Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Experimental Crossing Confirms Reproductive Isolation between Cryptic Species within Eulimnogammarus verrucosus (Crustacea: Amphipoda) from Lake Baikal

Ancient lakes are known speciation hotspots. One of the most speciose groups in the ancient Lake Baikal are gammaroid amphipods (Crustacea: Amphipoda: Gammaroidea). There are over 350 morphological species and subspecies of amphipods in Baikal, but the extent of cryptic variation is still unclear. One of the most common species in the littoral zone of the lake, Eulimnogammarus verrucosus (Gerstfeldt, 1858), was recently found to comprise at least three (pseudo)cryptic species based on molecular data. Here, we further explored these species by analyzing their mitogenome-based phylogeny, genome sizes with flow cytometry, and their reproductive compatibility. We found divergent times of millions of years and different genome sizes in the three species (6.1, 6.9 and 8 pg), further confirming their genetic separation. Experimental crossing of the western and southern species, which are morphologically indistinguishable and have adjacent ranges, showed their separation with a post-zygotic reproductive barrier, as hybrid embryos stopped developing roughly at the onset of gastrulation. Thus, the previously applied barcoding approach effectively indicated the separate biological species within E. verrucosus. These results provide new data for investigating genome evolution and highlight the need for precise tracking of the sample origin in any studies in this morphospecies.
Coevolution (Or Not) of Supermassive Black Holes and Host Galaxies

Supermassive black holes (BHs) have been found in 85 galaxies by dynamical modeling of spatially resolved kinematics. The Hubble Space Telescope revolutionized BH research by advancing the subject from its proof-of-concept phase into quantitative studies of BH demographics. Most influential was the discovery of a tight correlation between BH mass and the velocity dispersion σ of the bulge component of the host galaxy. Together with similar correlations with bulge luminosity and mass, this led to the widespread belief that BHs and bulges coevolve by regulating each other's growth. Conclusions based on one set of correlations from in brightest cluster ellipticals to in the smallest galaxies dominated BH work for more than a decade. New results are now replacing this simple story with a richer and more plausible picture in which BHs correlate differently with different galaxy components. A reasonable aim is to use this progress to refine our understanding of BH-galaxy coevolution. BHs with masses of 105−106M.
Quantum Estimation Theory of Error and Disturbance in Quantum Measurement

We formulate the error and disturbance in quantum measurement by invoking quantum estimation theory. The disturbance formulated here characterizes the non-unitary state change caused by the measurement. We prove that the product of the error and disturbance is bounded from below by the commutator of the observables. We also find the attainable bound of the product.
Characteristics of 12-Month Readmission for Hospitalized Patients with COPD: A Propensity Score Matched Analysis of Prospective Multicenter Study

Purpose Hospitalization for acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD) is considered as severe exacerbations. Readmission for severe exacerbations is a crucial event for COPD patients. However, factors associated with readmission for severe exacerbations are incomplete. The study aimed to investigate different characteristics between the severe and non-severe exacerbation groups. Patients and Methods Patients hospitalized for severe AECOPD were included in multi-centers, and their exacerbations in next 12 months after discharge were recorded. According to exacerbations, patients were separated into the severe-exacerbation group and the non-severe exacerbation group. Propensity-score matching (PSM) and multivariable analyses were performed to compare the baseline characteristics of two groups. The Hosmer-Lemeshow test and receiver operating characteristic curve were applied to evaluate how well the model could identify clusters. Results The cohort included 550 patients with severe AECOPD across 27 study centers in China, and 465 patients were finally analyzed. A total of 41.5% of patients underwent readmission for AECOPD within 1 year. There were no significant differences in baseline characteristics between groups after PSM. Severe exacerbations in the 12 months were related to some factors, eg, the duration of COPD (13 vs 8 years, P<0.001), the COPD Assessment Test (CAT) score (20 vs 17, P<0.001), the blood eosinophil percentage (1.5 vs 2.0, P<0.05), and their inhaler therapies. Patients readmitted with AECOPD had a longer time of diagnosis (≥9 years), more symptoms (CAT ≥10), and lower blood eosinophils (Eos <2%). A clinical model was derived to help identify patients at risk of readmission with severe exacerbations. Conclusion These analyses confirmed the relevance of COPD at admission with future severe exacerbations. A lower blood eosinophils percentage appears to be related to readmission when combined with clinical history. Further studies are needed to evaluate whether this study can predict the risk of exacerbations.
Detecting Intestinal Goblet Cells of the Broadgilled Hagfish Eptatretus cirrhatus (Forster, 1801): A Confocal Microscopy Evaluation

