Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of ATRAP in Renal Proximal Tubules on Angiotensin‐Dependent Hypertension

Background We have previously shown that ATRAP (angiotensin II receptor–associated protein; Agtrap) interacts with AT1R (angiotensin II type 1 receptor) and promotes constitutive internalization of AT1R so as to inhibit hyperactivation of its downstream signaling. In response to angiotensin II, systemic ATRAP deficiency exacerbates angiotensin II–mediated hypertension via hyperactivation of renal tubular AT1R. Although ATRAP expression is abundant in renal proximal tubules, little is known about the actual function of renal proximal tubule ATRAP in angiotensin‐mediated hypertension. Methods and Results In this study, we examined the in vivo functional role of renal proximal tubule ATRAP in angiotensin‐dependent hypertension. We succeeded in generating proximal tubule–specific ATRAP knockout (PT‐KO) mice for the first time using the Cre/loxP system with Pepck‐Cre. Detailed analysis of renal ATRAP expression in PT‐KO mice estimated by immunohistochemical and laser‐capture microdissection analysis revealed that ATRAP mRNA expression decreased by ≈80% in proximal regions of the nephron in PT‐KO mice compared with wild‐type (WT) mice. We compared blood pressure of PT‐KO and WT mice using both tail‐cuff and radiotelemetric methods. Blood pressure of PT‐KO mice was comparable with that of WT mice at baseline. Moreover, no significant differences were noted in pressor response to angiotensin II (600 ng/kg per min or 1000 ng/kg per minute) infusion between PT‐KO and WT mice. In addition, angiotensin II–mediated cardiac hypertrophy was identical between PT‐KO and WT mice. Conclusions ATRAP deficiency in proximal tubules did not exacerbate angiotensin‐dependent hypertension in vivo. The results indicate that renal proximal tubule ATRAP has a minor role in angiotensin‐dependent hypertension in vivo.
A Neural Beamforming Network for B-Format 3D Speech Enhancement and Recognition

Multi-channel speech enhancement is gaining increasing interest in recent years. By combining the beamforming framework with the deep neural network, significant improvement on speech enhancement performance has been achieved. While the neural beamformers designed for the distributed microphone arrays are deployed for practical applications such as teleconferencing and surveillance, there is less approach designed for the co-located microphone arrays such as the soundfield microphones. In this work, a new neural beamforming network is proposed for B-format 3D multi-channel speech enhancement and recognition. The proposed method incorporates the traditional beamforming structure with the deep neural network specifically for the B-format channels (the first-order Ambisonics). The proposed method has ranked the 1st place of the 3D Speech Enhancement task in the MLSP L3DAS21 Challenge while significantly outperformed the baseline system on the WER and STOI metrics.
Gaze-based interest detection on newspaper articles

Eye tracking measures have been used to recognize cognitive states involving mental workload, comprehension, and self-confidence in the task of reading. In this paper, we present how these measures can be used to detect the interest of a reader. From the reading behavior of 13 university students on 18 newspaper articles, we have extracted features related to fixations, saccades, blinks and pupil diameters to detect which documents each participant finds interesting or uninteresting. We have classified their level of interests into four classes with an accuracy of 44% using eye movements, and it has increased to 62% if a survey about subjective comprehension is included. This research can be incorporated in the real-time prediction of a user's interest while reading, for the betterment of future designs of human-document interaction.
How the refugee crisis and radical right parties shape party competition on immigration

Abstract While the structure of party competition evolves slowly, crisis-like events can induce short-term change to the political agenda. This may be facilitated by challenger parties who might benefit from increased attention to issues they own. We study the dynamic of such shifts through mainstream parties’ response to the 2015 refugee crisis, which strongly affected public debate and election outcomes across Europe. Specifically, we analyse how parties changed their issue emphasis and positions regarding immigration before, during, and after the refugee crisis. Our study is based on a corpus of 120,000 press releases between 2013 and 2017 from Austria, Germany, and Switzerland. We identify immigration-related press releases using a novel dictionary and estimate party positions. The resulting monthly salience and positions measures allow for studying changes in close time-intervals, providing crucial detail for disentangling the impact of the crisis itself and the contribution of right-wing parties. While we provide evidence that attention to immigration increased drastically for all parties during the crisis, radical right parties drove the attention of mainstream parties. However, the attention of mainstream parties to immigration decreased toward the end of the refugee crisis and there is limited evidence of parties accommodating the positions of the radical right.
Who Believes in Conspiracy Theories about the COVID-19 Pandemic in Romania? An Analysis of Conspiracy Theories Believers’ Profiles

