Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Single-cell transcriptome profiling of the immune space-time landscape reveals dendritic cell regulatory program in polymicrobial sepsis

Rationale: Evident immunosuppression has been commonly seen among septic patients, and it is demonstrated to be a major driver of morbidity. Nevertheless, a comprehensive view of the host immune response to sepsis is lacking as the majority of studies on immunosuppression have focused on a specific type of immune cells. Methods: We applied multi-compartment, single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) to dissect heterogeneity within immune cell subsets during sepsis progression on cecal ligation and puncture (CLP) mouse model. Flow cytometry and multiplex immunofluorescence tissue staining were adopted to identify the presence of 'mature DCs enriched in immunoregulatory molecules' (mregDC) upon septic challenge. To explore the function of mregDC, sorted mregDC were co-cultured with naïve CD4+ T cells. Intracellular signaling pathways that drove mregDC program were determined by integrating scRNA-seq and bulk-seq data, combined with inhibitory experiments. Results: ScRNA-seq analysis revealed that sepsis induction was associated with substantial alterations and heterogeneity of canonical immune cell types, including T, B, natural killer (NK), and myeloid cells, across three immune-relevant tissue sites. We found a unique subcluster of conventional dendritic cells (cDCs) that was characterized by specific expression of maturation- and migration-related genes, along with upregulation of immunoregulatory molecules, corresponding to the previously described 'mregDCs' in cancer. Flow cytometry and in stiu immunofluorescence staining confirmed the presence of sepsis-induced mregDC at protein level. Functional experiments showed that sepsis-induced mregDCs potently activated naive CD4+ T cells, while promoted CD4+ T cell conversion to regulatory T cells. Further observations indicated that the mregDC program was initiated via TNFRSF-NF-κB- and IFNGR2-JAK-STAT3-dependent pathways within 24 h of septic challenge. Additionally, we confirmed the detection of mregDC in human sepsis using publicly available data from a recently published single-cell study of COVID-19 patients. Conclusions: Our study generates a comprehensive single-cell immune landscape for polymicrobial sepsis, in which we identify the significant alterations and heterogeneity in immune cell subsets that take place during sepsis. Moreover, we find a conserved and potentially targetable immunoregulatory program within DCs that associates with hyperinflammation and organ dysfunction early following sepsis induction.
At the intersection of optics and deep learning: statistical inference, computing, and inverse design

Deep learning has been revolutionizing information processing in many fields of science and engineering owing to the massively growing amounts of data and the advances in deep neural network architectures. As these neural networks are expanding their capabilities toward achieving state-of-the-art solutions for demanding statistical inference tasks in various applications, there appears to be a global need for low-power, scalable, and fast computing hardware beyond what existing electronic systems can offer. Optical computing might potentially address some of these needs with its inherent parallelism, power efficiency, and high speed. Recent advances in optical materials, fabrication, and optimization techniques have significantly enriched the design capabilities in optics and photonics, leading to various successful demonstrations of guided-wave and free-space computing hardware for accelerating machine learning tasks using light. In addition to statistical inference and computing, deep learning has also fundamentally affected the field of inverse optical/photonic design. The approximation power of deep neural networks has been utilized to develop optics/photonics systems with unique capabilities, all the way from nanoantenna design to end-to-end optimization of computational imaging and sensing systems. In this review, we attempt to provide a broad overview of the current state of this emerging symbiotic relationship between deep learning and optics/photonics. © 2022 Optica Publishing Group
Immediate Origin of the Moon as a Post-impact Satellite

The Moon is traditionally thought to have coalesced from the debris ejected by a giant impact onto the early Earth. However, such models struggle to explain the similar isotopic compositions of Earth and lunar rocks at the same time as the system’s angular momentum, and the details of potential impact scenarios are hotly debated. Above a high resolution threshold for simulations, we find that giant impacts can immediately place a satellite with similar mass and iron content to the Moon into orbit far outside Earth’s Roche limit. Even satellites that initially pass within the Roche limit can reliably and predictably survive, by being partially stripped and then torqued onto wider, stable orbits. Furthermore, the outer layers of these directly formed satellites are molten over cooler interiors and are composed of around 60% proto-Earth material. This could alleviate the tension between the Moon’s Earth-like isotopic composition and the different signature expected for the impactor. Immediate formation opens up new options for the Moon’s early orbit and evolution, including the possibility of a highly tilted orbit to explain the lunar inclination, and offers a simpler, single-stage scenario for the origin of the Moon.
FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS OF REINFORCED EARTH WALLS

