Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Identification and Functional Analysis of a Locus for Improvement of Lodging Resistance in Rice 1[w]

We identified a new locus responsible for increased pushing resistance of the lower part of rice ( Oryza sativa ) and analyzed its physiological function to understand how to improve lodging resistance in rice. Quantitative trait loci (QTLs) controlling pushing resistance of the lower part were analyzed in a population of backcross inbred lines of japonica Nipponbare (cid:1) indica Kasalath plants cut out at 40 cm to exclude the effect of the weight of the upper parts. Five QTLs for pushing resistance were detected; only one QTL from Kasalath on chromosome 5 ( prl5 ) had a positive effect. The likelihood odds ratio curve of prl5 echoed that for lodging resistance by typhoon. We selected three near-isogenic lines (NILs) in which the chromosomal region of prl5 was substituted with that of Kasalath in the Nipponbare background. The dry weights and densities and the contents of accumulated carbohydrate in stems below 40 cm (lower stems) in each NIL were significantly higher than those of Nipponbare. There was no difference between Nipponbare and the NILs in yield, root characteristics, or the weights of the upper parts. Pushing resistance of the lower part and lodging resistance in the NILs were up to twice as high as in Nipponbare. These results suggest that prl5 might affect the characteristics of the lower stems of the NILs, thus increasing lodging resistance.
Pooled Analysis of Central Venous Pressure and Brain Natriuretic Peptide Levels in Patients With Extubation Failure

Purpose: Cardiac insufficiency has been considered to be a common cause of extubation failure. Some studies have shown that central venous pressure (CVP) and brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) are able to predict extubation outcomes. Therefore, we conducted a pooled analysis to evaluate the potential of CVP and BNP levels as predictors of extubation outcomes, using a cohort of critically ill patients who were on mechanical ventilation (MV). Methods: We searched three online electronic databases up to October 2021. All data were analyzed using Review Manager 5.4. For each study, the analysis was performed using standardized mean differences (SMD) with 95% confidence intervals (CI). Results: The pooled analysis of seven studies on CVP levels and extubation outcomes showed that elevated CVP levels were significantly associated with extubation failure (SMD:0.47, 95% CI: 0. 43–0.51, p < 0.00001). This association also appeared before extubation (SMD:0.47, 95% CI: 0. 43–0.51, p < 0.00001), but it did not appear after extubation (SMD: 0.63, 95% CI: −0.05–1.31, p=0.07). Similarly, pooled analysis of eight studies on BNP levels and extubation outcomes showed that increased BNP levels are closely related to extubation failure (SMD:0.68, 95% CI: 0.49–0.86, p < 0.00001). This relationship also occurs before (SMD: 0.57, 95% CI: 0.35–0.79, p < 0.00001) and after (SMD: 0.91, 95% CI: 0.59–1.23, p < 0.00001) extubation. Conclusions: This study showed that elevated CVP and BNP levels are associated with extubation failure in critically ill patients. However, BNP levels are more valuable than CVP levels in predicting extubation outcomes.
Volatility forecasting using deep neural network with time-series feature embedding

Volatility is usually a proxy indicator for market variation or tendency, containing essential information for investors and policy-makers. This paper proposes a novel hybrid deep neural network model (HDNN) with temporal embedding for volatility forecasting. The main idea of our HDNN is that it encodes one-dimensional time-series data as two-dimensional GAF images, which enables the follow-up convolution neural network (CNN) to learn volatil-ity-related feature mappings automatically. Specifically, HDNN adopts an elegant end-to-end learning paradigm for volatility forecasting, which consists of feature embedding and regression components. The feature embedding component explores the volatility-related temporal information from GAF images via the elaborate CNN in an underlying temporal embedding space. Then, the regression component takes these embedding vectors as input for volatility forecasting tasks. Finally, we examine the feasibility of HDNN on four synthetic GBM datasets and five real-world Stock Index datasets in terms of five regression metrics. The results demonstrate that HDNN has better performance in most cases than the baseline forecasting models of GARCH, EGACH, SVR, and NN. It confirms that the volatility-related temporal features extracted by HDNN indeed improve the forecasting ability. Furthermore, the Friedman test verifies that HDNN is statistically superior to the compared forecasting models.
Knowledge, attitude and practices (KAP) towards anaemia among female university students in Malaysia: A cross-sectional survey

