Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cis-trans isomerization in the photochemistry of vision

Various models proposed for the primary photoevent in vision are critically discussed. It is concluded that the classical picture of a single cis-trans isomerization step is the only one which satisfactorily accounts for all the available experimental data. Experiments are performed showing that this process is temperature independent over a range of 200°C. Photoisomerization yields for the free protonated Schiff base of 11-cis (and all-trans) retinal are measured as a function of the excitation wavelength. In contrast to the efficient and wavelength independent photobleaching of rhodopsin, the yields of the 11-cis→al-trans isomerization of the free chromophore are small, exhibiting a marked dependence on the excitation wavelength. Potential energy curves for both ground and excited states of rhodopsin are derived from the analysis of the accumulated experimental data. In variance with the behavior of model compounds, photoisomerization in the pigment proceeds via the quantitative population of a common, barrierless, thermally relaxed excited state along the 11-12 torsional coordinate separating the 11-cis (rhodopsin) and all-trans (bathorhodopsin) configurations. In the ground state, interactions with the protein destabilize the all-trans isomerization product, leading to storage of a significant fraction of the photon's energy in the primary step.
Degradation of cefdinir by Candida Sp. SMN04 and MgO nanoparticles—An integrated (Nano‐Bio) approach

The present study evaluates the effect of integrated nano‐bio approach involving nanoscale magnesium oxide (n‐MgO) and yeast Candida sp. SMN04 on cefdinir degradation in aqueous medium. The nanoparticle was chemically synthesized and characterized by atomic force microscopy (AFM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), EDAX analysis, and particle size analyser. Nano‐bio integrated system was prepared using chemically synthesized n‐MgO (10 mg mL−1), coated onto the surface of yeast cells without causing any lethal effects to the cell. Cefdinir (250 mg L−1) degradation was studied using individual and nano‐bio integrated system both. Nano‐bio integrated system was found to be more effective for cefdinir degradation compared to native yeast cell. The adherence of nanoparticles on the surface of the yeast cells increased the permeability of the cell membrane, thereby enhancing the entry of cefdinir into the cell. The kinetic data showed the half‐life of cefdinir, which was 1.46 days for integrated system and 2.97 days for native yeast, which confirmed that the integrated approach reduced the half‐life to less than half of the time taken by the yeast alone. This study signifies the potential efficacy of the nano‐bio integrated approach to serve as an effective remedial tool for the treatment of pharmaceutical wastewater. © 2015 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 35: 706–714, 2016
African Breadfruit (Treculia africana) Seed as Adjunct in Ethanol Production

African breadfruit seeds have the potentials as carbon source for ethanol production with a carbohydrate value of 72.19%. On malting the seeds at 28±2 o C for 9 days it yielded a 96% germination capacity and total malting loss of 25.70%. Grain dormancy was broken by the second day of malting. Malted breadfruit seeds were ground and defatted to 0.78% fat content. Full fat breadfruit and defatted breadfruit flours were used as adjuncts in the ratio of 3:5 (adjuncts: barley). Fermentation parameters such as wort fermentable sugar, specific gravity, extract yield and ethanol were measured over the 9 days of fermentation. Extract yields were 12.59, 9.66 and 11.23% while ethanol production was 5.79, 6.39 and 6.10% for wort from defatted breadfruit, full fat breadfruit and maize, respectively.
Hole transporting dye as light harvesting antenna in dye-sensitized TiO2 hybrid solar cells

