Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Bioprospecting of Essential Oil-Bearing Plants: Rapid Screening of Volatile Organic Compounds Using Headspace Bubble-in-Drop Single-Drop Microextraction for Gas Chromatography Analysis

Essential oils are vital constituents of oil-bearing plants. However, their screening still demands harvesting of the plant for laboratory analysis. We report herein a simple, rapid and robust headspace bubble-in-drop microextraction screening technique (BID-SPME) requiring only small amounts of plant material. The optimised method uses 0.5 g of the crushed plant leaves sample obtained in a 2 mL capped chromatography vial, heated to 55 °C and sampled with 2 µL heptadecane in a Hamilton gastight syringe equilibrated for 15 min exposed to the headspace volume. The method was applied to three plants, Pinus radiata, Tagetes minuta and Artemisia afra, which are known for their essential oil content. The method was able to extract at least 80% of the oil constituents in such abundance that they could be easily annotated using the gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) mass spectral libraries. The major volatile organic compounds (VOCs) detected included tagetone, terpinen-4-ol, ocimenone, caryophyllene, dihydrotagetone, terpinolene and artemisia ketone, just to mention a few, at different concentrations in different plants. Importantly, these annotated VOCs were also reported in other studies in the same and even different plants, extracted using normal steam distillation and importantly those reported in the literature for different extraction techniques.
Development of a Polymeric Membrane Impregnated with Poly-Lactic Acid (PLA) Nanoparticles Loaded with Red Propolis (RP)

The main objectives of this study were to develop and characterize hydrophilic polymeric membranes impregnated with poly-lactic acid (PLA) nanoparticles (NPs) combined with red propolis (RP). Ultrasonic-assisted extraction was used to obtain 30% (w/v) red propolis hydroalcoholic extract (RPE). The NPs (75,000 g mol−1) alone and incorporated with RP (NPRP) were obtained using the solvent emulsification and diffusion technique. Biopolymeric hydrogel membranes (MNPRP) were obtained using carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) and NPRP. Their characterization was performed using thermal analysis, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), total phenols (TPC) and flavonoids contents (TFC), and antioxidant activity through the radical scavenging assay with 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical (DPPH) and Ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP). The identification and quantification of significant RP markers were performed through UPLC-DAD. The NPs were evaluated for particle size, polydispersity index, and zeta potential. The TPC for RPE, NPRP, and MNPRP was 240.3 ± 3.4, 191.7 ± 0.3, and 183.4 ± 2.1 mg EGA g−1, while for TFC, the value was 37.8 ± 0.9, 35 ± 3.9, and 26.8 ± 1.9 mg EQ g−1, respectively. Relevant antioxidant activity was also observed by FRAP, with 1400.2 (RPE), 1294.2 (NPRP), and 696.2 µmol Fe2+ g−1 (MNPRP). The primary markers of RP were liquiritigenin, isoliquiritigenin, and formononetin. The particle sizes were 194.1 (NPs) and 361.2 nm (NPRP), with an encapsulation efficiency of 85.4%. Thermal analysis revealed high thermal stability for the PLA, nanoparticles, and membranes. The DSC revealed no interaction between the components. FTIR allowed for characterizing the RPE encapsulation in NPRP and CMC for the MNPRP. The membrane loaded with NPRP, fully characterized, has antioxidant capacity and may have application in the treatment of skin wounds.
The Prevention of the New Onset of Heart Failure in Hypertensive Patients

In 2014, Japan was estimated to have approximately 27 million patients with hypertension (HT), and the ultimate goal of treatment is to prevent complications of HT, including heart failure (HF). The major structural changes in the heart that cause HF are left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy (LVH) and the resulting LV diastolic dysfunction. However, in patients with HT with well-controlled blood pressure (BP), whether they are in HF stage A (only HT) or B (with organic heart disease) is often unclear. It has been reported that strict BP control suppresses LVH, and the improvement of LVH leads to the suppression of cardiovascular complications. Thus, detecting HF stage B HT and providing appropriate treatment lead to the suppression of HF onset. This review focuses on the detection and treatment of organic heart disease in HT.
The lunar wake current systems

