Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Predicting Post-Stroke Somatosensory Function from Resting-State Functional Connectivity: A Feasibility Study

Accumulating evidence shows that brain functional deficits may be impacted by damage to remote brain regions. Recent advances in neuroimaging suggest that stroke impairment can be better predicted based on disruption to brain networks rather than from lesion locations or volumes only. Our aim was to explore the feasibility of predicting post-stroke somatosensory function from brain functional connectivity through the application of machine learning techniques. Somatosensory impairment was measured using the Tactile Discrimination Test. Functional connectivity was employed to model the global brain function. Behavioral measures and MRI were collected at the same timepoint. Two machine learning models (linear regression and support vector regression) were chosen to predict somatosensory impairment from disrupted networks. Along with two feature pools (i.e., low-order and high-order functional connectivity, or low-order functional connectivity only) engineered, four predictive models were built and evaluated in the present study. Forty-three chronic stroke survivors participated this study. Results showed that the regression model employing both low-order and high-order functional connectivity can predict outcomes based on correlation coefficient of r = 0.54 (p = 0.0002). A machine learning predictive approach, involving high- and low-order modelling, is feasible for the prediction of residual somatosensory function in stroke patients using functional brain networks.
DNA barcoding authentication for the wood of eight endangered Dalbergia timber species using machine learning approaches

Abstract Reliable wood identification and proof of the provenance of trees is the first step for combating illegal logging. DNA barcoding belongs to the promising tools in this regard, for which reliable methods and reference libraries are needed. Machine learning approaches (MLAs) are tailored to the necessities of DNA barcoding, which are based on mathematical multivaried analysis. In the present study, eight Dalbergia timber species were investigated in terms of their DNA sequences focusing on four barcodes (ITS2, matK, trnH-psbA and trnL) by means of the MLAs BLOG and WEKA for wood species identification. The data material downloaded from NCBI (288 sequences) and taken from a previous study of the authors (153 DNA sequences) was taken as dataset for calibration. The MLAs’ effectivity was verified through identification of non-vouchered wood specimens. The results indicate that the SMO classifier as part of the WEKA approach performed the best (98%~100%) for discriminating the eight Dalbergia timber species. Moreover, the two-locus combination ITS2+trnH-psbA showed the highest success rate. Furthermore, the non-vouchered wood specimens were successfully identified by means of ITS2+trnH-psbA with the SMO classifier. The MLAs are successful in combi- nation with DNA barcode reference libraries for the identification of endangered Dalbergia timber species.
Impact of images and text designs on the effectiveness and reactance to graphic health warnings on cigarette packages in Colombia

ABSTRACT In some countries (e.g. Colombia), graphic health warnings (GHWs) for cigarette packages include both implicit and explicit images and certain keywords bolded in the text. The purpose of this study was to evaluate how these factors impact both perceived message effectiveness and message reactance in a group of non-smokers. We conducted an on-line experiment with a sample of 221 non-smoking young adults (ages 18–22 years). Participants were randomly divided into three groups (i.e. GHWs with regular font, GHWs with keywords in bold font and GHWs with keywords in bolder font). Each group was presented with four GHWs (two with implicit pictures and two with explicit pictures). The participants were asked a series of questions as a pre- and post-measure of attitudes toward smoking, smoking intentions, confidence in their ability not to smoke and crave. After viewing each image, participants were asked to answer questions pertaining to perceived message effectiveness, attention, message reactance and motivation not to smoke. A main effect of the picture was found for perceived message effectiveness, attention, reactance, and motivation not to smoke, pointing out that explicit pictures lead to significantly greater scores in all these measures. No significant effect was found for the alterations in font weight. GHWs containing explicit images proved to be more effective in preventing cigarette smoking in young adults. The results suggest that the change in the text design does not have an effect on the motivation not to smoke.
Effects of returning corn straw and fermented corn straw to fields on the soil organic carbon pools and humus composition

