Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A New Algorithm for Himawari-8 Aerosol Optical Depth Retrieval by Integrating Regional PM2.5 Concentrations

The Advanced Himawari Imager (AHI) onboard the Himawari-8 can provide full-disk observations with high temporal resolution (10 min), which has outstanding advantages for dynamic real-time aerosol monitoring in East Asia. In this study, a New Aerosol Retrieval algorithm for AHI by Integrating Regional PM2.5 concentrations (IRPAR) was proposed. The IRPAR algorithm constructed the surface reflectance library by integrating regional PM2.5 levels as a quantitative indicator of atmospheric aerosol loadings. The IRPAR algorithm was used to obtain the AOD retrievals over Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) region from March 2019 to February 2020, and its performance was preliminarily evaluated by aerosol robotic network (AERONET) measurements. The results showed that the IRPAR algorithm was able to obtain more highly accurate AOD retrievals compared to the JAXA L2 algorithm during the autumn in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, with a large R of 0.87 (0.71 for JAXA L2 AOD) and GCOSF (Global Climate Observing System Fraction) percentage of 28% (21% for JAXA L2 AOD). During different daytime hours, the IRPAR AOD showed a stable retrieval performance, while the JAXA L2 AOD exhibited a worst performance from 12:00 to 14:00 BST (Beijing Standard Time). These results demonstrated that the IRPAR algorithm was relatively less affected by the viewing angle. Future work will require a comprehensive evaluation of IRPAR algorithm on a larger spatial scale.
Magnetic Solid Nanoparticles and Their Counterparts: Recent Advances towards Cancer Theranostics

Cancer is currently a leading cause of death worldwide. The World Health Organization estimates an increase of 60% in the global cancer incidence in the next two decades. The inefficiency of the currently available therapies has prompted an urgent effort to develop new strategies that enable early diagnosis and improve response to treatment. Nanomedicine formulations can improve the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of conventional therapies and result in optimized cancer treatments. In particular, theranostic formulations aim at addressing the high heterogeneity of tumors and metastases by integrating imaging properties that enable a non-invasive and quantitative assessment of tumor targeting efficiency, drug delivery, and eventually the monitoring of the response to treatment. However, in order to exploit their full potential, the promising results observed in preclinical stages need to achieve clinical translation. Despite the significant number of available functionalization strategies, targeting efficiency is currently one of the major limitations of advanced nanomedicines in the oncology area, highlighting the need for more efficient nanoformulation designs that provide them with selectivity for precise cancer types and tumoral tissue. Under this current need, this review provides an overview of the strategies currently applied in the cancer theranostics field using magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) and solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs), where both nanocarriers have recently entered the clinical trials stage. The integration of these formulations into magnetic solid lipid nanoparticles—with different composition and phenotypic activity—constitutes a new generation of theranostic nanomedicines with great potential for the selective, controlled, and safe delivery of chemotherapy.
3D Convolutional Neural Network-Based Denoising of Low-Count Whole-Body 18F-Fluorodeoxyglucose and 89Zr-Rituximab PET Scans

Acquisition time and injected activity of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) PET should ideally be reduced. However, this decreases the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), which impairs the diagnostic value of these PET scans. In addition, 89Zr-antibody PET is known to have a low SNR. To improve the diagnostic value of these scans, a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) denoising method is proposed. The aim of this study was therefore to develop CNNs to increase SNR for low-count 18F-FDG and 89Zr-antibody PET. Super-low-count, low-count and full-count 18F-FDG PET scans from 60 primary lung cancer patients and full-count 89Zr-rituximab PET scans from five patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma were acquired. CNNs were built to capture the features and to denoise the PET scans. Additionally, Gaussian smoothing (GS) and Bilateral filtering (BF) were evaluated. The performance of the denoising approaches was assessed based on the tumour recovery coefficient (TRC), coefficient of variance (COV; level of noise), and a qualitative assessment by two nuclear medicine physicians. The CNNs had a higher TRC and comparable or lower COV to GS and BF and was also the preferred method of the two observers for both 18F-FDG and 89Zr-rituximab PET. The CNNs improved the SNR of low-count 18F-FDG and 89Zr-rituximab PET, with almost similar or better clinical performance than the full-count PET, respectively. Additionally, the CNNs showed better performance than GS and BF.
High Protein Diet Feeding Aggravates Hyperaminoacidemia in Mice Deficient in Proglucagon-Derived Peptides