We present the lunar wake current systems when the Moon is assumed to be a non‐conductive body, absorbing the solar wind plasma. We show that in the transition regions between the plasma void, the expanding rarefaction region, and the interplanetary plasma, there are three main currents flowing around these regions in the lunar wake. The generated currents induce magnetic fields within these regions and perturb the field lines there. We use a three‐dimensional, self‐consistent hybrid model of plasma (particle ions and fluid electrons) to show the flow of these three currents. First, we identify the different plasma regions, separated by the currents, and then we show how the currents depend on the interplanetary magnetic field direction. Finally, we discuss the current closures in the lunar wake.
Effect of p-Synephrine on Fat Oxidation Rate during Exercise of Increasing Intensity in Healthy Active Women

p-Synephrine is the principal alkaloid of bitter orange (Citrus aurantium). Several recent investigations have found that the intake of 2–3 mg/kg of p-synephrine raises fat oxidation rate during exercise of low-to-moderate intensity. However, these investigations have been carried out only with samples of male participants or mixed men/women samples. Therefore, the aim of this investigation was to study the effect of p-synephrine intake on fat oxidation during exercise of increasing intensity in healthy women. Using a double-blind, randomized experiment, 18 healthy recreationally active women performed two identical exercise trials after the ingestion of (a) 3 mg/kg of p-synephrine and (b) 3 mg/kg of a placebo (cellulose). The exercise trials consisted of a ramp test (from 30 to 80% of maximal oxygen uptake; VO2max) on a cycle ergometer while substrate oxidation rates were measured at each workload by indirect calorimetry. In comparison to the placebo, the intake of p-synephrine increased resting tympanic temperature (36.1 ± 0.5 vs. 36.4 ± 0.4 °C p = 0.033, d = 0.87) with no effect on resting heart rate (p = 0.111) and systolic (p = 0.994) and diastolic blood pressure (p = 0.751). During exercise, there was no significant effect of p-synephrine on fat oxidation rate (F = 0.517; p = 0.484), carbohydrate oxidation rate (F = 0.730; p = 0.795), energy expenditure rate (F = 0.480; p = 0.833), heart rate (F = 4.269; p = 0.068) and participant’s perceived exertion (F = 0.337; p = 0.580). The maximal rate of fat oxidation with placebo was 0.26 ± 0.10 g/min and it was similar with p-synephrine (0.28 ± 0.08 g/min, p = 0.449, d = 0.21). An acute intake of 3 mg/kg of p-synephrine before exercise did not modify energy expenditure and substrate oxidation during submaximal aerobic exercise in healthy active women. It is likely that the increase in resting tympanic temperature induced by p-synephrine hindered the effect of this substance on fat utilization during exercise in healthy active women.
Can the quantum vacuum be used as a reaction medium to generate thrust

A number of recent controversial experiments have observed anomalous thrust forces with devices making use of electromagnetic fields, and which do not appear to emit any particles or radiation; in apparent violation of the principle of the conservation of momentum. This has led to proposals that the measured forces are being produced due to an interaction between the applied electromagnetic fields of the device, and virtual particles/anti-particles of the quantum vacuum. Using an argument based on Lorentz invariance, as well as a formal quantum field theoretic calculation, we investigate the feasibility of these proposals. We find that both the vacuum expectation value of the linear momentum operator (the zero-point momentum), as well as the conserved current, are both exactly zero; the quantum vacuum does not appear to be a viable reaction medium with which to generate thrust.
Case Report Full Mouth Rehabilitation Using Telescopic Removable Prosthesis

A female, aged 55 years, was presented to the clinic concerned with her inability to function properly due to missing teeth and collapse of her vertical dimension. On examination, remaining tooth position of the upper arch was favorable for telescopic denture and remaining tooth position of the lower arch was favorable for removable prosthesis. The patient requested an aesthetic maxillary and mandibular denture with no visible metal clasps on smiling. Therefore, upper telescopic removable complete denture and lower chrome cobalt removable prostheses were suggested to the patient as conservative treatment to reestablish her occlusal vertical dimension and restore her aesthetics and function.
Evaluation of IL-35 and IL-39 in Rheumatoid Arthritis