Reinforced earth has been applied for different types of load supporting and retaining structures in more confidence throughout the world. In this study, the finite element method is implemented and used to analyze reinforced earth walls. The computer program SIGMA/W is used in the analysis of plane strain problems. Eight node isoparametric elements are used to model the soil while structural elements having nodes that match with the surrounding elements, are used to model the reinforcement material. A parametric study is carried out to investigatethe effect of different parameters on the general behaviour of reinforced earth walls. These parameters include: the height of the wall (H), length of reinforcement (L) and external loads (static and cyclic). Three different heights were tried (3, 5, 7) m and three value of load (q) were used (5, 20, 50) kN/m². It was found that the wall with small height (3 m) tends to translate and overturn about its foundation to the out, while the walls with greater heights (≥ 5 m), translate to the out, and the horizontal displacement increases with depth. It was also found that for all cases, the maximum horizontal displacement is about (0.005 m) for each 1 m height of the wall. It was also concluded that the distribution of lateral earth pressure in reinforced embankments is always non-linear for all heights and under different loads applied at different positions. For the wall of small height (3m), the maximum value of lateral pressure is at the base of the wall as in Coulomb's theory, while at greater heights (5 and 7) m, the maximum value takes place at about (0.1H) from the base of the wall.
Toxicity, biotransformation, and mode of action of arsenic in two freshwater microalgae (Chlorella sp. and Monoraphidium arcuatum)

The toxicity of As(V) and As(III) to two axenic tropical freshwater microalgae, 15 Chlorella sp. and Monoraphidium arcuatum, was determined using 72-h growth rate 16 inhibition bioassays. Both organisms were tolerant to As(III) (72-h IC50, concentration to 17 cause 50% inhibition of growth, of 25 and 15 mg As(III)/L, respectively). Chlorella sp. was 18 also tolerant to As(V) with no effect on growth rate over 72 h at concentrations up to 0.8 19 mg/L (72-h IC50 of 25 mg As(V)/L). M. arcuatum was more sensitive to As(V) (72-h IC50 20 of 0.25 mg As(V)/L). An increase in phosphate in the growth medium (0.15 to 1.5 mg PO4 321 /L) decreased toxicity, i.e. the 72-h IC50 value for M. arcuatum increased from 0.25 mg 22 As(V)/L to 4.5 mg As(V)/L, while extracellular As and intracellular As decreased, indicating 23 competition between arsenate and phosphate for cellular uptake. Both microalgae reduced 24 As(V) to As(III) in the cell, with further biological transformation to methylated species 25 (monomethyl arsonic acid and dimethyl arsinic acid) and phosphate arsenoriboside. Less than 26 0.01% of added As(V) was incorporated into algal cells, suggesting that bioaccumulation and 27 subsequent methylation was not the primary mechanism of detoxification. When exposed to 28 As(V) both species reduced As(V) to As(III), however only M. arcuatum excreted As(III) into 29 solution. Intracellular arsenic reduction may be coupled to thiol oxidation in both species. 30 Arsenic toxicity was most likely due to arsenite accumulation in the cell, when the ability to 31 excrete and/or methylate arsenite was overwhelmed at high arsenic concentrations. Arsenite 32 may bind to intracellular thiols, such as glutathione, potentially disrupting the ratio of reduced 33 to oxidised glutathione and consequently inhibiting cell division. 34 35 KeywordsArsenic Algae Toxicity Biotransformation Phosphate 36
Modelling of Antenna Responses

Modelling of Antenna Responses N. Mutonkole Dissertation: Ph.D. (EE) December 2016 This dissertation presents surrogate modelling techniques for the radiation patterns and scattering parameters of antennas. The models are developed in the context of calibration of re ector antennas as well as antenna design activities such as design space exploration, optimisation and sensitivity analysis. On the calibration front, a method is proposed to recover the radiation pattern, resulting from some physical deformation of an o set Gregorian re ector antenna, over a wide frequency bandwidth by taking a few directional measurements at a single frequency. The proposed technique combines characteristic basis function patterns (CBFPs) with the linear algebraic notion of subspace projection and is shown to achieve pattern recovery with better than -40 dB accuracy over a bandwidth of up to a decade. Concerning surrogate models for antenna design, models based on the parametrisation of CBFPs are presented at three levels: (i) CBFPs are parametrised on a xed grid of EM simulated samples to yield multivariate models of the full radiation pattern. The associated S-parameters are modelled through an indirect parametrisation of the poles and residues obtained by tting S-parameter data with rational functions. (ii) A univariate adaptive sampling algorithm is devised to model the frequency dependence of the full radiation pattern by judiciously selecting the frequency samples at which the antenna is simulated. The proposed algorithm is guaranteed to converge to an accurate model in a modest number of iterations, thereby improving the e ciency of frequency domain antenna simulations. (iii) A multivariate adaptive sampling algorithm is devised to model the full radiation pattern as well as S-parameters as a function of multiple design variables (including frequency). The proposed adaptive sampling techniques have the additional feature of approximation error control. ii Stellenbosch University https://scholar.sun.ac.za
Lightweight Woodframe Shear Walls with Ply-Bamboo Sheathings