(1) Background: Protein stimulates the secretion of glucagon (GCG), which can affect glucose metabolism. This study aimed to analyze the metabolic effect of a high-protein diet (HPD) in the presence or absence of proglucagon-derived peptides, including GCG and GLP-1. (2) Methods: The response to HPD feeding for 7 days was analyzed in mice deficient in proglucagon-derived peptides (GCGKO). (3) Results: In both control and GCGKO mice, food intake and body weight decreased with HPD and intestinal expression of Pepck increased. HPD also decreased plasma FGF21 levels, regardless of the presence of proglucagon-derived peptides. In control mice, HPD increased the hepatic expression of enzymes involved in amino acid metabolism without the elevation of plasma amino acid levels, except branched-chain amino acids. On the other hand, HPD-induced changes in the hepatic gene expression were attenuated in GCGKO mice, resulting in marked hyperaminoacidemia with lower blood glucose levels; the plasma concentration of glutamine exceeded that of glucose in HPD-fed GCGKO mice. (4) Conclusions: Increased plasma amino acid levels are a common feature in animal models with blocked GCG activity, and our results underscore that GCG plays essential roles in the homeostasis of amino acid metabolism in response to altered protein intake.
Transcriptome Characterization of the Roles of Abscisic Acid and Calcium Signaling during Water Deficit in Garlic

Garlic (Allium sativum L.) is one of the most important vegetable crops, and breeding drought-tolerant varieties is a vital research goal. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms in response to drought stress in garlic are still limited. In this study, garlic seedlings were subjected to 15% PEG6000 for 0, 1, 4, and 12 h, respectively, to simulate drought stress. Changes of transcriptomes as a result of drought stress in garlic leaves were determined by de novo assembly using the Illumina platform. In total, 96,712 unigenes and 11,936 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified in the presence of drought conditions. Transcriptome profiling revealed that the DEGs were mainly enriched in the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites, MAPK signaling pathway, starch and sucrose metabolism, phenylpropanoid biosynthesis, and plant hormone signal transduction. Genes involved in abscisic acid and calcium signaling were further investigated and discussed. Our results indicated that a coordinated interplay between abscisic acid and calcium is required for drought-induced response in garlic.
Sargasso Sea bacterioplankton community structure and drivers of variance as revealed by DNA metabarcoding analysis

Marine microbes provide the backbone for pelagic ecosystems by cycling and fixing nutrients and establishing the base of food webs. Microbial communities are often assumed to be highly connected and genetically mixed, with localized environmental filters driving minor changes in structure. Our study applied high-throughput Illumina 16S ribosomal RNA gene amplicon sequencing on whole-community bacterial samples to characterize geographic, environmental, and stochastic drivers of community diversity. DNA was extracted from seawater collected from the surface (N = 18) and at depth just below the deep chlorophyll-a maximum (DCM mean depth = 115.4 m; N = 22) in the Sargasso Sea and adjacent oceanographic regions. Discrete bacterioplankton assemblages were observed at varying depths in the North Sargasso Sea, with a signal for distance-decay of bacterioplankton community similarity found only in surface waters. Bacterial communities from different oceanic regions could be distinguished statistically but exhibited a low magnitude of divergence. Redundancy analysis identified temperature as the key environmental variable correlated with community structuring. The effect of dispersal limitation was weak, while variation partitioning and neutral community modeling demonstrated stochastic processes influencing the communities. This study advances understanding of microbial biogeography in the pelagic ocean and highlights the use of high-throughput sequencing methods in studying microbial community structure.
Are Brazilian catchments gaining or losing water? The effective area of tropical catchments

