Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Considerations on a land intrinsic productivity and its determinants in a sustainable agriculture

The paper reviews the concept of sustainable development, indicating its various dimensions. Natural environment in developed countries became almost entirely anthropogenic. Under such conditions, the way of using natural resources has to change as well. It is forced by the new needs and priorities described above, i.e. a demand for an assurance concerning renewability of natural resources as well as pro-social and pro-environmental criteria of the resources allocation. The fundamental objective of the paper is an attempt at elaboration of the new land rent concept and fi nd the answer to the question: Does a land need capital stimulus to be productive in a sustainable development? Authors formulated the hypothesis: the reason for the land rent to occur are intrinsic land utilities which in the commodity money economy cause the expected productivity of capital factor in agriculture to be higher than in its market environment. Therefore, the value of land rent is determined by a positive difference between the expected productivity of capital in agriculture and in its market environment.
Poly-Unsaturated Fatty Acids (PUFAs) from Cunninghamella elegans Grown on Glycerol Induce Cell Death and Increase Intracellular Reactive Oxygen Species

Cunninghamella elegans NRRL-1393 is an oleaginous fungus able to synthesize and accumulate unsaturated fatty acids, amongst which the bioactive gamma-linolenic acid (GLA) has potential anti-cancer activities. C. elegans was cultured in shake-flask nitrogen-limited media with either glycerol or glucose (both at ≈60 g/L) employed as the sole substrate. The assimilation rate of both substrates was similar, as the total biomass production reached 13.0–13.5 g/L, c. 350 h after inoculation (for both instances, c. 27–29 g/L of substrate were consumed). Lipid production was slightly higher on glycerol-based media, compared to the growth on glucose (≈8.4 g/L vs. ≈7.0 g/L). Lipids from C. elegans grown on glycerol, containing c. 9.5% w/w of GLA, were transformed into fatty acid lithium salts (FALS), and their effects were assessed on both human normal and cancerous cell lines. The FALS exhibited cytotoxic effects within a 48 h interval with an IC50 of about 60 μg/mL. Additionally, a suppression of migration was shown, as a significant elevation of oxidative stress levels, and the induction of cell death. Elementary differences between normal and cancer cells were not shown, indicating a generic mode of action; however, oxidative stress level augmentation may increase susceptibility to anticancer drugs, improving chemotherapy effectiveness.
Lipid Peroxidation as the Mechanism Underlying Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons and Sunlight Synergistic Toxicity in Dermal Fibroblasts

Light and atmospheric pollution are both independently implicated in cancer induction and premature aging. Evidence has been growing more recently on the toxic synergy between light and pollutants. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) originate from the incomplete combustion of organic matter. Some PAHs, such as the Benzo[a]pyrene (BaP), absorb ultraviolet A (UVA) wavelengths and can act as exogenous chromophores, leading to synergistic toxicity through DNA damage and cytotoxicity concomitant to ROS formation. In this study, we shed light on the mechanism underlying the toxic synergy between PAHs and UVA. Using dermal fibroblasts co-exposed to UVA and BaP, we have demonstrated that the photosensitization reaction causes mortality, which is most likely caused by ROS accumulation. We have shown that these ROS are concentrated in the lipids, which causes an important induction of lipid peroxidation and malondialdehyde, by-products of lipid peroxidation. We have also shown the accumulation of bulky DNA damage, most likely generated by these by-products of lipid peroxidation. To our knowledge, this study represents the first one depicting the molecular effects of photo-pollution on dermal skin.
An Explainable AI Paradigm for Alzheimer’s Diagnosis Using Deep Transfer Learning