The current COVID-19 pandemic has been accompanied by the circulation of an unprecedented amount of “polluted” information, especially in the social media environment, among which are false narratives and conspiracy theories about both the pandemic and vaccination against COVID-19. The effects of such questionable information primarily concern the lack of compliance with restrictive measures and a negative attitude towards vaccination campaigns, as well as more complex social effects, such as street protests or distrust in governments and authorities in general. Even though there is a lot of scholarly attention given to these narratives in many countries, research about the profile of people who are more prone to believe or spread them is rather scarce. In this context, we investigate the role of age, compared with other socio-demographic factors (such as education and religiosity), as well as the role of the media (the frequency of news consumption, the perceived usefulness of social media, and the perceived incidence of fake information about the virus in the media) and the critical thinking disposition of people who tend to believe such misleading narratives. To address these issues, we conducted a national survey (N = 945) in April 2021 in Romania. Using a hierarchical OLS regression model, we found that people who perceive higher incidence of fake news (ß = 0.33, p < 0.001), find social media platforms more useful (ß = 0.13, p < 0.001), have lower education (ß = −0.17, p < 0.001), and have higher levels of religiosity (ß = 0.08, p < 0.05) are more prone to believe COVID-19-related misleading narratives. At the same time, the frequency of news consumption (regardless of the type of media), critical thinking disposition, and age do not play a significant role in the profile of the believer in conspiracy theories about the COVID-19 pandemic. Somewhat surprisingly, age does not play a role in predicting belief in conspiracy theories, even though there are studies that suggest that older people are more prone to believe conspiracy narratives. As far as media is concerned, the frequency of news media consumption does not significantly differ for believers and non-believers. We discuss these results within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Spanish Language and Literacy Intervention for Bilingual Children at Risk for Developmental Language Disorder

Supplemental Digital Content is Available in the Text. This pilot study evaluates the feasibility of an integrated intervention titled Language and Literacy Together developed to target semantic and narrative skills in bilingual children at risk for developmental language disorder (DLD). Thirteen first-grade bilingual children who scored in the risk range for DLD on the Bilingual English Spanish Oral Screener received intervention. Children completed pretest and posttest evaluations of semantics and narrative comprehension and production in Spanish and English. Intervention participants demonstrated significant gains in both semantics and narrative skills, in both the language of the intervention (Spanish) and in English. The largest gains were observed for Spanish narrative comprehension and English narrative production. The Spanish Language and Literacy Together intervention appears a feasible approach for improving bilingual children's semantic skills and supporting generalization to narrative comprehension and production skills, which underpin literacy. Gains in both languages suggest evidence of cross-language transfer.
An Insight into Vaginal Microbiome Techniques

Background There is a unique microbial community in the female lower genital tract known as the vaginal microbiota, which varies in composition and density and provides significant benefits during pregnancy, reproductive cyclicity, healthy newborn delivery, protection from preterm birth, infections such as UTIs, bacterial vaginosis, and so on, and improves the efficacy of treatments for vaginal cancers. Methods: It is necessary to know how the vaginal microbiome is composed in order to make an accurate diagnosis of the diseases listed above. A microbiome’s members are difficult to classify, and the way microbial communities function and influence host–pathogen interactions are difficult to understand. More and more metagenomic studies are able to unravel such complexities due to advances in high-throughput sequencing and bioinformatics. When it comes to vaginal microbiota research, we’ll be looking at the use of modern techniques and strategies that can be used to investigate variations in vaginal microbiota in order to detect diseases earlier, better treat vaginal disorders, and boost women’s health. Discussion: The discussed techniques and strategies may improve the treatment of vaginal disorders and may be beneficial for women’s overall health.
Byzantine-Robust Aggregation in Federated Learning Empowered Industrial IoT

