the improved cookstove system and 8 non-adopter households. Results Reported facilitators and barriers to adoption and non-adoption, as well as use and non-use were complex, and in some cases, contradictory. Some adopters noted that cleanliness and low smoke production were major facilitators to adoption and use, while other adopters and non-adopters said the cookstoves blackened and damaged cooking pots and produced excessive smoke. Our findings suggest that correct use of the stove mediates user experience. Cost was likewise reported as a facilitator among some adopters and a barrier among other adopters and non-adopters. Peer influence played a significant role as both a barrier and a facilitator to adoption and transcended other factors. Positive peer influence describing the cleanliness, affordability, and efficiency of the cookstove system encouraged adoption and use, while negative comments by peers regarding excessive smoke and damaged cooking pots discouraged adoption. Commentaries by some participants suggest that inadequate training and instruction may be primary causes of the discrepancies. Conclusion Cost, cleanliness, communication among peer networks, and adequate training and instruction are important factors associated with the adoption and use of improved cookstoves and should be prioritized in the implementation of improved cookstove programs.
Monitoring emissions from the 2015 Indonesian fires using CO satellite data

Southeast Asia, in particular Indonesia, has periodically struggled with intense fire events. These events convert substantial amounts of carbon stored as peat to atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) and significantly affect atmospheric composition on a regional to global scale. During the recent 2015 El Niño event, peat fires led to strong enhancements of carbon monoxide (CO), an air pollutant and well-known tracer for biomass burning. These enhancements were clearly observed from space by the Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) and the Measurements of Pollution in the Troposphere (MOPITT) instruments. We use these satellite observations to estimate CO fire emissions within an inverse modelling framework. We find that the derived CO emissions for each sub-region of Indonesia and Papua are substantially different from emission inventories, highlighting uncertainties in bottom-up estimates. CO fire emissions based on either MOPITT or IASI have a similar spatial pattern and evolution in time, and a 10% uncertainty based on a set of sensitivity tests we performed. Thus, CO satellite data have a high potential to complement existing operational fire emission estimates based on satellite observations of fire counts, fire radiative power and burned area, in better constraining fire occurrence and the associated conversion of peat carbon to atmospheric CO2. A total carbon release to the atmosphere of 0.35–0.60 Pg C can be estimated based on our results. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue ‘The impact of the 2015/2016 El Niño on the terrestrial tropical carbon cycle: patterns, mechanisms and implications'.
Different forms of couple communication and their significance for relationship functioning

The manner in which men and women in intimate relationships solve conflicts, exchange positive behaviors in everyday life, and support each other when experiencing stress may affect their relationship satisfaction and relationship stability. Previous research on couple interaction has mainly focused on negative behaviors or negative interaction contexts (e.g., conflicts), and there has been less focus on positive couple interaction. The present thesis addresses this gap and adds to the existing literature by investigating not only conflict communication, but additionally positive everyday interaction and supportive interactions (dyadic coping). The results of Study I, a longitudinal study covering 10 years, showed that dyadic coping rated by men was predictive of their relationship satisfaction 10 years later, and positive conflict communication of women was predictive of later relationship stability. Study II, a cross-sectional study, examined conflict communication, positive everyday interaction, and dyadic coping in young, middle-aged, and older couples. The results highlight the importance of positive and supportive behaviors for satisfying relationships and point to some age differences. Study III investigated the buffering effect of positivity in a cross-sectional design. The results indicate that in the context of increased negative conflict communication, positive everyday interaction and positive dyadic coping provide a valuable buffer for women’s relationship satisfaction, and this holds true for young, middle-aged, and older couples. The findings are discussed with respect to implications for future research, prevention, and intervention.
Inflammation: Bridging Age, Menopause and APOEε4 Genotype to Alzheimer’s Disease

Neuro-inflammatory processes that contribute to development of Alzheimer’s are evident early in the latent prodromal phase and worsen during the course of the disease. Despite substantial mechanistic and clinical evidence of inflammation, therapeutic approaches targeting inflammation have failed to alter the course of the disease. Disparate results from epidemiological and clinical trials targeting inflammation, highlight the complexity of the inflammatory process. Herein we review the dynamics of the inflammatory process across aging, midlife endocrine transitions, and the APOEε4 genotype and their contribution to progression of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). We discuss the chronic inflammatory processes that are activated during midlife chronological and endocrine aging, which ultimately limit the clearance capacity of microglia and lead to immune senescence. Aging, menopause, and APOEε4 combine the three hits of a compromised bioenergetic system of menopause with the chronic low grade innate inflammation of aging with the APOEε4 dyslipidemia and adaptive immune response. The inflammatory immune response is the unifying factor that bridges across each of the risk factors for AD. Immune system regulators that are specific to stage of disease and inflammatory phenotype would provide a therapeutic strategy to disconnect the bridge that drives disease. Outcomes of this analysis provide plausible mechanisms underlying failed clinical trials of anti-inflammatory agents in Alzheimer’s patients. Further, they highlight the need for stratifying AD clinical trial cohorts based on inflammatory phenotype. Combination therapies that include targeted use of anti-inflammatory agent’s specific to the immune phenotype are considered.
Human Milk Oligosaccharides to Prevent Gut Dysfunction and Necrotizing Enterocolitis in Preterm Neonates