Simple Summary The intestinal epithelium of fish, similar to mammals, consists mainly of enterocytes and goblet cells. Goblet cells play a key role in the secretion of mucus, which, in addition to promoting the digestion of nutrients, is the first protective barrier against bacteria, viruses, and pathogens. Our study aims to evaluate the presence, localization, and co-localization of 5-HT, TLR2, iNOS, and Piscidin1 in goblet cells of the intestine of Eptatretus cirrhatus. The results obtained by confocal microscopy show, for the first time, the positivity of goblet cells to the antibodies tested, suggesting the involvement of these cells in the intestinal immunity of broadgilled hagfish. Abstract The fish intestine operates as a complicated interface between the organism and the environment, providing biological and mechanical protections as a result of a viscous layer of mucus released by goblet cells, which serves as a barrier against bacteria, viruses, and other pathogens, and contributes to the functions of the immune system. Therefore, goblet cells have a role in preserving the health of the body by secreting mucus and acting as sentinels. The ancient jawless fish broadgilled hagfish (Eptatretus cirrhatus, Forster, 1801) has a very basic digestive system because it lacks a stomach. By examining the presence, localization, and co-localization of 5-HT, TLR2, iNOS, and Piscidin1, this study intends to provide insight into the potential immune system contributions arranged by the gut goblet cells of broadgilled hagfish. Our results characterize intestinal goblet cells of broadgilled hagfish, for the first time, with the former antibodies, suggesting the hypothesis of conservation of the roles played by these cells also in primitive vertebrates. Moreover, this study deepens the knowledge about the still little-known immune system of hagfish.
Improvement of Gastroscopy Classification Performance Through Image Augmentation Using a Gradient-Weighted Class Activation Map

Endoscopic specialists performing gastroscopy, which relies on the naked eye, may benefit from a computer-aided diagnosis (CADx) system that employs deep learning. This report proposes utilizing a CADx system to classify normal and abnormal gastric cancer, gastritis, and gastric ulcer. The CADx system was trained using a deep learning algorithm known as a convolutional neural network (CNN). Specifically, Xception, which includes depth-wise separable convolution, was employed as the CNN. Image augmentation was applied to improve the disadvantages of medical data, which are difficult to collect. A class activation map (CAM), an algorithm that visualizes the classified region of interest in a CNN, was used to cut and paste the image area into another image. The CAM-identified lesion location in an abnormal image was augmented by pasting it into a normal image. The normal image was divided into nine equal parts and pasted where the variance difference from the lesion was minimal. Consequently, the number of abnormal images increased by 360,905. Xception was used to train the augmented dataset. A confusion matrix was used to evaluate the performance of the gastroscopy CADx system. The performance criteria were specificity, sensitivity, F1 score, harmonic average of precision, sensitivity (recall), and AUC. The F1 score of the CADx system trained with the original dataset was 0.792 and AUC was 0.885. The dataset augmentation approach using CAM presented in this report is shown to be an effective augmentation algorithm, with performance improved to 0.835, 0.903 in terms of F1 score and AUC respectively.
Relationship between Job Satisfaction and Workload of Nurses in Adult Inpatient Units

