Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Multivariate Characterization of Temperature Fluctuations in a Historical Building Using Energy-Efficient IoT Wireless Sensors

Adequate thermic conditions are required for the preventive conservation of artworks, but such optimum conditions cannot always be achieved in historical buildings such as ancient churches. In those cases, it is of interest to assess the potential risk of punctual changes in indoor environments that can be harmful to artworks. These conditions can be assessed by means of a microclimate monitoring system comprised of a set of energy-efficient wireless sensors connected to the cloud using IoT techniques. This approach was followed at the baroque church of Saint Thomas and Saint Philip Neri in Valencia (Spain). A set of 26 wireless nodes was installed, which recorded values of temperature and relative humidity every hour for a period of 7 months. Small differences of temperature were obtained among sensors, so that an efficient methodology based on principal component analysis (PCA) was applied for the characterization of similarities and dissimilarities between sensors. Daily ranges of temperatures were studied as well as mean trajectories, differences between days of the week, and changes in the correlation structure of daily median values over time. Results provide a framework for an efficient characterization of temperatures in heritage buildings based on a network of wireless sensors. Such a framework is useful to assess the potential risk of temperature fluctuations on the preventive conservation of historical buildings and artworks.
Turn-on spread determines the size of the switching region in an avalanche transistor

It has been shown recently that only a small part of the emitter-base interface in a Si bipolar junction transistor participates in short-pulsing avalanche switching. This lateral current shrinkage attributed to the “winner takes all” effect reduces the transistor switching size from 1600 to ∼100 μm, still remaining much larger than the transistor structure thickness. We show using quasi-3-D transient modelling that the size of the operating perimeter, which is critically important for switching efficiency and device reliability, is determined by competition between lateral turn-on shrinkage and spread. The latter has never been demonstrated in avalanche transistors before.
A Computational Model Simulates Light-Evoked Responses in the Retinal Cone Pathway

Partial vision restoration on degenerated retina can be achieved by electrically stimulating the surviving retinal ganglion cells via implanted electrodes to elicit a signal corresponding to the natural response of the cells. Realistic computational models of electrical stimulation of the retina can prove useful to test different stimulation strategies and improve the performance of retinal implants. Simulation of healthy retinal networks and their dynamical response to natural light stimulation may also help us understand how retinal processing takes place via a series of electrical signals flowing through different stages of retinal processing, ultimately giving rise to visual percepts. Such models may provide further insights on retinal network processing and thus guide the design of retinal prostheses and their stimulation protocols to generate more natural percepts. This work aims to characterize the photocurrent generated by healthy cone photoreceptors in response to a light flash stimulation and the resulting membrane potential for the photoreceptors and its postsynaptic cone bipolar cells. A simple network of ten cone photoreceptors synapsing with a cone bipolar cell is simulated using the NEURON environment and validated against patch-clamp recordings of cone photoreceptors and ON-type bipolar cells (ON-BC). The results presented will be valuable in modeling light-evoked or electrically stimulated retinal networks that comprise cone pathways. The computational models and methods developed in this work will serve as an integral building block in the development of large and realistic retinal networks.Clinical Relevance— Accurate computational model of a retinal neural network can help in predicting cell responses to electrical stimulation in vision restoration therapies using prostheses. It can be leveraged to optimize the stimulation parameters to match the natural light response of the network as closely as possible.
Effects of Drugs on Pulsation Rate of Lumbriculus variegatus (Blackworms)

In this investigative lab, students observe blackworm pulsation rate in normal conditions and observe how pulsation rate is affected by drugs. This lab stresses the circulatory system, but can also be used for homeostasis, behavior, toxicology, and nervous system labs. Part I guides the student through blackworm handling procedures and initial observations of the blackworm's behavior and circulatory system. Part II is a student-led investigation in which the students design and run their own experiments to test drug effects on pulsation rate. The students write their investigations as an informal report and orally present their design, results, and conclusions.
Online Learning in Digital Innovations