Federated learning (FL) is a promising paradigm to empower on-device intelligence in Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) due to its capability of training machine learning models across multiple IIoT devices while preserving the privacy of their local data. However, the distributed architecture of FL relies on aggregating the parameter list from the remote devices, which poses potential security risks caused by malicious devices. In this article, we propose a flexible and robust aggregation rule, called auto-weighted geometric median (<monospace>AutoGM</monospace>), and analyze the robustness against outliers in the inputs. To obtain the value of <monospace>AutoGM</monospace>, we design an algorithm based on the alternating optimization strategy. Using <monospace>AutoGM</monospace> as aggregation rule, we propose two robust FL solutions <monospace>AutoGM_FL</monospace> and <monospace>AutoGM_PFL</monospace>. <monospace>AutoGM_FL</monospace> learns a shared global model using the standard FL paradigm, and <monospace>AutoGM_PFL</monospace> learns a personalized model for each device. We conduct extensive experiments on the FEMNIST and Bosch IIoT datasets. The experimental results show that our solutions are robust against both model poisoning and data poisoning attacks. In particular, our solutions sustain high performance even when 30% of the nodes perform model or 50% of the nodes perform data poisoning attacks.
Calculation of neutral voltage shift in LCI driven induction motors

Load commutated inverter (LCI) drives are being used for adjustable speed control of induction motors and synchronous motors. It has been found that the motors and transformers connected to these drives are subjected to higher than normal voltage stresses to ground and premature failures of motors have been reported. This has been shown to be due to a voltage difference between the source side neutral voltage and the motor neutral voltage. This voltage is known as the neutral shift. This neutral shift voltage is added to the normal line to neutral or phase voltage causing a much higher than normal line or terminal to ground voltage stress in the ungrounded side of any DC linked AC converter. Voltages as high as 3.3 pu normal phase voltage may be seen for certain types of inverters. A method of determining the neutral shift voltage is presented. Results of a computer simulation of an LCI circuit and test results are presented to verify this analysis. >
STANDARDIZED ASCE PENMAN-MONTEITH: IMPACT OF SUM-OF-HOURLY VS. 24-HOUR TIMESTEP COMPUTATIONS AT REFERENCE WEATHER STATION SITES

The standardized ASCE Penman-Monteith (ASCE-PM) model was used to estimate grass-reference evapotranspiration (ETo) over a range of climates at seven locations based on hourly and 24 h weather data. Hourly ETo computations were summed over 24 h periods and reported as sum-of-hourly (SOH). The SOH ASCE-PM ETo values (ETo,h,ASCE) were compared with the 24 h timestep ASCE-PM ETo values (ETo,d) and SOH ETo values using the FAO Paper 56 Penman-Monteith (FAO56-PM) method (ETo,h,FAO). The ETo,h,ASCE values were used as the basis for comparison. The ETo,d estimated higher than ETo,h,ASCE at all locations except one, and agreement between the computational timesteps was best in humid regions. The greatest differences between ETo,d and ETo,h,ASCE were in locations where strong, dry, hot winds cause advective increases in ETo. Three locations showed considerable signs of advection. Some of the differences between the timesteps was attributed to uncertainties in predicting soil heat flux and to the difficulty of ETo,d to effectively account for abrupt diurnal changes in wind speed, air temperature, and vapor pressure deficit. The ETo,h,FAO values correlated well with ETo,h,ASCE values (r2 > 0.997), but estimated lower than ETo,h,ASCE at all locations by 5% to 8%. This was due to the impact of higher surface resistance during daytime periods. Summing the ETo values over a weekly, monthly, or annual basis generally reduced the differences between ETo,d and ETo,h,ASCE. The differences suggest that using ETo,d rather than ETo,h,ASCE would result in underestimation or overestimation of ETo. Summing the ETo,d values over multiple days and longer periods for peak ETo months resulted in inconsistent differences between the two timesteps. The results suggest a potential improvement in accuracy when using the standardized ASCE-PM procedure applied hourly rather than daily. The hourly application helps to account for abrupt changes in atmospheric conditions on ETo estimation in advective and other environments when hourly climate data are available.
The Effect of different Surface Treatments on Shear Bond Strength of Cubic Zirconia

