Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Safe Geometric Speed Planning Approach for Autonomous Driving through Occluded Intersections

Autonomous driving in urban environment needs to anticipate a number of dangerous events, such as the presence of moving vehicles in occluded areas. This paper presents an approach computing a safe motion along a fixed path in an urban environment with dynamic vehicles that may be occluded. The method works on the time-path space and uses a visibility graph to compute the speed profile, considering both safety and comfort. Evaluations performed on CARLA simulator on several typical scenarios show that the approach is able to drive safely in presence of hidden obstacles.
In Vitro and in Silico Analysis of miR-125a with rs12976445 Polymorphism in Breast Cancer Patients

Background: Breast cancer affects over 2 million women yearly. Its early detection allows for successful treatment, which motivates to research factors that enable an accurate diagnosis. miR-125a is one of them, correlating with different types of cancer. For example, the miR-125a level decreases in breast cancer tissues; polymorphisms in the miR-125a encoding gene are related to prostate cancer and the risk of radiotherapy-induced pneumonitis. Methods: In this work, we investigated two variants of rs12976445 polymorphism in the context of breast cancer. We analyzed the data of 175 blood samples from breast cancer patients and compared them with the control data from 129 control samples. Results: We observed the tendency that in breast cancer cases TT genotype appeared slightly more frequent over CC and CT genotypes (statistically nonsignificant). The TT genotype appeared also to be more frequent among human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) positive patients, compared to HER2 negative. In silico modelling showed that the presence of uridine (U) diminished the probability of pri-miR-125a binding to NOVA1 and HNRNPK proteins. We demonstrated that U and C -variants could promote different RNA folding patterns and provoke alternative protein binding. Conclusions: U-variant may imply a lower miR-125a expression in breast cancer.
Distribution and Characterization of Dominant Serovars of Listeria Monocytogenes Strains Isolated from Spontaneous Human Abortion in Tehran

Background and Aims: Assessment of the extend role of dominant serotyprs of Listeria monocytogenes in spontaneous abortions, using isolation methods and PCR(Polymerase Change Reaction) analysis for the presence of dominant serotypes such as 1/2a, 4b. Materials and Methods: A total of 258 samples comprising placental bits, vaginal swabs and blood were collected from out of 123 patients with spontaneous abortion. Listeria monocytogenes was identified and confirmed by culture, biochemical, serological tests, API system, CAMP (Christie, Atkins, Munch and Petersen), hemolysis on sheep blood agar. PI-PLC (Phosphatidyl Inositol specific Phospholipase C) assay, followed by Multiplex PCR to detection of serotypes 1/2a and 4b. Result: Out of 258 samples, 28 isolates of Listeria monocytogenes were identified by different methods. All of the isolates were confirmed by PCR. Our search indicated that from 123 patients, 28 of isolated (46.6%) Listeria monocytogenes strains, 14(50%) belonged to serovar 1/2a, 10(35%) to serovar 4b and 4(14.2%) to other serovars respectively. Conclusions: Based on our study, serovars 1/2a and 4b play a key role in human spontaneous abortion. Data analysis also showed that these serovars (1/2a, 4b) are dominant serovars as causative agents of the spontaneous abortion in pregnant women.
“Damned if you do, damned if you don’t”: Women’s accounts of feigning sexual pleasure

Faking orgasm has been identified as a common practice among women and feminist scholars have probed the connections between the socio-cultural meanings associated with faking and heterosex. Expanding on this line of inquiry, feigning sexual pleasure was explored in interviews with 14 women who reported having sex with men. Using a feminist critical discourse analytic approach, we attend to the dilemma that was frequently evoked in women’s accounts. Participants explained that feigning sexual pleasure was done in order to protect their partners’ ego. However, participants also talked about faking orgasm as being problematic in the sense that it was “deceitful” and “dishonest”. These contrasting discursive patterns created a dilemma whereby faking was situated as “necessary” but “dishonest”. As a way of negotiating this dilemma, participants made a distinction between exaggerating sexual pleasure and faking orgasm. We posit that exaggeration can be interpreted as a form of material (during the sexual encounter) and discursive (during accounting of the encounter) disruption of dominant discourses of heterosex such as the orgasmic imperative. Drawing on Annamarie Jagose’s and Hannah Frith’s problematizations of the prevailing tendency to position orgasm as either “authentic” or “fake”, we discuss women’s negotiation of the limited constructions of “real” pleasure.
Hyperspectral reflectance dataset of dry, wet and submerged marine litter