This review focuses on the evidence for health benefits of human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) for preterm infants to stimulate gut adaptation and reduce the incidence of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) in early life. The health benefits of breastfeeding are partly explained by the abundant HMOs that serve as prebiotics and immunomodulators. Gut immaturity in preterm infants leads to difficulties in tolerating enteral feeding and bacterial colonization and a high sensitivity to NEC, particularly when breast milk is insufficient. Due to the immaturity of the preterm infants, their response to HMOs could be different from that in term infants. The concentration of HMOs in human milk is highly variable and there is no evidence to support a specifically adapted high concentration in preterm milk. Further, the gut microbiota is not only different but also highly variable after preterm birth. Studies in pigs as models for preterm infants indicate that HMO supplementation to formula does not mature the gut or prevent NEC during the first weeks after preterm birth and the effects may depend on a certain stage of gut maturity. Supplemented HMOs may become more important for gut protection in the preterm infants when the gut has reached a more mature phase.
Facile Fluorescence “Turn on” Sensing of Lead Ions in Water via Carbon Nanodots Immobilized in Spherical Polyelectrolyte Brushes

Heavy metal detection has become very important for the protection of water resource. In this work, a novel controllable probe is presented for the sensitive detection of Pb2+ in aqueous solutions. The probe was synthesized via the immobilization of surface functionalized carbon dots (named as CAEA-Hs) into the shell of the spherical polyelectrolyte brushes (SPB). The fluorescence of CAEA-H was firstly “turned off” via electrostatic interaction induced quenching. Based on the aggregation induced emission enhancement (AIEE), the fluorescence of the immobilized CAEA-H could be specifically turned on via the aggregation of the SPB particles. This fluorescence “turn on” sensor could selectively detect Pb2+ among five different metal ions with a relatively wide detecting range (0–1.67 mM) and good linear relationship (R2 = 0.9958). Moreover, the aggregating behavior and nano-structure of CAEA-H loaded SPB have been systematically analyzed via small angle X-ray scattering, turbidity titration, and Zeta-potential measurement. Based on a series of control experiments, we finally gain an insight into the sensing mechanism of this novel sensing probe. This contributed a proof of concept demonstration that sensitive and selective chemical detection can be achieved via a C-dot/SPB synergistic platform.
Olmutinib (BI1482694/HM61713), a Novel Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor, Reverses ABCG2-Mediated Multidrug Resistance in Cancer Cells

The main characteristic of tumor cell resistance is multidrug resistance (MDR). MDR is the principle cause of the decline in clinical efficacy of chemotherapeutic drugs. There are several mechanisms that could cause MDR. Among these, one of the most important mechanisms underlying MDR is the overexpression of adenosine triphosphate (ATP)-binding cassette (ABC) super-family of transporters, which effectively pump out cytotoxic agents and targeted anticancer drugs across the cell membrane. In recent years, studies found that ABC transporters and tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) interact with each other. TKIs may behave as substrates or inhibitors depending on the expression of specific pumps, drug concentration, their affinity for the transporters and types of co-administered agents. Therefore, we performed in vitro experiments to observe whether olmutinib could reverse MDR in cancer cells overexpressing ABCB1, ABCG2, or ABCC1 transporters. The results showed that olmutinib at 3 μM significantly reversed drug resistance mediated by ABCG2, but not by ABCB1 and ABCC1, by antagonizing the drug efflux function in ABCG2-overexpressing cells. In addition, olmutinib at reversal concentration affected neither the protein expression level nor the localization of ABCG2. The results observed from the accumulation/efflux study of olmutinib showed that olmutinib reversed ABCG2-mediated MDR with an increasing intracellular drug accumulation due to inhibited drug efflux. We also had consistent results with the ATPase assay that olmutinib stimulated ATPase activity of ABCG2 up to 3.5-fold. Additionally, the molecular interaction between olmutinib and ABCG2 was identified by docking simulation. Olmutinib not only interacts directly with ABCG2 but also works as a competitive inhibitor of the transport protein. In conclusion, olmutinib could reverse ABCG2-mediated MDR. The reversal effect of olmutinib on ABCG2-mediated MDR cells is not due to ABCG2 expression or intracellular localization, but rather related to its interaction with ABCG2 protein resulting in drug efflux inhibition and ATPase stimulation.
Projected changes in particulate matter concentrations in the South Coast Air Basin due to basin-wide reductions in nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds, and ammonia emissions