: Background: Cytokines have an essential contribution to the inflammatory response and the development of chronic inflammation. Therefore, they have a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis. Interleukins are closely related to rheumatoid arthritis, and the exact role of some interleukins in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis is not yet known, such as IL-35, which has suppressive activity, particularly in cancer and autoimmune diseases. As well as IL-39, which promotes inflammatory responses and the activation of immune cells. Therefore, the aim of current study was to evaluate the levels of interleukins 35 and 39 and their ratio in rheumatoid arthritis patients in Iraq. Methods: ELISA was used to measure the levels of interleukins in the blood of 56 patients with rheumatoid arthritis and 44 healthy volunteers who were enrolled in the study from November 2021 to March 2022. The level of interleukins was statistically analyzed using the computer program Statistical Package for Social Sciences (version 14). Results: The serum levels of IL-39 in the rheumatoid arthritis patient groups were significantly higher than in the control group ( p = 0.043). In contrast, the level of IL-35 was slightly higher in rheumatoid arthritis patients but not by significantly different values ( p = 0.055). The cytokine ratio, IL-39/IL-35, was the same for the groups, and there were no significant differences when comparing patients to controls (14.30 ± 1.47 vs. 13.18 ± 0.71). In addition, IL-39 concentration levels were significantly higher in rheumatoid arthritis patients under therapy than in rheumatoid arthritis patients with a first diagnosis and without therapy. Conclusion: Rheumatoid arthritis has been associated with an increased level of IL-35 and IL-39, so assessment of the levels of these cytokines may be helpful in confirming rheumatoid arthritis activity.
STARRY: Multi-master Transaction Processing on Semi-leader Architecture

Multi-master architecture is desirable for cloud databases in supporting large-scale transaction processing. To enable concurrent transaction execution on multiple computing nodes, we need an efficient transaction commit protocol on the storage layer that ensures ACID as well as consensus among replicas. A leader-based protocol is easy to implement. However, it faces the single-node bottleneck and suffers from high transaction latency in cross-region deployment. While a leaderless protocol can achieve a higher degree of parallelism, it is inefficient in resolving conflicts. This paper proposes the semi-leader protocol, which is a new type of transaction commit protocol for multi-master transaction processing. In a nutshell, the semi-leader protocol is a hybrid protocol that offers separate commit paths for conflicting transactions and non-conflicting transactions. A centralized node, known as the sequencer, is employed to perform precise conflict resolution for conflicting transactions, while non-conflicting transactions can be committed timely in a decentralized manner. Based on the semi-leader protocol, we designed Starry, a multi-master transaction processing mechanism. Experimental results demonstrate that Starry is 1.4× and 4.21× as performant as the leaderless and leader-based protocols respectively in throughput. When dealing with high-contention workloads, Starry can significantly reduce the abort rates.
Eﬀectiveness of foreign aid in Small Island Developing States

Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are usually left out in the aid effectiveness literature, despite being among the poorest and top receivers of foreign aid. This paper tests the main conditionality models of the literature and specifies a new model that best fit the data for 37 SIDS. The general finding is that aid has a positive and significant effect on growth. However, we do not find supporting evidence for the good policies conditionality or the existence of diminishing returns. Instead, we find that aid works best in the presence of sufficiently good governmental and social institutions.
Large eddy simulation of a large wind-turbine array in a conventionally neutral atmospheric boundary layer