Abstract. We herein demonstrate the viability of utilizing the hole transporting medium of solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells for light harvesting. When using a hole transporting dye (HTD) in addition to an interface dye (ID) bound to the surface of the mesoporous metal oxide scaffold, both are shown to contribute to the photocurrent. Efficient energy transfer (ET) from the HTD to the ID was accomplished by spectrally matching two triphenylamine dyes. The photoluminescence of the HTD was found to be quenched in the presence of the ID. In nanosecond transient absorption measurements, rapid formation of the oxidized HTD was observed after photoexcitation of the ID, demonstrating fast regeneration of the oxidized ID by the HTD. In solar cell devices comprising both the ID and HTD, the spectral response of the external quantum efficiency shows that both dyes contribute to the photocurrent, resulting in a doubling of the photocurrent. In comparison with devices comprising only TiO2 and the HTD, devices with the additional ID exhibited an increased photovoltage due to more efficient charge-carrier separation and energy transfer. Combining and matching HTDs with IDs for optimal ID regeneration but also providing ET is thus a viable means to optimize hybrid solar cells based on mesoporous TiO2.
Shared Metabolic Remodeling Processes Characterize the Transcriptome of Arabidopsis thaliana within Various Suborbital Flight Environments

Abstract The increasing availability of flights on suborbital rockets creates new avenues for the study of spaceflight effects on biological systems, particularly of the transitions between hypergravity and microgravity. This paper presents an initial comparison of the responses of Arabidopsis thaliana to suborbital and atmospheric parabolic flights as an important step toward characterizing these emerging suborbital platforms and their effects on biology. Transcriptomic profiling of the response of the Arabidopsis ecotype Wassilewskija (WS) to the aggregate suborbital spaceflight experiences in Blue Origin New Shepard and Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo revealed that the transcriptomic load induced by flight differed between the two flights, yet was biologically related to traditional parabolic flight responses. The sku5 skewing mutant and 14-3-3κ:GFP regulatory protein overexpression lines, flown in the Blue Origin and parabolic flights, respectively, each showed altered intra-platform responses compared to WS. An additional parabolic flight using the F-104 Starfighter showed that the response of 14-3-3κ:GFP to flight was modulated in a similar manner to the WS line. Despite the differing genotypes, experimental workflows, flight profiles, and platforms, differential gene expression linked to remodeling of central metabolic processes was commonly observed in the flight responses. However, the timing and directionality of differentially expressed genes involved in the conserved processes differed among the platforms. The processes included carbon and nitrogen metabolism, branched-chain amino acid degradation, and hypoxic responses. The data presented herein highlight the potential for various suborbital platforms to contribute insights into biological responses to spaceflight, and further suggest that in-flight fixation during suborbital experiments will enhance insights into responses during each phase of flight.
Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian: Inherent Translanguaging in the Linguistic Landscape of Sarajevo

Abstract Language in the Balkan region of Southeastern Europe has a complex and turbulent history, acutely embodied in the tripartite and trilingual state of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) in which Bosniaks, Croats, and Serbs all make claim to their own mutually-intelligible varieties of local “languages”. This study utilizes a linguistic landscape methodology to consider language use in Sarajevo, the capital of BiH, approximately 20 years after a brutal war that led to the establishment of the country. Data originate from three municipalities within the Sarajevo Canton – namely, Old Town, Center, and Ilidža – because of their representation of the region’s diversity and history. Signs were classified according to the three primary language varieties, i.e., Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian; BCS, representing a common core among the three varieties, as well as English, other languages, and mixed languages. The application of BCS uniquely positions the present research in comparison to other studies of language use in the region and allows for a more nuanced, less politically and ethnolinguistically fraught analysis of the communicative tendencies of users. More specifically, data indicate that actors in the linguistic landscape transcend the boundaries of their national, ethnic, and religious identities by tending towards the more neutral BCS, suggesting an orientation towards more translingual dispositions than previous variety-bound approaches have indicated. Thus, instead of the divisiveness of linguistic identity politics, the linguistic landscape of Sarajevo indicates a tendency toward inclusion and linguistic egalitarianism.
Thermal and Mechanical Characterization of Electrospun Blends of Poly(lactic acid) and Poly(glycolic acid)