A new type of hybrid wood-bamboo shear wall was studied. Ply-bamboo is used as the sheathing panel for conventional two-by-four lightweight woodframe shear walls herein. Two different nails were adopted for the ease constructability and used for constructing the shear walls, as follows: gun-driven T shape nail and 6d common nail. Monotonic and cyclic test results of sheathing-frame connectors and corresponding full scare shear walls were also reported. The results obtained from the research reported in this paper indicated that ply-bamboo panels can be used as sheathings for light-weight timber shear walls.
A Study of Database Performance Sensitivity to Experiment Settings

To allow performance comparison across different systems, our community has developed multiple benchmarks, such as TPC-C and YCSB, which are widely used. However, despite such effort, interpreting and comparing performance numbers is still a challenging task, because one can tune benchmark parameters, system features, and hardware settings, which can lead to very different system behaviors. Such tuning creates a long-standing question of whether the conclusion of a work can hold under different settings. This work tries to shed light on this question by reproducing 11 works evaluated under TPC-C and YCSB, measuring their performance under a wider range of settings, and investigating the reasons for the change of performance numbers. By doing so, this paper tries to motivate the discussion about whether and how we should address this problem. While this paper does not give a complete solution---this is beyond the scope of a single paper, it proposes concrete suggestions we can take to improve the state of the art.
FISCAL RULE AND MONETARY POLICY EFFECTIVENESS: ESTIMATES FOR THE BRAZILIAN CASE

A central bank needs to assess the effects of fiscal policy on the economy if it wants to be more precise on the impact of its decisions on the output growth and on the price level: inconsistent fiscal policy can render monetary policy ineffective. This paper tried to understand the effects of fiscal policy on the Brazilian monetary policy conduction. To do so, using monthly data between Jan/2003 and Jan/2020, a fiscal rule was estimated; from this fiscal rule, using the Kalman filter, a time series was extracted, containing the response of the primary surplus-to-GDP ratio to fluctuations in public debt-to-GDP ratio. Thus, a fiscal reaction index was tested on a monetary policy rule; the results pointed out that a greater fiscal response to changes in debt results in less real interest rate variability. The result can be interpreted as a greater monetary policy effectiveness induced by greater responsiveness to indebtedness.
Health effects resulting from exercise versus those from body fat loss

WILLIAMS, P. T. Health effects resulting from exercise versus those from body fat loss. Med Sci. Sports Exerc. , Vol. 33, No. 6, Suppl., 2001, pp. S611–S621. Objective: The purpose of this review was to assess whether body weight confounds the relationships between physical activity and its health benefits. Methods: The review includes 80 reports from population-based studies (Evidence Category C) of physical activity or fitness and cardiovascular disease (CVD) or coronary heart disease (CHD). Results:Eleven of 64 reports on activity found no relationship between physical activity and disease. Of the remaining 53 reports, 11 did not address the possible confounding effects of body weight, nine cited reasons that weight differences should not explain their observed associations, and 33 statistically adjusted for weight (as required). Only three of these changed their associations from significant to nonsignificant when adjusted. Ten of 16 reports on cardiorespiratory fitness and CHD or CVD used statistical adjustment, and none of these changed their findings to nonsignificant. Population studies show that vigorously active individuals also have higher high-density lipoprotein (HDL)-cholesterol concentration, a major risk factor for CHD and CVD, than sedentary individuals when statistically adjusted for weight. In contrast, intervention studies, which relate dynamic changes in weight and HDL, suggest that adjustment for weight loss largely eliminates the increase in HDL-cholesterol in sedentary men who begin exercising vigorously. Adjusting the cross-sectional HDL-cholesterol differences for the dynamic effects of weight loss eliminates most of the HDL-cholesterol difference between active and sedentary men. Conclusion: Population studies show that the lower incidence of CHD and CVD and higher HDL of fit, active individuals are not because of lean, healthy individuals choosing to be active (i.e., self-selection bias). Nevertheless, metabolic processed associated weight loss may be primarily responsible for the HDL differences between active and sedentary men, and possibly also their differences in CHD and CVD.
Fertilization strategies and liming in no-till integrated crop–livestock systems: effects on phosphorus and potassium use efficiency