Similar to most countries, the Brazilian water resources management considers topographically delineated catchment as a territorial unit for policy implementation. Yet, previous studies have shown that catchments are not hydrologically isolated, and topographic limits often neglect the groundwater boundaries. Thus, studies on effective catchment areas are promising for shedding light on inter‐catchment groundwater flow. Here, we investigated the deviation between the topographic and effective areas across Brazil. We applied the effective catchment area index (ECI) to 733 Brazilian catchments and identified the most influencing attributes on the ECI by using principal component and random forest analyses (PCA and RFA, respectively). Further analysis was carried out by contrasting the ECI values against the expected range of the Budyko curve, considering both topographic and effective catchment areas (classic and adjusted framework, respectively). We noted that nearly 32% of the Brazilian catchments presented more than 30% of difference between the effective area and its topographic boundaries. In general, the more arid biomes in Brazil—the Cerrado and Caatinga—are prone to have smaller effective areas while larger effective areas were mostly found in the Atlantic Forest biome, a humid tropical region with a higher mean elevation. Our findings indicate that the aridity index was the main driving factor and negatively correlated with ECI followed by mean slope, precipitation seasonality, and mean elevation. We highlight the potential of adopting a pooling of catchments based on their interconnectivity to minimize management costs while maximizing synergies and lessening trade‐offs between ecosystem functioning and water transfer processes. Our results contribute to a better country‐wide understanding of hydrological connectivity among catchments and highlight the need to consider the effective catchment area to overcome water‐food‐energy security challenges on multiple scales.
The role of non-elites and eyewitness videos in the visual securitisation of Calais asylum seekers

Abstract With the advent of smartphones and social media, non-elites possess more resources to engage in politicisation and securitisation of issues. The increasing popularity and acceptance of eyewitness videos captured by non-elites presents new political-security implications, especially for the issue of migration and refugees, as witnessed during the European refugee crisis. The eyewitness videos the host population of Europe captured served as key heuristic artefacts for non-elites to engage in the securitisation and counter desecuritisation of asylum seekers. The production, visual, circulation, and audiencing aspects of eyewitness videos are significantly different from those of professional videos from news media and therefore can potentially articulate (in)security in distinct ways. I argue that the epistemic-political constitution of eyewitness videos and their online remediation through the complex networked act between the calculated security publics and video recommendation algorithms of social media play a key role in facilitating security articulations of asylum seekers. This is illustrated in the analysis of two popular eyewitness videos from Calais. The article examines how non-elites used eyewitness videos to politicise and securitise Calais asylum seekers.
A Bridge over Troubled Borders: Social Class and the Interplay between Work and Life

Drawing on border theory, this article presents a study of the role that social class plays in the interplay between work and non-work life. A survey was used to collect subjective ratings of social class for class origin, home and work domains. Interviews were then conducted with 20 individuals to explore participants’ experiences of social class across their work-life domains. The analysis identified five groups of individuals who experienced different work-life outcomes depending on their self-perceived social class and any experiences of social class travel. The study found that socially mobile interviewees had more complex work-life experiences and found work-life interplay more challenging than those whose social class was congruent across domains, challenging the assumption that social mobility is inherently beneficial. The article proposes that social class acts as a bridge, which either facilitates or impedes the ease with which individuals move between their work-life domains.
Healthy Immunity on Preventive Medicine for Combating COVID-19