Poly(lactic acid) (PLA) and poly(glycolic acid) (PGA) have long been popular polymers in the development of tissue engineering scaffolds due to their biocompatibility, bioabsorbability, and good tensile strength. Electrospinning is an attractive approach for the production of non-woven, nano- to micron-scale fibrous tissue engineering scaffolds of complex geometries. In this study, we characterize electrospun blends of PLA and PGA via scanning electron microscopy, tensile testing, differential scanning calorimetry, and phase contrast microscopy to gain a better understanding of these blended structures for potential use in biomedical applications.
Pathogenicity of Aphelenchoides Pseudogoodeyi on the Ornamental Plants Asplenium Nidus and Lilium Speciosum in Brazil

Summary Aphelenchoides pseudogoodeyi has recently been reported in association with seeds of forage grasses and rice in Brazil and senescent strawberry plants, in the United States. This nematode is likely a mycophagous species; however, so far, its pathogenicity potential to plants is unclear. This study aimed to verify the pathogenicity of A. pseudogoodeyi to two species of ornamental plants. The experiments were conducted by inoculating A. pseudogoodeyi onto Bird’s-Nest Fern (Asplenium nidus) and Oriental Lily (Lilium speciosum) leaves, using two inoculation methods (with and without injury). After 40 days of inoculation (DAI) in Bird’s-Nest Fern and 5, 10, 20 and 40 DAI in Oriental Lily, the pathogenicity and the host efficiency were evaluated by symptoms observation and by severity, final nematode population and reproductive factor (RF), respectively. Additionally, a histopathological study was performed by inoculating A. pseudogoodeyi onto Bird’s-Nest Fern for observing anatomical alterations. A. pseudogoodeyi was able to cause local necrotic lesions on both Bird’s-Nest Fern and Oriental Lily leaves. However, the presence of injury was essential to enable A. pseudogoodeyi to penetrate and cause those symptoms in both plant species. Also, the total population of A. pseudogoodeyi decreased drastically over time and RF was <1, which characterized these species as poor-host or resistant plants. A. pseudogoodeyi penetrated into the foliar tissue and induced a total destruction of the mesophyll and collapse of the cells, with the formation of large intercellular spaces. It is concluded that A. pseudogoodeyi is an opportunistic pathogen as injury was required to induce symptoms in Bird’s-Nest Fern and Oriental Lily.
Strongyloides Stercoralis Infection in Ethiopia: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis on Prevalence and Diagnostic Methods

Summary Strongyloides stercoralis is a helminthic intestinal parasite that causes the disease strongyloidiasis. Its prevalence is high in tropics and sub-tropics due to poor sanitation and hygiene. However, its true prevalence is not well known in Ethiopia as most health institutions use low sensitive diagnostic methods. This review aimed to determine the pooled prevalence of S. stercoralis at country, and regional state levels. Papers published on S. stercoralis in Ethiopia from 2010 to 2020 were collected from PubMed, Google Scholar and Science direct databases and Addis Ababa repository. Identification, screening, checking the eligibility, and inclusion of the relevant literatures were done. Articles with S. stercoralis positive results from Ethiopian populations were included. Articles which focused on Strongyloides infection in foreigners, and other than stool samples were excluded. The pooled prevalence of S. stercoralis and heterogeneity between studies and across regions were computed. From the 43 articles, the overall prevalence of S. stercoralis in Ethiopia was 1.82 %. Across regions, relatively high prevalence of S. stercoralis (8.78 %) was recorded in Addis Ababa city. High prevalence of S. stercoralis was found to be 44.02 % with a combination of formol ether concentration, Baermann concentration, and molecular methods. Low prevalence of 0.26 %, 0.31 %, and 1.20 % was evidenced respectively with Kato-Katz, direct saline microscopy, and formol ether concentration methods. Using random effect analysis, the pooled prevalence of S. stercoralis in Ethiopia, across regions and across diagnostic methods was 2.1 % (95 %CI: 1.20 – 3.60), 2.6 % (95 %CI: 0.80 – 8.20) and 3.7 % (95 %CI: 1.10 – 11.70), respectively. The heterogeneity was high (P<0.001). This review revealed that Strongyloides infection is probably underreported and its prevalence could be higher than the reported in Ethiopia. Therefore, a revision of the best combination of diagnostic methods could be advisable as it gives better diagnostic results in routine diagnosis of Strongyloides infection in Ethiopia.
The influence of pressure, mineral composition and water on trace element partitioning between clinopyroxene, amphibole and basanitic melts