Under conventionally neutral conditions, the boundary layer is frequently capped by an inversion layer, which counteracts vertical entrainment of kinetic energy. Very large wind farms are known to depend on vertical entrainment to transport energy from above the farm towards the turbines. In this study, large eddy simulations of an infinite wind-turbine array in a conventionally neutral atmospheric boundary layer are performed. By carefully selecting the initial potential-temperature profile, the influence of the height and the strength of a capping inversion on the power output of a wind farm is investigated. Results indicate that both the height and the strength have a significant effect on the boundary layer flow, and that the height of the neutral boundary layer is effectively controlled by the capping inversion. In addition, it is shown that the vertical entrainment rate decreases for increasing inversion strength or height. In our infinite wind-farm simulations, varying the inversion characteristics leads to differences in power extraction on the order of 13% ± 0.2% (for increasing the strength from 2.5 to 10 K), and 31% ± 0.4% (for increasing the height from 500 to 1500 m). A detailed analysis of the mean kinetic-energy equation is included, showing that the variation in power extraction originates from the work done by the driving pressure gradient related to the boundary layer height and the geostrophic angle, while entrainment of kinetic energy from the free atmosphere does not play a significant role. Also, the effect of inversion strength on power extraction is energetically not related to different amounts of energy entrained, but explained by a difference in boundary layer growth, leading to higher boundary layers for lower inversion strengths. We further present a simple analytical model that allows to obtain wind-farm power output and driving power for the fully developed regime as function of Rossby number and boundary layer height.
Journal Pre-proof and virus VP35 coiled-coil validated as antiviral target by tripartite split-GFP complementation

Summary. Ebola virus (EBOV) and Marburg virus (MARV) are highly pathogenic viruses in humans, 15 against which approved antivirals are lacking. During EBOV and MARV infection, coiled-coil mediated 16 oligomerization is essential for the virion protein 35 (VP35) polymerase co-factor function and type I 17 interferon antagonism, making VP35 coiled-coil an elective drug target. We established a tripartite split- 18 green fluorescent protein (GFP) fluorescence complementation (FC) system based on recombinant 19 GFP-tagged EBOV and MARV VP35, which probes VP35 coiled-coil assembly by monitoring 20 fluorescence on E. coli colonies, or in vitro in 96/384-multiwell. Oligomerization-defective VP35 mutants 21 showed that correct coiled-coil knobs-into-holes pairing within VP35 oligomer is pre-requisite for GFP 22 tags and GFP detector to reconstitute fluorescing full-length GFP. The method was validated by 23 screening a small compound library, which identified Myricetin and 4,5,6,7-Tetrabromobenzotriazole as 24 inhibitors of EBOV and MARV VP35 oligomerization-dependent FC with low-micromolar IC 50 values. 25 These findings substantiate the VP35 coiled-coil value as antiviral target.
Semi-Riemannian Geometry With Applications to Relativity

Manifold Theory. Tensors. Semi-Riemannian Manifolds. Semi-Riemannian Submanifolds. Riemannian and Lorenz Geometry. Special Relativity. Constructions. Symmetry and Constant Curvature. Isometries. Calculus of Variations. Homogeneous and Symmetric Spaces. General Relativity. Cosmology. Schwarzschild Geometry. Causality in Lorentz Manifolds. Fundamental Groups and Covering Manifolds. Lie Groups. Newtonian Gravitation.
Research on Trajectory Prediction of a High-Altitude Zero-Pressure Balloon System to Assist Rapid Recovery

A comprehensive simulation model is established to predict the trajectory of a high-altitude zero-pressure balloon flight system with no parachute that is required to carry the load floating at the designated altitude for several hours or less. A series of mathematical models, including thermal dynamic, atmospheric, earth, wind, geometry, and exhaust models, are developed to predict the trajectory of the balloon flight system. Based on these models, the uncertainties of the launch parameters and the corresponding flight performance are simulated. Combined with the control strategy, the entire flight trajectory is simulated and discussed in detail, including the ascending, floating, and descending phases. The results show that the vertical velocity takes on a W shape during the ascent process. Furthermore, the balloon begins to gradually descend with weakening solar radiation after noon. Moreover, the landing vertical speed of the balloon flight system can approach zero with the control strategy applied, whereas the lateral drift range is more limited relative to the uncontrolled flight mode. The results and conclusions presented herein contribute to the design and operation of a zero-pressure balloon flight system within limited airspace to improve the rapid recovery ability of the flight system.
Regional deformation and offshore crustal local faulting as combined processes to explain uplift 1 through time constrained by investigating differentially-uplifted Late Quaternary 2 palaeoshorelines : the foreland Hyblean Plateau