ABSTRACT An ozone abatement strategy for the South Coast Air Basin (SoCAB) has been proposed by the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) and the California Air Resources Board (ARB). The proposed emissions reduction strategy is focused on the reduction of nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions by the year 2030. Two high PM2.5 concentration episodes with high ammonium nitrate compositions occurring during September and November 2008 were simulated with the Community Multi-scale Air Quality model (CMAQ). All simulations were made with same meteorological files provided by the SCAQMD to allow them to be more directly compared with their previous modeling studies. Although there was an overall under-prediction bias, the CMAQ simulations were within an overall normalized mean error of 50%; a range that is considered acceptable performance for PM modeling. A range of simulations of these episodes were made to evaluate sensitivity to NOx and ammonia emissions inputs for the future year 2030. It was found that the current ozone control strategy will reduce daily average PM2.5 concentrations. However, the targeted NOx reductions for ozone were not found to be optimal for reducing PM2.5 concentrations. Ammonia emission reductions reduced PM2.5 and this might be considered as part of a PM2.5 control strategy. Implications: The SCAQMD and the ARB have proposed an ozone abatement strategy for the SoCAB that focuses on NOx emission reductions. Their strategy will affect both ozone and PM2.5. Two episodes that occurred during September and November 2008 with high PM2.5 concentrations and high ammonium nitrate composition were selected for simulation with different levels of nitrogen oxide and ammonia emissions for the future year 2030. It was found that the ozone control strategy will reduce maximum daily average PM2.5 concentrations but its effect on PM2.5 concentrations is not optimal.
Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation: An Update on Pathogenesis, Diagnosis, and Therapeutic Strategies

Disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) is an acquired clinicobiological syndrome characterized by widespread activation of coagulation leading to fibrin deposition in the vasculature, organ dysfunction, consumption of clotting factors and platelets, and life-threatening hemorrhage. Disseminated intravascular coagulation is provoked by several underlying disorders (sepsis, cancer, trauma, and pregnancy complicated with eclampsia or other calamities). Treatment of the underlying disease and elimination of the trigger mechanism are the cornerstone therapeutic approaches. Therapeutic strategies specific for DIC aim to control activation of blood coagulation and bleeding risk. The clinical trials using DIC as entry criterion are limited. Large randomized, phase III clinical trials have investigated the efficacy of antithrombin (AT), activated protein C (APC), tissue factor pathway inhibitor (TFPI), and thrombomodulin (TM) in patients with sepsis, but the diagnosis of DIC was not part of the inclusion criteria. Treatment with APC reduced 28-day mortality of patients with severe sepsis, including patients retrospectively assigned to a subgroup with sepsis-associated DIC. Treatment with APC did not have any positive effects in other patient groups. The APC treatment increased the bleeding risk in patients with sepsis, which led to the withdrawal of this drug from the market. Treatment with AT failed to reduce 28-day mortality in patients with severe sepsis, but a retrospective subgroup analysis suggested possible efficacy in patients with DIC. Clinical studies with recombinant TFPI or TM have been carried out showing promising results. The efficacy and safety of other anticoagulants (ie, unfractionated heparin, low-molecular-weight heparin) or transfusion of platelet concentrates or clotting factor concentrates have not been objectively assessed.
FD-GAN: Pose-guided Feature Distilling GAN for Robust Person Re-identification

Person re-identification (reID) is an important task that requires to retrieve a person's images from an image dataset, given one image of the person of interest. For learning robust person features, the pose variation of person images is one of the key challenges. Existing works targeting the problem either perform human alignment, or learn human-region-based representations. Extra pose information and computational cost is generally required for inference. To solve this issue, a Feature Distilling Generative Adversarial Network (FD-GAN) is proposed for learning identity-related and pose-unrelated representations. It is a novel framework based on a Siamese structure with multiple novel discriminators on human poses and identities. In addition to the discriminators, a novel same-pose loss is also integrated, which requires appearance of a same person's generated images to be similar. After learning pose-unrelated person features with pose guidance, no auxiliary pose information and additional computational cost is required during testing. Our proposed FD-GAN achieves state-of-the-art performance on three person reID datasets, which demonstrates that the effectiveness and robust feature distilling capability of the proposed FD-GAN.
Exponential convergence rates for Batch Normalization: The power of length-direction decoupling in non-convex optimization