Introduction: Anaemia is a common health problem in Malaysia, most common being iron deficiency anaemia (IDA). This study aimed to assess knowledge, attitude, practices (KAP), and health-seeking behaviour (HSB) towards anaemia among undergraduate female students. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 180 female university students from a medical university in Malaysia. Data were collected using an online questionnaire comprising KAP and HSB. SPSS version 25.0 was used for statistical analysis. Results: Most participants (60%) had an appropriate level of knowledge about anaemia. A positive attitude was shown with adequate awareness of anaemia. A total of 55.5% of participants reported having good health practices. However, 52.9% of the participants consumed less iron-rich foods and 81.7% reported skipping meals. The overall observed healthseeking behaviour was good. A statistically significant relationship was found between knowledge with attitude (p=0.003) and practice (p=0.005). This study observed that the study population had poor nutritional status, long menstrual duration, and vegetarianism. Moreover, infrequent consumption of vitamin C-rich fruits and low iron-folate supplementation were also observed. Conclusion: A good level of knowledge on IDA among students was noted. However, most of the students showed a lack of positive attitude and good practices towards preventing anaemia. University students are prone to IDA due to a lack of KAP, which can significantly affect health-seeking behaviour. This issue should not be neglected; therefore, implementing intervention programmes to educate students on the preventive measures against the risk factors of IDA is recommended.
The Frail Depressed Patient: A Narrative Review on Treatment Challenges

Abstract Although the public importance of frailty is widely acknowledged by the World Health Organization, physical frailty is still largely neglected in geriatric mental health care. Firstly in this narrative review, we summarize the knowledge on the epidemiology of the association between depression and frailty, whereafter implications for treatment will be discussed. Even though frailty and depression have overlapping diagnostic criteria, epidemiological studies provide evidence for distinct constructs which are bidirectionally associated. Among depressed patients, frailty has predictive validity being associated with increased mortality rates and an exponentially higher fall risk due to antidepressants. Nonetheless, guidelines on the treatment of depression neither consider frailty for risk stratification nor for treatment selection. We argue that frailty assessment enables clinicians to better target the pharmacological and psychological treatment of depression as well as the need for interventions targeting primarily frailty, for instance, lifestyle interventions and reduction of polypharmacy. Applying a frailty informed framework of depression treatment studies included in a meta-analysis reveals that the benefit–harm ratio of antidepressants given to frail depressed patients can be questioned. Nonetheless, frail-depressed patients should not withhold antidepressants as formal studies are not available yet, but potential adverse effects should be closely monitored. Dopaminergic antidepressants might be preferable when slowness is a prominent clinical feature. Psychotherapy is an important alternative for pharmacological treatment, especially psychotherapeutic approaches within the movement of positive psychology, but this approach needs further study. Finally, geriatric rehabilitation, including physical exercise and nutritional advice, should also be considered. In this regard, targeting ageing-related abnormalities underlying frailty that may also be involved in late-life depression such as low-grade inflammation might be a promising target for future studies. The lack of treatment studies precludes firm recommendations, but more awareness for frailty in mental health care will open a plethora of alternative treatment options to be considered.
Avian Use of Habitat Patches Dominated by Exotic Leucaena leucocephala or Native Tree Species in Urban Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

There has been an incursion of an exotic Leucaena leucocephala in disturbed areas and into habitat patches of native tree species in some areas in Tanzania. However, the impacts of this exotic tree on native biodiversity are not well understood. We assessed bird use of habitat patches dominated by L. leucocephala in comparison to patches of native tree species at the University of Dar es Salaam main campus, Tanzania, by comparing bird species richness, abundance and diversity using mist netting. Based on the same mist netting efforts in each habitat patch type, patches of native trees had significantly higher overall diversity (t = 1.999, df = 293.64, p < 0.05) and abundance (χ2 = 40.525, df = 1, p < 0.001) of birds than those dominated by the exotic L. leucocephala and significantly greater abundance of forest-dependent species (χ2 = 10.938, df = 1, p < 0.001) and forest visitors (χ2 = 15.258, df = 1, p < 0.001). The similarity in bird species between the two habitats was 0.658 indicating that many bird species occurred in both habitat types. The lower diversity and overall abundance of birds in the patches dominated by the exotic plant suggest that it does not provide appropriate habitat for many bird species, and further spread of this exotic will be detrimental to the local avifauna. Keywords: Birds, diversity, native tree species, exotic tree species, Leucaena leucocephala.
Genetic diversity of Syagrus cearensis Noblick in natural populations: implications for conservation of genetic resources

The growing extractive activity in forest areas, the inefficient use of management practices combined with the intensification of socioeconomic activities, are the main factors in the loss of biodiversity. In order to reduce environmental impacts, genetic characterization of populations allows to infer about their real situation. Thus, the present study aimed to perform an analysis of the genetic diversity of populations of Syagrus cearensis using ISSR markers. Populations AQU (Aquicultura), MTB (Mata do Bebo) and MOD (Mata Olho d´água) were sampled, totaling 53 individuals. ISSR markers generated a total of 61 loci. The AQU population had the highest polymorphism index (71%), followed by MTB (57%) and MOD (53%). AQU showed the highest index of genetic diversity, compared to the MTB and MOD populations. There was a high and significant genetic differentiation between populations. Bayesian analysis identified the existence of two groups (K = 2). The genetic bottleneck test was significant for the AQU and MOD populations, according to the SMM model. Thus, the populations of genetic diversity index close to the averages found for tropical species with a similar life history. The presence of a genetic bottleneck was detected in populations. The AQU population presented low sharing of genotypes with the others and should be prioritized in conservation activities.
Effect of temperature on the production and diffusion behaviour of furfural in oil–paper insulation systems