Statement of the problem: The conventional methods of adhesive bonding used in silica containing ceramics cannot be used for bonding of zirconia due to absence of silica. Objective: The study was designed to evaluate the effect of different surface treatments on the shear bond strength of cubic zirconia before and after aging. Materials and Methods: A total of 56 cubic zirconia plates with dimensions (10mm length and 10mm width and 2mm thickness) were divided into four groups according to surface treatment (Group 1;No treatment n=14, Group 2; Air abrasion 50μm AL2O3 particles for 15 seconds n=14, Group 3; CO2 laser at 10W for 10 seconds n=14, Group 4; CO2 laser at 20W for 10 seconds n=14), then each group was subdivided into 2 subgroups which are(Group a: before aging) and (Group b: after aging) n=7. All specimens were cemented with MDP resin cement (Panavia SA cement plus) and stored in a distilled water for 24 hours. Then shear bond strength test (SBS) was assessed in MPa with a universal testing machine before and after thermocycling. Results: The results of this study clearly showed that the samples treated with CO2 laser groups at 20 W have the highest shear bond strength of resin cement to zirconia ceramic followed by CO2 at 10 W followed by sandblasting group and the control group showed the least shear bond strength. Conclusion: The application of CO2 laser surface treatment enhanced the shear bond strength of ultra-translucent zirconia to MDP containing resin cement.
Computational modeling of the N-Back task in the ABCD study: associations of drift diffusion model parameters to polygenic scores of mental disorders and cardiometabolic diseases.

BACKGROUND Cognitive dysfunction is common in mental disorders and represents a potential risk factor in childhood. The nature and extent of associations between childhood cognitive function and polygenic risk for mental disorders is unclear. We applied computational modeling to gain insight into mechanistic processes underlying decision making and working memory in childhood and their associations with PRS for mental disorders and comorbid cardiometabolic diseases. METHODS We used the drift diffusion model to infer latent computational processes underlying decision-making and working memory during the N-back task in 3707 children aged 9-10 from the ABCD Study. SNP-based heritability was estimated for cognitive phenotypes, including computational parameters, aggregated N-back task performance and neurocognitive assessments. PRS was calculated for Alzheimer's disease (AD), bipolar disorder, coronary artery disease (CAD), major depressive disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, schizophrenia and type 2 diabetes. RESULTS Heritability estimates of cognitive phenotypes ranged from 12 to 38%. Bayesian mixed models revealed that slower accumulation of evidence was associated with higher PRS for CAD and schizophrenia. Longer non-decision time was associated with higher PRS for AD and lower PRS for CAD. Narrower decision threshold was associated with higher PRS for CAD. Load-dependent effects on non-decision time and decision threshold were associated with PRS for AD and CAD, respectively. Aggregated neurocognitive test scores were not associated with PRS for any of the mental or cardiometabolic phenotypes. CONCLUSIONS We identified distinct associations between computational cognitive processes to genetic risk for mental illness and cardiometabolic disease, which could represent childhood cognitive risk factors.
PREVALENCE AND ETIOLOGY OF SUBCLINICAL MASTITIS IN DAIRY EWES AT FAYOUM GOVERNORATE, EGYPT