Among Nursing and Psychology professionals, the job satisfaction of those in Adult Inpatient Units is analyzed, with a new scale to measure nursing workloads validated. Objective: The objective of this study was to relate nursing workloads to professional job satisfaction. Methods: This is an observational, analytical, descriptive, concurrent and quantitative study, which used the Overall Job Satisfaction scale and subscales therein, to identify global satisfaction—intrinsic or related to motivational factors and extrinsic or associated with hygienic factors—in nursing professionals (n = 104) from eight Inpatient Units of Internal Medicine and Surgery, in four hospital centers, to describe job satisfaction in the professionals studied and to find statistically significant associations between job satisfaction and workload (measured with the scale MIDENF®) in the inpatient units where they work. Results: There were higher levels of satisfaction in the variables “relationship with immediate boss” and “relationship with fellow workers”, and lower levels in “relationship with senior management” and “organizational system of the unit”. In the inferential analysis, the scores were 75.63 for overall satisfaction, 35.28 for intrinsic satisfaction, and 40.36 for extrinsic satisfaction. Conclusions: There is a close relationship between workload and job satisfaction, showing more dissatisfaction regarding organizational aspects and professional recognition.
Injectable Peptide Hydrogel Encapsulation of Mesenchymal Stem Cells Improved Viability, Stemness, Anti-Inflammatory Effects, and Early Stage Wound Healing

Human-adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hADMSCs) are adult stem cells and are relatively easy to access compared to other sources of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). They have shown immunomodulation properties as well as effects in improving tissue regeneration. To better stimulate and preserve the therapeutic properties of hADMSCs, biomaterials for cell delivery have been studied extensively. To date, hyaluronic acid (HA)-based materials have been most widely adopted by researchers around the world. PGmatrix is a new peptide-based hydrogel that has shown superior functional properties in 3D cell cultures. Here, we reported the in vitro and in vivo functional effects of PGmatrix on hADMSCs in comparison with HA and HA-based Hystem hydrogels. Our results showed that PGmatrix was far superior in maintaining hADMSC viability during prolonged incubation and stimulated expression of SSEA4 (stage-specific embryonic antigen-4) in hADMSCs. hADMSCs encapsulated in PGmatrix secreted more immune-responsive proteins than those in HA or Hystem, though similar VEGF-A and TGFβ1 release levels were observed in all three hydrogels. In vivo studies revealed that hADMSCs encapsulated with PGmatrix showed improved skin wound healing in diabetic-induced mice at an early stage, suggesting possible anti-inflammatory effects, though similar re-epithelialization and collagen density were observed among PGmatrix and HA or Hystem hydrogels by day 21.
Extended affinization of invariant affine reflection algebras

Abstract The class of invariant affine reflection algebras is the most general known extension of the class of affine Kac–Moody Lie algebras, introduced in 2008. We develop a method known as “affinization” for the class of invariant affine reflection algebras, and show that starting from an algebra belonging to this class together with a certain finite order automorphism, and applying the so called “affinization method”, we obtain again an invariant affine reflection algebra. This can be considered as an important step towards the realization of invariant affine reflection algebras.
Magnetic properties and stability of L21 and B2 phases in the Co2MnAl Heusler alloy

Magnetic properties and stability of L21 and B2 phases in the Co2MnAl Heusler alloy were investigated. It was confirmed that the order-disorder transition from the B2 to L21 phase is located at about 950K and that the Curie temperature TC of the L21 phase is 726K which is about 50K higher than that (TC=677K) of the B2 phase. The difference in TC between the L21 and B2 phases is smaller than a theoretical prediction. On the other hand, the saturation magnetic moments Ms at 4.2K for the L21 and B2 phases were estimated to be 4. 07μB∕f.u. and 4. 16μB∕f.u. , respectively, comparable to the value Mt=4 expected from the generalized Slater–Pauling relation.
Multi-Task Sparse Signal Recovery with Dirichlet Process Priors Based on Expectation Propagation Technique