: In an integrated crop-livestock system (ICLS), system fertilization exploits the nutrient cycling imposed by animal grazing and increases the system efficiency. An increasingly popular approach to fertilization in southern Brazil is anticipating P and K requirements for soybeans into the pasture phase. This can increase the use efficiency of these nutrients in ICLS based on meat production in winter and soybean in summer. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of fertilization strategy, grazing and soil acidity correction on herbage and animal production, soybean yield, P and K contents in soil and plant tissue, and P and K use and economic efficiency. In 2017, a field experiment was established on an Acrisol ( Argissolo Vermelho distrófico ) double-cropped with soybean and Italian ryegrass under no-tillage. Herbage and animal production, soybean yield, available P and K contents, and P and K plant tissue status were determined. Available P and K in the soil were unaffected by grazing and fertilization strategy. Conversely, system fertilization and liming increased the P and K contents of aboveground Italian ryegrass biomass. Additionally, the available K budget in the soil was 2.7 times smaller in the integrated system with system fertilization than in the specialized system with conventional fertilization, possibly due to K fixation in non-exchangeable forms. By contrast, the available P budget in the soil was not affected by treatments and was positive with all systems. The use of ICLS increased economic return, and P and K use efficiency for protein production. System fertilization did not affect soybean yield, but it increased the total herbage production of Italian ryegrass. Despite this, sheep live weight did not increase. Using ICLS in combination with system fertilization provides an effective nutrient management strategy with a higher potential for sustainable food production when compared with conventional fertilization.
University of Birmingham The motivations of female child sexual offenders

s for relevance (n = 10,650) was carried out utilizing the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Those that were ambiguous and had the potential to meet the inclusion criteria were accepted at this stage. A total of 156 articles made it through the screening process, to which a full-text screen was applied. The full text of each article was obtained from the e-library at the University of Birmingham, Research Gate and by directly contacting authors. However, six articles were not obtainable. All authors were contacted, however, only one responded providing the full text. This article was excluded upon review due to not meeting the inclusion criteria. In addition to this, the other five articles were subsequently excluded due to not being available in full-text. After reviewing the full texts of the remaining articles, three Solo and group/co-offender Phenomenon of Interest Contact child sexual offenses Victim is under 18 years of age Male or female victim Non-contact offenses – e.g. online, grooming. Victim older than 18 years old. Design Case study Interview Questionnaire/survey Mixed design Evaluation Motivation Belief of motivation Experience Attribution Influences Offense-supportive cognition(s) Methodological approach Qualitative or Quantitative or Mixed Methods
Effects of 7V4-Behenoy1-1-ÃŸ-D-ArabinofuranosyIcytosine on Blast Progenitors of Acute Myeloblastic Leukemia1

To determine the antileukemic effect of . V4-beheno\l-l-/>'-i>-;iral>iii<ifuranosylcytosine (BH-AC), a synthetic masked compound of 1-/S-Darabinofuranosylcytosine, the pharmacokinetics and suppressive effect on leukemic blast progenitors of BH-AC were studied. When BH-AC was added to the suspension culture of leukemic cells, BH-AC gradually decreased in concentration in the culture media and was rapidly taken into the cellular fraction. The conversion from BH-AC to l-/? -r>-arabinofuranosylcytosine was noted in both the culture media and the cellular fraction. The concentration of l-/8-D-arabinofuranosylcytosine converted from BH-AC in the culture medium gradually increased during 7 days of culture, although the rate of conversion was variable among the samples. BH-AC suppressed primary and secondary blast colony formation in a dose responsive manner. BH-AC also suppressed the recovery of clonogenic cells in suspension culture. The suppression by BH-AC was more prominent in secondary blast colony formation and the recovery of clonogenic cells in suspension culture than in primary blast colony formation. Secondary blast colony formation and the recovery of clono genic cells in suspension are considered to reflect the self-renewal of blast progenitors, while primary blast colony formation is considered to reflect the terminal divisions of blast progenitors. The results obtained in the present study suggest that BH-AC is more effective to suppress the self-renewal of blast progenitors than the terminal divisions. The findings offer a theoretical basis in the utility of BH-AC in the therapy of acute myeloblastic leukemia.
DIFFERENCE IN EPIDEMIOLOGY AND DIAGNOSIS OF IBS BETWEEN THE EASTERN AND THE WESTERN COUNTRIES

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. 1 IBS, the role of diet has been emphasized, and the concept of low fermentable oligo-, di-, mono-saccharides, and polyols (FODMAP) diet has been developed by Western countries. However, the dietary habits in Western and Asian countries are quite different. Moreover, Asian countries have a long history of using their own herbal medicines for the treatment of functional gastrointestinal disorders including IBS. However, the efficacy of most of these medicines has not been validated. In this review, we aimed to investigate the current issues of IBS in Asian patients of IBS compared with Western point of view.