Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Evidence for lower plasticity in CTMAX at warmer developmental temperatures

Understanding the capacity for different species to reduce their susceptibility to climate change via phenotypic plasticity is essential for accurately predicting species extinction risk. The climatic variability hypothesis suggests that spatial and temporal variation in climatic variables should select for more plastic phenotypes. However, empirical support for this hypothesis is limited. Here, we examine the capacity for ten Drosophila species to increase their critical thermal maxima (CTMAX) through developmental acclimation and/or adult heat hardening. Using four fluctuating developmental temperature regimes, ranging from 13 to 33 °C, we find that most species can increase their CTMAX via developmental acclimation and adult hardening, but found no relationship between climatic variables and absolute measures of plasticity. However, when plasticity was dissected across developmental temperatures, a positive association between plasticity and one measure of climatic variability (temperature seasonality) was found when development took place between 26 and 28 °C, whereas a negative relationship was found when development took place between 20 and 23 °C. In addition, a decline in CTMAX and egg‐to‐adult viability, a proxy for fitness, was observed in tropical species at the warmer developmental temperatures (26–28 °C); this suggests that tropical species may be at even greater risk from climate change than currently predicted. The combined effects of developmental acclimation and adult hardening on CTMAX were small, contributing to a <0.60 °C shift in CTMAX. Although small shifts in CTMAX may increase population persistence in the shorter term, the degree to which they can contribute to meaningful responses in the long term is unclear.
Task offloading and resource allocation in mobile-edge computing system

Mobile-edge computing (MEC) system is a new paradigm to provide cloud computing capacities at the edge of radio access network (RAN) which is close to mobile users. In this paper, we aim to promote QoS by offloading the computationally intensive tasks to the MEC server. There are many papers discuss this issue. Nevertheless, most of them just think over one-dimension resource allocation, radio resources or computation resources, and make the MEC system less effective. Hence, we consider the allocation of both radio resources and computation resources of the MEC server to increase system effectiveness. Apart from this, we take the variety of tasks' requirements into account. That is, we assume that different tasks may have different delay requirements. We formulate this problem as a cost minimization problem and design a heuristic algorithm to address it. Numerical results show that our algorithm can greatly promote QoS.
Silver Nanoparticles Synthesized Coating with Zataria Multiflora Leaves Extract Induced Apoptosis in HeLa Cells Through p53 Activation

The biosynthesis of nanoparticles is widely considered today. This investigation was aimed at the biosynthesis and coating of Ag.NPs with Zataria multiflora (Zm-Ag.NPs) leaf extract and assessment of its apoptosis promoting effects. The Zm-Ag.NPs was characterized by UV-visible and FTIR spectroscopy, TEM, EDS, DLS, and measurement of zeta-potential. Apoptosis induction effects of Zm-Ag.NPs were assessed using acridine orange – propidium iodide (AO/PI), DAPI staining, caspase3/9 activation assay, and annexinV/PI assay. Changes in P53, matrix metalloproteinases 2 (MMPs), and vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGF-A) genes expression were also assessed with semi-quantitative RT-PCR. The UV-visible spectroscopy results showed that the surface plasmon resonance band (SRP) for Zm-Ag.NPs was about 440 nm, also, FTIR spectroscopy indicated that plant material embedded around Zm-Ag.NPs. The TEM images of the samples revealed that the Ag.NPs varied in morphology and also, the presence of silver element was monitored with EDS. The mean size of Zm-Ag.NPs was 30 nm. The Zm-Ag.NPs reduced cell viability in a dose and time dependent manner (IC50 = 15 μg/mL). AO/PI and DAPI staining indicated chromatin fragmentation and annexinV externalization assay using flow cytometer, confirmed promotion of programmed cell death in the treated cells. Apoptosis was induced through caspase 3/9 activation pathway. This promotion of apoptosis effects is not related with P53 gene up regulation. Finally, it was found that Zm-Ag.NPs inhibited cancer cell metastasis through a decrease in MMP and VEGFA expression. Zm-Ag.NPs acts as carrier of the plant material compound, and can be applied as anticancer agents.
Integrating Learning, Optimization, and Prediction for Efficient Navigation of Swarms of Drones

