Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Remote sensing of grasslands in the South American Pampas (scientometrics analysis)

Remotely sensed data contains a range of information (spectral, spatial, radiometric, and temporal) useful in mapping and monitoring grassland extent, minimizing the cost of field data collection and laboratory analysis, thereby improving management and conservation of these ecosystems. The South American pampa biome is one of the most productive ecosystems in the world consisting of an evergreen grassland environment in the southern areas of the continent (Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina). In this review paper, a scientometrics analysis of the applications of grassland remote sensing in the South American pampa biome was performed with Web of Science Collection data using the relationship between authors/co‐authors, institutions, countries, and keywords. Despite a large number of published works on the application of remote sensing in grassland ecosystems, comparatively, few have been conducted in the South American pampa biome. Of 166 published articles on remote sensing of grassland systems, the first one published on the pampas was in 1995, while research on this topic has been going on since 1985 in the rest of the world. Recently, some Journals have demonstrated interest in remote sensing of the pampa region: (a)IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth, (b) ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, and (c) Science of The Total Environment. A number of remote sensing methods applied elsewhere have yet to be applied in the South American Pampas, including LiDAR applications. A wide range of grassland parameters that can be estimated using remote sensing includes ecosystem health, alien species invasion, and biomass.
Impaired Organokine Regulation in Non-Diabetic Obese Subjects: Halfway to the Cardiometabolic Danger Zone

Altered organokine expression contributes to increased cardiometabolic risk in obesity. Our aim was to evaluate the associations of serum afamin with glucose homeostasis, atherogenic dyslipidemia, and other adipokines in severe obesity to clarify the early metabolic alterations. 106 non-diabetic obese (NDO) subjects and 62 obese patients with type 2 diabetes matched for age, gender, and body mass index (BMI) were enrolled in this study. We compared their data with 49 healthy, lean controls. Serum afamin and retinol-binding protein 4 (RBP4), as well as plasma plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1), were measured with ELISA, and lipoprotein subfractions were analyzed using Lipoprint gel electrophoresis. Afamin and PAI-1 found to be significantly higher in the NDO and T2M group (p < 0.001 and p < 0.001, respectively) than in the controls. In contrast, RBP4 was unexpectedly lower in the NDO and T2DM group compared to controls (p < 0.001). Afamin showed negative correlations with mean LDL size and RBP4, but positive correlations with anthropometric, glucose/lipid parameters, and PAI-1 in both the overall patients and the in NDO + T2DM groups. BMI, glucose, intermediate HDL, and small HDL were predictors of afamin. Afamin may serve as a biomarker for the severity of cardiometabolic disturbances in obesity. The complexity of organokine patterns in NDO subjects draws attention to the diverse spectrum of obesity-related comorbidities.
Ultrasonic Nondestructive Testing of Cement Grouting Quality in Corrugated Pipes Based on Impact-echo

This research aims to detect cement grouting defects in corrugated pipes using the ultrasonic impact-echo method. A combined signal processing technique that included de-convolution technique, information entropy and cross-correlation were proposed to identify and characterize defects. Several numerical models were constructed to simulate and analyze the results using the finite element method. The stripping size of the defects in the corrugated pipe was recognized by analyzing the information entropy and correlation coefficients of the echo signals. Experiments were carried out on a concrete specimen containing artificial defects with varying stripping sizes and numbers of elements. The experimental results were consistent with the simulated predictions.
Multiplicative Error Models

Financial time series analysis has focused on data related to market trading activity. Next to the modeling of the conditional variance of returns within the GARCH family of models, recent attention has been devoted to other variables: first, and foremost, volatility measured on the basis of ultra-high frequency data, but also volumes, number of trades, durations. In this paper, we examine a class of models, named Multiplicative Error Models, which are particularly suited to model such non-negative time series. We discuss the univariate specification, by considering the base choices for the conditional expectation and the error term. We provide also a general framework, allowing for richer specifications of the conditional mean. The outcome is a novel MEM (called Composite MEM) which is reminiscent of the short- and long-run component GARCH model by Engle and Lee (1999). Inference issues are discussed relative to Maximum Likelihood and Generalized Method of Moments estimation. In the application, we show the regularity in parameter estimates and forecasting performance obtainable by applying the MEM to the realized kernel volatility of components of the S&P100 index. We suggest extensions of the base model by enlarging the information set and adopting a multivariate specification.
A novel DRD2 SNP associated with schizophrenia predicts age of onset: HapMap tag-SNP analysis