Abstract. In our previous studies, we filtered out fungus (Trichoderma reesei) to have the best ability to transform corn straw into a humic acid-like substance through laboratory incubation experiments. In order to further verify our former findings, we set up a 360 day-field experiment that included three treatments applied under equal C mass: (i) corn straw returned to the field (CS), (ii) fermented corn straw treated with Trichoderma reesei returned to the field (FCS-T), and (iii) blank control treatment (CK). Soil organic carbon (SOC), soil labile organic C components, soil humus composition, and the management levels of SOC pools under the three treatments were analyzed and compared. The results showed that the SOC content of CS and FCS-T treatments increased by 12.71 % and 18.81 %, respectively, compared with CK at 360 d. The humic acid carbon (HA-C) content of the FCS-T treatment was 0.77 g/kg higher than in the CS treatment. Application of FCS-T appeared to promote the significant increase of SOC, carbon pool activity index (CPAI) and carbon pool management index (CPMI) through accumulation of HA-C, humin carbon (HM-C), and easily oxidizable organic carbon (EOC) contents. Application of fermented corn straw treated with Trichoderma reesei (FCS-T) is more valuable and conducive to increasing soil EOC and humus C content than direct application of corn straw.
Trade Policy Review – Malaysia 2010

The paper reviews the recently completed Trade Policy Review for Malaysia. We find that in the case of Malaysia trade has been liberalised and subjected to structural changes to a very high extent over the last three decades. However, reform has been less effective when it comes to trade-related policies such as investment policies and other national policies that de facto rather than de jure affect competition due to differential treatment of different firms, brands and individuals. This is also mirrored in the faltering levels of investment in Malaysia. An area where Malaysia has been successful is the reorientation towards services. A good example is the tourism industry which is mature and a major export industry in Malaysia today. Nascent service industries such as health, finance, ICT related services and education hold promise to become important export earners in the future. The paper shows that for this new phase of structural change to be truly successful Malaysia must prioritise trade negotiations and integration with her own region and especially ASEAN.
Using Social Media Data to Analyse Issue Engagement During the 2017 German Federal Election

A fundamental tenet of democracy is that political parties present policy alternatives, such that the public can participate in the decision-making process. Parties, however, strategically control public discussion by emphasising topics that they believe will highlight their strengths in voters’ minds. Political strategy has been studied for decades, mostly by manually annotating and analysing party statements, press coverage, or TV ads. Here we build on recent work in the areas of computational social science and eDemocracy, which studied these concepts computationally with social media. We operationalize issue engagement and related political science theories to measure and quantify politicians’ communication behavior using more than 366k Tweets posted by over 1,000 prominent German politicians in the 2017 election year. To this end, we first identify issues in posted Tweets by utilising a hashtag-based approach well known in the literature. This method allows several prominent issues featuring in the political debate on Twitter that year to be identified. We show that different political parties engage to a larger or lesser extent with these issues. The findings reveal differing social media strategies by parties located at different sides of the political left-right scale, in terms of which issues they engage with, how confrontational they are and how their strategies evolve in the lead-up to the election. Whereas previous work has analysed the general public’s use of Twitter or politicians’ communication in terms of cross-party polarisation, this is the first study of political science theories, relating to issue engagement, using politicians’ social media data.
A Novel Quasi-Single-Stage Boost-LLC AC/DC Converter With Integrated Boost Cells for Achieving Low Bus Voltage for LED Driver

In this article, a novel quasi-single-stage Boost-LLC ac/dc converter with integrated Boost cells for an LED driver is proposed. The Boost stage is consisted of two integrated Boost cells which share a storage capacitor and the switches with an LLC resonant converter. Only the LLC resonant converter is regulated to obtain a constant output current. One node of the bus capacitor is connected to a stable electric potential, which makes this converter not suffer from the common mode noise problem. A high power factor (PF) can be achieved with the operation of Boost stage, while the bus voltage is low under high input voltage. Soft-switching can be easily realized for the switches and high efficiency can be achieved. Detailed theoretical analysis has been presented. Detailed design considerations and design process have been presented. A 78 V/1.32 A prototype with 180– $260V_{\mathrm {ac}}$ input is developed to verify the theoretical analysis. Experimental results show that the prototype can obtain PF >0.98 and bus voltage < 410 V within the entire input voltage range at full load. The full load efficiency is always over 91%.
Utilization of defatted sesame cake in enhancing the nutritional and functional characteristics of biscuits