Swarms of drones are increasingly been used in a variety of monitoring and surveillance, search and rescue, and photography and filming tasks. However, despite the growing popularity of swarm-based applications of drones, there is still a lack of approaches to generate efficient drone routes while minimizing the risks of drone collisions. In this paper, we present a novel approach that integrates learning, optimization, and prediction for generating efficient and safe routes for swarms of drones. The proposed approach comprises three main components: (1) a high-performance dynamic evolutionary algorithm for optimizing drone routes, (2) a reinforcement learning algorithm for incorporating the feedback and runtime data about the system state, and (3) a prediction approach to predict the movement of drones and moving obstacles in the flying zone. We also present a parallel implementation of the proposed approach and evaluate it against two benchmarks. The results demonstrate that the proposed approach allows to significantly reduce the route lengths and computation overhead while producing efficient and safe routes.
Houses without people and people without houses: a cultural and institutional exploration of an Italian paradox

Abstract According to basic economics, when vacancy rates rise, house prices should decrease and vice versa, responding to supply and demand mechanisms. However, previous studies have observed that, before the economic crisis, this was not the case in Spain and Malta. It has been questioned whether this paradox is a Mediterranean phenomenon or simply the result of isolated cases of malfunctioning housing market. This paper contributes to this discussion by reviewing the pre-crisis housing market of a third case study: Italy. A Mediterranean housing system perspective is used to analyse the paradox, and methodological issues regarding the definition and measurement of vacancy are addressed. Moreover, the paper explores the consequences of the high Italian vacancy rate within a context of housing shortages and affordability problems. We argue that a better understanding of the characteristics and implications of vacancy is necessary in order to be able to implement sustainable housing and planning policies.
Effects of dietary energy and lipase levels on nutrient digestibility, digestive physiology and noxious gas emission in weaning pigs

Objective This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of dietary energy and lipase supplementation on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, serum profiles, intestinal morphology, small intestinal digestive enzyme activities, biochemical index of intestinal development and noxious gas emission in weaning pigs. Methods A total of 240 weaning pigs ([Yorkshire×Landrace]×Duroc) with an average body weight (BW) of 7.3±0.12 kg were used in this 28-d experiment. Weaning pigs were randomly allocated to 4 dietary treatments in a 2×2 factorial arrangement with 2 levels of energy (net energy = 2,470 kcal/kg for low energy diet and 2,545 kcal/kg for basal diet) and 2 levels of lipase (0 and 1.5 U/g of lipase) according to BW and sex. There were 6 replications (pens) per treatment and 10 pigs per pen (5 barrows and 5 gilts). Results Weaning pigs fed the low energy diet had lower (p<0.05) gain-to-feed ratio (G:F) throughout the experiment, apparent digestibility of dry matter, nitrogen, ether extract, and gross energy during d 0 to 14, average daily gain during d 15 to 28, lipase activity in duodenum and ileum and protein/DNA in jejunum (p<0.05), respectively. Lipase supplementation had no effect on growth performance but affected apparent nutrient digestibility (p<0.05) on d 14 and enhanced lipase activity in the duodenum and ileum and protease activity in duodenum and jejunum of pigs (p<0.05) fed the low energy diet. Lipase reduced serum low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and triglyceride (TG), NH3 production (p<0.05) from the feces. Conclusion The low energy diet decreased G:F throughout the experiment and nutrient digestibility during d 0 to 14 as well as lipase activity in duodenum and ileum. Lipase supplementation increased nutrient digestibility during d 0 to 14 and exerted beneficial effects on lipase activity in duodenum and ileum as well as protease activity in duodenum and jejunum, while reduced serum LDL-C, TG and fecal NH3.
Compliance in the deep and superficial conduit veins of the nonexercising arm is unaffected by short‐term exercise