Background : Dopamine D2 receptor (DRD2) is thought to be critical in regulating the dopaminergic pathway in the brain which is known to be important in the aetiology of schizophrenia. It is therefore not surprising that most antipsychotic medication acts on the Dopamine D2 receptor. DRD2 is widely expressed in brain, levels are reduced in brains of schizophrenia patients and DRD2 polymorphisms have been associated with reduced brain expression. We have previously identified a genetic variant in DRD2 , rs6277 to be strongly implicated in schizophrenia susceptibility. Methods : To identity new associations in the DRD2 gene with disease status and clinical severity, we genotyped seven single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in DRD2 using a multiplex mass spectrometry method . SNPs were chosen using a haplotype block-based gene-tagging approach so the entire DRD2 gene was represented. Results: One polymorphism rs2734839 was found to be significantly associated with schizophrenia as well as late onset age. Individuals carrying the genetic variation were more than twice as likely to have schizophrenia compared to controls. Conclusions : Our results suggest that DRD2 genetic variation is a good indicator for schizophrenia risk and may also be used as a predictor age of onset.
A Novel Fatty Acid Metabolism-Associated Risk Model for Prognosis Prediction in Acute Myeloid Leukaemia

Acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) is the most common acute leukaemia in adults, with an unfavourable outcome and a high rate of recurrence due to its heterogeneity. Dysregulation of fatty acid metabolism plays a crucial role in the development of several tumours. However, the value of fatty acid metabolism (FAM) in the progression of AML remains unclear. In this study, we obtained RNA sequencing and corresponding clinicopathological information from the TCGA and GEO databases. Univariate Cox regression analysis and subsequent LASSO Cox regression analysis were utilized to identify prognostic FAM-related genes and develop a potential prognostic risk model. Kaplan-Meier analysis was used for prognostic significances. We also performed ROC curve to illustrate that the risk model in prognostic prediction has good performance. Moreover, significant differences in immune infiltration landscape were found between high-risk and low-risk groups using ESTIMATE and CIBERSOT algorithms. In the end, differential expressed genes (DEGs) were analyzed by gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) to preliminarily explore the possible signaling pathways related to the prognosis of FAM and AML. The results of our study may provide potential prognostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets for AML patients, which is conducive to individualized precision therapy.
Hierarchical Milankovitch and sub-Milankovitch cycles in the environmental magnetism of the lower Shahezi Formation, Lower Cretaceous, Songliao Basin, northeastern China

SK-2 borehole in Songliao Basin provides unprecedented geological materials for investigating the Early Cretaceous continental paleoenvironment and paleoclimate in northeastern China. The lacustrine successions of the lower Shahezi (K1sh) Formation at the depth from 4,542 to 5,695 m was systematically studied using environmental magnetism and cyclostratigraphy in this study. Magnetic analysis reveals an inverse correlation between magnetic susceptibility (MS) and lithological ranks in fine clastic sediments, with the highest values in mudstones and the lowest in sandstones. The main magnetism carriers in the lower K1sh are pseudo-single-domain (PSD) and/or multi-domain (MD) magnetite with minor presence of hematite. MS was used to further explore the genesis of the environmental and climatic variations through cyclostratigraphic analysis. Sedimentary cycles of 113 m, 34 m, 13 m and 6 m can be identified in the power spectrum, which were interpreted as long and short eccentricity, obliquity, and precession cycles, demonstrating the impact of astronomical cyclicity on sedimentary rhythmicity. Floating astronomical time scale (FATS) of 4,090 kyr and 4,148 kyr were established by tuning the inferred long and short eccentricity cycles to the artificial 405-kyr and 105-kyr orbital eccentricity curves respectively. The estimated sediment accumulation rate around 28 cm/kyr confirms the rapid deposition process within the faulted lacustrine basin. Based on this study, the lake level oscillations in Songliao Basin are assumed to be shaped by long and short eccentricity, precession and semi-precession cycles during Early Cretaceous. This study also indicates that the sand-mudstone alternations deposition in K1sh is most likely driven by the seasonal discrepancies of summer insolation during semi-precession periods.
Convergence acceleration of segregated algorithms using dynamic tuning additive correction multigrid strategy

SUMMARY A convergence acceleration method based on an additive correction multigrid‐SIMPLEC (ACM-S) algorithm with dynamic tuning of the relaxation factors is presented. In the ACM-S method, the coarse grid velocity correction components obtained from the mass conservation (velocity potential) correction equation are included into the fine grid momentum equations before the coarse grid momentum correction equations are formed using the additive correction methodology. Therefore, the coupling between the momentum and mass conservation equations is obtained on the coarse grid, while maintaining the segregated structure of the single grid algorithm. This allows the use of the same solver (smoother) on the coarse grid. For turbulent flows with heat transfer, additional scalar equations are solved outside of the momentum‐mass conservation equations loop. The convergence of the additional scalar equations is accelerated using a dynamic tuning of the relaxation factors. Both a relative error (RE) scheme and a local Reynolds:Peclet (ER:P) relaxation scheme methods are used. These methodologies are tested for laminar isothermal flows and turbulent flows with heat transfer over geometrically complex two- and three-dimensional configurations. Savings up to 57% in CPU time are obtained for complex geometric domains representative of practical engineering problems. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Complex Hadamard matrices of order 6: a four‐parameter family