In the present study, we aimed to improve the quality of wheat flour biscuits by amending defatted sesame cake. Fifty per cent incorporation of defatted white sesame and black sesame into biscuits improved protein, fat, crude fiber, mineral, and reduced the carbohydrate level. The textural attributes and color characteristics of the white sesame‐amended biscuits (WSB) were similar to that of the control biscuits. WSB scored highest upon subjecting to sensory evaluation over black sesame‐amended biscuits (BSB) and panelists scored them equal to the control biscuits. The likability of WSB was also revealed in consumer preference survey. Both WSB and BSB fortification improves the storability of biscuits by reducing the microbial contamination. Also the aqueous and methanolic extracts of 90‐day stored biscuits were non‐toxic to cell line (L929). Hence, it is proposed that defatted sesame cake incorporation enhances the nutritional and functional characteristics of biscuits and is also safe to consume. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: Sesame cake is oil industry waste which contains considerable amount of valuable compounds such as proteins, minerals, dietary fiber, and vitamins. Nowadays, utilization of food industry waste into valuable dietary products is becoming challenging. Several traditional sesame products are available in the local markets which are made up of sesame whole seeds or sesame oil. Utilization of defatted sesame cake in preparing healthy bakery products is less explored. This study demonstrates the feasibility of using sesame cake (black/white) in development of biscuits as a promising healthy bakery product item for all age group. Also, the current approach also enhances the economy of sesame‐based industries by providing value to defatted sesame cake.
Development of an Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) for Accurate and Prompt Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Diagnosis Using the Rational Selection of Serological Biomarkers

Prompt COVID-19 diagnosis is urgently required to support infection control measures. Currently available serological tests for measuring SARS-CoV-2 antibodies use different target antigens, although their sensitivity and specificity presents a challenge. We aimed to develop an “in-house” serological ELISA to measure antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 by combining different protein antigens. Sera (n = 44) from COVID-19-confirmed patients were evaluated against different SARS-CoV-2 protein antigens and all potential combinations using ELISA. Patients’ sera were also evaluated against commercially available ELISA diagnostic kits. The mixture containing RBD 2.5 μg/mL, S2 1 μg/mL and N 1.5 μg/mL was found to be the most potent. Plates were incubated with patients’ sera (1:100), and goat anti-human alkaline phosphatase-conjugated IgG, ΙgM and IgA antibody was added. The cut-off value for each assay was determined using the mean optical density plus two standard deviations of pre-pandemic controls. The “in-house” ELISA displayed 91% sensitivity and 97% specificity for IgG antibodies, whereas its sensitivity and specificity for IgM and IgA were 75% and 95% and 73% and 91%, respectively. The “in-house” ELISA developed here combined three SARS-CoV-2 antigens (RBD, S2 and N) as capture antigens and displayed comparable and even higher sensitivity and specificity than otherwise quite reliable commercially available ELISA diagnostic kits.
High speed solution-processed hybrid perovskite photodetectors with low dark current enabled by a low temperature metal oxide interlayer

Metal halide perovskites are very promising for the realization of high performance, solution-processed photodetectors, paving the way to cost-effective manufacturing of optoelectronics systems. However, most of the high speed, high-detectivity perovskite photodiodes reported so far include evaporated interlayers in the device stack in order to limit dark currents. Here we adopt a solution-processed aluminum doped-ZnO film as n-type charge selective interlayer, within a fully solution-processed stack comprising a polymer p-type interlayer and a metal halide perovskite photoactive layer. As a result, dark current values are limited to 1.4 × 10−7 A cm−2 at −1 V, and responsivity exceeds 0.1 A W−1 in the visible range, corresponding to an external quantum efficiency exceeding 35%. At the same time, the good conductivity of the metal oxide allows for high operational speeds, providing a decay time as low as 100 ns, an order of magnitude lower than what typically achieved with solution-processed organic interlayers. Such response corresponds to a −3 dB bandwidth of 3.5 MHz.
Immobilized Organo-Mercurial Lyase on Zeolite Using a Solid Binding Peptide