The effects of short‐term dynamic and static exercise on compliance (CPL) in a single conduit vein in the nonexercising limb are not fully understood, although prolonged cycling exercise was found to produce a significant reduction of CPL in the veins. In this study, we investigated the cross‐sectional area (CSA) and CPL in the brachial (deep) and basilic (superficial) veins of the nonexercising arm in 14 participants who performed a 5‐min cycling exercise at 35% and 70% of peak oxygen uptake (study 1) and in 11 participants who performed a 2‐min static handgrip exercise at 30% of maximal voluntary contraction (study 2). The CSA in the deep and superficial veins at rest and during the final minute of exercise was measured by high‐resolution ultrasonography during a short‐duration cuff deflation protocol. The CPL in each vein was calculated as the numerical derivative of the cuff pressure and CSA curve. During short‐term dynamic and static exercise, there was no change in CPL in either vein, but there was a decrease in CSA in both veins. The simultaneous findings of unchanged CPL and decreased CSA suggest that CPL during short‐term exercise are independently controlled by the mechanisms responsible for exercise‐induced sympathoexcitation in both single veins. Thus, short‐term exercise does not alter CPL in both conduit superficial and deep veins in nonexercising upper arm.
A Single Institutional Experience With the Paris System for Reporting Urinary Cytology: Correlation of Cytology and Histology in 194 Cases

Objectives The Paris System for Reporting Urinary Cytology (TPS) is designed to standardize the criteria and terminology used in urinary tract cytology reporting. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of implementing TPS and to analyze the correlation with follow-up biopsies in order to assess its reproducibility. Methods Urinary tract cytology specimens with follow-up biopsies over a 2-year period were reviewed and reclassified according to TPS criteria. Surgical follow-up diagnoses were correlated with the initial cytology diagnoses and TPS interpretations, and the results were compared. Results Applying TPS in comparison to our previous reporting system resulted in fewer cases in the atypia category (11.8% vs 24.2%) and higher specificity, accuracy, and predictive value. We observed acceptable interobserver agreement in diagnostic categories of this reporting system. Conclusions TPS improves the overall performance of urinary tract cytology by standardizing the criteria and terminology.
Measurement foundations for preference function modelling

We define and study fundamental aspects of homomorphic modelling of measurement. We characterize the existence and uniqueness problems in terms of systems of relational equations and show that the information in abstract existence theorems is sufficient to determine uniqueness type but is insufficient to solve the assignment problem. We also establish that the common distinction between utility and value functions is a misconception and that PFM is a methodology for measuring utilities.
Current situation and future prospects for beef cattle production in Indonesia — A review

Increasing demand in developing countries for animal sources of food including red meat is predicted to double by 2050. In Indonesia, there has always been a gap between supply and demand of beef with national beef production only satisfying about 45% of demand. This paper aims to describe the current features and prospects for beef production systems in Indonesia. The first part of the article reviews and analyses Indonesian beef cattle production systems. The second part addresses issues related to the current systems for beef production that could become important for future development of the beef industry in Indonesia. Recommendations to improve breeding and reproduction, to empower smallholder farmers, to improve the capacity of industry-related institutions to enhance technology transfer, and to develop systems for industry development such as integration of palm oil or plantations with beef cattle production are briefly discussed.
Reorganization and Tie Decay Choices

Whereas most research on network evolution has focused on the role of interaction opportunities in the formation of new ties, this paper addresses tie decay choices. When the opportunity structure gets reorganized, social actors make choices about which ties to retain and which to allow to decay, informed by their past experience of the tie. I argue that, conditional on changes in opportunity, people (especially those with Machiavellian personalities) choose to retain ties to valuable contacts, they retain reciprocated ties (especially with highly empathic others), and they retain socially embedded ties (especially if they are low self-monitors). The empirical design, which exploits a randomized natural experiment, confirms these hypotheses and suggests that our understanding of tie decay choices—and, consequently, of network evolution—is enhanced by an integrated theoretical perspective that encompasses both social structure and social psychology. This paper was accepted by Olav Sorenson, organizations.
Local and Global Effects of Prosodic Boundaries:Evidence from Eye Movements