This paper describes a dataset consisting of 47 hyperspectral-reflectance measurements of plastic litter samples. The plastic litter samples include virgin and real samples from the Port of Antwerp. They were measured in dry conditions in the Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO) calibration facility, and a selection of the samples were also measured in wet conditions and submerged in a water tank at Flanders Hydraulics. The construction on top of the tank allowed us to submerge the plastics and keep sediments in suspension. The spectral measurements were performed using an Analytical Spectral Devices (ASD) FieldSpec 4 and a Spectral Evolution (SEV) spectrometer. The datasets are available on the 4TU.ResearchData open-access repository (ASD dataset: https://doi.org/10.4121/12896312.v2, Knaeps et al., 2020; SEV dataset: https://doi.org/10.4121/uuid:9ee3be54-9132-415a-aaf2-c7fbf32d2199; Garaba et al., 2020).
Millimeter-wave generation using hybrid silicon photonics

Technological innovation with millimeter waves (mm waves), signals having carrier frequencies between 30 and 300 GHz, has become an increasingly important research field. While it is challenging to generate and distribute these high frequency signals using all-electronic means, photonic techniques that transfer the signals to the optical domain for processing can alleviate several of the issues that plague electronic components. By realizing optical signal processing in a photonic integrated circuit (PIC), one can considerably improve the performance, footprint, cost, weight, and energy efficiency of photonics-based mm-wave technologies. In this article, we detail the applications that rely on mm-wave generation and review the requirements for photonics-based technologies to achieve this functionality. We give an overview of the different PIC platforms, with a particular focus on hybrid silicon photonics, and detail how the performance of two key components in the generation of mm waves, photodetectors and modulators, can be optimized in these platforms. Finally, we discuss the potential of hybrid silicon photonics for extending mm-wave generation towards the THz domain and provide an outlook on whether these mm-wave applications will be a new milestone in the evolution of hybrid silicon photonics.
Questioning the effects of raster-resampling and slope on the precision of TanDEM-X 90 m digital elevation model

Abstract Defining watersheds with enough topographical features is crucial when large infrastructure projects are concerned. German Aerospace Center (DLR) recently announced the dissemination of the 90 m variant of the original global TanDEM-X 12 m Digital elevation model (DEM). It was announced as produced with a special averaging technique, which would even surpass the precision of the 12 m DEM. This study aimed to test this claim while simultaneously testing whether resolution coarsening would deteriorate the performance of a higher precision DEM. AW3D30 was used as auxiliary data in four sites. Results confirmed that the 90 m DEM was indeed highly reliable at or below 20% slopes in two investigated dam reservoir areas with gentle terrain conditions, and overestimated in other two dam reservoirs with severe topography. The resampling approach did not necessarily worsen the elevation values aggregated into a larger raster resolution as obvious from the auxiliary data analyses.
Evaluation of the corrosion resistance of electroless Ni-P coatings on magnesium

Magnesium and its alloys offer a wide range of applications due to their excellent properties, however, their high chemical reactivity depends on their possible application in environments that have high chloride contents, because the development of an efficient method of surface protection and Easy implementation on an industrial scale is necessary. In the present work, nickel-phosphorus (Ni-P) electrolytic coatings on magnesium substrates were obtained from a chromate-free method. Subsequently, these coatings were evaluated electrochemically by potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) in NaCl 3.5% wt solution. The results indicate that the coatings obtained manage to produce greater thermodynamic stability to the magnesium surfaces and reduce approximately the corrosion rate by a factor of 1000. Therefore, the methodology for obtaining the Nickel-phosphorus coatings that we propose in this work is susceptible to industrial scale. Keywords: magnesium, electrolytic coating, Nickel-phosphorus, corrosion rate, electrochemical techniques.
A Longitudinal Examination of Social Support as a Mediator of the Personality-Health Relationship in a National Sample of African Americans