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder that affects millions of individuals worldwide, causing severe cognitive decline and memory impairment. The early and accurate diagnosis of AD is crucial for effective intervention and disease management. In recent years, deep learning techniques have shown promising results in medical image analysis, including AD diagnosis from neuroimaging data. However, the lack of interpretability in deep learning models hinders their adoption in clinical settings, where explainability is essential for gaining trust and acceptance from healthcare professionals. In this study, we propose an explainable AI (XAI)-based approach for the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease, leveraging the power of deep transfer learning and ensemble modeling. The proposed framework aims to enhance the interpretability of deep learning models by incorporating XAI techniques, allowing clinicians to understand the decision-making process and providing valuable insights into disease diagnosis. By leveraging popular pre-trained convolutional neural networks (CNNs) such as VGG16, VGG19, DenseNet169, and DenseNet201, we conducted extensive experiments to evaluate their individual performances on a comprehensive dataset. The proposed ensembles, Ensemble-1 (VGG16 and VGG19) and Ensemble-2 (DenseNet169 and DenseNet201), demonstrated superior accuracy, precision, recall, and F1 scores compared to individual models, reaching up to 95%. In order to enhance interpretability and transparency in Alzheimer’s diagnosis, we introduced a novel model achieving an impressive accuracy of 96%. This model incorporates explainable AI techniques, including saliency maps and grad-CAM (gradient-weighted class activation mapping). The integration of these techniques not only contributes to the model’s exceptional accuracy but also provides clinicians and researchers with visual insights into the neural regions influencing the diagnosis. Our findings showcase the potential of combining deep transfer learning with explainable AI in the realm of Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis, paving the way for more interpretable and clinically relevant AI models in healthcare.
The spatial differentiation of grasslands in Europe

(.) The study is concerned with all the types of grassland, currently cultivated, improved or not, whether utilized or not, in accordance with the agricultural statistics for any particular year. The statistical material used in this study covers the period from 1975 to 1980; the data were collected and analysed in the Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization of the Polish Academy of Sciences, during the preparation of a map of types of agriculture in Europe (Kostrowicki, 1980) (.)
Glymphatic System Pathology and Neuroinflammation as Two Risk Factors of Neurodegeneration

The key to the effective treatment of neurodegenerative disorders is a thorough understanding of their pathomechanism. Neurodegeneration and neuroinflammation are mutually propelling brain processes. An impairment of glymphatic system function in neurodegeneration contributes to the progression of pathological processes. The question arises as to how neuroinflammation and the glymphatic system are related. This review highlights the direct and indirect influence of these two seemingly independent processes. Protein aggregates, a characteristic feature of neurodegeneration, are correlated with glymphatic clearance and neuroinflammation. Glial cells cannot be overlooked when considering the neuroinflammatory processes. Astrocytes are essential for the effective functioning of the glymphatic system and play a crucial role in the inflammatory responses in the central nervous system. It is imperative to acknowledge the significance of AQP4, a protein that exhibits a high degree of polarization in astrocytes and is crucial for the functioning of the glymphatic system. AQP4 influences inflammatory processes that have not yet been clearly delineated. Another interesting issue is the gut–brain axis and microbiome, which potentially impact the discussed processes. A discussion of the correlation between the functioning of the glymphatic system and neuroinflammation may contribute to exploring the pathomechanism of neurodegeneration.
Glucagon-like Peptide-2 Depresses Ileal Contractility in Preparations from Mice through Opposite Modulatory Effects on Nitrergic and Cholinergic Neurotransmission

Glucagon-like peptide-2 (GLP-2) has been reported to influence gastrointestinal motor responses, exerting a modulatory role on enteric neurotransmission. To our knowledge, no data on GLP-2 effects on the motility of the isolated ileum are available; therefore, we investigated whether GLP-2 affects the contractile activity of mouse ileal preparations and the neurotransmitters engaged. Ileal preparations showed tetrodotoxin (TTX)- and atropine-insensitive spontaneous contractile activity, which was unaffected by the nitric oxide synthesis inhibitor, L-NNA. GLP-2 depressed the spontaneous contractility, an effect that was abolished by TTX or L-NNA and not influenced by atropine. Electrical field stimulation induced TTX- and atropine-sensitive contractile responses, which were reduced in amplitude by GLP-2 even in the presence of L-NNA. Immunohistochemical results showed a significant increase in nNOS-positive fibers in the ileal muscle wall and a significant decrease in ChAT-positive myenteric neurons in GLP-2-exposed preparations. The present results offer the first evidence that GLP-2 acts on ileal preparations. The hormone appears to depress ileal contractility through a dual opposite modulatory effect on inhibitory nitrergic and excitatory cholinergic neurotransmission. From a physiological point of view, it could be hypothesized that GLP-2 inhibitory actions on ileal contractility can increase transit time, facilitating nutrient absorption.
OXYGEN STABLE ISOTOPE VARIATION IN LATE HOLOCENE ICE WEDGES IN YAMAL PENINSULA AND SVALBARD