Students and lecturers cannot do direct learning. It is an obstacle in the delivery of material by the lecturer. The purpose of this research is to develop learning in the Digital Learning Learning Media course. This research uses development research—the model development used by ADDIE (Analyze, Design, Development, Implementation, Evaluation). The research subjects are three experts, which include material experts, media experts, learning design experts. The subject of the product trial is students. The methods used to collect data are observation, questionnaires, and tests. The instruments used to collect data are questionnaires and test sheets. The technique used to analyze the data is descriptive qualitative, quantitative, and statistical analysis. The results of the material expert test are 90% with the "very good" category. 90% "very good" learning design expert test, 90% media expert test in the "very good" category, and 95% student trials in the "very good" category. Based on data analysis, learning media for learning media is proven to be effective in learning. This finding proves a difference between the control class tcount value which is smaller than the experimental class tcount (3,558 < 5,610). The development of online learning can be helpful for students in carrying out learning caused by the limitations of distance and time. This bold course has innovative values, including independent online practice tests using camera simulators equipped with audio and video to make learning more interactive.
Modeling cyanobacteria life cycle dynamics and historical nitrogen fixation in the Baltic Proper

Abstract. Dense blooms of filamentous diazotrophic cyanobacteria are formed every summer in the Baltic Sea. These autotrophic organisms may bypass nitrogen limitation by performing nitrogen fixation, which also governs surrounding organisms by increasing bioavailable nitrogen. The magnitude of the nitrogen fixation is important to estimate from a management perspective since this might counteract eutrophication reduction measures. Here, a cyanobacteria life cycle model has been implemented for the first time in a high-resolution 3D coupled physical and biogeochemical model of the Baltic Sea, spanning the years 1850–2008. The explicit consideration of life cycle dynamics and transitions significantly improves the representation of the cyanobacterial phenological patterns compared to earlier 3D modeling efforts. Now, the rapid increase and decrease in cyanobacteria in the Baltic Sea are well captured, and the seasonal timing is in concert with observations. The current improvement also had a large effect on the nitrogen fixation load and is now in agreement with estimates based on in situ measurements. By performing four phosphorus sensitivity runs, we demonstrate the importance of both organic and inorganic phosphorus availability for historical cyanobacterial biomass estimates. The model combination can be used to continuously predict internal nitrogen loads via nitrogen fixation in Baltic Sea ecosystem management, which is of extra importance in a future ocean with changed conditions for the filamentous cyanobacteria.
An Enhanced Multiple-Feedback Algorithm for

This paper introduces two new tree-based anti- collision schemes using multiple feedback symbols for uplink tag random access of emerging radio frequency identification (RFID) networks. To this end a uplink(UL) time slot requires an extra time portion called voting field in addition to the packet payload to obtain a slot based estimate for the number of contending tags. As a function of the voting field length we examine MAC efficiency improvements in terms of UL throughput, and compare it with the conventional binary tree based RFID MAC in ISO 18000-6 Type B standard.
Oral Selective TLR8 Agonist Selgantolimod Induces Multiple Immune Cell Responses in Humans

TLR8 agonists have the potential for use as immunomodulatory components in therapeutic modalities for viral infections such as chronic HBV (CHB) and HIV. In this study, using peripheral blood samples from a phase 1a clinical trial, we examined the acute effects of a single oral administration of a selective TLR8 agonist on immune cell phenotypes. Administration of the TLR8 agonist selgantolimod (SLGN) in healthy individuals resulted in alteration in frequencies of peripheral blood monocytes, pDCs, mDCs and MAIT cells. Frequencies of mDCs and lymphoid cells significantly reduced after 8 h of SLGN administration, whereas pDC frequencies significantly increased, with changes possibly reflecting migration of different cell types between peripheral and tissue compartments in response to the agonist. Myeloid cell activation was evident by an upregulated expression of co-stimulatory molecules CD40 and CD86 accompanied by the production of IL-6 and IL-18 from these cells. Concomitantly, there was induction of the early activation marker CD69 on innate and adaptive lymphoid cells, including MAIT and NK cell subsets. Further, these activated lymphoid cells had enhanced expression of the effector molecules granzyme B and perforin. Microarray analysis of isolated lymphocytes and monocytes from baseline and post-SLGN treatment revealed changes in expression of genes involved in cellular response to cytokine stimulus, innate immune response, myeloid cell differentiation and antigen receptor-mediated signaling pathway. In a preliminary analysis of samples from CHB patients treated with selgantolimod, activation of innate and adaptive lymphocytes was evident. In conclusion, this first in-human study shows that selgantolimod administration in humans results in activation of multiple immune cell responses with antiviral potential.
A complete view of the atmospheric hydrologic cycle