Exploiting the shared information among tasks to significantly improve the sparse reconstruction performance lays the essence of multi-task compressive sensing. In this paper, a novel generative model of multi-task compressive sensing with Dirichlet process (DP) priors is proposed and the sharing mechanisms among tasks are revealed, yielding a principled means of inferring the clusters as well as performing compressive sensing inversion simultaneously. The spike-and-slab priors are first used to model the group sparsity among tasks within the identical cluster, and the DP priors are then introduced to automatically perform clustering for the tasks. The expectation propagation method is finally carried out to take the inference for posterior distribution approximation. The superiority of the proposed method over state-of-the-art algorithms is demonstrated by using experimental results on both numerical data and real data sets.
Fundamental Aspects of the Expansion of the Universe and Cosmic Horizons

In the context of the new standard LambdaCDM cosmology we resolve conflicts in the literature regarding fundamental aspects of the expansion of the universe and cosmic horizons and we link these concepts to observational tests. We derive the dynamics of a non-comoving galaxy and use this to demonstrate the counter-intuitive result that objects at constant proper distance can have a non-zero redshift. Receding galaxies can be blueshifted and approaching galaxies can be redshifted, even in an empty universe for which one might expect special relativity to apply. We then test the generalized second law of thermodynamics (GSL) and its extension to incorporate cosmological event horizons. In spite of the fact that cosmological horizons do not generally have well-defined thermal properties, we find that the GSL is satisfied for a wide range of models. We explore in particular the relative entropic 'worth' of black hole versus cosmological horizon area. An intriguing set of models show an apparent entropy decrease but we anticipate this apparent violation of the GSL will disappear when solutions are available for black holes embedded in arbitrary backgrounds. Recent evidence suggests a small increase in the fine structure constant (alpha =e^2/hbar c) over cosmological time scales. This raises the question of which fundamental quantities are truly constant and which might vary. We show that black hole thermodynamics may provide a means to discriminate between alternative theories invoking varying constants, because some variations in the fundamental 'constants' could lead to a violation of the generalized second law of thermodynamics.
Flying solo: professional isolation and role complexity in solo faculty programs

ABSTRACT Throughout the world of higher education, universities and colleges are reconceptualizing how their institutions are organized, especially in terms of faculty size related to overall programming. As adjunct rates increase and faculty positions are eliminated, many programs may be reduced to a single faculty lead. Yet, single faculty member programs are not well understood in the literature, nor are their roles in the larger higher education structure. This qualitative study explores the experiences of 12 university professors in the United States who coordinate single faculty programs, defined as academic programs employing only one tenured or tenure-track faculty member. Using the conceptual frameworks of Role Theory and Social Isolation, we explored the experiences of single faculty and how those experiences were influenced by the policies and practices of their institutions. Participants’ experiences of isolation included disciplinary/collaborative isolation, physical isolation, ownership isolation, and identity isolation. Participants described their roles as complex, unclear, and often unrecognized by others. Results indicate that faculty in single faculty programs may appear invisible within the current structure of academia and that revising existing practices could better support these faculty and their programs. Institutions must question whether single faculty programs should exist and the conditions under which these programs can succeed. Finally, policy and practice recommendations are offered for institutions, and even non-solo faculty peers, to support flying solo professors as they navigate serving their students and keeping their programs afloat.
Explore the Relationship Between Short-Term Ambient Air Pollution Exposure and Daily Outpatient Visits for Metabolic Related Fatty Liver

Background Many studies have shown that the pollution of fine particles in the air is related to the incidence of chronic diseases. However, research on air pollution and metabolism-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) is limited. Objective The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between short-term ambient air pollution and daily outpatient visits for metabolic-related fatty liver. Methods We used a quasi-Poisson regression generalized additive model to stratify analyses by season, age, and gender. Results From January 1, 2017, to August 31, 2019, 10,562 confirmed MAFLD outpatient visits were recorded. A 10 µg/m3 increase of fine particular matter (PM10and PM2.5) and NO2 concentrations corresponding with percent change were 0.82 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.49–1.15), 0.57 (95% CI, 0.18–0.98), and 0.86 (95% CI, 0.59–1.13) elevation in MAFLD outpatient visits. In terms of season, the impact estimates of NO2 and PM2.5% change were 3.55 (95% CI, 1.23–5.87) and 1.12 (95% CI, 0.78–1.46) in the hot season and transition season, respectively. Compared with the warm season, the impact estimates of PM10were more significant in the cool season: 2.88 (95% CI, 0.66–5.10). NO2 has the greatest effect in the transition season, whereas PM10 has the greatest highest effect in the cool and hot seasons. Compared with other pollutants, PM2.5 has the greatest impact in the age stratification, which percent change are 2.69 (95% CI, 0.77–5.61) and 2.88 (95% CI, 0.37–6.40) respectively. The impact values of PM2.5 in male and female percent change were 3.60 (95% CI, 0.63–6.57) and 1.65 (95% CI, 1.05–2.25), respectively. Conclusion This study shows that the air pollutants are related to the number of outpatient visits for MAFLD. The effects of different air pollutants on MAFLD outpatient visits were different by season, ages, and gender.
Comment on “Entropy theory for derivation of infiltration equations” by Vijay P. Singh