Trace and minor elements in clinopyroxenes, amphiboles and basanitic melts produced in experiments at 0.5 to 2.0 GPa and 1000 to 1050°C were analysed by LAM-ICP-MS. The analyses reproduce the results of previous electron microprobe analyses by Adam & Green (1994) but also provide data for many new elements. The expanded data set was used to evaluate the trace element partitioning models of Blundy & Wood (1994) and Wood & Blundy (1997). Although the lattice-strain model of Blundy & Wood (1994) could be successfully fitted to our data, the thermodynamic model of Wood & Blundy (1997) does not predict the negative correlations that we found between DREE and pressure. This is not explained by variations in the amounts of H2O in our experiments. Instead, we attribute the variations in DREE to volume-reducing substitutions in octahedral and tetrahedral sites that increase the activities of +3 and +4 ions, and decrease those of +1 ions, in sites of 8-fold coordination as pressure increases. We were able to quantitatively model some of these effects using a combination of simple electrostatics, Pauling bond strengths and bond-valence calculations. Notwithstanding this, it is apparent that pressure, temperature and the properties of the melt phase also influence partition coefficients independently of mineral composition and crystal-chemical effects.
Experimental analysis of polarization dependence of ultrafast gain dynamics in SOAs

Nonlinear polarization rotation in semiconductor optical amplifiers has been the focus of a lot of work in the past decade. A lot of research has been devoted to this phenomenon due to its possible use in all-optical switching. It has been mentioned as a possible competitor to such established switching techniques as cross-gain modulation, cross-phase modulation and four-wave mixing. The speed at which the switching can be performed is determined by the gain dynamics in the device. So far the majority of the work has focused on switching due to the relatively slow carrier density recombination, which limits the switching to the order of tens of gigahertz. If the polarization dependence of ultrafast gain mechanisms such as carrier heating and spectral hole burning can be identified and measured then there is the possibility to increase the switching speed obtainable using this process into the terahertz range. In order to further the understanding of the polarization dependence of the gain of a bulk SOA under tensile strain and to determine the plausibility of ultrafast all-optical switching using nonlinear polarization rotation an experiment is presented based on a four-wave mixing technique.
Thin Film Water

Thin film water is ubiquitous. It coats insulators, even ice, under ambient conditions. And the film can have a profound effect on the physical and chemical properties of the substrates it covers. The direct measurement of thin film water by infrared spectroscopy is described. Our studies can reveal film thicknesses, hydrogen bonding networks, thermodynamic properties, and molecular orientations. Recent examples of our research, with the focus on two model substrates, NaCl and ice, are discussed.
Reassembly and Test of High-Field Nb3Sn Dipole Demonstrator MDPCT1

In the framework of the U.S. Magnet Development Program (MDP), Fermilab has developed and tested a high-field Nb3Sn dipole demonstrator MDPCT1 for a post-LHC Hadron Collider. The magnet was first assembled with a lower coil pre-load to minimize the risk of coil damage during assembly and test. In the first test the magnet reached its test goal producing a world record field of 14.1 T at 4.5 K. Next the magnet was reassembled with nominal pre-load to achieve its design field limit of 15 T. This paper describes the details of MDPCT1 inspection, design modifications and reassembly. The magnet quench performance, including training, ramp rate and temperature dependences in the temperature range of 1.9-4.5 K, is presented and discussed.
Differences in EEG Microstate Induced by Gaming: A Comparison Between the Gaming Disorder Individual, Recreational Game Users and Healthy Controls