24 25 Quaternary uplift is well documented in SE Sicily, a region prone to damaging seismic events, such as 26 the 1693 “Val di Noto” Earthquake (Mw 7.4), the largest seismic event reported within the Italian 27 Earthquake Catalogue, whose seismogenic source is still debated and, consequently, the long-term 28 seismic hazard is poorly-understood. However, the spatial variation in the timing and rates of uplift 29 are still debated, so it is difficult to link the dominant tectonic process(es) responsible for the uplift 30 and the location of seismogenic sources. To better constrain the uplift rate, we have refined the dating 31 of Late Quaternary marine terraces, using a synchronous correlation approach, driven by both 32 published and newly obtained numerical age controls (U/Th dating on corals). This has allowed 33 re-calculation of uplift rates along a N-S oriented transect within the Hyblean Plateau (HP) foreland 34 region. Consequently, we have mapped the geometry of palaeoshorelines along a coastline-parallel 35 transect, and hence the rates of uplift. The results suggest increasing uplift rate from south to north 36 across the HP, and that uplift rates have remained constant through the late Quaternary. This spatially37 changing but temporally constant uplift places constraints on the proportion of uplift produced by 38 regional geodynamic processes versus produced by local faults, such as an offshore E-dipping active 39 normal fault. We discuss these new findings in terms of the long-term seismic hazard for one of the 40 most seismically-active regions in the Mediterranean Basin. 41 42
Black holes and fundamental fields: hair, kicks and a gravitational "Magnus" effect

Scalar fields pervade theoretical physics and are a fundamental ingredient to solve the dark matter problem, to realize the Peccei-Quinn mechanism in QCD or the string-axiverse scenario. They are also a useful proxy for more complex matter interactions, such as accretion disks or matter in extreme conditions. Here, we study the collision between scalar ``clouds'' and rotating black holes. For the first time we are able to compare analytic estimates and strong field, nonlinear numerical calculations for this problem. As the black hole pierces through the cloud it accretes according to the Bondi-Hoyle prediction, but is deflected through a purely kinematic gravitational ``anti-Magnus'' effect, which we predict to be present also during the interaction of black holes with accretion disks. After the interaction is over, we find large recoil velocities in the transverse direction. The end-state of the process belongs to the vacuum Kerr family if the scalar is massless, but can be a hairy black hole when the scalar is massive.
One-sided Noncommutative Groebner Bases with Applications to Green's Relations

Standard noncommutative Gr\"obner basis procedures are used for computing ideals of free noncommutative polynomial rings over fields. This paper describes Gr\"obner basis procedures for one-sided ideals in finitely presented noncommutative algebras over fields. The polynomials defining a $K$-algebra $A$ as a quotient of a free $K$-algebra are combined with the polynomials defining a one-sided ideal $I$ of $A$, by using a tagging notation. Standard noncommutative Gr\"obner basis techniques can then be applied to the mixed set of polynomials, thus calculating $A/I$ whilst working in a free structure, avoiding the complication of computing in $A$. The paper concludes by showing how the results can be applied to completable presentations of semigroups and so enable calculations of Green's relations.
Weighting Factor Design for FS-MPC in VSCs: A Brain Emotional Learning-Based Approach

Finite set model predictive control (FS-MPC) has been identified as one of the most favorable controllers for power electronic applications due to its capability over real-time solutions to multiple objectives and constraints. However, the main challenge in the FS-MPC is the choice of appropriate weighting factors in the cost function to reach the best switching state of the inverter. This study proposes an approach based on brain emotional learning (BEL) to provide online tuning of weighting factors in FS-MPC of a power converter, which prevents the dependency of the converter control system on the various uncertainties coming from operating conditions and loading conditions. The proposed BEL approach is fully model-free, indicating that the weighting factors are adjusted without previous knowledge of the system model and parameters. Simulation and experimental results validate the proposed control scheme's effectiveness under different load conditions.