The present study investigated whether social support mediated the relationship between personality traits and health among African Americans over a 5-year period, filling a gap in the literature on longitudinal tests of the personality-health association. Data were collected from a national probability sample of African American adults (N = 200). Personality was assessed at Time 1 (T1), social support was assessed 2.5 years later (T2), and physical functioning was examined 5 years (T3) after T1. Telephone surveys included measures of the five-factor model personality traits (T1), social support (T2), and physical functioning (T3). Results suggested that relationships between the T1 personality traits and T3 physical functioning were not mediated by T2 social support. Secondary analyses found that among all T1 personality traits, higher openness and lower neuroticism uniquely predicted higher T2 social support. Furthermore, among T1 personality traits, higher conscientiousness uniquely predicted better T3 physical functioning. This information may be useful to health care providers and community members in developing prevention and intervention strategies for African Americans.
Inelastic collision dynamics of a single cold ion immersed in a Bose-Einstein condensate

We investigate inelastic collision dynamics of a single cold ion in a Bose-Einstein condensate. We observe rapid ion-atom-atom three-body recombination leading to formation of weakly bound molecular ions followed by secondary two-body molecule-atom collisions quenching the rovibrational states towards deeper binding energies. In contrast to previous studies exploiting hybrid ion traps, we work in an effectively field-free environment and generate a free low-energy ionic impurity directly from the atomic ensemble via Rydberg excitation and ionization. This allows us to implement an energy-resolved field-dissociation technique to trace the relaxation dynamics of the recombination products. Our observations are in good agreement with numerical simulations based on Langevin capture dynamics and provide complementary means to study stability and reaction dynamics of ionic impurities in ultracold quantum gases.
Evaluating the Expression of NOX2 and NOX4 Signaling Pathways in Rats’ Lung Tissues Following Local Chest Irradiation; Modulatory Effect of Melatonin

Lung injury is one of the major concerns for chest cancer patients that undergo radiotherapy as well as persons exposed to an accidental radiological event. Reduction/oxidation (redox) system plays a key role in lung injury via chronic upregulation of pro-oxidant enzymes. NOX2 and NOX4 are two important reactive oxygen species generating enzymes that are involved in radiation toxicity in some organs such as the bone marrow. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the expression of NOX2 and NOX4 signaling in rat’s lung tissues. Upregulation of these genes may be involved in radiation-induced lung injury. Moreover, we evaluated the role of pre-treatment with melatonin on the expression of these genes. Twenty male rats were divided into 4 groups as control; melatonin treated; irradiation; and irradiation with melatonin pre-treatment. Rats were exposed to 15 Gy 60Co gamma rays and sacrificed after 10 weeks for evaluation of NF-κB, TGFβR1, SMAD2, NOX2, and NOX4 gene expression by real-time PCR. Results showed the upregulation of all five genes. The expression of NOX2 was more obvious compared to other genes. Administration of melatonin before irradiation could attenuate the expression of all mentioned genes. Results indicate that upregulation of NADPH oxidase genes such as NOX2 and NOX4 may be involved in the late effects of lung exposure to ionizing radiation. Melatonin via downregulation of these pro-oxidant genes is able to attenuate radiation toxicity in the lung.
Temporal Characteristics of Energetic Magnetospheric Electron Precipitation as Observed During Long‐Term Balloon Observations