Excessive gaming can lead to gaming disorder, which affects the function and structure of the brain. In order to diagnose gaming disorders, it is of importance to understand how gaming behavior affects brain activity patterns and whether there exist differences in the effects on different individuals. Electroencephalogram (EEG) microstate reflects a transiently stable brain topological structure with spatiotemporal characteristics, and the spatial characteristic microstate classes and temporal parameters provide insight into the brain’s functional activities in gaming disorders. In order to explore the feasibility of using EEG microstate parameters as markers of gaming addiction, in the present study, resting-state EEG data were acquired before and after playing video game for 30 minutes from 38 participants, containing gaming disorder individual (GD), recreational game users (RGU), and healthy controls (HC). Our study compared the microstate parameters before and after playing game among three groups. According to the results, the resting-state EEG microstate parameters exert no significant difference before playing game among three groups. However, we found significant difference in microstate B and D parameters among three groups after playing game. Additionally, compared with the pre-gaming, the post-gaming data showed that the variation trend of microstate B and D parameters of the three groups was similar. Moreover, these discoveries provide the first causal evidence of a microstate modification following gaming behavior interference, suggesting that microstates B and D are closely associated with gaming behavior, which can be used as EEG markers for distinguishing gaming addiction.
Joint Service Placement and Request Scheduling for Multi-SP Mobile Edge Computing Network

Mobile edge computing(MEC), as an emerging computing paradigm, pushes services away from centralized remote cloud to distributed edge servers deployed by multiple service providers(SPs), improving user experience and reducing the communication burden on core network. However, this distributed computing architecture also brings some new challenges to the network. In multi-SP MEC system, a SP prefers to use edge servers deployed by itself instead of others, which not only improves service quality but also reduces processing cost. The service placement and request scheduling strategies directly affect the revenue of SPs. Since the service popularity changes over time and the resources of edge servers are limited, the network system needs to make decisions about service placement and request scheduling dynamically to provide better service for users. Owing to the lack of long-term prior knowledge and involving binary decision variables, how to place services and schedule requests to boost the profit of SPs is a challenging problem. We formally formalize this joint optimization problem and propose an efficient online algorithm. First, we invoke Lyapunov optimization technology to convert the long-term optimization problem into a series of subproblems, then a dual-decomposition algorithm is utilized to solve the subproblem. Experimental results show that the algorithm proposed in this paper achieves nearly optimal performance, and it raises 25% and 70% profit compared to greedy and Top-K algorithms, respectively.
Improving the Applicability of Visual Peer-to-Peer Navigation with Crowdsourcing

Visual peer-to-peer navigation is a suitable solution for indoor navigation for it relieves the labor of site-survey and eliminates infrastructure dependence. However, a major drawback hampers its application, as the peer-to-peer mode suffers from a deficiency of paths in large indoor scenarios with multifarious places-of-interest. Nevertheless, we propose one with a profound crowdsourcing scheme that addresses the drawback by merging the paths of different leaders' into a global map. To realize the idea, we further deal with entailed challenges, namely the unidirectional disadvantage, the scale ambiguity, and large computational overhead. We design a navigation strategy to solve the unidirectional problem and turn to VIO to tackle scale ambiguity. We devise a mobile-edge architecture to enable real-time navigation (30fps, 100ms end-to-end delay) and lighten the burden of smartphones (35% battery life for 2h35min) while assuring the accuracy of localization and map construction. Through experimental validations, we show that P2P navigation, previously relying on the abundance of independent paths, can enjoy a sufficiency of navigation paths with a crowdsourced global map. The experiments demonstrate a navigation success rate of 100% and spatial offset of less than 3.2m, better than existing works.
Disease Detection in Fruits using Image Processing

In this project, this approach will be detecting the diseases which affect the fruits and can even identify some types of diseases which attacks fruits based on some comparisons. On account of that, the approach is using CNN(Convolutional Neural Networks), which is a deep learning algorithm that is where input is taken as images, and those images were differentiated based on various aspects and parameters taken from it and is most commonly applied to analyzing visual imagery. This will be definitely helpful for the farmers to enhance the growth of the crops in the mere future. For this approach, python language has been chosen for further analysis. By applying this proposed system, the accuracy level reached is 97%.