Abstract. The global atmospheric water transport from the evaporation to the precipitation regions has been traced using Lagrangian trajectories. A matrix has been constructed by selecting various group of trajectories based on their surface starting(evaporation) and ending (precipitation) positions to show the connectivity of the atmospheric water transport within and between the three major ocean basins and the global landmass. The analysis reveals that a major portion of the evaporated water precipitates back into the same region, namely 67 % for the Indian, 64 % for the Atlantic, 85 % for the Pacific Ocean and 72 % for the global landmass. The evaporation from the subtropical regions of the Indian, Atlantic and Pacific Oceans is found to be the primary source of atmospheric water for precipitation over the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) in the corresponding basins. The evaporated waters from the subtropical and western Indian Ocean were traced as the source for precipitation over the South Asian and Eastern African landmass, while Atlantic Ocean waters are responsible for rainfall over North Asia and Western Africa. Atlantic storm tracks were identified as the carrier of atmospheric water that precipitates over Europe, while the Pacific storm tracks were responsible for North American, eastern Asian and Australian precipitation. The bulk of South and Central American precipitation is found to have its source in the tropical Atlantic Ocean. The recycling of evapotranspirated water from land is pronounced over the western coast of South America, Northeastern Asia, Canada and Greenland. The ocean-to-land and land-to-ocean water transport through the atmosphere was computed to be 2 × 109 kg/s and 1 × 109 kg/s, respectively. The difference between them (net ocean-to-land transport), i.e. 1 × 109 kg/s, is transported to land. This net transport is approximately the same as found in previous Eulerian estimates.
Distant‐earthquake simulations considering source rupture propagation: refining the seismic hazard of Hong Kong

Deterministic and probabilistic seismic hazard analyses should be complementary, in the sense that probabilistic analysis may be used to identify the controlling deterministic design‐level earthquake events, and more sophisticated models of these events may then be developed to account for uncertainties that could not have been included directly in the probabilistic analysis. De‐aggregation of the tentative uniform hazard spectra (UHS) in Hong Kong resulting from a probabilistic seismic hazard assessment (PSHA) indicates that strong and major distant earthquakes, rather than moderate local earthquakes, make the largest contribution to the seismic hazard level within the natural‐period range longer than 0.3 s. Ground‐motion simulations of controlling events located 90 and 340 km from Hong Kong, taking into account uncertainties in the rupture process, reveal that the tentative UHS resulting from the PSHA may have significantly underestimated the mid‐to‐long period components. This is attributed mainly to the adoption of double‐corner source‐spectrum models in the attenuation relationships employed in the PSHA. The results of the simulations indicate clearly that rupture directivity and rupture velocity can significantly affect the characteristics of ground motions, even from such distant earthquakes. The rupture‐directivity effects have profound implications in elongating the second corner period where the constant velocity intersects the constant displacement, thus increasing the associated displacement demand. However, demands for acceleration and velocity are found to be not sensitive to the presence of the directivity pulses. Ground pulses resulting from forward rupture directivity of distant earthquakes have longer predominant periods than the usual near‐fault directivity pulses. These long‐period pulses may have profound implications for metropolises, such as Hong Kong and others in Southeast Asia, having large concentration of high‐rise buildings. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
How does basic research improve innovation performance in the world’s major pharmaceutical firms?