Methylmercury (MeHg) compounds can form naturally, are highly toxic, and of concern because of their tendency to bio-accumulate. Certain bacteria have evolved mechanisms that can tolerate MeHg by first demethylating MeHg compounds, before further processing. Drawing inspiration from this demethylation mechanism controlled by a single organo-mercurial lyase in a protonolysis reaction, this research uses a recombinant gene that produces this lyase plus an additional polypeptide that selectively binds to zeolite particles, effectively tethering the enzyme to the solid substrate. This work is part of a broader attempt to create a fixed bed reactor for de-methylation of MeHg. Enzyme immobilization was achieved using a solid binding peptide (SBP) with high affinity for faujasite zeolite (FZ), the choice of binding substrate in the present work. The lyase is coded for by the merB gene, and a sequence with highly conserved active site homology was obtained from E.coli plasmid R8361b. The SBP plus merB sequence was designed such that the SBP was positioned either on the N or C-terminal of the construct. The DNA was synthesized commercially, and expressed in E.coli (BL21DE3 Star) using pET100® vector. Sanger sequencing was used to confirm construct in transformed cells using standard T7 oligos. Expression was lactose induced, and SDS-PAGE electrophoresis was used to confirm protein production and size. LC-MS/MS and sequence bio-analytics confirmed peptide sequence. Silica binding assays using SDS-PAGE confirmed binding of the enzyme to the silica substrate. Enzyme functionality results using a non-methylated mercuric compound were inconclusive, however the enzyme has not been assessed using MeHg compounds at this stage.
Impact of Sociodemographic Characteristics, Lifestyle, and Obesity on Coexistence of Diabetes and Hypertension: A Structural Equation Model Analysis amongst Chinese Adults

Background In general, given the insufficient sample size, considerable literature has been found on single studies of diabetes and hypertension and few studies have been found on the coexistence of diabetes and hypertension (CDH) and its influencing factors with a large range of samples. This study aimed to establish a structural equation model for exploring the direct and indirect relationships amongst sociodemographic characteristics, lifestyle, obesity, and CDH amongst Chinese adults. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted in a representative sample of 25356 adults between June 1, 2015, and September 30, 2018, in Hubei province, China. Confirmatory factor analysis was initially conducted to test the latent variables. A structural equation model was then performed to analyse the association between latent variables and CDH. Results The total prevalence of CDH was 2.8%. The model paths indicated that sociodemographic characteristics, lifestyle, and obesity were directly associated with CDH, and the effects were 0.187, 0.739, and 0.353, respectively. Sociodemographic characteristics and lifestyle were also indirectly associated with CDH, and the effects were 0.128 and 0.045, respectively. Lifestyle had the strongest effect on CDH (β = 0.784, P < 0.001), followed by obesity (β = 0.353, P < 0.001) and sociodemographic characteristics (β = 0.315, P < 0.001). All paths of the model were significant (P < 0.001). Conclusion CDH was significantly associated with sociodemographic characteristics, lifestyle, and obesity amongst Chinese adults. The dominant predictor of CDH was lifestyle. Targeting these results might develop lifestyle and weight loss intervention to prevent CDH according to the characteristics of the population.
Photometric Calibration for Stereo Camera with Gamma-like Response Function in Direct Visual Odometry