The existing research on furfural analysis mainly focuses on the relationship between the furfural content in oil and the degree of polymerization (DP) of the paper, which are always obtained by accelerated thermal aging at high temperatures. However, the operating temperature of a winding is relatively low, approximately 60°C to 90°C. Thus, the relationship established at high temperature may be not suitable for the operating temperatures. In this research, aging tests of oil-paper systems at different temperatures ( from 100°C to 130°C) were carried out, with the DP, furfural content in oil and furfural content in paper being measured regularly to analyze the effect of temperature variation on the production and diffusion behavior of furfural in oil–paper insulation. The results show that temperature influences the production of furfural, i.e., there is no obvious difference in the amount of furfural produced by paper in the initial aging periods; however, a higher temperature results in more furfural being produced when the DP decreases to values below 600. An obvious diffusion process occurs after furfural is produced in paper in accelerated aging experiments, resulting in most of the furfural content remaining in the cellulose paper in the initial aging period.
Advances in Barrier Membranes for Guided Bone Regeneration Techniques

Guided bone regeneration (GBR) is a widely used technique for alveolar bone augmentation. Among all the principal elements, barrier membrane is recognized as the key to the success of GBR. Ideal barrier membrane should have satisfactory biological and mechanical properties. According to their composition, barrier membranes can be divided into polymer membranes and non-polymer membranes. Polymer barrier membranes have become a research hotspot not only because they can control the physical and chemical characteristics of the membranes by regulating the synthesis conditions but also because their prices are relatively low. Still now the bone augment effect of barrier membrane used in clinical practice is more dependent on the body’s own growth potential and the osteogenic effect is difficult to predict. Therefore, scholars have carried out many researches to explore new barrier membranes in order to improve the success rate of bone enhancement. The aim of this study is to collect and compare recent studies on optimizing barrier membranes. The characteristics and research progress of different types of barrier membranes were also discussed in detail.
Effects of added SiO2 nanoparticles on the thermal expansion behavior of shape memory polymer nanocomposites

In this study, a unit cell–based micromechanical approach is proposed to analyze the coefficient of thermal expansion of shape memory polymer nanocomposites containing SiO2 nanoparticles. The interphase region created due to the interaction between the SiO2 nanoparticles and shape memory polymer is modeled as the third phase in the nanocomposite representative volume element. The influences of the temperature, volume fraction, and diameter of the SiO2 nanoparticles on the thermal expansion behavior of shape memory polymer nanocomposite are explored. It is observed that the coefficient of thermal expansion of shape memory polymer nanocomposite decreases with the increase in the volume fraction up to 12%. Also, the results reveal that with the increase in temperature, the shape memory polymer nanocomposite coefficient of thermal expansion linearly increases. The role of interphase region on the thermal expansion response of the shape memory polymer nanocomposite is found to be very important. In the presence of interphase, the reduction in nanoparticle diameter leads to lower coefficient of thermal expansion for shape memory polymer nanocomposite, while the variation of nanoparticles diameter does not affect the coefficient of thermal expansion in the absence of interphase. Based on the simulation results, the shape memory polymer nanocomposite coefficient of thermal expansion decreases as the interphase thickness increases. In addition, the contribution of interphase coefficient of thermal expansion to the shape memory polymer nanocomposite coefficient of thermal expansion is more significant than that of interphase elastic modulus.
Dynamic Surface Subsidence Characteristics due to Super-Large Working Face in Fragile-Ecological Mining Areas: A Case Study in Shendong Coalfield, China

The dynamic subsidence characteristics due to super-large working face (SLWF) are the basis for further understanding of land ecology damage in fragile-ecological mining areas. In order to acquire the evolution characteristics of dynamic subsidence parameters and surface cracks, a series of field monitoring and comparisons with previous studies were conducted. The results indicate that (1) the subsidence trough is characterized with self-healing characteristics, including rapid formation of subsidence trough, the convergence of deformation, a steep trough edge, the smaller range of surface cracks; (2) the dynamic curves of dynamic subsidence parameters conformed to the exponential function curve with an inflection point when the SLWF advanced ca. critical dimension, which is the commonality of the dynamic subsidence characteristics; and (3) the optimized monitoring strategy for land ecology damage is recommended, and more attention should be paid to the quantitative prediction of root damage due to coal mining. The research results would benefit mining damage control and civil engineering protection in fragile-ecological mining areas.
Associations among financial well-being, daily relationship tension, and daily affect in two adult cohorts separated by the great recession