ABSTRACT Employing a panel (1995–2015) of large R&D spending pharmaceutical firms, we investigate how internal basic research increases a firm’s innovative performance. We disentangle two mechanisms through which internal basic research affects technology development: (1) as strengthening of the firm’s absorptive capacity to build on externally conducted science, and (2) as a direct source of the firm’s innovation. We find that the positive relationship between internal basic research and innovation performance is significantly mediated by these two mechanisms, with the absorptive capacity mechanism relatively more important. The mediation relationships are more pronounced in recent years, with basic research as a direct source of innovation increasing in importance. This pattern is associated with a decline of corporate investments in basic research over time, and suggests that firms have adopted a more judicious and targeted approach to basic research aimed at getting more leverage out of a smaller commitment to basic research.
FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE PEAK POWER OF Q-SWITCHED FIBER LASER

Q-switched fiber lasers are very attractive sources in many applications such as military affairs, surgical operation, laser machining, laser marking, nonlinear frequency conversion, range finding, remote sensing and optical time domain reflectometer. To improve the peak power of Q-switched fiber laser is what we pursue, and to know the factors that influence the peak power is what we should make clear first. In this paper, certain essential factors that influence the peak power are presented, with their theoretical basis clarified, which may be helpful to the design of the kindred Q-switched fiber lasers.
Short term load forecasting with radial basis function network

The paper presents experiments with application of radial basis function (RBF) network to short term load forecasting (STLF) problems. The proposed regression model is used to forecast forty-eight hours ahead electric load. The model has been implemented on real data: inputs to the RBF are past loads, weekday and special-day coding and the output is the load forecast for the given hour. Ordinary RBF was applied in the experiments. The centers of the Gaussian basis functions were selected on the base of the quasi-Newton algorithm. Mean absolute percentage error of about 4% is derived from the data from the power system in Crete. The performance of the proposed model has been compared with simulations performed by the MLP network, and former models developed for the distribution company in Poland.
Tethered Aryl Groups Increase the Activity of Anti-Proliferative Thieno[2,3-b]Pyridines by Targeting a Lipophilic Region in the Active Site of PI-PLC

The compounds 2-amino-3-carboxamido-thieno[2,3-b]pyridines have demonstrated excellent anti-proliferative activity against human cancer cell lines, including the triple-negative breast cancer cell line MDA-MB-231. In this study, 81 novel thieno[2,3-b]pyridines were synthesised in four series to further improve their anti-proliferative activity, in particular by targeting an adjacent lipophilic pocket in the putative target enzyme phosphoinositide phospholipase C (PI-PLC). Overall, it was found that appending a propyl-aryl group at C-5 on 2-amino-3-carboxamido-thieno[2,3-b]pyridine resulted in compounds with potent biological activity, exhibiting IC50 values in the nanomolar range. The propyl linker could be an α,β-unsaturated ketone or a saturated propyl ketone, but the highest activity was obtained when allylic alcohols were the tether between thieno[2,3-b]pyridine and the appended aryl group, with compound 21r having IC50 values lower than 50 nM. Compounds with one extra carbon in the tether (i.e., a four-atom chain) were found to be considerably less active. Molecular modelling revealed this propyl tether places the newly introduced aryl ring in an untargeted lipophilic pocket within the active site of the phosphoinositide phospholipase C (PI-PLC) enzyme.
Revisiting the systematics of the genera Grateloupia, Phyllymenia, and Prionitis (Halymeniaceae, Rhodophyta) with a description of a new species—Prionitis taiwani‐borealis