Although several studies have demonstrated that listeners integrate current prosodic boundaries with occurrences of relevant earlier prosodic boundaries in making syntactic attachment decisions (e.g., Carlson et al. 2001; Clifton et al. 2002), these studies have only used offline judgment tasks. The current study instead uses a visual world eye-tracking paradigm to examine whether global prosodic information has immediate impacts on parsing or whether its effects are delayed until after some initial processing of the local boundary. The fixation data showed that prosodic boundaries were interpreted just locally during online processing. There was only weak evidence for the effects of relative boundary strength on the final interpretation of a sentence. The data suggest that prosodic boundaries may be first processed locally and be integrated with relevant earlier boundaries only after a delay.
Isolation and identification of the phenolic compounds from Pulicaria inuloides and their antibacterial and antioxidant activities

The phenolic compounds of P. inuloides were extracted by ultrasonic device followed by loading on column of macroporous resin chromatography for isolation and then identification was done using high performance liquid chramoatography. The antioxidant activities were determined by 2,2-diphenyl-1,1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and betacarotene assays. P. inuloides phenolic constituents inhibited the all tested microorganisms except E. coli, Salmonella typhimurium and Shigella dysenteriae with a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 30.0 μg/mL against Bacillus subtilis in 50% ethanol. Totally 13 fatty acids were determined including 6 unsaturated fatty
Monitoring radiation damage in the ATLAS Pixel Detector

With the increasing radiation dose accumulated by the ATLAS Pixel Detector at the LHC, effects of radiation damage become more and more visible due to the creation of silicon crystal defects. The monitoring of the detector reveals an increase in the leakage current, which is proportional to the rising radiation dose. Measurements of the effective depletion voltage show a general trend of reduction due to the decrease of the effective n-doping concentration. The most recent measurement indicates that the depletion voltage is close to its expected minimum and thus that type-inversion is imminent in the innermost detector layer. A track-based method has been developed to estimate the depth of the depleted zone after type-inversion, allowing a continuous monitoring of the sensor performance. Results are, so far, in agreement with a complete depletion of the sensor.
International Endocervical Adenocarcinoma Criteria and Classification: Validation and Interobserver Reproducibility

The current World Health Organization (WHO) classification for endocervical adenocarcinoma (EA) is based on descriptive morphologic characteristics; however, it does not fully reflect our current knowledge of the diverse pathogenesis of cervical glandular neoplasia. A novel classification system, the International Endocervical Adenocarcinoma Criteria and Classification (IECC), which incorporates etiology and biological behavior into the morphologic scheme, has been recently proposed. We aimed to validate the IECC by assessing its interobserver reproducibility in comparison to the WHO system. A cohort of 75 EAs was reviewed independently by 7 gynecologic pathologists and categorized following IECC and WHO criteria based on hematoxylin and eosin material alone and after immunohistochemistry results for p16, PR, p53, Napsin-A, vimentin, CDX2, and GATA3 were provided. Human papillomavirus (HPV) in situ hybridization and polymerase chain reaction results were compared with consensus diagnoses. IECC was superior to WHO in terms of interobserver agreement with &kgr;=0.46 versus 0.3, respectively, on hematoxylin and eosin review and &kgr;=0.51 versus 0.33, respectively, with immunohistochemistry. Under the IECC, 73 (97%) of EAs had majority agreement (≥4 reviewers in agreement) whereas 42 (56%) had perfect agreement (7/7 reviewers in agreement). Conversely, WHO showed majority agreement in 56 (75%) and perfect agreement in only 7 (10%) EAs. Reproducibility was poor in HPV-related WHO types (usual &kgr;=0.36, mucinous not otherwise specified &kgr;=0.13, intestinal &kgr;=0.31, villoglandular &kgr;=0.21) and good in major HPV-unrelated categories (gastric type &kgr;=0.63, clear cell &kgr;=0.81, mesonephric &kgr;=0.5). Classification as per the IECC had excellent correlation with HPV status (by RNA in situ hybridization or polymerase chain reaction). We have shown that the IECC has superior interobserver agreement compared with the WHO classification system, and that distinction between HPV-related and HPV-unrelated EA can be made with good reproducibility and excellent prediction of HPV status. WHO morphologic variants of HPV-related EA are poorly reproducible. Conversely, agreement is high among important high-risk HPV-unrelated subtypes. Thus, our results further support replacing the current WHO classification with the IECC.
Pre-Emptive oral Pregabalin for Pain Relief After Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy

Introduction: Aim of the present study was to evaluate the role of pre-emptive analgesia with oral pregabalin in patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy Methods: The study enrolled 60 adult patients (16–60 yr) undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Patients were randomly assigned into two groups of 30 each to receive either a matching placebo or pregabalin 150 mg, 1 h before induction of anaesthesia. Assessment of pain at rest (static) and during coughing (dynamic) were done by a 10 point visual analogue scale (VAS) at 15, 30, 45, 60, 90, 120 mins and 6, 12 and 24 hours after arrival in the recovery. Primary outcomes were severity of postoperative pain and tramadol requirement. Side effects including nausea, vomiting, sedation and dizziness were also recorded. Results: 23 males and 37 females were enrolled in the study. Both static and dynamic pain scores measured by VAS were significantly less in patients receiving pregabalin compared to placebo (p<0.01). Prebabalin treated patients required less rescue analgesia although this was not statistically significant (p=0.054). There were no differences in side effects between the two groups. Conclusion: Perioperative 150mg oral pregabalin in patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy is an effective and safe method of analgesia with a low incidence of adverse effects.
Microbial Interactions With Dissolved Organic Matter Drive Carbon Dynamics and Community Succession

Knowledge of dynamic interactions between natural organic matter (NOM) and microbial communities is critical not only to delineate the routes of NOM degradation/transformation and carbon (C) fluxes, but also to understand microbial community evolution and succession in ecosystems. Yet, these processes in subsurface environments are usually studied independently, and a comprehensive view has been elusive thus far. In this study, we fed sediment-derived dissolved organic matter (DOM) to groundwater microbes and continually analyzed microbial transformation of DOM over a 50-day incubation. To document fine-scale changes in DOM chemistry, we applied high-resolution Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR MS) and soft X-ray absorption spectroscopy (sXAS). We also monitored the trajectory of microbial biomass, community structure and activity over this time period. Together, these analyses provided an unprecedented comprehensive view of interactions between sediment-derived DOM and indigenous subsurface groundwater microbes. Microbial decomposition of labile C in DOM was immediately evident from biomass increase and total organic carbon (TOC) decrease. The change of microbial composition was closely related to DOM turnover: microbial community in early stages of incubation was influenced by relatively labile tannin- and protein-like compounds; while in later stages the community composition evolved to be most correlated with less labile lipid- and lignin-like compounds. These changes in microbial community structure and function, coupled with the contribution of microbial products to DOM pool affected the further transformation of DOM, culminating in stark changes to DOM composition over time. Our study demonstrates a distinct response of microbial communities to biotransformation of DOM, which improves our understanding of coupled interactions between sediment-derived DOM, microbial processes, and community structure in subsurface groundwater.
Clinical significance of isoagglutinin titre with the current desensitization protocol in ABO‐incompatible kidney transplantation

ABO‐incompatible (ABOi) kidney transplantation (KT) has become a routine procedure with graft survival rates comparable to those of ABO‐compatible KT. However, the clinical significance of the isoagglutinin titre in ABOi KT remains uncertain. Therefore, in this study, we analysed the clinical outcomes of ABOi KT according to the baseline and post‐operative isoagglutinin titre.