Immunomodulation is influenced by the consumption of nutrients, and healthy immunity is pivotal to defending an individual from a variety of pathogens. The immune system is a network of intricately regulated biological processes that is comprised of many organs, cellular structures, and signaling molecules. A balanced diet, rich in vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, is key to a strengthened immune system and, thus, crucial to proper functioning of various physiological activities. Conversely, deficiencies of these micronutrients, involving impaired immunity, are linked to numerous health complications, along with a host of pathologies. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a dangerous infectious disease caused by a β-form of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and its genomic variants, which enter host cells upon binding to the angiotensin converting enzyme 2 receptors, and is associated with substantial morbidities and mortalities globally. Patients afflicted with COVID-19 display asymptomatic to severe symptoms, occurrences of which are multifactorial and include diverse immune responses, sex and gender differences, aging, and underlying medical conditions. Geriatric populations, especially men in comparison to women, regardless of their states, are most vulnerable to severe COVID-19-associated infections and complications, with fatal outcomes. Advances in genomic and proteomic technologies help one understand molecular events, including host–pathogen interactions and pathogenesis of COVID-19 and, subsequently, have developed a variety of preventive measures urgently, ranging from mask wearing to vaccination to medication. Despite these approaches, no unique strategy is available today that can effectively prevent and/or treat this hostile disease. As a consequence, the maintenance of a boosted immune system could be considered a high priority of preventive medicine for combating COVID-19. Herein, we discuss the current level of understanding underlining the contribution of healthy immunity and its relevance to COVID-19 molecular pathogenesis, and potential therapeutic strategies, in the management of this devastating disease.
Uncovering the Potential Learning in Short-Term Study Abroad

The purpose of this quantitative study was to identify the facets of intercultural learning that might be achievable through faculty-led, short-term study abroad. Exploring changes in various facets of students’ intercultural competence pre- to post-study abroad, we found that the largest gains were in the cultural knowledge domain. Findings also point to vast differences in how individual students do, and do not, show gains across multiple measures of intercultural competence after studying abroad.
INVESTIGATING THE CREEP BEHAVIOR OF MARINE SOFT STRUCTURED CLAY BY FEM WITH AN ELASTO-VISCOPLASTIC CONSTITUTIVE MODEL

Abstract. The time-dependent creep deformation of marine soft-structured clay is a major cause of foundation failure on soft grounds around the globe. This study focuses on the analysis of the drained and undrained time-dependent creep behavior of a normally consolidated (NC)Kyuhoji marine soft-structured clay by FEM with a new Elasto-viscoplastic (EVP) constitutive model. One-dimensional creep and consolidated undrained creep element tests are simulated to analyze the creep behavior of soft clay under constant load conditions. The creep period of 1157days is used in the drained state with consolidation pressures from 100 kPa to 450 kPa with 50 kPa incremental intervals. The undrained time-dependent creep behavior of Kyuhoji clay is analyzed under varying constant creep stresses-qcrp (0.3qf, 0.5qf, 0.6qf, and 0.7qf, where qf is the undrained peak strength), and creep periods (11.6days, 463 days, and 5787days). The results show the capability of the new EVP model in analyzing creep failure behavior of marine soft-structured clayey and can explain the reason for the premature abrupt collapse of foundations on soil grounds where drainage is impeded under constant load.
Transition Metal Substituted Barium Hexaferrite-Modified Electrode: Application as Electrochemical Sensor of Acetaminophen

This study used substituted barium hexaferrites, which were previously prepared and reported by the authors, to detect acetaminophen by the modification of a conventional glassy carbon electrode (GCE), which led to promising results. The synthesis of this electrode-modifying material was conducted using a citrate sol gel process. A test synthesis using glycerin and propylene glycol revealed that glycerin produced a better result, while less positive anodic potential values were associated with the electrooxidation of N-acetyl-p-aminophenol (NAP). Excellent electroactivity was exhibited by the cobalt-substituted barium-hexaferrite-nanomaterial-modified electrode. A good linear relationship between the concentration and the current response of acetaminophen (paracetamol) was obtained with a detection limit of (0.255 ± 0.005) µM for the Ba1.0Co1. 22Fe11.41O18. 11 GCE, (0.577 ± 0.007) µM for the Ba1.14Cu0. 82Fe11.65O18. 02 GCE, and (0.595 ± 0.008) µM for the bare GCE. The levels of NAP in a real sample of urine were quantitatively analyzed using the proposed method, with recovery ranges from 96.6% to 101.0% and 93.9% to 98.4% for the modified electrode with Cobalt-substituted barium hexaferrites (CoFM) and Copper-substituted barium hexaferrites (CuFM), respectively. These results confirm the high electrochemical activity of Ba1.0Co1. 22Fe11.41O18. 11 nanoparticles and thus their potential for use in the development of sensing devices for substances of pharmaceutical interest, such as acetaminophen (NAP).
Microalgae growth and diversity in anaerobic digestate compared to synthetic media