The stable oxygen isotope composition of Late Holocene syngenetic ice wedges from the Erkutayakha River valley in the Yamal Peninsula and from the Adventdalen valley in Svalbard was studied. It was demonstrated that the studied ice wedges located 2000 km apart were formed during the last 2-3.5 ka and continue to grow at present. Variations of δ18O values of the ice of both ice wedges do not exceed 2-3.5‰. Based on the oxygen isotope variations is has been calculated that mean winter air temperatures did not change by more than 3oC during the Late Holocene.
Assessment of leaf biomass production of selected deciduous indigenous browse shrub in semi-arid ecological zone of Mwanga district, Tanzania

The major problem facing ruminant livestock production in semi-arid ecological zone is lack of adequate feed and of good quality throughout the year. The problem is more critical in the dry season. In semi-arid ecological zone leaf litter of shrubs and bushes are an important feed resource during the dry season. Grewia bicolor is the main deciduous indigenous browse shrub dominating the western lowland areas of Mwanga district. This study aimed at investigating the influence of season and lopping on re-growth potential, leaf biomass production and nutritive value of Grewia bicolor in western semiarid area of Mwanga district. The treatments were: T1 control (where the G. bicolor plant was notlopped), T2 where G. bicolor plants was lopped at the start of short rain season (November), T3 where G. bicolor plants was lopped at the start of long rain season (March). A complete randomized design was used in this study, where four replications were laid across a general slope and three treatments were applied in each replication. The study revealed that the local feed resources for grazing ruminants in the study area during the dry season were mainly leaf litter of deciduous browse shrubs, leaf litter of annual and perennial grasses, and some edible forbs. The leaf litter of G. bicolor deciduous browse shrub had high CP content ranging from 7 – 9 % while the understory grasses were low in CP (4 – 6 %). Lopping of G. bicolor increased leaf litter production from 94 to 217 kgDM/ha. It can be concluded that G. bicolor can be utilized to increase livestock production while undertaking some lopping techniques to increase leaf litter production and to maintain the balance between its canopy size and desirable understory grass species.
The role of cranial magnetic resonance imaging findings in pediatric epilepsy: A single-center experience

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to investigate cranial magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings in different age groups and genders in pediatric epilepsy, to determine the percentages of etiologic factors, and to evaluate the association between MRI positivity and treatment resistance. METHODS Cranial MRIs of 359 patients with epilepsy aged 1 month to 18 years were retrospectively evaluated. Etiologic factors as an underlying cause of epilepsy were classified as previous parenchymal damage, hippocampal sclerosis, malformations of cortical development, tumor, neurocutaneous syndrome, myelination disorder, vascular anomaly, metabolic/genetic/neurodegenerative diseases, encephalitis, and an uncategorized “other” group. Data were transferred to IBM SPSS Statistics 25.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA), and descriptive statistics, correlation analyses, chi-square, and t-tests were performed. RESULTS Among the patients included in the study, 141 (39.3%) had pathological findings on MRI related to the etiology. Previous parenchymal damage (39.7%) was the most common etiologic cause in all age groups. Regarding the relationship between drug resistance and MRI positivity, MRI positivity was observed in 72% of drug-resistant cases, while a complete response to therapy was found in 67.6% of MRI-negative cases. CONCLUSION MRI guides clinicians to determine the presence of an etiologic factor as the underlying cause of childhood epilepsy before treatment planning. MRI positivity is a remarkable indicator of response to antiseizure drug treatment and drug resistance.
Effect of UV-A Irradiation on Bioactive Compounds Accumulation and Hypoglycemia-Related Enzymes Activities of Broccoli and Radish Sprouts