Direct visual odometry algorithms assume that every frame from the camera has the same photometric characteristics. However, the cameras with auto exposure are widely used outdoors as the environment often changes. The vignetting also affects the pixel’s brightness on different frames, even if the exposure time is fixed. We propose an online vignetting correction and exposure time estimation method for stereo direct visual odometry algorithms. Our method works on a camera that has a gamma-like response function. The inverse vignetting function and exposure time ratio between neighboring frames are estimated. Stereo matching is used to select correspondences between the left image and right image in the same frame at the initialization step. Feature points are used to pick the correspondences between different frames. Our method provides static correction results during the experiments on datasets and a stereo camera.
Ice adhesion mechanism on lubricant-impregnated surfaces using molecular dynamics simulations

ABSTRACT Ice formation causes numerous problems in many industrial fields as well as in our daily life. The control of ice nucleation and rational design of anti-icing surface with low ice adhesion are desirable in various industries such as aircraft, power line, ships, building, and cryopreservation. However, despite considerable attention in the development of ice or water-repellent surfaces, it is still challenging to design icephobic or anti-icing surfaces with high resistance to icing. In this study, coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulation is utilised to investigate the ice adhesion mechanism on lubricant-infused nanotextured surfaces. Using steered molecular dynamics simulation, we find that the adhesion strength of ice on nanotextured surfaces impregnated with lubricant films to be higher compared to that on textured surfaces in presence excess lubricant films. We illustrate that the ice adhesion strength depends on the texture density and the ice adhesion strength increases with nanoposts density. Lubricant-impregnated surfaces (LISs) with higher posts density exhibit greater adhesive interaction energy due to the large contact area between the icecube and the textured surface. This systematic study enhances our understanding of ice adhesion mechanism on LISs which can apply for designing novel anti-icing surfaces with extremely weak ice adhesion strength.
Advancing Genetic Methods in the Study of Parrot Biology and Conservation

Parrots (Psittaciformes) are a well-studied, diverse group of birds distributed mainly in tropical and subtropical regions. Today, one-third of their species face extinction, mainly due to anthropogenic threats. Emerging tools in genetics have made major contributions to understanding basic and applied aspects of parrot biology in the wild and in captivity. In this review, we show how genetic methods have transformed the study of parrots by summarising important milestones in the advances of genetics and their implementations in research on parrots. We describe how genetics helped to further knowledge in specific research fields with a wide array of examples from the literature that address the conservation significance of (1) deeper phylogeny and historical biogeography; (2) species- and genus-level systematics and taxonomy; (3) conservation genetics and genomics; (4) behavioural ecology; (5) molecular ecology and landscape genetics; and (6) museomics and historical DNA. Finally, we highlight knowledge gaps to inform future genomic research on parrots. Our review shows that the application of genetic techniques to the study of parrot biology has far-reaching implications for addressing diverse research aims in a highly threatened and charismatic clade of birds.
Soil Enzyme Activity and Stoichiometry: Linking Soil Microorganism Resource Requirement and Legume Carbon Rhizodeposition

Legumes provide multiple ecosystem services in agricultural systems. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the influence of different legumes through C rhizodeposition on the dynamics of C, N and P in soil and on microbial communities’ resource requirements. Legumes pea (Pisum sativum L.), faba bean (Vicia faba L.), white clover (Trifolium repens L.), crimson clover (Trifolium incarnatum L.) and non-legume wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) were grown in pots. Carbon rhizodeposition was quantified by using 13CO2 labeling, and six soil enzyme activities were measured: β-glucosidase (BG), arylamidase (ARYLN), N-acetyl-glucosaminidase (NAG), phosphatases (PHO) and alkaline and acid phosphatases (AKP and ACP). Enzyme stoichiometry approaches were applied. The results showed that BG, NAG and ACP activities were positively influenced by faba bean and clovers. Enzyme stoichiometry analysis revealed a limitation of microorganisms in C and P resources at the plant reproductive stage. These results were explained by plant functional traits. Plant biomass production, root total length, the ability of plants to rhizodeposit C and the C and N content of plant tissues were the main explicative factors. This study also shows that N and C nutrient supplies positively contribute to nutritional requirements and the growth of microorganisms and P availability in soil.