The paper summarizes the properties of precipitation of magnetospheric electrons with energy above several hundred keV recorded by observing X‐ray bremsstrahlung in the polar stratosphere above the Murmansk region, Russia, in 1961–2019. Precipitation occurrence rate demonstrates a clear dependence on the solar activity with a maximum at the decay phase of the 11‐year solar cycle, similarly to the variability in occurrences of the high‐speed solar wind streams (HSSWS). The energetic electron precipitation (EEP) event series is often initiated by a moderate geomagnetic storm caused by a HSSWS and continues during geomagnetic storm recovery. EEP demonstrates the seasonal rate variation with the maxima in occurrence rate around the spring and the autumn solstices and correlates with fluences of relativistic electrons in the outer radiation belt. For 59 years, 589 events of precipitation were observed. Analysis of the long‐term time series revealed a growing trend in the rate of precipitation occurrence, especially in the 1990s to 2000s that is not properly explained yet.
A Pilot Forecasting System for Epidemic Thunderstorm Asthma in Southeastern Australia

In November 2016, an unprecedented epidemic thunderstorm asthma event in Victoria, Australia, resulted in many thousands of people developing breathing difficulties in a very short period of time, including 10 deaths, and created extreme demand across the Victorian health services. To better prepare for future events, a pilot forecasting system for epidemic thunderstorm asthma (ETSA) risk has been developed for Victoria. The system uses a categorical risk-based approach, combining operational forecasting of gusty winds in severe thunderstorms with statistical forecasts of high ambient grass pollen concentrations, which together generate the risk of epidemic thunderstorm asthma. This pilot system provides the first routine daily epidemic thunderstorm asthma risk forecasting service in the world that covers a wide area, and integrates into the health, ambulance, and emergency management sector. Epidemic thunderstorm asthma events have historically occurred infrequently, and no event of similar magnitude has impacted the Victorian health system since. However, during the first three years of the pilot, 2017–19, two high asthma presentation events and four moderate asthma presentation events were identified from public hospital emergency department records. The ETSA risk forecasts showed skill in discriminating between days with and without health impacts. However, even with hindsight of the actual weather and airborne grass pollen conditions, some high asthma presentation events occurred in districts that were assessed as low risk for ETSA, reflecting the challenge of predicting this unusual phenomenon.
MicroRNA-124 regulates cell pyroptosis during cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury by regulating STAT3

Cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury (CIRI) is the observed continuation and deterioration of ischemic injury, and currently, there are no effective treatment strategies for the condition. It has been reported that microRNAs (miRNAs) serve an important role in CIRI by regulating pyroptosis. The present study demonstrated that miRNA-124 regulated CIRI by regulating STAT3. To explore the relationship between miRNA-124/STAT3 and pyroptosis in CIRI, CIRI was simulated using a middle cerebral artery occlusion model. Subsequently, miRNA-124 expression levels were altered via the intracerebroventricular injection of miRNA-124 agonist or antagonist. The degree of brain tissue injury was assessed by conducting TTC staining and neurological function scoring. Relative miRNA-124 expression levels were determined via reverse transcription-quantitative PCR. A luciferase reporter gene system verified the targeted binding of miRNA-124 to STAT3. The expression levels of key proteins and proinflammatory cytokines associated with pyroptosis [caspase-1, gasdermin D, interleukin (IL)-18 and IL-1β] were detected via western blotting and immunohistochemistry. The increased expression levels of pyroptosis-associated proteins and proinflammatory cytokines in the I/R groups compared with the control group, indicated that pyroptosis intensified over time during CIRI, and miRNA-124 agonist significantly abrogated pyroptosis and improved neurological function compared with the control group. Furthermore, miRNA-124 inhibited STAT3 activation in a targeted manner, which also decreased the extent of pyroptosis. However, miRNA-124 antagonist reversed miR-124 agonist-mediated effects. Therefore, the present study indicated that miRNA-124 may provide neuroprotection against pyroptosis during CIRI, potentially via inhibition of the STAT3 signaling pathway.
‘Wear Clogs and just Act Normal’: Defining Collectivity in Dutch Domestic Music Concerts