Financial well-being may be an important context for daily emotional reactivity to relationship tension (e.g., arguments) whose salience varies across historical time or as a function of exposure to economic downturns. This study investigated how emotional reactivity, operationalized as daily fluctuations in negative and positive affect associated with the occurrence of daily relationship tension, varied by financial well-being among those who were and were not exposed to the Great Recession of 2008. Two matched, independent subsamples of partnered individuals from the National Study of Daily Experiences completed identical 8-day diary protocols, one before the Great Recession (n = 587) and one after (n = 351). Individuals reported higher negative affect and lower positive affect on days when relationship tension occurred. Further, results indicated that negative affect reactivity, but not positive affect reactivity, was moderated by both financial well-being and cohort status. For the pre-recession cohort, negative affect reactivity was stronger among those with lower financial well-being. However, among the post-recession cohort, financial well-being did not moderate negative affect reactivity to relationship tension. Findings highlight the utility of considering major societal events, such as economic downturns, to understand variability in emotional reactivity to day-to-day relationship tension in the context of financial well-being, as the salience of financial well-being in the ways relationship tension and negative affect are related on a daily basis appears to vary by historical context.
Charting Future Resilient Sukuk Market in Malaysia: What can be Learned from Macreconomic Determinants of Sukuk Issuance?

This article examines the effects of macroeconomic variables on sukuk issuance in Malaysia from the first quarter of 2005 to the fourth quarter of 2019. It seeks to analyse the relationship between Sukuk issuance and selected macroeconomic variables such as Bursa Malaysia composite index (BMCI), exchange rate (EXR), GDP, Inflation (INF) and interest rate (INT). This study employs time series analysis techniques such as Johansen Co-Integration Analysis, Vector Error Correction Model (VECM), and Forecast Error Variance Decomposition (FEVD) analysis to unravel the short run and the long run dynamics among the selected variables. Our findings suggest that BMCI, EXR, INT are significant in affecting sukuk issuance in Malaysia in the long run while for the short run, the BMCI, EXR, and GDP, are significant. EXR is the most important contributor in short-term for sukuk issuance, followed by GDP and BMCI. These findings further suggest that the government can closely monitor exchange rate (EXR) movement to promote fundings of business projects through sukuk issuance. The findings on the significance of BMCI in both the short run and the long run suggest that investors can also consider investing in sukuk securities within their portfolio investment to manage the risk and return profile. It is also recommended that policy makers can design policies to ensure the performance of BMCI and GDP growth to achieve a resilient sukuk market especially during and post the Covid-19 pandemic.
Impulsive Time Window Based Quasi-Consensus on Stochastic Nonlinear Multi-Agent Systems

This paper investigates the global and exponential quasi-consensus for a kind of nonlinear multi-agent systems with time-varying delay and stochastic disturbance. In light of the significant difficulty to precisely determine the impulsive sequence in advance, the conception of impulsive time window is introduced. Correspondingly, the discrete Lyapunov function method is utilized to deal with the divided impulsive intervals caused by the impulsive time window. An effective distributed impulsive pinning (DIP) control strategy is proposed, which could economize the control execution time and save the energy consumption. Sufficient conditions for quasi-consensus are derived based on the parametric variation method and the extended delayed comparison principle. Additionally, the range of impulsive effects is further discussed by taking the positive and negative roles into consideration, respectively. Furthermore, the convergence rates and the consensus error levels corresponding to different impulsive effects are calculated accurately. At last, the rationality of the main results is illustrated clearly by some numerical examples.
Hybrid Multiuser Equalizer with Nonlinearity Compensation for Wideband mmWave Massive MIMO Uplink Systems

The use of efficient high-power amplifiers (HPAs) is critical for future millimeter-wave (mmWave) systems. HPAs can become highly nonlinear when operated near saturation, distorting the transmission signal. Therefore, the design of efficient solutions to mitigate nonlinear distortion (NLD) is of paramount importance. This article proposes a hybrid multiuser equalizer for the uplink of wideband mmWave massive MIMO systems. The equalizer is designed to mitigate both the multiuser interference (MUI) and inter-symbol interference (ISI), introduced by the multiple access channel, and the NLD, introduced by the user terminals HPA. The digital part of the hybrid equalizer is iterative and computed on a per subcarrier basis, to minimize the mean squared error between the transmitted and detected data. In the iterative processing, a feedback loop estimates and removes the distortion. The analog part is frequency-flat and its design assumes that the digital part efficiently removes the MUI, ISI and NLD. Performance results show a huge gain of the proposed hybrid nonlinear equalizer, when compared with linear ones. The nonlinear effects are almost completely removed, without significant error propagation effects, allowing a more efficient operation of the HPAs.