Economizing microalgal cultivation is a considerable milestone targeted by efforts put into microalgal biorefineries. In light of that, the present study was aimed to explore the potential of using anaerobic liquid digestate (ALD) as culture media to grow microalgae and compared it with three different synthetic media (i.e., N8, BBM, and M8) in terms of biomass yield, fatty acid composition, and nutrient utilization/recovery. Moreover, a mixed culture of wild-type microalgae was employed in this study owing to the ability of mixed cultures to survive extreme conditions, eliminating the risk of losing the culture easily, as it mostly happens with pure cultures. The highest nutrient yield coefficients were achieved when the mixed microalgae culture was cultivated in ALD, where the yield coefficient for nitrogen (YN) and yield coefficient for phosphorus (YP) were 10.7 mg biomass mg-1 N and 98 mg biomass mg-1 P, respectively. The highest lipid content (34%) and the highest concentrations of C16:0 (114 mg L-1) and C18:0 (60.9 mg L-1) were also recorded when the mixed microalgae culture was cultivated in ALD. Furthermore, the polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) content also increased significantly in ALD, a beneficial phenomenon as PUFAs in microalgae allow them to adapt more effectively to extreme conditions. Based on the microbial community analysis performed using the multi-marker metabarcoding approach, Diphylleia rotans, Synechocystis PCC-6803, Cyanobium gracile PCC 6307, and Chlorella sorokiniana were identified as the most abundant species in the ALD growth. Overall, based on the findings of the present study, ALD could be used as a promising cultivation medium for microalgae, offering a process integration approach to combine anaerobic digestion and algae cultivation as an effective way to simultaneously treat the high-strength dark-colored ALD and valorize it into profitable byproducts.
A modified least angle regression algorithm for interaction selection with heredity

In many practical problems, the main effects alone may not be enough to capture the relationship between the response and predictors, and the interaction effects are often of interest to scientific researchers. In considering a regression model with main effects and all possible two‐way interaction effects, which we call the two‐way interaction model, there is an important challenge—computational burden. One way to reduce the aforementioned problems is to consider the heredity constraint between the main and interaction effects. The heredity constraint assumes that a given interaction effect is significant only when the corresponding main effects are significant. Various sparse penalized methods to reflect the heredity constraint have been proposed, but those algorithms are still computationally demanding and can be applied to data where the dimension of the main effects is only few hundreds. In this paper, we propose a modification of the LARS algorithm for selecting interaction effects under the heredity constraint, which can be applied to high‐dimensional data. Our numerical studies confirm that the proposed modified LARS algorithm is much faster and spends less memory than its competitors but has comparable prediction accuracies when the dimension of covariates is large.
Applied sentiment analysis on a real estate advertisement recommendation model

ABSTRACT Recently, the data generated are exploding in the information age. In the post-COVID-19 era, some real estate contracts have been signed online, and online advertisement recommendation has become a new way to reduce the searching cost. Therefore, the model in which real estate online recommendations can be made suitable without user preferences has become a tricky problem. This study uses sentiment and economic data to predict real estate sales and then made an advertisement recommendation from the forecast results. The 2SA-RERec (Two Sentiment Analysis of Real Estate Recommendation) model is proposed, which shows the highest accuracy among the others.