The last few decades have seen a surge in the consumption of locally produced popular music in the West. Domestic music – music made by national artists and sung in the national language – has gained increasing popularity, specifically within the lower to middle-class segments of the native population. This article uses the Dutch music genre levenslied to explore this growing trend. From a neo-Durkheimian perspective, we can assume the presence of collective effervescence – a shared intensified mood drawn from collective assembly. However, it is less clear how this collectivity is brought about and experienced. In other words, what are the requirements for this state of effervescence to occur? Looking not only at the totems these concertgoers celebrate but also the established symbolic boundaries, can help us understand how the group defines itself, adding to our knowledge of the rise in popularity of domestic music. We interviewed 20 concertgoers about their experience of these concerts. The analysis finds that the establishment of collectivity is influenced by three symbolic boundaries: (1) intercultural, (2) interclass, and (3) intraclass. Through the negative othering of ethnic monitories – those considered socially higher, and those considered morally lower than themselves – the audiences of these concerts glorify a very narrow image of Dutchness, obtaining a sense of self-worth through the celebration of an idealized national image rooted in nostalgia. The increasing popularity of levenslied concerts (and domestic music more generally) can, therefore, be understood in relation to broader societal changes and connected with a ‘squeezed middle’ class, clinging to tradition and their declining social position.
Efecto del nivel de proteína en la dieta y alimentos comerciales sobre el crecimiento y la alimentación en juveniles del robalo blanco, "Centropomus undecimalis" (Bloch, 1792)

espanolMediante dos experimentos se probaron los efectos de diferentes niveles de proteina en la dieta y de tres alimentos comerciales sobre el crecimiento y la eficiencia alimentaria en juveniles de robalo blanco, Centropomus undecimalis (Bloch, 1792). En el primer experimento (60 dias) se alimentaron juveniles (peso inicial = 2.9 g) mantenidos a 26.6oC con una de cuatro dietas isocaloricas que contenian diferentes porcentajes proteicos (dieta A = 28.8%, dieta B = 40.4%, dieta C = 53.4% y dieta D = 65.8%). Las fuentes de proteina fueron harinas de camaron, soja y pescado. La mayor ganancia en peso y los mayores crecimiento especifico y factor de conversion del alimento se obtuvieron con las dietas B, C y D. No hubo diferencias significativas ( P > 0.05) entre estos tres tratamientos. La tasa de eficiencia proteica disminuyo al aumentar el nivel de proteina en la dieta, resultando maxima en los peces alimentados con la dieta A. En el segundo experimento (65 dias) se observaron los efectos de alimentos comerciales (para tilapia, bagre y trucha) y de la dieta C en juveniles de robalo blanco (peso inicial = 2 2.7 g) a 29.1oC. No hubo diferencias significativas entre la ganancia de peso obtenida con la dieta C y la obtenida con el alimento para trucha. La ganancia de peso fue mayor en los peces alimentados con la dieta C y el alimento para trucha, comparadas con los alimentados con pellets para tilapia y bagre (P EnglishPreliminary results of the effects of different dietary protein levels and commercial feeds on growth and feeding of juvenile common snook, Centropomus undecimalis (Bloch, 1792), were obtained under controlled laboratory conditions in two experiments. In the first experiment (60 days), juveniles (initially 2.9 g) maintained at 26.6oC were fed one of four isocaloric experimental diets containing different protein levels (diet A = 28.8%, diet B = 40.4%, diet C = 53.4%, and diet D = 65.8%). Shrimp-, soybean-, and fish-meal were used as protein sources. Best growth, specific growth rate, and feed conversion ratio were obtained with diets B, C, and D. There were no significant differences (P > 0.05) among these three treatments. Protein efficiency ratio decreased as the level of dietary protein increased and was highest for fish fed diet A. In the second experiment (65 days), the effects of three different commercial pellets (for tilapia, catfish, and trout) and diet C were determined on snook (initially 22.7 g) at 29.1oC. There was no significant difference in fish weight gain between diet C and trout pellets. Significantly higher (P