In the present study, different intensities of UV-A were applied to compare their effects on growth, bioactive compounds and hypoglycemia-related enzyme activities in broccoli and radish sprouts. The growth of sprouts was decreased after UV-A irradiation. A total of 12 W of UV-A irradiation resulted in the highest content of anthocyanin, chlorophyll, polyphenol and ascorbic acid in broccoli and radish sprouts. The highest soluble sugar content was recorded in sprouts under 8 W of UV-A irradiation, while no significant difference was obtained in soluble protein content among different UV-A intensities. Furthermore, 12 W of UV-A irradiation induced the highest glucosinolate accumulation, especially glucoraphanin and glucoraphenin in broccoli and radish sprouts, respectively; thus, it enhanced sulforaphane and sulforaphene formation. The α-amylase, α-glucosidase and pancrelipase inhibitory rates of two kinds of sprouts were enhanced significantly after UV-A irradiation, indicating UV-A-irradiation-treated broccoli and radish sprouts have new prospects as hypoglycemic functional foods.
Decision-focused Graph Neural Networks for Graph Learning and Optimization

Decision-focused learning (DFL) combines both machine learning and combinatorial optimization so as to enhance the quality of decision-making. In general, DFL adds an optimization layer after the neural network and solves a focused combinatorial optimization problem. The optimization layer is usually based on KKT conditions or surrogate functions. However, the optimizer associated with the DFL is inflexible and requires a large amount of expert knowledge. Furthermore, it has been shown that the optimizer exhibits a lack of robustness and differentiability when confronted with complex tasks, especially in the graph domain. To solve this problem, we study a more generic situation by taking the optimization layer as a black-box operator on graphs. Then, we design a mixed zeroth-order optimization to differentiate the layer. Specifically, we combine DFL with graph neural networks and present a decision-focused graph neural network named ZO4Graph based on a mixed zeroth-order optimizer. Empirically, we conduct extensive experiments compared with two-stage models on community detection. Numerical results demonstrate that our proposed framework outperforms its peers.
Effect of the North Atlantic Oscillation on the Pattern of Lake Ice Phenology in Poland

ab]AbstractThis paper presents an analysis of the influence of the North Atlantic Oscillation on the pattern of lake ice phenology in Poland. The research embraced 22 lakes in Poland over the period 1961–2010. Strong relations were found to hold between NAO and individual characteristics of ice phenology. In a negative NAO phase, one can observe a later appearance of ice phenomena and ice cover compared with the average values, ice cover persisting even 30 days longer and being thicker even by more than 10 cm. In turn, in a positive NAO phase the duration of ice phenomena and ice cover is shorter, the cover being less thick and solid. The observed spatial differences in the effect of NAO on the pattern of ice phenomena in Poland show this matter to be fairly complex. The most significant factor changes in climatic conditions, which manifest themselves in the continentality of the climate growing eastwards.
A Multi-Residue Analytical Method for Assessing the Effects of Stacking Treatment on Antimicrobial and Coccidiostat Degradation in Broiler Litter

Antimicrobial drugs and coccidiostat compounds are commonly used in poultry farming. These compounds are subsequently excreted and released into the environment via broiler litter (BL) and can re-enter the food chain as fertilizer or animal feed. Such residue in animal feed can encourage the appearance of antibiotic-resistant bacteria as well as toxicity. Most analytical methods used to identify and quantitate these drug residues are traditional, and are specific to some antimicrobials and present limitations in assessing complex matrixes like BL. The aim of this study was to develop a multi-residue analytic method for assessing 30 antimicrobial drugs and coccidiostats associated with BL. We investigated the presence and the effects of biotic stack treatment on the degradation of drug residue in BL. Liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) and solid phase extraction (SPE) were replaced by Quick, Easy, Cheap, Effective, Rugged, and Safe (QuEChERS) clean-up steps and detected by liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS). Results show that a wide spectrum of residues were detected from 0.4 to 8.9 mg kg−1. Following lab-scale stacking treatment, tilmicosin and eight coccidiostats persisted in BL (26–100%). This research supports the need for better understanding, regulation, and management of the use of BL that might carry a high risk of residue drugs.
Proficiency Barrier in Track and Field: Adaptation and Generalization Processes