ددع صحف مت ةساردلا هذه للاخ 691 نم نبل ةنيع 611 كلذو مويفلا ةظفاحمب بولح ةمنغ دختسإب . مانغلأا ىف نماكلا عرضلا باهتلإب ةقلعتملا بناوجلا ضعب ةساردل ملاش رابتخإ ما ددع ىف نماكلا عرضلا باهتلإ نع فشكلا مت ىجولويرتكبلا صحفلا كلذكو 84 ةبسنب ةمنغ 59.82 ددعو % 15 ةبسنب عرض فصن 16.11 ىف ىتلا مانغلأا ىف ةباصلإا لدعم ناك . % ( ةددعتملا ةبلاحلا مساوم 15.21 لولأا ىبلاحلا اهمسوم ىف ىتلا مانغلأاب ةنراقم رثكأ )% ( 52 % ةباصإ لدعم ملاش رابتخإ اضيأ رهظأ دقو .ايئاصحإ ةيونعم تسيل ةدايزلا هذه نكل ) ( هعفترم 22.16 ( ىجولويرتكبلا لزعلاب ةنراقم )% 19.42 ىدوقنعلا بوركيملا ناك . )% ةبسنب هلزع مت ثيح ةلوزعملا تابوركيملا رثكأ نم زيليجأوكلا رابتخلإ بلاسلا 22 نم % تانيع نم ةلوزعملا تارتعلا ةبسنو ملاش رابتخلإ ةبجوم 84.85 تارتعلا ىلامجإ نم % لزع اضيأ مت . زيليجأوكلا رابتخلإ بجوملا ىدوقنعلا بوركيملا كلذ دعب ءاج مث ةلوزعملا فشكلا مت كلذ ىلإ ةفاضلإاب . ةفلتخم بسنب ىلاوك ايشيريشيلإا بوركيمو ىحبسلا بوركيملا ةبسنب اهفينصت متي مل رئامخ نع 8.48 رتعلا نم % رابتخلإ ةبجوم تانيع نم ةلوزعملا تا ةبسنو ملاش 2.61 ىد تاتكلالا ميزنأ ىوتسم سايقبو . ةلوزعملا تارتعلا ىلامجإ نم % ةباصملا مانغلأا نبل ىف ةظوحلم ةروصب مهعافترإ نيبت زيتافسوف نيلاكللاا ميزنأو زينيجورديه انغلأاب ةنراقم نماكلا عرضلا باهتلإب م نم سكعلا ىلع . ةميلسلا ناذه ىوتسم فلتخي مل كلذ . ةميلسلاو ةضيرملا مانغلأل مدلا لصم ىف ناميزنلإا
Effect of different electrical stunning methods on meat quality of marmara Kivircik breed lamb in Turkey Republic

The effects of head-only electrical stunning method were compared with the effects of headtoback electrical stunning method. A total of 90 kivircik breed lambs were randomly allocated immediately prior to slaughter to one of three stunning treatments: control group (C), head only group (HO; 1.0 AAC for 3 s at a frequency of 50 Hz), head to back group (HB; 1,0 A- AC for3s ata frequency of 50 Hz) electrical stunning. Meat quality was assessed by examining pH, color as L, a, b values, water holding capacity (WHC) and shear force. The effect on meat quality was assessed in head-only electrically stunned, head to back electrically stunned and non-stunned lambs. Shear forces were not significantly different between treatments. However color (L*,a*,b*), water holding capacity (WHC) and muscle ultimate pH were found to be significantly higher (P<0.05) between the groups.
The narrative about the economy as a shadow forecast: an analysis using Bank of Spain quarterly reports

ABSTRACT This paper constructs a text-based indicator that reflects the sentiment of the Bank of Spain economic outlook reports. Our sentiment indicator mimics very closely the first release of the GDP growth rate, which is published after the publication of the reports, and the Bank of Spain’s quarterly forecasts of the GDP growth rate. In addition, not only the narrative is consistent with the quantitative projections, but it also complements them by discussing information which is not directly reflected in the point forecasts, and may put on the table potential risks that will be included in the numerical projections of the next quarter. Thus, while the quantitative projections tend to underestimate the GDP growth rate especially during upturns, the narrative allows to outweigh this conservative bias. Overall, from a Central Bank’s communication perspective, it is the combination of quantitative forecast and narrative that provides a more precise picture of expected economic activity.
The Cole Relaxation Frequency as a Parameter to Identify Cancer in Lung Tissue: Preliminary Animal and ex vivo Patient Studies

Lung cancer is the world’s leading cause of cancer deaths, and diagnosis remains challenging. Lung cancer starts as small nodules; early and accurate diagnosis allows timely surgical resection of malignant nodules while avoiding unnecessary surgery in patients with benign nodules. The Cole Relaxation Frequency (CRF) is a derived electrical bioimpedance signature, which may be utilized to distinguish cancerous tissues from normal tissues. Here we show that CRF allows for diagnosis of cancer in human subjects, based on evaluation of 60 specimens obtained from 30 patients. We observed clear discrimination of CRF values in tumor and distant normal tissues, resulting in a high degree of sensitivity (97%) and specificity (87%) in cancer diagnosis. Furthermore, we tested 20 xenograft small animal model specimens, observing a similar separation of CRF values as in the human in-vivo measurements. We also obtained CRF measurements in pressurized and unpressurized lungs by implanting tumors into ex-vivo porcine lungs. CRF measurements align with previous tests in human and small animal models.