In this paper, we construct a new, previously unknown four‐parameter family of complex Hadamard matrices of order 6, the entries of which are described by algebraic functions of roots of various sextic polynomials. We conjecture that the new, generic family G6(4) together with Karlsson's degenerate family K6(3) and Tao's spectral matrix S(0)6 form an exhaustive list of complex Hadamard matrices of order 6. Such a complete characterization might finally lead to the solution of the problem of mutually unbiased bases in ℂ6.
A Comparison of the Safety, Efficacy, and Accuracy of Frame-Based versus Remebot Robot-Assisted Stereotactic Systems for Biopsy of Brainstem Tumors

Background: Brainstem tumors are rare and extremely heterogeneous and present significant challenges in surgical treatment. Thus, biopsies often set the foundation for the diagnosis of brainstem tumors. Multimodal, image-guided, robot-assisted frameless stereotactic biopsies are increasingly popular in neurosurgery centers. This study aimed to compare the safety, efficacy, and duration of the Remebot robot-assisted (Remebot) frameless brainstem tumor biopsy versus those of frame-based stereotactic biopsy. Method: A retrospective analysis of 33 patients with brainstem tumors who underwent stereotactic brainstem biopsies in the department of neurosurgery from January 2016 to January 2021 was conducted. The patients were divided into two groups: the Remebot group (n = 22) and the frame-based group (n = 11). The clinical characteristics, trajectory strategy, duration of procedure, diagnostic yielding, histopathological diagnosis, and postoperative complications were retrospectively analyzed and compared between the groups. Results: More pediatric patients performed Remebot frameless brainstem tumor biopsy than frame-based biopsy, with a mean age of 17.3 ± 18.7 vs. 32.8 ± 17.1 (p = 0.027). The diagnostic yield had no significant difference in the two groups, with the diagnostic yield of frame-based biopsy and Remebot frameless brain biopsy being 90.9% and 95.5%, respectively. The time of the total process was 124.5 min for the frame-based biopsy and 84.7 min for the Remebot frameless brain biopsy (p < 0.001). There were no significant differences with respect to the occurrence of complication or the duration of the operation between the two groups. Conclusion: Remebot frameless stereotactic brainstem biopsy is as safe and efficacious as frame-based stereotactic biopsy. However, Remebot frameless biopsy can reduce the total duration of the procedure and has better application in young pediatric patients. Remebot frameless stereotactic biopsies can be a better option towards the safe and efficient treatment of brainstem tumors.
Synthesis and Spectral Characterisation of Fabricated Cerium-Doped Magnesium Oxide Nanoparticles: Evaluation of the Antimicrobial Potential and Its Membranolytic Activity through Large Unilamellar Vesicles

Considerable attention has been given to Magnesium oxide nanoparticles lately due to their antimicrobial potential, low toxicity to humans, high thermal stability, biocompatibility, and low cost of production. However, their successful transformation into sustainable drugs is limited due to their low membrane permeability, which reduces their bioavailability in target cells. Herein we propose Cerium-doped magnesium oxide nanoparticles (MgOCeNPs) as a powerful solution to above mentioned limitations and are compared with MgO NPs for their membrane permeability and antimicrobial activity. Both pure and Ce-doped were characterized by various spectroscopic and microscopic techniques, in which an X-ray diffraction (XRD) examination reveals the lattice patterns for doped nanoparticles. Furthermore, Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) revealed the three-dimensional (3D) structure and height of the nanoparticle. The crystal structure (FCC) of MgO did not change with Ce doping. However, microstructural properties like lattice parameter, crystallite size and biological activity of MgO significantly changed with Ce doping. In order to evaluate the antimicrobial potential of MgOCeNPs in comparison to MgO NPs and to understand the underlying mechanisms, the antibacterial activity was investigated against human pathogenic bacteria E. coli and P. aeruginosa, and antifungal activity against THY-1, a fungal strain. MgOCeNPs were studied by several methods, which resulted in a strong antibacterial and antifungal activity in the form of an elevated zone of inhibition, reduced growth curve, lower minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC80) and enhanced cytotoxicity in both bacterial and fungal strain as compared to MgO nanoparticles. The study of the growth curve showed early and prolonged stationary phase and early decline log phase. Both bacterial and fungal strains showed dose-dependent cytotoxicity with enhancement in intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation and formation of pores in the membrane when interacting with egg-phosphatidylcholine model Large Unilamellar Vesicles (LUVs). The proposed mechanism of MgOCeNPs toxicity evidently is membranolytic activity and induction of ROS production, which may cause oxidative stress-mediated cytotoxicity. These results confirmed that MgOCeNPs are a novel and very potent antimicrobial agent with a great promise of controlling and treating other microbes.
Induced drift by a self-propelled swimmer at intermediate Reynolds numbers