The taxonomy of the genera Grateloupia, Phyllymenia, and Prionitis has been revised several times but remains controversial. The anatomy of female reproductive structures in combination with phylogenetic reconstructions is mostly used to define the genera. However, the architecture and behavior of the auxiliary cell ampullae before and after diploidization are not well documented for most species. To fill this knowledge gap, we examined the female reproductive structures of a new species (Prionitis taiwani‐borealis sp. nov.) from Taiwan and compared our observations to the species currently placed in the Phyllymenia/Prionitis complex. The female reproductive structures of the Phyllymenia/Prionitis complex are characterized by (1) 2‐celled carpogonial branches with the supporting cell being the basal cell of a third‐order ampullar filament; (2) auxiliary cell ampullae composed of three orders of unbranched ampullar filaments before diploidization; (3) cells of auxiliary cell ampullar filaments forming a cellular cluster after diploidization and surrounding the developing gonimoblasts; (4) gonimoblast initials produced from the diploidized auxiliary cells before fusing with them; and (5) branched auxiliary cell ampullar and secondary medullary filaments involved in early pericarp formation. A monophyletic relationship of species possessing female structures similar to those of Pr. taiwani‐borealis and related species was highly supported based on combined rbcL and LSU rDNA sequence analyses. The female reproductive structures of other species of Grateloupia sensu lato, phylogenetically closely related to the Prionitis and Phyllymenia assemblage, require reinvestigation as correct interpretations of pre‐ and post‐fertilization events have proven to be informative for resolving the systematics of the Halymeniaceae.
Investigating Relationships between Preschool Children’s Perceived Competence, Motor Skills, and Physical Activity: A Cross-Lagged Panel Model

Background: Motor skill competence (MSC) and perceived competence (PC) are primary correlates that are linked with physical activity (PA) participation, yet there is limited evidence of the mutual longitudinal or temporal associations between these variables in preschoolers. Therefore, this study’s purpose was to examine the bidirectional relationships between MSC and PA, MSC and PC, and PC and PA in preschoolers over time. Methods: The final sample were 61 preschoolers (Mage = 4.45 years, ranging from 4 to 5) from two underserved schools. MSC was assessed using the Test of Gross Motor Development, Second Edition (TGMD-2). PC was assessed using the Pictorial Scale of Perceived Competence and Social Acceptance for Young Children. PA was assessed using ActiGraph GT9X Link accelerometers during three consecutive school days. All assessments of MSC, PC, and PA were measured in identical conditions at schools at the baseline (T1) and the end of the eighth week (T2). We employed a cross-lagged model approach to understand the bidirectional relationships between MSC, PC, and PA. Results: The results showed that T1 MSC significantly predicted T2 MSC (p < 0.01) and T1 MSC significantly predicted T2 PA only in girls (p = 0.03). Additionally, a cross-lagged effect of T1 MSC and T2 PC was only observed in boys (p = 0.03). Lastly, a significant association for T1 moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and T2 PC was only observed in girls (p = 0.04). Conclusions: Bidirectional relationships between the variables were not observed in preschoolers. However, significant gender differences were observed in each cross-lagged model.
The Effect of High-Dose-Rate Pulsed Radiation on the Survival of Clinically Relevant Radioresistant Cells

We demonstrated that low dose pulsed radiation (0.25 Gy) at a high-dose-rate, even for very short intervals (10 s), decreases cell survival to a greater extent than single exposure to a similar total dose and dose rate. The objective of this study was to clarify whether high-dose-rate pulsed radiation is effective against SAS-R, a clinically relevant radioresistant cell line. Cell survival following high-dose-rate pulsed radiation was evaluated via a colony assay. Flow cytometry was utilized to evaluate γH2AX, a molecular marker of DNA double-strand breaks and delayed reactive oxygen species (ROS) associated with radiation-induced apoptosis. Increased cytotoxicity was observed in SAS-R and parent SAS cells in response to high dose rate pulsed radiation compared to single dose, as determined by colony assays. Residual γH2AX in both cells subjected to high-dose-rate pulsed radiation showed a tendency to increase, with a significant increase observed in SAS cells at 72 h. In addition, high-dose-rate pulsed radiation increased delayed ROS more than the single exposure did. These results indicate that high-dose-rate pulsed radiation was associated with residual γH2AX and delayed ROS, and high-dose-rate pulsed radiation may be used as an effective radiotherapy procedure against radioresistant cells.