Normalization techniques such as Batch Normalization have been applied successfully for training deep neural networks. Yet, despite its apparent empirical benefits, the reasons behind the success of Batch Normalization are mostly hypothetical. We here aim to provide a more thorough theoretical understanding from a classical optimization perspective. Our main contribution towards this goal is the identification of various problem instances in the realm of machine learning where % -- under certain assumptions-- Batch Normalization can provably accelerate optimization. We argue that this acceleration is due to the fact that Batch Normalization splits the optimization task into optimizing length and direction of the parameters separately. This allows gradient-based methods to leverage a favourable global structure in the loss landscape that we prove to exist in Learning Halfspace problems and neural network training with Gaussian inputs. We thereby turn Batch Normalization from an effective practical heuristic into a provably converging algorithm for these settings. Furthermore, we substantiate our analysis with empirical evidence that suggests the validity of our theoretical results in a broader context.
Passive haptic learning for vibrotactile skin reading

This paper investigates the effects of using passive haptic learning to train the skill of comprehending text from vibrotactile patterns. The method of transmitting messages, skin-reading, is effective at conveying rich information but its active training method requires full user attention, is demanding, time-consuming, and tedious. Passive haptic learning offers the possibility to learn in the background while performing another primary task. We present a study investigating the use of passive haptic learning to train for skin-reading.
Injecting Nonverbal Mimicry with Hybrid Avatar-Agent Technologies: A Naïve Approach

Humans communicate to a large degree through nonverbal behavior. Nonverbal mimicry, i.e., the imitation of another's behavior can positively affect the social interactions. In virtual environments, user behavior can be replicated to avatars, and agent behaviors can be artificially constructed. By combining both, hybrid avatar-agent technologies aim at actively mediating virtual communication to foster interpersonal understanding and rapport. We present a naïve prototype, the "Mimicry Injector", that injects artificial mimicry in real-time virtual interactions. In an evaluation study, two participants were embodied in a Virtual Reality (VR) simulation, and had to perform a negotiation task. Their virtual characters either a) replicated only the original behavior or b) displayed the original behavior plus induced mimicry. We found that most participants did not detect the modification. However, the modification did not have a significant impact on the perception of the communication.
The Effect of Human Milk on Modulating the Quality of Growth in Preterm Infants

Introduction: Human milk is the optimal nutrition for preterm infants. When the mother's own milk is unavailable, donor human milk is recommended as an alternative for preterm infants. The association among early nutrition, body composition and the future risk of disease has recently attracted much interest. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of human milk on the body composition of preterm infants. Materials and Methods: Very low birth weight infants (VLBW: birth weight <1,500 g) with a gestational age (GA) between 26 and 34 weeks were included. Clinical data, anthropometric measurements and nutritional intake in terms of the volume of human milk were extracted from computerized medical charts. The human milk intake was expressed as a percentage of target fortified donor human milk and/or target fortified fresh mother's milk, compared with the total volume of milk intake during the hospital stay. All included infants underwent anthropometric measurements and body composition analysis (expressed as fat-free mass percentage) at term corrected age (CA) by air-displacement plethysmography. A comparison between infants fed human milk at <50% (group 1) and infants fed human milk at ≥50% of the total volume of milk intake (group 2) was conducted. Multiple linear regression analyses were conducted to explore the modulating effect of fortified human milk on fat-free mass at term CA. Results: Seventy-three VLBW infants were included in the study. The mean weight and GA at birth were 1,248 ± 198 g and 30.2 ± 2.0 weeks, respectively. No differences were found regarding anthropometric measurements at birth, at discharge and at term CA between the two groups. The mean fortified human milk intake was 34.9 ± 12.5 and 80.9 ± 15.5% in groups 1 and 2, respectively (p < 0.001). A multiple regression analysis corrected for sex and birth weight demonstrated that intake of ≥50% fortified human milk was associated with a higher fat-free mass percentage at term CA than intake of <50% fortified human milk. Conclusion: The use of target fortified human milk modulated growth and improved growth quality in vulnerable preterm infants. Thus, the use of donor human milk should be encouraged when fresh mother's milk is insufficient or not available.