[1] V. P. Singh should be complimented on a major article in which he attempts to derive and compare various infiltration models from an information-entropy perspective. These attempts are largely very successful and provide extraordinary insight into the physical interpretation of the infiltration equation parameters. Singh [2010] (hereinafter referred to as Singh) makes a key assumption, specifically related to his derivation of the Horton equation, that is not is necessary. Specifically, that the cumulative probability distribution function of infiltration F(I ) can be defined as the ratio of soil moisture potential W to the maximum soil moisture retention S. It follows that a conclusion in the paper related to the total number of constraints required for the Horton equation derivation from the maximum entropy (MaxEnt) principle needs to be rethought. Here, the number of constraints refers to the total number of Lagrange multipliers that are solved for in applying MaxEnt (for details see Woodbury and Ulrych [1998]). [2] Let me respectfully suggest two alternate approaches to Singh’s derivation. Several examples of these are given in Woodbury and Ulrych [1998]. The first approach is from an “extended maximum entropy” viewpoint. As Kapur and Kesavan [1992] note the MaxEnt principle was initially applied to problems in statistical mechanics where random behavior was a given. Levine [1988] showed that the MaxEnt probabilities are in fact, the mean frequencies in a reproducible experiment. In other words, as the number of times an experiment has been repeated increases, the MaxEnt probability, the observed frequency and the ‘most probable’ frequency will have the same value. Over a long period of time MaxEnt has had great success in a wide variety of fields in which there was no reasonable frequency interpretation. Nothing in the above discussion prevents us from applying maximum entropy in cases where the distribution sought is not the result of some random experiment. Indeed, the pioneering work of Jaynes in Bayesian/maximum entropy methods adopts an alternate viewpoint of probability, often called the Jaynes-Cox viewpoint, whose main purpose was to extend the range of applications of Bayesian methods to the study of systems in which there was no apparent stochastic nature. [3] The “extended”MaxEnt approach seeks to bypass any unnecessary controversies by essentially adopting the same procedure as MaxEnt, where the entropy in this case represents the “spreadout” of a group of numbers. In such cases the probability can be interpreted as a proportion that was appropriate to the subject being studied with the constraint that the proportions summed to one. Additional constraints could be imposed in the form of moments. The resulting proportions from applying maximum entropy are then functions that have the greatest “spreadout” that can be realized in the greatest number of ways [Kapur and Kesavan, 1992]. [4] I will begin my analysis with a brief review of Singh’s derivation followed by “extended” maximum entropy and then minimum relative (cross) entropy.
Effective dielectric constant for a random medium

In this paper, we present an approximate expression for determining the effective permittivity describing the coherent propagation of an electromagnetic wave in random media. Under the Quasicrystalline Coherent Potential Approximation (QC-CPA), it is known that multiple scattering theory provided an expression for this effective permittivity. The numerical evaluation of this one is, however, a challenging problem. To find a tractable expression, we add some new approximations to the (QC-CPA) approach. As a result, we obtained an expression for the effective permittivity which contained at the same time the Maxwell-Garnett formula in the low frequency limit, and the Keller formula, which has been recently proved to be in good agreement for particles exceeding the wavelength.