Swimming organisms have been proposed to contribute to the mixing of stratified water in the ocean, thereby facilitating the vertical transport of nutrients and dissolved gases. In general, mixing results from increasing the interface available for molecular diffusion between neighboring fluid volumes. At high Reynolds numbers (Re), swimmers generate such interfaces through their turbulent wake structures. At lower Re, however, turbulent mixing becomes ineffective as viscous effects dissipate small-scale fluid motions as heat, and diffusion is not significantly enhanced. In this regime, it appears that the dominant mechanism for mixing by a swimmer is induced drift, i.e., the propagation and stretching of a fluid volume by a moving body's pressure field, which increases the diffusion-enabling interface between the drift volume and surrounding fluid. The ratio of drift volume to body volume is called the “added-mass” coefficient and depends on the shape of the body. Importantly, previous computational analysis suggested that the total drift volume increases at low and intermediate Re, 3 implying that in contrast to turbulent mixing, mixing through induced drift becomes more efficient in viscous conditions. As pointed out by others, the limitation of previous numerical simulations, however, is that the simulated objects were towed through viscous fluid, which is dynamically distinct from a self-propelled swimmer. Using qualitative flow visualization, we here demonstrate the presence of induced drift in self-propelled swimmers operating at intermediate Re (1–100). In these experiments, the spatiotemporal pattern of a fluid volume initially surrounding a juvenile Moon jellyfish ( Aurelia aurita) is visualized using Fluorescein dye (see Fig. 1 ). For details on the experimental methods see supplemental material in Ref. 13 .
Alexithymia in autism spectrum disorder

ABSTRACT Objective Alexithymia is a trait characterised by difficulty identifying and describing one’s own emotions and externally orientated thinking. Alexithymia is of clinical interest in people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) given research that has highlighted elevated levels of overall alexithymia in people with ASD. Presently, little is known about what specific facets of alexithymia might be impaired in ASD, or whether deficits are present for both negative and positive emotions. This study therefore aimed to fill this gap, establishing a facet-level profile of alexithymia in people with ASD. Method Using the Perth Alexithymia Questionnaire, levels of alexithymia were assessed in sample of 55 people with a diagnosis of ASD and compared with 246 people in a community control sample. Results We found that all facets of alexithymia (across both valence domains) were substantially elevated in ASD (N = 55) compared to a community control sample (N = 246). Conclusions Assessing all facets of alexithymia, across both valence domains, may help identify subgroups with particular social and communication difficulties, and in turn, support the development of personalised interventions. Key Points What is already known on this topic: Alexithymia is a multidimensional construct, comprised of at least three interrelated components: difficulty identifying one’s own feelings (DIF), difficulty describing feelings (DDF), and an externally orientated thinking style (EOT). The Perth Alexithymia Questionnaire (PAQ) is a psychometrically sound measure of alexithymia. Alexithymia commonly occurs in people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). What this paper adds: In the ASD group, alexithymia was higher across all facets (i.e., DIF, DDF, EOT) compared to the community group, supporting the elevated levels of alexithymia in people with ASD. The PAQ may be important for recognising variability and individual differences among people with ASD, as whilst one third of participants with ASD scored in the “high alexithymia” range, two thirds did not. Identifying unique profiles of alexithymia may have key implications for personalised treatment and interventions.
Response inhibition in conflict tasks is revealed in delta plots

(from the chapter) Our main goal in this chapter is to present a method that allows us to examine the proficiency of response inhibition in behavioral (reaction time) data. We review two examples in which we use an analytical technique known as delta-plot analysis to highlight the role of response inhibition in resolving response conflict. The first study is on individual differences in resolving response conflict and included subjects in the normal population. In the second experiment, delta plots were used to mark inhibitory deficits in children diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). First, we briefly introduce the conflict paradigm.
Review of spinal dural arteriovenous fistulas: Challenges, diagnostics, management, and pathophysiology

Spinal dural arteriovenous fistulae are rare, spinal vascular malformations that commonly present with progressive myelopathy in a specific demographic and are treatable with surgery (preferred) and/or endovascular embolization. PubMed and Google Scholar were searched with terms including but not limited to “spinal dural arteriovenous fistula”, “imaging”, “management” “surgery vs embolization”, “outcomes”, “pathogenesis” to find relevant studies, including emerging research. The purpose of this literature review is to highlight presentation, imaging characteristics, management strategies, pathophysiology, and future directions for these rare but distinct entities.