The literature on motor development and training assumes a hierarchy for learning skills—learning the “fundamentals”—that has yet to be empirically demonstrated. The present study addressed this issue by verifying (1) whether this strong hierarchy (i.e., the proficiency barrier) holds between three fundamental skills and three sport skills and (2) considering different transfer processes (generalization/adaptation) that would occur as a result of the existence of this strong hierarchy. Twenty-seven children/adolescents participated in performing the countermovement jump, standing long jump, leap, high jump, long jump, and hurdle transposition. We identified the proficiency barrier in two pairs of tasks (between the countermovement jump and high jump and between the standing long jump and long jump). Nonetheless, the transfer processes were not related to the proficiency barrier. We conclude that the proposed learning hierarchy holds for some tasks. The underlying reason for this is still unknown.
Chapter 2, Changes of coastal groundwater systems in response to large-scale land reclamation

Most large urban centers lie in coastal regions, which are home to about 25% of the world's population. The current coastal urban population of 200 million is projected to almost double in the next 20 to 30 years. This expanding human presence has dramatically changed the coastal natural environment. To meet the growing demand for more housing and other land uses, land has been reclaimed from the sea in coastal areas in many countries, including China, Britain, Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Italy, the Netherlands, and the United States. Coastal areas are often the ultimate discharge zones of regional ground water flow systems. The direct impact of land reclamation on coastal engineering, environment and marine ecology is well recognized and widely studied. However, it has not been well recognized that reclamation may change the regional groundwater regime, including groundwater level, interface between seawater and fresh groundwater, and submarine groundwater discharge to the coast. This paper will first review the state of the art of the recent studies on the impact of coastal land reclamation on ground water level and the seawater interface. Steady-state analytical solutions based on Dupuit and Ghyben-Herzberg assumptions have been derived to describe the modification of water level and movement of the interface between fresh groundwater and saltwater in coastal hillside or island situations. These solutions show that land reclamation increases water level in the original aquifer and pushes the saltwater interface to move towards the sea. In the island situation, the water divide moves towards the reclaimed side, and ground water discharge to the sea on both sides of the island increases. After reclamation, the water resource is increased because both recharge and the size of aquifer are increased. This paper will then derive new analytical solutions to estimate groundwater travel time before and after reclamation. Hypothetical examples are used to examine the changes of groundwater travel time in response to land reclamation. After reclamation, groundwater flow in the original aquifer tends to be slower and the travel time of the groundwater from any Haipeng Guo and Jiu J. Jiao 80 position in the original aquifer to the sea becomes longer for the situation of coastal hillside. For the situation of an island, the water will flow faster on the unreclaimed side, but more slowly on the reclaimed side. The impact of reclamation on groundwater travel time on the reclaimed side is much more significant than that on the unreclaimed side. The degree of the modifications of the groundwater travel time mainly depends on the scale of land reclamation and the hydraulic conductivity of the fill materials.
The colonization of South Sweden during the deglaciation

L'auteur propose une etude du phenomene de deglaciation en Scandinavie, et particulierement en Scania, premiere province de Suede a voir la glace disparaitre vers 13500 BP, ainsi que du developpemnt du detroit d'Oresund au Tardiglaciaire. Il s'interesse aux consequences de ces phenomenes geomorphologiques sur la colonisation humaine du sud de la Suede et des sites du lac Finjasjon en particulier (Scania septentrionale), dont Mollerod et Vangamossen
Combinatorial Testing for Building Reliable Systems

Stakeholders of technology-oriented systems expect some level of reliability from them. IEEE defines Reliability as “the ability of a system or component to perform its required functions under stated conditions for specified period of time” [10]. One of the crucial factors in determining a system’s quality is based on how reliable it is. However, ensuring reliability is hard, especially for systems that are large and complex in nature. In this article, we introduce combinatorial testing and its use in developing highly reliable systems1